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refused to cooperate and he began to
swear. After considerable cussing, the craft found its way around
the ice jam. He pulled harder on the oars to get across. In fifteen
minutes, he slid upon an ice-covered shore. Getting out of the
boat, he slipped and went down on one knee. He reached into the
boat and retrieved his weapon from under the seat. Gradually,
sliding and skidding, he made his way over the ice to the banks of
the river. Sleet covered his jacket and his musket as he climbed up
the bank through mounds of snow-covered cat tails and tall weeds.
He forced through them and headed across the snowy field toward the
lights of Trenton.
    The town was a collection of
houses along a stretch of road that ran from Princeton to
Bordentown. Besides a tavern, there was a blacksmith shop, a
church, and a general store. The British had chased out most of the
Americans a few weeks ago, and the Hessians now occupied their
homes.
    Bates found guards standing on duty outside
of one of the houses, a two-story wooden structure with peeling and
cracked, pale-yellow clapboard siding and black shutters pocked
with bullet holes.
    As he approached, they held
their muskets up to fire.
    Bates held up his hands and
announced, “I come to speak to the captain.”
    “Der Kapitan?” one of them
asked.
    “Yes, the captain. Where is he?”
    The guard held him at gunpoint and pointed
the way into the house. Bates nodded and was relieved of his musket
as he entered.
    He stood listening to the guard speak to an
officer in German. Soon, he was ushered into another room where an
older man with a long mustache sat ramrod straight behind a table
in a wooden chair.
    “I am Colonel Rall. Who are you?” He asked in
a thick German accent.
    “My name’s Bates. I rowed across the river
‘cause I got something I think you want to hear about the American
army. But it won’t be for free.”
    Rall stood up and studied the man’s
appearance.
    “You are American?”
    Bates cleared his throat.
    “Well, at the moment I don’t
call myself American or British. I take care of myself. Don’t
matter to me who’s in charge.”
    The Colonel nodded in understanding.
    “What is it you wish to tell me?”
    “It’s about an attack on Trenton. But you’ll
get the details after I get paid.”
    “How do I know this information is to be
trusted?”
    Bates scratched his beard.
    “Well, if it don’t come true
like I said it would, I’ll be in the tavern, and you can come and
get me.”
    Rall stood and faced him
saying, “I will pay you after the attack--if there is
one.”
    Bates shook his head, “But if you get beat, I
won’t get my money!”
    Rall guffawed, “Beat? By the Americans?” He
laughed again at the absurdity of the idea.
    “Mr. Bates, you have wasted your time coming
here. If the Americans do attack, we are ready for them. Despite
the fact that it is Christmas, we are on full alert. If they do
come in this snowstorm across that ice-covered river, and I doubt
very much that they will, we will beat them soundly! Now get out of
here! I have nothing further to say to you!”
    Looking at Bates with disgust, he told his
guards to take him away.
    Two guards grabbed Bates by his arms and
pulled him backward.
    “You’ll be sorry!” Bates yelled, “You’ll wish
you’d listened to me! I know what I’m talkin’ about! You’re gonna
be sorry!”
    The guards dragged him out of the house and
into the snowstorm. They gave him a shove and he landed face-down
in the snow.
    “Where’s my gun? You can’t
take my gun!” he shouted angrily, standing up.
    One of the guards tossed his
musket at him and shouted something in German.
    Bates picked it up and brushed snow from his
face. He shivered as another gust of strong wind assailed him.
    Angry, he turned away and headed toward the
tavern at the other end of the town.
    “You’ll be sorry!” he shouted.
     

     
    At the shore of the
ice-choked Delaware, Washington took out his pocket watch and
checked the