the occupants of the room were startled by the door being
thrown open quickly to give entrance to a man wrapped in a
riding cloak, but whose hat and boots both bespoke the officer.

"Put your house in readiness for General Washington and
his staff, landlord," the new-comer ordered sharply. "They
will be here shortly, and will want supper and lodgings." He
turned in the doorway and called: "Get firewood from where
you can, Colonel Hand, and kindle beacon fires at both ends
of the bridge, to light the waggons and the rest of the forces;
throw out patrols on the river road both to north and south,
and quarter your regiment in the village barns." Then he
added in a lower voice to a soldier who stood holding a horse
at the door: "Put Janice in the church shed, Spalding; rub
her down, and see to it that she gets a measure of oats and
a bunch of fodder." He turned and strode to the fire, his
boots squelching as he walked, as if in complaint at their besoaked
condition. Hanging his hat upon the candle hook on
one side of the chimney breast and his cloak on the other,
he stood revealed a well-dressed officer, in the uniform of a
Continental colonel.

It had taken the roomful a moment to recover their equipoise
after the fright, but now Squire Hennion spoke up:

"So yer retreatin' some more, hey?"

The officer, who had been facing the fire in an evident
attempt to dry and warm himself, faced about sharply:
"Retreat!" he answered bitterly. "Can you do anything