He would
certainly live here, when the wars were over, and he could settle down
to his career.
Then he turned his eyes to the inner bay, where he saw the usual
amount of shipping, sloops, schooners, brigs and every other kind of
vessel known to the times. Behind them rose the high wooded shores of
Staten Island, and through the channel between it and Long Island
Robert saw other ships coming in. Truly, it was a noble bay,
apparently made for the creation of a great port, and already busy man
was putting it to its appointed use. Then he looked up the Hudson at
the lofty Palisades, the precipitous shores facing them, and his eyes
came back to the stream. Several vessels under full sail were steering
for the mouth of the Hudson, but he looked longest at a schooner,
painted a dark color, and very trim in her lines. He saw two men
standing on her decks, and two or three others visible in her rigging.
Evidently she was a neat and speedy craft, but he was not there to
waste his time looking at schooners. The letter of Colonel William
Johnson to Master Nicholas Suydam in Paulus Hook must be delivered,
and, taking up his oars, he rowed vigorously toward the hamlet on the
Jersey shore.
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