They went to West Chester & found that Delancy with his horse had gone to New York. They secreted themselves until his return. When Delancy returned, his horse with another indifferent one & a sprightly mare, (that had been taken from the upper part of the County) were turned into a meadow in part of which there was corn, & two black boys set to watch the horses & keep them from getting into the corn. In the afternoon there came a heavy shower & the boys ran off to the house. They took this opportunity to catch the horses. Carpenter caught

58 The McDONALD PAPERS

Delancy's horse, Ferris the indifferent one & Greene the mare, & started off at full speed. They passed Williams Bridge where were stationed 25 Refugees, some of whom observed there goes the Col.'s horse. They thinking that Col. Delancy had sent out an express, a party of horse were ordered in pursuit. Ferris finding he could not get off with his horse, left him & ran through the fields towards West Chester & es-caped. Delancy's horse sent in pursuit, came within speak-ing distance of Carpenter & Greene but could not overtake them & they got off safe with their horses. See Conn. Gazette, Oct. 31, 1780.

FERRIS'S ADVENTURE AT THROGS NECK

The British, had a number of horses on Throgs Neck at pasture. Jonathan Pawling Horton, Thomas Ferris & Jedediah Owens went down with a view of bringing them off. Owens who had charge of the ropes, lost them, & the Refugees on the neck found them. They then sent scouts in every direction to search the neck, & they searched so thoroughly for them, that they got up into the top of a large tree, to spend the night. They had been there but a short time, when 5 or 6 Refugees came under the same tree, talked about lying down.