E-text prepared by David Edwards, Katherine Ward, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from digital material generously made available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 30589-h.htm or 30589-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/30589/pg30589-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30589/30589-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://www.archive.org/details/continentaldrago00stepiala Transcriber's note: Hyphenation has been made consistent. Archaic and variable spellings are preserved. The author's punctuation style is preserved, except quotation marks, which have been standardized. Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). Text in bold face is enclosed by equal signs (=bold=). THE CONTINENTAL DRAGOON. by R. N. STEPHENS. * * * * * Works of R. N. STEPHENS. An Enemy to the King. The Continental Dragoon. _In Press_: The Road to Paris. L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY, Publishers, (INCORPORATED) 196 Summer St., Boston, Mass. * * * * * [Illustration: "_'Take that rebel alive!' ordered Colden._" Photogravure from original drawing by H. C. Edwards.] THE CONTINENTAL DRAGOON A Love Story of Philipse Manor-House in 1778 by ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS Author of "An Enemy to the King" Illustrated by H. C. Edwards "Love's born of a glance, I say" Boston L. C. Page and Company (Incorporated) 1898 Copyright, 1898 By L. C. Page and Company (Incorporated) Entered at Stationer's Hall, London FIFTH THOUSAND Colonial Press: Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. Boston, U. S. A. CONTENTS. Chapter Page I. The Riders 11 II. The Manor-house 32 III. The Sound of Galloping 50 IV. The Continental Dragoon 65 V. The Black Horse 87 VI. The One Chance 116 VII. The Flight of the Minutes 140 VIII. The Secret Passage 156 IX. The Confession 180 X. The Plan of Retaliation 197 XI. The Conquest 214 XII. The Challenge 236 XIII. The Unexpected 252 XIV. The Broken Sword 267