Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/178

162 made a discovery of importance. It was a message unsigned, and neither was there any address given at the heading of the letter, but in it there was clearly unfolded a plan for the assembling of a band of men who on a certain night were to make a descent upon Esopus and attempt to release the prisoners confined there.

The identity of the man before him was not disclosed by the missive, nor was there any way by which he might learn from whom the letter had come. There was no difficulty, however, in understanding what the plan proposed was to be, for Robert was aware that the few prisoners whom the Americans had taken in the region of the Hudson, together with some suspected persons, were held in Esopus, and the only ones who would be likely to strive to set them free would be the enemies of the patriots. The fact, too, that the man had this letter in his possession was almost proof positive that he did not belong to the side on which Robert stood, and without compunction he thrust the letter into his own pocket and then once more glanced down at the prostrate form.

He was startled as he perceived that the man's eyes were open now, and as it was evi-