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 P. HAMILTON MYERS, ESQ., 
 
 AUTHOR OP "PRISOKER OP TUB BORDER," "BELL BRANDON," " HARLOW ESTATK 
 
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 NEW YORK: 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE 
 
 THE . 
 
 A TALE OF 1673. 
 
 BY 
 
 P. HAMILTON MYEKS, ESQ., 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE "KINO OF THR IIITRON8," " PP.I8ONER OF THE BORDER," "BULL 
 BRANDON," "WHITE BACIIEM," ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 CHAPMAN & CO., 116 NASSAU STREET, 
 
 THE AMERICAN NEWS CO., GENERAL AGENTS, 119 AND 
 
 121 NASSAU STREET. 
 
 1860.
 
 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1866, 
 
 BY CHAPMAN & CO., 
 
 lu the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 McCREA & MILT.KB, Stereotypers.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 MUCH wit has been expended upon prefaces ; and 
 it has sometimes happened that a whole string of bril 
 liants, constituting, perhaps, an author s chief stock in 
 trade, has been ostentatiously displayed at the door, 
 as it were, of his book, luring the unsuspecting reader 
 within, only to find that the interior of the edifice had 
 been despoiled to ornament the vestibule. Such in 
 troductions may be compared to a large fire, lighted 
 at the mouth of a cavern, which serves only to reveal 
 the darkness within. Their writers, if yet another 
 metaphor may be allowed, are like clocks at meridian ; 
 they first strike twelve, and afterwards preserve a low 
 and monotonous ticking. 
 
 A preface, indeed, is dangerous ground for an au 
 thor to tread upon. It should be short, pithy, and to 
 the point. It should hold out no false promises ; and 
 should explain to that very exacting tribunal, the 
 reading community, and to their vigilant purveyors,
 
 Vi PREFACE. 
 
 the critics, the claims to notice of the work which it 
 introduces. It should be unassuming, concise, lucid, 
 and bold ; with a slight odor of incense for the very 
 capacious nostrils of the Public, and a sort of gentle 
 " by your leave " flashing of genuine wit. Despairing 
 of attaining such a standard, the author of the follow 
 ing tale has determined to write no preface ; although, 
 out of regard to precedent, he has affixed that name to 
 what might more properly be termed a postscript. 
 Like that ingenious jeweller, however, who recommend 
 ed his washed tinsel, by asserting, in Yankee phrase 
 ology, that the lest part of it was gold, he would sim 
 ply say, that although the following work is a fiction, 
 designed to illustrate a great many things, the best, or 
 most important part of the incidents conforms, with 
 reasonable fidelity, to our earliest colonial history. 
 
 Two editions of this Book, in Library style, were 
 issued, many years ago, by G. P. PUTNAM, but the 
 work has been long out of print. The present is the 
 first cheap edition ever offered to the public. 
 
 NEW YORK, Sept., 1866.
 
 THE 
 
 FIRST OF THE KNICKERBOCKERS: 
 
 A TALE OF 1673. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE intelligent reader does not need to be told that, two 
 centuries ago, our great Metropolis, then in an embryo state, to 
 gether with a vast background of nebulous territory, was the. 
 colonial appendage alternately of England and Holland, and but" 
 lightly valued by either. 
 
 But let it not lower thy honest pride, oh vaunted Empire 
 State ! to remember those earlier days, when, in the shuttlecock 
 state of thy existence, thou wast bandied about from owner to 
 owner, now seized by force, and now a mere make-weight, 
 thrown in to settle some more important bargain. And thou, 
 oh gorgeous city of Manhattan ! mart of nations ! blush not to 
 own thy former self in a small provincial town, clustered around 
 its parent fortress, to carry out the pleasing illusion of protection 
 beneath its dread armament of sixteen frowning guns. For 
 midable at least were they to the prowling savage, lurking in 
 undiscovered haunts, where now the tide of human life rolls 
 thickest, and where loudest comes the busy hum of commerce to 
 the ear. 
 
 Renowned among the primitive patriarchs of the New Nether 
 lands, a stickler for the dignity and honor of the States General, 
 and a fitting representative of his transatlantic progenitors, was 
 old Evert Knickerbocker. His fortunes, like his affections, were
 
 16 THE FIRST OF 
 
 so intimately connected with the rise and decadence of the an 
 cient Dutch dynasty in New Amsterdam, as to render an account 
 of the one to some extent a history of the other. 
 
 Yet to neither of these weighty tasks does the humble pen of 
 the present narrator aspire. An outline sketch of the character 
 and fortunes of the venerahle Evert is all that can with safety 
 be promised ; for the shades of his cotemporary heroes are also 
 hovering near, and many thronging memories are summoned 
 from the cloudy realms of Tradition, obedient to the spell of that 
 magical name. To throw around these aerial messengers the 
 fetters of pen and ink, and to preserve them a little longer from 
 their destined oblivion, or mayhap, ah, wo is me ! to hasten 
 them, by an unfortunate association, to that gloomy end, such 
 is my more humble expectation. Thy memory, oh noble and 
 magnanimous Evert ! embodiment of the sterling virtues of a 
 noble and magnanimous people, may form indeed the theme of 
 passing eulogy, thy frailties perhaps elicit a passing smile. But 
 thou art introduced now and here (be quiet, restive shade!) 
 rather as the usher and forerunner of one claiming a more dis 
 tinguished notice. Nay, never shake thy hoary locks at me ! A 
 friend and confidant of the valiant Stuyvesant, sayest thou ? a 
 member of his privy council? one of his body-guard, as twere? 
 What though thou wert? Thou art a shade, innocuous now, 
 and must stand awhile aside, while Youth and Beauty claim 
 our first regard. 
 
 Youth and Beauty ! Perennial ideas of a flitting reality ! how 
 like the sunshine do ye glide from point to point, among the 
 generations of men, gilding with your beams each successive 
 race, and followed still by the penumbra of advancing age. Not 
 such, however, are their reflections who bask within your beams, 
 nor such were thine, oh pure and peerless EflBe ! fairest of Man 
 hattan s many fair ! rejoicing in thy dowry of charms, profuse 
 as blossoms on the vernal bough. The shade of Evert stands 
 appeased, and smiles approving now, willing, as in life, to con 
 cede to thee, sole centre of his love, all precedence of praise. 
 
 A picture of happiness and content were they, the gray-haired 
 man and his beautiful daughter, sitting at summer s twilight in 
 the open porch that overlooked the silvery Hudson, while fra 
 grant wreaths of smoke hung suspended, halo-like, above the 
 head of the one, and glossy curls, brown, rich, and silken, floated 
 as airily around the gently-tinted cheeks of the other. 
 
 If shadows could make indentures, Evert s portrait would have 
 adorned the wall, daguerreotyped by the setting sun ; for where 
 now he sat had he regularly smoked his evening pipe, through 
 the warm months of summer, for twenty-five long years. There, 
 eight years before, had he been startled from his wonted reverie
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 17 
 
 upon the future greatness of the New Netherlands, and the 
 growing honor of their High Mightinesses, by the booming guns, 
 whose echoes across the bay and through the distant forests 
 were but the prolonged dirge of his patriotic hopes. An English 
 fleet was in the harbor, and an English army on its decks. Not 
 numerous, it is true, were the foe, nor many were their floating 
 forts, but there was enough to strike terror into many an honest 
 burgher s heart, and to turn the lips of Evert whiter than the 
 falling ashes of his pipe. 
 
 Yes, the crowning calamity had come ; the reverberations of 
 the threatening cannon had died away; the lofty demand of 
 surrendry, the patriotic resolves of the few, the pusillanimous 
 capitulation of the many all was over. The gallant governor 
 was deposed, and Sir Kichard Nichols reigned in his stead. But, 
 saith an ancient and punning chronicler, unknown to the present 
 age, if Nichols reigned, Stuyvesant stormed, and tempestuous 
 indeed was the time. 
 
 And Evert, too, was at first turbulent with wrath ; but in his 
 milder nature that gusty passion soon sank to a subdued and 
 gentle grief; and nightly, now, as he took his accustomed seat, 
 did he lament the passing away of the good old times, and, with 
 fragmentary hopes of their return, build airy castles, smoke- 
 encircled, and vanishing in smoke. But time had tempered his 
 grief, and moderated his expectations. A change might come 
 lie would not despair; but he no longer looked daily to see the 
 gallant Tromp whitening the Narrows with his crowded sails, 
 nor watched the iron weather-cock for favoring winds to let in 
 the imaginary fleet. "With Stuyvesant, now a private citizen, 
 and his boon companion, he revelled in the memories of the 
 past, and enjoyed, not sparingly, the creature comforts of life, 
 with a zest seemingly but little impaired by care. 
 
 But Evert had substantial cause for his attachment to the 
 parent country. His large possessions and very large they 
 were were chiefly the fruit of her bounty, a munificent re 
 quital for early colonial services which had been deemed impor 
 tant by the home government. His estate lay chiefly upon Long 
 Island, although his homestead was in the city, and he held an 
 unheeded title-deed for a few hundred acres of wild land a mile 
 beyond the city wall, and stretching along the shore of the 
 Hudson. 
 
 llis household, at the period now spoken of, consisted only of 
 himself and two children, with the usual retinue of slaves inci 
 dent, even at that early day, to all the wealthy Dutch families. 
 The beautiful Eftie has already been named, and of her brother 
 it is sufficient, at present, to say that he was a merry, rattling 
 wag of twenty-two, full of life, and utterly indifferent, as long
 
 13 THE FIRST OP 
 
 as he was allowed to pursue his piscatory and forest sports 
 unmolested, whether Charles the Second was his sovereign, or 
 whether he was under the dominion of their Mighty Highnesses 
 (us he used to call them), the States General of Holland. 
 
 It will naturally he supposed that Effie, the beautiful, and the 
 heiress, was not without her admirers ; for our ancestors of that 
 age, unlike ourselves, are said not always to have been indiffer 
 ent to metallic charms. Suitors she certainly had, and while we 
 have been wandering, instead, to other subjects, it ought to have 
 been said that the party on the Dutch councillor s stoop had 
 been increased to three that a young and buckish-looking gal 
 lant was disputing with the kitten the honor of holding Miss 
 Effie s ball of worsted, and that the little belle, smiling coldly, 
 Avas listening with a semi-frown to the pretty flatteries of her 
 companion.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AMOXG the colleagues of the venerable Mr. Knickerbocker in 
 the council-board of the last governor of New Netherlands, 
 was one Wilhelmus Groesbeck, the counterpart in many respects 
 of Evert, his co-immigrant in early life, and, as the latter was 
 accustomed to designate him, a man of substance. But, alas, 
 for time and change ! the New Netherlands had ceased to exist ; 
 the governor no longer wielded the dread laton.of office ; the 
 council-board was broken up, and the man of substance was a 
 shade. 
 
 Although in life "VVilhelmus had enjoyed the pleasing illusion 
 of being the owner of a certain portion of the planet on which he 
 had been permitted to live, his title, as grave men of the law 
 advise, extending to the centre of the earth, three thousand nine 
 hundred and sixty-seven miles (and some odd feet, which he was 
 willing to throw off), notwithstanding all this, he died, it is be 
 lieved, without materially changing the position of his property. 
 Not, however, without decidedly changing the position of a 
 scape-grace son, who had watched hopefully his progenitor s 
 apoplectic symptoms for many years, and who was disconsolate 
 indeed until all attempts at resuscitation were abandoned. 
 This son, by that strange perversity of affection so often observed, 
 had ever been the chief object of his father s regard, and found 
 himself now the principal heir to his estate, and the direct de 
 visee of many wise and well-worded admonitions besides. 
 
 That Egbert was & first child, and thus peculiarly the remem 
 brancer ot one who had long forsaken earth that he bore her 
 features that he had been her idol these perhaps were some 
 of the strands of that strong paternal affection which had out 
 lived ingratitude and rebellion. For "Wilhelmus had another son, 
 who, if not disinherited, was left comparatively indigent, and 
 dependent in part upon the bounty of his elder brother, to whose 
 protection he was commended. The partial parent, proud of 
 his estate, had been desirous that it should be preserved entire, 
 in one branch of the family ; and there was something in the 
 bold and dashing air of his eldest boy which commended him to
 
 20 THE FIRST OF 
 
 the father s view, as a fitting person to perpetuate the ancestral 
 honors. He was a headlong fellow, and, although entirely selfish 
 and unprincipled, bore an exterior of frankness and candor, not 
 a little pleasing to the casual observer. He was a famous sports 
 man too, and had carried oif the honors of the chase on many a 
 well-contested field triumphs so nearly martial, as to elevate 
 him highly in the good graces of the late military governor. 
 
 Rudolph was bookish, mild, and contemplative. He soared 
 to many a# empyrean eminence of thought, and if he took any 
 flying leaps, it was upon the winged steed of Parnassus. He 
 never participated in the wassail or the song with the bloods of 
 the day, the ebullitions of whose coarser nature seemed to jar 
 upon his sensitive mind. Yet his heart was a well-spring of 
 every noble affection, and he was alive to all the harmonies and 
 beauties of Nature. If modest and retiring, he was firm and 
 stable in- his character (thanks to his Flemish blood!), and he 
 was possessed of a fund of humor, which, although always 
 sparkling, seldom degenerated into sarcasm. Such were the 
 brothers, to whom the great Groesbeck estate had descended, in 
 a shower of wealth to the one, and a slender competence to the 
 other. 
 
 But Egbert had additional cause for self-gratulation, besides 
 that of being the recipient of so bountiful a patrimony ; for he 
 was the affianced partner of the beautiful EfEe. Not that any 
 personal compact existed between them, but the matter had been 
 arranged years before, by older heads, which, shaking themselves 
 wisely together, had settled the whole aifair, leaving nothing at 
 all for the youngsters to do, excepting quietly to acquiesce in the 
 proposed arrangement, when the set time should arrive. 
 
 What effect Egbert s sudden enfranchisement from paternal 
 authority was like to have upon the matter, did not at once ap 
 pear. Certain it is that he showed no proper appreciation of his 
 privileges. The fruit which hangs within our grasp, however 
 rich and luscious, is not always the most tempting ; for the eye 
 ever wanders to the more distant branches, and searches for in 
 accessible treasures. Indeed, the modest and retiring charms of 
 Effie were scarcely calculated to captivate so coarse a mind as 
 that of Egbert. The hoyden beauty who could meet midway 
 his addresses, who could flatter and cajole him, -who could talk 
 vociferously and laugh boisterously, was far more likely to 
 attract his admiration ; and such a charmer, unfortunately for 
 the young heir, lived in his neighborhood, the sole object of 
 whose ambition was his subjugation. 
 
 She was the daughter of one Hiram Sharp, a man who had 
 transferred his talents from one of the New England settlements 
 to that of New York, but a few years prior to the period now 
 spoken of. As this latter personage, like his daughter, is des-
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 21 
 
 tinod to figure somewhat in the following narrative, it may be 
 allowable here briefly to describe him. Of Miss Enphemia, and 
 of her younger brother, who was just arrived at man s estate, 
 and rejoiced in the sonorous name of Beuhadad, little need at 
 present be said, as the progress of this history will sufficiently 
 develope their prominent beauties of character. Hiram had 
 been a lawyer, and one of that variety which so often brings 
 opprobrium upon his noble profession. The organ of cunning, 
 whatever may be its designation in the nomenclature of phre 
 nology, was the nucleus of his brain : his pineal gland was there, 
 and his soul; for Hiram was what is called an acute man. He 
 was wide awake, as the saying is; that is to say, he was always 
 looking out for his own interests, and looking on coldly, yet 
 closely, at everything else. Of about fifty years, rather tall, 
 slightly stooping, with a sharp spectacled face, and little restless 
 gray eyes, laughing much, and sneering more, but always watch 
 ing such was Mr. Sharp. 
 
 He was not, at the time now spoken of, properly a lawyer, for 
 he had abandoned his profession, and was engaged in a miscel 
 laneous trading business far more lucrative. He bought peltry 
 of the Indians, poor simpletons, who thronged his doors, eager 
 to exchange the wealth of the forests for valueless trinkets, or 
 the suicidal draught. He was suspected, too, of carrying on a 
 still more reprehensible species of commerce. It is well known 
 that, in that early state of the colony, the government, weak, 
 and unsettled, was often compelled to wink at the greatest 
 enormities. Pirates thronged the seas, and, scarcely dissembling 
 their character, visited the settlements. They were, of course, 
 a rough, bull-dog race, whose huge whiskers and jaunty caps 
 were a terror to all beholders, and the weak officials of the law 
 were fain to believe them good honest seamen, a little eccentric 
 perhaps, but evidently industrious and thriving. 
 
 These worthies were often seen lounging about Hiram s store, 
 and if rich foreign fabrics adorned his shelves more plentifully 
 on such occasions it was a coincidence certainly, but what was 
 a coincidence ! You would not deprive a man of his good name 
 merely on suspicion, gentle reader, and if you would, let me tell 
 you that your ancestors were far more charitable. Certain it is 
 that Hiram Sharp was famed for being a man of good moral 
 character. It was what he prided himself upon. He could 
 have brought troops of witnesses to any tribunal to testify to it, 
 and Captain Kipley, the gentleman from Portugal, would have 
 clinched the matter with more oaths, probably, than any magis 
 trate would have required. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that Mr. Sharp waxed wealthy.
 
 22 THE FIKST OF 
 
 His roots struck deep into the soil, and his branches overshad 
 owed the land. They overshadowed, too, many an honest Dutch 
 burgher, who, in the quiet contemplation of his cabbages, his 
 pipes, and his chubby-headed boys, saw the tide of trade roll 
 turbulently by, without ever dreaming of embarking upon its 
 treacherous surface. They vented some harmless imprecations, 
 at times, upon the upstart Yankee, fully believing that Satan was 
 his right-hand man, and that he would yet be seen flying away 
 bodily with the wily lawyer and all his ill-gotten treasures. 
 
 Mr. Knickerbocker was among the few wealthy Hollanders 
 whose possessions greatly exceeded those of the New Englander, 
 and the stock of moral qualities which was hoarded up in the guile 
 less breast of the latter was enhanced and beautified by the crown 
 ing one of envy. He could not bear to see the silver-haired Evert 
 walking quietly about, with his hands behind him, the acknowl 
 edged proprietor of fifty thousand acres of land. And when ho 
 learned that his own amiable daughter, imbued with paternal pru 
 dence, was angling wilily for the treasures of the defunct Groesbeck, 
 his dislike to the Knickerbockers was by no means diminished ; 
 for he knew well the intended union of Egbert and Effie, and 
 he had but little hope that it could be prevented. 
 
 But when Hiram could do nothing else, he could watch^-tind. 
 silently and calmly he observed the course of events. Yet, vigi 
 lant as he was, there were some things which eluded his obser 
 vation, or he would have ceased so eagerly to desire the alliance 
 which he contemplated for his daughter. Egbert s wealth gave 
 but little promise of perpetuity. A career marked by folly and 
 extravagance did not necessarily lead him to transcend his ample 
 income; but there is one variety of vice which undermines with 
 facility the most colossal fortunes. If the administration of the 
 Duke of York had been signalized by a large accession of English 
 gentry and gallant cavaliers to the province, it had also been 
 marked by the influx of adventurers of every description. Gam 
 bling had then as now its fashionable devotees, and its systematic 
 sharpers, who were quick to discover their legitimate prey; and 
 when it is said that Egbert unwarily ventured w r ithin the circuit 
 of this great moral maelstrom, the precariousness of his posses 
 sions will be readily conceded. But his addiction to so fatal a 
 habit, notwithstanding his losses had already been large, was 
 unknown even to the astute Hiram, and Avas of course unsus 
 pected by Mr. Knickerbocker; for the heavy mortgages which 
 lay upon his fair fields did not change their smiling aspect, or 
 check their growing verdure. 
 
 Long wavering in his choice between the lawyer s daughter 
 and the gentle Effie, it was only by views of a mercenary char 
 acter that he was at length brought to a decision, and foregoing
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 23 
 
 his frequent visits to the former, he seemed to prosecute with 
 earnestness his claims upon his affianced bride. Now Effie had 
 a heart full of all pure and noble emotions, and in her utter 
 loneliness would doubtless easily have been won by a generous 
 and worthy wooer. But she had been offended by Egbert s 
 seeming indifference, and resolved, with true feminine spirit, to 
 punish him, if only with temporary resentment. Well would it 
 have been for the tardy lover if the gentle vengeance of Effie 
 had been all that he had to dread.
 
 24 THE FIRST OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 might the venerable Evert look regretfully back upon 
 departed days of Dutch dominion in the province of the New 
 Netherlands. So many were the invidious distinctions made 
 between the Dutch and English residents, by the new authori 
 ties, and so needless the vexation and disquiet inflicted upon tho 
 former, that some began to take alarm, lest even the titles to 
 real estate which had been acquired under the old dynasty should 
 be set aside. The power bestowed by the Duke of York upon 
 Governors Nichols and Lovelace was of a plenary nature, and 
 was executed much in accordance with the despotic spirit which, 
 at that period, marked the British rule. 
 
 If, however, Governor Lovelace looked with an evil eye upon 
 some of the more wealthy Hollanders, he did not attempt to 
 dispossess them of their lands, but, following the example of Sir 
 Richard Nichols, he reaped a rich harvest of fees, by requiring 
 a renewal of all patents which had been granted by the former 
 government. The brief administration of his predecessor had 
 left his labor unaccomplished, and even Lovelace probably con 
 sulted the exigencies of his private exchequer, in the time and 
 manner of enforcing the requirement. But early in the autumn 
 of the year 1672, the few who had neglected previous admoni 
 tions on this point wero warned, by a governmental edict, of the 
 necessity of compliance within a prescribed period. 
 
 Among those by whom this mandate had hitherto been un 
 heeded, and who now prepared to give it a grumbling acquies 
 cence, was Mr. Knickerbocker ; but what was his consternation 
 on being unable, after the most diligent search, to find any trace 
 of a patent for his own extensive domains. In vain was the de 
 pository of family writings ransacked, and countless old papers, 
 musty and mildewed, brought to light. Bending over chests, 
 rummaging through drawers, reaching to topmost shelves, and 
 peering into dark corners, the alarmed old man passed a whole 
 day, without success. Tired with his labor, he sat down to reflect, 
 and although he distinctly remembered that his manor rights had 
 been settled in council, fifteen years before, and that he was then 
 fully entitled to his patent, he could not recall to mind the exist-
 
 THE KNICKEKBOCKEES. 25 
 
 ence of any such instrument. He did not remember ever to 
 have seeu it, and the fearful truth gradually forced itself upon, 
 his mind, that by some strange oversight it never had been exe 
 cuted. A blind confidence in the stability of the then existing 
 government ,was doubtless, in some degree, the cause of this culp 
 able negligence. 
 
 But how dreadful was his dilemma ! Watchful enemies on 
 every side, and so strong a pretext for wresting his estate from 
 his hands. He knew full well that, if he had no deed, his lands 
 would be regarded as having belonged to the Dutch government 
 at the time of the conquest, and as having passed, by that event, 
 to the new sovereignty. Desperate with fear, he resumed his 
 laborious search, and quitted it only when exhausted both in 
 body and mind. On the next day he gained access to the public 
 office where the object of his search, if in existence, should 
 have been recorded, and, without disclosing his object to any, 
 made a diligent examination, which proved equally fruitless. It 
 is needless to say that he returned to his home a sad and dis 
 pirited man. All his vast possessions seemed slipping from his 
 grasp, as it were by some necromantic wile. 
 
 It was a consolation, however, to reflect that as yet he was the 
 sole possessor of this important secret ; and, earnestly hoping 
 that what had so long remained undiscovered might continue 
 to be concealed, he resolved to maintain a perfect silence upon 
 the subject. Doubtless, he thought, the new instrument could 
 be constructed without any reference to the old, for the tract to 
 be embraced in it was known as certain distinct townships, and 
 required no definite description. Such was the judicious reason 
 ing of Evert, but reason and resolution did not allay his alarm. 
 With the mania of a mind filled with a single idea, he was 
 haunted day and night by the dreadful fear that some accident 
 would betray the momentous truth. 
 
 Quietude became a stranger to his breast, and sleep forsook 
 his pillow ; or else even in dreams his grief returned. Visionary 
 sheriffs surrounded his bed, serving countless writs of ejectment: 
 long parchment processes, the very caligraphy of which was 
 fierce and threatening, unrolled themselves before his eyes : little 
 mocking demons perched upon his bed-posts, and, grinning wide 
 ly, whispered to each other, "He hasn t any title!" and one, 
 bending even over his pillow, with cheeks distended like a trum 
 peter s, shouted into his ears, " Where s your patent ? Where s 
 your patent ?" 
 
 Morning came, and he walked about his grounds for relief; 
 but fear and suspicion w r ere his companions. The very fowls 
 seemed to be cackling forth his secret. Chanticleer jumped upon 
 the fence, and crowed it to the winds ; the ducks were babbling
 
 26 THE FIRST OF 
 
 about it in the pond ; the geese, with long necks outstretched, 
 hissed it in his ears ; and a fierce old gobbler, his gills red with 
 wrath, eyed him askance, as he sputtered forth his views on the 
 subject, with wonderful volubility, though fortunately in an un 
 known tongue. 
 
 He strolled into the city, and sought diversion of mind. His 
 walk led him directly past the store of the attorney, whose 
 meddling propensities he was well acquainted with, and whom, 
 of all men, he dreaded most to encounter. He was just con 
 gratulating himself on getting past unaccosted, when the sharp 
 visage and sharper voice of the lawyer made him cognizant of 
 his approach. Evert prepared to give him a civil good day, and 
 glide quietly by, but the other evidently contemplated some 
 further salutation. He had a pencil in one hand, and in the 
 other a little scrap of paper, scrawled all over with figures and 
 diagrams, and there was an ominous pen behind his ear ; alto 
 gether, never had the lawyer looked so formidable. He came 
 up close to Evert, and poked his sharp nose almost into the old 
 man s face, as, with an awfully distinct articulation upon each 
 word, he said, 
 
 " Mr. Knickerbocker, Where s your -patent ?" 
 
 Poor Evert s heart stood still; the blood forsook his face, 
 and the showering ashes fell, Hake-like, from his trembling pipe. 
 Several seconds elapsed before he could reply, and the lawyer, 
 who in reality designed nothing more than to elucidate some 
 trifling boundary question, stood wondering at his emotion. 
 Now, great as was Evert s alarm, he would not, in the singleness 
 of his heart, have uttered a wilful falsehood for his whole estate, 
 and he replied, stammeringly, that he did not think he could lay 
 his hand upon it at that moment. 
 
 "Oh, of course not," said Hiram. "I did not suppose that 
 you carried it about with you, but I wanted to know how far 
 north your ridge farm extends, as I have a tract of land adjoin 
 ing ;" and the lawyer went on, chattering about links, and chains, 
 and blazed trees, and stakes, and stones, and surveyors, until all 
 these ideas were floating in a complete whirl through the brain 
 of his bewildered auditor. Evert inquired what boundary Mr. 
 Sharp claimed upon the south, and upon the latter designating 
 one which clearly embraced a few acres of his own land, he 
 replied, 
 
 " Very well, Mr. Sharp, I ll not dispute it with you ; put your 
 fence where you think the line is, and it shall be all right." 
 
 The lawyer, gratified and astonished, bowed in reply ; but, as 
 Evert was walking off, he gave him the gratifying assurance 
 that he would walk over to his house, nevertheless, on some fine 
 day, and look at tlie patent as he wanted to see about the
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 27 
 
 I 
 
 Whiston and Pebble Bay tracts, and about the Cove and 
 about 
 
 "Yes -yes yes," said the old man, tearing himself away, 
 with sad forebodings, " any time any time. You ll come soon 
 enough," he muttered to himself " it s all gone : I see it clearly 
 now, it s all gone ah ! my poor, poor Effie." 
 
 Evert went home utterly appalled. Ruin was staring him in 
 the face, pulling him by the sleeve, pushing him from behind, 
 surrounding him on every side. Sharp would certainly come. 
 Nothing in the world could stop him. An avalanche would not 
 have been a feather in his path an earthquake might have 
 shaken him, but not his purpose. He could not fail to discover 
 the whole secret, for the absence of the patent would arouse all 
 his suspicions, and set his infernal wits at work. Thus thought 
 the ex-councillor, and not without reason. From the moment 
 when he parted with the wily lawyer, the latter had not ceased 
 to wonder at his singular emotion. Malice sharpened his wits, 
 and his suspicions soon taking the right direction, he flew to the 
 colonial record office, and to his unspeakable delight found that 
 it contained no trace of Evert s title. 
 
 His doubts now became certainty the agitation of the old 
 man was all accounted for, and Hiram rubbed his hands, and 
 grinned gleefully, as he thought how many desirable objects the 
 discovery of this momentous secret would enable him to accom 
 plish. It was true, the recording of the patent was not essential 
 to its validity, and, if Evert could produce it, his rights could 
 not be questioned ; but that he could not do so seemed nearly 
 certain. Why else should it remain absent from the public books, 
 and why such unnecessary alarm ? The patent was either lost, 
 or had never been executed, and, in either case, Hiram foresaw 
 the downfall of his rival, a bountiful slice of his manor in hia 
 own hands, as a reward for his fidelity to the state, and above 
 all, a probable recovery of the mercenary Groesbeck and his 
 extensive estates. 
 
 With such inducements for effort, he resolved to leave nothing 
 undone ; and, suspending all other labors, he gave his mind solely 
 to this magnanimous enterprise. His first step was to call upon 
 Governor Lovelace, with whom he had long been on confidential 
 terms, and whose favor and powerful patronage rendered him 
 additionally formidable. He did not, however, fully disclose 
 his errand to that functionary at first, but only hinted in general 
 terms at his important secret, seeking to elicit the views and 
 feelings of his companion. Lovelace, however, was not a man 
 to be trifled with, and perceiving, more by the lawyer s counte- , 
 nance and manner, than by his words, that his mind was teeming 
 with some important matter, he hastily replied :
 
 28 THE FIB8T OF 
 
 " Speak out, Mr. Sharp, speak out you talk of escheats, and 
 forfeitures, and rewards quite too blindly. Tell your whole 
 story, sir ; it is no small game that you have treed, I ll be sworn, 
 and if it is any of these smoke-dried, disloyal old curmudgeons 
 who go about with their gold-headed canes, prating of their 
 High Mightinesses, the States General, you may name your own 
 price, sir, your own price, within the bounds of reason." 
 
 " Would a fifth be too much ?" suggested Sharp, nervously. 
 
 " A fifth, Ilirarn ? why, you grow modest, man you do in 
 deed you shall have a third, sir, a third," returned Lovelace, 
 who had, in reality, but little idea of the magnitude of the law 
 yer s " game." Sharp uow eagerly disclosed his whole story, to 
 the great surprise of his companion, and the conference that fol 
 lowed was long and confidential. Let it suffice that, when Hiram 
 went home, he was in a flush of excitement and joy, and lie 
 resolved to call on Mr. Knickerbocker the very next day, and 
 request a view of- the patent.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OVERWHELMED with the fear of his impending calamity, Evert 
 in the meantime resolved to apply to his old friend, Governor 
 Stuyvesant, for advice. The thought relieved him, and he flew 
 to put it into execution. The ex-governor, who had retired from 
 the city at the time of the conquest by the English, resided about 
 two miles north of the wall, on his farm or Bowerie, a locality as 
 far within the bounds of the modern town as it was beyond the 
 precincts of the old. 
 
 He received Evert s intelligence in silence, and listened to the 
 thrice-repeated story of the garrulous old man without reply. 
 His countenance gave no indication of his thoughts, but his 
 friend could read his changing emotions with sufficient accuracy, 
 in the varying puff s that escaped from his pipe. The dense, dark 
 cloud which burst forth at first, the little angry jniffs that suc- 
 ceededj and the light, easy, graceful wreaths that next ensued, 
 were all intelligible. There was surprise and alarm at the 
 danger contemptuous indignation at the lawyer, and, finally, 
 distinct and certain relief. Poor Evert s eye brightened as ho 
 beheld these harbingers of hope floating gracefully over his com 
 panion s head. He seized the hand of his friend, and, with 
 watery eyes, looked the gratitude of his heart. Stuyvesant 
 smiled in reply, and, lowering his pipe for the first time, he 
 said : 
 
 " Go home, Mr. Knickerbocker, and be quiet ; / thin lc I Tcnqw 
 icliere your patent is. Hans shall bring it to yon. Go home, 
 and go to bed, for yon look like a pool\ Mr. Knickerbocker 
 go home, go home," he continued, shaking the old man s hand, 
 and holding him fast the meanwhile ; and then, his whole face 
 changing to a thundercloud, he sputtered forth a string of Dutch 
 anathemas at the meddling lawyer, as he turned hastily away, 
 and left Evert quietly to pursue his homeward path. 
 
 Hans, a tub-like lad of eighteen, was called and despatched at 
 once to summon to the governor s presence Mynheer Teunis 
 Vanderbilt, an old, spare, spindle-shanked, shadowy man, 
 scarcely larger than the smallest of his own money-bags, who 
 had at one time been chief officer of state under the valiant
 
 30 THE FIKST OF 
 
 Stuyvesant. He had been a sort of prime minister, chief coun 
 cillor, civic and military secretary, and aid-de-camp, acting also 
 occasionally as envoy extraordinary to Yankeedom and New 
 Sweden. In these capacities and others, he had not only con 
 trived to feather his own nest pretty effectually, but had treas 
 ured up a wholesome degree of wrath against the Yankees, and, 
 like Stuyvesant, he now watched with jealous eyes all encroach 
 ments upon the privileges of his order, the old aristocracy of 
 the land. 
 
 When Mr. Vanderbilt arrived at the house of his friend, ho 
 found the latter sitting beside a table, on which were writing 
 materials, and a large blank sheet of parchment. There was a 
 vacant chair at the board, of which Tennis took possession, and 
 lighting his pipe, a silent fumigation ensued for about half an 
 hour, the secretary s eye falling occasionally with an inquiring 
 glance upon the parchment. 
 
 " Hef you forgotten how to write, Teunis?" at length inquired 
 the governor, between puffs. 
 
 "Nain nain, Mynheer," replied the secretary, laughing, "Ich 
 can write my name. 1 . 
 
 "I don t believe it," returned Stuyvesant, quietly. 
 
 Teunis gravely repeated his assertion. It was indeed a lesson 
 that he had taken too much pains to learn, to allow of his easily 
 forgetting it, for the sum total of his chirographical education 
 had been devoted to the acquirement of that one accomplish 
 ment, the art of writing his name. The force of learning could 
 no further go. 
 
 Stuyvesant pushed the parchment toward his amazed com 
 panion, and, putting a pen into his hand, pointed to the lower 
 left-hand corner of the sheet. Amazement seized upon poor 
 Teunis, who stared first at the parchment, and then at the gov 
 ernor ; but the latter, with his eyes fixed upon the ceiling, sat 
 puffing a regular ha ! ha ! and seemed utterly unconscious of his 
 presence. The secretary seized the pen, and, after some ineffec 
 tual attempts to mend it with his tobacco knife, set himself about 
 his task. It was a tedious job, and the little man paused after ac 
 complishing the first half, and smoked a pipe before resuming his 
 labors, eyeing meanwhile, with much complacency, the scrawl 
 before him, which might easily have been mistaken for the por 
 trait of a many-legged spider. At last, however, the feat was 
 satisfactorily performed, and Stuyvesant owned himself mis 
 taken. 
 
 Mynheer Vanderbilt, however, was an astute man, and, after 
 much silent cogitation, he began to wonder what was in the 
 wind ; but his old habits of deference to his superior prevented 
 him from encroaching upon his confidence by inquiring into
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 31 
 
 anything which the other seemed desirous to conceal. He, 
 therefore, rose to depart, and was arrested for a moment in the 
 doorway by the voice of his friend. 
 
 "Teunisl" said the governor, gruffly. 
 
 The secretary turned, and looked back. 
 
 "Teunisl" repeated Stuyvesant, more emphatically. 
 
 "Wai, Mynheer!" was the response. 
 
 The governor laid down his pipe, and pressed his forefinger 
 upon his closed lips, until the displaced blood left them as color 
 less as the wall. Vanderbilt replied to this pantomime by a 
 similar gesture, and departed. 
 
 No sooner was Stuyvesant left alone, than he seemed desirous 
 of ascertaining whether he also retained the art of writing, and 
 taking the pen which lay beside him, he affixed his own name 
 to the lower right-hand corner of the parchment, opposite that 
 of the secretary. This being done, the services of Hans were 
 once more in requisition. Again he went into the city, and re 
 turned this time accompanied by another elderly man, whose 
 sagacious look, and quick rolling eye, gave token of a different 
 order of intellect. He was, in fact, an ancient Dutch lawyer, 
 who stood high in the confidence of the governor, and whose 
 little crotchety handwriting was to be seen on alt the public 
 documents of the late administration. 
 
 But, like many other sagacious men, Mynheer Myndert Ten 
 Eyck had contrived to overlook the main chance, and had found 
 himself, in the downhill of life, almost a pensioner upon the 
 bounty of his ancient comrades. He had no reason, however, 
 to complain of stinted generosity on the part of the ex-governor, 
 and it was owing perhaps partly to this circumstance that he 
 had responded with such alacrity to the summons of the latter. 
 Stuyvesant had arranged a chair for him at the table in such a 
 manner that he could scarcely fail to observe the mysterious 
 parchment, with its signatures in blank ; but this precaution was 
 quite unnecessary, for Mynheer Ten Eyck would have discovered 
 it, had it lain in the darkest corner of the room. The governor 
 proceeded at once to business, by informing his visitor of Mr. 
 Knickerbocker s loss, and of the immense importance of finding 
 the document without delay. 
 
 "I have reason to think," he said, "that it is in your posses 
 sion, Mr. Ten Eyck, inasmuch as you wrote all the old patents, 
 and I want you to look for it, and to look very sharp, and 
 again his merry pipe sent forth a succession of little laughing 
 puffs, while the gravity of his countenance remained undis 
 turbed. 
 
 The lawyer comprehended the whole subject ; that he did so 
 was sufficiently evident from the fact, that while his companion
 
 32 THE FIRST OF 
 
 was looting another "way, he had already slipped the parchment 
 slyly into his pocket. " I think I can find Mr. Knickerbocker s 
 patent," he replied; but a cloud of doubt rested on his face, as 
 he slowly continued, " but I hope you have considered " 
 
 "Everything," retorted the governor, angrily. U I have con 
 sidered everything, Mr. Ten Eyck, and it must be found. I will 
 be responsible /, sir Peter Stuyvesant, with my manors and 
 estates. Do you understand me now ?" 
 
 The lawyer bowed. 
 
 "Donner and blitzen!" exclaimed the old man, striding up 
 and down the room till the house echoed with the strokes of his 
 wooden leg upon the oaken floor "Donner and blitzen!" ho 
 said, scowling at the frightened attorney, " would you sit still and 
 see the finest estate in the province confiscated, and the gray- 
 haired Evert in the poor-house, while a parcel of idle Yankee* 
 were rioting on his lands ? Would you " 
 
 How far the venerable Peter s oration would have extended 
 is uncertain, but on the breaking away of a thick cloud, which 
 had hung stationary for some time, midway to the ceiling, he 
 discovered that his auditor was missing. 
 
 Scarce two hours had elapsed, however, before a messenger 
 from the attorney arrived, who delivered a sealed package into 
 the hands of Mr. Stuyvesant, and disappeared. The latter eagerly 
 tore off the envelope, and, to his great amazement, beheld an 
 old, worn, smoke-dried, mouse-nibLled sheet of parchment, con 
 taining letters patent to Evert Knickerbocker for all his manor 
 lands. It was dated in 1057 bore the signatures of Peter Stuy 
 vesant as governor, and Tennis Vanderbilt as secretary, and had 
 an old dirty seal of white wax appended to it with a faded blue 
 ribbon. Again and again did the governor examine and scru 
 tinize it with the most overwhelming astonishment. 
 
 "The tuyfel is in the lawyer," he exclaimed at length, after 
 turning it over for the fiftieth time ; and had it not been for an 
 extra cross which he had accidentally bestowed upon the final 
 letter of his name, he would have sworn that the document 
 before him was in every respect genuine. As it was, his delight 
 knew no bounds. Calling upon Hans once more, he despatched 
 him with the precious document, carefully enveloped, to Mr. 
 Knickerbocker, whose amazement and joy had well-nigh over 
 turned his reason ; for no faintest gleam of suspicion did he 
 entertain as to the authenticity of the deed. Soft was his pillow 
 on that happy night; no spectral sheriffs were abont it; the 
 demons were all gone ; and the long, spectacle-stridden nose 
 and rat-gray eyes of Hiram Sharp did not peer from behind the 
 bed-post once during the live-long night.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 33 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE gray twilight of the ensuing morning saw the vigilant 
 lawyer on his feet. Far different had been his repose from that 
 of the venerable Evert, for all night long the clink of the sur 
 veyor s chain had been sounding in his ears, find little dancing 
 figures, indicative of interminable distances, had floated before 
 his eyes. Longitudinally, transversely, and diagonally, had ho 
 divided the Knickerbocker manor, and at every trial his own 
 third part had proved, by some strange hocus pocus, larger than 
 all the remainder. 
 
 He laughed nt the remembrance of his dreams, but he looked 
 on them as a good omen, and bestirred himself diligently at his 
 labors. It was nearly mid-day, however, when he started on 
 his important errand, for he was certain of then finding Evert 
 at home, smoking his after-dinner pipe, in one corner of his long 
 Dutch stoop. Despite his bountiful supply of brass, he was a 
 little embarrassed at first, as he approached his supposed victim, 
 and he attempted to hide his confusion by rapid talking. 
 
 " Good marnin , Mr. Knickerbocker, heow do you dew I ve 
 called over about that air patent of yourn -jest want to look at it 
 a minute fine marnin . You ve been to dinner a ready, hay ? 
 You Dutch people have dinner dreadful arly." 
 
 He had rattled on thus far, closely watching, meanwhile, tho 
 countenance of Evert, and he stopped now in surprise at tho 
 perfect equanimity of the latter, who, handing a seat to his vis 
 itor, called to Effie to bring the desired document. Puzzled 
 beyond expression at these appearances, and not a little alarmed, 
 Sharp was arguing to himself the impossibility of its being pro 
 duced, when Effie came dancing out, and placed the sallow old 
 parchment in his hands. Opening it, with an eager and wolf- 
 like gaze, his eye ran rapidly across the sheet, and a feeling of 
 utter discomfiture came over him. If it had been his own 
 death-warrant he could scarcely have viewed it with more sur 
 prise and grief. 
 
 Again and again did he scan it, but, forced at length to admit 
 to himself that there was no flaw in the instrument, he slowly 
 folded it up, and was about returning it to Evert, when a sudden
 
 34 THE FIRST OF 
 
 thought seemed to occur to him, and he drew back his hand. 
 The remembrance of his recent conviction that the patent was 
 not in existence, and the evidence which had sustained his belief, 
 came back to his mind with such overwhelming force, that he 
 resolved to make still another examination. For ten long min 
 utes did he slowly inspect the paper, until every fold and stain 
 and mark had been perused and re-perused, without success. 
 Suddenly raising it, however, to the light, and looking through 
 it, a glare of fiendish exultation shot across his features ; for the 
 faintly stamped mark of the manufacturers had caught his eye, 
 revealing the dreadful figures " 1671 "! 
 
 "It is a forgery," he shouted; "a forgery!" holding it up 
 before Evert, and pointing to the fearful proof, while the parch 
 ment shook and rattled in his unsteady hand, like an aspen in 
 the breeze. A deathly pallor overspread the face of the old 
 man : he rose tottering to his feet, gazed for a moment at the 
 fatal figures, and then sank exhausted to his chair, with a des 
 pairing conviction that all was lost. A moment s reflection con 
 vinced the wily lawyer of the true state of things. He knew 
 that the signatures were both genuine, and he was equally well 
 acquainted with the writing of Ten Eyck. That these three old 
 cronies of Evert should have thus combined to help him out of 
 a scrape, was the most natural thing in the world. But he knew 
 also that Stuyvesant was at the bottom of the whole intrigue, 
 and he would as willingly have encountered the arch-fiend as 
 have got into a broil with the irate old governor. 
 
 His policy, therefore, was to profess to believe poor Ten Eyck 
 the sole artificer of the patent, and that the names of Stuyvesant 
 and Vanderbilt were counterfeited. He hastened, too, to bring 
 about an expose of the aflfair, lest the ex-governor might in some 
 way outwit him after all. Taking advantage therefore of Evert s 
 emotion, he slipped the patent into his pocket and departed. He 
 bent his steps directly to the residence of Governor Lovelace, 
 and, after a short interview with that officer, hastened to the house 
 of Ten Eyck. The sight of Sharp with the open patent in his 
 hand, a sudden accusation, and an appeal to the mischievous fig 
 ures, overwhelmed the old man, and he could not reply. Hiram 
 laid the parchment on the table, and paced the room as he con 
 versed. There was a fire on the hearth, and his alarmed com 
 panion, taking advantage of a moment when the back of his ac 
 cuser was turned to him, seized the evidence of his supposed 
 crime and cast it into the flames. It was what Sharp had ex 
 pected and desired. The fatal mischief was accomplished, and 
 Evert Knickerbocker was a pauper. 
 
 Not in the literal sense of the word, yet reduced to the slender 
 competence which the possession of a small homestead, and a
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 35 
 
 few hundred pounds beside, might afford, la vain was every 
 .effort made to stay the operation of the dreadful machinery of 
 the law ; for Evert s rights were not surrendered without a vigor 
 ous effort for their retention. As to Sharp, the informer, en 
 riched by his own infamy, his name would doubtless have become 
 a reproach, had he not immediately set up a carriage, doubled 
 his subscription to the minister, and talked largely about reforms, 
 and all imaginable kinds of charities. 
 
 But the proper course of this narrative now carries us back to 
 a time cotemporary with its opening scenes, and to the contem 
 plation of other characters and different events.
 
 36 THE FIRST OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TnE surprise and indignation of Rudolph Groesbeck at finding 
 himself divested of his expected patrimony were not slight, and 
 for a while he had entertained the illusive hope that his brother 
 vvonld rectify so apparent an injustice. But it soon became 
 evident that Egbert contemplated no such unnecessary gene 
 rosity. With the vanity of a little mind, he exulted over a bro 
 ther whose superiority he had ever been compelled secretly to 
 acknowledge ; though it was rather Rudolph s elegance of per 
 son, and a certain intuitive grace of manner, which awakened 
 his envy, than the advantages, less appreciable to him, of an 
 enlarged mind, and a good education. 
 
 Rudolph was tall and well formed, and his face, radiant with 
 intellectual light, possessed beauty of a higher order than any 
 which mere symmetry of features can impart. Possessed of a 
 scanty income, he found himself restricted to a quiet and obscure 
 life, and subject, moreover, to the not infrequent taunts of 
 Egbert, and his roystering companions, as a tame and spiritless 
 fellow, destined to mope for a life-time among musty books. 
 And such, at times, he fancied himself to be, secluded, owl-like, 
 from the world, shutting his eyes to the daylight of the Present, 
 and groping in the dim night of the Past. Ilis owlship, however, 
 was destined to be disturbed by the Sittings of a butterfly. He 
 me-t the beautiful Effie each uirknown to the other rendered 
 her some trifling courtesy, and returned to his books to find her 
 sunny features upon every page, and to hear the melody of that 
 one remembered tone outeounding all the grave voices of Anti 
 quity. 
 
 The transforming power of Love has been the theme of all 
 ages ; and that it wrought its usual marvels upon Rudolph need 
 not be doubted. His well-thumbed books were allowed a long 
 respite upon their shelves, and he sought in frequent walks to 
 encounter once more his unknown charmer. His poetic fancy 
 had invested the very spot in which they had met with unwonted 
 beauty, and its echoes seemed still vocal with the harmonies of
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 37 
 
 her voice. He forgot his own poverty; he forgot, indeed, that 
 there were such things as Wealth and Want. A rich and ex 
 haustless mine of bliss seemed opened in his heart, which wonld 
 prove triumphant over the ills of life, and independent of the 
 vicissitudes of Time. 
 
 That Rudolph did not recognize the daughter of his father s 
 chosen friend, whom as a child he had intimately known, is 
 seemingly a matter of surprise. But Time, good old fellow, to 
 give him his due, is not perpetually wielding his scythe to depo 
 pulate nations, or stooping with hammer and chisel at the hase 
 of mighty edifices, or changing the channels of rivers, or upbuild 
 ing islands in mid-ocean. For he had found leisure, during 
 Rudolph s retirement, to develope so many beauties and graces 
 in the gentle Effie, as to bury beneath their profusion her former 
 self. So sinks the vase from view, concealed by bending flowers. 
 
 Bnt it was no pleasure to the student to learn that his fair 
 unknown was the daughter of the wealthy Evert. For a while, 
 indeed, he wilfully closed his eyes to the disparity of fortune 
 between them, and meeting her again and again, by a design 
 which seemed like accident, he contrived to fasten more firmly 
 the rosy fetters which enthralled him. Innocent of every art, 
 and utterly unconscious of Rudolph s sentiments, Effie s genuine 
 good nature and childish hilarity of spirits were unchecked in 
 his presence by the reserve which might otherwise have 
 detracted from her charms ; and the lover soon found himself 
 in the plight of the dazzled insect, which, unwarned by the 
 singeing of its wings, continues to tempt Fate, until it rushes 
 bodily into the flame. But the -reflection which is not allowed 
 to precede, is sure to follow our imprudent acts. Rudolph s 
 dream of bliss was as brief as it was bright ; for dismay seized 
 upon his heart as he at length began to contemplate the gulf that 
 intervened between himself and Effle. 
 
 The cold stage of his disease set in, and he flew to his books 
 for relief. Ilomer paraded his Helens and Penelopes before him, 
 and hinted at all the ruin they had wrought; Virgil dwelt com 
 placently upon the charms of the magnificent Dido ; Horace 
 cracked a few unfeeling jokes on the subject of Love in general ; 
 Ovid otFered to instruct him in the art; and Seneca, the grave 
 old wag, buried to his chin in gold, descanted sagely upon the 
 blessings of Poverty. Miserable comforters are ye all, thought 
 the hapless Rudolph, as, turning his back upon his study, he 
 strolled into the fields. 
 
 His sudden despair, however, had not been caused, or scarcely 
 enhanced, by the existing engagement between Egbert and 
 Efrie, for to that event, while it remained unratified by any per- 
 uuttnl contract, he attached no manner of importance. It was
 
 38 THE PIKST OF 
 
 the grim spectre of Poverty, more formidable than ftie fabled 
 genii of the East, which stood scowling between him and the 
 bright Paradise of his hopes^. Musing painfully upon his adverse 
 fortunes, he sauntered to the river, and, arranging the sails of a 
 small boat which he kept for pleasure excursions, embarked upon 
 the glassy tide. 
 
 It was a warm autumnal day, and the whole face of Nature 
 was wrapt in smiles. The sky was bright and blue above him, 
 and its image bright and blue below, and his white-winged bark 
 seemed suspended in mid-ether, floating cloud-like and buoyantly 
 along. The sportive sea-gulls were flitting around him, now- 
 darting into the stream, and now flashing the sunlight from their 
 dripping wings, as they wheeled rapidly away. The trill of 
 many birds came faintly from the shore ; the distant lowing of 
 cattle was heard, and the far-off voice of Chanticleer, the chal 
 lenge and reply, at once disturbed and illustrated the silence of 
 the scene. 
 
 Eudolph s boat seemed instinctively to shape its course in the 
 direction of the Knickerbocker homestead, which stood on a 
 slight eminence, that sloped by a gentle declivity to the river. 
 At the bottom of the garden and on the very margin of the 
 stream was a latticed summer-house, clothed with flowering 
 vines, in which he loved to fancy the beautiful Erne, lulled to 
 repose by the silvery voice of the tiny billows at her feet. 
 Loosening his snowy sails opposite this sacred retreat, he loi 
 tered midway of the stream, forgetting for a while his grief, and 
 wrapt in those bright dreams of the imagination, whose pris 
 matic hues so often lend their radiance to the young and inge 
 nuous mind. 
 
 Unheard was the shout of triumph which came ever and anon 
 from the fisherman s shallop, anchored in the distance, and the 
 louder detonation of the sportsman s gun, echoing among the 
 adjacent forests, disturbed not his reverie. His mind was revel 
 ling in Elysian fields, for Hope, like the coral architect of the 
 sea, was rearing her gorgeous structures beneath the very bil 
 lows of Despair. Thus feeding the fire that consumed him, the 
 hapless Rudolph gave way to the impulses of a generous and 
 guileless heart. The day waned, and he retired to his lonely 
 home, depressed by the re-action of his thoughts, his devotion 
 and his vigils unrewarded, even so much as by the fluttering of 
 a scarf in the breeze. 
 
 The time now spoken of was just that period when Egbert, 
 after a succession of heavy losses at the gaming table, began to 
 grow certain of his own affection for the beautiful heiress. His 
 marked addresses to Erne soon became generally known, and 
 Eudolph, smitten to the heart with his own adverse fate, resolved
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 39 
 
 to abandon a home darkened by so many griefs. In the settle 
 ment about Fort Orange, or, as it was called by the English, Fort 
 Albany, resided a brother of the deceased Wilhelmus, whose 
 often urged entreaties for a visit from Rudolph the latter now 
 resolved to accept. 
 
 A sloop was preparing to sail for the fort, for the transmission 
 of some munitions of war, and other government stores, to the 
 garrisons at that settlement and at Schenectady. On board this 
 vessel Kudolph embarked. The voyage was unusually long. 
 There were head winds, and side winds, and no winds, to baffle 
 the wary skipper, and there were stoppings at night, and safe 
 anchorings to be found, and watchings for the day. Formal 
 soundings too were to be made, even where the bottom was 
 visible through the shallow and pellucid wave ; and the coast 
 was to be examined for future conquest ; and the charcoal chart 
 of Captain Van Dam was to be Corrected by striking out three 
 cannibal islands erroneously set down on a former voyage, 
 and by inserting a volcanic mountain among the Highlands, 
 which, like the pipe of its sage discoverer, is supposed to have 
 long since burnt out. A week indeed elapsed before they had 
 doubled St. Anthony s Nose, and another ere the six frowning 
 guns of Fort Albany were visible. It mattered little, however, 
 to Kudolph. He had his books and his meerschaum, and in the 
 black-letter page of the one, and from the fragrant wreaths of 
 the other, gleamed the radiant features which were at once the 
 cause and the solace of his grief. 
 
 It was during his sojourn in these hyperborean regions that 
 the important events recorded in the preceding chapters had 
 occurred, of which no intelligence had yet crossed that mighty 
 interval which stretched between the city of New York and the 
 far northern outpost of Albany. 
 
 Egbert s wooing, meanwhile, had for a time given token of 
 success, for Effie had unfortunately been accustomed to regard 
 the alliance as a matter of duty. Her heart indeed was unwon, 
 but then she knew nothing of the wealth of affection which lay 
 dormant within it. 
 
 But the sudden calamity which had overwhelmed the house 
 of the Knickerbockers, singularly enough, put a new aspect 
 upon the suitor s zeal. The culminating point of his love seemed 
 suddenly to be past, for the silvery voice of Effie, and her golden 
 locks, like the bills of a broken bank, no longer represented the 
 chink of the genuine coin. He had manifested much alarm at 
 the first intimation of Mr. Knickerbocker s troubles, and for a 
 while took an active part in attempting to defeat the machina 
 tions of Sharp. He esteemed himself, however, most fortunate 
 in not having yet passed the Rubicon of proposal and acceptance,
 
 40 THE FUtST OF 
 
 and resolved, while the peril impended, to maintain a middle 
 ground between courtship and estrangement, from which it 
 would be equally easy to advance or retreat. 
 
 Miss Sharp, in the meantime, did not cease to ply her artillery 
 with great effect, whenever the enemy came within the range of 
 her charms. She affected much commiseration for the Knicker 
 bockers, and regretted that the government should have employed 
 her father in so unpleasant a duty as that of prosecuting its claims 
 against him. She herself could bear witness to the sleepless 
 nights which it had occasioned poor papa ; and then her own 
 feelings, to say nothing of Benhadad s, had been lacerated to an 
 extent that it was really quite painful to mention. Such was the 
 substance of Miss Euphemia s sentiments as detailed to Egbert, 
 with as much of a languishing air as a pair of small, black eyes, 
 and a mouth with a decidedly snap-dragonish expression, would 
 admit of. But her fears and suspense were not of very long con 
 tinuance, for the news of the ultimate rejection of Evert s claims 
 was speedily followed by another marked change in the deport 
 ment of Egbert. His attentions to Eth e grew "small by degrees 
 and beautifully less," and within a few weeks were altogether 
 discontinued. 
 
 Poor old Evert, in all his troubles, had thought less of himself 
 than of his children, and he consoled himself often by reflecting 
 how well his darling Effie was provided for, and by hoping that 
 Egbert, in the plenitude of his wealth and kindness, might possi 
 bly lend a helping hand also to his heedless son. It was with 
 bitter grief and indignation, therefore, that he had discovered the 
 perfidy of the heartless youth, nor would he indeed give any cre 
 dence to the signs of his desertion until compelled so to do. Far 
 different, however, were Elfie s feelings. A sense of relief, and 
 of freedom from some hidden danger, gave new Moom to her face 
 and fresh buoyancy to her steps. She grieved indeed for her 
 father s sorrow, and sought ever to console him by the assurance 
 that they would still do well enough. 
 
 Remember," she would say, as she brushed the thin locks 
 from his temples " Remember, papa, what Dominie Vischor told 
 us on Sunday, about blessings in disguise." 
 
 The image of the Dominie s reverend head, just visible above 
 the huge high pulpit, and threatened with momentary demolition 
 by the massive cone, which, like the sword of Damocles, hung 
 perpetually above it, rose for a moment in Evert s mind. 
 
 " Yes yes, my child, I remember it well," he replied. 
 " Heaven knows I thought of thee when he spoke of the wind 
 being tempered to the shorn lamb for thou art a lamb, my Effie, 
 and thy fold will soon be broken up."
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 41 
 
 We belong to one fold and one Shepherd, papa," said Effio, 
 smiling cheerfully; and the old man, imprinting a kiss upon the 
 check of his child, tottered weeping from the room.
 
 42 THE FERST OF 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 j 
 
 THE gallant Captain Sinclair, who bore about his person 
 wounds received in the famous battle of Dunkirk, and who was 
 loitering a while in this country, while awaiting some expected 
 promotion on the navy rolls of Spain the gallant Captain Sin 
 clair was a little fond of play. 
 
 " Not deep not deep, indeed," he would say, as, seating him 
 self opposite the flattered Egbert in a small room of Mynheer 
 Schnaffenswauzer s hotel, he would drop his cane and gloves, and, 
 raising his eyeglass, gaze about the room with a quick, jerking 
 motion of his head, to make sure that they were entirely alone. 
 Captain Sinclair shuffled the cards very awkwardly. "We mari 
 ners," he would say, "are more accustomed to the boarding-pike 
 than the card-table," and he quite envied his companion s more 
 adroit and graceful motions. He was even known, at times, to 
 drop a card on the floor, so very awkward was he, and so bung 
 ling, and at times those perverse little pieces of pasteboard would 
 get even into the sleeves of the Captain s coat, a new naval un 
 dress of Spain, large at the wrist, and open, exceedingly. 
 
 He played often with Groesbeck, and sometimes, at night, in 
 company also with a couple of young lieutenants in the Austrian 
 service, with whom they had formed quite an accidental acquaint 
 ance, and the younger of whom took a great liking to Egbert, 
 and was always his partner. They lost very heavily at times, 
 but the Austrian bore his misfortunes with a good grace, and 
 always paid promptly. So did Egbert, for he would not for the 
 world have disgraced so distinguished an acquaintance. 
 
 And thus the poor dupe went on, floundering in the net that 
 was all around him, and entangling himself at every throe more and 
 more deeply. Not that Egbert and his companion always lost ; on 
 the contrary, they won at times quite considerable sums, which 
 the Captain always paid down in broad Spanish pieces; but the 
 preponderance of the luck was heavily against them, and, in the 
 more private tete-d-tete games with the Spaniard, Egbert wan 
 also a heavy loser.
 
 THE KXICKERBOCKEKS. 4:8 
 
 Sinclair consoled him, in all these reverses, with tales of the 
 most astounding good fortune which had befallen people upon a 
 sudden turn of luck after being nearly ruined. 
 
 Mr. Groesbeck did not seem much consoled by these anecdotes, 
 for his losses continued to multiply, until their magnitude became 
 truly alarming : but then the Captain was irresistibly polite and 
 affable, and his victim could never find cause of quarrel or 
 offence. Nor was their intimacy by any means confined to the 
 card-table, for the Spaniard would often call with a dashing 
 equipage purchased with his friend s money, and invite the lat 
 ter to take a drive with him about the city and its suburbs. 
 They were seen together, indeed, at all public places, and Egbert 
 prided himself upon the association, for the Captain was so 
 distingue. 
 
 There was one place, however, to which Sinclair never would 
 go, however often invited or urged, and that was the residence 
 of Mr. Hiram Sharp. He even seemed to avoid it in their drives 
 about town, much to his companion s regret, for Egbert was not 
 unwilling to show off his aristocratic-looking friend to Miss Eu- 
 phemia, who, it need scarcely be said, was already fully rein 
 stated in his affections. Scarcely a month had elapsed since the 
 cessation of his visits to Effie, and it had been only out of fear 
 of public scorn that he had even thus long refrained from appear 
 ing as the acknowledged suitor of Miss Sharp. 
 
 But such a motive was not likely long to influence him, more 
 especially as neither the lawyer himself, nor his daughter, seemed 
 to be troubled with any sensitiveness on that point. Sharp, in 
 deed, for once became indiscreetly eager in the pursuit of his 
 object, for the large bait, which, shark-like, he had so voraciously 
 swallowed, seemed only to have whetted his appetite. The great 
 Groesbeck estate being once in his family, in addition to his own 
 now colossal fortune, he would be able to look down upon Gov 
 ernor Stuyvesant himself; while to have seen Egbert in tho 
 hands of the Knickerbockers, would have left his pique against 
 that harmless old man far from being gratified. 
 
 It does not take long to make a bargain when both parties 
 think they have got the best of it, and so the alliance was very 
 soon agreed upon : the wedding-day was named, and the prepa 
 rations went rapidly forward, and Sharp rode out to look at tho 
 estate and calculate its value in the hands of a good manager. 
 
 In the mean time Egbert continued his dangerous career, for 
 the near approach of his wedding-day made him more anxious 
 than ever to replenish his exchequer. He felt deeply the want 
 of available funds, for although he had raised large sums by 
 mortgaging his land, they had all passed into the hands of his 
 adroit friend. He was resolved now to strike one Napoleonic
 
 44 THE FIRST OF 
 
 blow for liberty, and, having fully recovered his ground, to be 
 more wary in future about retaining it. 
 
 Elated with this resolution, which seemed so easy of accom 
 plishment, he sought out Sinclair, and in the evening, in com 
 pany with that gentleman, paid his accustomed visit to Mynheer 
 Schnaffenswauzer s hotel. He felt certain that he should win 
 on that night, and he resolved to risk larger sums than usual, in 
 order that a short run of luck might set him up. He had before, 
 on several occasions, blamed himself for the paltriness of his 
 ventures, for, by an unfortunate coincidence, his winnings had 
 almost always occurred when there was but little at stake. 
 
 " I have no more money," he said to Sinclair, laughing, as they 
 again sat down at the fatal table ; " Old Levi does nothing but 
 croak, and make mouths, and twirl his long snaky fingers at me 
 when I apply to him, and says he fears my estate is not worth 
 what he has already advanced on it the shrivelled old sinner. 
 But I will put up the acres to-night, Captain Sinclair," he said, 
 speaking with desperation. " You know that they are worth 
 thrice the amount of the Jew s claim. What say you to the 
 Harlem farm, where we shot that fine buck yesterday, against a 
 thousand guineas?" 
 
 "What! play you so largely, then?" asked the other, with a 
 surprised air. 
 
 The gleam of insanity was in the eye of Groesbeck, as he 
 replied : " Ay ay it s this light play that ruins a man. 
 Fortune smiles on a bold venture. Come, sir, down with your 
 louis d ors ; I long to hear them chinking in my pockets." 
 
 The Spaniard s hesitation, whether real or affected, only in 
 creased the eagerness of his companion, and he at length com 
 plied. They played, and Egbert lost. His eye flashed wildly 
 his lips were compressed, but he did not complain. Another 
 tract and another was proposed, and still Egbert lost, and thus 
 half an hour elapsed, with but little variation of result. Three- 
 fourths of Groesbeok s property was gone, and he was about 
 pledging the remainder, when the Captain, alarmed lest by grasp 
 ing at too much he might lose the whole, refused to play. 
 
 "The luck is clearly against you, to-night," he said; "do not 
 tempt Fortune too far." 
 
 "I am ruined already," replied Egbert, dashing his cards to 
 the floor ; " three-fourths of my estate are in your hands ; the 
 rest will doubtless be the Jew s." 
 
 "Very true; very true," said Sinclair, blandly, and drawing 
 on his gloves ; " Count Sylvio " 
 
 " D n Count Sylvio !" said Egbert, tearing from his pocket a 
 bundle of old papers, and flinging them upon the table. "There 
 are my father s title-deeds ; have your deeds prepared and send
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 45 
 
 them to me at once, and they shall he executed ; but do me the 
 favor," he added, more mildly, u to keep this matter secret for 
 one week." 
 
 "Most certainly, sir," said the Captain, clutching the papers, 
 and feeling only half certain of his good fortune. 
 
 " One week, mind and it will not matter so very much after 
 all. Old Hi," he muttered to himself, thus abbreviating his ex 
 pected father-in-law s name u Old Hi is worth half a million." 
 
 And thus the gamblers parted.
 
 46 THE FIRST OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IT was on a calm May morning, about three days prior to that 
 of the contemplated nuptials, that the virtuous Mr. Sharp was 
 interrupted in the midst of a harangue at his own breakfast- 
 table, upon the heavenliness of that charity which begins at 
 home, by a visit from a friend of old standing, who desired to see 
 him forthwith, alone, and on important business. Not a little 
 surprised was the lawyer as, followed by the fierce-looking Cap 
 tain Ripley, he led the way into a private apartment ; for that 
 enterprising mariner had now been in port so long that it was 
 scarcely probable he could have any new bargains to offer. He 
 was not, however, kept long in sasftense. Mr." Ripley had called 
 in behalf of a friend who was about to leave the country for a 
 season, and who, having recently become an extensive land 
 holder in the province, was desirous of procuring a faithful 
 agent to take charge of his estates. 
 
 Mr. Sharp was delighted ; Mr. Sharp took off his spectacles 
 and said : " Is it possible 1 yes certainly very discreet happy 
 to render him any service always at the disposal of his friends," 
 &c., &c. ; and then Mr. Sharp put his spectacles on again, and 
 waited meekly for further developments. They came. Captain 
 Ripley was a man of very few words, and the story was soon 
 told as soon,, that is, as the interruptions of the awfully incensed 
 lawyer would permit. It is probably needless to say that Sin 
 clair was the capitalist alluded to by Ripley, who, knowing 
 nothing of the intended marriage between Egbert and Miss 
 Sharp, and presuming upon the iniquitous bond of secrecy al 
 ready existing between himself and Hiram,, had not hesitated to 
 hint broadly at the means by which his friend had acquired the 
 Groesbeck estates. 
 
 " Mr. Ripley," said Hiram, as soon as his rage had subsided to 
 the speaking point, "your friend is a swindler, and you are his 
 accomplice, and the property must be refunded to Mr. Groesbeck 
 at once, sir, or I will arrest you both, and for far graver crimes 
 than this." 
 
 Sharp did not see it \vould have been better for him if he 
 had the demoniac scowl and baleful glare which passed, like a 
 cloud and a flash, across the sailor s face.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKER*. 4:7 
 
 " You talk boldly, Mr. Sharp," he said, with composure. 
 
 "I do, sir," continued the lawyer; "I am a bold man; it is 
 my business to be so. And mind, sir, I will have no parleying 
 or delay in this matter; remember that there are trees on 
 Gibbet, Island that bear such fruit as you and your swindling 
 companion." 
 
 " You are a bold man," replied Ripley ; muttering a long for 
 eign oath, which sounded like the rattling of shot against the in 
 side of his teeth ; " but what must be, must be. I will talk with 
 Sinclair about it, and see what can be done." 
 
 " You had better you had better," returned Sharp rapidly. 
 
 " I will see you " 
 
 "This afternoon." 
 
 "I will ;" and the sailor departed. 
 
 Manifest was Mr. Sharp s perturbation. He followed his visitor 
 to the door, and followed him with his eyes far down the street, 
 and waited anxiously for his return. lie had known nothing 
 before of Sinclair s connection with Ripley, and although he had 
 long looked upon the former as some worthless adventurer, ho 
 had supposed him to be of a higher grade than the pirate ; for 
 such, he did not seek to conceal from his own mind, was Ralph. 
 Before others he of course scouted the idea of such a suspicion, 
 for his own business connection with the sailor and his compan 
 ions had of late been scarcely cloaked. His present dilemma 
 was therefore a serious one ; for even if he had possessed suffi 
 cient evidence for the arrest of Ralph and his friend on so grave 
 a charge as piracy, he would, by so doing, impugn his own moral 
 character, a fabric which stood already on too tottering a basis 
 to bear any very heavy concussion. He would also put a stop to 
 a very lucrative business, derived not alone from the harmless 
 little Zephyr, Captain Ripley, of and for Lisbon, and now lying 
 at anchor on the opposite side of the bay, just out of reach of the 
 guns of the fort ; but from several other similar craft floating 
 under the colors of Portugal and Spain, and visiting at tinies the 
 harbor of Manhattan. 
 
 Besides all this there was, in reality, no sufficient legal proof 
 against either Ralph or his vessel, and he knew very well that 
 Lovelace would never consent to embroil himself, uselessly, with 
 a set of desperadoes, who, in one way or another, would be sure 
 to have their revenge. He had heard, however, that outlaws of 
 this description were proverbially timid, beneath all their outside 
 swagger, and his hope lay chiefly in the fears which he had evi 
 dently excited in Ripley s breast. 
 
 Several hours elapsed, and the day was on the decline, when 
 Ralph returned. A tall stout man he was, brown as a butternut, 
 and sporting bushy black whiskers, and a mustache. The law-
 
 48 THE FIRST OF 
 
 yer s mind was wonderfully relieved on seeing him, for thero 
 was such a good-natured, playful smile upon his face, and his 
 glittering teeth shone out so frankly from between their black 
 borders, that he felt satisfied all was right. They conversed 
 awhile apart, but the store was thronged with people, and there 
 was so little room for privacy, that Hiram, at the suggestion of 
 his visitor, took his hat, and they sauntered slowly down the 
 street. The Captain talked rapidly and seemingly to the point, 
 for his auditor was very attentive. He grew eloquent, indeed, 
 and his arms flew about like flails, and his head went bobbing in 
 every direction. 
 
 " My friend, Captain Sinclair; 1 he said, "is a gentleman of the 
 strictest honor, I do assure you, sir ; and he charges me to say 
 to you, that if he could only once have dreamed of such a thing 
 if he could just have dreamed of it, sir, that your daughter was 
 to be married to Mr. Groesbeck, he certainly would not would 
 not have have " 
 
 u Fleeced him I" suggested Hiram ! 
 
 " No, no, no! my dear sir, that s not the word ; you are face 
 tious, you are, indeed, sir." 
 
 To this and a great deal more, Sharp listened anxiously, ex 
 pecting momentarily to hear something to the point. They had 
 loft the main thoroughfare to avoid listeners, and were strolling 
 through a by-street, towards the river, at a point but little fre 
 quented, and near to which the water was fringed with a thin 
 growth of bushes. Hiram had been all eagerness and delight ; 
 for he was too cunning to be taken in by any professions of re 
 gard on the part of Ealph and Sinclair, and attributed all his 
 companion s civility to the fright which his threats had occa 
 sioned him. Indeed, he had been so accustomed of late to see 
 people cringe to him, that he had begun to fancy himself a man 
 of extraordinary importance. But some how or other there did 
 not seem to be quite that degree of fear manifested by his com 
 panion which he had expected, and he recalled all his former 
 sternness of manner that he might re-awaken it, and bring mat 
 ters to a more speedy conclusion. 
 
 " Well, well, Mr. Kipley, this is all well enough," he said, 
 " but where are the deeds ? These, you know, must be returned 
 at once." 
 
 The deeds ah, yes. Captain Sinclair says this way a little, 
 the walking is better," taking a side-cut across an unfenced field, 
 and still towards the river and the bushes " Captain Sinclair 
 says that he will surrender them with the greatest pleasure iu 
 the world " 
 
 Hiram s eyes sparkled 
 
 " Upon your paying him ten thousand guineas !"
 
 THE KNICKEEBOCKEKS. 49 
 
 "Tho scoundrel!" exclaimed Sharp, blinded again by sudden 
 rage ; " does he dare, do you dare to make such a proposal ? Do 
 you remember what I said to you this morning?" 
 
 "I DO," returned Ripley, through his teeth, and letting his 
 brawny hand fall with the clutch of a tiger upon the shoulder of 
 his companion; "I remember it well," he said, dragging the 
 other within the cover of the bushes, " you said there were trees 
 on Gibbet Island ic7iich tore such fruit as I and my swindling 
 companion. 
 
 The pirate s face was changed to that of a demon ; his eyes 
 were bloodshot his nostrils were dilated; his cheeks were 
 flushed ; and his whole frame quivered with the intensity of his 
 rage. 
 
 " You, Hiram Sharp, who have fattened on my favors whose 
 whole life has been full of fraud and villainy who yourself de 
 serve the death of a dog do you talk to me about the gibbet /" 
 
 " My good sir, I didn t mean " 
 
 "Nay, it is too late! 1 1 thundered Kalph, shaking his victim to 
 make him stand still. 
 
 " Really, really, my dear Captain Ripley, let us go back, 
 never mind the deeds ; never mind the property." 
 
 11 It is too lateT 
 
 "I will pay the ten thousand " 
 
 "It is too lateT 
 
 A long, low whistle issued from the lips of Ralph, and two 
 agile seamen sprang up the bank and stood at his side. Bound, 
 gagged, dragged down the declivity, and thrust into a small boat 
 which lay. concealed beneath the bushes, Sharp s failing senses 
 became conscious only of a rapid transition across the water, of 
 being hoisted up the side of a ship, and thrown, like a log, into 
 some dark corner. 
 
 Ralph had remained on the beach, and strolling leisurely back 
 to the city, he took especial pains to exhibit himself at all his accus 
 tomed places of resort. He even called at Sharp s shop, and, not 
 finding its proprietor at home, patiently awaited his return, 
 smoking meanwhile a fantastically carved pipe, and imbibing a 
 liberal potation of his friend s double-reduced Monongahela. 
 
 Hiram in the mean time remained in the dreadful situation 
 which has been described, a prey to the most excruciating terror. 
 All his efforts to move or speak were unavailing, and the only 
 sound that reached his ears was an occasional coarse jibe upon 
 his misfortunes, followed by fiendish laughter. Hours elapsed, 
 he knew not how many. The day went and came, and there 
 he lay. But at length there was the sound of an approaching 
 boat, and cheerful voices were heard without. Somebody had 
 come ; there was a faint gleam of hope in his breast. His son 
 3
 
 50 THE FIRST OF 
 
 had proved vigilant and shrewd ; had suspected his fate; had 
 incited the governor to action ; had arrested the kidnappers, and 
 flown, armed with official authority, to his relief. Such was the 
 dream of a moment, and in the next Ealph and Sinclair stood 
 before him smiling! Oh, how dreadful was that smile! His 
 whole frame shuddered as he saw it, for it spoke of the poniard, 
 the gurgling waters, and the shark ! He was brought forward, 
 and the gag was removed from his mouth, but he could not speak. 
 His feet were next pinioned together, yet only by gestures could 
 he express his agony. 
 
 " Bring a small shot forward !" shouted Ealph. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," was the quick response, and a twelve-pouncl 
 ball was brought. 
 
 "Fasten it to his feet," he said, turning away, "and, when it 
 is quite dark, call me." 
 
 Again the answer was prompt, and the orders were obeyed, 
 and Ralph and Sinclair descended to the cabin. Hiram s senses 
 seemed spell-bound, as it were, by some hideous nightmare ; but 
 he recovered his voice at length, and called faintly to one of his 
 guards. He came nearer. 
 
 "Do you want to be rich?" whispered the prisoner, "very 
 rich ? do you want gold gold ten thousand real glittering 
 guineas?" 
 
 "Yes," said the sailor. 
 
 "Help me to escape, and you shall have it all all and 
 more." 
 
 " There are trees on Gibbet Island that bear such fruit as we /" 
 was the taunting reply. 
 
 It was as if some mocking demon was ever echoing back the 
 words of his rash threat. He was about to renew his efforts 
 when Ralph and Sinclair approached. The evening had set in, 
 arid it was already sufficiently dark to prevent any possibility of 
 observation from the shore. At their approach Hiram poured 
 forth the most frantic cries for pity, and Sinclair seemed suddenly 
 to relent. 
 
 "Stop, Ealph," he said, as they were dragging their victim to 
 the side of the ship. "We sail in a few weeks let s carry the 
 old sinner to the Pelews." 
 
 "Yes, gentlemen, yes," cried Sharp; "do do I ll Chris 
 tianize them." 
 
 "I ll not consent to it," exclaimed Eipley, with an oath 
 "he would have hung us; let him. die I won t consent to 
 it." 
 
 " Your consent won t be asked, Mr. Ripley," returned the other 
 coolly. " You forget yourself, I think perhaps you have been a 
 little too long on shore."
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 51 
 
 " Very true, Captain it s for you to say, of course, but it s my 
 game, and curse me if I think it s hardly fair." 
 
 " Oh, never mind, Ralph ; I ll promise you he never sets foot 
 on these shores again, and that s enough for our purposes." 
 
 Poor Hiram had remained looking from one to the other of 
 his captors during this colloquy in a tumult of dreadful emotions ; 
 but when he felt himself relieved from the prospect of immediate 
 death his delight was unbounded. The shot was removed, and 
 he was secured, still bound, in a small room below.
 
 52 THE FIRST OF 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GEOBSBECK did not cherish his grief, or seek to per 
 petuate an illusory hope. But let him not be blamed if he could 
 not at once uproot the gentle flower of affection, which, dear to 
 him as the stricken gourd to the rebellious prophet of Judah, 
 had sprung into existence with almost equal celerity. Isolated 
 from the ordinary ties of life, it was natural that his one attach 
 ment should be intense and strong. He struggled indeed to free 
 himself from its power, but, like the broken slumbers of morning, 
 it still returned to enthral him, and like disturbed dreams its 
 gorgeous fragments still re-united, and glowed as brilliantly as 
 ever. The winter had passed slowly away, and the mellow skies 
 of May were bending above Fort Orange, and the quiet little 
 hamlet which surrounded it. 
 
 It was high noon in Albany, the hour of sleep from time im 
 memorial to the Netherlander?, and in peaceful oblivion were 
 its ancient burghers wrapt. There was fortunately an English 
 garrison at the fort, or the wily Hurons would have found it as 
 safe an hour for attack as the noon of night; and it is even 
 reported on as good authority as that of Herr Longbow Vonder- 
 marvel, a now neglected chronicler, that in earlier days the Dutch 
 sentinels had been scalped while asleep upon the walls, and had 
 only discovered their loss on awaking at the usual hour. The 
 regretted trophies, however, it is said, had been subsequently 
 returned to them by the taunting foe, well cured and smoked, 
 and suitable for use as tobacco-pouches. 
 
 But there was a sudden commotion in the sleep-enveloped 
 village, on the day which has just been described. Doors and 
 window-shutters were thrown violently open in every direction, 
 and heads were peering out and clamorous voices were heard ; 
 and one little bandy-legged fellow, -with a short pipe fitted im 
 movably in one corner of his mouth, was flying about from house 
 to house, sputtering forth something in deep Dutch which 
 elicited a general jabbering response from all quarters, whether 
 of joy or grief, it was difficult to tell. The men shouted, the 
 women yelled, the hens cackled, and the dogs frisked about, and 
 snuffed the air, and barked, and wondered what the deuce was 
 in the wind.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 53 
 
 "Who saw it, Hans Spaffenswelter ?" asked old David Groes- 
 beck, who had come growling from his sleep, " that s what I 
 want to know who saw it?" 
 
 " Josh Vanderwater saw it, "was the triumphant reply ; "Josh 
 Vanderwater, and you ll allow he s got eyes." 
 
 An apparent commotion at the fort was also perceptible, for 
 the commandant and half the garrison were on the walls, shading 
 their eyes with their hands, and peering away down the river. 
 There was a sloop coming up the Hudson, that is to say, she 
 was lying becalmed about ten miles distant, and might safely be 
 expected in within forty-eight hours. She had come all the 
 way from New York, and had escaped all the dangers of that 
 long and perilous route. She would bring news from the city, 
 news of distant friends, news, perhaps, even from Faderland, 
 that distant world, to which the memory of many an ancient 
 Hollander still clung with a fervent love, not to be superseded 
 or effaced. 
 
 Well might they rejoice! Well might the old cronies congre 
 gate together on the sunny beach, and shake hands, and laugh, 
 and anticipate the tidings ! How did they know but the 
 lower fort and city were again in the hands of the Dutch ? for 
 many were still firm in the belief of such a restoration. Ah, 
 how would their old hearts have bounded at such tidings ! How 
 they would have rushed with a shout to the feebly garrisoned 
 fort pulled down its hated flag, and raised the banners of the 
 mighty States of Holland to the northern breeze ! Well might 
 they rejoice, for they were a noble-hearted, simple-minded race, 
 full of honest patriotism, and lofty courage, and patient endur 
 ance. 
 
 Rudolph alone heard of the approach of the vessel without 
 joy. To him it could only bring tidings of grief. He would 
 hear of the consummation of his misery ; he would hear that 
 an eternal barrier was placed between himself and the one object 
 of his affections. Such were his thoughts, and when, on the 
 next day, a favoring bre*eze brought the sloop into port, and the 
 city rushed en masse to the wharf, he strolled nervously away to 
 the forests, that ho might postpone for a little while the certainty 
 of his woe. He was not missed from that excited throng, where 
 friends abroad were shouting to friends on shore ; where old 
 men tottered on their canes, and leaned earnestly forward, and 
 placed their hands behind their ears to catch the shouted tidings ; 
 where each eagerly asked what it was, and none could tell, and 
 hope, and fear, and expectation reigned, and Babel s uproar was 
 all renewed. Clustered like bees upon the pier, mounted on 
 boxes and barrels, clinging to posts and corners, and all as eager
 
 54: THE FIKST OF 
 
 and delighted as children at a show, thus the people watched and 
 waited for the slow-moving sloop. 
 
 " Hef you got any latters ?" shouted old Myndert Van Schaiclc, 
 from the top of a populous hogshead, and waving his cane to at 
 tract attention ; and the reply was in pantomime, by the captain 
 taking from his capacious waistcoat pocket a large package, and 
 holding it up to view, thereby visibly increasing the excitement 
 on shore. 
 
 " Is the ship in ?" " Is there any news from Holland ?" 
 "What tidings from the war?" "What news of Admiral De 
 Euyter?" "How s old Governor Stuyvesant ?" Such were the 
 questions resounding on all sides. 
 
 "There is a ship just in," was the reply sung out by stentorian 
 lungs from the vessel ; u news of a great naval battle ; Admi 
 ral De Ruyter vic-tor-r-r-ious!" and then the welkin rang with 
 huzzas, and tears gushed forth, and congratulations were ex 
 changed on all sides. For this, it will be remembered, was the period 
 when Charles the Second and Louis the Fourteenth had coolly 
 resolved to slice up the Lowlands, and, allowing the Prince of 
 Orange a moiety for his connivance, to divide the residue between 
 themselves a very fair business transaction, to which the Dutch 
 were unreasonable enough to object, and flying to their arms, or 
 rather to their fleets, under the invincible -De Euyter, fought 
 three drawn battles with the allied navies of France and Eng 
 land, and taught them not to look for honey in hornets nests. 
 It was a tyrant s war, waged in opposition to the sympathies of 
 the British people, who, with unexampled magnanimity, wept at 
 the reverses of their foes, and rejoiced at their own defeats. 
 
 It was not until the tumult had subsided, and the crowd had 
 dispersed, that Rudolph, still futilely trying to throw aside his de 
 jection, proceeded slowly homeward. He was met by his good- 
 natured uncle, with an open letter in his hand, the reading of 
 which lie had not yet completed. He proceeded rapidly to relate 
 to Rudolph the only prominent item of <ie\vs of which he had as 
 vet become possessed, which was the extraordinary misfortune 
 of Evert Knickerbocker. Startling as was this intelligence, which 
 was discussed at length, and with deep regret, it conveyed no 
 gleam of hope to Rudolph s mind, for he had no doubt that the 
 nuptials of Egbert and Effie were already solemnized, and he now 
 waited patiently until he should hear it announced. 
 
 The old man put on his spectacles, and, holding the letter np to 
 the light, resumed its perusal. Various desultory items of intel 
 ligence next followed, and Rudolph listened long with exemplary 
 patience, but he was about turning away when his attention 
 was arrested by the mention of his brother s name. 
 
 "Egiert Groesbeck," continued the old man, still reading 
 aloud, " is to be married "
 
 THE KSTCKEKBOCKEKS. 
 
 55 
 
 Rudolph s heart stood still 
 
 " In about three weeks to to " a pause of considera 
 ble length ensued 
 
 " JEffie, uncle, Effie Knickerbocker" exclaimed Rudolph at 
 length frith desperation, and anxious to have it done with. 
 
 " To to ," said the old man, holding the letter still closer, 
 and peering earnestly at the puzzling characters ; " to to " 
 
 " EFFIE, I tell you," said Rudolph, who, unable longer to en 
 dure the torture, seized his hat and was hastening from the room, 
 when his uncle began to spell the refractory word. 
 
 " E-u-p-h, Eff- " 
 
 Three chairs lay rolling about the floor, which had obstructed 
 Rudolph s leap to his uncle s side ; he snatched the letter from 
 the astonished old man, and holding it with a hand that shook 
 till the paper rattled with the motion, he read the name, " Eu- 
 phemia Sharp!" 
 
 "The scoundrel!" exclaimed old Groesbeck, heedless of his 
 nephew s emotion. 
 
 Flushed with excitement, Rudolph tarried long enough only 
 to read a few succeeding paragraphs in the letter, confirmatory 
 of the news, and then hastened to seek some retirement where 
 he might give way to his emotions. Hope had burst upon his 
 mind with a radiance almost too dazzling for endurance. Effie 
 was free, and was no longer separated from him by the formida 
 ble barrier of wealth. She was free to be wooed and icon l>y him. 
 How his rapt heart exulted at the thought, which, for a while, 
 buoyed him up above all doubts and apprehensions. True, he 
 was poor, but poverty is a remediable evil. The gates of 
 wealth and power must ever yield to the magical sesame of an 
 iron resolution ; and what would he not dare and do, inspirited 
 by such a hope ? The world, from that moment, assumed a new 
 aspect to his view. Life was no longer a load to be endured, 
 but a gift to be prized and cherished. The earth was changed 
 from a vast prison-house to a blooming Paradise, teeming with 
 beauty and redolent of fragrance. 
 
 O blessed Hope ! if thy sister, Faith, can remove mountains 
 in the natural world, thou canst remove them from the human 
 heart. It was with no light regret that Rudolph s friends heard 
 him announce his determination to return to New York in the 
 vessel which had just arrived, and which was to descend the 
 river within a few weeks. But entreaties were unavailing to 
 prolong his stay. Let us behold him then again voyaging the 
 mighty Hudson, and, after a speedy trip of twelve days, once 
 more arrived at the metropolis.
 
 56 THE FIRST OF 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE time of Rudolph s return was about ten days prior to the 
 period appointed for the nuptials of Egbert and Miss Sharp, and 
 of course about a week before the abduction of the lawyer. 
 The intended wedding, however, was far from being a matter of 
 public notoriety, and was entirely unknown to Mr. Knicker 
 bocker, who continued to cherish the hope that Egbert s es 
 trangement was only temporary, and that he would yet prove 
 mindful of his obligations. He knew but little indeed of the 
 true character of the individual whom he thus desired as the 
 protector of his daughter, and still less of Erne s feelings in re 
 gard to him. 
 
 Long accustomed to wealth, and to the influence which it 
 commands, he had insensibly acquired the habit of considering 
 it essential to happiness, and nothing gave him more uneasi 
 ness than the dread of leaving his child unprotected by so pow 
 erful an ffigis. Although Egbert s vices were radical, and 
 indicated almost a total absence of moral principle, his manner, 
 as has been said, was frank and engaging. Smiles were ever 
 at his command counterfeits, of course, of the heart s true 
 currency, but which, like other counterfeits, were freely dis 
 pensed. It was not strange, therefore, that the guileless Evert, 
 who was possessed of that blessed spirit of Charity which " think- 
 eth no evil," still retained confidence in the son of his deceased 
 friend. 
 
 There was one exception to the universality of Egbert s 
 smiles. He had none for Rudolph ; and, so far from welcoming 
 him home, gave manifest tokens of dissatisfaction at his return. 
 The intercourse of the brothers was of course, therefore, of the 
 most limited kind, for however Rudolph s generous nature 
 would have induced him to cultivate a more fraternal teeling, 
 his advances were ever coldly repulsed, and were even openly 
 attributed to motives of personal interest. 
 
 Rudolph was fortunately charged with some friendly mes-
 
 THE KNICKEKBOOKERS. 57 
 
 sages from his uncle to Mr. Knickerbocker, and, as may bo 
 imagined, he was not tardy in calling to deliver them. As he 
 approached Evert s residence, he saw the old man from a dis 
 tance, now strolling slowly through his garden, and now lean 
 ing on his cane .at the water-side, and looking wistfully in the 
 direction of his lost estates. As lie came nearer, he saw Erne 
 also, restraining her bnoyant steps, and walking slowly at her 
 dear father s side ; and a still nearer view would have shown 
 him that her face was radiant with smiles, and that her lips 
 were prattling of hope, and that she was full of little devices to 
 win the heart-broken Evert from his grief; for she trembled, 
 poor Effie, for the failing reason of her sire, as, with his thin 
 locks streaming to the wind, he still gazed silently away far 
 away toward the miles of blooming fields and waving forests 
 which were even yet called by his name. 
 
 Although nearly a stranger to the family, Rudolph received 
 a cordial welcome from the hospitable old man, who congratu 
 lated him on his safe return, and evinced much curiosity on the 
 subject of his adventures. Effie, delighted at the returning 
 smiles of her father, and at the interest which he manifested in 
 their visitor s narrative, became a deeply interested listener, 
 and was doubly beautiful, because utterly unconscious of being 
 the object of admiration. Rudolph, of course, exerted himself 
 to please, and became astonished at his own resources, and 
 when he rose to take his leave his new friends parted with him 
 with unfeigned regret. 
 
 It was a singular accident, Effie thought, that on the very 
 next day she met him again, while taking a short walk, and 
 that he strolled at her side, and engaged her in conversation, 
 and accompanied her home, and again sat down by old Evert s 
 side for two long hours. On the ensuing day he came to ex 
 hibit some northern curiosity of which he had spoken on a 
 former visit, and on the next, for some other easily invented 
 cause. How very kind it was of him, thought sweet unsus 
 pecting Effie, to come thus daily and cheer up poor papa, for 
 the old man s eyes always brightened at his approach, and all 
 his grief seemed for a while forgotten. 
 
 But other eyes soon brightened, and other ears caught first 
 the sound of his footsteps, and an angel heart beat quicker at 
 his coming. New and strange emotions were Effie s, uncon- 
 fessed to herself, and carefully concealed from others. Vainly 
 she sought to repress the.m, or to believe that they did not 
 exist; for she did not dare to believe that Rudolph s visits 
 were intended for her, or that he looked upon -her with any 
 especial regard. To her appreciating heart he was all too 
 noble and too pure, to be within the attractions of her humble 
 3*
 
 58 THE FIRST OF 
 
 charms. Bnt as day after day brought some new token of his 
 regard, the delighted Effie was compelled to believe and hope, 
 and to look tremblingly for that avowal, which seemed only 
 unspoken. 
 
 But Kudolph unfortunately began to be haunted by doubts. 
 The first ardor of his hopes had subsided, and some very natural 
 fears suggested themselves to his mind. If Effie had really 
 been attached to Egbert, was it not reasonable to suppose that 
 she still loved him? Might she not even be cherishing the 
 expectation of his returning fealty ; and might not her present 
 kindness to himself be the more freely exhibited, because she 
 had every reason to believe that he knew of her love for an 
 other, and that he would not misconstrue her friendship into 
 affection ? Lovers are always skilled in self-torture, and Ru 
 dolph was fast becoming a proficient in the art. Several unfor 
 tunate circumstances gave strength to his suspicions, and, just 
 as he had resolved to hear the worst from Effie herself, a most 
 untoward event occurred, interrupting his design, and dashing 
 all his brilliant hopes to earth. 
 
 Evert had continued blind to the attachment which existed 
 between Effie and Rudolph, and so pertinaciously had his own 
 thoughts and hopes clung to the idea of Egbert s returning 
 faith, that he imagined his daughter to be imbued with the 
 same feelings. AVhat else, he thought, could render her so 
 happy and contented ? How could her step be otherwise so 
 light, her voice so cheerful, her face so radiant with smiles ? In 
 this state of mind the half-crazed father applied to poor Rudolph 
 for his opinion in regard to the extent of Egbert s defection, 
 and the probability of his return ; and when the young man 
 found voice to reply, it was only hurriedly to inquire if Effie 
 would still be a willing party to the alliance with his brother. 
 
 The surprised air of Evert, as he returned an unhesitating 
 answer in the affirmative, set the seal to Rudolph s despair. 
 He felt like one who, having in a dream climbed to some giddy 
 eminence, topples suddenly from its summit. He was now 
 furnished, he thought, with the key to all Effie s conduct. 
 His sagacity had been at fault before, only because it had been 
 led blindfold by his hopes. But he never would hope again. 
 Rudolph, in short, discontinued his visits to Effie, and betook 
 himself once more to solitude, but, as is supposed, not of the 
 "sweetened" variety.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE mysterious disappearance of Mr. Sharp caused an unex 
 ampled commotion in the community. Wells were explored, 
 and rivers dragged, and forests searched in a fruitless effort to 
 bring his mortal remains to light, and among the crowds who 
 engaged in these lahors, none were more active or efficient than 
 Ralph Ripley. The excitement was continually increased by 
 some new rumor on the subject, and conjectures of every 
 description were of course afloat. Some said that the trading 
 Indians had carried him off, in payment of certain arrearages 
 of indebtedness, and there were not wanting others, who, 
 exonerating the savages, still shook their heads gravely, and 
 said it was what they had long expected. A certain personage 
 would have his own, and probably Sharp had got no more than 
 he had bargained for a great while before. 
 
 No suspicion fell on Ripley, for none had known of the 
 quarrel on the day of the abduction, and until that time Ralph 
 and the lawyer had been on friendly terms. As to Sinclair, he 
 gave himself no uneasiness on the subject, excepting to express 
 an opinion that it was really quite a shocking affair ; but he 
 had known many things more strange off the coast of Portugal. 
 But when three or four days had elapsed without any clew to 
 the secret, the search was relinquished, and poor Sharp was 
 abandoned to his fate. The wedding was of course postponed, 
 and Egbert Groesbeck had the gratifying prospect before him, 
 not only of utter insolvency, but of a speedy exposure of his 
 affairs, and probably a perpetual leave of absence from the 
 charming Euphemia. Neither that young lady, nor her brother, 
 manifested any excess of grief at their misfortune, for Sharp 
 had been in his family, as elsewhere, a harsh man, and his house 
 had been emphatically a home of the iron rule. 
 
 Benhadad was a young man of a lofty gait, and a general 
 pompousness of mien. His self-importance, never deficient, had 
 been immeasurably increased by his new position, and it was 
 with difficulty that he could keep down his sense of rising
 
 60 THE FIESt OF 
 
 
 
 greatness sufficiently to admit of paying decent respect to the 
 memory of his lost parent. He possessed, of course, but little 
 of his father s shrewdness, for arrogance in his case, as in most 
 others, was the offspring of a shallow brain ; but then he fully 
 believed that the cloak of Hiram had fallen upon his shoulders, 
 and that it was an exceeding good fit. 
 
 But Hiram Sharp, in the mean time, as the reader is aware, 
 had not yet put off his mortal coil. His prison chamber was 
 lighted by a port-hole, the iron tenant of which was stored for 
 the present, with its companions, beneath a miscellaneous mass 
 of ballast, far from tbe observation of any prying eyes, which 
 might, upon some possible contingency, visit the suspected 
 Zephyr. The port-holes themselves were ingeniously masked, 
 this one alone being left partly unclosed, less, however, out of 
 any regard for the prisoner s comfort, than for the convenience 
 of his custodians. Sharp was chained to the floor, at a point 
 whence it was supposed impossible for him to gain access to the 
 aperture, even to indulge in the slight luxury of gazing upon tbe 
 world from which he was excluded. 
 
 But what will not the ingenuity of despair, favored by soli 
 tude, accomplish? By dint of extraordinary muscular exer 
 tions, and untiring patience, he could succeed in bringing his 
 eyes to a level with the opening, and feasting them upon the 
 view without, taking care, of course, never to indulge in this 
 forbidden pleasure when there was any danger of being dis 
 covered by bis keepers. The window looked out upon the dis 
 tant city. He could see his own house, and watch the very 
 smoke that curled up from the fireside at which he had been 
 accustomed to sit. He could see figures moving at the open 
 windows, and others crossing the lawn, and entering his doors; 
 and, when the air was still and dense, he could even hear the 
 barking of his favorite dog. The voice and its echo from the 
 barn came to him together. 
 
 Day and night did Hiram gaze, at intervals, through this 
 "loop-hole of his retreat " toward his distant home. It seemed 
 as if it had been prepared for him by way of a refined species 
 of torture ; for not Tantalus, bound chin-deep in the cool waters 
 which his parched lips might never reach, not Tantalus endured 
 a more exquisite pain. But there is only one place to which 
 Hope never comes, and that good genius appeared to Hiram in 
 the very remarkable guise of old Tony West, a negro fisherman. 
 Tony was the property of a main-chance man on Long Island, 
 who, in consideration of his faithful services by day, generously 
 allowed him his liberty at night, a portion of which the slave 
 regularly appropriated to his piscatory pursuits, and was there 
 by amassing, by sixpences, a sum with which to purchase, at
 
 THE KSTCKEKBOCKEBS. 61 
 
 some future day, no less a treasure than his own body and soul. 
 
 "Some men are born free," thought Tony, sadly, " and that s 
 five hundred dollars in their pockets to start with;" but still he 
 did not complaiu, but went on toiling with net and line, fully 
 believing that he should yet fish up the great boon of liberty 
 from the bottom of the bay. lie had reason to hope, Tony 
 had ; for a year s labor had brought him nearly fifty dollars; a 
 stupendous sum in his imagination, and only nine years more 
 would complete the task. 
 
 It was on a dark night that the negro, after unusually long 
 and ineffectual labors in his little skiff, far out from shore, had 
 raised his anchor dejectedly and started for home. The night 
 was far spent, and his torches had expired, and his pipe had 
 gone out, and he bent, nodding with sleep, over his oars, yet 
 keeping up their slow and monotonous stroke, and lulling him 
 self still more by the sound. But, as Morpheus gained ground, 
 the oars dropped from his hands, and the dark boat, and its 
 darker tenant, drifted silently along, invisible as a cloud upon 
 the wave. 
 
 If Tony did not catch many fish in his sleep, it was not for 
 want of diligent bobbing, for his round woolly head went up 
 and down with a ceaseless and regular motion, and he was only 
 awakened at length from a dreamy tussle with a mammoth fish, 
 by the sound of his boat striking against some hard substance. 
 It was some time before he became sufficiently awake to dis 
 cover that he had run foul of a ship, and he was about pushing 
 his boat off, when he heard a voice calling in an earnest but 
 suppressed tone for help. The negro could see nothing, but he 
 guided his skiff in the direction of the sound, and soon lay 
 directly beneath the point whence it seemed to emanate. 
 
 "Quick quick," said the prisoner "this way listen to 
 me; I am Hiram Sharp, the great merchant of New York 
 kidnapped by Captain Kipley and going to be murdered hero 
 on board the Zephyr do you hear me?" 
 
 " Y y yes," said Tony, trembling, "I hare." 
 
 "Who are you?" said Sharp. 
 
 " Tony Tony I m Tony I b long to Massa West, over yeer 
 in Breuklyn." 
 
 " Go quick to my son and tell him where I am murdered 
 on the Zephyr .-quick and tell him to give you a hundred 
 dollars, right straight down and that I say so. Go, Tony 
 good Tony, quick." 
 
 "Jess jump right out, massa right out of that hole." 
 
 " Oh, I can t, Tony, I can t ; my feet are chained together, and 
 chained to the floor ; go, Tony, go." 
 . And Tony went.
 
 62 
 
 The ensuing morning had been set apart by Mr. Benhadad 
 Sharp for a visit to the manor tenantry, to notify them of their 
 loss, and that he, Benhadad, was to be regarded as their future 
 landlord. His buttoned coat only did not burst, as, clad in the 
 habiliments of woe, he stepped into his carriage, and was de 
 tained only by the sudden appearance of Tony, breathless and 
 speechless, who, gazing at him with eyes frightfully dilated, laid 
 his huge dark hand upon the wheel, as if he would arrest its 
 motion until he could speak. Benhadad waited complacently, 
 for he knew the old negro well, and had no doubt that he had 
 brought intelligence of having accidentally fished up his honored 
 ancestor. Indeed, he was already singling out a small coin in 
 his pocket to reward the slave, when the latter recovered his 
 voice, and with chattering teeth related his wonderful tale. 
 
 Astonishment and alarm for a moment held the young man 
 silent. Tumultuous and mingled feelings succeeded, in which, 
 strange to tell, joy did not preponderate. His dimensions visibly 
 diminished, and his swollen and rigid air quite disappeared. He 
 questioned the negro again and again, and, eliciting nothing to 
 throw discredit on the story, dismissed him. To Tony s eager 
 appeal for the promised reward, he replied by a gratuity of half 
 a dollar, and an intimation that a similar sum would be forth 
 coming after the release of his father was effected. No injunc 
 tion of secrecy was imposed upon the negro ; nothing to prevent 
 the rumor from spreading, reaching the ears of Eipley, and thus 
 defeating the chance of rescue. 
 
 But Tony was not himself devoid of sagacity, and his wits 
 were sharpened now by the hope of gaining the munificent prize 
 which had been promised him. He hastened therefore, unob 
 served by Benhadad, to the presence of Euphemia, and, repeating 
 his marvellous tale, again demanded his reward. Miss Sharp 
 was both shocked and delighted, for she was not without a 
 degree of affection for her father, and besides that, she was not 
 unmindful of her deferred nuptials. Egbert was at once sum 
 moned, and he indeed proved a joyful recipient of the news, and 
 advised instant, vigorous, and secret action ; while Benhadad, 
 who soon joined them, found himself compelled to imitate the 
 zeal of his companions, and was even forced by their decision to 
 tell down the chinking gold into poor Tony s broad, black, 
 trembling hand. 
 
 How it glistened on that ebony palm ! How melodiously they 
 rung, those twenty bright yellow guineas, striking against each 
 other, and how the great iron fingers closed over the treasure, 
 with a clutch designed to render all relentings useless. Nothing 
 but Death could have opened Tony s hand. 
 
 Egbert went about his task with earnestness. Enjoining the
 
 THE KOTCKERBOCKKES. C3 
 
 strictest secrecy upon all, his first step was to lay all the facts 
 before Governor Lovelace, and apply for his official aid. He had 
 a long and private interview with that officer, and was returning 
 from the government house, wrapt in the contemplation of his 
 schemes, when he encountered Captain Sinclair, bearing in his 
 hands a package of papers, which he at once recognized as tho 
 fatal deeds. They were in the vicinity of the office of records, 
 and Egbert at once guessed the design of the other; for he had 
 been daily trembling at the expected exposure of his affairs, and 
 had with difficulty persuaded his friend to defer making the mat 
 ter public until now. Taking the arm of Sinclair, and drawing 
 him aside, he said " You have accommodated me so often 
 about these dreadful deeds, that I really feel ashamed to ask 
 any further delay ; but let me beg for one week more." 
 
 " Mr. Groesbeck must excuse me," answ ered Sinclair, coldly ; 
 "the deeds must be recorded." 
 
 " Give me one week," said Egbert, "and you will save mo 
 from ruin." 
 
 Sinclair smiled incredulously, and did not yield ; it was the 
 old story, he said, and Groesbeck was no nearer his object now 
 than he had been three weeks before. 
 
 " Stop," said Egbert, as the other was turning away ; " I have 
 a great secret ; you shall hear it, and judge for yourself." 
 
 He then proceeded to relate to the astonished Sinclair the dis 
 coveries in relation to Sharp, and how his return would be fol 
 lowed in a few days by the postponed wedding. " A warrant is 
 already being prepared for Ripley s arrest," he said, " and as 
 soon as it is dark, three gunboats with marines will be sent out 
 to board the Zephyr, and bring her into port. Do you believe 
 me now," he said, "and will you wait?" 
 
 " I do I do," replied Sinclair, smiling, and returning tho 
 papers to his pocket. " Oh yes I ll wait; why, there ll be fun, 
 won t there ? I wonder if they ll hang that bull-dog of a Ripley. 
 I always thought he had a bad look the scoundrel the dem d 
 infernal villain, I may say. Good morning good morning, 
 sir;" and bowing and smiling, Captain Sinclair turned gracefully 
 away, leaving Egbert more than ever impressed with the idea 
 that he was an exceedingly civil and good-natured fellow. 
 
 Twenty minutes afterwards Sinclair and Ralph were standing 
 together in the very grove which had proved so fatal to Hiram. 
 
 "You will cruise in the West Indies until autumn," said Sin 
 clair, hurriedly, " when you will return to Boston, where I will 
 meet you. In the mean time, you will of course change your 
 paint and name." 
 
 " And that d d Sharp ? " said Ripley, inquiringly, as he placed 
 one foot in the boat, and looked angrily back.
 
 THE FIEST OF 
 
 "Is TO BE PEE3BEVED," said Sinclair emphatically; "mind, I 
 insist on this; the reason you shall know hereafter." 
 
 " I ll be hanged if he don t wish the sharks had him, then, be 
 fore we get back," replied Eipley, as he pushed off; and Sin 
 clair, smiling, walked hurriedly back to offer his assistance in the 
 pursuit.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FORMIDABLE, meanwhile, were the preparations which were 
 made for the seizure of the Zephyr. The suspicion which had 
 long rested upon this vessel was now turned into a reasonable 
 certainty, and Governor Lovelace, roused to vigorous action by 
 so great an outrage, was determined to bring her into port, and 
 to arrest her whole crew as pirates, not doubting that the fullest 
 proof could be adduced against them. There was no naval force 
 in any shape attached to the colonial government at this period ; 
 but there was fortunately a British man-of-war lying in port, 
 undergoing some repairs, which, although unfitted for immediate 
 service, was manned by a gallant crew and brave officers, of 
 whom Mr. Second Lieutenant Flash was one. 
 
 To his charge the expedition was committed, which was to be, 
 if necessary, a regular " cutting out" affair, although it was 
 hoped that the enemy, being unalarmed, would oifer no serious 
 resistance. Not so, however, hoped Flash, who, from the moment 
 that he was intrusted with the enterprise, considered his long- 
 expected promotion as secured beyond any further contingency. 
 
 All day did Egbert Groesbeck walk excitedly about, watching 
 the mysterious preparations ; for no one felt more anxious than 
 he about the result. He feared momentarily that the Zephyr 
 would take to flight, for she seemed like some graceful sea-bird, 
 floating buoyantly upon the water, and ready to spread her white 
 wings at the least alarm. There seemed, however, little ground 
 for such an apprehension, for she had lain for weeks in her pres 
 ent position, and gave no indication of any intended change. 
 The failure to find Eipley on shore created no surprise, for he 
 frequently passed days together on his ship, and he was supposed 
 to be in profound ignorance of the deep and well-digested designs 
 against him. 
 
 Motionless meanwhile, and with no appearance of life upon 
 her decks, lay the suspected Zephyr. The wind was light, and 
 was growing gradually less, and Eipley avoided exhibiting any 
 premonitions of flight, until the breeze was sufficient to render
 
 66 THE FIRST OF 
 
 the attempt effectual ; for if lie was to be compelled to await nn 
 attack, it was better that the enemy should suppose him to be 
 unalarmed. He relied, however, on the wind freshening at sun 
 set, enough at least to admit of changing his position to some 
 good hiding-place, and in the night or the early morning, the 
 zephyrs would be pretty certain to come to the assistance of 
 their graceful little namesake. " Two or three puffs," he said, 
 looking aloft with knotted brows, will put her outside the Nar 
 rows, and then we are safe." Ripley would have fought the 
 boats with a perfect good will, had not Sinclair forbidden it, and 
 then besides, he thought, this fighting with a halter around one s 
 neck isn t exactly the thing. His guns were mounted, however, 
 and all his weapons were put in order to repel an attack, and it 
 was not a little singular that two diligent subordinate officers 
 who superintended these labors bore a marvellous resemblance 
 to the Austrian lieutenants, of whom mention has heretofore 
 been made. 
 
 All day did Ealph watch the sky and scan the light feathery 
 clouds to find tokens of the coming wind but all in vain: the 
 breeze continued to fall away, and when the sun went down 
 there was a perfect calm. So smooth and motionless lay the 
 waters that the stars, as they successively came to their posts, 
 were greeted by their images in the wide and beautiful mirror 
 which lay stretched beneath them. The situation of the Zephyr 
 became momentarily more critical, and Ripley began to give 
 tokens of uneasiness. Even the tide had joined the list of his 
 enemies. It was coming slowly in, and any attempt to change 
 his position, by drifting, would have borne him still further from 
 the open sea, and would thus have diminished his chances of 
 escape. 
 
 Meanwhile Lieutenant Flash was the busiest and happiest man 
 in the province. It was about nine o clock that he put his force 
 in motion, after a brief hortatory address to his men, reminding 
 them that the honor of their flag, their own private reputation, 
 and a small fortune for each of them, depended upon their con 
 duct. 
 
 " It s probable," he said, " mind I don t say it 5 * certain, but 
 it s probable that fellow is ballasted with ingots. Remember 
 that the most perfect silence is to be maintained, and you all 
 understand that, one way or another, we are to bring the Zephyr 
 into port;" and touching his cap to Governor Lovelace and 
 Captain Grim, who, with one or two others, stood wrapt in their 
 cloaks on the quarter-deck of "the Terror," watching the em 
 barkation, the gallant lieutenant sat down, and the boats, with 
 muffled oars, moved noiselessly off. It is needless to say that
 
 THE KNICKEKBOCKEKS. O7 
 
 every man resolved to be first on board the enemy, and, with 
 such enthusiasm, there was little fear of defeat. 
 
 As the twilight had departed, Ripley s alarm had rapidly in 
 creased. The unfurled sails were hanging motionless from the 
 masts, ready for the wind, which did not come ; and one, with 
 an axe, stood ready to cut the huge cable at the first rustling of 
 the air. But still the seemingly doomed vessel lay, 
 
 " without breath or motion, 
 
 As idle as a painted ship 
 Upon a painted ocean." 
 
 Every preparation was therefore made for the conflict which 
 now seemed unavoidable ; and although the Zephyr was but 
 slightly manned, the fierce looks and threats of the bold buc 
 caneers showed that she would prove no easy prey. The dis 
 advantage of the pirates consisted in being greatly outnumbered, 
 and in the fact that their enemy, if beaten off , could reinforce 
 his strength, and renew the attack. As to the guns of the ship, 
 but little aid was expected from them in the silence and ob 
 scurity of a night attack, when the first notice of their foe might 
 be the clash of the grappling irons. An hour elapsed, and a 
 distinct though faint sound of oars was heard. Every heart 
 beat quicker. 
 
 "Zephyr, ahoy, ahoy!" came up in a faint but familiar voice 
 from under the bow. 
 
 "It s the Captain!" responded twenty voices in a breath, 
 and, before the buzz of excitement had subsided, Sinclair stood 
 upon the deck. 
 
 " I knew Captain Karl wasn t the man to see his comrades 
 fighting against odds, and he not there," said a privileged old 
 ruffian, with an oath. 
 
 " No, no, my boys," replied the Captain, evidently in a state 
 of the most intense excitement; "no, no! the Zephyr s my 
 bride; if she is lost, so am I; but," he continued, drawing Ralph 
 aside and lowering his voice still more, "this is a bad fix, Rip- 
 ley ; but you ve disposed of Sharp, of course ?" 
 
 "Disposed of him ! " growled Ralph ; "he s asleep, I presume, 
 below, taking his comfort ; he must not be disturbed on any ac 
 count. Probably he d like something wtirm for supper." 
 
 " Tut, tut, over with him, of course ; I did not calculate on 
 this ; we must not be found with him on board." 
 
 "Mr. Ripley," whispered a sailor, touching him and pointing 
 over the bow, " I think they re coming, sir." 
 
 Ralph looked and distinctly saw a dark object moving slowly 
 and noiselessly, like a cloud on the water, and approaching tho
 
 68 THE FIRST OF 
 
 vessel in the direction of her bow, evidently to avoid danger 
 from the guns. 
 
 "They re coming, Captain Karl," he said, "in earnest." 
 
 "So is the wind!" replied Sinclair, as, with one hand ex 
 tended, he felt the air ; u stand by to cut the cable." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 In a minute more a napping noise was heard against the masts ; 
 the next, the sails slightly filled. The order to cut was given, 
 and the parted cable fell with a splash into the water : the can 
 vass slowly distended, and the vessel came gracefully around, and 
 glided, duck-like, down the bay. 
 
 Flash saw it, heard it, felt the growing breeze on his cheek, 
 and groaned in the intensity of his anguish. A parting ball 
 skipped past him on the wave, and he almost wished, for the 
 moment, that it had not missed its aim. 
 
 " Twas very hard, Captain Grim," he said, as, twenty minutes 
 afterwards, he stood once more on shipboard, gazing gloomily 
 seaward; " she slipped right through my fingers, sir, at the very 
 last minute," and Flash dashed a tear from his cheek. 
 
 " Never mind, Harry," said Grim, whose usual hauteur had 
 yielded to admiration of his young officer s valor ; " never mind ; 
 Sir Henry shall hear all about it ; and I ll see to your promo 
 tion myself." 
 
 This unexpected kindness came like balm to the mortified 
 spirit of the lieutenant. He knew that Captain Grim was not 
 lavish either of praises or promises, and he knew, moreover, that 
 he was the brother of one of the Lords of the Admiralty. So 
 Harry took heart, and made the best of it. 
 
 Merrily, meanwhile, went the Zephyr on her way, and as she 
 passed slowly along near the eastern shore of the bay, the de 
 spairing Sharp gazed out from a crevice in his prison, and looked 
 earnestly landward. He recognized, even by starlight, the 
 shape of the coast, and knew it as his own soil, and as a part of 
 the famed Knickerbocker manor. Long and wistfully he gazed, 
 clinging, as it were, by his eyes, to each receding point, and 
 looking still in the same direction when it had faded entirely 
 from view. 
 
 Onward went the Zephyr, rapidly, merrily, and bidding a 
 final adieu to the bay of Manhattan and all its appurtenances. 
 Off Robins Reef she parted with her ubiquitous Captain, who 
 was seen the next morning leisurely smoking his meerschaum, 
 as usual, on the piazza of Mynheer Schnaffenswauzer s inn. 
 
 " Flash, my fine fellow," he said, as he was accidentally joined 
 by the lieutenant, " they tell me you had bad luck last night. I 
 am sorry for you ; I am, indeed. I always thought that a a 
 Ripton there, was a dem d pirate ; he had a bad look deci 
 dedly."
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 69 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IF Evert Knickerbocker s wrongs were seemingly avenged by 
 the calamity which had befallen their author, his own condition 
 was by no means improved. lie saw his means continually 
 decreasing, with no prospect of relief from utter poverty. He 
 felt like the tenants of those ingenious cells of torture, the walls 
 of which are so constructed as to move daily nearer together, 
 until their hapless tenant is crushed between them. He saw the 
 approach of destitution, and estimated daily its diminished dis 
 tance. Ah, dreadful task I to watch tho out-going stream, and 
 the failing fountain, with no power to stay or replenish its 
 departing tide. 
 
 But sorrows come not singly, and the venerable Evert found 
 still another source of anxiety in the impaired health of his 
 daughter. Not that she complained of illness, or intermit 
 ted her usual duties, but there was " such a change 1 1 in Effie. 
 She, who had been so cheerful and so ready to impart courage 
 to him, was now herself drooping, and the more evidently so, 
 from her earnest but ineffectual attempts to maintain her former 
 vivacity. The smile faded in its inception, the once ringing 
 laugh was now forced and unnatural, the sparkling eyes were 
 dimmed with frequent "tears, and the pallid face was turned 
 aside to hide them. 
 
 Her brother was the first to notice this change and to guess 
 at its cause. The name of this young Nimrod, which is sup 
 posed to have been originally Jedediah, had been shortened by 
 immemorial usage in the family into the initial syllable, and the 
 very servants had no other name for him than Massa Jed. His 
 devotion to the chase was unbounded, and it gave additional 
 zest to the relish with which he pursued his forest sports, to 
 know that they now contributed materially to the maintenance 
 of the family. He was a stout, broad-shouldered young man, 
 with the full glow of health upon features which, if none of tho 
 handsomest, possessed the inimitable charm of good nature. 
 There was never a snarl or a crotchet visible on his face, and, 
 let the world go as it would, he had a good word and a smile for 
 everybody. He used to say, that next to his hounds and his 
 hunter he loved Effie, but the truth was that his gentle sister 
 had no rival in his affections.
 
 7.0 THE FIRST OF 
 
 During the period of Kudolph s recent visits to the Knicker 
 bocker family, a warm friendship had sprung up between the 
 young men ; an intimacy, indeed, of that sudden growth which 
 could originate only between dispositions alike frank and 
 ingenuous. They had walked, and ridden, and hunted togeth 
 er ; and nearly all of the time which Eudolph had not devoted 
 to Effie had been passed in the presence of her brother. Jed 
 had, of course, suspected the sentiments of the lovers, and 
 Effie s recent dejection had confirmed his suspicions. lie felt 
 certain that there was some unfathomed mystery in the matter, 
 but he did not think of bestowing censure upon Rudolph, 
 whom he knew to be the soul of sincerity and truth. 
 
 Affairs stood thus for several weeks, and Jed looked daily, 
 but in vain, to see the returning sunshine of his sister s smile, 
 and to hear her wonted voice of mirth welcoming him home 
 from the woodlands. He had returned one afternoon in unusual 
 spirits, having brought down two noble bucks after a glorious 
 run, and he was so delighted himself that he felt sure of seeing 
 Effie in her wonted glee. Nor was he entirely disappointed ; 
 she met him with momentary cheerfulness, for there was no 
 resisting his contagious enthusiasm, and poor Jed rejoiced to 
 believe that the spell was at length really broken. 
 
 "And here comes father," he shouted, as the bending form 
 of Evert was seen moving slowly up the lawn; -"two bucks, 
 father one with six antlers, and one " 
 
 But the evident abstraction of the old man and the expres 
 sion of his features indicating that he had something else in his 
 thoughts, induced the son to pause. 
 
 "Kudolph is going to Holland," said Evert, as he drew nigh. 
 
 A light trembling hand was upon Jed s shoulder, and at the 
 next moment he felt that Effie was leaning upon him for 
 support. 
 
 " Let us go in," she said, as she slid her arm within her 
 brother s; "the air grows cold;" and Jed, talking rapidly for 
 her relief, accompanied her into the house. 
 
 Evert s intelligence was true. Eudolph had resolved to bid 
 a final adieu to the province, and to seek his fortunes in his 
 ancestral land. The pending war was rich in inducements both 
 to patriotism and ambition, and he might bury his griefs in its 
 turmoil, or, which seemed scarcely less desirable, terminate 
 them in an honorable death. His Majesty s brig of war, the 
 Terror, had been repaired, and, being on the eve of sailing, 
 afforded him the means of proceeding at once to England, 
 whence he could cross, if not directly to Holland, by reason of 
 the w? r, yet to some part of the continent from which that 
 country would be easily accessible.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 71 
 
 He had one trial to endure before departing -which he would 
 gladly have avoided, and that was to bid adieu to the Knicker 
 bockers. 
 
 Ordinary civility forbade the neglect of so obvious a duty, 
 and a few days prior to that fixed for his departure he nerved 
 himself to the task. Evert had both messages and packages to 
 forward to his native land, and gladly availed himself of 
 Rudolph s offered services to bear them. lie lauded the young 
 man s enterprise and courage, and wished him every success, 
 not neglecting, on a momentary return of his monomania, to 
 give one more twinge to the torture of the lover, by a repe 
 tition of his former inquiry in relation to Egbert. 
 
 Jed was not at home, and while Eudolph was talking con 
 strainedly to Effie, the old man casually strolled away, and 
 there was a crisis when it seemed that something must occur to 
 dispel the singular hallucination which rested upon two in 
 genuous minds, each devotedly attached to the other, and yet 
 about to separate forever. Ah I how many a term of misery 
 has been entailed upon generous and noble hearts by some 
 trifling misunderstanding which a word might have dispelled, 
 and yet that word was never spoken. 
 
 If Kudolph could not fail to notice the change in Effie, he at 
 tributed it all to Egbert s perfidy, and thus the mesh of error 
 thickened around him until he was entangled at every point. 
 
 " I fear that my father is troubling you with too many 
 commissions," said Effie, after an embarrassing pause in con 
 versation. 
 
 " By no means," replied Rudolph ; "his letters will serve as an 
 introduction for me, and may prove of the greatest service. Has 
 Miss Knickerbocker no messages for her friends abroad?" 
 
 " I believe I have no friends," replied Effie, smiling faintly, 
 " excepting father and Jed." 
 
 "It will take something from my sense of loneliness on leav 
 ing home," said Rudolph, "if Miss Knickerbocker will allow 
 me to believe that she includes me also in the list." 
 
 Effie bowed, and turned away, unable to speak. 
 
 There was another pause, but no good angel intervened to 
 show this mistaken pair their folly ; a formal farewell ensued 
 and Rudolph was gone.
 
 72 THE FIKST OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 THE sun was approaching the western horizon, and the length 
 ened shadows were stretching across the waters, on the day 
 which has last been named, when on the portico of his old 
 Dutch mansion, waiting excitedly to and fro, now pausing and 
 muttering to himself as he looked anxiously down the road, and 
 now resuming his rapid and noisy march, Peter Stuyvesant, ex- 
 governor of the New Netherlands, revolved weighty matters in 
 his mind. He was awaiting, with such patience as he could com 
 mand, the return of his messenger, Hans, from the city, who, 
 after long delay, was seen approaching at a slow walk, yet very 
 much out of breath. Hans was no Ariel in figure, and no Puck 
 in speed; but he was faithful and reliable to the last flicker of 
 the feeble judgment which reposed beneath his bushy hair and 
 his fat narrow forehead. 
 
 " Well, Hans," said the governor, when the other had recov 
 ered his breath, " have you seen them all?" 
 
 "Yaw, Mynheer," said Hans. 
 
 "Teunis, and Myndert, and Mr. Knickerbocker?" 
 
 " Yaw, Mynheer." 
 
 " And Stoutenburgh, and Poffenburgh, and Hardenburgh, and 
 Yanderburgh ?" 
 
 "Yaw, Mynheer." 
 
 " And Van Schaick, and Van Schoonhoven, and Van Ness, 
 and Van Rensselaer, and Van Kortland, and Vanderpool, and 
 Vandergrift, and Vanderveer, and Vanderspeigle ?" 
 
 " Yaw " 
 
 " And Livingston, and Schuyler, and Duyckinck, and Ro- 
 maine, and Roosevelt, and Roorback, and Clapsaddle?" 
 
 Still the answer was in the affirmative. 
 
 "And are they all coming?" continued Stuyvesant, still with 
 an excited air. 
 
 They were all coming. 
 
 " Go now, then, to Rudolph Groesbeck, and tell him that I, 
 Peter Stuyvesant, wish to see him at my house forthwith, on 
 private business of importance ; tell it to him alone, apart, and 
 secretly and tell him not to speak of it ; do you understand ?
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 73 
 
 "Yaw, Mynheer," said Hans; "Mr. Groesbeck musht come, 
 and musht be mum;" and the tortoise express was again under 
 way. 
 
 It was not long before Rudolph, not a little surprised at his 
 singular summons, was in the presence of the governor. They 
 were closeted together for nearly an hour, and, before their con 
 ference had ended, the congregated guests in an adjoining apart 
 ment had grown impatient for the appearance of their host. He 
 joined them at length with little greeting, and, taking the seat 
 which had been reserved for him, lighted his pipe and smoked 
 for a long time in silence. The apartment was well lighted and 
 its windows were carefully closed, and the guests, each also dili 
 gently smoking, had the air of men whose minds were by no 
 means unoccupied. There was a look of thought and expecta 
 tion on every face, and it was quite evident that no one present 
 was ignorant of the general object of their convocation, how 
 much soever they might be in the dark as to its particular design 
 at that time. 
 
 Half an hour elapsed, and the clouds grew thicker, and the 
 silence more unbroken ; and frequent glances were turned, not 
 to the governor s countenance, but to his particular pillar of 
 smoke, to glean some indications of his sentiments, and of his 
 approaching remarks. They were coming, evidently enough, 
 and wrathfully, too, for the slow, graceful, and thoughtful wreaths 
 had given place to short, quick, dense puff s which chased each 
 other to the ceiling like miniature thunder-clouds. 
 
 " We have borne it long enough," he said at length ; we have 
 borne it long enough." 
 
 "Long enough, Mynheer," answered Teunis Vanderbilt; and 
 " long enough " echoed from, everypart of the apartment, followed 
 by a general nodding of heads, and increased furiousness of fumi 
 gation. There were eyes, too. that gleamed like live coals through 
 those clouds, and an under-tone of wrath ran around the room, 
 subsiding only as the speaker resumed his address : 
 
 " He is a tyrant, and the province is all ready to rise : Fort 
 Orange could be ours at a moment s notice ; Long Island is ripe 
 for revolt ; New Sweden is impatient for the word ; and it is 
 only here that we are powerless. But three ships of war from 
 home would give us the city and we must have them." 
 
 Innumerable " yaw-yaws " responded to this sentiment, and 
 the excitement rapidly increased. 
 
 "There is one of our friends," continued the speaker, with 
 the air of a man who is about to announce a startling fact, " there 
 is one of our friends who starts the day after to-morrow for 
 Holland, who will carry ont, onr dispatches, and further our 
 designs." 
 
 4
 
 74 THE FIKST OF 
 
 A general and joyful surprise was manifested at this announce 
 ment, and all eyes were turned upon Yawpy Poffenburgh, who, 
 having recently accomplished the wonderful feat of crossing the 
 ocean, was supposed to be the only man competent to the task. 
 
 " No, no, my friends," added Stuyvesant ; " here is the man," 
 calling in Rudolph from an adjoining apartment, "young, ardent, 
 patriotic, who stands ready to aid us Rudolph Groesbeck, the 
 son of my old friend and councillor, Wilhelmus." 
 
 Rudolph, thus introduced to the assembly, was received with 
 cordial greetings, and shaking of hands, and even with tears, 
 and great was the astonishment to learn that the studious and 
 retired youth, whom few had known excepting by name, was 
 brave and patriotic, and ready to venture his life in the good 
 cause which they all had so deeply at heart. He made a few 
 earnest remarks, assuring them of his own conviction that the 
 time had really come when they might hope for the recovery 
 of the province to the Dutch dominion. 
 
 " Our friends at home," he said, " are maintaining a successful 
 war with the English ; let them once know the defenceless etate 
 of this country, and the general disaffection which prevails 
 toward the existing government, and they will send us the little 
 help which is necessary to plant the banners of the States on 
 yonder fort. I am ready to bear your dispatches to the home 
 government, and to urge attention to them as best I can ; and 
 although I shall probably never revisit my native land, its wel 
 fare will ever be the object of my earnest solicitude. There is 
 peril I know in my undertaking, but I should be spiritless indeed, 
 if I were unwilling to encounter danger in such a cause. Let 
 it be remembered, however, that the hazard is chiefly that of 
 present detection. Once safely out of this port, and there is 
 little else to fear. Be therefore, one and all, silent and discreet, 
 and let no word or action give rise to suspicion of my errand ; 
 and above all do not come to the vessel to bid me farewell, for 
 we have a vigilant foe, and we know not who are his agents or 
 his spies." 
 
 Two hours before, Rudolph had been ignorant of the existence 
 of the plot which he now so zealously espoused ; but his sudden 
 and warm advocacy of it should be no matter of surprise. It 
 opened for him a present field of action, and would be a fitting 
 prelude to his proposed plan of foreign service. Duty, patriot 
 ism, and ambition would under ordinary circumstances have 
 rendered it attractive, and the prospect of a temporary oblivion 
 of his grief was, in his unhappy state of mind, a more potent in 
 ducement still. It need scarcely be said that peril and hardship 
 have little terror for a mind influenced by motives like these. 
 
 The venerable Evert had been a most astonished spectator and
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 75 
 
 participant of this unexpected scene. "My son," he said, "have 
 you fully considered the hazard of this enterprise? do you know- 
 that it may lead to death ?" 
 
 "I do," replied Rudolph solemnly; "what great enterprise 
 was ever accomplished without peril? But let us not fear; 
 Heaven is ever on the side of the oppressed, and our masters, 
 who, not content with wresting this land from its rightful own 
 ers, in a time of peace, have heaped wrongs and indignities upon 
 us, may yet feel the edge of retribution. You, my dear sir, 
 above all who are here, have felt the heavy hand of tyranny, 
 and to you, above others, should the prospect of enfranchisement 
 be welcome." 
 
 " And so it is, my dear boy, so it is," said Evert, drawing the 
 young hero apart, as the conversation became general among 
 the confederates ; " but alas, I fear there is little to be hoped for 
 from home. Holland is fighting against two powerful nations, 
 and is fearfully divided in her own councils besides. We cannot 
 shut our eyes to these facts, or expect aid from a country which 
 may, alas, at this very moment be conquered and overrun." 
 
 " We can <ry," rejoined Rudolph, firmly, " we can try ; let us 
 at least keep up good cheer, and not injure our cause by unne 
 cessary fears. It is natural that you, who have seen so many 
 hopes blasted, should learn to despair; but to the young and. 
 vigorous a different duty belongs." 
 
 Evert grasped the hand of Rudolph, and tears rained from the 
 old man s eyes as he exclaimed, "Heaven keep thee, my boy, 
 and in better times bring thee safely back to us again." 
 
 Governor Stnyvesant proceeded next to lay before his friends 
 a brief petition addressed to the government of the States Gen 
 eral, setting forth the defenceless state of the province, the fea 
 sibility of its re-conqnest, and its vast importance to the States, 
 and urging their immediate action, with the promise of general 
 co-operation on the part of the Dutch inhabitants. It was 
 couched in concise and eloquent terms, and met with general 
 approval; but it was left unsigned, for prudential reasons. Ru 
 dolph himself urged this as the safest course ; he would feel, he 
 said, too great responsibility if any indiscretion of his could 
 jeopard so many valuable lives. He could sufficiently explain 
 the names and rank and character of the petitioners to the gov 
 ernment, and their reasons for withholding their signatures. 
 He even proposed copying the memorial himself, lest its detec 
 tion should prove fatal to poor Myndert Ten Eyck, in whose 
 well-known crotchety characters it now appeared. "In short," 
 he said, "if I am detected, nothing can avert my fate; but let 
 me at least have the satisfaction of knowing that I fall alone, the ^ 
 first and only victim to this noble enterprise."
 
 76 THE FIKST OF 
 
 With an animated countenance and lofty bearing, Rudolph 
 stood in the centre of the apartment, a young man surrounded 
 by graybeards, eloquent in word and action, from the force of 
 strong and natural feeling. Again they pressed around him, 
 those venerable patriots, with congratulations and tears, over 
 whelmed with admiration and gratitude at his noble self-devo 
 tion. He received the petition, and was to copy it carefully, 
 and destroy the original before going on shipboard. 
 
 He received also a plan of the harbor and channel, with the 
 position of the fort, which had been prepared with great labor 
 by the considerate governor, for the use of the Dutch fleet, 
 which, in imagination, the exulting Hollanders already saw 
 standing up the bay. This last-named document contained no 
 writing except a few words and figures printed with a pen, 
 which could not possibly lead to a discovery of its author. 
 Thus armed with resources, and feeling like one to whom a 
 mighty trust is confided, Rudolph bade his friends an affection 
 ate farewell, and the assembly dispersed. 
 
 On the next day he was on shipboard, preparing for his de 
 parture. It was a mild, warm day, and he sat thoughtfully upon 
 the deck, reviewing his singular position. His excitement had in 
 a degree subsided, for the hazard was too slight, and his hoped 
 success too remote to tell forcibly now upon his feelings ; and his 
 thoughts naturally reverted to the same dark channel in which 
 they had previously flowed. Ah, what now, he thought, would 
 have been his ecstasy, if he had been the possessor of Effie s 
 love! How would he have_ looked forward, with all the ardor 
 of a youthful imagination, while Fame and Wealth were thus 
 beckoning him in the distance! How would all his lofty hopes 
 have been blended with her dear image, all the glorious future 
 have been radiant with her smiles ! 
 
 He turned sadly from this picture, and thought of the morrow s 
 gloom; for only one day more, and the warning song of the 
 mariners would be heard as they raised the heavy sails, or 
 wound the slow-moving windlass. While thus musing sadly and 
 abstractedly, a familiar voice was in his ear, and Jed, clad in his 
 hunting habiliments, stood before him. He had approached un 
 observed, in a small boat from the shore, and it was with some 
 abatement of his usual air of cheerfulness that he extended his 
 hand to bid his friend farewell. 
 
 1 So, Ru you are really going, eh ?" he said. 
 
 Yes," replied Ru ruefully enough. 
 
 Never to see New York again?" 
 
 Never!" said Groesbeck. 
 
 Nor your brother nor uncle Dave?" 
 
 No!"
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 77 
 
 "Nor father nor me?" continued Jed. 
 
 "No, never, Jed." 
 
 "Nor nor Snap nor the hounds nor Bucephalus there?" 
 pointing with his riding-whip to his hunter, tied on the wharf. 
 
 "No," again answered Eudolph. 
 
 "Nor nor Effie?" continued Jed at length, eyeing his com 
 panion closely, but with seeming carelessness. 
 
 Eudolph turned pale, and, despite his most strenuous efforts at 
 composure, his voice faltered as he replied : 
 
 " No, my dear fellow, never never." 
 
 Jed required no further proof of suspicion which had before 
 nearly amounted to certainty. 
 
 "You re sure you re doing right, I suppose, Eudolph?" he 
 continued, after a pause, and slashing the deck meanwhile with 
 his whip. 
 
 "I believe that I am," replied Groesbeck, with surprise; "at 
 all events, I leave but few behind me who are interested in my 
 fate." 
 
 " Rudolph," rejoined Jed, still looking deckward and whipping 
 the planks, " I have not come to you with any message or mid- 
 sion, or with the knowledge of any one. I am, as you see, on 
 my way to the forest, and yonder, even now, goes old Jake with 
 the hounds. But I have turned aside Eu to bid you farewell, 
 and to ask you if you are sure, quite sure Eu that you are 
 doing right?" 
 
 "There is some hidden meaning in your words, Jed," replied 
 Eudolph, hurriedly and hoarsely; "speak plainly, quickly, for 
 the love of Heaven!" 
 
 "I will," said Jed; "Effie " 
 
 " Yes " exclaimed Eudolph. 
 
 Effie " 
 
 "Yes," was again the eager response. 
 
 " I cannot tell you, Eu ; she would die if she thought I had 
 spoken to you. She has never said or hinted a word to me ; 
 but I can see, Eudolph, and I fear you are laboring under some 
 dreadful mistake," and Jed slashed the poor deck more unmerci 
 fully than ever. 
 
 " Does she care aught for me ?" asked Groesbeck, quickly, and 
 seizing the hand of his companion with the grasp of a vice; 
 "does she not love Egbert expect hope for his return?" 
 
 " That she never loved Egbert that she loathes him now 
 that she does not expect or desire his return that the wealth 
 of worlds could not induce her to smile upon him all this I 
 know" replied Jed ; " that she cares for you, Eudolph, it is 
 hardly proper for me to say ; but she used to be happy in your 
 
 presence, and now she is but I have said enough, Eu too 
 
 much perhaps, so good bye."
 
 78 THE FIEST OF 
 
 "Wait a minute," exclaimed Groesbeek, starting in three 
 several directions in a breath, and each time coming back to 
 the same spot; "wait a minute, Jed; halloo there, you, Jack! 
 Jim! Joe!" calling down below and summoning to the gang 
 way the apparition of a woolly-headed waiter, with a 
 frightened aspect; "I m going on shore, Bill," he said ; " take 
 care of my boxes there you know come along Jed and halloo 
 there don t sail, you know, till I come back." 
 
 The white eyes of the negro expanded over the sable disc of 
 his face like the passing off of an eclipse; "Golly, massa,"he 
 said, "/can t stop her." 
 
 " Oh, very true, Sam," said Eudolph, whose thoughts, revolving 
 in a whirl of excitement, were fairly jumbled together : " very 
 true," he said, for at that moment he caught a glimpse of three 
 distinct ideas as they flitted by the first of which was that the 
 negro was not the captain ; the second, that the vessel would 
 not wait three seconds for him in any event ; and the third, that 
 she was not to sail till the next day, and that he would there 
 fore have ample time to get back before her departure, without 
 the aid of seven-league boots. " So, come along, Jed," he ex 
 claimed once more, and the friends departed together. 
 
 The events which immediately ensued scarcely require to be 
 narrated. Jed did not accompany his friend to his father s 
 home, and Effie, while walking iu the garden, 
 
 " Its fairest flowers eclipsed by her," 
 
 beheld Rudolph approaching, and anticipated with dread another 
 painful interview. But there was a new strange look on his 
 flushed features, and he called her "Effie." The " Terror " was 
 lying within their view, and, at Eudolph s instance, they 
 strolled toward the river that they might see it the more plainly. 
 There stood the latticed arbor, and loitering, embarrassedly, half 
 within it, to adjust a fallen vine, Effie s little hand has been taken 
 gently captive, and pressed to burning lips, and warm and fervent 
 words of love, of pure and holy love, are murmured in her ear. 
 The whole story of his alternating hopes and fears, of his single- 
 hearted and truthful affection, has been told and repeated, but 
 has not been answered. 
 
 No word has spoken approval, and no look has betokened it 
 but the little hand is unwithdrawn and the half-averted face, 
 and the drooping lids, and the one trembling tear are more elo 
 quent than words. There are scenes and sentiments which 
 should be left undesecrated by pen or pencil, and which only 
 the Daguerrean power of the Imagination can portray. Smile
 
 THE KNICKEBBOCKEKS. 79 
 
 ye who will, but pure and passionless affection is no chimera of 
 the mind. The fountain in the desert the flower on the heath 
 a star in the clouded sky ; these are its images, and its types 
 as far as mortal objects can adumbrate immortality.
 
 80 THE FIRST OF 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ON that memorable evening when the conclave at Governor 
 Stuyvesant s was in session, a single horseman, casually passing 
 the house, had his attention arrested by the singular appearance 
 of the light bursting through the chinks and crannies othe 
 closed blinds, in the room which all New York knew to be the 
 governor s best parlor. The equestrian gazed a little while, 
 wonderingly, and was about to pass on, when the dismissed party 
 came pouring out of the front doorway, uttering many a loud 
 " good night " to their host, who, candle in hand, watched 
 them down the lawn. 
 
 It was a dark evening, lighted faintly by the stars, and there 
 were shadowy spots on the way-side, beneath overhanging 
 trees, which were darker still. Into one of these the rider 
 reined his horse, and, unobserved, awaited the approach of 
 the party. Their nodding heads and whispering voices and 
 vehement gestures conveyed no other idea to the listener than 
 the addition of some new ghost to the spirit family of the 
 island, whose advent was the subject of comment, and whose 
 assaults were to be avoided by clustering closely together. But 
 the frequent mention of Rudolph s name, and the appearance 
 of one slight and erect form, towering above the bended figures 
 of his companions, excite3 no little surprise. A party of old 
 Dutch gentlemen at the governor s was no unusual occurrence, 
 but what was young Groesbeck doing in such an assemblage? 
 
 Thus wondering, though only with the curiosity of an idle 
 mind, and attaching no importance to the occurrence, the 
 horseman waited until the party had passed, and then resumed 
 his way. It has been said that there was starlight only, and 
 that of the faintest kind, but, feeble as were the celestial rays, 
 they would have revealed to the most careless observer, in the 
 proportions of the rider, in his position and motions, and in the 
 general. Bcnhadadily of his air, the person of the junior Sharp. 
 But Benhadad was not Hiram, or no bubble had been too frail, 
 no brushed cobweb too evanescent, to emblem the brilliant 
 scheme on which so many hopes were hung. 
 
 Yet when on the second ensuing day, mingling with the 
 crowd who thronged to see the departure of the "Terror,"
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 81 
 
 Sharp heard for the first time, that Eudolph was on board, a 
 passenger to England, a slow, dull, tedious process of ratiocina 
 tion began to take place in his brain, confusedly connecting the 
 event with the circumstances of which he had so lately been a 
 witness. At times he seemed to catch the glimpse of an idea 
 beyond the isolated facts, arid to wonder whether there was not 
 something strange in it, and then, with much chuckling at his 
 sagacity, he resolved to mention the matter to Governor Love 
 lace the very first time that he should meet that officer. 
 
 In the mean time, many anxious hearts were watching the 
 embarkation. From the long Dutch stoop of Evert Knicker 
 bocker ; from the terrace of Anthony Ten Broeck ; from the 
 distant windows of the Van Schaicks and Van Tassels, the Van 
 Bummels and Van Pelts, old heads and spectacled eyes were 
 peering; and whispering voices asked, and whispered words 
 replied that all seemed safe and quiet yet. They had regarded 
 Rudolph s prudent injunctions in remaining at home, but pain 
 ful indeed was their suspense. 
 
 Eudolph himself was not free from fear. His new hopes, the 
 bliss which had so suddenly deluged his heart, had increased by 
 a thousandfold his value of life ; and the perils which he had 
 held so lightly before seemed now of no trivial magnitude. It 
 was not now as an exile that he was about to quit his native 
 shores, but as a patriot, bound on a lofty mission, and looking 
 forward to a speedy return and a happy reunion with the 
 friends whom he left behind. Not that he shrunk from en 
 countering peril, or would have abated aught from the glorious 
 enterprise to which he had pledged his exertions;* but it was 
 with a fast beating heart that he watched the slow processes 
 of raising the heavy anchors, and setting the ample sails. The 
 musical chorus of the sailors, as they bent cheerily to their 
 tasks, became harsh and discordant sounds to his excited 
 nerves, and his suspense was increased by his inability to judge 
 of the point of progress attained in these mysterious operations. 
 
 Beuhadad continued an interested spectator of the scene, 
 and as the affair of Rudolph continued to occur at intervals to 
 his mind, he looked around for some one to whom he might 
 mention his thoughts. But seeing no one in the undistin 
 guished throng around him, worthy of his confidence, he again 
 wrapped himself in his dignity, in which very comfortable en 
 velope he bade fair to remain inclosed, until after the departure 
 of the vessel. 
 
 But the anchor is well nigh in the sails are nearly set the 
 last boat is hoisted up, and swings, dangling, like a toy, at 
 4*
 
 82 THE FIRST OF 
 
 the vessel s side, and noble hearts beat freer, and aching eyes 
 grow less vigilant in the distance. 
 
 " Ah, Sharp, my dear friend, how are you ?" said a mild bland 
 voice in Benhadad s ear: "a fine vessel, isn t she? I under 
 stand our ruralizing, botanizing, contemplative, poetical friend, 
 young Groesbeck, goes out eh ? where the deuce is he going 
 to?" 
 
 "See here, Captain Sinclair!" exclaimed Benhadad, now 
 burning with his pent secret; and, drawing his companion aside, 
 he whispered earnestly for some moments in his ear, during 
 which period the captain s countenance underwent some singu 
 lar changes. "I dare say," concluded the informant, there s 
 nothing in it, of course, you know but then it s queer, isn t 
 it?" 
 
 " Blinds closed all Dutchmen Rudolph the only young man 
 present and he now starting off mysteriously in the Terror 
 war raging between Holland and England," repeated Sinclair, 
 touching at once on the prominent points ; " why, here is no 
 suspicion, man ; here is certainty /" and before Benhadad could 
 reply his companion had vanished. 
 
 " It s strange what a confounded hurry he s in," muttered Ben 
 hadad, as he again gave himself up to a contemplation of the- 
 majestic vessel, which now came gracefully around, and, with 
 distended sails, stood gallantly down the bay. 
 
 Then came the flash, the smoke, the loud reverberation of the 
 parting salute, the prompt response from the fort, the merry 
 cheers, and waving hats, and signs of last adieu. Steadily on 
 ward, slowly at first, but more briskly soon, she passes on her 
 way, leaving town and fort behind ; and the banners of St. 
 George are fluttering at her peak, and the merry troll of the 
 mariners comes more faintly to the ear, and long, deep breaths 
 are drawn by fervent hearts on shore, and hopes are growing 
 brighter, and grateful tears are shed. 
 
 Half an hour elapsed, but the gaping crowd did not disperse. 
 Some new commotion has arrested the general gaze. Messen 
 gers were seen passing rapidly to and from the government 
 house ; signals were flying from the fort ; the governor himself, 
 accompanied by Captain Sinclair, made his appearance, and 
 walked hastily to the battery, and strange whisperings of unintel 
 ligible events prevailed. Presently the guns of the fort were 
 fired in quick succession, and, after considerable delay, a sail-boat, 
 darting out into the stream, went racing down the bay, in the 
 wake of the Terror. A hundred hearts stood still, but onward 
 went the ship. In vain did the echoing cannon continue to 
 thunder from the fort ; they were regarded only as repetitions
 
 TUB KNICKERBOCKERS. 83 
 
 of the parting salute, and as such were from time to time replied 
 to by the guns of the vessel. The signals were either not seen, 
 or not understood, and all the alternating hopes and fears of the 
 spectators soon centred upon the relative speed of the messen 
 ger-boat and its leviathan chase. 
 
 Had the wind been fresh, the ship, with its towering cloud of 
 canvass, would doubtless soon have passed from view ; but the 
 breeze, while strong enough to give the feathery little bark a 
 rapid headway, told of course less effectually upon its bulky com 
 petitor. Yet the difference of speed was too slight to admit of 
 making any certain calculations upon the result. A stern chase 
 is proverbially a long one, and the waterman who guided the 
 little craft had been dispatched, in the hurry of the hour, unpro 
 vided with the means of making any conspicuous signals. 
 
 Eudolph stood meanwhile upon the quarter-deck of the Terror, 
 a prey to the most harrowing anxiety. With a sagacity sharp 
 ened by the danger which surrounded him, he had at once con 
 jectured the cause of the commotion on shore, and he watched 
 with fearful interest the progress of the pursuing boat. His first 
 impulse was to destroy the papers which might prove such fear 
 ful evidence against him ; but their importance to the success of 
 his mission was such that he resolved to defer their destruction 
 until more certain of its necessity. He thought that his fears 
 might magnify the danger; that the pursuit might be for some 
 other object, and that, at all events, there would be abundant 
 opportunity for such a purpose before any one authorized either 
 to arrest or examine him could board the vessel, for the present 
 pursuer was clearly enough no officer of justice. 
 
 Concealing his trepidation as best he couid, he awaited the 
 course of events, and, to avoid directing attention to the sail 
 boat, was obliged to content himself with only occasional and 
 furtive glances in that direction. Lieutenant Flash joined him 
 and rallied him upon his low spirits: "Just so myself," he said, 
 "the first time I went to sea all right, sir you ll be sea-sick 
 by-and-by, and then you ll feel better; but halloo! what s this?" 
 he continued, as, looking off toward the harbor, he caught sight 
 of the sail in their wake : " why, Groesbeck, she s chasing us, 
 making signals, and all that; she is, indeed; there must be 
 something wrong;" and the lieutenant was about to transmit 
 the intelligence to the Captain, when he felt the hand of Ru 
 dolph upon his shoulder, and turning around, saw the pale face 
 of his companion looking earnestly at him. 
 
 "Mr. Flash," he said, "do you believe me to be guilty of any 
 crime deserving of death ?" 
 
 "Fow/ crime! death!" replied Flash rapidly; "why, no, sir, 
 of course not. I know better."
 
 04 THE FIRST OF 
 
 "Look this way, then," said Rudolph, whisperingly ; "I can 
 not tell you now what I mean ; but do not look at that boat ; do 
 not point your glass toward her for it is probable that my life 
 depends upon her not overtaking us." 
 
 "What what what?" said Flash hastily, and laying down 
 his glass ; " is it so ?" and turning from Rudolph, he issued a 
 succession of rapid orders, which were as rapidly obeyed by the 
 sailors, and another snowy sail capped the pyramidal canvas 
 that rose above the decks of the Terror. "The Captain and. 
 First are at dinner yet," he said, turning again to Rudolph, " and 
 will be for the next half hour. There is no one else to fear ; in j 
 twenty minutes we ll be outside of the Hook ; so never fear, my ^ 
 good sir, never fear." 
 
 Rudolph grasped the hand of his companion, and thanked him 
 with such voice as his choked utterance would permit. 
 
 "No, no, nevermind," said Flash; "I know you didn t do it, 
 no matter what it was confound the bailiffs, and all that ; now 
 we go, sir isn t that a dashing speed ?" 
 
 And onward sped the Terror, rising and sinking to the long, 
 heavy swell which proclaimed the open sea to be close at hand. 
 Ten minutes elapsed, and the ocean gate, widening to their nearer 
 view, revealed the white crested waves beyond, chasing each 
 other "like snowy coursers on the race." 
 
 "She ll scarcely venture outside in such a sea as that," said 
 Flash : " courage, my friend. Ah, if it would only blow great 
 guns now, there wouldn t be a speck of danger ; I think it does 
 come a little fresher" feeling the air with his hand ; and thus 
 the good-natured Lieutenant ran on, attempting to encourage 
 his companion, but delicately abstaining from any inquiries into 
 the particular cause of his alarm. He knew enough, however, 
 of the hostility of the Dutch inhabitants of New York t o the 
 existing government, to suspect that Groesbeck s offence, if any, 
 was of a political character, and if so, there were obvious reasons 
 just at that moment why the Lieutenant should prefer to remain 
 uninformed of it. A brief acquaintance with Rudolph on shore 
 had convinced him that the latter could not be justly chargeable 
 with the obloquy of any personal crime. 
 
 " She gains on us a* little, I think," said Rudolph, casting a 
 hasty glance behind. 
 
 " Never mind," replied Flash, " here we are in the very portals 
 of the sea she ll vanish here, like a ghost at the church-yard ;" 
 and onward rushed the ship, with a momentarily increasing mo 
 tion her speed being now rendered more apparent by the 
 rapidly shifting objects on the adjacent laud. The very sound 
 of the breakers on the nearest shore came distinctly to the ear,
 
 THE KNICKEEEOCKEKS. 85 
 
 and the sparkling wavea could be seen chasing each other 
 sportively up the beach. A few minutes more, and the shores 
 were rapidly receding, and a boundless waste of waters was 
 opening to the view. 
 
 " Good bye good bye, my little friend, "exclaimed Flash ex- 
 ultiugly; "unless you see tit to cross the Atlantic with us, in 
 which case you had better " 
 
 " Mr. Flash !" exclaimed a startling voice from the cabin gang 
 way, " yonder is a small boat following us and making signals ; 
 slacken sail a little, and let her come up." 
 
 It was the voice of fate, and could not be gainsayed. The 
 vanishing head of Captain Grim was just seen as he again disap 
 peared in the cabin, and the Lieutenant, directing a deprecatory 
 glance toward Rudolph, issued the necessary orders, and in half 
 an hour the boat was alongside. Rudolph s heart sank within 
 him, but summoning his resolution, he awaited the denouement 
 with such composure as he could command. He still indulged 
 the hope that his apprehensions had been needlessly excited, and 
 that the errand of the boat had no reference to himself. How, 
 indeed, could his secret have transpired at the very moment of 
 his departure ? Surely his excitement and anxiety had conjured 
 up a phantom of danger where none in reality existed. lie 
 would not yet destroy his papers, which were carefully con 
 cealed within the lining of one of his travelling boxes, for there 
 could be no lack t of opportunity for that purpose, if it became 
 necessary to accomplish it. 
 
 Alas ! he had little calculated on the cruel sagacity of his foes. 
 The sail-boat came alongside, and a sealed note for Captain Grim 
 was passed into the ship. The surprised air with which he pe 
 rused it his glance at Rudolph, and his instantaneous orders 
 for a return to port, left litfcle room for hope ; but when, a few 
 minutes subsequently, Rudolph attempted to pass below, and 
 found himself interdicted, he at length knew the worst. 
 
 "Mr. Groesbeck will excuse me," said Captain Grim, "for 
 requesting him to remain where he now is, until we return to 
 port ; some suspicions, groundless I hope, are entertained, and 
 I am requested to forbid you access to your luggage, until it can 
 be searched by an officer of justice." 
 
 The request was of course a command, and Rudolph, whose 
 native courage and fortitude now came to his aid, quietly ac 
 quiesced. He soon became conscious even that he was closely 
 watched to prevent the destruction of any papers which he 
 might have about his person. 
 
 The sad details of events immediately ensuing need scarcely
 
 oO THE FIRST OF 
 
 be related. Let it suffice to know that when, a few hours sub 
 sequently, the spreading sails of the Terror once more faded to 
 a cloud within the distant Narrows, Rudolph Groesbeck was not 
 upon her decks. Guarded, manacled, the tenant of a felon s 
 cell, he awaited a speedy trial for the crime of High Treason 
 against the majesty of Charles the Second.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 87 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AVALAXCHE-LIKE, in its force and impetuosity, had been the 
 descent of this dreadful calamity; and if anything could add 
 aggravation to the blow, it was a contemplation of the contempt 
 ible means by which it had been effected. The mountain had 
 been undermined by a mouse. The discomfited confederates 
 needed no summons to bring them together on the evening of 
 that memorable day; one by one, as the shadows of twilight 
 deepened, did they wend their lonely way to the distant Bowery, 
 hoping to gain from their leader the encouragement which their 
 own hearts failed to afford. But all regret for their vanished 
 hopes of conquest were lost sight of for the present, in view of 
 the appalling fate which impended over their young and chival 
 rous ally. 
 
 There was no view of the affair which presented any sem 
 blance of hope in his behalf. He was in the hands of a rigorous 
 government, bound by the principle of self-preservation to sup 
 press every form of insurrection, and to crush each embryo bud 
 of treason. They knew that even a mild and moderate govern 
 ment might plausibly have punished Rudolph s offence with 
 death, and that from the despotic tribunal of Lovelace no le 
 niency in such a case could be expected. Some fears for their 
 own safety mingled with these apprehensions, and altogether it 
 was a gloomy congress which convened on that dismal evening 
 at the house of Governor Stuyvesant. 
 
 Governor Stuyvesant growled like a chained lion, but he in 
 dulged in no idle vaunts. A blank despair, indeed, pervaded the 
 whole council, and while many schemes for relief were revolved, 
 each was in turn abandoned as utterly hopeless. It was resolved, 
 however, that immediate measures should be taken to learn tho 
 designs of the government, and, if any fair trial was to be allowed 
 to the accused, no pains were to be spared in furnishing him 
 with skilful counsel, and such other aid as might be practicable. 
 Having designated a few of their number to obtain the earliest 
 possible information on the subject, the assembly dispersed to 
 meet again on the ensuing evening, unless some exigency should 
 call them sooner together. 
 
 There was no one who said less, or endured more on this try-
 
 83 THE FIKST OF 
 
 ing occasion, than Mr. Knickerbocker. Ho felt as if all Ku- 
 dolph s sufferings were in some way traceable to himself, and it 
 seemed as if the impending tragedy was to be the crowning 
 calamity of his life. That he passed a weary night, finding sleep 
 without repose and dreams more fatiguing than toil, need scarcely 
 be said. On the ensuing morning, he was early abroad, seeking 
 to glean such information as he could find upon the subject 
 which now engrossed his whole attention. His steps were 
 naturally directed toward the jail in which Kudolph was con 
 fined, which stood closely adjoining the fort, and fronting toward 
 the Hudson river at a point very near the southern extremity of 
 the city. Near to that gloomy tenement he saw, sauntering, one 
 of those grim officials of the law, who execute its most odious 
 and repulsive decrees without even the show of reluctance. Hid 
 ing a cruel and sanguinary disposition under the guise of devotion 
 to his official duty, Hugh Gore, at once the jailer and executioner 
 of the city, added, by the natural ferocity of his look and man 
 ner, increased intensity to every punishment which he inflicted. 
 In vain did the prisoner, newly arrested, look into his face for 
 some glearn of encouragement or sympathy. The very act of 
 turning the prison bolts was performed with an emphasis which 
 betokened a relish of the welcome sound ; and if the victim was 
 one, the accusation against whom was of a capital nature, he 
 would be sure to be favored by Hugh with a cell which com 
 manded a full view of the permanent gallows, scarcely less lofty 
 than that of Hainan, which, to the disgrace of the infant city, 
 then formed one of its prominent features. 
 
 To this ogre, the timid and child-like Evert applied courte 
 ously for information as to the situation of his young friend, and 
 the nature of the charges against him. 
 
 " Charges ?" said Hugh, sardonically ; " oh, nothing, I believe, 
 more than high treason, and some such little matters; tisn t 
 anything, you know, to invite the king s enemies into the conn- 
 try, and offer to help them overturn the government that ain t 
 anything, is it, old fellow ?" 
 
 " When is he to be tried?" rejoined Evert, with difficulty sup 
 pressing his emotion. 
 
 "There are older heads than his in this business," replied 
 Hugh, not heeding the question, " if we can only get at them ; 
 some fine estates to bo confiscated, too. You don t know any 
 thing about it though, I dare say; and then some folks s estates 
 are out of all danger of confiscation ha! ha! ha! you can t get 
 two skins off one cat hoi ho! ho!" and an echoing laugh from 
 within told that Hugh was not talking for his own edification 
 alone.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 89 
 
 " Can you tell me when Mr. Groesbeck is to be tried ?" re 
 peated Evert mildly, and still repressing all signs of indignation at 
 the brutality of his companion. 
 
 "Tried, quotha?" returned Hugh; "tried? no, not exactly; 
 but there is a man," pointing across the street, toward a shop of 
 miscellaneous cabinet- ware, "there s a man in that shop who can 
 tell you something about it, I reckon;" and so saying, Hugh 
 retired within doors, whence still the jeering laugh came back to 
 Evert s ears. 
 
 The old man directed his steps slowly across the road to the 
 place which had been designated by his informant, and, in the 
 simplicity of his heart, applied with the same inquiry to a work 
 man whom he found busily engaged within. 
 
 "Rudolph Groesbeck? when is he to be tried, do you ask?" 
 said the carpenter respectfully, pausing meanwhile from his work, 
 and leaning on the end of his plane. 
 
 "Yes, sir," returned Mr. Knickerbocker, glad that he seemed 
 like to meet with no further insults ; " the jailer told me he 
 thought you could inform me when his trial would take place." 
 
 The man looked curiously and sympathizingly into old Evert s 
 anxious face, and then gave a quick, furtive glance toward the 
 opposite side of his shop as he replied : " I don t know exactly 
 when he s to be tried pretty soon, I should reckon that s for 
 him;" and Evert s eyes, following the direction pointed out by 
 his companion, fell upon a newly made and freshly stained coffin. 
 
 Leaning, clinging to the lintel of the doorway, pale, trembling, 
 gasping, Mr. Knickerbocker in vain essayed for some moments 
 to speak. 
 
 "For him?" he said at length; " for Rudolph Groesbeclc? it 
 is impossible; by whose orders has this been done?" 
 
 "Oh, Hugh sees to all these things; he ordered it. I guess 
 it s all right, sir he don t often make a mistake about such mat 
 ters." 
 
 "The hard-hearted scoundrel the fiend!" exclaimed the old 
 man. 
 
 "No, no," said the carpenter, "I wouldn t call hard names 
 it ain t always safe. He gives me a good many jobs, Hugh does, 
 but he is rather hasty, I think myself, at times ; he sometimes 
 measures his men for these things as soon as he gets em inside, 
 sir. When you ve got a thing to do, then do it, and don t be 
 puttin off things that s Hugh s maxim." 
 
 " But Rudolph has not been convicted or even tried yet 
 much less sentenced to death." 
 
 " Wai, p raps not ; I don t know much about these things ; but 
 that won t take long, I reckon. I hearn something said about a 
 court to be held this afternoon at the iStadt-Huys, as soon as the
 
 90 THE FIRST OF 
 
 races are over may be that s it;" and the workman resumed his 
 labors with a rapidity which manifested a disposition at once to 
 put an end to the colloquy, and to make amends for the time 
 which had already been consumed upon it. 
 
 With a heavy heart and tottering steps did Evert return to his 
 house, where for a while he yielded to the most bitter and hope 
 less despair. To Jed, who was equally appalled at his friend s 
 danger, and ready to do anything in his behalf, he at once im 
 parted the alarming facts which he had learned, and entreated 
 him to hasten to Governor Stuyvesant with the intelligence. 
 
 " Tell him," he said, " that if anything can be done, it must be 
 immediately; to-morrow may be too late." 
 
 Jed hastened to execute his mission, tarrying only to enjoin 
 upon his father that he should withhold from Effie all knowledge 
 of these dreadful facts, for she was entirely ignorant of the im 
 pending calamity. She knew nothing even of Kudolph s arrest; 
 and her heart continued glad, as watching the favoring skies she 
 anticipated his prosperous voyage and safe return. 
 
 Stuyvesant received Jed s information with but little surprise. 
 "Yes, yes," he said, "they ll murder the poor fellow of course, 
 and we have got to sit still and look tamely on ; but go, and learn 
 with certainty the time and place of his trial ; we will at least 
 behold the mockery, and do all for him that we can." 
 
 But the necessity for haste did not prove to be as great as had 
 been anticipated. The executioner s cruel orders had been alto 
 gether gratuitous, and were entirely unknown to Governor Love 
 lace. The latter, indeed, could not be chargeable with a san 
 guinary disposition ; yet, in the ever rigorous discharge of his 
 official trust, clemency was not to be looked for at his hands. 
 His very hostility to the Dutch inhabitants had resulted more 
 from a knowledge of their disloyalty to the existing powers than 
 from any personal ill-will toward them. Faithful to his own 
 master, he was still not capable of giving them credit for fidelity 
 to the States, nor mindful of the steps of doubtful equity by which 
 the latter had been divorced from their long-cherished colonies. 
 
 The principal judicial tribunal which existed at this time in 
 the province was called the Court of Assize, and was composed 
 of the governor himself and two or three justices of the peace. 
 Although created by no legislative enactment, but organized by 
 Lovelace in pursuance of the plenary powers with which he was 
 invested, it possessed perhaps sufficient authority to arraign and 
 try the accused. But desirous to attach more weight to the af 
 fair, and to imitate in some respect the formula of State trials 
 in England, the governor issued a special commission of oyer and 
 terminer for this purpose to one Sir Thomas Colton and two jus 
 tices of the peace, and an interval of six days was allowed to 
 elapse previous to the trial.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 91 
 
 Kndolph was also informed that he would be allowed the 
 benefit of counsel, and that if he had any witnesses in his behalf 
 they should be heard. There was something, however, in all 
 this ceremony which seemed like a mere show of clemency, 
 where the substance was wanting. It seemed indeed to Rudolph s 
 despairing mind a sort of challenge and defiance, as if he had 
 been told that he should have every opportunity of defence for 
 the very purpose of demonstrating the hopeless certainty of his 
 guilt, and the justice of his coming condemnation. 
 
 It would be painful and unnecessary to dwell upon the inter 
 val of suspense which intervened prior to the sitting of the 
 court, or to depict the sad details of the trial. Rudolph s deport 
 ment was dignified and calm, but there was an expression of 
 anguish at times upon his face, which spoke of suffering beyond 
 any that the fear of death had power to inflict. His own sud 
 denly blasted hopes, the pain and degradation of an ignominious 
 execution, were scarcely present to his mind ; but who shall tell 
 the agony of his soul as he contemplated the impending misery 
 of her, who, still unconscious of his danger, was yet to meet the 
 full shock of so overwhelming a grief. 
 
 Every effort was made in his behalf, but all was in vain. The 
 proof admitted of no denial. The papers which had been found 
 in his possession told the whole story of his culpability ; and 
 the fact of their careful concealment among his luggage gave 
 confirmation to the proof. The eloquent petition, the accurate 
 plan of the harbor and channel, the private letters of Mr. Knick 
 erbocker, which, although containing no allusion to political 
 subjects, showed the intended destination of their bearer, were 
 all produced and commented on, carrying conviction to the 
 minds of the hearers. Rudolph in short was found guilty, and, 
 when asked, with the usual formula of the law, whether he had 
 anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced against 
 him, he remained silent. Not even when demanded a second 
 time did he essay to reply, until, answering rather the appealing 
 looks of his friends than the voice of the judge, he briefly ad 
 dressed the court* 
 
 "If aught," he said, " if aughtjthat I can allege could serve 
 to avert or palliate a doom which I dread less for myself than 
 others, I might indeed say something against my impending sen 
 tence. I night speak of political wrongs sought to be righted ; 
 of duty which is counted crime, and patriotism stigmatized as 
 treason ; but I could neither deny my acts, nor repudiate the 
 principles which prompted them. I know that I must die ig- 
 nominiously on the scaffold," his voice faltered as he spoke 
 " but I die a martyr and not a criminal."
 
 UZ THE FIKST OF 
 
 He sat down, and a shudder ran through the audience as the 
 presiding judge, with the judicial ceremony of the age, assumed 
 the black cap which betokened the sentence of death. With 
 dignified composure, yet not without feeling, was his official duty 
 discharged. He spoke of the imperative obligation incumbent 
 upon ministers of justice to punish those crimes which aimed at 
 the subversion of government, and remarked upon the peculiar 
 situation of the province, endangered by enemies from abroad, 
 and by disaffection at home, as a reason for the most rigid en 
 forcement of the law. 
 
 He then proceeded to sentence the prisoner, fixing the third 
 ensuing day for his execution, and warning him not to indulge 
 the faintest hope of pardon or reprieve. The court then ad 
 journed, and Rudolph, in the clutch of the gratified Hugh, was 
 remanded to his cell. What bitter tears wers shed, what noblo 
 hearts were wrung, how voiceless with grief his faithful friends 
 crowded around him, seeking vainly to give some word of cheer, 
 need not be related. Petition and remonstrance were all in vain; 
 the governor remained inexorable, and even hinted at further 
 prosecutions if the least additional provocation were given. 
 
 If there was one of Rudolph s friends who now suffered more 
 than the rest, it was Jed ; on whom plainly devolved a task 
 scarcely less dreadful than that of suffering side by side with his 
 friend ; for from his lips must Effie receive the appalling tidings 
 which should prepare her once more to meet Rudolph, and then 
 to part with him forever.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS, 93 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE city jail, as has been described, stood near the fort, and 
 fronting toward the Hudson, at a point near the confluence of 
 that stream with the East River. A little to the north, on the 
 same street, was the governor s house, a large, but in no way 
 ostentatious building, and immediately adjacent, but fronting in 
 another direction, was the old Dutch Church. A narrow court 
 yard intervened between the jail and the street, and a long stoop, 
 the invariable accompaniment of Dutch buildings, extended the 
 whole width of the house; Upon this stoop, on the evening 
 which succeeded to that melancholy day, the events of which 
 have just been related, sat Hugh Gore, wrapt in no unpl easing 
 contemplations. 
 
 The sun had gone down { the lingering twilight was growing 
 gradually less ; and the light sea-breeze, setting landward, was 
 lifting the shaggy locks of the jailer, as gently as if they had been 
 the curls of cradled innocence. Musing deeply and alone, and 
 watching with complacent countenance the thin wreaths which 
 curled slowly upward from his pipe, he was aroused from his 
 reverie by the heavy tread of some one passing in the street. 
 
 On looking up, he saw a man clad in a thin spencer and wide- 
 legged trowsers, and wearing the glazed tarpaulin which then as 
 now was a distinctive badge of the fraternity of sailors. He had 
 passed Hugh apparently without noticing him, but turning sud 
 denly back, and exhibiting by the movement the neck of a glass 
 bottle protruding from his outer pocket, he touched his hat 
 civilly and inquired the way to a well-known drain-shop in the 
 neighborhood. 
 
 "Huyck s?" said Hugh, good-naturedly; " why, you must be 
 a stranger here if you don t know where Huyck s is, and you a 
 sailor, too!" 
 
 "I am," replied the other, again touching his hat, " and have 
 just come from Boston in the Dolly yonder she lies, with the 
 blue bunting. Will your honor please to tell me " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Hugh, giving the desired direction ; " but don t 
 go and spend all your money like a fool."
 
 94 THE FIRST OF 
 
 The sailor smiled, and, thanking his informant, passed on, and 
 Gore, wrapt in his peculiar reflections, had quite forgotten the 
 incident, when, a few minutes afterwards, it was recalled to his 
 mind by a return of the stranger. He seemed now slightly 
 affected by the atmosphere of Mynheer Huyck s tap-room, and 
 disposed to be social and communicative; and, after bandying 
 merry phrases with Hugh for a few minutes, he produced his 
 bottle, and invited his companion to drink. The jailer sniffed 
 daintly at the cork, prepared to utter a sneer at the vile whiskey, 
 or at some compound still viler, though bearing a more ambi 
 tious name, when he became conscious that his olfactories were 
 regaled with the fumes of a liquor, rare and costly at that period 
 in the province, and highly prized by the epicurean race. 
 
 The de il," he exclaimed, applying his huge nose agftin and 
 again, to the mouth of the bottle ; " is it possible that Huyck sells 
 genuine Jamaica, and that sailors buy it? Walk up, Mr. Jack 
 Tar, walk up, and take a seat, while I get some cups, and we ll 
 have a taste of its quality." 
 
 The sailor needed no second bidding, and, taking a seat on the 
 stoop, awaited the return of the other from within, who soon 
 made his appearance with some drinking utensils, and then led 
 the way to a part of the piazza less exposed to view from the 
 street, for he was in no way desirous of attracting any additional 
 guests to so rare a banquet. Smacking his lips over his cup, he 
 needed but little urging to renew again and again the delicious 
 potation. 
 
 The sailor was exceedingly merry, and had many a jovial tale 
 to tell, which, whatever their real merits, grew more and more 
 amusing to his auditor ; who finally swore, upon the winding up 
 of a long story about crossing the line, and being shaved by 
 father Neptune with an iron hoop, that his particular friend, Mr. 
 Jack Tar, was the very pink of sailors, and he really hoped, upon 
 his soul and body, that he never should be called upon to do any 
 little unpleasant jobs in the way of stringing up or cutting down 
 so choice a fellow. 
 
 "Stringing up and cutting down," repeated the sailor, who 
 despite his seemingly large draughts preserved a tolerable appear 
 ance of sobriety ; u what do you mean by that, Mr. Gore ?" 
 
 " I mean," replied Hugh, with an involuntary twinkle of his 
 eye, "that I am grand Bashaw here, with nine tails there they 
 hang, up there," pointing to a huge instrument of flagellation, 
 reposing above their heads; "and also, that I tend that guide- 
 post to the Future State out there," pointing to the gallows, 
 which in the gloom of the evening loomed up to an unusual alti 
 tude before them. 
 
 H agh did not notice the shudder which shook for a moment
 
 THE KN CKEKBOCKER8. 1 5 
 
 the frame of his companion, any more than he had noticed the 
 dozen discarded draughts which the other had slyly spilled into 
 the garden, over the railing against which his chair was leaning. 
 
 " Oh, ho, you are the executioner, then ?" returned the sailor ; 
 " probably you run up that Growsbeck, then, that was hung the 
 other day, for treason." 
 
 "No, sir," replied Gore, with a chuckle; "he hain t been 
 hung yet, Mr. Groesbeck hain t: I expect the melancholy pleasure 
 of turning him off the day after to-morrow, at nine o clock, and 
 shall be very happy of your presence on that occasion a large 
 company expected front seats reserved for the ladies;" and 
 Hugh laughed at his hideous joke. 
 
 "He s a desperate hard case, I suppose; I should like won 
 derfully to see him you don t know where they keep him, I 
 suppose?" 
 
 "Don t know ?" returned Hugh ; "maybe I don t if I don t 
 know, who does ? that s it. See here, my salt-water friend, 
 do you see them winders there, with fancy lattice work across 
 them ? well, that s the jail, and in there s the onfortinet man ; 
 and in here," striking his jingling pocket with his hand, "in 
 here are the keys that keep him there." 
 
 Mr. Gore s guest expressed no little surprise at these pieces of 
 information, and reiterating his desire to see so awful a criminal, 
 Hugh at length volunteered to gratify his wishes and conduct 
 him within. The jailer s step as he rose for this purpose was 
 by no means steady, and Jed, for he, as may have been conjec 
 tured, was the assumed sailor, seemed to be equally under the 
 effects of the bottle. 
 
 It was no easy matter for the inebriated man to apply his pon 
 derous key, and open the prison door, but after much fumbling 
 and muttering that difficult feat was accomplished, and, the door 
 being left slightly ajar, the companions passed in. There was a 
 principal central room, which was usually occupied by offenders 
 of the lesser grades, and off this apartment were several cells 
 designed for such malefactors as needed especial guarding. But 
 as Gore had at this time no other persons under his charge, and 
 Eudolph s appearance had excited no apprehensions of any 
 very desperate attempt at escape, he had allowed the prisoner 
 the benefit of the larger room ; not, however, without the pre 
 caution of chaining him by one foot to a ring in the floor. This 
 chain was secured by a padlock, the key to which Hugh also 
 carried in his pocket. 
 
 " There he is there he is," exclaimed Gore, speaking thickly, 
 for the liquor was taking effect more fully upon his brain ; " look 
 at him quick, Mr. Tar, and then % let s go back, for there ll be 
 some one else here to see him so<5n, I dare say. but nobody s to
 
 96 THE FIRST OF 
 
 come in to-night without the governor s orders, except Dominic 
 Mcgapolensis." 
 
 So saying, the jailer took a seat near the door, while Jed 
 approached his friend, who was. sitting on a rnde wooden chair, 
 with his face turned to the wall, and with his head resting upon 
 his hands. There was a dim light in the room, left rather by the 
 stinted grace of the keeper than as a matter of right. 
 
 "See what luxuries he has," muttered Hugh, with his chin 
 dropping upon his breast "lights and a seat, and a large room 
 all to himself tisn t everybody gets such treatment, and he 
 wouldn t, you know, only his time is short." 
 
 The prisoner had turned partly around upon the entrance of 
 the visitors, but, after a momentary glance at them, quietly 
 resumed his former position. Jed approached him slowly, talk 
 ing -moan while to the keeper in his assumed manner, but as he 
 came nearer he contrived, parenthetically, to pronounce Ru 
 dolph s name in his natural voice, and in a low tone. A quick 
 nervous motion of the prisoner ensued ; he raised his head 
 slightly, and was about to speak, when his friend s fingers rested 
 upon his lips, and he remained silent. But from that moment 
 every faculty was alive. 
 
 "You ve got him chained, eh?" said Jed; "that s right I see 
 you know how to make sure of such fellows ; bolts, bars, and 
 chains you understand it, don t you, Mr. Gore?" 
 
 " Of course I do," growled Hugh. 
 
 "And yet you are merciful too, considering," said Jed. 
 
 "Certainly," said Gore "see that chair, and candle and 
 and cup of water." 
 
 " Yes, certainly ; but now it s my opinion, Mr. Jailer, that that 
 chain is a little too tight, and that it hurts the poor fellow s 
 ankle ; yon don t want to keep him in pain, I know ; I d jest 
 shift it to t other leg, and make it a trifle looser." 
 
 There is said to be no safer or more acceptable flattery than 
 that which gives an individual credit for the quality which of all 
 others he most lacks, and it must have been on this principle 
 that Jed had attributed the heavenly virtue of Mercy to his bru 
 tal companion. Evidently flattered by the remark, the now 
 stolid keeper came forward and inquired of Kudolph if the fet 
 ters were painful. 
 
 " He gays that they hurt him," replied Jed, hastening to speak 
 for the other, " and any one can see that it is so ; it will be but 
 a moment s work to shift the chain to the other leg." 
 
 " Oh yes," said Hugh, " I can do it in a twinkling, but let me 
 jes lock the door first, because a man in his case gets dreadful 
 desperate sometimes, and he might make a rush, and get away 
 from us, you know."
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 97 
 
 " Oh, I ll see to that," exclaimed Jed ; and skipping past the 
 jailer lie transferred the key from the outer to the inner side, 
 and, shutting the door, locked it, but without removing the key. 
 
 Satisfied that all was now safe, and that his prisoner, however 
 daring, could do nothing against the combined efforts of himself 
 and the sailor, Gore stooped and unlocked the chain removed 
 it from one leg of Rudolph, and was about transferring it to the 
 other, when he found himself suddenly lying upon his back, with 
 Jed astride of his body, and a strong hand at his throat. 
 
 "If you speak you will die," said Jed, firmly; "if you are 
 quiet you shall not be harmed do you understand?" 
 
 Purple with fright and suffocation, Hugh winked in reply, for, 
 pinioned and throttled as he was, it was the only gesture he 
 could make ; and Jed, who had not come unprepared for his 
 work, produced some stout cords and a gag, with which, in a 
 few moments, the helpless jailer was secured beyond the power 
 of speech or motion. The chain was next applied to his huge 
 leg and securely locked, and the young men, trembling with 
 intense excitement, were hastening toward the door, when 
 a loud knock without fell like the knell of hope upon their 
 ears. 
 
 "My dear," screamed a shrill, angry, catamount-like voice 
 through the key-hole, "are you inside there? I want to know, 
 for here is Dominie Megapolensis waiting to see the poor young 
 man that is to be hung. My de-e-e-e-r !" 
 
 A growling, inarticulate noise, issuing from the widely dis 
 tended jaws of the jailer, manifested his attempt to reply to this 
 invocation, and Jed, darting to his side with menacing gestures, 
 crowded an ample handkerchief into his gulf-like mouth. 
 
 " He must be in there," continued the woman, apparently ad 
 dressing some one at her side, after waiting in vain some mo 
 ments for an answer: "he must be there, for the key is in the 
 door inside ; the lazy fellow has dropped asleep ;" and this re 
 mark was followed by another screaming call, and a rattling 
 of the door that might have awakened the seven sleepers of 
 Ephesus. 
 
 In an agony of suspense, breathless and motionless, stood Jed 
 and Rudolph, yet to the former returned at length a portion of 
 the coolness and equanimity which had marked all his proceed 
 ings. Drawing his friend aside, he said, " Our only hope is in 
 instant flight, for in three minutes this harridan will raise a 
 mob. Keep perfectly still, and be guided by me, and if you get 
 off, and we should be separated, remember that my hunter 
 stands saddled just outside the wall, in the woods, about ten 
 rods west of the centre gate take this tarpaulin and spencer 
 do as I do, and be sure not to speak." 
 5
 
 98 THE FIRST OF 
 
 So saying, Jed doffed his jacket, exhibiting another exactly 
 similar beneath it, and drew from his pocket a crushed cap like 
 the one which he wore. "We are sailors, he continued, "be 
 longing to the Dolly, of and from Boston. Come on and keep 
 calm, and, above all things, don t attempt to run, for the moon 
 light is like noonday without, and we shall be distinctly seen." 
 
 Resolving to be guided by one who had thus far shown so 
 much sagacity and prudence, Rudolph followed his friend in 
 silence to the door, which was still rattling in the vigorous 
 grasp of Mrs. Gore. Obeying the gestures of Jed, he planted 
 himself in a dark corner adjacent, while the former proceeded 
 to turn the key, and confront the incensed matron whose voice 
 was still heard without, mingling with the clatter of the shaken 
 bars. 
 
 "Avast there, avast," he said, "can t you wait till the hatches 
 are open, Mrs. Gore? There come in now, if you want to it 
 isn t everybody that is so anxious to get in a place like this." 
 
 "What torn-foolery is all this, I should like to know?" said 
 the vixen, bursting into the room, and followed more leisurely 
 by the venerable and quiet clergyman; "what torn-foolery is 
 this and who are you and where is that idiot of a Hugh 
 Gore?" 
 
 "Your worthy husband sits yonder, madam," said Jed, "a 
 little unwell, I believe," and the woman darted to her partner s 
 side, while Jed, followed by Rudolph, stepped quickly out and 
 the clash of the closing door, and the sound of the turning lock, 
 mingled with the shrill feminine scream that arose from within.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 LOUD and louder roso the clamor from the jail, as, arm in arm, 
 Jed and Rudolph descended the outer steps, and walked into 
 the street ; and ere they had gained the nearest corner, the sten 
 torian voice of Hugh, rising like a thunder-tone above the shrill 
 treble of his wife, told that all impediment to his speech had 
 been removed. " Help help stop the murderers fire help," 
 rang in every variety of tone and accent through the prison 
 bars, until distant pedestrians paused to listen, and those more 
 near hastened with a rush to the scene of the outcry. 
 
 " The whole street is alarmed," whispered Jed; " we must 
 not run yet;" and then raising his voice, for numbers were 
 passing them every instant, " The Dolly was nearly on hei- 
 beam-ends, for it blew great guns, and the breakers wasn t 
 more n a cable s length off, when the captain came to me, and 
 says, says he, Jack, says he " 
 
 "Stop the murderers stop the murderers! " came echoing 
 down the street, and the clatter of coming feet was heard, and 
 the bell of the old Dutch Church sent forth a rapid peal ; but 
 Jed and Rudolph still walked moderately forward. 
 
 " We must walk for a moment more," continued Jed in a 
 whisper, "the corner is close at hand it would be fatal to run 
 here," for the people were still hastening past them toward the 
 jail, and eyeing curiously the two sailors, who, seeming so indif 
 ferent to the general commotion, were sauntering in an opposite 
 direction. 
 
 " The truth is, the Dolly is a fine craft," he added in a louder 
 tone, and Rudolph, looking up, saw Sinclair almost at his elbow 
 passing with the crowd ; " a little too square-built mayhap, and 
 rather " 
 
 The terrific voice of Hugh, sounding at this instant in their 
 ears, told that the lion was unchained, and on their very path. 
 
 " Let some go to the river," he shouted, " and guard the boats, 
 and others to the gates quick, quick we ll have them, my 
 boys they haven t got five minutes the start stop the mur 
 derers stop the murderers!" and the heavy footfall of Hugh
 
 100 THE FIRST OF 
 
 echoed far and wide, as, with a long Indian-like lope, lie went 
 bounding through the street. 
 
 His voice fell upon the ears of the fugitives just as they had 
 reached the corner of a road leading to the North River, and Jed, 
 whispering " Follow now" dashed past his companion and led 
 the race. Like the hunted herd they ran, but the pack, pursu 
 ing, open-mouthed and yelping, was on their track. The fugi 
 tives kept the riverward road until they came to an open field, 
 or common, which stretched to the north, and across this, with 
 out any abatement of speed, they directed their course, keeping 
 closely together. On emerging from the common they were 
 compelled to cross a public road, beyond which lay another 
 vacant field, reaching to the wall, which extended across the 
 city from river to river, and formed its northern boundary. Ap 
 prehensive of being intercepted at this road, Jed and Rudolph 
 took a circuit westward and crossed to the northern lot in safety, 
 obtaining a view up the street as they passed which convinced 
 them that the precaution had not been superfluous. 
 
 Three minutes more, and, panting with fatigue, they stood be 
 side the wall, a dozen rods west of the gate, which, after pausing 
 a moment for breath, they scaled with little difficulty, and caught 
 sight of their pursuers not fifty yards behind. A shout of exul 
 tation from Hugh told that they in turn were perceived, and 
 that their capture was regarded as certain. Jed paused for a mo 
 ment, and a sickening fear came upon him as he looked vainly 
 for his steed, but, at the next breath, a welcoming whinny from 
 an adjoining copse told not only that his hunter was there, but 
 that the faithful animal had recognized his master. Rushing to 
 the spot, he disengaged him from a sapling to which he was 
 fastened, and bade Rudolph mount and fly. 
 
 Xever, without you, Jed," exclaimed Groesbeck in a tone 
 that forbade remonstrance; "I will not leave you in danger." 
 
 " With me then," returned the other, springing to the ample 
 saddle as he spoke ; " there is no time to parley." 
 
 Rudolph also mounted, and at the same instant a shout from 
 the edge of the grove told that they were again perceived ; but, 
 answering to his master s voice, the faithful steed darted forward, 
 and set all pursuit at defiance. Oaths and angry ejaculations 
 attested the bitter disappointment of the jailer and his friends as 
 they stood a moment later upon the deserted spot. 
 
 " It was a devilish deep-laid plot, whoever the fiend was that 
 planned it," exclaimed Hugh, as he gazed after the flying steed; 
 u but we must get horses and follow they re not off the island 
 yet by a long shot." So saying, he was about to return to the 
 city, when a shout and commotion at a little distance arrested 
 his attention.
 
 THE KNTCKEKBOCKERS. 101 
 
 "Here s one of em now here s ono of em," was the cry, as 
 a dozen men darted into a thicket in chase of a retreating figure, 
 and soon after emerged with the trembling tabernacle of poor 
 old Jake, who had been keeping guard over the hunter, and had 
 indiscreetly attempted to return before the rabble had dispersed. 
 As his captors dragged the terrified slave from the cover of the 
 woods into the moonlight, Hugh leaped with a shout of exulta 
 tion toward him, but dreadful was his chagrin and wrath on 
 perceiving the character of his prize. 
 
 " Who in the fiend s name are you ?" he said, shaking the poor 
 negro until his teeth rattled like a castanet. Trembling from 
 head to foot, and utterly incapable of speech, Jake listened in 
 silence to this adjuration, for being utterly unconscious of the 
 object for which his services had been required by Jed, and un 
 able in the confused state of his faculties to form a correct idea 
 of any kind, he never doubted that he had fallen into the hands 
 of some outlying band of savages, who were about to roast and 
 eat him without ado. 
 
 " Who are you ?" repeated Hugh in a towering rage, and again 
 shaking his victim. 
 
 "Oh gor-a-massy," said the negro, holding on to his wool in 
 momentary expectation of the scalping knife ; " oh gor-a-massy, 
 I don t know I don t know." 
 
 A dozen hard cuffs on either side of his head did not appear 
 in the least to enlighten the bewildered slave in regard to his 
 identity, although they were doubtless bestowed with that ami 
 able design ; for he still persisted in saying, not without truth, 
 that he did not know who he was. The jailer was not aware 
 of the invulnerability of the African cranium, or of the very 
 different locality to which flagellation should be applied on a 
 negro in order to render it effectual. But poor Jake would have 
 taken his beating more patiently if he had known how more 
 precious than rubies, to his master and Eudolph, was every sec 
 ond of time which was thus employed. This thought occurred 
 at length to Hugh, who, handing over the slave to some of his 
 assistants to be preserved for future examination, hastened back 
 to find means of prosecuting the chase. 
 
 Doleful beyond the power of language to depict was the little 
 assembly which had convened on that memorable evening at 
 the Bowery. But few comparatively of the confederates v ho, 
 scarcely ten days before, had so joyously separated, sanguine with 
 hope and expectation, were now assembled ; for the conscious 
 ness of their utter inability to render any effectual assistance to 
 Eudolph had deterred many from incurring personal hazard who 
 otherwise would have been willing to risk much in his behalf. 
 Confiscation and death were quite too formidable evils to be
 
 102 THE FIRST OF 
 
 unnecessarily courted, and, although ever ready to respond to the 
 call of patriotism or duty, their courage was not of that species 
 which indulges in idle or boyish bravado. 
 
 Old Evert, who had sat long silent, with his hands and head 
 resting upon his cane, rose with a heavy sigh, and walked across 
 the floor ; and the whisper went around that Rudolph and Effie 
 were betrothed, and that Evert had only on that day learned it 
 for the first, and that his daughter was even yet ignorant of her 
 lover s danger. It was a melancholy scene, and tears sprang 
 afresh to many an eye, when a sudden clatter of hoofs without, 
 and a shout from the voice of Jed, brought the whole company 
 in haste to the door. 
 
 " Give us fresh horses, for the love of Heaven !" he exclaimed. 
 " Ceph is already blown, and the officers are close behind!" 
 
 None stopped to question, but rushing to the stables, the 
 fleetest steeds were chosen and saddled in a breath and scarce 
 had their echoing feet died away in the distance before the sound 
 of others approaching from the city was heard. So sudden and 
 brief had been the interruption, and so intense the excitement, 
 that scarcely any could believe it was a reality; but there was 
 no time for gratulation, for prudence of course demanded the 
 instant dissolution of a conclave which might so naturally create 
 suspicion as to its design. With hasty adieus the guests de 
 parted by a retired road, and by the time Hugh and his train had 
 reached the governor s house all was quiet; even Bucephalus, 
 Jed s discarded steed, having been removed into an adjoining 
 wood, lest his presence might betray his master s agency in the 
 rescue. It may be deemed no reasonable cause of surprise, that 
 while the main body of the pursuers pressed hotly forward on 
 the highway, a portion of them stopped to search the premises 
 of the ex-governor. Yet not a little amazed did Stuyvesant 
 seem at the Goth-like irruption into his domicile, where he was 
 found quietly smoking his pipe, and reading with great interest 
 an Amsterdam gazette, some eighteen months old, which he 
 had long known by heart. Feigning the wrath which his ec 
 stasy of joy would not allow him to feel, he beheld the myrmi 
 dons of the law overruning his house from cellar to attic, fierce 
 as ^hounds seeking to unearth their prey ; and many were the 
 unintelligible taunts which he safely showered upon them in Low 
 Dutch, while following them up from room to room. On their 
 sudden departure also he blazed forth a "fire in their rear" of 
 double chain-shot anathemas, which, although formidable to hear, 
 is believed to have produced no fatal effects. 
 
 Whoever had seen the broad, fat, laughing face that re-entered 
 Governor Stuyvesant s house to the double quick-step music of a 
 lignum-vitae leg, might have believed that he had encountered
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 103 
 
 the original Comus, grown old and crippled. Thump, thump, 
 thump, rang the heavy blows across the echoing floor, as, 
 scarcely assisted by his cane, he walked rapidly to and fro in a 
 whirlwind of joyous excitement. 
 
 "They ll never catch my grays," he said; "never, never; they 
 might as well chase the wind ; Ru and Jed will be at Devil Creek 
 in half an hour, and from there they will soon reach a place of 
 safety in the wilderness. They ll never catch my Donner and 
 Blitzen never never ! " 
 
 Let if, suffice for the present to say that the venerable Peter 
 had not overpraised his steeds, or miscalculated results ; for long 
 before daylight the discomfited pursuers returned, utterly baffled 
 in their search. They had entirely lost track of the fugitives, 
 being unable to learn at what point they had crossed the shallow 
 creek which bounds the island on the north. That they had 
 found shelter somewhere in the boundless wilderness which 
 stretched interminably northward was the only fact, galling, 
 scathing, rage-inciting, which they were able to bear back to 
 their awfully incensed governor, Sir Francis Lovelace. 
 
 Old Jake meanwhile was in prison, in full view of the gallows, 
 and in the firmest possible faith that his unfortunate body was 
 destined to be framed therein with all reasonable dispatch. He 
 had been confined to await the leisure of his captors, who felt 
 certain of thus possessing a direct clew to the mysterious agent 
 iu the rescue of Rudolph. He was honored accordingly on the 
 ensuing morning by a visit from the governor in person, accom 
 panied by the crest-fallen but still scowling jailer, and no small 
 train beside. 
 
 Fully impressed with the belief that he was to be led to in 
 stant execution, the negro went darting like a madman about 
 the room, diving into all imaginable nooks and corners to evade 
 his supposed pursuers ; and it was only after much delay and 
 parley that he could be made to comprehend what was really 
 wanted of him. But the whole story was at length elicited, and 
 great was the astonishment and indignation of Lovelace and his 
 retainers on learning that it was the young Knickerbocker who 
 had thus wrested their victim from their hands, and brought dis 
 grace and ridicule upon the government. While the examination 
 was pending, Hugh, who stood a little apart from the rest of the 
 company, and apparently quite inattentive to the proceedings, 
 was diligently engaged in arranging a sliding noose to a stout 
 hempen cord. 
 
 " When is it your excellency s pleasure that it shall be done?" 
 he said, addressing the governor as the latter was about to with 
 draw.
 
 THE FESST OF 
 
 " What, Hugh what ? do you want to hang the negro ?" 
 
 " Why, yes," said Hugh, " I suppose he is to be turned off, of 
 course ; it may as well be now as at any other time ; everything 
 is ready, and it is certainly very clear from his own confessions 
 that he assisted in the escape." 
 
 "But he hasn t been tried, Hugh, or sentenced," said the 
 governor, apparently in doubt, and looking very earnestly in the 
 jailer s face. 
 
 "Wai, I suppose that can be done afterwards just as well," 
 answered Hugh, playing with the rope " or for that matter, 
 here is a full Court present your honor and Justices Smith and 
 Clark ; you ve heorn his confessions, and now you can sentence 
 him." 
 
 " Very true very true," said the governor, while the negro, 
 pale with fright, his teeth audibly chattering, stood staring, 
 speechless, at him. "What say you, brethren of the bench? 
 my opinion is that the negro is guilty of aiding in the forcible 
 rescue of Rudolph Groesbeck, a convicted traitor " 
 
 Hugh stretched his rope, and made more sure of the knot 
 
 " and my sentence is that he be discharged without fur 
 ther punishment. He acted under his master s orders," said 
 Lovelace, opening the door, " and knew nothing of the foul crime 
 which he was abetting scamper home, you black dog;" and 
 Jake, darting through the doorway, went bounding through the 
 streets like a madman, looking ever and anon behind him, to seo 
 if ho was pursued. 
 
 "It shall never bo said," continued Lovelace, "that we 
 wreaked our vengeance on a brainless slave ; and now, my 
 friends, we will see what steps can be taken for the recapture 
 of our prisoner, and his very valorous friend, for that we shall 
 have them yet, you may be well assured." 
 
 So saying, the governor and his attendants withdrew, and Mr. 
 Hugh Gore, scowling not a little, hung his hempen necklace on 
 a nail, and wondered very much whether he should ever really 
 have the pleasure of adjusting it under the ears of any human 
 being. More especially and more longingly did he wonder 
 whether he should ever be able to pay so delicate a mark of 
 attention to that very jovial gentleman who had treated him to 
 such liberal draughts of Mr. Huyck s genuine Jamaica.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 105 
 
 , : CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE danger was not past. Grateful as had been the sense of 
 relief experienced by Rudolph s friends at his escape, they could 
 not but feel that his situation was still one of extreme hazard, 
 and that another of their number, equally worthy, had now be 
 come involved in the peril. Outlawed men, co-tenants with tho 
 savage of a barren wilderness, with no accessible resort in 
 civilized life, which was not under the jurisdiction of the gov 
 ernment they had offended, what hope was there for them of 
 surviving the perils to which they were exposed ? That Love 
 lace would not for an hour intermit his efforts for their capture, 
 there was every reason to believe. Rumors of his contemplated 
 movements came continually to their ears, and it soon became 
 certain that a company of horsemen were to be sent out to scour 
 the forest in every direction. These it was thought could not 
 fail of success ; and having returned triumphant, the affront 
 which had been offered to the majesty of the law was to be 
 expiated by a double sacrifice. 
 
 But the Dutch citizens meanwhile were not idle. Scarcely 
 an hour elapsed on the day following the escape, in which some 
 horsemen might not be seen travelling northward, slowly and 
 quietly at first, but outstripping the wind when the forest road 
 was gained. These, bearing provisions for the temporary sus 
 tenance of their friends, hoped to discover their retreat, and be 
 enabled not only to administer to their wants, but to keep them 
 advised of the movements of their enemies. But friend and foe 
 were alike unsuccessful in their efforts, and three days of futile 
 search had elapsed when tidings of a new device on the part of 
 the officials of the law diffused terror among the opposite party. 
 
 Indian scouts or runners were to be sent out who could tread 
 the mazy forests with ease, and follow the trail of the light- 
 footed deer across the pathless wilds ; and these were to be 
 accompanied by armed men in sufficient numbers to make sure 
 of the capture of the fugitives. There were no Indians who, 
 properly speaking, sojourned in the city, but there was a class 
 of this people, erratic as comets, who emerged at irregular in 
 tervals from the wilderness, and, passing a few days as hangers- 
 5*
 
 ICC THE FIRST OF 
 
 on at the fort, and in the vicinity of those shops where the 
 enticing fire-water was to be procured, departed again as sud 
 denly as they had appeared. 
 
 Among these was one known as the Raven, a noted runner or 
 news carrier among the tribes; who was famous also for his 
 accuracy in following a trail, however carefully it had been con 
 cealed. His reputation in these matters was founded on the 
 concurrent testimony of many of his red brethren, none of 
 whom pretended to compete with him in these qualities. But 
 the Raven was at this time absent from town, and as his mo 
 tions, governed by unknown laws, were too eccentric to admit 
 of being calculated, particularly when subjected to certain dis 
 turbing influences, bottled and corked, which he usually carried 
 with him from the city, it became necessary first to send a mes 
 senger of more humble pretensions in quest of him. 
 
 One of his own people was accordingly dispatched to bring 
 him in, and in the mean time every preparation was made for the 
 expedition, which it was believed could not fail of success. The 
 anxiety of the friends of the young men greatly increased, and, 
 being themselves closely watched on all sides, it became difficult 
 even to concert any countervailing action, much more to carry it 
 into effect. Evert, from an ecstasy of joy, had sunk again into 
 utter despondency, and was haunted continually by visions of his 
 son and Rudolph perishing in the forests, or dragged as prisoners 
 to the city ; while Effie, who had been informed of all the cir 
 cumstances on the evening of the flight, was tossed by those 
 tumultuous emotions of hope and fear, which, racking the soul 
 with agony, forbade any distinct perception of realities. 
 
 It was in this state of mind that, on the afternoon of the 
 fourth day succeeding the escape, she resorted alone, as was 
 then frequently her custom, to a small observatory on the house 
 top. From this prominent post of observation she surveyed the 
 road which led northward from the city, and gazing far away 
 toward those boundless forests, which, somewhere within their 
 depths, sheltered her exiled friends, she reflected with anguish 
 on the pains and perils to which they were exposed. 
 
 But when, from the frowning forests, her gaze ascended to 
 the blue summer sky which was bending tranquilly above them, 
 her tortured breast became more calm; for then she remem 
 bered her accustomed reliance, in every strait, on that In 
 finite Power and Beneficence which saves alike "by many or 
 by few." 
 
 Again changing her field of view, she gazed down the bay, 
 which was slightly ruffled by a southern breeze, and her eyes 
 rested upon the distant point where the converging shores leave 
 but a narrow outlet to that wider expanse of waters known as 
 the lower bay.
 
 THE KNIOKEBBOGKEKS. 107 
 
 "Was it a cloud that hung midway betweeh the shores, and 
 moved slowly toward the north ? Another followed in the dis 
 tance, and yet another was turning the furthermost point of 
 land ; and now she perceives distinctly, as she shades her eyes 
 with her hands and looks more closely, that they are not clouds, 
 but vessels with their sails spread, coming in from sea, and that 
 two more have been added to the number. So rare an occur 
 rence could not fail to excite surprise, and Effie hastened to in 
 form her father, who was sitting in his accustomed corner of the 
 stoop below. 
 
 "Five vess els in the Narrows, standing up the bay, do you 
 say ?" asked the old man, trembling as he rose, and looking with 
 almost maniacal wildness at his daughter. 
 
 "Yes, papa," said Effio ; "you can see them distinctly from 
 the house-top." 
 
 "God of Heaven !" exclaimed Evert reverentially, clasping his 
 hands and looking upward, "thou hast sent us aid at last." 
 
 "Papa dear papa!" screamed Effie, clinging to him with 
 sudden alarm ; " what is it that you mean?" 
 
 " It is the Dutch fleet, my child," exclaimed Evert, springing 
 to the stairway with the step of a youth ; " it is the Dutch fleet, 
 and it has come to save us all from ruin." 
 
 Climbing with agility to the roof, the old man dashed the 
 blinding tears from his eyes, and, gazing earnestly down the bay, 
 saw a glorious confirmation of his hopes. The ships had passed 
 the Narrows and were coming up under flowing sail toward the 
 city ; and while he trembled lest there should be some mistake, 
 the voice of Effie was again heard calling from below : 
 
 u Papa, O papa here comes young Harmon Van Eensselaer 
 riding furiously down the street.; his horse is covered with foam, 
 and he is swinging his hat in the air ; he comes this way, papa, 
 directly toward our house;" and by the time that Evert had 
 again reached the piazza, the equestrian was galloping down the 
 lawn. 
 
 " A fleet a fleet from home!" he shouted, pausing but a 
 breath, and pointing down the bay; "I have seen the colors of 
 the States at their masts ;" and turning his steed>, his flushed face 
 vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, and the clattering of his 
 horse s hoofs was heard as he hastened to diffuse the tidings, and 
 his echoing voice came back as he shouted to some passing 
 friend, "A fleet a fleet from home! 1 1 
 
 Like the Highland henchman, with his cross of fire, speeding 
 to call his clan to arms, the young Van Eensselaer, heedless of 
 danger, and exulting in the glorious intelligence which he bore, 
 passed from house to house spreading the news among the prin-
 
 108 THE FIRST OF 
 
 cipal Dutch inhabitants of this city ; and then turning his pant 
 ing steed northward, he went dashing toward the Bowery. 
 Governor Stuyvesant was sitting on his stoop, giving directions 
 from time to time to the slow-witted Hans, who, tete-d-tcte, 
 with a row of promising cabbage-heads in the adjoining garden, 
 was tending and cultivating them with a sort of fraternal solici 
 tude. 
 
 " What madman comes here ?" he exclaimed, as Harmon came 
 galloping up ; " put a beggar on horseback, and he ll ride to " 
 
 "Huzza! huzza! huzza!" shouted Van Ecnssclaer, leaping 
 from his steed, and swinging his cap as he rushed on the stoop, 
 and seizing and shaking both the old man s hands at once. 
 "There is a Dutch fleet standing up the bay with all sails set," 
 he said ; " in three hours ISTew York will again belong to Hol 
 land." 
 
 "Are you sure, Harmon?" asked the governor energetically, 
 when after several seconds he found voice to reply; "are you 
 quite sure that this glorious news is true?" 
 
 A booming gun at this moment, reverberating through the 
 air, seemed to answer the inquiry ; another and another followed 
 in quick succession. 
 
 " They are themselves announcing their approach," said Har 
 mon rapidly " there is, there can be no mistake ; I myself have 
 seen the colors of the States, floating from the masts huzza ! 
 huzza!" and Stuyvesant joined vociferously in the shouts of his 
 young companion, swinging his cane meanwhile over his head, 
 and making the whole house resound with the clatter of his 
 wooden leg. Hans next added his hoarse voice to the concert, 
 and a rushing concourse of negroes, springing as if by magic from 
 every quarter, soon joined in the deafening cheers. Doors and 
 windows flew open, and the whole household of the governor 
 came pouring out to learn the cause of the uproar, and finally to 
 join heartily in the merriment. The frightened fowls fled cackling 
 in every direction the dogs turned their noses up into the air, 
 and barked knowingly toward the chimneys ; and in the midst 
 of the uproar, the sound of wheels was heard first from one 
 direction and than from another, and the Van Schaicks and Van 
 Tines, and Van Pelts, and Van Dams, came pouring in and add 
 ing their shouts and exultations to the tumult. 
 
 In ten minutes the whole of that band of confederates who 
 had been present on the night of Eudolph s dangerous commis 
 sion were reassembled, with many more beside. The most hearty 
 congratulations were exchanged on all sides, and nothing was 
 seen but shaking of hands and nodding of heads, and nothing 
 heard but a Babel-like jargon resounding on every side, inter 
 spersed with noisy laughter and every token of delight. The
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 109 
 
 hubbub of a Now England town meeting, or the din of a fourfold 
 auction in the reverberating rotunda of the modern Exchange, 
 may serve in some degree to illustrate the uproar. 
 
 But the turmoil subsided at length, and the assembly resolved 
 itself in a sort of informal council, or what in more modern par 
 lance might perhaps be termed a provisional government, with a 
 view to take any necessary measures for a general co-operation 
 with their foreign friends. Various expedients were proposed, 
 but the upshot of the deliberations was, that every man should 
 hasten home, and, arming himself and his slaves, stand ready 
 for such emergencies as should arise. A committee of vigilance 
 was appointed, and Major Ver Planck was put in command of 
 the forces. 
 
 "We ll get retty, my friends," said the Major; "but ef there 
 are five sheeps-of- war there won t be mooch for us to do they ll 
 batter down the fort, and all three of the redoubts, and half the 
 town besides, in ten minutes but then we ll get retty, my friends 
 we ll get retty." 
 
 The next thing in order was to transmit intelligence of these 
 events, if possible, to Rudolph and Jed, and it was resolved to 
 send messengers immediately in every direction in pursuit of 
 them. A dozen young men at once volunteered on this ser 
 vice, pledging themselves to explore the forests for a week, 
 rather than return without success. The Raven had not yet 
 made his appearance, and it was confidently believed that he 
 could be intercepted, and made to serve their own purposes, 
 inasmuch as the intended governmental expedition would doubt 
 less be at once abandoned. If he could not be found, however, 
 it was hoped that other similar agents could be procured in the 
 wilderness, and, full of confident anticipation, the little party of 
 cavalry set out on their expedition on that very evening. The 
 party meanwhile had dispersed, Mr. Knickerbocker only remain 
 ing to smoke a pipe with his friend, and quaff a bumper of gen 
 uine Hollands to the thrice glorious event which was yet too 
 full of dazzling hope to be contemplated with any degree of 
 equanimity. 
 
 Of the events which ensued on that very memorable thirtieth 
 of July, in the year of grace 1073, the historical reader needs 
 scarcely to be informed. The fleet came to anchor at a consider 
 able distance below the city, and on that same evening Colonel 
 Manning, the commandant of the fort, impelled doubtless by a 
 sense of its indefensible condition, sent down the keys to the 
 Dutch admirals; an act for which he was subsequently tried 
 by court-martial, and degraded, but escaped severer punishment. 
 
 But what language shall describe the scenes of the ensuing 
 morning, when the hundreds of sleepless eyes which had " out-
 
 110 THE FIRST OF 
 
 watched the stars," waiting for the momentous events of the 
 corning day, were greeted at dawn with the sight of their native 
 flag floating in triumph from every corner of the fort. The 
 work was accomplished. The mighty achievement of which 
 they had talked, and thought, and dreamed for nine long years, 
 was wrought as if by magic before their eyes ; and the New 
 Netherlands were once more a province of Holland. Of the 
 details of the capitulation, and of the surrender of the forts of 
 Albany and on the Delaware, which soon after ensued, it is un 
 necessary to speak. Let it suffice to say that the re-conquest 
 was thorough, complete, and undisputed.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE a-lmirals and captains of the victorious fleet held a council 
 on shipboard before disembarking, for the purpose of appointing 
 a governor to the province, having been thereto empowered by 
 the home government; and it having been ascertained that 
 Stuyvesant, by reason of his age and infirmities, preferred not to 
 be recalled to that post, the dignity was devolved upon one of 
 their own number, Captain Andrew Colve. The new governor, 
 the admirals, and other officers of the fleet, assembled on the 
 same afternoon, by invitation, at the house of Mr. Knicker 
 bocker, where they were met by the principal Dutch inhabitants 
 of the city. Here a scene of unrestrained hilarity ensued, in 
 which, without any undue exultation over their adversaries, 
 every one gave free scope to his exuberant joy. There were a 
 multitude of matters to be discussed, pertaining both to the ex 
 pedition and the taking of the city, and also to the state of the 
 pending war in Europe ; and as the party, to the number of 
 fifty or sixty, were divided into little knots of six or eight, in 
 each of which there were at least two talkers to one listener, it 
 will be believed that a very respectable amount of colloquial 
 power was kept in operation. 
 
 The governor, ex-governor Stuyvesant, and the two admirals, 
 of course received a more respectful hearing than others, but 
 joy, like grief, is a great leveller, and there was no very marked 
 deference to rank exacted or bestowed. Indeed, there came a 
 time before the evening passed away, in which a considerable 
 degree of confusion must have resulted from any attempt to 
 establish rights of precedence; Governor Colve having been 
 heard to address a second lieutenant by the title of admiral, and 
 the venerable Stuyvesant making some earnest inquiries when 
 the attack on the fort was to commence, as he had put Yawpy 
 Poflfeuburgh in command of the forces, and they were all ready 
 to march. 
 
 If, however, any such little aberrations occurred, it was at a 
 late hour in the evening, when people grow sleepy and naturally 
 make mistakes. There was, it is true, a very large punch-bowl 
 standing on the sideboard, cheek by jowl with a pitcher of spiced
 
 112 THE FIRST OF 
 
 toddy, and now and then a decanter of the raw material, and the 
 fumes which arose from these sources may possibly have had 
 something to do with the matter. 
 
 But this is getting altogether ahead of the story. It was at an 
 earlier hour, and long before sunset, that the supper-table was 
 set out on the long piazza, for there was no room in the house 
 competent for such a purpose, and if there had been, there could 
 have been none half as pleasant. The fresh air from the river 
 circulated freely through the porch, while the large shade-trees 
 adjacent excluded the sun, and gave shelter to a band of 
 feathered musicians, which, flitting briskly about, kept up a sort, 
 of chirruping chorus to the shouts and laughter that arose from 
 within. As the superintendence of this momentous part of the 
 entertainment had been committed to Effie, her sense of respon 
 sibility was a very weighty one, and probably not materially in 
 ferior to that of Governor Colve on taking his new command. 
 
 But dear Effie had the assistance of the family slaves, and of 
 six borrowed ones beside, in addition to which a row of ama 
 teurs, to the number of fifteen or twenty, decorated the outside 
 of the piazza, looking on with every demonstration of delight 
 which owl-like eyes and white teeth could give, and ready to 
 render any extra assistance that might be required. Indeed, any 
 manifestation of a desire for their aid was apt to be followed by 
 a struggle for the honor of rendering it, which created no slight 
 disturbance; but the good feeling was too general to allow of 
 any censure being bestowed for such a cause. 
 
 Although Effie s joy, like that of her father, wns materially 
 moderated by her fears for Eudolph and Jed, yet the spirit of 
 hope predominated ; for the measures which had been taken for 
 the discovery of the young men, it was believed, could scarcely 
 fail of success. It was a sumptuous repast, around which, at a 
 summons from Jake, now transformed into head butler, the 
 happy party gathered, and remained standing, while Dominie 
 Megapolensis, his white locks resting on his shoulders, invoked 
 a blessing from above. The rich and savory dishes which sent 
 up their flavor from every side were not a little grateful to the 
 senses of men who were not accustomed to slight the creature 
 comforts of life; and more especially to that portion of them, 
 who for months preceding had been restricted to the coarser fare 
 incident to a life at sea. 
 
 How gloatingly did their eyes fall upon the dishes of roasted 
 and stewed, and broiled and baked, which were scattered in pro 
 fusion on every side ; the tender juicy steaks, drowned in gravy ; 
 the huge tureens of oysters ; the rashers of bacon and new-laid 
 eggs, the roasted ducks, and roasted chickens, and roasted 
 geese; the saurkraut, and kohlslaa, and simaa and rulliches ;
 
 THE KNICKEKBOCKEKS. 113 
 
 to say nothing of a side table laden with pies and puddings, and 
 a perfect Hiramaleh of doughnuts ; and with the many-twisted, 
 crisp, crumbling crullers, which were made on principle so that 
 every part should be of just the thickness of Effle s little finger. 
 The beverage of tea was unknown at that period in this country, 
 and formed of course no part of the repast, but, as has been 
 already hinted, there was no lack of certain other potables, 
 which in those dark ages were deemed reasonably palatable. 
 Conversation sank to a very low ebb for a while, being super 
 seded by the clatter of knives and forks, and by the occasional 
 clash of conflicting waiters, one of whom, being lost in admira 
 tion of Admiral Evertsen s golden sword-hilt, deposited a dish 
 of oyster-soup in the ample lap of an adjoining burgher. 
 
 But the meal was nearly ended, and the guests had begun to 
 eat more leisurely, and Governor Stuyvesant s man Hans, who 
 was inseparable from his master, and who had been sitting for 
 the last hour in a quiet corner of the stoop, in a dozing, half- 
 dreamy state, now begun to calculate at each waking how near 
 his own chance at the tempting viands had approached. And 
 the waiters within, and the waiters without, knowing full well 
 that they would bo stinted in none of the luxuries on which 
 their eyes had long been feasting, were making similar calcula 
 tions as to time, and chuckling at each sign of a guest giving 
 out. But Hans has awakened more fully than usual; he has 
 even opened his lips in that august presence ; he has raised his 
 hand he speaks, he gesticulates, and the outsiders are stricken 
 dumb at his audacity. 
 
 "Hark!" said Hans, raising his forefinger, and all eyes were 
 turned toward him, Governor Stuyvesant frowning not a little. 
 
 " Hark!" he repeated, still elevating his hand. 
 
 "What does the idiot mean?" asked Stuyvesant, angrily; 
 " what do you hear, boy ?" 
 
 " It s Donner and Blitzen!" said the lad; "/know their gal 
 lop!" 
 
 A slight scream arose from EflBe; Evert and Stuyvesant, with 
 half of the guests, sprang to their feet, and rushed out on the 
 lawn, while the naval officers, ignorant at first of what was 
 meant, looked on in utter amazement. Hans was not deceived. 
 In two minutes Jed and Rudolph were in the arms of their 
 friends, pulled and hauled on every side, thronged and pressed, 
 and climbed upon, and held by the hands, and by the arms, and 
 by the shoulders, and questioned with thirty questions at once, 
 and informed by thirty voices of what they already knew, that 
 New York was reconquered, and that they were both safe from 
 the gibbet, and that the great admirals and the new governor 
 were all then and there present.
 
 114: THE FIRST OF 
 
 The paternal eye of Evert -was the first to perceive that the 
 young men were suffering severely from fatigue and famine, and 
 that no kindness would be as appreciable by them as food and 
 repose. They -were therefore suffered, after a formal presenta 
 tion to the strangers, to withdraw to another room, promising to 
 rejoin the company in the course of the evening. Effie had van 
 ished from the party at the first alarm, and to her, as may well 
 be supposed, the first thoughts of the new-comers were directed. 
 They met at once ; it was a voiceless interview at first, in which 
 tears that could not be repressed told of feelings that could not 
 be uttered. Pale, hollow-cheeked, and travel-stained, the faint 
 ing young men sank exhausted into seats, and gave way to feel 
 ing? which a greater degree of strength would have enabled 
 them to restrain. 
 
 But a little repose, and a little speedy refreshment, and the 
 cheering voice of Effie, who flew bustling in every direction to 
 administer to their wants, acted like a charm upon the sufferers, 
 and at the end of an hour Jed was sufficiently restored to rejoin 
 his father s guests. Not so, however, with Eudolph, who did not 
 deem it safe to abandon his medical adviser until a much later 
 period. When he did so, however, the renewed sparkling of his 
 eye, and a general vivacity of manner, gave token of some change 
 of treatment which had proved highly favorable to his case. 
 
 On joining the company, he found himself, moreover, at once 
 transformed into a lion of very formidable dimensions a very 
 Lybian, both in roar and mane. 
 
 He was not prepared for the congratulations which poured in 
 upon him from all sides, and much less for heing told by the gal 
 lant Admiral Evertsen that his patriotic services, his self-devoting 
 heroism, and his near approach to martyrdom, should not only 
 be duly represented at home, but that they would not be over 
 looked by the new colonial government. 
 
 When the excitement occasioned by Rudolph s entrance had 
 somewhat subsided, and conversation had again become general, 
 Governor Stuyvesant, whose countenance had long given token 
 of some earnest purpose, rose with much emotion to propose a 
 toast. The anxious and inquiring look which he gave at tho 
 same time to the admirals and the new governor, evinced that it 
 was not without some degree of trepidation and doubt that he 
 spoke. A general silence prevailed, and all eyes were fixed won- 
 deringly on the speaker, when, raising his brimming glass, he 
 said, "I give you 
 
 "Justice to Evert Knickerbocker!" 
 
 There was a moment of painful doubt; for, although all pres 
 ent were familiar with the history of Evert s wrongs, the former 
 apathy of the home government on the subject had created fears
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKEKS. 
 
 that even now, when it was so easy to award restitution, the 
 new governor might be backward about doing so. The suspense, 
 however, lasted but a moment. No sooner had Admiral Evert- 
 sen fully comprehended the meaning of the toast, than, elevating 
 his glass, he repeated it in an emphatic voice ; Benckes and Colve 
 did the same, and the words, "Justice to Evert Knickerbocker," 
 resounded in a hearty chorus from every part of the table, fol 
 lowed by a clinking of glasses, and a hearty "three times three," 
 led off by Governor Colve himself. At the next moment E vert s 
 friends crowded around him with hearty congratulations, while 
 the old man, taken entirely by surprise, was able only with tears 
 and disjointed words to express his emotions. 
 
 The party dispersed at a late hour, in merry mood, and on the 
 next day Mr. Knickerbocker received a valid patent for the whole 
 length and breadth of those very domains which sixteen years be 
 fore had been voted to him in council. Whether the claims of the 
 heirs of Sharp would under other circumstances have been at all 
 considered, may be a matter of conjecture ; but the abduction of 
 Hiram, and the uncertainty whether he was in existence or not, 
 had made it impossible for Lovelace to issue a patent either to 
 him or his children ; and the title had been withheld to await 
 some settlement, either by lapse of time or otherwise, of that 
 question. The title to the other two-thirds had also remained 
 in the English government, and the whole thus passing by recon- 
 quest to the new sovereignty, there was nothing in the way of 
 awarding the most full and complete restitution. It was done, 
 and Evert did not neglect, this time, either the recording of his 
 deed, or the subsequent safe disposition of the original document.
 
 116 THE FIRST OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 ON that memorable day which beheld the re-transfer of the 
 province of New York to the Dutch, Mr. Benhadad Sharp was 
 absent from the city, being engaged on his estates, renewing some 
 expired leases, and grinding the faces of some very poor and very 
 industrious tenants. 
 
 "Never since I have been a a patroon," said Benhadad to 
 
 himself, assuming a title which he had long coveted; "never 
 since I have been a patroon," he said, as he journeyed leisurely 
 homeward, " did I see such indolence and neglect ; and they to 
 prate about agues and fevers, and their troops of children to bo 
 fed and clothed, the little dirty ragamuffins ! but they ll find 
 there s to be a change : I ve raised on em all round, enough to 
 make a hundred pounds extra in my pocket for the next year, 
 and I shall tell the governor to do the same. I m harder than 
 Mr. Knickerbocker, am I, Mr. Simpkins ? very well, I ll be 
 harder still next year ; I ll have no lazy whining fellows about 
 me;" for Simpkins and Schmidt and Thompson, who had 
 swarms of youngsters, had all told the young landlord how Evert 
 had always thrown off something of his dues from them on 
 account of their children; "I m harder, am I?" continued the 
 soliloquist ; " very well I ll be harder still, and teach you better 
 manners I ll " 
 
 Bang ! bang! bang! came the sound of the cannon up the bay, 
 echoing far and wide across the silent waters, and over the dis 
 tant hills: for it was evening, and the admirals had just received 
 the keys off Staten Island^ as has been related in the preceding 
 chapter. 
 
 "What in the name of wonder croes all that mean?" continued 
 Sharp, who had now reached the ferry boat, a huge scow, pulled 
 by ropes across the river, at its narrowest part ; " what s all that 
 firing at the fort, Mr. Schnipper?" 
 
 " Tain t at the fort, that ain t, Mr. Sharp, by no manner of 
 means," said the ferryman, who, being a Dutchman, was chuck 
 ling delightedly as he spoke ; " it s the Dutch, sir, that is the
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 117 
 
 Dutch, sir sixteen men-of-war, which are going to take the city 
 at daybreak to-morrow mornin that s all." 
 
 There are no words in any human vocabulary to express Ben- 
 hadad s astonishment and alarm, for, obtuse as he was on many 
 points, he was remarkably clear-sighted in whatever pertained to 
 his own pecuniary interest, and he foresaw at once the whole 
 probable sequence of events in relation to the Knickerbocker 
 manor. How great was his cause for grief will be better under 
 stood when it is said, that, in a formal division with his sister 
 of their patrimony, he had accepted the manor lands as his half, 
 felicitating himself not a little on having obtained the lion s 
 share. That no re-division could be hoped for, had been ren 
 dered quite certain by another singular event which had occur 
 red a short time prior, being nothing less than the sudden mar 
 riage of Euphemia to one Charles Augustus Sinclair, late a cap 
 tain in the Spanish naval service. Benhadad did not reply to 
 the ferryman, and was aroused from his painful reverie only by 
 being notified that the boat was ready. 
 
 But if the boat was ready, the traveller was not. Visions of 
 a tremendous bombardment of red-hot shells flying through 
 the air of a desperate encounter under the walls of the fort, 
 began to take possession of his mind, and inasmuch as fighting 
 was quite against his principles, he resolved to return to his 
 estate, and there await the expected thunderbolt which was to 
 shatter his fortunes. If this anticipation was not a very pleas 
 ing one, it was at least of no long continuance ; for in forty- 
 eight hours Mr. Knickerbocker was in person on the estate, fully 
 reinstated in his rights, and receiving the congratulations of his 
 thronging tenantry. 
 
 The new government did not stop midway in its measures, 
 " "We must give Rudolph a potato-patch," said Colve to his coun 
 cillors at one of their earliest sittings, running his finger mean 
 while over a number of unappropriated townships on a map 
 which was spread out before him, and finally selecting one con 
 taining about four square miles, in the neighborhood of the 
 Knickerbocker manor. "That will do," he said; "what say 
 you, gentlemen, has Rudolph Groesbeck deserved such a mark 
 of his country s gratitude?" A unanimous voice approved the 
 governor s liberality, and the grant was immediately made. 
 
 It required time to appreciate the magical change which had 
 been so suddenly wrought in the fortunes of the Knickerbockers, 
 and of Rudolph. Their indigence had been changed to affluence, 
 their danger to security, their distress to happiness, and no trace 
 of departed griefs remained, excepting that remembrance of their 
 existence, which serves to heighten the enjoyment of present 
 prosperity. Many were the subsequent scenes of hilarity which
 
 118 THE FIEST OP 
 
 ensued at the old homestead ; but the earliest and most promi 
 nent of these was one which . will be too easily imagined to 
 require any detailed description. 
 
 Evert s house was one of ample dimensions, but it was for once 
 filled to overflowing ; for old and young were there, graybearded 
 men, and ancient matrons, blooming belles and dashing beaux, 
 and even wee children, to attend the mystical ceremony by which 
 Rudolph and Effie were to be united in perpetual league. It 
 was the season of flowers, and the bride, in accordance with the 
 simple tastes of the age, was adorned with a roseate diadem, 
 which, however much a decoration, manifestly received more 
 lustre than it imparted. Eudolph s commanding figure, the joy 
 ous Jed, the venerable Evert, with Stuyvesant and Colve and old 
 Dominie Megapolensis, erect and stately, were among the con 
 spicuous features of the assemblage. The crowded room, the open 
 windows thronged on the outer side by guests who could not 
 get in, the tier of slaves still further removed, and peering, with 
 sable necks outstretched, from the tops of adjacent railings and 
 fences, presented altogether a picture of delight and satisfaction, 
 not often seen or easily forgotten. 
 
 The merry-making which followed the ceremony was free and 
 unrestrained and lasted untill a late hour in the evening : the pil 
 lars of the long piazza being made to shake by the hour to the 
 tread of the twenty-four couple of contra-dancers, who responded 
 to the violent and tugging efforts of three African fiddlers, perch 
 ed on an eminence just without the porch. As there was noth 
 ing to mar the pleasures of the evening,- so did these prove a 
 significant prelude to the long after years of harmony and happi 
 ness, which marked the lot of the newly wedded. 
 
 Jed continued his woodland sports, until diverted from the 
 chase by a new variety of game in the pursuit of which he exhib 
 ited his usual skill and success. In other words, b.e soon brought 
 home a gentle bride ; but the friends whom adversity had united, 
 prosperity did not separate. In that ancient homestead, rendered 
 sacred by its connection with the marked events of the past, 
 they all resided together for many happy years. 
 
 Evert lived to an advanced age, and smoked a thousand peace 
 ful pipes in his favorite corner of the stoop, slightly disturbed 
 perhaps, at times, by the shouts of noisy children on the green, 
 who called him by a new and welcome name. Upspringing like 
 roses about his path, these became the light of his eyes, and the 
 core of his heart. The morning and the eve of life how strong 
 ly do they contrast, and yet how harmoniously do they blend ; 
 the innocence of childhood, and the piety of guileless age, alike 
 eliciting the smiles and protection of that Infinite Beneficence 
 whose purity they reflect.
 
 THE KNICKERBOCKERS. 119 
 
 Governor Stuyvesant lived also to a ripe age, and, like Evert, in 
 the enjoyment of serene and tranquil days, scarcely disturbed even 
 by the subsequent cession of the province to England by the 
 Dutch, which occurred at the close of the war between those 
 nations. He died in August, 1682, and an ancient slab of free 
 stone, still to be seen against the base of St. Mark s church in the 
 modern metropolis, indicates the place of his repose. There are 
 gorgeous monuments to his more wealthy descendants within 
 the edifice, but the old, gray, weather-beaten stone without, alone 
 proclaims the resting-place of the illustrious founder of the 
 family. 
 
 Lovelace was ordered to depart from the province, and Egbert 
 Groesbeck, bankrupt in purse and in reputation, was among 
 those who joined the train of the ex-governor, and went to 
 England. He did not scruple, however, to receive a liberal pres 
 ent from his brother on the eve of departure, or to suggest the 
 address to which any similar mark of favor might be forwarded. 
 
 As neither Ripley nor Sharp was ever heard of again, it is 
 supposed that the former concluded to throw off his allegiance 
 to Sinclair, and take the destinies of the Zephyr and its prisoner 
 into his own hands, in which event the fate of the latter may 
 readily be conjectured. 
 
 The means by which Captain Sinclair had succeeded in sup 
 planting his friend in the affections of Euphemia were not alto 
 gether apparent, but it soon became evident that the latter had 
 no very strong hold upon her volatile and jovial partner. He 
 soon began to manifest a singular propensity to transmute his 
 property of every description into bullion, and, with the excep 
 tion of a small estate which had fortunately been settled upon 
 his wife, accomplished his purpose, although of course at a great 
 sacrifice. Soon afterwards he received some important intelli 
 gence from Spain, which demanded his presence in that country 
 for a few months, whither he accordingly departed, taking care 
 to carry his gold along with him. Singularly enough, however, 
 the Captain neglected to return to America, and it was supposed 
 that he had been prevailed upon to remain abroad by the urgent 
 entreaties of his many distinguished friends, the Count Sylvio 
 not excepted. 
 
 THE END.
 
 NOTICES OP THE LIBRARY EDITION 
 
 FIRST OF THE KNICKERBOCKERS, 
 
 " A story of marked power and interest." Washington Union. 
 
 "A most thrilling tale." Albany Spectator. 
 
 " An agreeable story, well conducted and well told." National In 
 telligencer. 
 
 " Decidedly the cleverest and moat successful of the not very numer- 
 cmpts that have been made to work up, for the purposes of 
 romantic fiction, the undoubtedly rich store of material supplied by 
 the earlier history of New York." N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 " The book, all in all, is excellent." Buffalo Com. 
 
 "The well-written preface in this volume is a happy introduction to 
 the graceful pages beyond." Literary World. 
 
 " A story of interest and spirit : to the descendants of the Knicker 
 bockers it must prove as interesting a book as the Last of the Saxons 
 to English readers." Albany Argus. 
 
 " A spirited tale, and will prove an entertaining volume to all lovers 
 of pleasing fiction." Willis & Morris s Home Journal. 
 
 "A well-written story. The scene is laid in New York in the days 
 of the first Knickerbockers and Stuyvesants." Boston Transcript. 
 
 " A well-told story. It is dedicated to Mr. Irving, and it is sufficient 
 praise to say that it does no discredit to the favor which he has shown 
 it." Providence Journal. 
 
 " The author, whoever he be, has hit upon a capital subject and 
 title. The style is pleasant, and the characters well drawn." N. Y. 
 Tribune, 
 
 THE SECOND NUMBER OP THE 
 
 SUNNY SIDE SERIES 
 
 WILL BK 
 
 THE GHOST OF MY HUSBAND. 
 
 BY WM. G1LMORE SIMMS, LL. D.
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 CAYLORD 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S.