Away we went, Guert's complicated chimes of bells jingling their merry
notes in a manner to be heard half a mile, the horses bearing hard on the
bits, for they knew that their own stables lay at the end of their journey,
and Herman Mordaunt's bays keeping so near us that, notwithstanding the
noise we made with our own bells, the sounds of his were constantly in our
ears. An hour went swiftly by, and we had already passed Coejeman's, and
had a hamlet that stretched along the strand, and which lay quite beneath
the high bank of the river, in dim distant view. This place has since been
known by the name of Monkey Town, and is a little remarkable as being the
first cluster of houses on the shores of the Hudson after quitting Albany.
I dare say it has another name in law, but Guert gave it the appellation I
have mentioned.

I have said that the night had a sombre, misty, light, the moon wading
across the heavens through a deep but thin ocean of vapour. We saw the
shores plainly enough, and we saw the houses and trees, but it was
difficult to distinguish smaller objects at any distance. In the course of
the day twenty sleighs had been met or passed, but at that hour everybody
but ourselves appeared to have deserted the river. It was getting late for
the simple habits of those who dwelt on its shores. When about half-way
between the islands opposite to Coejeman's and the hamlet just named,
Guert, who stood erect to drive, told us that some one who was out late,
like themselves, was coming down. The horses of the strangers were in a
very fast trot, and the sleigh was evidently inclining towards the west
shore, as if those it held intended to land at no great distance. As it
passed, quite swiftly, a man's voice called out something on a high key,
but our bells made so much noise that it was not easy to understand him. He
spoke in Dutch, too, and none of our ears, those of Guert excepted,
were sufficiently expert in that language to be particularly quick in