“Halt!” cried a voice, and in front of the startled youth appeared half a dozen figures all armed with muskets, and dressed in garments so nondescript that their affiliation, whether with the British or American armies, it would have been hard to guess. “Who are you, Master?” demanded the voice which had cried “Halt!” “Why do you ride so fast on this road at night?” “See if he has the word, Bumbler,” advised a second man, and the party advanced on the mare and her rider. “It’s a good horse--but she’s been ridden far,” declared a third. “She’ll sell for something handsome in Germantown.” At this Hadley was quite assured that he had fallen into the enemy’s hands with a vengeance. He dared not say that he had dispatches for General Washington, for he believed the men who had stopped him to be either royalist sympathizers, or a party of stragglers seeking what unattached property they might obtain, being sure of going unscathed for their crimes because of the unsettled state of the country. Uniforms among the American troops were scarce at best. At this time some of the regiments were distinguished merely by a cockade, or a strap on their coats, while their uniforms were naught but the home-spun garments they had worn on joining the army. “He’s only a boy, Corporal,” said the first speaker, and a lean, unshaven face was thrust close to Hadley’s. “Get off the horse, lad. It’s too good for you to ride--unless you’re riding for the right side?” This was said questioningly, and Hadley realized that he was being given an opportunity to answer with the countersign but whether British or American he did not know. And little good would it have done him had he been sure of the affiliation of these men. He knew the countersign of neither army. “I’m only riding in a hurry to Germantown, sirs,” he said. “I do not know the password. I hope you will not stop me--” “What are you doing on this road?” demanded the corporal. “And without the word? Didn’t you expect to fall in with the outposts?” “With what outposts?” cried Hadley. “Ours, of course--the American outposts? Are you one of this Tory tribe with which the country is overrun?” At this Hadley, scarce convinced, flung much of his caution to the winds and replied: “I am as anxious to reach the American outposts as I can be. I have got to go to headquarters--” “Whose headquarters?” “The Commander-in-Chief’s.” “I believe the lad’s got dispatches, Corporal!” declared Bumbler. “Let’s pull him off that horse and see.” So saying, he grasped Hadley by the collar and dragged him bodily from the saddle. “Easy with the boy, man!” returned the other. “See if he’s got any papers about him. This is a queer set-up altogether, for a lad to be riding like mad toward headquarters--and over this road.”