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Walter Bradshawe, whose long incarceration
at Albany has been already commemorated, had,
through the intercession of friends and the clemency
of those in power, been transferred from the common
jail of the town where he was first imprisoned,
to a sort of honorary durance in the guarded
chamber of an ordinary dwelling-house.

The building in which he was now confined was
situated near the water-side, in the upper part of the
town, having a garden in the rear running down to
the quay. The room appropriated to Bradshawe
was in the second story, at the back of the house,
and immediately at the head of the first flight of
stairs. At the foot of this staircase, and within a
few yards of the outer door, which opened upon the
street, was posted a sentinel.

As month after month flew by, and still greater
indulgences were granted to Bradshawe with the
prolongation of his imprisonment, the duty of this
sentinel became at last so much a matter of mere
form, that it was customary often to place a new recruit
with a musket in his hands in the place which
was, in the first instance, occupied by some veteran
soldier of trust and confidence. This relaxation of
vigilance was, of course, not unobserved by the

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friends of the prisoner, if, in fact, it was not procured
by their agency; and, upon intelligence being
conveyed to Valtmeyer how things were situated,
he immediately planned the escape of Bradshawe,
and selected a shrewd and trusty follower (an old
acquaintance of the reader) to assist him in the project.

Syl Stickney, therefore, according to previous arrangement,
succeeded in making his way into the
city of Albany in the guise of a Helderberg peasant;
and, after lounging about the streets for a few days,
he allowed himself to be picked up by a sergeant's
patrol, and carried to a recruiting station, where,
without much difficulty, he was persuaded to enlist
in the patriot army. Valtmeyer, in the mean time,
hovered around the outskirts of the town, and was
advised of all Stickney's movements through the
agency of several disaffected persons of condition,
who, though in secret among the most active
partisans of the royal cause, still kept up appearances
sufficiently to enjoy an easy position in society,
and who had almost daily access to the prisoner
upon the mere footing of fashionable acquaintance.

Many days had not passed before the Helderberg
recruit was placed as sentinel before the door
of Bradshawe's quarters, and it was easily ascertained
when his tour of duty would come round a
second time. Valtmeyer was on the alert to avail
himself of the opportunity.

Entering the city of Albany by the southern suburbs,
this daring partisan succeeded one night in
throwing himself, with a party of followers as desperate
as himself, into a stable which stood near the
edge of the river, where they lay concealed in the
hayloft through the whole of the following day.
With the approach of the next evening—the time

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fixed upon for the proposed rescue—a canoe, paddled
by a single negro, crept along the bank of the
river from the islands below, and was moored within
a few yards of the stable. This canoe was appropriated
to the escape of Bradshawe; but the
plotting brain of Valtmeyer, which could not remain
idle during the long hours that he was obliged to
lie quiet in his lurking-place, contrived a still farther
use for it.

The stable in which he chanced to have taken
post was situate at the foot of a garden upon the
premises occupied by a zealous Whig, and one of
the most efficient members of the Albany Council
of Safety, being a man, indeed, whose firmness,
vigilance, and unwearied activity in the Whig cause
made him second only to General Schuyler among
the most valuable citizens of Albany in those times.
Mr. Taylor—for that energetic Revolutionary partisan
and subsequently distinguished civilian was
the person in question—was particularly obnoxious
to the Johnson family for the part he had acted in
expelling some of its members from the province;
and the daring genius of Valtmeyer kindled with
the idea of conveying him off a captive to Sir John.
In fact, though the success of Bradshawe's escape
must be endangered by connecting it with such an
attempt, yet Valtmeyer, when, from his lurking-place,
he several times throughout the day caught
sight of the Whig councillor moving about, unconscious
of danger, over his own grounds, could not
resist the temptation.

The famous Joe Bettys, who had associated himself
with this expedition, did his best to dissuade
his daring comrade from this project until they got
the head of Bradshawe fairly out of the lion's mouth;
but Valtmeyer insisted that no time was so fit as
the present; for, the moment that Bradshawe was
missed, such precautions would be taken that they

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could not venture into so perilous a neighbourhood
again. He knew, he said, that Bradshawe would
damn him if he let such a chance go by. It was
agreed, therefore, that Bettys should go alone to
guide Bradshawe down to the boat, where Valtmeyer
promised that he would meet him with his
prisoner when the turning of the tide should enable
them to drop down the stream most easily.

The attempt to seize Mr. Taylor—as we know
from the annals of the period—failed through one
of those incidents which, seeming so trivial in themselves,
are still so important in their consequences
that they cannot but be considered providential.
But the results of that failure are most intimately
connected with the course of our story.

The clock of the old Dutch church, which stood
in the centre of State-street, struck the hour of midnight
when Bettys departed to attend to his share
in the perilous operations of the night. Leaving
him, for the present, to make his way to the quarters
of Bradshawe, we must in the mean while attend
to the proceedings of his brother brigand.

It was the intention of Valtmeyer to effect an entrance
into Mr. Taylor's house with as little disturbance
as possible, and to seize and bear away the
master of the household to the canoe at the foot of
his garden. But, though the family had, from appearances,
already retired for the night, he meant to
defer the attempt until Bettys had made good his retreat
to the water-side with Bradshawe. It chanced,
however, that scarcely ten minutes after Bettys had
left his comrades, their attention was excited by a
noise at the door in the rear of the house which
precipitated their movements.

A chain falling, the clanging of an iron bar, and
the grating of a heavy bolt as it was withdrawn,
showed that the only door through which they could
hope for ingress was guarded and secured by

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precautions which, though not unusual in private buildings
at that period, seem not to have been anticipated
by Valtmeyer in the present instance. There
was evidently some one about to come out into the
yard. Valtmeyer hoped that it might be the councillor
himself; if not, he determined, in any event,
that the occasion must not be lost of effecting an
entrance through the open door.

Age or caution seemed to make the forthcoming
person very slow in his movements; but the door
moved at last upon its hinges, and the dull light of
a stable lantern falling across the threshold, revealed
only the form of an old black servant, who, with
creeping step, was moving forward into the yard.

The Tories, thinking the moment for action had
arrived, sprang impetuously forward to seize the negro.
But, though the sudden rush had nearly effected
their object, the movement was premature; for
the negro, startled at the first noise of their onset,
dropped his lantern, scuttled back across the threshold,
and shot the bolt of the door just as the foremost
assailant reached it. Valtmeyer gnashed his
teeth with rage as he heard the faithful fellow tugging
at the chain and bar, still farther to secure it
within, while his cries at the same time summoned
the family to his aid. The next moment there
came a pistol-shot from a window; and the Tories,
seeing now that the whole neighbourhood would be
alarmed, retreated to the boat as rapidly as possible.

The canoe was easily gained; but now what to
do in the predicament in which he had placed himself,
puzzled even the fertile brain of Valtmeyer.
To remain where he was, exposed all his party to
seizure, for the whole town must be alarmed in a
very few moments; yet to depart at once must jeopard,
fatally perhaps, the lives of both Bradshawe
and Bettys, not to mention that of the false sentinel,
who, it was supposed, would come off with

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them. Valtmeyer did not hesitate long; and his
decision, though attended with no benefit to his absent
allies, was still the best that could be made in
the premises. He determined to lighten his canoe,
and, at the same time, effect a diversion in case of
pursuit, by sending all his followers, save himself,
to make their retreat along the river's bank by land,
in the same way they had entered the town. He
then, with wary paddle, commenced creeping along
shore up the river, so as to approach the place of
Bradshawe's confinement, which was toward the
other extremity of the town.

Let us now follow the doughty Joe Bettys upon
his mission.

The duty of this worthy confrere of Valtmeyer,
though perilous, was sufficiently plain. He had
only to ascertain that the Tory sentinel was at his
post, and make him aware that he himself was near,
when Bradshawe, who knew the minutest arrangement
of the plot for his relief, would at once emerge
from his quarters and follow Bettys' guidance.
Their first movement would be to make for the
river; for there lay their means of escape, and there
the piles of timber, of which Albany was ever a
great mart, afforded the best opportunity for present
concealment, if it should be necessary.

And thus, indeed, every circumstance, like those
of a well-rehearsed play, might have succeeded each
other, were it not for the intrusion of a most unexpected
actor upon the scene.

The first intimation which Bettys had of such
interference was from the stupid exclamation of surprise
which his appearance drew from the disguised
sentinel as he encountered him upon entering
the hall. Stickney, who might have just awakened
from a nap upon a bench which stood near,
was supporting his staggering limbs against the

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bannister, and seemed to be listening, half awake, to
some noise in the room at the head of the stairs.
Upon the entrance of Bettys, he turned round sharply,
and, catching at his musket, which leaned against
the wall, seemed disposed to dispute the passage
with him.

“Softly, Syl,” cried the wary Joe; “you needn't
act the drunken man so far as to run me through
by mistake. Why, zounds! the infernal rascal's
dead-drunk in earnest; sewed up completely, by—,”
he added, with an angry oath, as he advanced and
collared him.

“Aint in liquor—more—than—my—duty—re—
quires,” hiccoughed Sylla; “for didn't I see—you—
with my—eyes—shut—come in that door and go
up stairs—but ten minutes—ago?”

“Me—me, you lying, drunken rascal! Saw me?
Answer quickly, or I'll shake the life out of you.”

“If I didn't, may I never—touch—a drop of good
liquor again. By Goy!” ejaculated Stickney, finishing
his asseverations with a stupid stare, “I believe
I am drunk; for, if this be raally Leftenant Joe Bettys,
I've seen double at least once to-night. The
fellow that went up stairs—”

Bettys waited to hear no more, but hurled his sottish
follower from him with a force that sent him
reeling to the farther end of the hall. The noise the
man made in falling brought the owner of the mansion
instantly to his door; but he only opened it
far enough to thrust out his head, and cast a furtive
and anxious glance at Bettys as the latter rushed
up the stairs, when, seeming to think for the moment
that all was right, he drew back and locked
his apartment. And we too must now leave Bettys
upon the threshold of Bradshawe's room, to look
after another of those who were most deeply concerned
in the deeds of this eventful night.

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