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troubled times, stopped for a draught of sweet cider, and seated
themselves on a log to wait for it. The farmer found them looking very
intently on some distant object, and inquired what they saw. 'Hush,
hush!' they replied; 'the red coats are yonder, just within the Lap,'
pointing to an English gun-boat, with twenty-four men, lying on their
oars. Behind the shelter of a rock, they fired into the boat, and
killed two persons. The British returned a random shot; but ignorant of
the number of their opponents, and seeing that it was useless to waste
ammunition on a hidden foe, they returned whence they came with all
possible speed. This boat had been sent to convey Major Andre to the
British sloop-of-war Vulture, then lying at anchor off Teller's Point.
Shortly after Andre arrived, and finding the boat gone, he, in
attempting to pass through the interior, was captured. Had not those
men stopped to drink sweet cider, it is probable that Andre would not
have been hung; the American revolution might have terminated in quite
a different fashion; men now deified as heroes might have been handed
down to posterity as traitors; our citizens might be proud of claiming
descent from Tories, and slavery have been abolished eight years ago,
by virtue of our being British Colonies. So much may depend on a
draught of cider! But would England herself have abolished slavery had
it not been for the impulse given to free principles by the American
revolution? Probably not. It is not easy to calculate the consequences
involved even in a draught of cider, for no fact stands alone; each has
infinite relations. A very pleasant ride at sunset brought us to Orange
Town, to the lone field where Major Andre was executed. It is planted
with potatoes, but the plough spares the spot on which was once his
gallows and his grave. A rude heap of stones, with the remains of a
dead fir tree in the midst, are all that mark it; but tree and stones
are covered with names. It is on an eminence commanding a view of the
country for miles. I gazed on the surrounding woods, and remembered
that on this selfsame spot, the beautiful and accomplished young man
walked back and forth, a few minutes preceding his execution, taking an
earnest farewell look of earth and sky. My heart was sad within me. Our
guide pointed to a house in full vi