"Perhaps it will be another such as the attempt to capture our brother-in-arms Mr. Wildfoot," said Marcel.
"If we come out of this as well as we did out of that," I replied, "we will have a right to think that Fortune has us in her especial keeping."
"Dame Fortune is kindest to those who woo her with assiduity," said Marcel, "and she cannot complain of us on that point."
But I knew how fickle the lady is, even towards those who woo her without ceasing, and I was uneasy.
The detachment had gathered in the suburbs, and we were subjected to a long period of waiting there. I also learned that no one was to be allowed to pass from the city during the day, and from this circumstance I inferred that Sir William was building great hopes upon the matter which he had in hand, and which he had placed under the direction of one of his ablest generals. I would have given much to know what it was, but I was as ignorant as the drummer-boy who stood near me. It was not until dusk that we marched, and then we started forth, a fine body, four thousand strong,--a thousand horse and three thousand foot.
"If there is a time for it to-night," I said to Marcel, when the opportunity came for us to speak together in secrecy, "I shall leave these people with whom we have no business, and return to those to whom we belong."
"And I," said Marcel, with one of his provoking grins, "shall watch over you with paternal care, come what may."
The night was half day. A full silver moon turned the earth--forests, fields, and houses--into that peculiar shimmering gray color which makes one feel as if one were dwelling in a ghost-world that may dissolve into mist at any moment. Our long column was colored the same ghostly gray by the moon. There were no sounds, save the steady tramp of the men and the horses, and the occasional clank of the bayonets together.
I did not like this preternatural silence, this evidence of supreme caution. It warned me of danger to my countrymen, and again I wished in my soul that I knew what business we were about. But there was naught to do save to keep my mouth shut and my eyes open.
We followed one of the main roads out of Philadelphia for some distance, and then turned into a narrower path, along which the detachment had much difficulty in preserving its formation. This part of the country was strange to me, and I did not believe that we were proceeding in the direction of the American encampment. Still, it was obvious that a heavy blow against the Americans was intended.