The Masked Spy

Catalog Note *The Masked Spy; or, The Wild Rider of the Hills* by Col. Prentiss Ingraham is a Revolutionary War adventure romance set in New Jersey's Ramapo Valley. Colonel Dudley Conrad commands a cavalry squadron cut off from American forces and hemmed in by British troops. While attempting escape, they encounter a mysterious masked horseman—an expert rider mounted on a magnificent black stallion, armed with multiple pistols and a sword, his face hidden behind a fitted mask. The stranger claims to know Conrad and his men intimately, including that they conducted a raid on a British wagon-train that morning and that Captain Westley Moore, just escaped from British custody, rides with them. The masked guide leads the squadron through treacherous mountain paths to safety, promising to guide them to a ford across the river guarded by British infantry, which they intend to breach. He instructs them to seek "Eben, a negro" at a log-cabin if separated.