Lee, mindful of the value to Champe of every minute of delay which his ingenuity could devise, simulated a lack of understanding of his report, and when that had been repeated and clarified, appeared to doubt Carnes' deduction and sought to persuade him that he was mistaken. The latter, however, was a competent officer and moreover his suspicions had been thoroughly aroused. Arnold's treason had raised mistrust of loyalty which, perhaps, normally would not have been entertained. Therefore on leaving Lee, Carnes at once returned to his men and ordered them to assemble, thus quickly learning that Champe, "his horse, baggage, arms and orderly book" were missing. His worst fears thus confirmed and, greatly affected by the supposed desertion in his own command, he hurriedly arranged a party for pursuit and returned to Lee for written orders. Again Lee played for delay. While appearing to approve of Carnes' zeal, he told him that he had already planned certain other and particular service for him that night and that another officer would have to lead the pursuit. For that purpose, after apparent deep and protracted consideration, he chose a younger officer, Cornet Middleton, being moved to do so, writes Lee by "his knowledge of the tenderness of Middleton's disposition, which he hoped would lead to the protection of Champe, should he be taken;" but he was, at the end, obliged to issue orders in the customary form upon such occasions and those delivered to Middleton, duly signed by Lee, read ominously enough: "Pursue as far as you can with safety Sergeant Champe, who is suspected of deserting to the enemy, and has taken the road leading to Paulus Hook. Bring him alive that he may suffer in the presence of the army; but kill him if he resists or escapes after being taken."
And still Lee procrastinated. With one device or another he contrived to hold Middleton, giving him instructions in such detail that they bordered on the trivial. Yet rake his imagination as he would, he at length was obliged to dismiss the youthful Cornet, with an expressed wish, however insincere, for his success.
In the meanwhile, and soon after Champe's departure, rain had begun to fall, almost wrecking the carefully contrived plan; for Champe's horse was shod in a manner peculiar to the Legion and Middleton's party was thus better able to follow Champe's course than otherwise would have been possible on a dark night through the deserted country. Middleton and his men had finally succeeded in leaving the American camp soon after midnight, something over an hour after Champe had made his escape; but to examine the ground for shoeprints and the prints themselves, on a rainy night, meant the frequent dismounting of troopers, the striking of a light and thus an ever-growing delay. With the break of day, however, the shoeprints were clear enough and better time could be made--and then on a rise before reaching Three Pigeons, some miles north of the Village of Bergen, Middleton's men caught sight of the fugitive, not more than half a mile ahead, Champe seeing his pursuers at the same time.