“I think so, sir,” answered Peggy, who was herself again. The thing to do was to explain the warning to the governor. The affair with Harriet could be adjusted afterward. “It said that an attempt would be made to surprise the brigade at Elizabethtown on the twenty-fourth, sir, which is to-night. Also that an effort would be made to captivate the old rebel at L—— H——, which must have meant thee, sir.” “Doubtless! Doubtless!” he agreed. “I learned to-day that there was a large reward offered for me, dead or alive.” “Why, it spoke of the reward,” cried she. “Thee won’t stay here, will thee?” “Oh, as to that——” he began, when his wife and two daughters appeared in the doorway. “What is it, William?” asked gentle Mrs. Livingston. “The British plan to attempt my capture to-night,” he explained grimly. “Zounds! do they think to find me in bed, as they did Charles Lee?” “Oh, father,” cried one of the girls fearfully, “you must leave at once for a place of safety.” “Here I stay,” declared the doughty governor. “Is ‘t not enough that I should be hounded from pillar to post for two years, that I should leave now with a brigade less than a mile away? I’ll barricade the house.” “Why, how could the house be barricaded when there is not a lock left on a door, nor even a hinge on the windows,” cried Miss Susannah. “Papa, aren’t you going to tell us who your informant is.” “Bless my soul,” ejaculated the governor hastily. “My dears, this is Miss Peggy Owen, David’s daughter. ’Twas her cousin, however, who was the informant. She hath ridden on, like the brave girl she is, to warn Maxwell. Miss Peggy, will you not stop with the family until morning, or do you wish to return to camp?” “The camp, sir,” replied Peggy promptly. “My mother will be uneasy.” “Then I will ride with you, my little maid,” cried he, swinging himself into the saddle. “This information proves beyond doubt that there is a spy somewhere among us, and steps should be taken at once for his apprehension. My dears, if I thought for one moment that harm would be offered you——” “Go, go,” cried one of the daughters imploringly. “No greater harm will befall us than an attack of scarlet fever.” “That is Susy’s favorite jest,” chuckled William Livingston. “She will have it that our belles are in more danger from the red coats of the British officers than from all the bullets the English possess.” They had reached the end of the lane by this time, and turned into the turnpike just as a trooper rode up to them coming from Elizabethtown. “Sir,” he said, saluting, “General Maxwell hath sent to ask concerning this matter of attack. Have you any further knowledge regarding it, and do you consider the information correct? A young girl, English she was, came in great haste to tell us of it and hath set forth at speed for Middlebrook to ask General Washington to send reinforcements, as the number of the attacking party is unknown.”