Note, with what ardent glance they search the upper bend of the road, round which the swelling turmoil above tells that the enemy must soon come- Not long have they to wait ; for soon round that upper bend the vanguard appears, stretching from wall to. wall ; and close behind it the struggling, surging mass of frantic cattle, that early morning stolen from patriot farms above ; and then the rear guard, with serried ranks and steady, though quickening tread, British Regulars or Delancey's famous rangers, for craven cowboy would long since have taken to the woods in abject flight. Behind, scarcely a dozen rods away, press the patriot farmers of the upper valley, sending thick and fast their avenging

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shots into the retreating lines ; and now, just as the hostile force wheels to pass round the foot of the cliff, our hero and his brave comrades, with deliberate and unerring aim, pour into its unprotected flank a withering fire. This unexpected attack is too much even for far famed English valor to endure ; it tells the foe that the patriot farmers of the old manor are rising in arms on every hand; it carries dismay and panic to their very hearts ; and those of them who have not already fallen, abandon their plunder, and seek safety in headlong flight. As they scurry down the road, many a patriot musket from behind boulder, tree or wall, booms out its resolute defiance ; and many a foeman falls. More than once the men of that militia regiment thus fought a miniature Lexington along that valley road. In one at least, not a single foe escaped death or capture, save the Tory guide, who, concealing himself in the wayside bushes, was overlooked in the hot pursuit.