"Pish, a corporal's squad, just about opposite at the ferry landin', an'
a company of Yagers down at Gloucester. There's plenty room between for a
bold lad to find free passage."

The two fell silent, staring out over the water. They had set me
thinking, however, and this knowledge of where the British pickets were
stationed was exactly the information I most required. I had no desire to
cross the Delaware, yet apparently in that direction lay the only
remaining avenue of escape. I could no longer hope to get away either to
north or west--every picket post along those lines would be instructed to
watch out for me 'ere this. My uniform would be no protection, and,
without a horse, my early apprehension was almost a certainty. My sole
apparent chance lay in the Jerseys, and I must reach the opposite shore,
and attain cover before daylight. To my mind there was no reason why this
could not be accomplished. The swimming of the river was not beyond my
power; I could float down under water for a hundred yards, and then,
concealed by the night, strike out for the eastern shore. The current
might sweep me down stream another hundred yards before my feet touched
bottom. That ought to bring me to a comparatively safe spot, where I
could crawl ashore unobserved. What was awaiting me there in the dark
could not be reckoned; but surely no graver danger than what already
menaced me here. I knew the Jerseys, and that now, with the main
contending armies withdrawn, all that country from the Delaware to the
sea was overrun by small parties of partisans, more intent upon plunder
than any loyalty to either side. To pass through between these bands was
likely to prove a desperate venture enough, yet it seemed the only choice
remaining.

At the lower end of the float I managed to silently remove my boots, and