uously, hour
after hour. A half hour ago, I caught a glimpse of a man, strong, and,
as well as I could tell in the night, of a dark complexion. He was on
the lawn, among the shrubbery, hiding a little while and then going on
again. He came to a side door of the house, but he did not knock,
because there was no need. The door opened of itself, and he went in.
Then the door closed of itself, and he did not come out again. I waited
ten minutes and then hurried to the one whom I serve with the news."

Mynheer Jacobus turned to Tayoga and Robert.

"I haf long suspected," he said, "that Hendrik Martinus iss a spy in the
service of France, a traitor for his own profit, because he loves
nothing but himself und his. He has had remarkable prosperity of late, a
prosperity for which no one can account, because he has had no increase
of business. Believing that a Frenchman wass here, a spy who wished to
communicate with him, I set Peter to watch his house, und the result you
know."

"Then it is for us to go there and seize this spy," said Robert.

"It iss what I wish," said Mynheer Huysman, "und we may trap a traitor
und a spy at the same time. It is well to haf money if you haf it
honestly, but Hendrik Martinus loves money too well."

He took from a drawer a great double-barreled horse pistol, put it under
his coat, and the four, quietly leaving the house, went toward that of
Hendrik Martinus. There was no light except that of the moon and, in the
distance, they saw a watchman carrying a lantern and thumping upon the
stones with a stout staff.

"It iss Andrius Tefft," said Mynheer Jacobus. "He hass a strong arm und
a head with but little in it. It would be best that he know nothing of
this, or he would surely muddle it."

They drew back behind some shrubbery, and Andrius Tefft, night watchman,
passed by without a suspicion that one of Albany's most respected
citizens was hiding from him. The light of his lantern faded in the
distance, and the four proceeded rapidly towards the house of Hendrik
Martinus, entering its grounds without hesitation and spreading in a
circle about it. Robert, who lurked behind a small clipped pine in the
rear saw a door open, and a figure slip quietly out. It was that of a
man of medium height, and as he could see by the moonlight, of dark
complexion. He had no doubt that it was a Frenchman, the fellow whom
Peter had seen enter the house.

Robert acted with great promptness, running forward and c