Five miles, eight miles, were covered with fair speed, and Betty's
spirits were rising rapidly at the thought that New York and Clarissa
were not far away, when Caesar turned around on his box, and, bringing
his horses to a walk, said in an awestruck whisper,--

"'Fore de Lord, madam, I done suspect de redcoats is comin'; d'ye heah
'em from de woods ober dar?" pointing with trembling hand in the
direction of a sound which rang out on the frosty air at first
indistinctly, and then resolved itself into a song.

"Under the trees in sunny weather,
Just try a cup of ale together.
And if in tempest or in storm,
A couple then, to make you warm,"[1]--

sang a rollicking voice, in fairly good time and tune, as a group of men
came in sight. As they neared the coach, the man in advance trolled out
in an accent which betrayed his Teutonic origin,--

"But if the day be very cold,
Then take a mug of twelve months old!"


[Footnote 1: A topical song then in vogue in New York. (See _Story of
the City of New York_.)]

"Hello, halt there!" came the command, as the singer seized the horse
by the bridle, and another soldier dragged Caesar roughly from his seat;
"who are you, and whence bound?"