Abigail Jane Applegate--The Man in Black

Outside of New York City
1778
British Occupation of New York

I couldn't believe it. I was going to be hung as a Patriot spy. Which, of course, was true. As part of the Culper Ring, I knew the risk that I took every day. But until I saw the look in the British leader's eyes did I realize what he'd just told the men--I'm going to die.

Now I was being hauled out of the barn that they'd brought me into by the soldiers. They threw me up onto to a cart. The man's words echoed in my brain--She'll be hanged tomorrow morning with the rest of them. Where were they going to take me?

"Don't move," glared one of the soldiers. "We're watching you."

One of them sat in the back of the wagon with me and the other jumped up onto the seat and whipped the horses into a canter. I bit my lip to keep from crying. I was going to die. The thought just wouldn't go away. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. It kept on going through mind, time and time again. Was I ready to die? Was I really ready to face God for all of the sins that I'd committed in my lifetime? I felt like this was all wrong. There was so much more that I had to do. The wagon bounced me back to real life.

We were away from the barn and the farmhouse, traveling down a bumpy dirt road. I was thrown about by the ruts. My eyes strayed ahead, hoping, praying, that somehow I would find a way to get out of this. Some way. I didn't know how. But God was on my side. I knew that.

That's about the time when the man dressed in black flew on horseback in front of the wagon. In his hand was a gun.

To avoid a collision, the soldier driving pulled hard on the reins. The horses cried in protest but pulled to a halt right in front of the man. His gun was trained on the soldier driving's head.

"Let the girl go," he commanded.

I recognized that voice.

Nathan.