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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34824-h.zip b/34824-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0c333d --- /dev/null +++ b/34824-h.zip diff --git a/34824-h/34824-h.htm b/34824-h/34824-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..22e919a --- /dev/null +++ b/34824-h/34824-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4962 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Roger Davis, Loyalist, by Frank Baird +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +P.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +P.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +P.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +P.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 50%; + text-align: center } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Roger Davis, Loyalist, by Frank Baird + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Roger Davis, Loyalist + +Author: Frank Baird + +Illustrator: C. W. Jefferys + +Release Date: February 15, 2011 [EBook #34824] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROGER DAVIS, LOYALIST *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="" WIDTH="425" HEIGHT="653"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="HE THREW HIMSELF UPON THE GROUND. <I>See page 136</I>" BORDER="" WIDTH="491" HEIGHT="771"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 491px"> +HE THREW HIMSELF UPON THE GROUND. <I><A HREF="#p136">See page 136</A></I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +ROGER DAVIS +<BR> +LOYALIST +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +FRANK BAIRD +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +Toronto +<BR> +THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY LIMITED +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS +</P> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE OUTBREAK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">AMONG ENEMIES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">MADE PRISONER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">PRISON EXPERIENCES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE TRIAL AND ESCAPE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">KING OR PEOPLE?</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">THE DIE CAST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">OFF TO NOVA SCOTIA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">IN THE 'TRUE NORTH'</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE TREATY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">HOME-MAKING BEGUN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">FACING THE FUTURE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE GOVERNOR'S PERIL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">VICTORY AND REWARD</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +HE THREW HIMSELF UPON THE GROUND . . . . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#img-016"> +SHE MOTIONED ME TO MY FATHER'S EMPTY CHAIR +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#img-074"> +'THAT MAN,' I SAID, TURNING AND FACING THE 'COLONEL,'<BR> +WHO SAT PALE AND SHIVERING +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#img-104"> +'THIS IS NOVA SCOTIA,' HE SAID, POINTING TO THE MAP +</A> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +Roger Davis, Loyalist +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Outbreak +</H3> + +<P> +It was Duncan Hale, the schoolmaster, who first brought us the news. +When he was half-way from the gate to the house, my mother met him. He +bowed very low to her, and then, standing with his head uncovered—from +my position in the hall—I heard him distinctly say, 'Your husband, +madam, has been killed, and the British who went out to Lexington under +Lord Percy have been forced to retreat into Boston, with a loss of two +hundred and seventy-three officers and men.' +</P> + +<P> +The schoolmaster bowed again, one of those fine, sweeping, old-world +bows which he had lately been teaching me with some impatience, I +thought; then without further speech he moved toward the little gate. +But I had caught a look of keen anxiety on his face as he addressed my +mother. Once outside the garden, he stooped forward, and, breaking +into a run, crouching as he went as though afraid of being seen, he +soon disappeared around a turn in the road. +</P> + +<P> +My mother stood without speaking or moving for some moments. The birds +in the blossom-shrouded trees of the garden were shrieking and +chattering in the flood of April sunlight; I felt a draught of perfumed +air draw into the hall. Then a mist that had been heavy all the +morning on the Charles River, suddenly faded into the blue, and I could +see clearly over to Boston, three miles away. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not soon forget the look on my mother's face as she turned and +came toward me. I have wondered since if it were not born of a high +resolve then made, to be put into effect later. She was not in tears +as I thought she would be. There were no signs of grief on her face, +but instead her whole countenance seemed illuminated with a strangely +noble look. I was puzzled at this; but when I remembered that my +mother was the daughter of an English officer who was killed while +serving under Wolfe at Quebec, I understood. +</P> + +<P> +In a firm voice she repeated to me the words I had already heard, then +she passed up the stairs. In a few moments I heard her telling my two +sisters Caroline and Elizabeth—they were both younger than +myself—that it was time to get up. After that I heard my mother go to +her own room and shut the door. In the silence that followed this I +fell to thinking. +</P> + +<P> +Was my father really dead? Could it be that the British had been +repulsed? Duncan Hale had been telling me for weeks that war was +coming, but I had not thought his prophecy would be fulfilled. Now I +understood why he had come so often to visit my father; and why, during +the past month, he had seemed so absent-minded in school. My +preparation for going to Oxford in the autumn, over which he had been +so enthusiastic, appeared to have been completely pushed out of his +mind. I had once overheard my father caution him to keep his visits to +Lord Percy strictly secret. I was wondering if the part he had played +might have any ill consequences for him and for us, when my mother's +footsteps sounded on the stairs. She came at once to where I had been +standing for some moments, caught me in her arms, and, without +speaking, held me close for a moment, and then pressed a kiss on my +forehead. +</P> + +<P> +'Go, Roger,' she said, 'and find Peter and Dora. Bring them to the +library, and wait there till I come with your sisters.' +</P> + +<P> +I was turning to obey, when I caught a glimpse through the hall doorway +of two rebel soldiers galloping up. They had evidently come from +Boston. At sight of my mother, one of them addressed her with an +unmannerly shout that sent the blood pulsing up to my cheeks in anger. +What my mother had been thinking I did not know; but from that moment a +great passion seized me. That shout which almost maddened me, had, I +can see in looking back over it all, much to do in making me a +Loyalist, and in sending me to Canada. +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers looked in somewhat critically, but passed. They were +rough looking men, poorly mounted and badly dressed. My mother +withdrew from the doorway and went upstairs, as I proceeded to seek out +our two faithful coloured servants. I delivered to each the bare +message given me by my mother, and returned at once to the library. +</P> + +<P> +Everything in the room suggested my father. On his desk lay an +unfinished letter to my brother, who had enlisted in the King's forces +some six months before. I had read but a few lines of this when the +door opened, and my mother entered with Caroline and Elizabeth. In a +moment I saw that the spirit of my mother had passed on to my sisters. +I was sure they knew the worst; and although I could see Caroline +struggle with her feelings, both girls maintained a brave and sensible +silence. A moment later Peter and Dora entered, each wide-eyed and +apprehensive, but still ignorant of the great calamity that had now +befallen our recently happy household. +</P> + +<P> +The east window of the library looked toward Boston. To this my mother +went, and stood looking out for some time; then she turned and began to +speak. +</P> + +<P> +'Your master,' she said, addressing Peter and Dora, 'has been killed. +We are here to make plans for the future.' +</P> + +<P> +Dora threw up both hands, giving a little shriek as she did so. Peter +lifted his great eyes to the ceiling, and slid to his knees; a little +later he pressed his hands hard over his heart as though to prevent it +from beating its way through. He found relief in swaying backward and +forward, and uttering a long, low moan, which finally shaped into, +'Poor Massa killed.' He kept repeating this, until we were all on the +point of giving way to our smothered emotion. But my mother's voice +recalled us. +</P> + +<P> +'What are we to do, Roger?' she said. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the thought of a new and great responsibility flashed upon +me. Was my mother to relinquish the leadership? Did her question mean +that I was to step at once into the place of my fallen father? Had she +forgotten that I was but sixteen? I glanced at my sisters, but I found +I could not look long upon them in their helplessness, and retain my +self-control. +</P> + +<P> +With a hurried glance at the servants, who now sobbed audibly in spite +of all efforts at suppression of grief, my eyes came again to the face +of my mother. The look of noble fortitude had gone, and I saw that I +must no longer delay in coming to her assistance. +</P> + +<P> +She motioned me to my father's empty chair; I took it at once, and, +though I felt all eyes in the room turn upon me, prompted by a rush of +heroic feeling, I neither flinched nor blushed under their gaze. But +in spite of my pretended composure nature had her way. My sister +Elizabeth, breaking into a flood of tears, rushed across the floor to +my mother's arms, and soon all were weeping uncontrollably. Mastering +my rising feelings, I began thinking what was best to be done. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-016"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-016.jpg" ALT="SHE MOTIONED ME TO MY FATHER'S EMPTY CHAIR." BORDER="" WIDTH="470" HEIGHT="741"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 470px"> +SHE MOTIONED ME TO MY FATHER'S EMPTY CHAIR. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +I knew the King's cause had many sympathisers on the farms that lay +about us. What effect the real shedding of blood and the defeat of the +British would have I could not determine, but, while I knew that the +country would soon be swarming with rebels, I was equally sure that we +would not be absolutely alone, if we resolved to declare ourselves in +favour of the King and his government in the colony. At first, it +occurred to me to advise fleeing at once inside the protected limits of +Boston. But the thought of the value of my father's property turned me +from this course. That we were in danger, I was certain. My father, +owing to his trade relations with the colonists of all types, had not +openly espoused the royal cause; on many occasions rebels had claimed +him as a sympathiser; but I knew that now all would be revealed. The +jeer of the soldiers half convinced me that all was known already. Had +these simply gone by that they might return with others to carry us off +prisoners? +</P> + +<P> +At that moment, on glancing through the window, I was startled to see +several buildings on fire away toward Boston. The rebels had evidently +begun the work of destruction; but the thought that it had suddenly +come to this, that our quiet, happy, and thriving country-side was to +be devastated by fire and sword as during old wars of which I had read +in history, made me, for a moment, wonder if it were not all a horrible +dream. Recalling myself, however, to the situation in which I was +placed, as the defender of my mother and sisters, I turned from the +window, and, when a silence fell in the sobbing, said, 'I shall see +Duncan Hale; he will help us.' +</P> + +<P> +The painful day wore slowly on. It was evident that the whole country +was deeply stirred. Not a single soldier of the King could be seen, +but rebels were everywhere. On horseback and on foot; in rough +carriages and farm wagons; armed and unarmed; singly and in crowds; +cheering, shouting, swearing, threatening—all day long these rough, +leaderless, untrained farmer soldiers kept passing and re-passing, in +what seemed to be wild, purposeless confusion. Now and then the sound +of distant firing came from the direction of Boston; occasionally a +column of smoke arose from the country round, telling its own story of +destruction. +</P> + +<P> +I wondered if a similar fate awaited our fine old house, with its +fluted Corinthian corners, and its air of English solidity. I recalled +the peculiar pride with which my father had shown visitors through and +around it. The big hallway running from front to back, and on either +side the lofty square rooms; the high wainscotting, the deeply recessed +window seats, and queer, old-fashioned mouldings that bordered the +ceilings; the wide fire-places with their curiously-wrought andirons; +the two magnificent lindens before the door, planted by my grandmother +when a bride some sixty years ago; the wide garden with shaded walks, +and the hundred acres of rich, valuable land, all took on a new +interest to me that day. It came to me that these things could not be +given up without a pang. +</P> + +<P> +The day—it was the twentieth of April, 1775—proved gloriously fine +until the end; this, with the unusual gaiety of the birds in the +lindens, the bursting of the buds in the gardens, and other assurances +of spring, were in striking contrast with all that had been taking +place in the world of men. But the consequences of the events that had +preceded that day were to be infinitely greater than any contrast could +be. I can see now, as I did not then, that rightly looked at, the +skirmish at Lexington where my father fell, had within it the +beginnings of two nations—and one of them was Canada. But of this, +later in the story. +</P> + +<P> +That night I was again in the library in consultation with my mother +and sisters, regarding the possible recovery of my father's body, when +a low knocking at the door startled us. A few moments later Duncan +Hale and Doctor Canfield, minister of the parish, were seated among us. +</P> + +<P> +In a few softly spoken words the good clergyman expressed his sincere +sympathy for us in our sudden affliction. Doctor Canfield was one of +Harvard's most brilliant sons; he had travelled much; was directly +descended from a noble English family; he was possessed of means; many +of the foremost men of letters were his correspondents; he was tall and +military in bearing; graceful and eloquent in speech; the soul of +courtesy and honour; and withal, he was a master of the fine art of +manners. It was Doctor Canfield and others like him who made +separation from England difficult, standing, as they did, for the only +refinement that the provinces knew, peopled as these were mainly with +rough, plain tradespeople and farmers. As he talked with my mother, I +could not help setting his fineness over against the coarseness of the +many men I had seen through the day. +</P> + +<P> +Duncan Hale sat silent, until Doctor Canfield, turning to him, asked +him to relate what he knew of the events of the previous day. As this +was a matter to which our minds had been constantly reverting since the +reported death of my father, we gave him willing audience. +</P> + +<P> +'Three days ago it became known to General Gage, madam,' he said, +rising and addressing my mother, 'that a considerable quantity of rebel +stores had been collected at the village of Lexington, some fourteen +miles from Boston. The General decided, in the interests of His +Majesty's government and of peace, that these should be destroyed. +Accordingly he ordered Major Pitcairn to march with eight hundred men +to Lexington, and destroy or seize the rifles and ammunition there +stored. Guided by your excellent husband, who knew the country as the +officers did not, the soldiers succeeded in destroying the stores, but, +when they were on the point of returning to Boston, they were attacked +by thousands of the rebels, who, having been previously made acquainted +with the intention of our soldiers by means of spies riding out from +Boston, one Paul Revere being chief, were fully armed and well +prepared. Seeing themselves so overwhelmingly outnumbered, and being +informed that the whole country for fully fifty miles around was in +arms, the English officers, after consulting with Lord Percy, who had +gone out later in the day, agreed to fall back upon Boston.' +</P> + +<P> +The schoolmaster finished and sat down. There was a strangely agitated +look on his face. I was wondering what this could mean, when a sharp +whistle sounded at the door. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly we were on our feet. Duncan Male's face went suddenly white. +The next moment a dozen or more of the rough rebel soldiers I had seen +through the day, burst into the room. +</P> + +<P> +'Spy!' the leading man shouted, springing toward the schoolmaster. But +a door that had been unobserved by the rebels, and therefore unguarded +by them before their attack, opened from the library upon the verandah. +Through this Duncan sprang, and in the shaft of light that shot from +the room, I saw him leap into the darkness. The door shut with a +spring lock in the face of his pursuer. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Among Enemies +</H3> + +<P> +The next morning I boldly resolved to ride out into the country. A +double purpose moved me to this course. I was anxious first, to +recover, if possible, my father's body, and secondly, I knew that by +mingling with the rebels, I would gather information that might be of +service to me and to my mother in making our future plans. The +invasion of our home by the soldiers and the sudden and dramatic +disappearance of my friend and schoolmaster, Duncan Hale, to whom I had +intended to look for advice, threw me quite upon my own resources. As +to Dr. Canfield, much as he might wish to be of service to us, I was +aware that his position, as well as his pronounced sympathy with the +King's cause, would render it almost impossible for him to obtain +information except regarding the Royalist side. I saw at once that if +information was to be gained, I must gain it myself. +</P> + +<P> +I knew that there were many in the country around who had taken no part +in the long controversy that had preceded the shedding of blood. There +were the quiet farmer people, with whom my father had traded so long, +and whom until yesterday I had seen for years almost daily go in +towards Boston with produce. I was sure that these could not in a day +have become strong and violent partizans for either side. Then, there +were those who were opposed to war, because it was wicked, and violated +the teaching of Scripture. Taking our day-school to reflect the mind +of the community, I concluded that there must even yet be great +diversity of views regarding what was right and what was wrong. +</P> + +<P> +My father had warned me against declaring myself on either side. When, +in our home, Duncan Hale had fiercely engaged in denouncing the rebels, +he had urged upon him the necessity of a more cautious attitude. The +events of the previous night led me to think that Duncan had not fully +taken to heart the advice my father had given him. But I was sure +that, if he had offended, I had not. At any rate I resolved to go out +into the country. +</P> + +<P> +I found Peter, and told him to saddle the horse he used about the farm +and garden; then having dressed myself to look like one of the many +farmer boys I had seen passing our home, I rode off toward Lexington. +</P> + +<P> +It was still early, but there were many coming and going. I soon +learned that I had been quite successful in disguising myself. A +fellow a little older than myself galloped up beside me. +</P> + +<P> +'Goin' to enlist?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +'I am going out to Lexington to learn the truth about what happened +there,' I said. 'Where are you from?' +</P> + +<P> +'Out Concord way. I come from there last night, an' am on my way back. +Day before yesterday I shot a redcoat, one o' them fancy soldiers the +King sent to Boston two years ago to enforce his laws. I'll show you +the place when we come to it.' I glanced at his face, and marked in it +a note of triumphant glee. +</P> + +<P> +'How long do you suppose the siege will last?' he said a little later. +</P> + +<P> +'The siege,' I said, 'what siege?' +</P> + +<P> +He stared at me for some moments. 'Where've ye been livin' lately, ye +galoot? Don't ye know 'at Boston is besieged, an' that before two +weeks we're to drive what we don't shoot uv the King's men into the +harbour? That's the plan. That's good 'nough for 'em. Why couldn't +they act decent, instead uv puttin' on airs an' insultin' folks. How +much better is a soldier than a farmer, I'd like to know? Then think +uv them laws. Go 'way back to the very first—back over a hundred +years, when the trouble began by the surveyors puttin' the King's mark +on all the pine-trees over two feet in diameter. Supposin' the King +did want masts for his ships, what was the sense in puttin' his arrow +on thousands of trees that would never be used? What justice was there +in finin' a man a hundred pounds for cuttin' down an' sawin' up a tree +that was bein' left to rot? Think uv my great grandfather spendin' +three months in jail for cuttin' lumber to build his house. Was that +right? +</P> + +<P> +'An' that wasn't the only bad law. Why wouldn't the King allow people +to build mills an' use the waterfalls? Who'd any right to say we +couldn't sell fish or boards wherever we chose—even to the French or +Spanish? Our people wanted to work an' they weren't allowed to. +That's the way the trouble begun. An' then think uv all them later +taxes on tea an' other things we 'ad to buy. Were we to go on for ever +payin' an' payin', an' have nothin' to say about spendin' the money we +paid in? No, sir; I'm glad war's come. Now we've a chance to get even +with the King an' these saucy insultin' soldiers an' stuck-up officers, +who've always been pokin' fun at our militia. Just wait till I get +another chance at them. Then there's them Tories—all those people +who've been sayin' the King's right an' England's right—they're little +better'n the soldiers. But they'll soon find out that.—Are there any +Tories up your way?' He broke off suddenly, and looking at me more +critically than he had looked before, asked— +</P> + +<P> +'What's your name?' +</P> + +<P> +'Roger Davis,' I said at once, for I had determined to tell no lies. +</P> + +<P> +'Davis?' he repeated. 'Davis?' Then he looked at me yet more +critically. 'Yer father a merchant?' +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the sound of galloping troops fell upon our ears, and a +little later the largest body of American soldiers I had yet seen swept +around a turn in the road just ahead of us. I drew to the left, and +they thundered past, going in the direction of Boston. My companion +turned his horse, and prepared to join the troops. As he galloped off +with them, I heard him shouting my name, at which I saw three or four +of those nearest to him turn their heads and look back toward me +somewhat curiously. But they all kept on, and were soon lost in the +dust and distance. +</P> + +<P> +As I went on my way alone, I could not help thinking upon the words of +my late companion, who had left me as suddenly as he came upon me. +What he had told me regarding laws and taxes was not really news; I had +heard the rebel side of the case many times from Duncan Hale; but there +was quite a different note in the words of the rough young farmer. +Evidently there were two sides to the great question—at least it was +not difficult to see that people thought there were. +</P> + +<P> +With myself, as with many others, up to the time of the real outbreak, +it had not been necessary to take sides. But now it was quite +different. Then I was a schoolboy thinking only of Oxford; now I was +the sole defender and counsellor of my mother and sisters. I was +anxious to try the case fairly and honestly. I wished to do right. +Consulting my feelings alone, recalling the words of Duncan Hale, and +remembering that my father had been slain, I felt that perhaps I had +done wrong in not openly, even before the troop of soldiers, declaring +myself a sympathiser with the King and his cause. But second thought +showed me that such a course would have been folly. If I did this, +what of my mother and sisters? It was here that the real difficulties +of my situation first dawned upon me. Things were strangely bound +together. As I rode along, thinking all the while, the situation, +instead of growing simpler, became more complex. +</P> + +<P> +The whole country was, I saw, in the hands of the rebels. During my +entire ride so far, I had not seen a single soldier of the King. My +mother and sisters, my father's fine and valuable property, were all at +the mercy of the King's enemies. Duncan Hale was a fugitive, if not +already a captive. My brother was somewhere in the King's service, +but, following his usual policy, my father had revealed nothing. Then +if we were able to find him, how could he help us? He could not look +for a discharge at such a time. Again, his presence with us might mean +more of danger than his absence from us. But the question that +insisted on coming to me most seriously and frequently was, 'How am I +to serve the King, and yet do what is best for my mother and sisters?' +</P> + +<P> +The sun was now getting high. The glory of the spring was everywhere. +Here and there a ploughman followed his team in a distant field. But +it became more and more evident, as I advanced along the road, that the +spirit of war would soon absorb everything. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly my horse snorted and lurched violently back, almost throwing +me from the saddle. He gazed wild-eyed and with fiercely-blowing +nostrils at a spot in the road. Here blood had been shed. A momentary +shudder ran through me, but I urged him on. A few miles further along +the way I noticed that the fence had been torn with bullets, and in a +field, a little from the road, were four fresh mounds that I took at +once for graves. Under a shady tree near these sat an old man of some +eighty years. +</P> + +<P> +'Are these graves?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Aye, they be. Four redcoats lie here, or accordin' to some, three +sodgers and a Tory. But if you're wantin' to see where the main +slaughter was, go on. I'm watchin' here. There's some reason for +thinkin' the one who wasn't a sodger was a person o' consequence—a man +o' valuable property that may be useful during the siege as well as +after. There was a lank old villain—a schoolmaster of Cambridge, I +think our Colonel said—nosin' round here early this mornin'. It +leaked out that he was huntin' for a body. Anyway he was surprised, +captured, an' carried off to the village. It's generally agreed that +he'll be hanged.' +</P> + +<P> +It flashed upon me in an instant, that the man of consequence spoken of +was my father, and that the other was Duncan Hale. I was quite sure +Duncan had escaped from the soldiers who had attempted to seize him in +our home; and I knew also that for friendship's sake he would in all +probability venture out, even in the face of danger, to learn, if +possible, where my father fell. If I was right in my conjecture, and +the old man spoke truly, the faithful fellow's love had got him into +strange difficulties. I resolved to go on, hoping to pick up some +further scraps of information before returning home. Had I known all +that was to befall me, I certainly would not have gone further. But +the information I had received regarding Duncan Hale, especially the +hint of his danger, convinced me that it was my duty to go on at least +to Lexington. +</P> + +<P> +After leaving the old man at the graves, I saw numerous evidences of +severe fighting almost everywhere. Barns and buildings on every side +were riddled with bullets. Fences were thrown down, and the fields +showed the marks of galloping troops. Graves and bloodstains became +more and more common. +</P> + +<P> +But as I proceeded, I noticed that a Sabbath quiet had settled upon the +country. I now met nobody. The houses seemed deserted. One of the +only moving objects was a farmer far up a hill slope who, with a large +white grain basket by his side, strode over the red ground sowing +grain. One man at least in the midst of war was determined to be at +peace. +</P> + +<P> +But I understood the quiet as soon as I came in sight of the village. +The church bell was slowly tolling and there seemed to be thousands of +people upon the village green. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of the crowd the old man's words regarding the probable fate +of Duncan Hale flashed upon my mind. For a moment my heart stood +still. Was the crowd in the distance a mob bent on vengeance? And +yet, why was the bell tolling? +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the feeling that I might be acting unwisely, I urged my +horse rapidly on toward the village that lay in the valley before me. +I was out in search of information, and must obtain it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Made Prisoner +</H3> + +<P> +I had scarcely reached the village, when I learned that I had been +quite wrong in supposing that violence was intended by the people. +</P> + +<P> +'It's the funeral,' a man on the fringe of the crowd told me. 'It was +here the first of the shootin' was done day before yesterday. The +eight of our men who were killed all belonged in this neighbourhood, +an' attended this church. They are all to be buried here this +afternoon.' +</P> + +<P> +He pointed to a row of eight graves near the church. +</P> + +<P> +'They'll bury first,' he said, 'an' without takin' the coffins into the +church. Ye'll see that done among the Tories, but not here. Ye'll be +wantin' to hear the sermon, I suppose. Well that's my barn over there. +Go an' put up yer horse, for he's lookin' tired.' +</P> + +<P> +I did as I was instructed, and a little later I was wandering about +among the people. It was a strangely mixed crowd. There were many +farmers dressed as for work in the fields. Others had evidently on +'Sunday clothes.' Women and children, boys and girls, made up a great +part of the immense company. Though they could not be distinguished by +either their dress or bearing, I soon learned that many of the men had +been engaged in the fighting of two days before. These were usually +the centre of interested groups of people, who listened with eager +attention to the various accounts of the day that marked the opening of +the unfortunate war. +</P> + +<P> +Being convinced by this time that I was in no danger, and having seen +many others dressed exactly as I was, I pushed my way almost to the +centre of a group close to the church. A man with his arm in a sling +was speaking. +</P> + +<P> +'It was here at the east end of the meeting-house,' I heard him say, +'that the redcoats first showed themselves. Several of our men were +moving about on the green out there, only a few of them being formed in +a company, when I heard one of the redcoats shout out, "Disperse, ye +rebels!" I think it was an officer who said it. Not one of our men +moved. As the order was repeated I brought my gun to my shoulder. +Just then an English officer rode out in front of his men, and +discharged a pistol into the air. Immediately a lot of soldiers raised +their guns and fired towards where we stood. This time nobody was hit; +there seemed to be nothing but powder in the guns. Our men did not +fire, but after a few minutes other soldiers came up, and without any +command from the officers that I could hear, fired into us. We replied +this time, but when we saw they were going to surround us, our Captain +gave the order and we dispersed. That's my story of the way the fight +began, let others say what they will.' +</P> + +<P> +A little later, as I wandered about, I heard quite different accounts, +especially as to which side fired first. I could not then, nor have I +yet ever been able fully to satisfy myself on this point. But as to +the fact that there had been severe fighting, even upon the steps of +the church, the numerous bullet holes which I saw left no doubt. It +seemed not a little strange to me, that a place of worship should have +been the centre around which the storm of battle had raged. And yet I +understood later why it had been thus. +</P> + +<P> +The meeting-house, I knew, was the place where all the town, as well as +religious, meetings were held. Here it had been agreed to take up +arms. Here in the gallery was stored the town's supply of powder. +From the windows of the building several soldiers of the King had been +shot. I could not help wondering for the moment how all these things +could be reconciled with religion. From the appearance and +conversation of many of those in the crowd I took them to be men and +women of honour, of excellence of character, people who would not +willingly violate what they considered to be the laws of God. But this +was one of the days I began to learn the meaning of religion as well as +of war; and I do not hesitate to confess now, in looking back, that I +was quite ignorant of both. My horse had shied fiercely at the dry +bloodstains on the road as I came out; I was then quite unmoved, but +the dark, irregular marks on the steps of the Lexington meeting-house, +have not proved to be things I can easily forget. It was surely a +strange place for men to shed each other's blood. But I was +interrupted in my thinking by the arrival of the funeral processions at +the church. The sight was a singular one. As the mourning friends +gathered about the graves, all thought of war seemed swallowed up in +grief. It was not like the soldiers' funerals of which I had read. +There was no military display, no firing, no flag, nothing to mark the +occasion off from the ordinary funeral of the country. There were many +who wept; some threw flowers into the graves; but the great mass of the +people looked on, and listened to the words of the clergyman with +expressions upon their faces that spake other feelings than those of +grief. These people were standing by the graves of the first dead of a +great war. The greatness and suddenness of the recent events in their +midst had stunned them. The quiet country was unused to such scenes. +The surroundings were singularly beautiful. The gay note of birds, +preparing to nest in the magnificent trees around the meeting-house and +belfry, mingled in the solemn hymns sung with tremulous emotion by +those at the side of the graves; and the freshness of late April was +over all. +</P> + +<P> +How had it all come about? How long would it be before these men would +go back to the unsown fields and to their ploughs standing in the +furrows? I had formerly moved mainly with those who sympathised with +the King; almost in spite of myself as I stood there looking into many +honest faces I felt my sympathies being divided. And yet could these +people be right? It was something, at least, to die. And some had +already died. Were there honest men on both sides? Were both causes +right?—the cause of these people and the cause of the King also? But +the last sods were being placed upon the graves, and I moved toward the +church. I gained an entrance only with difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +Everything about both church and service was quite unlike that to which +I had been accustomed. The minister wore no gown; the hymns were +unfamiliar to me; there were no responses in the Scripture reading. +But I understood this when I recalled that I had heard that almost all +who opposed the King in the country around belonged to churches other +than the Church of England. +</P> + +<P> +As the minister began to speak I noticed that he lacked the fineness of +language with which I was so familiar in Dr. Canfield, but the man's +quiet earnestness and direct frankness pleased me much. The part, +however of the whole service that surprised me most was the sermon. It +contained little reference to the dead, there was no attack upon +government and the King, freedom and tyranny of which I had heard so +much from others in the crowd were not once named; but the one thought +that ran through the entire discourse was the absolute necessity of a +saving faith in Jesus Christ. +</P> + +<P> +I had not looked for this. I was quite sure those about me would have +preferred a passionate harangue on oppression, or an extravagant eulogy +on the fallen; but the minister had not stooped to this. With him, +standing in the midst of strife and hatred, one thing seemed +important—that men, whether living or dying, should be thoroughly +Christian in heart and life. +</P> + +<P> +The sudden and unexpected death of my father may have assisted the +preacher in forcing his words home to my heart, but, as I left the +building, I felt a new and strange sense of my unfitness to appear +suddenly before God. And this question had been pushed into a place of +such prominence, so unexpectedly and under such peculiar circumstances, +that I could not put it away. Was it true that this matter was the +greatest of all? Would a proper answering of this question help me in +any way to face the difficulties that were thickening about me? My +father was dead. Duncan Hale or my brother could be of no service to +me. My mother and sisters were in my keeping. They must not only be +protected but supported. And the time had also come when I must take +one side or the other. +</P> + +<P> +'There'll be no neutrals allowed about here. It's going to be fight or +flee,' I had heard men before the funeral say, as they looked away up +the slope toward a second farmer sowing in his field. And yet my +course was far from clear. I was young, inexperienced, and alone. Was +there really a source of help such as the preacher had indicated? If +so, surely I should seek it. If I lived through the war I would need +Divine aid; if I did not live—but I put that thought away. I must +live. There were my mother and sisters; and I had seen and heard +enough to convince me that the King's cause could spare none—not even +a boy. I sought out my horse, mounted him, and was soon off for home. +</P> + +<P> +But, as I was leaving the village, I noticed that a marked change had +come over the spirit of the people. The coming of evening seemed to +blot out completely all memory of the events and sermon of the +afternoon. I saw guns everywhere, most of them being long, +old-fashioned muskets, used formerly only in the game regions of the +mountains. There were many who galloped up shouting, and waving swords +made of scythes and reaping hooks. At the beating of a drum the men +thus rudely armed gathered for drill upon the green. They were +strange-looking soldiers, unused to fighting and to war, but I saw +determination in their faces. They had no flag, for the only flag yet +in the country was the flag of England; and that waved over the men +against whom these were to fight. +</P> + +<P> +Looking backward occasionally I rode away. As I passed the graves, in +one of which I had reason to believe my father slept, I noticed that +the old man still kept guard. It was not long after this that I came +to a wood. The dusk was deepening now, and it was very still. Once I +thought I heard the sound of voices in the deep forest to my right; I +paused a moment, but the distant hooting of an owl was all I heard. +</P> + +<P> +A little later, as I came opposite a logging road that had been used in +winter, I heard the unmistakable sound of a man's voice; then in the +deepening dusk that had gathered under the great trees I made out the +figure of a man running. He was waving his arms and shouting for me to +stop. +</P> + +<P> +But I did not stop. My heart gave a leap into my throat at the thought +that I might be captured, and I dug my heels into my horse's sides. He +sprang forward; but as he did so I shot a look backward over my +shoulder. Instantly, in the clearer light of the highway, I recognised +the figure. Any lingering doubt was dispelled the next moment by a +voice that brought me almost to a stand. This cry was still in my ears +when a man vaulted into the saddle behind me. It was Duncan Hale, with +a noosed rope about his neck. +</P> + +<P> +'On, Roger, on,' he shouted, 'or they'll catch us. I knew the horse as +you came by, and broke and ran. They were to hang me in five minutes.' +</P> + +<P> +I urged the horse madly forward, at the same time glancing backward. +The men had reached the highway and were coming. I felt my small farm +horse sway and lose his pace under the double weight. I knew all was +over for Duncan if they came up with us. I pushed the reins into his +hands. +</P> + +<P> +'They won't hang me,' I said. 'You go on.' Then I slid from the +saddle; and the next moment I was standing in the middle of the road +facing Duncan's pursuers with both my hands held high in the air. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Prison Experiences +</H3> + +<P> +I was soon surrounded by a group of about a dozen panting, angry men. +They made no attempts to conceal their rage. I was seized by several +of them at once, violently shaken, and was asked so many questions all +at once that, for a time, I was afforded a pretext for not answering +any of them. +</P> + +<P> +Finally quiet was restored. When the last man of the party had come +up, they formed a ring about me on the road. Every moment the shadows +of night were deepening, but I could clearly see that the fire of +revenge burned hot in every face. Nor did I wonder at this. Duncan's +escape had been so unexpected. They were as lions cheated of their +prey. Almost at the moment when their savage passion for sport of the +cruellest kind conceivable was to be gratified, their intended victim +had suddenly slipped through their fingers. The thought of what I had +been able to do filled me with a kind of fearlessness that prevented me +from shrinking, as the circle of angry men narrowed about me, I felt I +was at their mercy; I might be in great danger; I had been the means of +thwarting them; but a thrill of pride went through me at the thought +that I had been able to save the life of my dead father's dearest +friend. +</P> + +<P> +The leader of the party was a tall, rough, awkward-looking man of +perhaps forty-five. I heard one of the men call him 'Colonel.' He +stepped into the ring and brought a huge pistol to the level of my +forehead. +</P> + +<P> +'What's yer name?' he roared. +</P> + +<P> +'Roger Davis,' I said. +</P> + +<P> +'Where 're ye from? +</P> + +<P> +'Cambridge.' +</P> + +<P> +'Who sent ye out here?' +</P> + +<P> +'I came out this morning, of my own accord, to hear the truth about +what took place at Lexington the day before yesterday. I was not sent +by any one.' +</P> + +<P> +'The truth boy, or——' He showed the mouth of the pistol so near to +my face that I could have blown my breath into the muzzle—'the truth, +boy, or I'll blow——' +</P> + +<P> +'I am not accustomed to speaking lies,' I broke in suddenly, with some +spirit and much warmth. 'I belong to no party, and I would have you +understand that you may yet have to answer for obstructing the King's +highway. I bid you stand out of my path, that I may proceed on my +journey.' +</P> + +<P> +A great chorus of scornful laughter greeted my words. But I was spared +further questions at any rate. The circle opened on one side—the side +next to Lexington—and I was ordered to march. As I stepped out of the +group, I heard the click of several pistols being made ready for action. +</P> + +<P> +We had not gone far, when I learned from the conversation which I could +not but hear, that the men behind me held sharply differing views as to +what should be done. +</P> + +<P> +'We were instructed by the committee to hang him,' I heard one say; +'and this we did not do. We let him escape. I for one am opposed to +going back to Lexington. The committee have had their eye on Hale for +some months; and they considered that Providence had put him into their +hands this morning. They will be, I assure you, in no pleasant mood, +when they hear he is again at large, having obtained much valuable +information. And to think that there wasn't a single pistol ready when +he started.' +</P> + +<P> +'Perhaps the committee will turn on us—have us arrested,' put in +another. 'An' hanged for neglectin' to fulfil orders,' said a third, +whom I had not before heard speaking. The strife and difference grew, +until many high, hot words were being spoken. +</P> + +<P> +'Twasn't my fault that he escaped,' said one. 'Twas,' roared another. +'You was nearest to him.' +</P> + +<P> +Then the lie was passed; and a moment later nothing but the violent +intervention of 'the Colonel' could have prevented both blows and shots. +</P> + +<P> +Finally a halt was decided upon. It was agreed that I was to be kept a +prisoner: that two of the party were to convey me to the village and +hand me over to the proper authorities, while 'the Colonel' boldly +declared that he, in order to simplify matters, would inform the +committee that the spy Hale had been hanged according to instructions. +As I afterwards plodded on through the darkness with the tramp, tramp, +of my two guards sounding in my ears behind me, I wondered that twelve +men who had been reared in the King's Province of Massachusetts could +have consented to such a lying proposal without protest. +</P> + +<P> +After a journey that seemed doubly long owing to my hunger and +weariness, we came to the village, and I was immediately handed over to +an official. Though it was very dark, he put a heavy bandage over my +eyes; then, with the men who had brought me following, I was led by a +very rough path through a field, and across a brook. But I said +nothing. It was not a time for words. +</P> + +<P> +Finally we came to a stand. I could hear the sound as of heavy timbers +being removed and thrown down. Then there was the noise of the sliding +back of a door. In a few moments I was led into what seemed to be the +mouth of a cave. The air was damp, and I detected at once a close, +unpleasant odour. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long before my eyes were unbandaged and I was permitted to +look about. The place seemed to have been dug out of solid rock; water +dripped from one side of the roof; there was no floor but the natural +rock. In one corner, supported on four stones, lay an old door. I +looked a moment at this, and then turned to the faces of three men who +stood about me. They were each eyeing me keenly. One of the faces I +felt sure I had seen—but where? The single lantern carried by the +jailer threw only a faint and imperfect light on the faces and on +everything about me; still I suddenly became certain that one of the +two men who stood before me was the man who had sprung into the room of +our house in pursuit of Duncan Hale. He looked at me very critically. +Then on a signal from him the jailer lifted the lantern and held it +close, so that a better light fell upon my face. The next moment all +the men suddenly withdrew. I heard the heavy timbers being thrown +against the closed door; a few words that sounded like oaths fell on my +ears, and then there was the tramp, tramp, of the men's feet as they +receded from the place. This sound gradually shaded into silence, and +I was left alone, the first prisoner of the great war. +</P> + +<P> +For a time,—for a great, long time,—I stood immovable, where the men +had left me, in the centre of my dungeon, for a dungeon it really +seemed. What was to become of me? Had they put me here to starve? I +was hungry up to the point of faintness, for since early morning I had +been riding or walking almost continuously, and had eaten food but +once. The feeling of exhaustion growing upon me, I moved toward the +place where I remembered having seen the door resting on the four +stones. I found this and sat down. +</P> + +<P> +All was dark about me. There was no sound but the occasional drip, +drip of the water from the rock above. The damp, cold air of the place +chilled me to the bone. It was certainly a strange place into which I +had been forced. Had it been a prison, I would have been content. But +the name 'prison' was much too dignified for my place of confinement. +I had visited a prison once with my father; I was familiar with the +quarters in which animals were housed; but I had never seen anything +like this. From my surroundings my mind finally wandered to other +things. I thought of Duncan Hale. Had he really escaped? If so, my +case might not yet be utterly hopeless, for I knew that Duncan, having +free access to Lord Percy, would at once make known my capture. But +had Duncan reached the British lines? Might he not have been +recaptured? +</P> + +<P> +Then there were my mother and my helpless sisters. Would they know of +my being carried off? It was difficult to think they would, unless +Duncan had galloped directly home to tell them; and this I was quite +sure he would not risk doing. My mother was probably anxiously waiting +for my coming every moment. As matters looked at present, she must +wait long. +</P> + +<P> +From this my mind passed to thinking upon consequences that might +follow from my having been recognised by the man who had brought me to +this place. If he knew me; if it were revealed that Duncan and my +father had both been doing much, for many months past, towards securing +information regarding the smuggling expeditions of many of the +so-called 'patriot' merchants; if it were learned that my brother was +in the King's service;—indeed, I felt that if any or all of these +facts became known, the chances of my being set at liberty would be +small. +</P> + +<P> +During my experience on the road I had heard, in connection with the +case of Duncan Hale, much said of 'the committee.' I wondered what +this was. Were there not courts of justice in the land? By what +authority had any committee the right to pronounce sentence of death on +any man? Was the country not still the King's, and was it not still +under the King's laws? But in spite of the hotness of my indignation, +the dripping of the water by my side, and the frightful dampness and +cold of the place, with no covering over me, and with no pillow but my +arm, I finally slept upon the hard door. +</P> + +<P> +When I awoke, I was surprised to find that, owing to a rain having set +in, the entire floor of the place was flooded almost to the edge of my +board bed, and that almost every part of the roof of my strange prison +dripped cold, muddy water. Light enough crept in about the door to +reveal to me the fact that I was in neither a dungeon nor cave, but in +an old mine. In spite of the cold and dampness of the place, I felt +refreshed by my sleep. I sat up, and almost at the same time I heard a +sound as of the removal of the heavy timbers about the door. This was +soon opened, and through it was pushed a large, dirty-looking wooden +bowl, and the door closed the next moment. I heard the timbers being +replaced, and then, as on the preceding night, the sound of the +footsteps died away in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +Hunger mastered my feelings of resentment, and I drew the bowl toward +me. Floating in a kind of slate-coloured liquid, which may have been +intended for soup, I found two large balls or dumplings of offensive +beef rolled in dark and mouldy flour; but with the appetite of a bear, +I ate and drank almost the entire contents of the bowl. +</P> + +<P> +The day passed; then another and another. I had read many stories of +captures and imprisonments, but in none of them could I find a parallel +for my own unhappy situation. With unvarying regularity at morning and +evening the same foul-smelling, unwashed bowl, filled with food that +varied only in degrees of offensiveness, was handed in to me. The life +and the food and the home of many beasts would have been a relief and a +joy to me. And what was my crime? I was a mere boy. I had never +spoken word nor lifted hand on either side. True, I had saved the life +of a man from the hands of a mob; and was I to drag out my life in a +dark, dripping, unhealthy cave for that? +</P> + +<P> +It was well on in the third week of my bitter experience, just as I had +found it almost impossible to hope for deliverance, that, one +afternoon, I heard the sound of loud voices approaching. As the door +was being opened, I heard the voice of a man protesting loudly. He was +saying— +</P> + +<P> +'I tell you again, I am on no side. I am an honest farmer, and wish to +go back to my farm from which you dragged me. I am neither Whig nor +Tory; I will not fight on the side of either King or people. I must +work my farm, and support my wife and children.' +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the last words, he was rudely pushed into the mine, where +his feet splashed some of the muddy water upon my face. A moment +later, and without a word from those outside, the door was closed, and +the timbers were replaced against it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Trial and Escape +</H3> + +<P> +I did not speak. For a time the man evidently considered himself +alone. It was several minutes before—his eyes having become adjusted +to the partial darkness—he discovered me. His jaw dropped, his hands +went up, and I noticed some of the warm colour slip out of his face. +He drew sharply back, and gazed at me in undisguised amazement for some +moments. A little later the look of wonder shaded into one of sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +'How long have you been here?' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'Almost three weeks,' I told him. +</P> + +<P> +'They've been usin' ye bad, haven't they?' +</P> + +<P> +He came nearer and looked at me more closely than before. I tapped on +the door with my foot. +</P> + +<P> +'This is my bed,' I said. 'The food is plain, to say the least.' +</P> + +<P> +Looking at my face, he said, 'It must be.' +</P> + +<P> +All the time he had been standing at the lower side of the mine, where +the water was well up about his ankles. When I told him the rock was +almost dry where I was, he came and stood beside me. There was a +sincere, honest look in the fellow's homely face, and when he asked me +how I came to be there, I told him my story without keeping anything +back. +</P> + +<P> +'What has been takin' place outside?' I asked, when I had finished. +</P> + +<P> +'What has been takin' place outside,' he repeated in a voice that rose +almost to a shriek. 'What hasn't been takin' place? Have ye not +heard?' +</P> + +<P> +I assured him that I had heard nothing since the day of the funerals at +Lexington. +</P> + +<P> +'The day I sowed my oats,' he exclaimed; 'the very day, I mind it well. +It was just after that they began scourin' the country. I lived three +miles from here well back on my own small farm. Myself an' several of +my neighbours had never taken any part in the disputes that were makin' +so much trouble in Boston. It didn't concern us. We were poor, with +families to keep, an' had no time to bother findin' out whether the +King was right or wrong. We were gettin' a livin', an' were happy. +The day o' the shootin', as well as the day o' the buryin', I went on +with my farmin'. +</P> + +<P> +'The time they come for me I was in my fiel' as usual. "We've come +from the committee," they said. "What committee?" says I. "Oh," one +o' them broke in,—he was a Boston chap, not one o' our peaceable +farmers,—"Oh," says he, "is that all ye know about the affairs o' yer +country? We're authorised by the Committee of Safety to visit every +man in this county, and tell him he must either fight or flee." +</P> + +<P> +'"Feth, a' I'll do neether," I said, an' whipped up my horses. +</P> + +<P> +'They went off, an' I seen no more o' them till this mornin', when they +come again—an'—well, here I am.' +</P> + +<P> +I had listened with a sort of greedy interest to every syllable. 'Were +there many in your settlement who refused to take up arms?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Bout half o' us at first; but when they begun the burnin', the +shearin' an' paintin' o' the cattle an' horses; the smashin' o' +windows, an' the threatenin' with tar and feathers, of course a number +got frightened, an' said they'd fight. +</P> + +<P> +'Then in our settlement the way they used old man Williams scared a +lot. These men who said they'd been sent by the Committee o' Safety, +seized the old man one night, fastened all the doors an' closed the +chimney-top, and then smoked the ol' fellow so badly that it isn't +known yet whether he'll live or die. My own daughter was pelted with +rotten eggs—and by men, mind you, by men.' +</P> + +<P> +His voice rose here almost to a scream, and I saw that great anger +burned in his face. +</P> + +<P> +'That's what's been goin' on all over this whole country for the last +three weeks; an' that's not hearsay; I've seen it. It's cruel, it's +wicked, it's persecution, an' how can it be any less wrong because it's +done by the "Sons o' Liberty," as they call themselves? Fine liberty +that tears a man away from his wife an' children, an' farm, an' lands +him in a place like this.' +</P> + +<P> +There was a note of bitter scorn in the closing words. +</P> + +<P> +'These cruelties will make friends for the King, won't they?' I said. +</P> + +<P> +'They will,' he said with emphasis; 'they've done that already.' +</P> + +<P> +In answer to further questions I learned that my fellow prisoner's name +was David Elton; that he had been a farmer all his life, and that his +great hope was to return soon to his farm and family, which he claimed +never needed him more than in this spring season of the year, when +crops had to be put in. Of Boston and what was happening there he knew +nothing, except that the siege was still going on. +</P> + +<P> +We spent the night, both of us sleeping as best we could, on the door. +The next morning we were blindfolded and led away. After a half-hour's +walk we found ourselves in the presence of one of the numerous +Committees of Safety. +</P> + +<P> +These had, I learned afterwards, been organised all over the country as +soon as the mobs of the wilder sort, described by David Elton, had +driven away the lawful magistrates and judges who had held their +offices under the King. These committees were made up of the most +bitter partisans, and yet they were supposed to take the place of the +King's courts of justice. The committees were approved by the +Provincial Congress, and given absolute power over all matters civil as +well as military. Thus, during the first weeks of the war, did the +control of the entire country pass into the hands of the King's +enemies, who were not slow to avail themselves of the fruits of even +mob violence. The advantage gained through these committees was +immense, as by their proclamation all neutrals and opponents of the +revolution were designated rebels and enemies of authority and their +country. +</P> + +<P> +It was before one of these committees that my fellow prisoner and I +were called. It was plain from the beginning that everything was +against us. The man who occupied the chair was not a farmer, I +noticed. I concluded at once that he, and at least half of the +committee of twelve, were residents of Boston. This fact I was quite +sure would not increase our chances of acquittal. I had often heard my +father express his confidence in the farmer people of the country, but +his opinion of many Boston merchants, whose sense of honour had been +dulled by years of trading in smuggled goods, was far from high. +</P> + +<P> +As I looked about the room I soon recognised that there were many other +prisoners in addition to ourselves. I listened eagerly as one after +another was put upon the stand and questioned. It soon appeared to me +that most of the men were neutrals who, like David Elton, had been +taken forcibly from their farms because they had refused to take up +arms. A few boldly declared for the King; some promised to fight; many +wavered. These latter, as a rule, were given a time limit, in which to +decide finally, and were let go. The Loyalists were sent back to jail. +David Elton, when called, stoutly refused to declare himself. He +protested that he was a farmer, a man of peace, who had a large family +to support, and he was determined to go back to his farm. He was +handed over to a guard, then hurried away. Almost before the sound of +his loud, shrill voice, raised high in protest, was out of my ears, I +heard my own name sharply called by the court. +</P> + +<P> +When I went forward I noticed a look of deepened interest on the faces +of both committee and spectators. My case was not like those of the +other prisoners, who were practically all farmers of the community. As +I faced the crowd of onlookers I noticed that two men suddenly and +quietly left the room. The chairman of the committee followed them +sharply with his eye, a few others turned to look, but the great +majority steadily and critically scrutinised myself. The murmur in the +building fell to silence. +</P> + +<P> +'Your name?' was the first question asked of me. +</P> + +<P> +I gave it, also my age and place of residence. +</P> + +<P> +'Will you now relate fully and concisely all that has taken place in +your life since the morning of April twentieth?' This question was put +by the man who was acting as judge. +</P> + +<P> +I had spoken but a few words when a member of the committee rose, and +addressing the chairman, asked to be excused. While I had not been +positive of the face, since the light had been uncertain when I saw the +man before, the first words he spoke dispelled all doubt. I knew the +man. He was the person whom I had heard addressed as 'Colonel,' on the +night Duncan escaped and I was made prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +A chorus of protests broke from both committeemen and spectators. +Instantly I understood. This was the man whom I had heard declare he +would tell that Duncan Hale had been hanged. As a reward for his +supposed services he had been chosen a member of the Committee of +Safety! +</P> + +<P> +During the parley that followed I was able to turn over the situation +in my mind. The men who had gone out had evidently been members of the +party which Duncan had eluded, and they had feared my story. What +would I do? The 'Colonel' feared it also. Would telling the whole +truth help or harm me? I did not care to go back to the mine, and I +felt that I should proceed with the utmost caution. The mere promise +to fight, I had learned from the cases of others that day, meant +freedom. Would not this simplify matters? Should I not here under the +circumstances be justified in making a promise that I did not intend to +keep. I was sure the truth, if told, would make trouble for the +'Colonel'; but would it not make corresponding trouble for myself by +showing my sympathy with Duncan Hale, who was hated as were few men of +the King's party? Finally, I resolved to hazard the whole truth. +</P> + +<P> +The uproar in the court ended in the 'Colonel' not being allowed to go, +and I was ordered to proceed. +</P> + +<P> +Knowing I had but one thing of importance to say, I spent little time +in leading up to it. I said I had taken no part in the dispute: that I +rode out to Lexington simply to learn the truth. I spoke of meeting +the body of troops, and of seeing the old man at the graves; I referred +briefly to the burial, even to the sermon—all this to stamp my story +as unmistakably true—then I plunged into the scene on the road to +Boston and told of Duncan's escape. 'And that man there,'—I said, +turning and facing the 'Colonel,' who sat pale and shivering,—'that +man there declared in the presence of all the others in the party, that +he would go to the village and tell the committee that Duncan Hale had +been hanged.' +</P> + +<A NAME="img-074"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-074.jpg" ALT=""THAT MAN," I SAID, TURNING AND FACING THE 'COLONEL,' WHO SAT PALE AND SHIVERING." BORDER="" WIDTH="471" HEIGHT="756"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 471px"> +"THAT MAN," I SAID, TURNING AND FACING THE 'COLONEL,' WHO SAT PALE AND SHIVERING. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +I felt sure that this was the point where my story should close. I had +nothing stronger than this. Moved by a certain latent instinct for the +dramatic I broke off and sat down. +</P> + +<P> +There was a short, ominous silence—then a great uproar. 'Traitor!' +yelled several at once, as they sprang upon the benches, waving their +arms wildly. +</P> + +<P> +'Shoot him,' shouted others; 'he let him go purposely.' +</P> + +<P> +But I heard little more, for the individual voices became indistinct in +the general chorus of angry shouts that burst from every part of the +room. Friends and defenders crowded near the 'Colonel,' and soon the +house was divided against itself. Had it not been that two armed +guards stood at the door, I think I would have broken for liberty. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, standing upon the table behind which he had sat with so much +of badly simulated dignity, the chairman, very red and very hoarse, +succeeded in restoring order. +</P> + +<P> +'We have agreed,' he said, 'that this whole matter shall be fully +investigated, and justice shall be done. It is certainly unwelcome +news to hear that the notorious Hale is still at large. If he has +escaped, as this lad declares, if among ourselves there are some who +are unworthy of our confidence, it is well that these things be known. +Everything will be fully investigated, and'—he roared the words so +loudly that they were almost unintelligible—'and justice shall be done +to both friend and foe.' +</P> + +<P> +The whole assembly cheered mightily. Then the man on the table spoke +again. +</P> + +<P> +'Now in the name,' he said, 'and by authority of the Committee of +Safety for the township of Lexington, I adjourn this meeting for one +week, and order that this boy Davis and Colonel John Griffin be kept +close prisoners till that time.' +</P> + +<P> +I was not taken back to the mine, but was put in a comparatively +comfortable prison. That night—a little after midnight—I was aroused +by a low tapping on my door. As I drew near this it opened. I stepped +out. The brilliant May night was all about me: and it was very still. +</P> + +<P> +Without a word a figure that crouched in the shadow of the door +motioned me toward the great black wood that stretched from the edge of +the prison yard away up the mountain. I flew off like a bird. +</P> + +<P> +I was free at last, but whether they were friends of the 'Colonel,' or +friends of my own, who accomplished my release, I was never able to +discover. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +King or People? +</H3> + +<P> +The road between Lexington and Cambridge lay well in the valley. But I +kept to the hill country. I knew that all the roads must be avoided. +I felt sure that I could keep the course, which I knew was easterly, +and tramp home by way of the low, timber-crowned ridge of mountains. I +set down the danger of getting lost as light compared with that of +arrest which might await me on the road in the valley, for I was by no +means anxious to return to my former quarters in either mine or prison. +</P> + +<P> +Then I recalled having seen many clearings, and several small +farmhouses, dotted along the ridge, all well up toward the top of the +wooded slope. I resolved to work my way from one to another of these +until I reached home. +</P> + +<P> +It was probably about nine in the morning when I came, somewhat +suddenly, upon the first clearing. It afforded a view of the whole +valley for miles. Here and there I caught glimpses of the road as it +wound round toward Boston. +</P> + +<P> +I stood for some moments looking upon the scene before me. It was all +magnificent. The sun was high, warm, and bright, away across the +valley. The strong, vigorous life of the New England spring was +everywhere; and my three weeks' enforced stay in the cold, damp mine +threw all the beauty of the bursting leaves, the greening, distant +valley, and the singing birds, into high and clear relief. A new life +seemed to pulse in my veins. I was once more free. +</P> + +<P> +As I advanced across the clearing I was struck with the evident +remoteness of the place. The valley seemed to be miles away; the woods +walled in the place on every side; and yet the soil had been freshly +cultivated. Could it be that this was one of the numerous highland +farms which I had seen when riding in the valley? +</P> + +<P> +At that moment a dull sound, as of one beating the earth, fell upon my +ears. I turned, and close to the edge of the woods, working with a hoe +in the black earth among the charred stumps, I saw the stooped figure +of a woman. As I looked she stood the hoe by the side of a stump, +stepped a little to one side, picked up a small basket, and swung her +hand about as though scattering grain. A moment later she was again +working rapidly with the large, heavy hoe. +</P> + +<P> +For some time I stood where I was, without moving or speaking. I was +still undecided as to what I should do, when I heard the cry of a +child. At this the woman dropped her hoe, and turned directly toward +me. On seeing me she threw up her hands, and stood for a moment gazing +at me. I saw a great terror come into her face, but before I could +speak to quiet her fears, she sprang like a wild thing, uttering a +piercing shriek as she did so, toward the green hollow that had served +for a cradle, and, snatching up a crying infant, she fled away in the +direction of the small log house at the north-west corner of the +clearing. To this I followed her. Standing outside the closed door I +explained my situation, and in less than half an hour I was eating with +great relish a homely but substantial breakfast. I had almost finished +this before the woman fully threw off restraint and talked freely. +</P> + +<P> +'It was a great fright you gave me at first,' she said. 'I was sure +they were comin' to take me off too. It's only two days since a lot of +men, who said they were sent by some committee, came to the fiel' an' +took away my husband. He told me to try and do what I could at puttin' +in the rest of the crop; but the work in the new lan' is hard for a +woman.' +</P> + +<P> +She had one child in her arms, and as she spoke, four others trooped +into the little room, and taking up positions beside her looked at me +curiously. +</P> + +<P> +'We've five little ones,' she said; 'an we were gettin' on nicely till +this awful war come. An' it all seemed to come so sudden. Away up +here we heard little about it, till after the shootin' begun. Even now +I don't know what all the trouble is about. All the neighbours 'bout +here were poor, peaceable folk, an' wanted to go on with their +croppin'. Some say the King's wrong, that the laws are hard, an' all +that, but we never had any reason to complain. An' even if the laws +weren't right, wouldn't it have been better to live on peaceably, than +to have things as they are now? Look at me left with these five +children! What'll they do if their father isn't let come back to them +an' the farm?' A look of anxious fear came into the woman's face, as +she spoke. +</P> + +<P> +'What was your husband's name?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +'David—David Elton. My maiden name was Merton. We're married ten +years this summer.' +</P> + +<P> +'David Elton,' I repeated; 'is David Elton your husband?' +</P> + +<P> +'He is. Did you ever hear of him?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' I said: 'I have.' Then I told her many things, to which she +gave eager attention. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later I had said goodbye to Mrs. Elton and her children, +and was entering the woods to continue my journey. Taking a glance +backward, I saw the woman with the infant in her arms emerge from the +little log house, and cross the clearing to the spot where she had been +when I first saw her. She placed the child in the green hollow again, +took up the basket and scattered some seed about, and the next moment +she was digging the grain into the black, ashy earth with her heavy +hoe. As I looked, a lump rose in my throat, and I got a new glimpse of +the meaning of war. +</P> + +<P> +Late that night I reached home in safety. My mother and sisters were +overjoyed at my coming. They spoke much of my changed appearance, and +when I saw myself in the mirror I did not wonder. My experience of +almost four weeks had told remarkably upon me; still I felt I had +obtained valuable information, which might be of service to the King's +cause. I had learned and could tell of what was going on in the +country; I now knew something of the character and methods of the men +who were carrying on the war, and all this I felt much more than made +up for the loss of a few pounds of flesh. +</P> + +<P> +But my mind was soon diverted from myself by other thoughts that +crowded upon me. 'Have you seen Duncan Hale?' I asked my mother; and, +as the words left my lips, I felt a great fear about my heart pulling +the blood from my cheeks. The last time I had seen him there was a +noosed rope about his neck, with a long, dangling end. The memory of +the sight was fearful. But my mother was speaking. +</P> + +<P> +'Duncan,' she said, 'the good friend and noble fellow that he is, has +come to us as regularly as possible from Boston. The city is besieged, +and he comes at great, personal risk.' +</P> + +<P> +The words afforded me unspeakable relief; I felt my lost colour return. +</P> + +<P> +'What has been happening in Boston lately?' I inquired. +</P> + +<P> +'Some new troops have arrived from England, and the fortifications are +being strengthened.' +</P> + +<P> +After some further questions and answers, I detailed my experiences as +fully as I thought necessary. My mother was much disappointed at my +inability to secure definite information regarding my father's death +and resting-place, but both she and my sisters bravely accepted the +hard conditions imposed upon us by our great and sudden loss. +</P> + +<P> +From one matter we passed to another, and then another, until, in a +little silence that fell, my mother, turning to Caroline, said, 'Bring +the paper that officer left yesterday. Roger should see it.' +</P> + +<P> +While our talk had scarce touched the future at all, the document, +which was soon in my hands, convinced me that the real crisis for us +was still ahead. The paper was addressed to my mother. It opened with +a review of supposed grievances, referred to the causes that had led up +to the war, and ended with the statement that the house and entire +estate would be seized by American soldiers, and appropriated to the +use of the army, unless a full and satisfactory declaration of sympathy +with the rebel cause were made inside of twelve days. +</P> + +<P> +With the knowledge I possessed of what was taking place in the country, +I was not surprised at the contents of the paper. I had seen that +events were shaping directly toward this end. But the paper brought +the crisis near, and made it real. I laid the document on the table, +and for some time, without speaking, looked into my mother's face. +</P> + +<P> +'It has come to this,' I said finally. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes; what are we to do?' she answered. 'Must we give up all and fly, +or else declare ourselves opposed to the King? Does it really mean +that?' +</P> + +<P> +'That is what it means, mother,' I said. 'That is made very clear. +Our property is a valuable one, and, being situated as it is, would +afford many advantages to the King's enemies.' +</P> + +<P> +'But they will pay us if they take our place—won't they?' It was my +youngest sister Elizabeth who thus innocently spoke. +</P> + +<P> +'No, dear,' my mother answered, with fine composure; 'they will not pay +us. They will come with soldiers and drive us away. For the rest of +our lives we shall be poor, and shall be forced to work for our +living—that is, if we declare for the King.' As she spoke her last +words, my mother turned from Elizabeth to me. There was a searching, +appealing look in her face. I saw that she had seized the situation +correctly; I felt she knew that a decision upon which our entire future +depended could not be long delayed. +</P> + +<P> +For many people in the Colonies the question of choice of sides in the +great conflict was solved by the nature of things. Most of those +engaged in shipping, or in any branch of trade upon which duties had +been imposed, the naturally discontented and revolution-loving people, +as well as many others, ranged themselves immediately—without +consideration of consequences, and evidently without any doubts as to +the proper course to be pursued—under the banner of the King's enemies. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, there were the officials of the government, the seat +of which was in England; there were the many cultured and learned +persons whose relatives and whose interests were all in Britain; and +there were the more humble, but not less loyal people—many of them +among the farmer and working classes—who loved British institutions +with a love as strong as the love of life itself. Some of these had +fought under English commanders against the French, and their hearts +warmed at the name of King—their enthusiasm rose at the sight of +England's flag. For these also to decide was easy. +</P> + +<P> +But between the people of these two classes, whose decisions were +rendered almost inevitable, there were many who could not so easily and +so hastily settle the question of sides in the contest. Many of the +more thoughtful did not know on which side the right lay. Many who +wished to choose rightly were at a great loss to know what course to +pursue. +</P> + +<P> +Probably, of the thousands of families all over the country, who +pondered the situation raised by the papers such as my mother had +received, none found the problem more difficult and complex than did +we. Our feelings; our training and interests; our sense of what was +right; our love of England for England's sake, and of the King for the +King's sake; all said, and said to each of us, 'Rise and flee, let all +go.' But how were we to live? Our property was our support. If our +feelings said go, self-interest argued stoutly for remaining. My +mother and sisters were defenceless and helpless; I was but a +schoolboy. And it was soldiers the King wanted—not refugees. +</P> + +<P> +But the hour had grown very late. We felt that the question was too +large for us. I rose and was leaving the library for my room. It was +then that my sister Caroline slipped to my side with a book in her hand. +</P> + +<P> +'Prayers,' she said softly, pushing me back toward my seat. 'I have +found you the prayer for the day,' she added, 'you must read it as +father used to do.' +</P> + +<P> +A rush of emotion, mingled with a feeling of shame at my thoughtless +ingratitude toward the Father of all mercies, almost mastered me as I +took the book of prayers from my sister's hand. Had God not been good +in delivering me? Had not my father prayed? Was not prayer more +necessary now than it had ever been in my life? +</P> + +<P> +We all knelt, and I stammered through the beautiful words. They +brought to me a feeling of strange relief. Before I slept, in words of +my own, I thanked God that He had given me a sister, who, in my +weakness, had sent me to Him for strength. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Die Cast +</H3> + +<P> +The next day was Sunday. As I walked about the hedged garden in the +early morning, as I looked away toward Boston and marked the general +quiet of the country about, I was surprised that I did not see more +evidence of war and disorder. Except some white tents in the distance, +and the occasional passing of a supply wagon from the country, there +was really nothing to break the Sabbath quiet, or to remind one that +the city of Boston was closely invested by thousands of farmer +soldiers, and that a great revolution was in progress. When the church +bells chimed out sweetly on the beautiful spring air, it seemed harder +still to think that the time of peace had really passed. +</P> + +<P> +I left the garden and re-entered the house. At the foot of the stairs +I met my sister Caroline. +</P> + +<P> +'You will come with us to church, Roger,' she said. 'Doctor Canfield +will be delighted to see you back.' +</P> + +<P> +My mind ran back a little. Would I not be in danger of arrest? The +whole country, I knew, was swarming with spies. I thought of the part +I had played in saving Duncan Hale, also of my imprisonment and escape. +I had not thought of openly showing myself, at least for a little while. +</P> + +<P> +But Caroline was of quite a different mind. 'You will be in no more +danger in church than at home,' she argued. 'I have seen many at +church lately who I am sure are in favour of the King. Since you left, +things have gone on quite as usual; nobody has been molested, and +Doctor Canfield has said nothing of the war. Then Roger'—she came +nearer to me, and put her hand upon my arm—'should we not go to church +to-day, at least, and pray that God might guide us to do what may be +best?' +</P> + +<P> +I felt once more rebuked by my sister. +</P> + +<P> +In less than half an hour I was seated, with my mother and two sisters, +in the handsome church that had been for years the pride of the town of +Cambridge. Not even Boston could boast a finer church building, or a +more cultured congregation. Boston was a centre of trade; its narrow +and crooked streets; its wharves and many ships; its mixed population; +its noise and taverns; its large and busy crowds, had for years stood +out in sharp contrast with the quiet and delightful country culture of +Cambridge. The educated and the wealthy, particularly those in whom +the English instincts were strongest, had, like my father, chosen to +live in the country rather than in the city. Thus it was that, when +Doctor Canfield entered his pulpit that Sabbath morning, he faced +representatives of all that was best and most intellectual in the life +of the colony. +</P> + +<P> +On glancing about I noticed that the church was very full. Doctor +Canfield's church was not the only one in Cambridge, but as a rule to +it came not only all the Episcopalians, but most of the Scottish +Presbyterians, who had not, at that time, a church of their own in the +town. They had been, mainly, silent people, who had lived quietly, +without doing or saying anything that betrayed sympathy with either +side. Were these friends of the King? Did the circulating of the +papers calling for a declaration of sympathy explain their presence in +such large numbers this morning at Doctor Canfield's church? +</P> + +<P> +My mother had told me previously that many of them had been attending +our church for some weeks. Had the great sifting and selecting process +begun? Had persecution here, as in the country, been making friends +for the King? At any rate, as I looked about, I was led to hope that +religious differences were likely to be obliterated, or sunk, in loyal +zeal for the King's cause. +</P> + +<P> +I was interrupted at this point in my thinking by Doctor Canfield +announcing his text. It was, 'Love the brotherhood; fear God; honour +the king.' +</P> + +<P> +He repeated the words twice with much deliberation. +</P> + +<P> +A great, strained silence fell upon the vast congregation. I was +startled; for a time my breath came short and uncertainly. Had the +reserved, hitherto-silent man, made up his mind to declare himself? +One great question—the question raised and forced home to each of his +hearers by the papers such as my mother had received—filled every +mind. But great and pressing as this question was, could it be +discussed? I felt sure I knew what Doctor Canfield would say; he was +an honest man, and would honestly speak his mind. But was he sure of +the temper and sympathies of his hearers that day? Had he counted the +cost? +</P> + +<P> +I glanced at my mother, and saw that she was plainly agitated. Even +Elizabeth, my sister of but twelve, seemed to realise that a crisis was +at hand. Caroline's face was serenely calm. On every countenance that +I could see there sat an expression of profound, even painful interest. +The silence deepened, and the interest grew, as the minister proceeded. +He first briefly discussed the part of his text bearing on love of the +brotherhood; then touched briefly, but with earnestness, on the +necessity for fearing God, and passed to the third and last part of his +subject. +</P> + +<P> +As he approached this, I noticed that a note of emotion had crept into +his voice, and some of the colour had slipped down from his face; but +he was still very calm, and spoke unbrokenly as he finished his second +heading, and then twice repeated the words, +</P> + +<P> +'Honour the King!'<BR> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +At this point he suddenly stopped. The silence that fell was painfully +intense. People leaned forward; here and there heads went down on the +pews in front. I felt my heart beat quick and unevenly. But the +apparent calmness of Doctor Canfield reassured me. +</P> + +<P> +He did not proceed with his sermon; but, picking up a paper that lay +beside the Bible, he slowly opened it, then brought it before the gaze +of the people. I recognised the paper at once as being similar to the +one received by my mother. +</P> + +<P> +'It is not necessary,' he began, 'that I should read to you, my +brethren, the contents of this paper. With what is here written, you +are no doubt familiar. This paper has brought before us all a matter +of the supremest importance. I have given it the most earnest and +careful consideration. In regard to you, my brethren, as to the course +you should pursue in this great and lamentable crisis that is now +facing our beautiful but unhappy country—concerning you, I have +neither suggestions to offer, nor advice to give; but for myself, I +feel now constrained, in the presence of God and of this congregation, +to say that in the past my sympathies have been, at the present they +are, and in the future they shall be, always and only with my true and +rightful sovereign, the King of England.' +</P> + +<P> +He said no more. The people before him sat stunned and dumb. Many had +known his mind before; many were aware that when he spoke he would +speak as he had spoken; and yet, to even these, the declaration came +with a shock. Hitherto, he had proclaimed only the gospel; he had +stood apart from politics; he had considered himself the pastor of all, +not of part, of his people. But there is a time when to be silent is +to be false—when to be true one must speak. Doctor Canfield had +evidently felt that such a time had come in the New England Colonies of +King George, and he had spoken in words that could not be misunderstood. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the people recovered from the shock. Those who had leaned +forward leaned back. All through the church there was a swaying +movement as when a harvest field is wind swept. I noticed evidences of +relief and joy steal into the faces of many; but on the countenances of +others there were unmistakable signs of disappointment and anger. I +saw at a glance that a majority—but not all—were for the King. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Canfield stood as still as a statue. His face had gone very +white. Soon through the sound of swaying people, there came to my ears +the noise of footsteps. Then a moment later, all over the church, men +and women rose and pressed toward the door. A few of the leaders of +the church went, old and true Episcopalians, some also of the +non-Episcopalians. The faces of many who remained showed signs of +struggle and indecision. A few rose and sat down again. Some looked +questions at those beside them. In the seat directly in front of us a +husband was leaving the seat when his wife drew him back. Not a few in +the church wept audibly. +</P> + +<P> +And thus it was throughout all New England, during that Sunday and the +days following, that men, many of them in the house of God, silently, +suddenly, prayerfully committed themselves to the cause of King or +people. They saw themselves under two masters, and painful though the +decision was, they felt that they must, for the future, hold to the +one, even though it was difficult for them to find it in their hearts +to despise the other. +</P> + +<P> +When all had gone who had resolved to go, when quiet had fallen again +in the church, the minister, without a word of further comment, +announced the National Anthem. The pent-up feelings of the people—and +there was yet a large congregation, for fully three-fourths of the +worshippers had remained—found freedom and relief in the old familiar +words. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after we reached home that day, through the green of the trees, +waving high in front of the rectory, I caught a glimpse of the Union +Jack. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Off to Nova Scotia +</H3> + +<P> +It was several weeks later. My mother, Dr. Canfield, Duncan Hale, and +I were sitting in a room in Boston, awaiting our turn for a promised +interview with Lord Percy, who was still with the army. The battle of +Bunker Hill had been won by the British; but, in spite of this success, +General Washington, who arrived in July to take command of the army, +had succeeded in drawing his lines uncomfortably close about the city. +We, with thousands of others, had been forcibly driven from our +beautiful homes in the country, to make quarters for Washington's +soldiers. We had been allowed to take nothing away. From all that was +most dear to us—from the luxury of a quiet life of culture; from rooms +where hung portraits of hero ancestors; from walks and gardens that had +become part of our life; from broad, rich fields and firm-set old +mansions, with their wide halls and fine Corinthian architecture;—from +all these, one day in late June, my sisters, my mother, and myself, had +been driven by a mob-like body of rough, jeering men who called +themselves patriot soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +True, we might have remained. Indeed, as we passed down the path from +our home, my mother was presented with a second paper, the signing of +which would have restored to us all that from which we were being +driven. She read a few lines, then, tearing the paper into bits, she +threw these in the face of the soldier who stood before her. After +this, without a single look backward upon our home—on foot, under the +blazing June sun—we had hurried away toward the besieged city of +Boston. None hindered us; but many jeered as we passed. We had lost +much—much upon which we never again looked—but we felt we had gained +in this: we were under the flag of the King. +</P> + +<P> +But that was the past. What of the future? This was the question in +the mind of each of us that day in Lord Percy's waiting-room, when a +servant appeared, and asked us to follow him. +</P> + +<P> +After receiving us all very graciously, his lordship asked us to be +seated. I thought I had seldom seen a handsomer man. He was tall, +graceful and youthful; his manners were polished, and his language bore +all the marks of the utmost culture. He first addressed himself to my +mother. After making some kindly references to my late father, and his +services in the King's cause, he passed at once to a discussion of what +was to be in the future. +</P> + +<P> +'You cannot be unaware, madame,' he said, 'of the deep and sympathetic +interest I take in the welfare of yourself and your family. The noble +spirit of self-sacrifice manifested by you in voluntarily giving up +your lands and home, I consider quite beyond praise; and it is with +feelings of the profoundest regret that I feel myself obliged to say +that it is quite beyond my power to offer compensation to you in any +degree commensurate with your loss. As to the future of the rebellion, +nothing definite can be said; for myself, I believe that the arms of +the King will finally triumph; but this cannot be hoped for in the +immediate future. You cannot remain here; the danger grows daily. +What think you of Canada, madame? Or of Nova Scotia, of those wide, +peaceful, loyal provinces of His Majesty to the north of us? Many of +our people, as you know, have sailed for England—too many, I fear; +others have asked to be sent to Canada.' +</P> + +<P> +My mother did not answer for a time. Finally, she said: 'I like +America; I was born here; I have now few friends in England, and I am +without means.' +</P> + +<P> +At the mention of Canada, I had seen Duncan Hale's face brighten; but +he did not speak. A little later, Lord Percy turned to him. +</P> + +<P> +'Tell us,' he said, 'what is said of Nova Scotia in the geographies? +Is it really a habitable land?' +</P> + +<P> +Duncan bowed very low. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, my lord,' he said, 'it is a country in no degree less fruitful +than that in which we live. In addition to what is writ in our books +of it, I have learned from traders that the soil is rich, that it is a +land of delightful summers, of mighty rivers, and of boundless forests. +The wealth of its fisheries and mines cannot be estimated; and best of +all, your lordship, it is a land undefiled by the feet of traitors.' +</P> + +<P> +The closing words were spoken in such a manner as to show that Duncan +Hale was not one of those who had found it difficult to choose between +King and people. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Canfield, who had so far said little, rose and walked to a large +map of America that hung upon the wall. +</P> + +<P> +'This is Nova Scotia,' he said, pointing to a large, irregular +peninsula. 'Canada is further west, is it not?' +</P> + +<A NAME="img-104"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-104.jpg" ALT="'THIS IS NOVA SCOTIA.' HE SAID, POINTING TO THE MAP." BORDER="" WIDTH="471" HEIGHT="739"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 471px"> +'THIS IS NOVA SCOTIA.' HE SAID, POINTING TO THE MAP. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +We gathered about the map, a new and peculiar interest attaching to it, +owing to the situation in which we were placed. +</P> + +<P> +Duncan Hale explained fully and clearly that all the land on both sides +of the water marked Bay of Fundy was called Nova Scotia. This was a +single province, which had a Governor who lived in Halifax. 'Canada,' +Lord Percy explained later to my mother, 'is known as the Province of +Quebec. There are many French there,' he said; 'but in Nova Scotia +most of the people are English or Scotch. In Halifax they have had a +Parliament for some years now, and from all we have been able to learn +the people here'—he swept his hand all over the peninsula and around +the Bay of Fundy—'are happy and prosperous in the enjoyment of the +liberties of all British subjects.' +</P> + +<P> +After touching on the question of sailing for England, we discussed +with Lord Percy more fully the relative merits of Canada and Nova +Scotia. Then we went out. +</P> + +<P> +As we passed along, we noticed that the streets were crowded. There +were many soldiers in their bright red uniforms, but the great majority +of the people were like ourselves—refugees who had come in from the +surrounding towns and country for protection from the rebels who were +daily becoming more insolent and offensive. We had come almost to the +quarters kindly put at our disposal by Lord Percy, when in a crowd of +plain countrymen I caught sight of a face which I was quite sure I had +seen before. Doctor Canfield went on with my mother and sisters, while +Duncan Hale and I turned aside. +</P> + +<P> +A moment later, hearing the voice of the man who had attracted my +attention, I was fully convinced that I had hit upon my old +fellow-prisoner of the mine at Lexington, David Elton. He shook my +hand warmly, told me briefly of his escape, and of his return to his +home. +</P> + +<P> +'But when I got back,' he went on, 'I found a great change in the +settlement. Some had taken up arms on the side of the people; some had +enlisted with the King's men. I and several others could not think it +was right to fight on either side. Finally they came an' burned our +houses, an' drove off our stock, so we had to flee.' +</P> + +<P> +'What are your plans for the future?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Some o' them here'—he waved his hand over the group of hardy, +honest-looking farmers—'have been talkin' o' goin' to—what's the name +o' the place?' he said, turning to those who stood behind him. +</P> + +<P> +'Nova Scotia,' several said at once. +</P> + +<P> +'Aye, Nova Scotia. That's it. There's peace there, they say, an' +plenty o' better lan' than what we've had here on the hillsides. Most +of us have about made up our minds to go there.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well done,' broke in Duncan Hale at this; 'for myself I'd rather be +there on two meals a day under the flag of the King than living as a +lord here among traitors, rebels and cut-throats.' +</P> + +<P> +At this a few of the crowd hurrahed and pressed closer. They listened +attentively for some time, as Duncan told them of the new land in the +north to which their minds had already turned. As I looked on this +group of rough, plain men eagerly listening to the schoolmaster, as I +marked their hard hands and weather-beaten faces, as I heard them cheer +the King's name, it came to me that it was not the cultured and refined +only who were with the King. The bone and sinew of the country, as +well as the brain and learning of it, were united in their loyalty to +the cause that was growing dearer to me every day. The siege of Boston +dragged slowly and painfully on. Weeks slid into months, and still no +decided advantage was gained by either side. There were times when we +heard that it would be useless to go to either Canada or Nova Scotia, +for these already had been invaded and conquered. All communication by +land was cut off, and closer and closer about the city were drawn the +lines of the besiegers. English ships kept coming and going, but +gradually it began to dawn upon me that Boston must be given up. +</P> + +<P> +The winter was wearing towards spring of the year 1776. The condition +of things in Boston was far from comfortable. It was eight months +since we had left our home in Cambridge. Almost all who sympathised +with the besiegers had left the city, but it was still much +overcrowded. The fleet lay in the harbour, but the supply ships from +England came less and less regularly. Food began to be scarce and +dear. The trade of busy and prosperous Boston languished almost to +nothing. A spirit of grumbling discontent seized the soldiers. The +heart of the Loyalists sank very low. Drunkenness and disorder, crime +and confusion, were spreading. +</P> + +<P> +It was during these dull, heavy days when even my mother's brave spirit +had almost deserted her, when even Doctor Canfield found it hard to be +cheerful, and when I was feeling particularly depressed, that a new +hope suddenly entered my life. For some time my sister Caroline had +been endeavouring to turn my mind inward upon myself. An experience +quite unlooked for lent her strange and powerful assistance. +</P> + +<P> +She had cautioned me again and again not to expose myself to danger +from the enemy. Several shells thrown by the besiegers had been +bursting in the city lately, and had done considerable damage. +</P> + +<P> +'Be careful, Roger,' Caroline said to me on leaving home one day for my +usual walk about the city: 'How dreadful it would be both for us and +yourself if anything should happen to you.' +</P> + +<P> +As I walked I could not help recalling the words, 'How dreadful for +yourself if anything should happen to you.' +</P> + +<P> +Did my sister really think I was unprepared for death? I had heard her +pray earnestly for me. I noticed that while the rest spoke much of the +war and the danger about us she said little of these things. For the +future she seemed to have no fear, except her fear for me. Why was +this? I was not openly wicked. I was not profane, and yet I was sure +my sister had a faith, a peace, a happiness even in our distressing +circumstances that I did not possess. +</P> + +<P> +It was at that moment that a great crashing noise fell upon my ears. A +shell burst almost at the feet of a man who had been walking but a few +yards in front of me. Through the great cloud of dust raised I saw him +fall; I heard him shriek out a prayer to God for mercy upon him; and +then a few moments later he was dead. +</P> + +<P> +For almost a year I had been familiar with the sight of many wounded +and dead. I had known of many being thus suddenly taken off; and yet +my own need of preparation never came home to me as at that moment. +Had I been a few yards further ahead all would have been over with me. +Then my sister's words came back with double meaning. +</P> + +<P> +That night, in the quiet of my small room, I poured out my soul to God +in prayer for forgiveness. I made up my mind that whether we finally +resolved upon going to England, to Canada, or to Nova Scotia, I would +go not in my own strength, but in the strength of God and in dependence +upon Christ as my Saviour. +</P> + +<P> +My decision was not made any too soon. The next morning showed that +during the night the Americans had strongly fortified themselves on the +heights much nearer the city than ever before. Seeing this, a council +of war was held by the British officers, and it was decided that Boston +must be given up at once. +</P> + +<P> +The following night the whole army, with eleven hundred Loyalists like +ourselves, were hurried on board the King's ships that lay in the +harbour, and by the time the sun rose we were well down the bay, with +our vessels headed for the new land in the north called Nova Scotia. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +In the 'True North' +</H3> + +<P> +As the vessels drew away from Boston I was surprised to hear not a +single expression of regret. On all of the forty or more vessels there +were crowded, in addition to the soldiers, over a thousand men and +women who were leaving the land of their birth for a country that was +new, strange, and practically unknown. Behind them, on the slopes that +rose from the city, through the lifting mist of the morning, many could +distinguish the outlines of the farms they had cleared by long and +patient toil. The white of their comfortable homes stood out sharply +against the grey ground about them and the green forest behind. In the +making of these clearings and homes, men and women had grown old; +neither the suns of summer nor the storms of winter had turned them +aside from their great purpose of living honestly, of passing the +result of years of toil on to their children, and then lying down to +sleep in the hillside cemeteries with their fathers. +</P> + +<P> +But the plans slowly being matured through the years had been rudely +broken in upon. War had come. And now, though they might have +remained; though history afforded, as Duncan Hale affirmed, no parallel +for their action in leaving as they did; though no sword had been +lifted up to drive them hence; though no law but the law of their own +consciences bound them, they were sailing away. And while they looked +back with interest, I could not see on the many faces about me a single +evidence of pain at the going. Many of the men were old, and must +begin in the new land, where they had begun here fifty years ago; but, +as was fitting in the pioneers of a new way for many thousands of their +countrymen who were to follow them during the war and after its close, +they looked back that day upon the receding shores of Massachusetts +without regrets, and when the homes and farms could no longer be seen +on the grey, cold slopes, they turned dry eyes and resolute faces to +the sea and the pure March north wind. If the country to which they +went would be new, the flag, at least, would be the old one. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as we were well away from Boston, a feeling of buoyancy +possessed us. The sun shone brilliantly; this, together with the wide +stretch of sparkling sea about us, the shouting from ship to ship, the +feeling of freedom after so many weary months of restraint in the +besieged city, all tended to render us unexpectedly happy. Social +distinctions vanished. One in our loyalty, we resolved to be one in +everything. My mother moved about among the farmer women from the +country, and at times talked even gaily with them. Elizabeth romped +the decks with children of her age from the hillsides, while Duncan +Hale and Doctor Canfield, both of whom were on our ship, discussed +plans for the future with the men. +</P> + +<P> +On the afternoon of the third day after sailing we entered Halifax +harbour. I was standing by Duncan Hale. +</P> + +<P> +'It's all magnificent, magnificent,' I heard him say partly to himself. +'The whole British navy might enter here and manoeuvre.' +</P> + +<P> +Then he hastened away to find Doctor Canfield. When he returned with +him the vessel was well within the projecting horns of land that shut +the great harbour safely in from the ocean swell. On our left a high +bold bluff rose sheer from the water to a great height; on the right +the land lay much lower. Directly in front lay the harbour. It ran +away to the north for full six or seven miles, by two or three in +breadth, and was dotted with the ships that had come in before, and +hedged about on every side by the dark magnificent forests—here and +there broken by ledges of rock. Doctor Canfield surveyed it all slowly. +</P> + +<P> +'Why, it's a whole inland sea,' he said at length. 'Neither Boston +harbour nor any others on the whole New England coast can be compared +with this.' +</P> + +<P> +Many others made remarks, all expressing wonder at the magnificence of +the harbour and the beauty of the surrounding country. At sight of the +Union Jack flying from a tall staff on the top of a great mound some +distance in front and to the left, a feeling of proud satisfaction came +in upon me. The feeling of my new responsibility seemed to press upon +me as it had not done before. The wind blew down over the forests +fresh and cool, for it was yet March; here and there broad patches of +snow held fast in the hollows. +</P> + +<P> +Our means were very limited; the new land before us was evidently a +wilderness. But when I had looked for a moment on the well-known flag +waving from the distant hilltop, when from this I allowed my thoughts +to run on upward to Him whom I had solemnly pledged myself to serve, no +matter where we went or what happened, then for a time in the great +happiness that came upon me, I forgot that I was but a boy of not yet +seventeen, landing in a strange country with the responsibility of +supporting my mother and two sisters resting upon me. God had heard my +prayer for the safety of myself and others. I recalled Doctor +Canfield's last text, and felt that I could best honour the King by now +more reverently fearing God. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this point that I was startled to hear my sister Caroline, +who had been standing beside me—looking forward in silence—break out +sweetly, but in a low voice, into an old familiar hymn. The spirit of +the words gave fitting expression to my own feelings, and forgetting +those about me, I joined with her as she sang:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +'O God, our help in ages past,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Our hope for years to come,</SPAN><BR> +Our shelter from the stormy blast,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And our eternal home.'</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +With the opening of the second verse we were joined by many others. +Soon it seemed that every person on the crowded deck was singing. +Other ships caught it. Just as we drew to the landing-place the +singers reached the last verse, and surely nothing could have been more +appropriate than the words:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +'O God, our help in ages past,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Our hope for years to come,</SPAN><BR> +Be Thou our guard while troubles last,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And our eternal home.'</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> +<P> +The words had a strangely moving effect upon the people's emotions. +Tears that had refused to flow on leaving Boston, now, with many, had +their way. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Canfield, seizing the opportunity presented by the quiet that +followed the hymn, stepped forward, and in simple but beautiful +language offered up a prayer of thanks for deliverance from the deep, +and finally and earnestly commended all to the guidance and the mercy +of God for the days to come. +</P> + +<P> +A little later, as great bars of scarlet were shooting up from the +west, over the hill on which gaily flew the King's flag—for which we +had willingly sacrificed so much—happy in the consciousness of having +done right, strong in faith for the future, like our ancient ancestors +the Pilgrim Fathers, with both songs and prayers on our lips, we +stepped ashore. And from that day—the 30th of March, 1776—though we +did not know it, a new nation began to be made, in the 'True North,' on +Canadian soil. +</P> + +<P> +The Governor of Nova Scotia welcomed us heartily. The sudden and +unexpected arrival of so many soldiers and Loyalists produced some +difficulties, but everything possible was done to make us comfortable. +For those of the Loyalists who had no means, both food and shelter were +provided by the Government. With the assistance of Doctor Canfield, I +was able to secure a temporary lodging for my mother and my sisters at +a moderate rental. In this we proposed to remain until matters assumed +a more settled shape, and we were enabled to resolve upon a course for +the future. +</P> + +<P> +Fully two weeks were occupied before all the people were even fairly +well provided for. Many had to be content with sheds, barns, and +warehouses for homes. Good food was not always easily obtained. Many +who had been accustomed only to finely carpeted halls, and to couches +of down, were forced to occupy quarters where the floors were of rough +planks, and the beds of straw. +</P> + +<P> +But there was no complaining. We resolutely determined to be happy; +and we were happy. On the streets, in the quarters I visited, at the +market, about the wharves, and on the ships, people moved care-free and +light-hearted. Few spoke of the country we had left. There were many +entertainments. The Governor, the army officers, the members of the +council, and the more wealthy citizens opened their homes freely for +our entertainment and comfort, and in a remarkably short time the +memory of our sufferings and loss began to fade. To many, the old, +happy days of colonial Boston came suddenly back again. +</P> + +<P> +It was one evening when the entire city had passed under the spell of +this lighter mood, that I walked with Duncan Hale to the top of the +great mound where flew the flag. The warmth of the beautiful spring +air was everywhere about us. The grass had sprung green on the +hillslopes, the brooks ran full to overflowing, and the dark green of +the great forest was taking on a lighter shade. But Duncan's face wore +a heavy, apprehensive look. +</P> + +<P> +'I have seen the Governor,' he said in answer to a question, 'and +things at present are far from hopeful. The rebels have been winning +in New England. Many in this province whom the Government had hoped +would be loyal have refused the oath of allegiance to the King. A few +have openly declared for the enemy. Two nights ago a cargo of hay +being shipped from here to New York for the King's cavalry was burned. +Worst of all, reports have come from about the great bay to the +north—from the St. John and Miramichi Rivers, that thousands of the +Indians, urged by agents from the rebel General Washington, are on the +point of rising.' +</P> + +<P> +At the last words I suddenly stopped. The beauties of the spring +evening had no more charm for me. 'Can all this be true?' I gasped. +</P> + +<P> +'It is not to be denied, the Governor fears,' Duncan said. 'Halifax +may be besieged in less than a month.' +</P> + +<P> +'But cannot something be done?' I cried. +</P> + +<P> +'The Governor has one hope, that the Indians on the St. John may yet be +kept loyal. He has asked me to go with others and make the attempt.' +</P> + +<P> +'I shall go also,' I said, 'if the Governor will permit.' +</P> + +<P> +'The Indian is treacherous; there will be danger.' +</P> + +<P> +'I shall go though, Duncan: I must go, if I may be of service. I +thought all was now safe.' +</P> + +<P> +'So do many. Few in the city know our real danger. And another thing +that is discouraging is this: David Elton and many other farmers, who +have been into the country for several miles, say that it is absolutely +unfit for cultivation. Rocks, rocks, and only rocks everywhere is +their report. Food also is running very low in the city.' +</P> + +<P> +We turned and walked down the slope. Had I been right in being so +cheerful? +</P> + +<P> +As I entered the door of our temporary home, I heard my mother and +Caroline in earnest conversation. +</P> + +<P> +'But I ought to accept the offer, mother,' my sister was saying. 'We +are poor now, and our money is half spent already. What are we to do +when it is gone? Are we to remain, like so many others, a burden on +the King and the Government?' +</P> + +<P> +'But, Caroline,' my mother said, 'you must remember your family, your +name, and social standing. To accept this position means that you +become a servant. Have you considered that, my dear?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, mother,' Caroline said as I entered the room, 'I have thought of +that. But how can there be any disgrace in doing honest work? I am +strong and well; I want to do something to help Roger support you and +Lizzie.' +</P> + +<P> +My mother did not speak. I saw that a conflict was going on within +her, the conflict that had to be fought out in so many Loyalist breasts +between pride and necessity in Canada. But in this, as in most other +cases, necessity won. My proud-spirited mother was finally overborne +in her opposition to my sister's proposal. Before we slept that night, +it was agreed that Caroline should enter a Halifax family where she +would earn some ten shillings per week teaching two children and doing +some other light duties. +</P> + +<P> +We were surprised the next morning by an early visit from Duncan Hale. +</P> + +<P> +'The Governor,' he said addressing me, 'will give you a place as +secretary to one of the officers who is to go to St. John with +Lieutenant-Governor Hughs to attempt to pacify the Indians. The salary +will be six shillings per day. Will you go?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' I said eagerly; 'I will.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Treaty +</H3> + +<P> +The details of the expedition to the Indians on the St. John were +finally arranged, and we set off. Duncan Hale was to act as secretary +to Sir Richard Hughs, the lieutenant-governor, while I was assigned to +a similar position under a certain Colonel Francklin, who had been +appointed by the Government as superintendent of Indian affairs. There +went with us also a Rev. Father Bourg, a former missionary to the +Indians, a Romanist, a man of French descent, but, as I was afterwards +to learn, a valuable and loyal subject of King George. +</P> + +<P> +Our party, including soldiers and a few gentlemen who went to look over +the country north of the bay, with a view to getting some of the many +farmers who had come from Boston to settle upon it, numbered, in all, +twenty-seven persons. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhat tired from the long journey on horseback over a road that was +exceedingly rough, we finally reached Annapolis. The country about +here was partly settled, and seemed to be remarkably fertile. There +were wide, rich marshes, orchards, and many well-cultivated farms, +occupied mainly by settlers who had come in from the American Colonies +before the war. These lands, Father Bourg explained to me, had +originally been occupied by his ancestors, who had come from France +over a hundred years previously. +</P> + +<P> +From Annapolis we took a sailing vessel, and were soon across the Bay +of Fundy, and in the harbour at the mouth of the great St. John River. +The shores of the harbour seemed to be particularly rocky and +forbidding. At a place called Portland Point, where we landed, there +were a few buildings, somewhat rudely constructed, and used mainly by a +trading company that, for years, had done business with the Indians and +others up the river. On a hill to the eastward was a fort, called Fort +Howe; everywhere else, down even to the water's edge, stretched the +black, unbroken forest. +</P> + +<P> +We found the members of the trading company here, though American +born—unlike some others afterwards discovered up the river—to be true +and loyal subjects of the King. They exerted themselves to house us +comfortably, and then proceeded to give us much valuable information. +</P> + +<P> +'The Indians,' I heard Mr. Simonds, the head of the company, tell +Colonel Francklin, the evening of the day of our arrival, 'are becoming +more and more insolent. Not only have agents from the rebels been +among them, but their chiefs have, in answer to a special invitation, +visited General Washington at Boston. He there spoke many flattering +words to them, told them also that the English were planning to take +their country and make them slaves. Besides this he gave them large +presents, presented them with a wampum belt, a flag—a new design with +stars and stripes—provided them with arms, and finally exacted a +promise from them to kill or drive out the English found on the St. +John.' +</P> + +<P> +I saw Colonel Francklin's face take on a look of keen anxiety. 'Have +these chiefs yet returned?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +'They have. For some days on the upper waters of the river they have +been poisoning the minds of the tribes. Cattle of the loyal settlers +have been driven off by them, houses burned, while the boats and nets +of some of our fishermen have been destroyed.' +</P> + +<P> +That night there was a long conference at the little trading post. The +next morning Colonel Francklin, Father Bourg, Mr. Simonds and myself, +with some dozen others, went on board a small sailing vessel, and +proceeded up the river, the plan being to meet the Indians and bring +them to the fort for an interview with the lieutenant-governor. +</P> + +<P> +As our vessel swung away from the wharf, and proceeded up the great +stream, I could not help admiring the grandeur of the scenery. On the +right there arose a great cliff of bluish white limestone. Far up this +a few workmen, in the employ of Mr. Simonds, were chipping and drilling +the rock, while down near the water's edge, where two schooners were +being loaded with barrels of lime, great puffs of smoke rose from the +kilns. It was my first glimpse of industry in the new country. +</P> + +<P> +After passing the cliffs, the banks of the river fell away back, +affording us a full and magnificent view of the great stream and its +surroundings. Far up the valley ahead, narrowed by the distance and +sparkling in the flood of May sunlight, I could see the winding line of +the river sliding among other lower hills, which showed blue through +the lifting mist. White, circling gulls shrieked out protests as they +swooped angrily very near to the Union Jack at our masthead; but apart +from this, and the strong swish of waters about our bows, the unbroken +silence of the great wilderness was over all. +</P> + +<P> +Standing on the deck and looking about, a feeling of exceeding +smallness and loneliness came in upon me. I had seen nothing like this +in New England, nor yet in Nova Scotia, for richness, for real +magnificent bigness and beauty. The sky above seemed higher and bluer, +the water below was clearer, the wind purer, the sweep of scenery finer +than any my memory could recall. Was nature to help in compensating us +for what we had lost and left behind? Had fate been cruel a year ago +in order to be kinder now? At any rate I felt as I looked out over it +all, then up at the small flag flaunting its red gaily against the +blue, that with these hills about me, with this river in front and with +that flag and God above me, I could be happy. I breathed a prayer, +then I resolved to make a home for my mother and sisters on the River +St. John. +</P> + +<P> +The evening of the second day on the river was approaching when I saw +Father Bourg rise from his seat on the deck, and advancing to the +vessel's prow, look eagerly up the stream. When he turned he said +simply, 'De Indian; dey are coming in great number.' +</P> + +<P> +For some time I could see nothing; but under the direction of the good +priest I was finally able to make out a long, thin line far up the +river, stretching almost from bank to bank. +</P> + +<P> +'Dese are canoe,' he said, and then leaving me to look and wonder, he +was off to seek out Colonel Francklin and Mr. Simonds. +</P> + +<P> +In half an hour our vessel was surrounded by over five hundred warriors +in ninety canoes. It was evident from the first that they were +hostile. The flag at our masthead became a target for many arrows; now +and then there sounded out sharply the crack of an American rifle; +there was also much shouting and wild jeering such as I had never heard +before. In one of the leading canoes waved a flag that bore stars and +stripes upon it. It was the new flag of the rebel colonies, and had +been presented to the chiefs by Washington. The sight of this filled +me with much bitterness. +</P> + +<P> +As the canoe bearing the flag came nearer to our vessel, I saw some of +the anxiety disappear from the face of Father Bourg. He said something +I did not hear to Colonel Francklin, then the next moment advanced to +the rail. 'Pierre Tomah,' he shouted, 'Pierre Tomah'; then still +speaking very loudly in a language I had never heard before, he briefly +addressed a distinguished-looking warrior who sat under the flag. +</P> + +<P> +When he had finished the warrior rose. He was a man of magnificent +proportions. His tall plume swayed in the gentle wind, and his +brilliant costume glittered in the evening sun. 'I baptize him +feefteen years ago on de Restigouche,' I heard Father Bourg say in a +low voice to Colonel Francklin. 'Dis is most fortunate: we may yet +succeed.' +</P> + +<P> +The chief lifted his hand commandingly to those behind him. Without a +word the five hundred warriors dropped their rifles and removed the +arrows from their bow-strings. A great silence fell over the fleet of +swaying canoes. On our vessel each man breathed uneasily. Pierre +Tomah was the chief of all the Indians in the great country north of +the Bay of Fundy. On the Restigouche, on the wide, full Miramichi, on +the St. John and all its branches, his word was law. +</P> + +<P> +'Pere Bourg,' I heard the great chief say in opening, and then all was +unintelligible to me for a time. At length I caught the word +'Washington' and a moment after I saw him point upward to the flag that +flew above him. +</P> + +<P> +Father Bourg replied with great spirit, waving his arms as he did so. +I heard him use the words 'Washington,' 'England,' and 'King George.' +</P> + +<P> +For a time Pierre Tomah was silent. Then his eyes wandered toward the +wide sandy stretch of shore. In a few moments it was arranged that we +should land, for a fuller discussion of the questions at issue. +</P> + +<A NAME="p136"></A> + +<P> +Colonel Francklin and Father Bourg then proceeded to reason with the +chiefs, most of whom showed themselves openly hostile. Finally Pierre +Tomah said he could not decide without having first consulted the +Divine Being. He then threw himself upon the sand and remained lying +face downward, speechless and motionless for a long time. On rising he +informed the other chiefs that he had been advised by the Great Being +to keep peace with King George and his people. For a time the decision +was very unpopular with many of the warriors, but all finally yielded, +and consented to accept the invitation of the lieutenant-governor, +asking them to go to the mouth of the river. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning, surrounded by the flotilla of canoes, we started on +the return journey, reaching the trading-post and fort at the river's +mouth after having been absent four days. Negotiations were at once +entered into, and the terms of a treaty of peace were, after several +days, finally agreed upon. When all had been arranged, the +lieutenant-governor, representing King George, accompanied by Colonel +Francklin, the commander of the fort, and several soldiers who formed a +bodyguard, marched down from the fort to a meeting-place previously +arranged. When the King's representative was seated, Pierre Tomah, the +other chiefs, and many of the principal Indians who had gathered from +all parts of Nova Scotia, came and solemnly knelt before him. +</P> + +<P> +First they delivered up the flag received from General Washington, also +the letter written by him to them, as well as the numerous presents he +had sent, together with the treaty made with the Massachusetts +government some weeks previously, binding them to send six hundred +warriors into the field. They then took a solemn oath, 'to bear faith +and true allegiance to His Majesty King George the Third; to take no +part directly or indirectly against the King in the struggle with his +rebellious subjects, and to return to their homes to engage in the +usual pursuits of hunting and fishing in a peaceable and quiet manner.' +</P> + +<P> +This declaration made, as a pledge that it should be kept, Pierre Tomah +then gave into the hand of the lieutenant-governor a belt of wampum, +while that gentleman, in turn, rising and walking along the line of +kneeling chiefs, placed a decoration on the shoulder of each. He also +presented the warriors with a large Union Jack. When handsome speeches +had been made on both sides the chiefs performed a song and dance in +honour of the great conference. The night was spent in feasting and +rejoicing under the British flag. +</P> + +<P> +The next day the warriors, accompanied by the loyal and clever Father +Bourg, embarked for the return up river. In answer to the salute from +the cannon on Fort Howe, they gave three huzzahs and an Indian whoop. +The last sound we heard as they drew around a bend in the river above +was Father Bourg, with his French accent, leading in singing, 'God Save +the King.' +</P> + +<P> +That night, after talking long with Duncan Hale of the clever manner in +which we had outwitted Washington and his agents, I fell asleep and +dreamed of the new home I was to build on the now peaceful St. John for +my mother and sisters. One step at least had been taken: from being an +enemy the Indian had been turned into a friend. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Home-Making Begun +</H3> + +<P> +The treaty was not made a day too soon. Next morning I was awakened +very early by loud shouting around the fort. +</P> + +<P> +'The rebel vessels—the Machias men—the American pirates who were here +before and plundered us, have come again,' I heard some one say to +Colonel Francklin in the next room. +</P> + +<P> +I sprang up, and ran to the single window that overlooked the harbour. +Sweeping in on the flood tide I saw three New England schooners. From +the mast of each flew flags similar to that we had received from the +Indians. The decks were black with men. +</P> + +<P> +I dressed hurriedly, and presented myself in Colonel Francklin's +quarters. Mr. Simonds had entered before me, and was speaking. +'This,' he said, pointing to the schooners which had now come to +anchor, 'is another part of a plan to seize the fort. One of our men +heard that the Indians were to come down the river, and be met here by +the schooners: we were then to be subjected to a double attack.' +</P> + +<P> +Outside I could hear the quick, sharp commands of the captains and the +tramp of the garrison preparing for action. In less than ten minutes I +was at a loophole in the wall of the fort with a rifle, waiting the +order to fire. Not far from me, similarly armed, was Duncan Hale. I +noticed a look of triumphant glee upon his face, as he said to a +soldier beside him— +</P> + +<P> +'Now we'll pay them in their own coin for trying to stir up the +Indians: then I've a score against these rebels on another account. +They'd have hanged me once.' +</P> + +<P> +'Hanged you? Where?' +</P> + +<P> +'Just out of Boston—two days after the war began. They'd a rope round +my neck.' The whole scene came back upon me vividly. +</P> + +<P> +'What had you done?' the soldier asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Done! I'd exposed some of their smuggling and treasonable actions. +That was all.' +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the movements of some on the schooners attracted my +attention. 'They are getting their boats in shape,' I heard Colonel +Francklin, who was looking through a glass, say to Lieutenant-Governor +Hughs, who stood beside him, 'and appear to be preparing to come +ashore.' +</P> + +<P> +There was a brief consultation among the officers. Then the Major in +command said: 'Every man ready to fire at them as they come over the +sides.' +</P> + +<P> +From that time onward moments seemed hours. Finally the painful strain +was broken by the single word— +</P> + +<P> +'Fire!' +</P> + +<P> +There was a thunder of cannon and a sharp crash of musketry. When the +smoke blew to one side, we could see the boats pulling back to the +vessels. Looking through his glass, Colonel Francklin reported that a +number of shots had taken effect. +</P> + +<P> +As we reloaded the sound of quick-working anchor windlasses came in +over the water and up the hill slope. The rebels who had been playing +havoc on the river for so long had this time met a reception quite +different from that which they had planned. The fort, well hidden by +trees, had been built and garrisoned since their last trip, so their +surprise could not have been much more complete. +</P> + +<P> +When the ebb began to make they hoisted sail and drew off down the bay. +On looking seaward at noon, nothing could be seen but the line of the +Nova Scotia coast, pencilled low and irregular on the base of the sky. +</P> + +<P> +It is probably not to be wondered at that, during the afternoon, we +were somewhat high-spirited. All through the war the St. John settlers +had been harassed, plundered, imprisoned or shot, by cruel and +unscrupulous marauders from New England, who had never before been +resisted, much less repulsed. +</P> + +<P> +'Things are moving finely,' I heard Mr. Simonds tell Duncan Hale that +evening. 'With the Indians quiet, and the pirates scared out, we can +go on with our trade as usual. Till the war began we did well here. +Since that we have had dreadful times—no business possible—but now +I'm in hopes we can go on with the fishing, the lime-burning, and +"masting" as usual.' +</P> + +<P> +'Masting, Mr. Simonds,' I said. 'What is masting?' +</P> + +<P> +'Were you not up the river? Did you not see the magnificent forests of +pine and spruce? These make the best masts in the world. There is +nothing in New England like them; and in places they positively +overhang the rivers. Then there are thousands of trees. Masting on +this river must become a great industry. The King's whole navy may be +supplied from here. All we want is quiet Indians—and peace.' +</P> + +<P> +'I understand,' I said. +</P> + +<P> +'And what of the land?' Duncan Hale asked. 'Is it fit for farming?' +</P> + +<P> +'As good as any in the world. The crops raised on this river before +the war were wonderful. This is the richest part of the province.' +</P> + +<P> +'And how may the land be obtained?' I said. 'To whom should one apply +for a grant?' Mr. Simonds laughed heartily. +</P> + +<P> +'Thinking of settling, young man?' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' I replied, a little resentment showing in my tone; 'my mother +and two sisters are in Halifax. I mean to settle on this river and +make a home for them.' +</P> + +<P> +Duncan Hale joined Mr. Simonds in his laugh. +</P> + +<P> +'You think I can't?' I said. +</P> + +<P> +'Of course you can,' Mr. Simonds said in a moment; 'and I shall do my +best to help you in any way I can. It's young fellows with push and +spirit we want here now.' He looked at me more critically than he had +done before. 'If things keep on improving, especially if the war ends, +we shall be going into masting strong here next winter, and we'll be +wanting a smart young fellow to look after accounts and act as clerk. +How much schooling have you had?' Duncan Hale explained somewhat fully +the work I had done, ending by saying he had considered me almost ready +for Oxford. +</P> + +<P> +'You might do us finely,' Mr. Simonds said, 'and as to you, sir,' +turning to Duncan Hale, 'what think you of founding a school? A +country as rich as this cannot but prosper. We shall yet have a city +here. The war drags now toward a close; and even though England +should, in spite of recent disasters, yet win, many will choose this +country in preference to New England. If I and my partners mistake +not, in five years this river valley will have thousands of inhabitants +no matter what flag waves over it. Think over the question of a +school, sir.' But customers were waiting, and Mr. Simonds left us to +serve them. +</P> + +<P> +For several days I remained about the fort. My duties as secretary to +Colonel Francklin were light, so I roamed about the high, rocky +country, sometimes alone, but oftener in company with Duncan Hale. The +hopeful words of Mr. Simonds, the fine buoyancy of the spring air, the +manner in which we had succeeded in making peace with the Indians, and +in driving off the rebel Americans, all combined to make us +surprisingly happy. +</P> + +<P> +The fishermen in the harbour were making fabulous catches of valuable +mackerel and other fish. The smaller streams near swarmed with salmon +and huge trout. Here and there on our rambles giant moose faced us for +a moment, then went crashing off into the forest. Vegetation was +springing up with marvellous rapidity, while all day long the woods +rang with the song and chatter of nesting birds. An exuberance of wild +beauty and unrestrained life abounded everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +In a little over a month our party, having accomplished the object for +which it had been sent, set off for Halifax, not, however, before I had +engaged to return and accept a position as clerk with Mr. Simonds later +in the season. +</P> + +<P> +We found a spirit of remarkable cheerfulness in Halifax. The soldiers +had all sailed for New York. Many of the Loyalists, both men and +women, had obtained situations. In several places, about the outskirts +of the town, the more resolute ones, to whom lands had been granted, +were boldly hewing their own way into the forest; and here and there, +where the gaps on the slopes were widest in the broken ranks of the +trees, small log houses were being built. +</P> + +<P> +In a few days the matter of my own grant on the St. John had been fully +arranged. Since I was not yet of age, the grant—it consisted of four +hundred acres some miles up the river in what Mr. Simonds had told me +was the most fertile part—was made out in my mother's name. My sister +Caroline, who was still engaged with the Halifax family, was delighted +with the prospect of having a new home of our own. +</P> + +<P> +'Mother, won't it be grand?' she said one evening as we sat and talked +together, 'simply grand. Four hundred acres—all ours—a big river in +front and mountains behind. We'll be far richer than ever we were. +When are we to go, Roger?' +</P> + +<P> +'Not till next spring,' I said. 'David Elton has secured a lot +alongside of ours; he is to do some chopping on both places this +summer, then during the winter we shall prepare for building houses. +Next spring the Government is to give us seed, tools, and a cow.' +</P> + +<P> +A few days later, accompanied by Doctor Canfield and Duncan Hale, now +free from his former duties as secretary, along with David Elton and +several other farmers not yet settled about Halifax, I bade a cheerful +goodbye to my mother and sisters and again set off for the St. John. +</P> + +<P> +It was the middle of August when we arrived. +</P> + +<P> +'The Indians are acting finely up the river,' Mr. Simonds told us on +our arrival, 'and as for the pirates, we have not seen hilt nor hair of +them since they scuttled out of the harbour in the spring. That was a +settler we gave them that day.' +</P> + +<P> +'How's business been since?' I said. +</P> + +<P> +'Fine, fine; looking up wonderfully ever since the peace with the +Indians. Fishing couldn't be better, and as for the lime, it's turning +out first class. We've almost all our plans made, too, for sending up +the largest masting crew this fall we ever put in the woods. You are +to go with them. You'll be quite near your own grant.' +</P> + +<P> +A few days later, and before entering finally on my duties with the +trading firm, with David Elton and some other farmers I went up the +river to my grant secured in Halifax. Though I was little accustomed +to the use of an axe, I felled the first tree myself. Before the +second day had closed my hands were much blistered. However, I +continued to work every day from early in the morning till late at +night for two weeks. +</P> + +<P> +This was the limit of time given me by Mr. Simonds. But before +returning to the mouth of the river, I engaged with David Elton to +spend at least a month in chopping upon my grant. +</P> + +<P> +I then returned to the river's mouth, and a few weeks later found +myself far in the forest with a crew of twenty men. First a camp of +logs was built, then the huge pines were cut, partly hewn, and dragged +to the river by means of oxen. Many spruce trees were cut for yards. +Much of the work was extremely laborious. My duties as clerk were to +see that the masts and yards were properly marked and measured when +cut, to keep a record of the time each man worked, and to record the +number of sticks, large and small, hauled to the river each day. Thus +employed, I spent the winters until one spring, when on my way down the +river, I learned that the war was over, that the rebels had won, that +agents sent to the St. John had reported favourably on the land, and +that five thousand Loyalists were expected from the New England +colonies. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Facing the Future +</H3> + +<P> +On arriving at the river's mouth, I found everything bustle and +confusion. Mr. Simonds confirmed the reports I had heard on my way +down. 'The settlers are coming in thousands,' he said +enthusiastically, 'in thousands.' +</P> + +<P> +The words were to be verified sooner than I expected. That +afternoon—it was the 18th of May—I was sitting with Duncan Hale on a +bluff near the fort looking off seaward. Duncan was telling me of the +school he had succeeded in forming during the winter. +</P> + +<P> +'I have thirteen pupils,' he said; 'the exact number of worshippers +Doctor Canfield had at his first service in Mr. Simonds' house. But we +are both determined not to be discouraged. If these late reports that +were brought in by the schooner yesterday are true——' +</P> + +<P> +He stopped, shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked seaward. 'Look, +Roger!' he cried. +</P> + +<P> +The day was fine, the air thin and clear. Looking straight over the +harbour and directly across the bay, I saw the wavy line of the distant +coast beyond. My eye followed this southerly, till its irregularity +shaded into the steady, even line of the sea. On this, between the +distant low shore and the bold horn of land that made the westerly side +of the harbour, delicately but firmly etched on the sky, I made out the +shape of at least a dozen ships. Duncan looked more critically. +</P> + +<P> +'They're coming,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'They're coming,' I repeated. +</P> + +<P> +For a full half-hour, speaking only now and then, till the vessels +already in sight had grown large, till numerous others had emerged to +stand like specks on the firm, far, high line of the sea, we sat and +looked eagerly down the wide, sparkling bay. +</P> + +<P> +After a time Duncan rose. 'They're coming,' he said once more. 'Let +us go.' +</P> + +<P> +We hurried down from the bluff to the little trading post at Portland +Point, the bearers of great tidings. Three hours later the headmost +vessels were at the rude piers, and the people were swarming ashore. +</P> + +<P> +It became evident at a glance that all classes were represented among +the newcomers. The soft-handed and fine-faced Englishman of culture; +ladies richly dressed, who bore themselves as proudly as at court, came +ashore rubbing shoulders with the rough, plain farmer men and women +from the hillside farms of Vermont. Some carried bundles in which were +all their possessions. Some bore peddler-like packs on their backs. +Others rolled barrels before them or dumped rough boxes ashore; many +women bore crying infants swathed in shawls. There were a few, of both +men and women, cripples; many were old and stooped. There were some +armless sleeves, and now and then came men who limped, or whose +foreheads were bandaged. These had been in arms. +</P> + +<P> +Almost immediately after landing the people began to scatter about. +Some of the younger and more spirited ran gaily up the slope toward the +fort, where flew the old familiar flag. Some slowly made their way +along the rough bush-hung paths, over rocks and through thickets, until +they found spots high enough to afford an outlook upon the surrounding +country. It was not difficult for me to understand the look of +disappointment which I saw creep over many faces. +</P> + +<P> +The surroundings of the harbour were not attractive. Wave-beaten, +weed-covered rocks, with the tide surging in and out among them, were +everywhere; high, bare cliffs, a single mill, a patch of brown marsh, a +score or less shanty-like buildings, a few Indian wigwams, the fort, +and behind these, huddled close, bare in some spots and wooded in +others, the unbroken ranks of the hills stretched away into the sunset. +Many looked long on these, then turned seaward to see the ships that +had brought them, sweeping off on the ebb of the tide that had borne +them in. The surroundings were forbidding, but the captains of the +vessels, by their speedy departure, had made going back impossible. +</P> + +<P> +That evening I was talking with Duncan Hale in his small but +comfortable quarters. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll have no lack of pupils now,' he said. 'Doctor Canfield has this +afternoon selected a site for a church.' +</P> + +<P> +'How many people have come?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Almost three thousand; and there are many more to follow during the +summer. It is well your grant is secured. The whole river front will +be taken before fall, I hear. A new province is likely to be formed +here north of the bay also. Halifax will be too far away when it comes +to arranging the details of grants for all these people. See,' he +said, waving his hand toward the many tents the people were putting up, +'we've a city already.' +</P> + +<P> +It was only a few days after the landing of the Loyalists at St. John, +that I set off for Halifax on one of Mr. Simonds' lime-laden schooners. +The weather proved remarkably fine, and on the third day after sailing +we were discharging our cargo in Halifax, where I discovered much +interest manifested in what had been taking place north of the bay. +</P> + +<P> +I found my mother particularly happy over having received a letter from +my brother, who had joined the King's troops before my father's death. +We had not heard from him for almost two years. He had learned of our +flight to Nova Scotia from an officer who had returned to New York from +Halifax. +</P> + +<P> +My sisters were overjoyed when I told them that our new house would be +ready for us—I had left the building of it largely to David Elton—on +our arrival. They were very anxious to be off; and off we soon were. +After an uneventful voyage we reached the St. John in safety. +</P> + +<P> +During the two weeks of my absence many changes had taken place. There +were scores of new buildings in process of erection. Everybody seemed +happy and hopeful. The look of disappointment I had formerly seen on +so many faces had completely disappeared. Duncan Hale was happy in the +promise of a large new school building; Doctor Canfield already had the +foundation of a Church well under way. Back on the hill slopes there +were already numerous little gaps in the green of the forest. Vessels +from New England were bringing in new Loyalists almost daily. +</P> + +<P> +These invariably told the same sad stories of reckless cruelty. The +end of the war and the declaration of peace had roused many to +barbarities unheard of during the conflict. On the way up the river to +my farm with my mother and sisters, I talked with an old man on the +deck of the little schooner. +</P> + +<P> +'The mobs,' he said, 'were bad enough at the beginning of the war, but +weeks after peace was declared soldiers were found wreaking vengeance +on our helpless people. I saw my own son, whose only crime was that he +had fought for the King, tarred and feathered. As I sailed out of the +harbour of Charleston—it is true, every word of it, as God is above +me—I saw on looking backward the bodies of twenty-four Loyalists +swinging from a row of gibbets on a single wharf. And there, +too,'—his voice broke and tears came freely then, covering his face as +if to hide the awful scene, he sobbed out, 'there, too, I had a son.' +</P> + +<P> +No one spoke. I recalled the narrow escape of Duncan Hale, and could +believe it all. +</P> + +<P> +'They say General Washington was opposed to these cruelties,' the old +man added after a time, raising his head. +</P> + +<P> +He fumbled in his pocket and drew out a paper. 'Here is a copy of part +of a letter written by him. It fell into the hands of one of our +officers. The hand and signature were Washington's, so there can be no +mistake. Read this, young man,' he said, thrusting the paper toward +me. I opened it and read:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +'BOSTON, <I>March</I> 31, 1776. +</P> + +<P> +'DEAR SIR,—All those who took upon themselves the style and title of +Loyalists have shipped themselves off. One or two have done what a +great number ought to have done long ago, committed suicide. By all +accounts there never existed a more miserable set of beings than these +wretched creatures now are.' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +'It may be,' the old man said, as I returned the paper to him, 'that +Washington was opposed to the scourging and hanging of our people, but +that's his opinion of the Loyalists, anyway.' +</P> + +<P> +Without further remark he rose, turned, and walked away. Though no one +spoke—it had become a fixed rule among us to treat the war and those +who had wronged us with silent disdain—I saw by the faces about me +that there had been a violent stirring up of deep and bitter thoughts.' +</P> + +<P> +We follow one current only of the times out of which the United States +grew into strength and greatness. The siege of Boston was far advanced +when General Gage wrote home, 'The rebels are shown not to be the +disorderly rabble too many have supposed.' Not all at once did +Washington bring into relief the finer qualities of his people. The +struggle when it began covered a vast region, and chaos brooded over +many districts. In the first division of men natural passion broke out +in acts of violence. There was even a time of terror, and numbers were +driven into the struggle who had little living interest in the things +at stake. Gradually the true issues appeared, and the work of +reconstruction went forward under different forms to the changes we now +see. +</P> + +<P> +It was wearing toward evening when the little schooner drew in toward +shore, directly opposite a clearing in the middle of which stood a +small log house. 'There is our home, mother,' I said, 'and there is +David Elton waiting for us at the foot of the path by the river.' +</P> + +<P> +My mother did not speak—she looked in silence. But a glance told me +that she was seeing, not the little house of logs before us on the +slope, but a fine, old colonial mansion with fluted Corinthian corners, +with two spreading lindens in front, and wide, rich meadows about it. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time all our possessions had been put ashore. Then the +schooner, bearing others to their grants further up the river, swung +away, and we turned to go up the path to our new but humble home. +</P> + +<P> +'I did the best I could, madam,' David was explaining to my mother, a +little later. 'It's hardly a place for fine ladies like you my wife +was telling me, but with good lan' and plenty of lumber you needn't +live here long.' +</P> + +<P> +'This is all right; this is good enough for anybody to live a whole +life in,' broke in Caroline, as she looked about the walls of wood, and +up to the ceiling of bark. 'This is all fine. And, mother, just see +the magnificent view from this door. Isn't it grand? The river, the +hills, the woods!' +</P> + +<P> +That night we slept soundly and well. The next day, with prayers over, +I climbed with a Union Jack to the top of a tall tree, flung it out to +the breeze, then came down and began—as all the thousands of Loyalists +began—the long, hard fight with the wilderness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Governor's Peril +</H3> + +<P> +Several years had slipped away since the day of our arrival at our new +home on the St. John, when, one day, I was standing watching the mail +boat making her way slowly up the river. +</P> + +<P> +Wonderful changes had taken place in the years since our coming. On +both sides of the river, far as the eye could range from the door of +our home, running from the water's edge away up into the dark, green +timber, stretched the smooth, fertile fields. The log houses had given +place to stately frame buildings. The request for a new province north +of the bay, to be called New Brunswick, in spite of strong opposition +from Halifax, had been granted by the Imperial Government and a +governor sent out. +</P> + +<P> +As the vessel drew toward the shore where I stood, I was surprised to +make out the figure of Duncan Hale on her deck. I had not expected +him. 'I came,' he was explaining a little later, 'to tell you that the +new governor—Colonel Carleton—is to visit you. He has been +overworked attending to the details of numerous grants, and wishes a +holiday and fishing trip—a general rest before the elections and the +meeting of the House.' +</P> + +<P> +'The elections,' I said. 'What elections?' +</P> + +<P> +'Didn't you hear there was to be an Assembly for the province, chosen +by the people, in addition to the Council appointed by the King?' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' I said. 'Are we to have representatives—a parliament?' +</P> + +<P> +'That is part of the new constitution granted by the King. It is the +intention of the Imperial Government to make New Brunswick one of the +freest countries in the world.' +</P> + +<P> +We were walking up the green slope from the river to the house. Duncan +broke off. 'What a herd of cattle,' he said, 'and such magnificent +fields!—and the house! Roger, is it possible that this is your house? +I had heard of it, but had no idea it was so fine.' +</P> + +<P> +Duncan was greeted with warm cordiality by my mother and my sisters, +now both young women. But it was difficult for me to long refrain from +telling the news I had heard. 'Mother, think of this—the new +governor—Colonel Carleton—is coming up to see us, and to go hunting +and fishing.' +</P> + +<P> +'The new governor!' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, the governor. He'll be here to-morrow or next day.' +</P> + +<P> +Elizabeth clapped her hands gleefully. +</P> + +<P> +'The governor!' she exclaimed; 'a soldier, a fine gentleman just from +England, like those in books.' +</P> + +<P> +From my own farm a little later I wandered with Duncan to where David +Elton worked in his field. +</P> + +<P> +'Better off?' David said in answer to Duncan's question; 'of course I'm +better off than I ever could have been in New England. I'll confess I +thought it hard to be driven away as I was; but the lan' was poor an' +rocky there. There was no prospect. There I had twenty acres; here +I've two hundred. Then look at my stock, my lumber property, my marsh, +my frame house here. He knows,' he said, pointing to me, 'the kin' of +shanty I was living in, and would have died in, yonder. This is a +better country. The war was the best thing that ever happened us. Let +them have their rocky, poverty-stricken lan'; and to think of them now +passin' laws that we'll be hanged "without benefit of clergy;" them are +the words, aren't they? if we dare to go back. Go back,—back there!' +He gave a loud, shrill laugh. +</P> + +<P> +'I wouldn't go back if they made me president; an' I'd rather'—this +dropping his voice to a reverent pitch—'I'd rather see any child in my +family under the ground than under the new American flag. That,' he +said, pointing to a Union Jack that flew from the top of a staff on his +largest barn, 'that's the flag for me.' +</P> + +<P> +I saw the colour come up into Duncan's old face. 'Well said,' he +exclaimed; 'well and nobly spoken.' Then turning to me as we walked +away, 'Are there many like that on the river?' +</P> + +<P> +'We're all like that,' I said. 'Why shouldn't we be? David is just +one of thousands.' +</P> + +<P> +'It will be a right loyal representative you'll be sending to the new +parliament from here then, won't it? Who is likely to be chosen?' +</P> + +<P> +But my mind was on preparations for the coming of the governor. +'Wouldn't it be well to have the people gathered here to give the +governor a reception when he lands?' +</P> + +<P> +''Twould be capital, capital,' Duncan assented eagerly. 'He's not +coming officially, but he'd be immensely pleased. Isn't the time too +short, though?' he added. +</P> + +<P> +'David would go for Father Bourg and the Indians—they're only a few +miles up—I could see the French at Sainte Ann's; the people about here +will come in swarms—at a word. It can be done,' I said. +</P> + +<P> +Three days later the shore of the river in front of our home was lined +for a full half-mile with a strangely mixed crowd of expectant people. +The governor's vessel was in full view on the river—and coming slowly +up. Father Bourg was there with a group of Indians; there were many +French from Sainte Ann's; the Loyalists were present from the +surrounding country in hundreds. +</P> + +<P> +As the governor stepped ashore, a mighty cheer went up that seemed to +set the very bed of the river quivering. The people saw in this +representative, the King they loved, and for whom they had sacrificed. +After a loyal address, a reply, and much good humour on all sides, the +people dispersed. +</P> + +<P> +With the governor had come Colonel Francklin and Doctor Canfield. They +had tents and provisions sufficient for two weeks in the woods, and it +was arranged that Duncan Hale, myself and two Indian guides should +accompany them across the country by portage some twenty miles into the +very heart of the forest, to a trout stream that ran at a sharp angle +to the river, emptying into it some ten miles below. Our plan was to +strike the stream about thirty miles from its mouth, and fish down to +the main St. John. But not all plans are carried out. +</P> + +<P> +We reached the stream in safety, and I sent the team back to the +settlement. It was late June, and the whole forest seemed to throb +with life. The governor was delighted. He was a lover of the woods, +and insisted upon taking long rambles back from the stream, following +the winding, logging roads. It was owing to one of these rambles that +our original plan was not carried out. +</P> + +<P> +It was our fourth day in the woods. We were camped some five miles +below the point where we had reached the stream. A little after noon, +the governor, having fished for some time, left us, and wandered into +the forest. The middle of the afternoon, then evening, then dusk +came—and passed,—and he did not return. +</P> + +<P> +'I cautioned him,' I heard Colonel Francklin say to Doctor Canfield; +'telling him the woods were deceptive, also that there were many beasts +of prey.' +</P> + +<P> +He had scarcely spoken, when down over the forest, low but clear, came +a long, wailing sound as of a spirit in distress. Instantly I saw +Emile and Louis, our Indian guides, who bore the French baptismal names +given them by Father Bourg, start, and hastily make the sign of the +cross before their foreheads. A great fear overspread their faces; +they trembled and went pale. And then there flashed into my mind the +tales I had heard from the old inhabitants on the river, of the dread +Loup-garou, or Indian devil as many called it. The low, clear, sound; +its paralysing effect on the Indians; the time of day—just as evening +was shading into night—the rise and fall of the long, fear-filling, +distant wail; all these were exactly as described to me more than once +by Father Bourg and others who knew the remoter woods of the province. +</P> + +<P> +In the silence that followed the long-drawn cry, a feeling of chill +fear crept over me. The Loup-garou, was the one wild beast of all the +woods that unnerved the Indian. For him it was more evil spirit than +beast. It went, according to the belief, through the tree tops like +lightning: it seemed to come and go on the wind; from it there was no +escape; the giant moose, the bear, the deer, in one case a farmer and +his team of oxen far in the woods—I had heard the story told and +retold on the river—all had been fallen upon and eaten in a single +hour. +</P> + +<P> +The memory of these tales was far from comforting. The governor was +lost in the woods. Colonel Francklin, Doctor Canfield and Duncan Hale +were as ignorant of the forest as children. The Indians, my only hope, +stood terrified. What was I to do? +</P> + +<P> +At that moment, distant at first, then swelling louder and nearer, down +through the trees now swaying in the gentle evening breeze, clear, +weird, paralysing, there came again, the long-drawn, dreadful sound. +There was no mistaking it; it was the Loup-garou. +</P> + +<P> +Both Indians dropped on their knees, and turned their faces up to the +stars. The sound came at intervals seven times; then it grew faint in +the east, and we heard it no more. +</P> + +<P> +Far into the night we fired off guns, shouted and kept torches burning +on tree tops. But the governor did not come. Had the fierce +Loup-garou, that dread, strange blend of panther, wolf, and devil, +fallen upon him? +</P> + +<P> +A keen feeling of responsibility pressed heavily upon me. In a sense +the governor was my guest. He had come to this particular part of the +forest at my suggestion. I knew what it would mean in Britain, I +understood the derision that would be provoked in the United States, I +felt how our new province would suffer, when it went abroad that our +first governor had been eaten by a strange, half-devil fiend of the +forest. And yet what was to be done? +</P> + +<P> +The next day Emile and Louis were silent, morose and fearful; they +could not be induced to go more than a few rods from the tent. They +spent most of the time praying. All our efforts to trace out and bring +back our distinguished fellow-sportsman proved unavailing. +</P> + +<P> +When afternoon came, I made a proposal. 'You remain here,' I said, +addressing Colonel Francklin, Doctor Canfield and Duncan Hale, 'and I +will go up the stream and call out the portage for assistance. Father +Bourg and David Elton both know the woods. I shall get them to +organise searching parties, so that we may scour the country. The +governor must be found.' +</P> + +<P> +'Very well,' Colonel Francklin said; then, after some further +consulting, I was off. +</P> + +<P> +On my arrival on the river, I first told Father Bourg of the governor +being lost; then I referred to the strange sound, and to the action of +Emile and Louis, and ended by saying I supposed we could look for no +help from the Indians in the search. But the man who had won the +Indians from Washington seven years before, who had kept them faithful +to the King ever since, had power still. +</P> + +<P> +'Wait,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +He called the chiefs about him. He explained the situation of the +governor, and commanded the Indians to go and find him. 'As for the +Loup-garou,'—raising his voice and speaking with great energy, 'in the +name of the Great Spirit I pronounce a curse upon him until the +governor be found, and do now declare that during all the search he +shall be powerless to hurt you.' +</P> + +<P> +A great shout rose from the Indians. Then I hurried away. +</P> + +<P> +Two days later there were fully three thousand men in the woods. The +news of what had happened had run far up and far down the great river. +The King's representative was lost in the woods, the wail of the +Loup-garou had been heard. The whole province was stirred to unity in +a common hope, and in a common fear. The hearts of French, of Indians, +of Loyalists, of old and new inhabitants beat as one from the beginning +of the great search. +</P> + +<P> +On the fifth day after leaving the stream I was back again at our tent. +I first met Duncan Hale. He was pale and anxious-looking. 'There is +no word yet,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +I sank down from exhaustion and disappointment. 'But the Indians are +out,' I gasped—'and the French—everybody—men, even women.' +</P> + +<P> +'The Indians!' +</P> + +<P> +'The Indians,' I repeated. 'Father Bourg——' +</P> + +<P> +But I could say no more. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Victory and Reward +</H3> + +<P> +It was three weeks later. There were fully five thousand people on the +river in boats or canoes, and about our home. The great search was +over; the governor had been found. +</P> + +<P> +The honour of finding him had fallen upon two Indians and myself, who, +on the tenth day of the search, had somewhat unexpectedly come upon him +sitting on a knoll eating winter-green berries and fern-bulbs. +</P> + +<P> +He was somewhat reduced in flesh and strength; but as the season was +late June, and the weather had been dry and warm, he had not suffered +materially. We conveyed him to the stream, where a large and +comfortable canoe was secured; in this he had been safely brought down +the stream, then up the river to our home; and now, three days after +this, the morning of the day had arrived when the whole St. John was to +give expression to its feelings of joy and gratitude over the finding +of the governor, in a grand and loyal celebration of the event. +</P> + +<P> +Before entering upon the search, Father Bourg had sent out to all parts +of the province swift runners to call the Indians to the St. John. It +so happened, that the day before that set for the celebration, many of +the tribes from the remoter sections had just arrived. From the far +Restigouche and Madawaska; from the Miramichi and the Richibucto; from +the sandy reaches and pine-studded bluffs that jutted far into the +broad Grand Lake; from Shediac, from the beautiful Kennebecassis and +the still Neripeis; from Mispec and Lepreau; from Passamaquoddy and +Bocabec, even from the Penobscot and the surrounding country far over +the American line—from every corner of the land to which the news had +run as on the wings of the wind—there came the Indians, expectant, +anxious, interested, in swarms like bees that seek a new hive, in +flocks like birds that fly north in spring. +</P> + +<P> +Nor were the Indians all. The city had sent up its councillors, its +merchants, its shipowners, its fine ladies who had graced courts in +Britain or old colonial Boston, its handsome men, cold, dignified, and +English in tone and manner. The French were also there from the Jemseg +and Sainte Anne's; 'old inhabitants' of the river who had long since +successfully striven to wipe off the stain of their treasonable +correspondence with Washington and the government of Massachusetts; +several 'refugees,' now anxious to show the loyalty they had smothered +during the war for the sake of self; honest men who had foolishly been +deluded into following Jonathan Eddy to an attack on old Fort +Cumberland in '76—all these, as well as Loyalists of '83, in countless +numbers, of all classes and conditions, were there on that great day in +July. +</P> + +<P> +As I stood on the high platform that had been erected in front of the +house that the governor might more conveniently address the great +throng, and looked out upon it all, my heart swelled with feelings of +pride and satisfaction. Far above and below me, slipping between the +rich meadows, I could follow the winding, glittering line of the river. +The hills, rising belt on belt beyond, were throbbing with the warmth +and life of the magnificent mid-summer day. The air was warm and sweet +with clover bloom. The sun shone brilliantly and yet not oppressively. +The fields of grain, just beginning to show full green heads; the wild +gaiety of the flower-decked pastures and gardens; the neat, white +homes; the slow moving flocks and herds on the hillsides near and far; +the black mass of people in front; the hundreds of schooners and +thousands of canoes on the river, winding and passing, bowing and +saluting like figures in a dance, all gaily and variously decorated, +made up a picture that would be difficult to surpass. +</P> + +<P> +The forenoon of the day was spent in sports—in rowing, running, +wrestling, shooting, and jumping—in all of which the Indians took +prominent part. During all this part of the celebration, the governor +moved among the people as an ordinary citizen. Dressed as an English +gentleman, he moved easily and happily among the people. Now it was +the French with whom he talked, now the farmer Loyalists; now he +congratulated warmly a crew of Indians as they stepped from the winning +canoe in the race; now he was relating part of his strange adventure in +the woods to a group of interested and courtly ladies in the garden. +Everywhere, in everything, he was the fine gentleman, the master of the +art of manners, the representative of the finest traditions in both +colony and kingdom; and it was not to be wondered at that the hearts of +many Loyalists swelled larger that day, as they thought of the +transplanting to the St. John, of a finer culture, directly from the +homeland. +</P> + +<P> +But the proceedings of the morning were to be quite overshadowed by the +events of the afternoon. A vessel from St. John had brought up the +governor's magnificent uniform. He was arrayed in this—no longer the +citizen, but now the representative of the King—when in the afternoon, +surrounded by his entire council and many distinguished Loyalists, he +appeared upon the raised platform from which he was to speak. By the +governor's special request, my mother and sisters, Father Bourg, Pierre +Tomah (the Indian chief), I and the two Indians who had accompanied me +at the fortunate ending of our great search in the forest, were taken +to the platform. Then when the mighty cheer with which he was received +had died in the throats of the mass of people that filled the field +from the house to the river, the governor spoke. +</P> + +<P> +'Subjects of the King,' he began, 'my friends and fellow-citizens, it +is with feelings of just pride and thankfulness that I stand before you +to-day. In the name of your King, whose representative I am, I bring +you greeting.' A wave of applause swept the crowd. The people pressed +closer; canoes on the river hurried shoreward. +</P> + +<P> +The speaker went on— +</P> + +<P> +'For many of you, around the name of King, there cluster, I am sure, +associations that cannot but bring memories of your past—a past as +noble as it is unparalleled in the history of the world. +</P> + +<P> +'My friends and fellow-citizens, I am not unacquainted with what you +have done and suffered; of your zeal and unflinching courage, of your +devotion to your flag, your country, and your King; of your loyalty and +sacrifices; of your honour and perseverance; of what you have done +south of the line, nay, of what you have done here;—of these things I +might say much, but I feel it is quite unnecessary that I should speak +of them. Further, it is a task to which I am unequal. Again, your +deeds are their own vindication; your acts are their own eulogy. You +left a country rich and beautiful for one that seemed poor and +forbidding. No sword was lifted up to drive you hence; driven only by +the fire of your loyalty you came; this is your defence. What more is +necessary?' +</P> + +<P> +Passing then from the Loyalists, he commended the French for their +refusal to assist the rebels; thanked the Indians for the fulfilment of +all their treaty obligations; and declared forgiveness to all who, on +the river, had been misguided into rebellion. Then, in a few words, he +closed. +</P> + +<P> +'And now, my friends and fellow-citizens, as I look abroad upon this +magnificent river before me; as I behold these fields and flocks; as I +look into your faces and read there your past, I read a future also. +You are happy now; it is the King's good pleasure that you shall be +happier still. In that distressed land to the south of us, though +cannon no longer boom, and though the sword is sheathed, a great war +still wages—the war of faction and political turmoil that must always +exist where men are unscrupulous and where measures are unjust. Here +peace shall flourish. If you will permit me a glimpse into the future +years, I see rising a nation, new, pure-blooded, loyal, strong, the +happiest land on earth.' +</P> + +<P> +A wave of applause surged over the crowd and swept off to the canoes on +the river. +</P> + +<P> +'I wouldn't go back'—it was the loud, shrill voice of David Elton from +the crowd that came up above the babel—'I wouldn't go back if they +made me president. Look at my farm an' herd o' cattle, an'——' But +the rest was lost in the ringing proposal, 'Three cheers for the +governor!' It came from a score of throats at once. The cheer, like +the applause, ran far out on the river over the swaying canoes. +</P> + +<P> +But the governor had not done yet. +</P> + +<P> +'Here in this magnificent valley'—he swung his hand all about—'here +men, by the will of God and the King, shall for ever be free, free to +worship as they will, free to govern as they choose, free in all +things. See to it, my friends, that you prove not only worthy of your +great past but worthy also of your great future.' +</P> + +<P> +He turned and sat down. +</P> + +<P> +Then, as when a volcano opens and pours out its lava and is relieved, +the mighty throng burst into 'God Save the King.' Everybody sang. And +this also helped in the laying of the foundations of a new province, of +a new nation. +</P> + +<P> +The next day, after the governor had departed for St. John, I was +talking with Duncan Hale, who had remained. 'What a fine thing it was +that the governor got lost?' Duncan said. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' I said, 'it drew out the people's sympathy, binding them +together, and showing them the governor in a new light.' +</P> + +<P> +'But it did more than that.' Duncan was smiling. 'Didn't you know that +last night the governor met a number of the leading people of the +river, and that, after explaining to them that you had really saved his +life by finding him in the woods, the people unanimously agreed to +nominate and elect you their representative in the new Assembly of the +province? Didn't you know that?' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' I said. 'I don't believe it.' +</P> + +<P> +'They did it though. You'll find out when the time comes in the fall. +And that was not the only matter arranged last night.' I saw a look of +mischievous interest grow on the old schoolmaster's face. +</P> + +<P> +'What more, Duncan?' I said. 'Go on.' +</P> + +<P> +'Did you see that tall, fine-looking young Englishman—the governor's +secretary—who took the long walk through the meadows and by the river +with Caroline in the evening?' +</P> + +<P> +'Well?' I said. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, you heard the governor make a prediction about this country; I +am going to make a prediction about that young man and Caroline. +They'll be married!' He came near and laid his hand on my arm. 'Do +you know,' he said, 'that there is only a single life,—a man of +seventy-four,—between that young man and a dukedom?' +</P> + +<P> +I laughed heartily. Soon I was calling at the top of my voice, +'Caroline! Caroline!' +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +In the late fall of the same year I was sitting one evening, with my +mother and sisters, around an open fire. The elections were over—the +report from the farthest parish had come in. +</P> + +<P> +A great happiness sat on my mother's face. 'To think,' she said, 'that +you were really elected, Roger, and at the head of the poll too.' I +did not answer. Something about the room and the way we were seated +had suggested to me another occasion, another evening, when, the day +after the fight at Lexington, over eight years ago, in deep sorrow, we +had gathered in the library of our former home at Cambridge, to make +plans for the future. But I recalled my thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, mother,' I said, 'there is no doubt of it. I have been elected. +Things have not turned out so badly for us after all. Indeed, I do not +know a single one of our acquaintances who is not happier than before +the war. Doctor Canfield's new church is quite magnificent, Duncan +Hale's school is fast becoming a college; as for the farmers about, +well—I don't think there is much danger of any of them wanting to go +back to be buried "without benefit of clergy." What is it David Elton +says? Oh, yes—"I wouldn't go back if they'd make me president." Poor +David, the way he did storm and rage the day they put him in the mine +with me. True, they were hard days those for both of us.' +</P> + +<P> +'But the mine led to the parliament,' my mother said, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' I said, 'there is no doubt but the war was a blessing to us. We +were the real victors in the conflict. We are happier than we ever +could have been without it.' As I said this, I looked very hard at +Caroline. 'Aren't we, Carrie?' I said. The crimson mounted to her +cheeks, and I was preparing to defend myself, when she was forced to +join the rest of us in a merry laugh. +</P> + +<P> +'Everything had its part to play—the war—the mine—and last of all +even the Loup-garou,' I said, and we all laughed again. +</P> + +<P> +'And just to think, mother,' Elizabeth put in a little later, 'a member +of parliament in the family already, and'—her face was beaming with +mischief and delight—'and a possible duchess also!' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roger Davis, Loyalist, by Frank Baird + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROGER DAVIS, LOYALIST *** + +***** This file should be named 34824-h.htm or 34824-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/8/2/34824/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Roger Davis, Loyalist + +Author: Frank Baird + +Illustrator: C. W. Jefferys + +Release Date: February 15, 2011 [EBook #34824] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROGER DAVIS, LOYALIST *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: HE THREW HIMSELF UPON THE GROUND. _See page 136_] + + + + +ROGER DAVIS + +LOYALIST + + +BY + +FRANK BAIRD + + + + +WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS + + + + +Toronto + +THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY LIMITED + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE OUTBREAK + II. AMONG ENEMIES + III. MADE PRISONER + IV. PRISON EXPERIENCES + V. THE TRIAL AND ESCAPE + VI. KING OR PEOPLE? + VII. THE DIE CAST + VIII. OFF TO NOVA SCOTIA + IX. IN THE 'TRUE NORTH' + X. THE TREATY + XI. HOME-MAKING BEGUN + XII. FACING THE FUTURE + XIII. THE GOVERNOR'S PERIL + XIV. VICTORY AND REWARD + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +HE THREW HIMSELF UPON THE GROUND . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +SHE MOTIONED ME TO MY FATHER'S EMPTY CHAIR + +'THAT MAN,' I SAID, TURNING AND FACING THE 'COLONEL,' + WHO SAT PALE AND SHIVERING + +'THIS IS NOVA SCOTIA,' HE SAID, POINTING TO THE MAP + + + + +Roger Davis, Loyalist + + + +Chapter I + +The Outbreak + +It was Duncan Hale, the schoolmaster, who first brought us the news. +When he was half-way from the gate to the house, my mother met him. He +bowed very low to her, and then, standing with his head uncovered--from +my position in the hall--I heard him distinctly say, 'Your husband, +madam, has been killed, and the British who went out to Lexington under +Lord Percy have been forced to retreat into Boston, with a loss of two +hundred and seventy-three officers and men.' + +The schoolmaster bowed again, one of those fine, sweeping, old-world +bows which he had lately been teaching me with some impatience, I +thought; then without further speech he moved toward the little gate. +But I had caught a look of keen anxiety on his face as he addressed my +mother. Once outside the garden, he stooped forward, and, breaking +into a run, crouching as he went as though afraid of being seen, he +soon disappeared around a turn in the road. + +My mother stood without speaking or moving for some moments. The birds +in the blossom-shrouded trees of the garden were shrieking and +chattering in the flood of April sunlight; I felt a draught of perfumed +air draw into the hall. Then a mist that had been heavy all the +morning on the Charles River, suddenly faded into the blue, and I could +see clearly over to Boston, three miles away. + +I shall not soon forget the look on my mother's face as she turned and +came toward me. I have wondered since if it were not born of a high +resolve then made, to be put into effect later. She was not in tears +as I thought she would be. There were no signs of grief on her face, +but instead her whole countenance seemed illuminated with a strangely +noble look. I was puzzled at this; but when I remembered that my +mother was the daughter of an English officer who was killed while +serving under Wolfe at Quebec, I understood. + +In a firm voice she repeated to me the words I had already heard, then +she passed up the stairs. In a few moments I heard her telling my two +sisters Caroline and Elizabeth--they were both younger than +myself--that it was time to get up. After that I heard my mother go to +her own room and shut the door. In the silence that followed this I +fell to thinking. + +Was my father really dead? Could it be that the British had been +repulsed? Duncan Hale had been telling me for weeks that war was +coming, but I had not thought his prophecy would be fulfilled. Now I +understood why he had come so often to visit my father; and why, during +the past month, he had seemed so absent-minded in school. My +preparation for going to Oxford in the autumn, over which he had been +so enthusiastic, appeared to have been completely pushed out of his +mind. I had once overheard my father caution him to keep his visits to +Lord Percy strictly secret. I was wondering if the part he had played +might have any ill consequences for him and for us, when my mother's +footsteps sounded on the stairs. She came at once to where I had been +standing for some moments, caught me in her arms, and, without +speaking, held me close for a moment, and then pressed a kiss on my +forehead. + +'Go, Roger,' she said, 'and find Peter and Dora. Bring them to the +library, and wait there till I come with your sisters.' + +I was turning to obey, when I caught a glimpse through the hall doorway +of two rebel soldiers galloping up. They had evidently come from +Boston. At sight of my mother, one of them addressed her with an +unmannerly shout that sent the blood pulsing up to my cheeks in anger. +What my mother had been thinking I did not know; but from that moment a +great passion seized me. That shout which almost maddened me, had, I +can see in looking back over it all, much to do in making me a +Loyalist, and in sending me to Canada. + +The soldiers looked in somewhat critically, but passed. They were +rough looking men, poorly mounted and badly dressed. My mother +withdrew from the doorway and went upstairs, as I proceeded to seek out +our two faithful coloured servants. I delivered to each the bare +message given me by my mother, and returned at once to the library. + +Everything in the room suggested my father. On his desk lay an +unfinished letter to my brother, who had enlisted in the King's forces +some six months before. I had read but a few lines of this when the +door opened, and my mother entered with Caroline and Elizabeth. In a +moment I saw that the spirit of my mother had passed on to my sisters. +I was sure they knew the worst; and although I could see Caroline +struggle with her feelings, both girls maintained a brave and sensible +silence. A moment later Peter and Dora entered, each wide-eyed and +apprehensive, but still ignorant of the great calamity that had now +befallen our recently happy household. + +The east window of the library looked toward Boston. To this my mother +went, and stood looking out for some time; then she turned and began to +speak. + +'Your master,' she said, addressing Peter and Dora, 'has been killed. +We are here to make plans for the future.' + +Dora threw up both hands, giving a little shriek as she did so. Peter +lifted his great eyes to the ceiling, and slid to his knees; a little +later he pressed his hands hard over his heart as though to prevent it +from beating its way through. He found relief in swaying backward and +forward, and uttering a long, low moan, which finally shaped into, +'Poor Massa killed.' He kept repeating this, until we were all on the +point of giving way to our smothered emotion. But my mother's voice +recalled us. + +'What are we to do, Roger?' she said. + +Instantly the thought of a new and great responsibility flashed upon +me. Was my mother to relinquish the leadership? Did her question mean +that I was to step at once into the place of my fallen father? Had she +forgotten that I was but sixteen? I glanced at my sisters, but I found +I could not look long upon them in their helplessness, and retain my +self-control. + +With a hurried glance at the servants, who now sobbed audibly in spite +of all efforts at suppression of grief, my eyes came again to the face +of my mother. The look of noble fortitude had gone, and I saw that I +must no longer delay in coming to her assistance. + +She motioned me to my father's empty chair; I took it at once, and, +though I felt all eyes in the room turn upon me, prompted by a rush of +heroic feeling, I neither flinched nor blushed under their gaze. But +in spite of my pretended composure nature had her way. My sister +Elizabeth, breaking into a flood of tears, rushed across the floor to +my mother's arms, and soon all were weeping uncontrollably. Mastering +my rising feelings, I began thinking what was best to be done. + +[Illustration: SHE MOTIONED ME TO MY FATHER'S EMPTY CHAIR.] + +I knew the King's cause had many sympathisers on the farms that lay +about us. What effect the real shedding of blood and the defeat of the +British would have I could not determine, but, while I knew that the +country would soon be swarming with rebels, I was equally sure that we +would not be absolutely alone, if we resolved to declare ourselves in +favour of the King and his government in the colony. At first, it +occurred to me to advise fleeing at once inside the protected limits of +Boston. But the thought of the value of my father's property turned me +from this course. That we were in danger, I was certain. My father, +owing to his trade relations with the colonists of all types, had not +openly espoused the royal cause; on many occasions rebels had claimed +him as a sympathiser; but I knew that now all would be revealed. The +jeer of the soldiers half convinced me that all was known already. Had +these simply gone by that they might return with others to carry us off +prisoners? + +At that moment, on glancing through the window, I was startled to see +several buildings on fire away toward Boston. The rebels had evidently +begun the work of destruction; but the thought that it had suddenly +come to this, that our quiet, happy, and thriving country-side was to +be devastated by fire and sword as during old wars of which I had read +in history, made me, for a moment, wonder if it were not all a horrible +dream. Recalling myself, however, to the situation in which I was +placed, as the defender of my mother and sisters, I turned from the +window, and, when a silence fell in the sobbing, said, 'I shall see +Duncan Hale; he will help us.' + +The painful day wore slowly on. It was evident that the whole country +was deeply stirred. Not a single soldier of the King could be seen, +but rebels were everywhere. On horseback and on foot; in rough +carriages and farm wagons; armed and unarmed; singly and in crowds; +cheering, shouting, swearing, threatening--all day long these rough, +leaderless, untrained farmer soldiers kept passing and re-passing, in +what seemed to be wild, purposeless confusion. Now and then the sound +of distant firing came from the direction of Boston; occasionally a +column of smoke arose from the country round, telling its own story of +destruction. + +I wondered if a similar fate awaited our fine old house, with its +fluted Corinthian corners, and its air of English solidity. I recalled +the peculiar pride with which my father had shown visitors through and +around it. The big hallway running from front to back, and on either +side the lofty square rooms; the high wainscotting, the deeply recessed +window seats, and queer, old-fashioned mouldings that bordered the +ceilings; the wide fire-places with their curiously-wrought andirons; +the two magnificent lindens before the door, planted by my grandmother +when a bride some sixty years ago; the wide garden with shaded walks, +and the hundred acres of rich, valuable land, all took on a new +interest to me that day. It came to me that these things could not be +given up without a pang. + +The day--it was the twentieth of April, 1775--proved gloriously fine +until the end; this, with the unusual gaiety of the birds in the +lindens, the bursting of the buds in the gardens, and other assurances +of spring, were in striking contrast with all that had been taking +place in the world of men. But the consequences of the events that had +preceded that day were to be infinitely greater than any contrast could +be. I can see now, as I did not then, that rightly looked at, the +skirmish at Lexington where my father fell, had within it the +beginnings of two nations--and one of them was Canada. But of this, +later in the story. + +That night I was again in the library in consultation with my mother +and sisters, regarding the possible recovery of my father's body, when +a low knocking at the door startled us. A few moments later Duncan +Hale and Doctor Canfield, minister of the parish, were seated among us. + +In a few softly spoken words the good clergyman expressed his sincere +sympathy for us in our sudden affliction. Doctor Canfield was one of +Harvard's most brilliant sons; he had travelled much; was directly +descended from a noble English family; he was possessed of means; many +of the foremost men of letters were his correspondents; he was tall and +military in bearing; graceful and eloquent in speech; the soul of +courtesy and honour; and withal, he was a master of the fine art of +manners. It was Doctor Canfield and others like him who made +separation from England difficult, standing, as they did, for the only +refinement that the provinces knew, peopled as these were mainly with +rough, plain tradespeople and farmers. As he talked with my mother, I +could not help setting his fineness over against the coarseness of the +many men I had seen through the day. + +Duncan Hale sat silent, until Doctor Canfield, turning to him, asked +him to relate what he knew of the events of the previous day. As this +was a matter to which our minds had been constantly reverting since the +reported death of my father, we gave him willing audience. + +'Three days ago it became known to General Gage, madam,' he said, +rising and addressing my mother, 'that a considerable quantity of rebel +stores had been collected at the village of Lexington, some fourteen +miles from Boston. The General decided, in the interests of His +Majesty's government and of peace, that these should be destroyed. +Accordingly he ordered Major Pitcairn to march with eight hundred men +to Lexington, and destroy or seize the rifles and ammunition there +stored. Guided by your excellent husband, who knew the country as the +officers did not, the soldiers succeeded in destroying the stores, but, +when they were on the point of returning to Boston, they were attacked +by thousands of the rebels, who, having been previously made acquainted +with the intention of our soldiers by means of spies riding out from +Boston, one Paul Revere being chief, were fully armed and well +prepared. Seeing themselves so overwhelmingly outnumbered, and being +informed that the whole country for fully fifty miles around was in +arms, the English officers, after consulting with Lord Percy, who had +gone out later in the day, agreed to fall back upon Boston.' + +The schoolmaster finished and sat down. There was a strangely agitated +look on his face. I was wondering what this could mean, when a sharp +whistle sounded at the door. + +Instantly we were on our feet. Duncan Male's face went suddenly white. +The next moment a dozen or more of the rough rebel soldiers I had seen +through the day, burst into the room. + +'Spy!' the leading man shouted, springing toward the schoolmaster. But +a door that had been unobserved by the rebels, and therefore unguarded +by them before their attack, opened from the library upon the verandah. +Through this Duncan sprang, and in the shaft of light that shot from +the room, I saw him leap into the darkness. The door shut with a +spring lock in the face of his pursuer. + + + + +Chapter II + +Among Enemies + +The next morning I boldly resolved to ride out into the country. A +double purpose moved me to this course. I was anxious first, to +recover, if possible, my father's body, and secondly, I knew that by +mingling with the rebels, I would gather information that might be of +service to me and to my mother in making our future plans. The +invasion of our home by the soldiers and the sudden and dramatic +disappearance of my friend and schoolmaster, Duncan Hale, to whom I had +intended to look for advice, threw me quite upon my own resources. As +to Dr. Canfield, much as he might wish to be of service to us, I was +aware that his position, as well as his pronounced sympathy with the +King's cause, would render it almost impossible for him to obtain +information except regarding the Royalist side. I saw at once that if +information was to be gained, I must gain it myself. + +I knew that there were many in the country around who had taken no part +in the long controversy that had preceded the shedding of blood. There +were the quiet farmer people, with whom my father had traded so long, +and whom until yesterday I had seen for years almost daily go in +towards Boston with produce. I was sure that these could not in a day +have become strong and violent partizans for either side. Then, there +were those who were opposed to war, because it was wicked, and violated +the teaching of Scripture. Taking our day-school to reflect the mind +of the community, I concluded that there must even yet be great +diversity of views regarding what was right and what was wrong. + +My father had warned me against declaring myself on either side. When, +in our home, Duncan Hale had fiercely engaged in denouncing the rebels, +he had urged upon him the necessity of a more cautious attitude. The +events of the previous night led me to think that Duncan had not fully +taken to heart the advice my father had given him. But I was sure +that, if he had offended, I had not. At any rate I resolved to go out +into the country. + +I found Peter, and told him to saddle the horse he used about the farm +and garden; then having dressed myself to look like one of the many +farmer boys I had seen passing our home, I rode off toward Lexington. + +It was still early, but there were many coming and going. I soon +learned that I had been quite successful in disguising myself. A +fellow a little older than myself galloped up beside me. + +'Goin' to enlist?' he asked. + +'I am going out to Lexington to learn the truth about what happened +there,' I said. 'Where are you from?' + +'Out Concord way. I come from there last night, an' am on my way back. +Day before yesterday I shot a redcoat, one o' them fancy soldiers the +King sent to Boston two years ago to enforce his laws. I'll show you +the place when we come to it.' I glanced at his face, and marked in it +a note of triumphant glee. + +'How long do you suppose the siege will last?' he said a little later. + +'The siege,' I said, 'what siege?' + +He stared at me for some moments. 'Where've ye been livin' lately, ye +galoot? Don't ye know 'at Boston is besieged, an' that before two +weeks we're to drive what we don't shoot uv the King's men into the +harbour? That's the plan. That's good 'nough for 'em. Why couldn't +they act decent, instead uv puttin' on airs an' insultin' folks. How +much better is a soldier than a farmer, I'd like to know? Then think +uv them laws. Go 'way back to the very first--back over a hundred +years, when the trouble began by the surveyors puttin' the King's mark +on all the pine-trees over two feet in diameter. Supposin' the King +did want masts for his ships, what was the sense in puttin' his arrow +on thousands of trees that would never be used? What justice was there +in finin' a man a hundred pounds for cuttin' down an' sawin' up a tree +that was bein' left to rot? Think uv my great grandfather spendin' +three months in jail for cuttin' lumber to build his house. Was that +right? + +'An' that wasn't the only bad law. Why wouldn't the King allow people +to build mills an' use the waterfalls? Who'd any right to say we +couldn't sell fish or boards wherever we chose--even to the French or +Spanish? Our people wanted to work an' they weren't allowed to. +That's the way the trouble begun. An' then think uv all them later +taxes on tea an' other things we 'ad to buy. Were we to go on for ever +payin' an' payin', an' have nothin' to say about spendin' the money we +paid in? No, sir; I'm glad war's come. Now we've a chance to get even +with the King an' these saucy insultin' soldiers an' stuck-up officers, +who've always been pokin' fun at our militia. Just wait till I get +another chance at them. Then there's them Tories--all those people +who've been sayin' the King's right an' England's right--they're little +better'n the soldiers. But they'll soon find out that.--Are there any +Tories up your way?' He broke off suddenly, and looking at me more +critically than he had looked before, asked-- + +'What's your name?' + +'Roger Davis,' I said at once, for I had determined to tell no lies. + +'Davis?' he repeated. 'Davis?' Then he looked at me yet more +critically. 'Yer father a merchant?' + +At that moment the sound of galloping troops fell upon our ears, and a +little later the largest body of American soldiers I had yet seen swept +around a turn in the road just ahead of us. I drew to the left, and +they thundered past, going in the direction of Boston. My companion +turned his horse, and prepared to join the troops. As he galloped off +with them, I heard him shouting my name, at which I saw three or four +of those nearest to him turn their heads and look back toward me +somewhat curiously. But they all kept on, and were soon lost in the +dust and distance. + +As I went on my way alone, I could not help thinking upon the words of +my late companion, who had left me as suddenly as he came upon me. +What he had told me regarding laws and taxes was not really news; I had +heard the rebel side of the case many times from Duncan Hale; but there +was quite a different note in the words of the rough young farmer. +Evidently there were two sides to the great question--at least it was +not difficult to see that people thought there were. + +With myself, as with many others, up to the time of the real outbreak, +it had not been necessary to take sides. But now it was quite +different. Then I was a schoolboy thinking only of Oxford; now I was +the sole defender and counsellor of my mother and sisters. I was +anxious to try the case fairly and honestly. I wished to do right. +Consulting my feelings alone, recalling the words of Duncan Hale, and +remembering that my father had been slain, I felt that perhaps I had +done wrong in not openly, even before the troop of soldiers, declaring +myself a sympathiser with the King and his cause. But second thought +showed me that such a course would have been folly. If I did this, +what of my mother and sisters? It was here that the real difficulties +of my situation first dawned upon me. Things were strangely bound +together. As I rode along, thinking all the while, the situation, +instead of growing simpler, became more complex. + +The whole country was, I saw, in the hands of the rebels. During my +entire ride so far, I had not seen a single soldier of the King. My +mother and sisters, my father's fine and valuable property, were all at +the mercy of the King's enemies. Duncan Hale was a fugitive, if not +already a captive. My brother was somewhere in the King's service, +but, following his usual policy, my father had revealed nothing. Then +if we were able to find him, how could he help us? He could not look +for a discharge at such a time. Again, his presence with us might mean +more of danger than his absence from us. But the question that +insisted on coming to me most seriously and frequently was, 'How am I +to serve the King, and yet do what is best for my mother and sisters?' + +The sun was now getting high. The glory of the spring was everywhere. +Here and there a ploughman followed his team in a distant field. But +it became more and more evident, as I advanced along the road, that the +spirit of war would soon absorb everything. + +Suddenly my horse snorted and lurched violently back, almost throwing +me from the saddle. He gazed wild-eyed and with fiercely-blowing +nostrils at a spot in the road. Here blood had been shed. A momentary +shudder ran through me, but I urged him on. A few miles further along +the way I noticed that the fence had been torn with bullets, and in a +field, a little from the road, were four fresh mounds that I took at +once for graves. Under a shady tree near these sat an old man of some +eighty years. + +'Are these graves?' I asked. + +'Aye, they be. Four redcoats lie here, or accordin' to some, three +sodgers and a Tory. But if you're wantin' to see where the main +slaughter was, go on. I'm watchin' here. There's some reason for +thinkin' the one who wasn't a sodger was a person o' consequence--a man +o' valuable property that may be useful during the siege as well as +after. There was a lank old villain--a schoolmaster of Cambridge, I +think our Colonel said--nosin' round here early this mornin'. It +leaked out that he was huntin' for a body. Anyway he was surprised, +captured, an' carried off to the village. It's generally agreed that +he'll be hanged.' + +It flashed upon me in an instant, that the man of consequence spoken of +was my father, and that the other was Duncan Hale. I was quite sure +Duncan had escaped from the soldiers who had attempted to seize him in +our home; and I knew also that for friendship's sake he would in all +probability venture out, even in the face of danger, to learn, if +possible, where my father fell. If I was right in my conjecture, and +the old man spoke truly, the faithful fellow's love had got him into +strange difficulties. I resolved to go on, hoping to pick up some +further scraps of information before returning home. Had I known all +that was to befall me, I certainly would not have gone further. But +the information I had received regarding Duncan Hale, especially the +hint of his danger, convinced me that it was my duty to go on at least +to Lexington. + +After leaving the old man at the graves, I saw numerous evidences of +severe fighting almost everywhere. Barns and buildings on every side +were riddled with bullets. Fences were thrown down, and the fields +showed the marks of galloping troops. Graves and bloodstains became +more and more common. + +But as I proceeded, I noticed that a Sabbath quiet had settled upon the +country. I now met nobody. The houses seemed deserted. One of the +only moving objects was a farmer far up a hill slope who, with a large +white grain basket by his side, strode over the red ground sowing +grain. One man at least in the midst of war was determined to be at +peace. + +But I understood the quiet as soon as I came in sight of the village. +The church bell was slowly tolling and there seemed to be thousands of +people upon the village green. + +At sight of the crowd the old man's words regarding the probable fate +of Duncan Hale flashed upon my mind. For a moment my heart stood +still. Was the crowd in the distance a mob bent on vengeance? And +yet, why was the bell tolling? + +In spite of the feeling that I might be acting unwisely, I urged my +horse rapidly on toward the village that lay in the valley before me. +I was out in search of information, and must obtain it. + + + + +Chapter III + +Made Prisoner + +I had scarcely reached the village, when I learned that I had been +quite wrong in supposing that violence was intended by the people. + +'It's the funeral,' a man on the fringe of the crowd told me. 'It was +here the first of the shootin' was done day before yesterday. The +eight of our men who were killed all belonged in this neighbourhood, +an' attended this church. They are all to be buried here this +afternoon.' + +He pointed to a row of eight graves near the church. + +'They'll bury first,' he said, 'an' without takin' the coffins into the +church. Ye'll see that done among the Tories, but not here. Ye'll be +wantin' to hear the sermon, I suppose. Well that's my barn over there. +Go an' put up yer horse, for he's lookin' tired.' + +I did as I was instructed, and a little later I was wandering about +among the people. It was a strangely mixed crowd. There were many +farmers dressed as for work in the fields. Others had evidently on +'Sunday clothes.' Women and children, boys and girls, made up a great +part of the immense company. Though they could not be distinguished by +either their dress or bearing, I soon learned that many of the men had +been engaged in the fighting of two days before. These were usually +the centre of interested groups of people, who listened with eager +attention to the various accounts of the day that marked the opening of +the unfortunate war. + +Being convinced by this time that I was in no danger, and having seen +many others dressed exactly as I was, I pushed my way almost to the +centre of a group close to the church. A man with his arm in a sling +was speaking. + +'It was here at the east end of the meeting-house,' I heard him say, +'that the redcoats first showed themselves. Several of our men were +moving about on the green out there, only a few of them being formed in +a company, when I heard one of the redcoats shout out, "Disperse, ye +rebels!" I think it was an officer who said it. Not one of our men +moved. As the order was repeated I brought my gun to my shoulder. +Just then an English officer rode out in front of his men, and +discharged a pistol into the air. Immediately a lot of soldiers raised +their guns and fired towards where we stood. This time nobody was hit; +there seemed to be nothing but powder in the guns. Our men did not +fire, but after a few minutes other soldiers came up, and without any +command from the officers that I could hear, fired into us. We replied +this time, but when we saw they were going to surround us, our Captain +gave the order and we dispersed. That's my story of the way the fight +began, let others say what they will.' + +A little later, as I wandered about, I heard quite different accounts, +especially as to which side fired first. I could not then, nor have I +yet ever been able fully to satisfy myself on this point. But as to +the fact that there had been severe fighting, even upon the steps of +the church, the numerous bullet holes which I saw left no doubt. It +seemed not a little strange to me, that a place of worship should have +been the centre around which the storm of battle had raged. And yet I +understood later why it had been thus. + +The meeting-house, I knew, was the place where all the town, as well as +religious, meetings were held. Here it had been agreed to take up +arms. Here in the gallery was stored the town's supply of powder. +From the windows of the building several soldiers of the King had been +shot. I could not help wondering for the moment how all these things +could be reconciled with religion. From the appearance and +conversation of many of those in the crowd I took them to be men and +women of honour, of excellence of character, people who would not +willingly violate what they considered to be the laws of God. But this +was one of the days I began to learn the meaning of religion as well as +of war; and I do not hesitate to confess now, in looking back, that I +was quite ignorant of both. My horse had shied fiercely at the dry +bloodstains on the road as I came out; I was then quite unmoved, but +the dark, irregular marks on the steps of the Lexington meeting-house, +have not proved to be things I can easily forget. It was surely a +strange place for men to shed each other's blood. But I was +interrupted in my thinking by the arrival of the funeral processions at +the church. The sight was a singular one. As the mourning friends +gathered about the graves, all thought of war seemed swallowed up in +grief. It was not like the soldiers' funerals of which I had read. +There was no military display, no firing, no flag, nothing to mark the +occasion off from the ordinary funeral of the country. There were many +who wept; some threw flowers into the graves; but the great mass of the +people looked on, and listened to the words of the clergyman with +expressions upon their faces that spake other feelings than those of +grief. These people were standing by the graves of the first dead of a +great war. The greatness and suddenness of the recent events in their +midst had stunned them. The quiet country was unused to such scenes. +The surroundings were singularly beautiful. The gay note of birds, +preparing to nest in the magnificent trees around the meeting-house and +belfry, mingled in the solemn hymns sung with tremulous emotion by +those at the side of the graves; and the freshness of late April was +over all. + +How had it all come about? How long would it be before these men would +go back to the unsown fields and to their ploughs standing in the +furrows? I had formerly moved mainly with those who sympathised with +the King; almost in spite of myself as I stood there looking into many +honest faces I felt my sympathies being divided. And yet could these +people be right? It was something, at least, to die. And some had +already died. Were there honest men on both sides? Were both causes +right?--the cause of these people and the cause of the King also? But +the last sods were being placed upon the graves, and I moved toward the +church. I gained an entrance only with difficulty. + +Everything about both church and service was quite unlike that to which +I had been accustomed. The minister wore no gown; the hymns were +unfamiliar to me; there were no responses in the Scripture reading. +But I understood this when I recalled that I had heard that almost all +who opposed the King in the country around belonged to churches other +than the Church of England. + +As the minister began to speak I noticed that he lacked the fineness of +language with which I was so familiar in Dr. Canfield, but the man's +quiet earnestness and direct frankness pleased me much. The part, +however of the whole service that surprised me most was the sermon. It +contained little reference to the dead, there was no attack upon +government and the King, freedom and tyranny of which I had heard so +much from others in the crowd were not once named; but the one thought +that ran through the entire discourse was the absolute necessity of a +saving faith in Jesus Christ. + +I had not looked for this. I was quite sure those about me would have +preferred a passionate harangue on oppression, or an extravagant eulogy +on the fallen; but the minister had not stooped to this. With him, +standing in the midst of strife and hatred, one thing seemed +important--that men, whether living or dying, should be thoroughly +Christian in heart and life. + +The sudden and unexpected death of my father may have assisted the +preacher in forcing his words home to my heart, but, as I left the +building, I felt a new and strange sense of my unfitness to appear +suddenly before God. And this question had been pushed into a place of +such prominence, so unexpectedly and under such peculiar circumstances, +that I could not put it away. Was it true that this matter was the +greatest of all? Would a proper answering of this question help me in +any way to face the difficulties that were thickening about me? My +father was dead. Duncan Hale or my brother could be of no service to +me. My mother and sisters were in my keeping. They must not only be +protected but supported. And the time had also come when I must take +one side or the other. + +'There'll be no neutrals allowed about here. It's going to be fight or +flee,' I had heard men before the funeral say, as they looked away up +the slope toward a second farmer sowing in his field. And yet my +course was far from clear. I was young, inexperienced, and alone. Was +there really a source of help such as the preacher had indicated? If +so, surely I should seek it. If I lived through the war I would need +Divine aid; if I did not live--but I put that thought away. I must +live. There were my mother and sisters; and I had seen and heard +enough to convince me that the King's cause could spare none--not even +a boy. I sought out my horse, mounted him, and was soon off for home. + +But, as I was leaving the village, I noticed that a marked change had +come over the spirit of the people. The coming of evening seemed to +blot out completely all memory of the events and sermon of the +afternoon. I saw guns everywhere, most of them being long, +old-fashioned muskets, used formerly only in the game regions of the +mountains. There were many who galloped up shouting, and waving swords +made of scythes and reaping hooks. At the beating of a drum the men +thus rudely armed gathered for drill upon the green. They were +strange-looking soldiers, unused to fighting and to war, but I saw +determination in their faces. They had no flag, for the only flag yet +in the country was the flag of England; and that waved over the men +against whom these were to fight. + +Looking backward occasionally I rode away. As I passed the graves, in +one of which I had reason to believe my father slept, I noticed that +the old man still kept guard. It was not long after this that I came +to a wood. The dusk was deepening now, and it was very still. Once I +thought I heard the sound of voices in the deep forest to my right; I +paused a moment, but the distant hooting of an owl was all I heard. + +A little later, as I came opposite a logging road that had been used in +winter, I heard the unmistakable sound of a man's voice; then in the +deepening dusk that had gathered under the great trees I made out the +figure of a man running. He was waving his arms and shouting for me to +stop. + +But I did not stop. My heart gave a leap into my throat at the thought +that I might be captured, and I dug my heels into my horse's sides. He +sprang forward; but as he did so I shot a look backward over my +shoulder. Instantly, in the clearer light of the highway, I recognised +the figure. Any lingering doubt was dispelled the next moment by a +voice that brought me almost to a stand. This cry was still in my ears +when a man vaulted into the saddle behind me. It was Duncan Hale, with +a noosed rope about his neck. + +'On, Roger, on,' he shouted, 'or they'll catch us. I knew the horse as +you came by, and broke and ran. They were to hang me in five minutes.' + +I urged the horse madly forward, at the same time glancing backward. +The men had reached the highway and were coming. I felt my small farm +horse sway and lose his pace under the double weight. I knew all was +over for Duncan if they came up with us. I pushed the reins into his +hands. + +'They won't hang me,' I said. 'You go on.' Then I slid from the +saddle; and the next moment I was standing in the middle of the road +facing Duncan's pursuers with both my hands held high in the air. + + + + +Chapter IV + +Prison Experiences + +I was soon surrounded by a group of about a dozen panting, angry men. +They made no attempts to conceal their rage. I was seized by several +of them at once, violently shaken, and was asked so many questions all +at once that, for a time, I was afforded a pretext for not answering +any of them. + +Finally quiet was restored. When the last man of the party had come +up, they formed a ring about me on the road. Every moment the shadows +of night were deepening, but I could clearly see that the fire of +revenge burned hot in every face. Nor did I wonder at this. Duncan's +escape had been so unexpected. They were as lions cheated of their +prey. Almost at the moment when their savage passion for sport of the +cruellest kind conceivable was to be gratified, their intended victim +had suddenly slipped through their fingers. The thought of what I had +been able to do filled me with a kind of fearlessness that prevented me +from shrinking, as the circle of angry men narrowed about me, I felt I +was at their mercy; I might be in great danger; I had been the means of +thwarting them; but a thrill of pride went through me at the thought +that I had been able to save the life of my dead father's dearest +friend. + +The leader of the party was a tall, rough, awkward-looking man of +perhaps forty-five. I heard one of the men call him 'Colonel.' He +stepped into the ring and brought a huge pistol to the level of my +forehead. + +'What's yer name?' he roared. + +'Roger Davis,' I said. + +'Where 're ye from? + +'Cambridge.' + +'Who sent ye out here?' + +'I came out this morning, of my own accord, to hear the truth about +what took place at Lexington the day before yesterday. I was not sent +by any one.' + +'The truth boy, or----' He showed the mouth of the pistol so near to +my face that I could have blown my breath into the muzzle--'the truth, +boy, or I'll blow----' + +'I am not accustomed to speaking lies,' I broke in suddenly, with some +spirit and much warmth. 'I belong to no party, and I would have you +understand that you may yet have to answer for obstructing the King's +highway. I bid you stand out of my path, that I may proceed on my +journey.' + +A great chorus of scornful laughter greeted my words. But I was spared +further questions at any rate. The circle opened on one side--the side +next to Lexington--and I was ordered to march. As I stepped out of the +group, I heard the click of several pistols being made ready for action. + +We had not gone far, when I learned from the conversation which I could +not but hear, that the men behind me held sharply differing views as to +what should be done. + +'We were instructed by the committee to hang him,' I heard one say; +'and this we did not do. We let him escape. I for one am opposed to +going back to Lexington. The committee have had their eye on Hale for +some months; and they considered that Providence had put him into their +hands this morning. They will be, I assure you, in no pleasant mood, +when they hear he is again at large, having obtained much valuable +information. And to think that there wasn't a single pistol ready when +he started.' + +'Perhaps the committee will turn on us--have us arrested,' put in +another. 'An' hanged for neglectin' to fulfil orders,' said a third, +whom I had not before heard speaking. The strife and difference grew, +until many high, hot words were being spoken. + +'Twasn't my fault that he escaped,' said one. 'Twas,' roared another. +'You was nearest to him.' + +Then the lie was passed; and a moment later nothing but the violent +intervention of 'the Colonel' could have prevented both blows and shots. + +Finally a halt was decided upon. It was agreed that I was to be kept a +prisoner: that two of the party were to convey me to the village and +hand me over to the proper authorities, while 'the Colonel' boldly +declared that he, in order to simplify matters, would inform the +committee that the spy Hale had been hanged according to instructions. +As I afterwards plodded on through the darkness with the tramp, tramp, +of my two guards sounding in my ears behind me, I wondered that twelve +men who had been reared in the King's Province of Massachusetts could +have consented to such a lying proposal without protest. + +After a journey that seemed doubly long owing to my hunger and +weariness, we came to the village, and I was immediately handed over to +an official. Though it was very dark, he put a heavy bandage over my +eyes; then, with the men who had brought me following, I was led by a +very rough path through a field, and across a brook. But I said +nothing. It was not a time for words. + +Finally we came to a stand. I could hear the sound as of heavy timbers +being removed and thrown down. Then there was the noise of the sliding +back of a door. In a few moments I was led into what seemed to be the +mouth of a cave. The air was damp, and I detected at once a close, +unpleasant odour. + +It was not long before my eyes were unbandaged and I was permitted to +look about. The place seemed to have been dug out of solid rock; water +dripped from one side of the roof; there was no floor but the natural +rock. In one corner, supported on four stones, lay an old door. I +looked a moment at this, and then turned to the faces of three men who +stood about me. They were each eyeing me keenly. One of the faces I +felt sure I had seen--but where? The single lantern carried by the +jailer threw only a faint and imperfect light on the faces and on +everything about me; still I suddenly became certain that one of the +two men who stood before me was the man who had sprung into the room of +our house in pursuit of Duncan Hale. He looked at me very critically. +Then on a signal from him the jailer lifted the lantern and held it +close, so that a better light fell upon my face. The next moment all +the men suddenly withdrew. I heard the heavy timbers being thrown +against the closed door; a few words that sounded like oaths fell on my +ears, and then there was the tramp, tramp, of the men's feet as they +receded from the place. This sound gradually shaded into silence, and +I was left alone, the first prisoner of the great war. + +For a time,--for a great, long time,--I stood immovable, where the men +had left me, in the centre of my dungeon, for a dungeon it really +seemed. What was to become of me? Had they put me here to starve? I +was hungry up to the point of faintness, for since early morning I had +been riding or walking almost continuously, and had eaten food but +once. The feeling of exhaustion growing upon me, I moved toward the +place where I remembered having seen the door resting on the four +stones. I found this and sat down. + +All was dark about me. There was no sound but the occasional drip, +drip of the water from the rock above. The damp, cold air of the place +chilled me to the bone. It was certainly a strange place into which I +had been forced. Had it been a prison, I would have been content. But +the name 'prison' was much too dignified for my place of confinement. +I had visited a prison once with my father; I was familiar with the +quarters in which animals were housed; but I had never seen anything +like this. From my surroundings my mind finally wandered to other +things. I thought of Duncan Hale. Had he really escaped? If so, my +case might not yet be utterly hopeless, for I knew that Duncan, having +free access to Lord Percy, would at once make known my capture. But +had Duncan reached the British lines? Might he not have been +recaptured? + +Then there were my mother and my helpless sisters. Would they know of +my being carried off? It was difficult to think they would, unless +Duncan had galloped directly home to tell them; and this I was quite +sure he would not risk doing. My mother was probably anxiously waiting +for my coming every moment. As matters looked at present, she must +wait long. + +From this my mind passed to thinking upon consequences that might +follow from my having been recognised by the man who had brought me to +this place. If he knew me; if it were revealed that Duncan and my +father had both been doing much, for many months past, towards securing +information regarding the smuggling expeditions of many of the +so-called 'patriot' merchants; if it were learned that my brother was +in the King's service;--indeed, I felt that if any or all of these +facts became known, the chances of my being set at liberty would be +small. + +During my experience on the road I had heard, in connection with the +case of Duncan Hale, much said of 'the committee.' I wondered what +this was. Were there not courts of justice in the land? By what +authority had any committee the right to pronounce sentence of death on +any man? Was the country not still the King's, and was it not still +under the King's laws? But in spite of the hotness of my indignation, +the dripping of the water by my side, and the frightful dampness and +cold of the place, with no covering over me, and with no pillow but my +arm, I finally slept upon the hard door. + +When I awoke, I was surprised to find that, owing to a rain having set +in, the entire floor of the place was flooded almost to the edge of my +board bed, and that almost every part of the roof of my strange prison +dripped cold, muddy water. Light enough crept in about the door to +reveal to me the fact that I was in neither a dungeon nor cave, but in +an old mine. In spite of the cold and dampness of the place, I felt +refreshed by my sleep. I sat up, and almost at the same time I heard a +sound as of the removal of the heavy timbers about the door. This was +soon opened, and through it was pushed a large, dirty-looking wooden +bowl, and the door closed the next moment. I heard the timbers being +replaced, and then, as on the preceding night, the sound of the +footsteps died away in the distance. + +Hunger mastered my feelings of resentment, and I drew the bowl toward +me. Floating in a kind of slate-coloured liquid, which may have been +intended for soup, I found two large balls or dumplings of offensive +beef rolled in dark and mouldy flour; but with the appetite of a bear, +I ate and drank almost the entire contents of the bowl. + +The day passed; then another and another. I had read many stories of +captures and imprisonments, but in none of them could I find a parallel +for my own unhappy situation. With unvarying regularity at morning and +evening the same foul-smelling, unwashed bowl, filled with food that +varied only in degrees of offensiveness, was handed in to me. The life +and the food and the home of many beasts would have been a relief and a +joy to me. And what was my crime? I was a mere boy. I had never +spoken word nor lifted hand on either side. True, I had saved the life +of a man from the hands of a mob; and was I to drag out my life in a +dark, dripping, unhealthy cave for that? + +It was well on in the third week of my bitter experience, just as I had +found it almost impossible to hope for deliverance, that, one +afternoon, I heard the sound of loud voices approaching. As the door +was being opened, I heard the voice of a man protesting loudly. He was +saying-- + +'I tell you again, I am on no side. I am an honest farmer, and wish to +go back to my farm from which you dragged me. I am neither Whig nor +Tory; I will not fight on the side of either King or people. I must +work my farm, and support my wife and children.' + +As he spoke the last words, he was rudely pushed into the mine, where +his feet splashed some of the muddy water upon my face. A moment +later, and without a word from those outside, the door was closed, and +the timbers were replaced against it. + + + + +Chapter V + +The Trial and Escape + +I did not speak. For a time the man evidently considered himself +alone. It was several minutes before--his eyes having become adjusted +to the partial darkness--he discovered me. His jaw dropped, his hands +went up, and I noticed some of the warm colour slip out of his face. +He drew sharply back, and gazed at me in undisguised amazement for some +moments. A little later the look of wonder shaded into one of sympathy. + +'How long have you been here?' he said. + +'Almost three weeks,' I told him. + +'They've been usin' ye bad, haven't they?' + +He came nearer and looked at me more closely than before. I tapped on +the door with my foot. + +'This is my bed,' I said. 'The food is plain, to say the least.' + +Looking at my face, he said, 'It must be.' + +All the time he had been standing at the lower side of the mine, where +the water was well up about his ankles. When I told him the rock was +almost dry where I was, he came and stood beside me. There was a +sincere, honest look in the fellow's homely face, and when he asked me +how I came to be there, I told him my story without keeping anything +back. + +'What has been takin' place outside?' I asked, when I had finished. + +'What has been takin' place outside,' he repeated in a voice that rose +almost to a shriek. 'What hasn't been takin' place? Have ye not +heard?' + +I assured him that I had heard nothing since the day of the funerals at +Lexington. + +'The day I sowed my oats,' he exclaimed; 'the very day, I mind it well. +It was just after that they began scourin' the country. I lived three +miles from here well back on my own small farm. Myself an' several of +my neighbours had never taken any part in the disputes that were makin' +so much trouble in Boston. It didn't concern us. We were poor, with +families to keep, an' had no time to bother findin' out whether the +King was right or wrong. We were gettin' a livin', an' were happy. +The day o' the shootin', as well as the day o' the buryin', I went on +with my farmin'. + +'The time they come for me I was in my fiel' as usual. "We've come +from the committee," they said. "What committee?" says I. "Oh," one +o' them broke in,--he was a Boston chap, not one o' our peaceable +farmers,--"Oh," says he, "is that all ye know about the affairs o' yer +country? We're authorised by the Committee of Safety to visit every +man in this county, and tell him he must either fight or flee." + +'"Feth, a' I'll do neether," I said, an' whipped up my horses. + +'They went off, an' I seen no more o' them till this mornin', when they +come again--an'--well, here I am.' + +I had listened with a sort of greedy interest to every syllable. 'Were +there many in your settlement who refused to take up arms?' I asked. + +'Bout half o' us at first; but when they begun the burnin', the +shearin' an' paintin' o' the cattle an' horses; the smashin' o' +windows, an' the threatenin' with tar and feathers, of course a number +got frightened, an' said they'd fight. + +'Then in our settlement the way they used old man Williams scared a +lot. These men who said they'd been sent by the Committee o' Safety, +seized the old man one night, fastened all the doors an' closed the +chimney-top, and then smoked the ol' fellow so badly that it isn't +known yet whether he'll live or die. My own daughter was pelted with +rotten eggs--and by men, mind you, by men.' + +His voice rose here almost to a scream, and I saw that great anger +burned in his face. + +'That's what's been goin' on all over this whole country for the last +three weeks; an' that's not hearsay; I've seen it. It's cruel, it's +wicked, it's persecution, an' how can it be any less wrong because it's +done by the "Sons o' Liberty," as they call themselves? Fine liberty +that tears a man away from his wife an' children, an' farm, an' lands +him in a place like this.' + +There was a note of bitter scorn in the closing words. + +'These cruelties will make friends for the King, won't they?' I said. + +'They will,' he said with emphasis; 'they've done that already.' + +In answer to further questions I learned that my fellow prisoner's name +was David Elton; that he had been a farmer all his life, and that his +great hope was to return soon to his farm and family, which he claimed +never needed him more than in this spring season of the year, when +crops had to be put in. Of Boston and what was happening there he knew +nothing, except that the siege was still going on. + +We spent the night, both of us sleeping as best we could, on the door. +The next morning we were blindfolded and led away. After a half-hour's +walk we found ourselves in the presence of one of the numerous +Committees of Safety. + +These had, I learned afterwards, been organised all over the country as +soon as the mobs of the wilder sort, described by David Elton, had +driven away the lawful magistrates and judges who had held their +offices under the King. These committees were made up of the most +bitter partisans, and yet they were supposed to take the place of the +King's courts of justice. The committees were approved by the +Provincial Congress, and given absolute power over all matters civil as +well as military. Thus, during the first weeks of the war, did the +control of the entire country pass into the hands of the King's +enemies, who were not slow to avail themselves of the fruits of even +mob violence. The advantage gained through these committees was +immense, as by their proclamation all neutrals and opponents of the +revolution were designated rebels and enemies of authority and their +country. + +It was before one of these committees that my fellow prisoner and I +were called. It was plain from the beginning that everything was +against us. The man who occupied the chair was not a farmer, I +noticed. I concluded at once that he, and at least half of the +committee of twelve, were residents of Boston. This fact I was quite +sure would not increase our chances of acquittal. I had often heard my +father express his confidence in the farmer people of the country, but +his opinion of many Boston merchants, whose sense of honour had been +dulled by years of trading in smuggled goods, was far from high. + +As I looked about the room I soon recognised that there were many other +prisoners in addition to ourselves. I listened eagerly as one after +another was put upon the stand and questioned. It soon appeared to me +that most of the men were neutrals who, like David Elton, had been +taken forcibly from their farms because they had refused to take up +arms. A few boldly declared for the King; some promised to fight; many +wavered. These latter, as a rule, were given a time limit, in which to +decide finally, and were let go. The Loyalists were sent back to jail. +David Elton, when called, stoutly refused to declare himself. He +protested that he was a farmer, a man of peace, who had a large family +to support, and he was determined to go back to his farm. He was +handed over to a guard, then hurried away. Almost before the sound of +his loud, shrill voice, raised high in protest, was out of my ears, I +heard my own name sharply called by the court. + +When I went forward I noticed a look of deepened interest on the faces +of both committee and spectators. My case was not like those of the +other prisoners, who were practically all farmers of the community. As +I faced the crowd of onlookers I noticed that two men suddenly and +quietly left the room. The chairman of the committee followed them +sharply with his eye, a few others turned to look, but the great +majority steadily and critically scrutinised myself. The murmur in the +building fell to silence. + +'Your name?' was the first question asked of me. + +I gave it, also my age and place of residence. + +'Will you now relate fully and concisely all that has taken place in +your life since the morning of April twentieth?' This question was put +by the man who was acting as judge. + +I had spoken but a few words when a member of the committee rose, and +addressing the chairman, asked to be excused. While I had not been +positive of the face, since the light had been uncertain when I saw the +man before, the first words he spoke dispelled all doubt. I knew the +man. He was the person whom I had heard addressed as 'Colonel,' on the +night Duncan escaped and I was made prisoner. + +A chorus of protests broke from both committeemen and spectators. +Instantly I understood. This was the man whom I had heard declare he +would tell that Duncan Hale had been hanged. As a reward for his +supposed services he had been chosen a member of the Committee of +Safety! + +During the parley that followed I was able to turn over the situation +in my mind. The men who had gone out had evidently been members of the +party which Duncan had eluded, and they had feared my story. What +would I do? The 'Colonel' feared it also. Would telling the whole +truth help or harm me? I did not care to go back to the mine, and I +felt that I should proceed with the utmost caution. The mere promise +to fight, I had learned from the cases of others that day, meant +freedom. Would not this simplify matters? Should I not here under the +circumstances be justified in making a promise that I did not intend to +keep. I was sure the truth, if told, would make trouble for the +'Colonel'; but would it not make corresponding trouble for myself by +showing my sympathy with Duncan Hale, who was hated as were few men of +the King's party? Finally, I resolved to hazard the whole truth. + +The uproar in the court ended in the 'Colonel' not being allowed to go, +and I was ordered to proceed. + +Knowing I had but one thing of importance to say, I spent little time +in leading up to it. I said I had taken no part in the dispute: that I +rode out to Lexington simply to learn the truth. I spoke of meeting +the body of troops, and of seeing the old man at the graves; I referred +briefly to the burial, even to the sermon--all this to stamp my story +as unmistakably true--then I plunged into the scene on the road to +Boston and told of Duncan's escape. 'And that man there,'--I said, +turning and facing the 'Colonel,' who sat pale and shivering,--'that +man there declared in the presence of all the others in the party, that +he would go to the village and tell the committee that Duncan Hale had +been hanged.' + +[Illustration: "THAT MAN," I SAID, TURNING AND FACING THE 'COLONEL,' +WHO SAT PALE AND SHIVERING.] + +I felt sure that this was the point where my story should close. I had +nothing stronger than this. Moved by a certain latent instinct for the +dramatic I broke off and sat down. + +There was a short, ominous silence--then a great uproar. 'Traitor!' +yelled several at once, as they sprang upon the benches, waving their +arms wildly. + +'Shoot him,' shouted others; 'he let him go purposely.' + +But I heard little more, for the individual voices became indistinct in +the general chorus of angry shouts that burst from every part of the +room. Friends and defenders crowded near the 'Colonel,' and soon the +house was divided against itself. Had it not been that two armed +guards stood at the door, I think I would have broken for liberty. + +Finally, standing upon the table behind which he had sat with so much +of badly simulated dignity, the chairman, very red and very hoarse, +succeeded in restoring order. + +'We have agreed,' he said, 'that this whole matter shall be fully +investigated, and justice shall be done. It is certainly unwelcome +news to hear that the notorious Hale is still at large. If he has +escaped, as this lad declares, if among ourselves there are some who +are unworthy of our confidence, it is well that these things be known. +Everything will be fully investigated, and'--he roared the words so +loudly that they were almost unintelligible--'and justice shall be done +to both friend and foe.' + +The whole assembly cheered mightily. Then the man on the table spoke +again. + +'Now in the name,' he said, 'and by authority of the Committee of +Safety for the township of Lexington, I adjourn this meeting for one +week, and order that this boy Davis and Colonel John Griffin be kept +close prisoners till that time.' + +I was not taken back to the mine, but was put in a comparatively +comfortable prison. That night--a little after midnight--I was aroused +by a low tapping on my door. As I drew near this it opened. I stepped +out. The brilliant May night was all about me: and it was very still. + +Without a word a figure that crouched in the shadow of the door +motioned me toward the great black wood that stretched from the edge of +the prison yard away up the mountain. I flew off like a bird. + +I was free at last, but whether they were friends of the 'Colonel,' or +friends of my own, who accomplished my release, I was never able to +discover. + + + + +Chapter VI + +King or People? + +The road between Lexington and Cambridge lay well in the valley. But I +kept to the hill country. I knew that all the roads must be avoided. +I felt sure that I could keep the course, which I knew was easterly, +and tramp home by way of the low, timber-crowned ridge of mountains. I +set down the danger of getting lost as light compared with that of +arrest which might await me on the road in the valley, for I was by no +means anxious to return to my former quarters in either mine or prison. + +Then I recalled having seen many clearings, and several small +farmhouses, dotted along the ridge, all well up toward the top of the +wooded slope. I resolved to work my way from one to another of these +until I reached home. + +It was probably about nine in the morning when I came, somewhat +suddenly, upon the first clearing. It afforded a view of the whole +valley for miles. Here and there I caught glimpses of the road as it +wound round toward Boston. + +I stood for some moments looking upon the scene before me. It was all +magnificent. The sun was high, warm, and bright, away across the +valley. The strong, vigorous life of the New England spring was +everywhere; and my three weeks' enforced stay in the cold, damp mine +threw all the beauty of the bursting leaves, the greening, distant +valley, and the singing birds, into high and clear relief. A new life +seemed to pulse in my veins. I was once more free. + +As I advanced across the clearing I was struck with the evident +remoteness of the place. The valley seemed to be miles away; the woods +walled in the place on every side; and yet the soil had been freshly +cultivated. Could it be that this was one of the numerous highland +farms which I had seen when riding in the valley? + +At that moment a dull sound, as of one beating the earth, fell upon my +ears. I turned, and close to the edge of the woods, working with a hoe +in the black earth among the charred stumps, I saw the stooped figure +of a woman. As I looked she stood the hoe by the side of a stump, +stepped a little to one side, picked up a small basket, and swung her +hand about as though scattering grain. A moment later she was again +working rapidly with the large, heavy hoe. + +For some time I stood where I was, without moving or speaking. I was +still undecided as to what I should do, when I heard the cry of a +child. At this the woman dropped her hoe, and turned directly toward +me. On seeing me she threw up her hands, and stood for a moment gazing +at me. I saw a great terror come into her face, but before I could +speak to quiet her fears, she sprang like a wild thing, uttering a +piercing shriek as she did so, toward the green hollow that had served +for a cradle, and, snatching up a crying infant, she fled away in the +direction of the small log house at the north-west corner of the +clearing. To this I followed her. Standing outside the closed door I +explained my situation, and in less than half an hour I was eating with +great relish a homely but substantial breakfast. I had almost finished +this before the woman fully threw off restraint and talked freely. + +'It was a great fright you gave me at first,' she said. 'I was sure +they were comin' to take me off too. It's only two days since a lot of +men, who said they were sent by some committee, came to the fiel' an' +took away my husband. He told me to try and do what I could at puttin' +in the rest of the crop; but the work in the new lan' is hard for a +woman.' + +She had one child in her arms, and as she spoke, four others trooped +into the little room, and taking up positions beside her looked at me +curiously. + +'We've five little ones,' she said; 'an we were gettin' on nicely till +this awful war come. An' it all seemed to come so sudden. Away up +here we heard little about it, till after the shootin' begun. Even now +I don't know what all the trouble is about. All the neighbours 'bout +here were poor, peaceable folk, an' wanted to go on with their +croppin'. Some say the King's wrong, that the laws are hard, an' all +that, but we never had any reason to complain. An' even if the laws +weren't right, wouldn't it have been better to live on peaceably, than +to have things as they are now? Look at me left with these five +children! What'll they do if their father isn't let come back to them +an' the farm?' A look of anxious fear came into the woman's face, as +she spoke. + +'What was your husband's name?' I asked. + +'David--David Elton. My maiden name was Merton. We're married ten +years this summer.' + +'David Elton,' I repeated; 'is David Elton your husband?' + +'He is. Did you ever hear of him?' + +'Yes,' I said: 'I have.' Then I told her many things, to which she +gave eager attention. + +Half an hour later I had said goodbye to Mrs. Elton and her children, +and was entering the woods to continue my journey. Taking a glance +backward, I saw the woman with the infant in her arms emerge from the +little log house, and cross the clearing to the spot where she had been +when I first saw her. She placed the child in the green hollow again, +took up the basket and scattered some seed about, and the next moment +she was digging the grain into the black, ashy earth with her heavy +hoe. As I looked, a lump rose in my throat, and I got a new glimpse of +the meaning of war. + +Late that night I reached home in safety. My mother and sisters were +overjoyed at my coming. They spoke much of my changed appearance, and +when I saw myself in the mirror I did not wonder. My experience of +almost four weeks had told remarkably upon me; still I felt I had +obtained valuable information, which might be of service to the King's +cause. I had learned and could tell of what was going on in the +country; I now knew something of the character and methods of the men +who were carrying on the war, and all this I felt much more than made +up for the loss of a few pounds of flesh. + +But my mind was soon diverted from myself by other thoughts that +crowded upon me. 'Have you seen Duncan Hale?' I asked my mother; and, +as the words left my lips, I felt a great fear about my heart pulling +the blood from my cheeks. The last time I had seen him there was a +noosed rope about his neck, with a long, dangling end. The memory of +the sight was fearful. But my mother was speaking. + +'Duncan,' she said, 'the good friend and noble fellow that he is, has +come to us as regularly as possible from Boston. The city is besieged, +and he comes at great, personal risk.' + +The words afforded me unspeakable relief; I felt my lost colour return. + +'What has been happening in Boston lately?' I inquired. + +'Some new troops have arrived from England, and the fortifications are +being strengthened.' + +After some further questions and answers, I detailed my experiences as +fully as I thought necessary. My mother was much disappointed at my +inability to secure definite information regarding my father's death +and resting-place, but both she and my sisters bravely accepted the +hard conditions imposed upon us by our great and sudden loss. + +From one matter we passed to another, and then another, until, in a +little silence that fell, my mother, turning to Caroline, said, 'Bring +the paper that officer left yesterday. Roger should see it.' + +While our talk had scarce touched the future at all, the document, +which was soon in my hands, convinced me that the real crisis for us +was still ahead. The paper was addressed to my mother. It opened with +a review of supposed grievances, referred to the causes that had led up +to the war, and ended with the statement that the house and entire +estate would be seized by American soldiers, and appropriated to the +use of the army, unless a full and satisfactory declaration of sympathy +with the rebel cause were made inside of twelve days. + +With the knowledge I possessed of what was taking place in the country, +I was not surprised at the contents of the paper. I had seen that +events were shaping directly toward this end. But the paper brought +the crisis near, and made it real. I laid the document on the table, +and for some time, without speaking, looked into my mother's face. + +'It has come to this,' I said finally. + +'Yes; what are we to do?' she answered. 'Must we give up all and fly, +or else declare ourselves opposed to the King? Does it really mean +that?' + +'That is what it means, mother,' I said. 'That is made very clear. +Our property is a valuable one, and, being situated as it is, would +afford many advantages to the King's enemies.' + +'But they will pay us if they take our place--won't they?' It was my +youngest sister Elizabeth who thus innocently spoke. + +'No, dear,' my mother answered, with fine composure; 'they will not pay +us. They will come with soldiers and drive us away. For the rest of +our lives we shall be poor, and shall be forced to work for our +living--that is, if we declare for the King.' As she spoke her last +words, my mother turned from Elizabeth to me. There was a searching, +appealing look in her face. I saw that she had seized the situation +correctly; I felt she knew that a decision upon which our entire future +depended could not be long delayed. + +For many people in the Colonies the question of choice of sides in the +great conflict was solved by the nature of things. Most of those +engaged in shipping, or in any branch of trade upon which duties had +been imposed, the naturally discontented and revolution-loving people, +as well as many others, ranged themselves immediately--without +consideration of consequences, and evidently without any doubts as to +the proper course to be pursued--under the banner of the King's enemies. + +On the other hand, there were the officials of the government, the seat +of which was in England; there were the many cultured and learned +persons whose relatives and whose interests were all in Britain; and +there were the more humble, but not less loyal people--many of them +among the farmer and working classes--who loved British institutions +with a love as strong as the love of life itself. Some of these had +fought under English commanders against the French, and their hearts +warmed at the name of King--their enthusiasm rose at the sight of +England's flag. For these also to decide was easy. + +But between the people of these two classes, whose decisions were +rendered almost inevitable, there were many who could not so easily and +so hastily settle the question of sides in the contest. Many of the +more thoughtful did not know on which side the right lay. Many who +wished to choose rightly were at a great loss to know what course to +pursue. + +Probably, of the thousands of families all over the country, who +pondered the situation raised by the papers such as my mother had +received, none found the problem more difficult and complex than did +we. Our feelings; our training and interests; our sense of what was +right; our love of England for England's sake, and of the King for the +King's sake; all said, and said to each of us, 'Rise and flee, let all +go.' But how were we to live? Our property was our support. If our +feelings said go, self-interest argued stoutly for remaining. My +mother and sisters were defenceless and helpless; I was but a +schoolboy. And it was soldiers the King wanted--not refugees. + +But the hour had grown very late. We felt that the question was too +large for us. I rose and was leaving the library for my room. It was +then that my sister Caroline slipped to my side with a book in her hand. + +'Prayers,' she said softly, pushing me back toward my seat. 'I have +found you the prayer for the day,' she added, 'you must read it as +father used to do.' + +A rush of emotion, mingled with a feeling of shame at my thoughtless +ingratitude toward the Father of all mercies, almost mastered me as I +took the book of prayers from my sister's hand. Had God not been good +in delivering me? Had not my father prayed? Was not prayer more +necessary now than it had ever been in my life? + +We all knelt, and I stammered through the beautiful words. They +brought to me a feeling of strange relief. Before I slept, in words of +my own, I thanked God that He had given me a sister, who, in my +weakness, had sent me to Him for strength. + + + + +Chapter VII + +The Die Cast + +The next day was Sunday. As I walked about the hedged garden in the +early morning, as I looked away toward Boston and marked the general +quiet of the country about, I was surprised that I did not see more +evidence of war and disorder. Except some white tents in the distance, +and the occasional passing of a supply wagon from the country, there +was really nothing to break the Sabbath quiet, or to remind one that +the city of Boston was closely invested by thousands of farmer +soldiers, and that a great revolution was in progress. When the church +bells chimed out sweetly on the beautiful spring air, it seemed harder +still to think that the time of peace had really passed. + +I left the garden and re-entered the house. At the foot of the stairs +I met my sister Caroline. + +'You will come with us to church, Roger,' she said. 'Doctor Canfield +will be delighted to see you back.' + +My mind ran back a little. Would I not be in danger of arrest? The +whole country, I knew, was swarming with spies. I thought of the part +I had played in saving Duncan Hale, also of my imprisonment and escape. +I had not thought of openly showing myself, at least for a little while. + +But Caroline was of quite a different mind. 'You will be in no more +danger in church than at home,' she argued. 'I have seen many at +church lately who I am sure are in favour of the King. Since you left, +things have gone on quite as usual; nobody has been molested, and +Doctor Canfield has said nothing of the war. Then Roger'--she came +nearer to me, and put her hand upon my arm--'should we not go to church +to-day, at least, and pray that God might guide us to do what may be +best?' + +I felt once more rebuked by my sister. + +In less than half an hour I was seated, with my mother and two sisters, +in the handsome church that had been for years the pride of the town of +Cambridge. Not even Boston could boast a finer church building, or a +more cultured congregation. Boston was a centre of trade; its narrow +and crooked streets; its wharves and many ships; its mixed population; +its noise and taverns; its large and busy crowds, had for years stood +out in sharp contrast with the quiet and delightful country culture of +Cambridge. The educated and the wealthy, particularly those in whom +the English instincts were strongest, had, like my father, chosen to +live in the country rather than in the city. Thus it was that, when +Doctor Canfield entered his pulpit that Sabbath morning, he faced +representatives of all that was best and most intellectual in the life +of the colony. + +On glancing about I noticed that the church was very full. Doctor +Canfield's church was not the only one in Cambridge, but as a rule to +it came not only all the Episcopalians, but most of the Scottish +Presbyterians, who had not, at that time, a church of their own in the +town. They had been, mainly, silent people, who had lived quietly, +without doing or saying anything that betrayed sympathy with either +side. Were these friends of the King? Did the circulating of the +papers calling for a declaration of sympathy explain their presence in +such large numbers this morning at Doctor Canfield's church? + +My mother had told me previously that many of them had been attending +our church for some weeks. Had the great sifting and selecting process +begun? Had persecution here, as in the country, been making friends +for the King? At any rate, as I looked about, I was led to hope that +religious differences were likely to be obliterated, or sunk, in loyal +zeal for the King's cause. + +I was interrupted at this point in my thinking by Doctor Canfield +announcing his text. It was, 'Love the brotherhood; fear God; honour +the king.' + +He repeated the words twice with much deliberation. + +A great, strained silence fell upon the vast congregation. I was +startled; for a time my breath came short and uncertainly. Had the +reserved, hitherto-silent man, made up his mind to declare himself? +One great question--the question raised and forced home to each of his +hearers by the papers such as my mother had received--filled every +mind. But great and pressing as this question was, could it be +discussed? I felt sure I knew what Doctor Canfield would say; he was +an honest man, and would honestly speak his mind. But was he sure of +the temper and sympathies of his hearers that day? Had he counted the +cost? + +I glanced at my mother, and saw that she was plainly agitated. Even +Elizabeth, my sister of but twelve, seemed to realise that a crisis was +at hand. Caroline's face was serenely calm. On every countenance that +I could see there sat an expression of profound, even painful interest. +The silence deepened, and the interest grew, as the minister proceeded. +He first briefly discussed the part of his text bearing on love of the +brotherhood; then touched briefly, but with earnestness, on the +necessity for fearing God, and passed to the third and last part of his +subject. + +As he approached this, I noticed that a note of emotion had crept into +his voice, and some of the colour had slipped down from his face; but +he was still very calm, and spoke unbrokenly as he finished his second +heading, and then twice repeated the words, + + 'Honour the King!' + + +At this point he suddenly stopped. The silence that fell was painfully +intense. People leaned forward; here and there heads went down on the +pews in front. I felt my heart beat quick and unevenly. But the +apparent calmness of Doctor Canfield reassured me. + +He did not proceed with his sermon; but, picking up a paper that lay +beside the Bible, he slowly opened it, then brought it before the gaze +of the people. I recognised the paper at once as being similar to the +one received by my mother. + +'It is not necessary,' he began, 'that I should read to you, my +brethren, the contents of this paper. With what is here written, you +are no doubt familiar. This paper has brought before us all a matter +of the supremest importance. I have given it the most earnest and +careful consideration. In regard to you, my brethren, as to the course +you should pursue in this great and lamentable crisis that is now +facing our beautiful but unhappy country--concerning you, I have +neither suggestions to offer, nor advice to give; but for myself, I +feel now constrained, in the presence of God and of this congregation, +to say that in the past my sympathies have been, at the present they +are, and in the future they shall be, always and only with my true and +rightful sovereign, the King of England.' + +He said no more. The people before him sat stunned and dumb. Many had +known his mind before; many were aware that when he spoke he would +speak as he had spoken; and yet, to even these, the declaration came +with a shock. Hitherto, he had proclaimed only the gospel; he had +stood apart from politics; he had considered himself the pastor of all, +not of part, of his people. But there is a time when to be silent is +to be false--when to be true one must speak. Doctor Canfield had +evidently felt that such a time had come in the New England Colonies of +King George, and he had spoken in words that could not be misunderstood. + +Slowly the people recovered from the shock. Those who had leaned +forward leaned back. All through the church there was a swaying +movement as when a harvest field is wind swept. I noticed evidences of +relief and joy steal into the faces of many; but on the countenances of +others there were unmistakable signs of disappointment and anger. I +saw at a glance that a majority--but not all--were for the King. + +Doctor Canfield stood as still as a statue. His face had gone very +white. Soon through the sound of swaying people, there came to my ears +the noise of footsteps. Then a moment later, all over the church, men +and women rose and pressed toward the door. A few of the leaders of +the church went, old and true Episcopalians, some also of the +non-Episcopalians. The faces of many who remained showed signs of +struggle and indecision. A few rose and sat down again. Some looked +questions at those beside them. In the seat directly in front of us a +husband was leaving the seat when his wife drew him back. Not a few in +the church wept audibly. + +And thus it was throughout all New England, during that Sunday and the +days following, that men, many of them in the house of God, silently, +suddenly, prayerfully committed themselves to the cause of King or +people. They saw themselves under two masters, and painful though the +decision was, they felt that they must, for the future, hold to the +one, even though it was difficult for them to find it in their hearts +to despise the other. + +When all had gone who had resolved to go, when quiet had fallen again +in the church, the minister, without a word of further comment, +announced the National Anthem. The pent-up feelings of the people--and +there was yet a large congregation, for fully three-fourths of the +worshippers had remained--found freedom and relief in the old familiar +words. + +Shortly after we reached home that day, through the green of the trees, +waving high in front of the rectory, I caught a glimpse of the Union +Jack. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +Off to Nova Scotia + +It was several weeks later. My mother, Dr. Canfield, Duncan Hale, and +I were sitting in a room in Boston, awaiting our turn for a promised +interview with Lord Percy, who was still with the army. The battle of +Bunker Hill had been won by the British; but, in spite of this success, +General Washington, who arrived in July to take command of the army, +had succeeded in drawing his lines uncomfortably close about the city. +We, with thousands of others, had been forcibly driven from our +beautiful homes in the country, to make quarters for Washington's +soldiers. We had been allowed to take nothing away. From all that was +most dear to us--from the luxury of a quiet life of culture; from rooms +where hung portraits of hero ancestors; from walks and gardens that had +become part of our life; from broad, rich fields and firm-set old +mansions, with their wide halls and fine Corinthian architecture;--from +all these, one day in late June, my sisters, my mother, and myself, had +been driven by a mob-like body of rough, jeering men who called +themselves patriot soldiers. + +True, we might have remained. Indeed, as we passed down the path from +our home, my mother was presented with a second paper, the signing of +which would have restored to us all that from which we were being +driven. She read a few lines, then, tearing the paper into bits, she +threw these in the face of the soldier who stood before her. After +this, without a single look backward upon our home--on foot, under the +blazing June sun--we had hurried away toward the besieged city of +Boston. None hindered us; but many jeered as we passed. We had lost +much--much upon which we never again looked--but we felt we had gained +in this: we were under the flag of the King. + +But that was the past. What of the future? This was the question in +the mind of each of us that day in Lord Percy's waiting-room, when a +servant appeared, and asked us to follow him. + +After receiving us all very graciously, his lordship asked us to be +seated. I thought I had seldom seen a handsomer man. He was tall, +graceful and youthful; his manners were polished, and his language bore +all the marks of the utmost culture. He first addressed himself to my +mother. After making some kindly references to my late father, and his +services in the King's cause, he passed at once to a discussion of what +was to be in the future. + +'You cannot be unaware, madame,' he said, 'of the deep and sympathetic +interest I take in the welfare of yourself and your family. The noble +spirit of self-sacrifice manifested by you in voluntarily giving up +your lands and home, I consider quite beyond praise; and it is with +feelings of the profoundest regret that I feel myself obliged to say +that it is quite beyond my power to offer compensation to you in any +degree commensurate with your loss. As to the future of the rebellion, +nothing definite can be said; for myself, I believe that the arms of +the King will finally triumph; but this cannot be hoped for in the +immediate future. You cannot remain here; the danger grows daily. +What think you of Canada, madame? Or of Nova Scotia, of those wide, +peaceful, loyal provinces of His Majesty to the north of us? Many of +our people, as you know, have sailed for England--too many, I fear; +others have asked to be sent to Canada.' + +My mother did not answer for a time. Finally, she said: 'I like +America; I was born here; I have now few friends in England, and I am +without means.' + +At the mention of Canada, I had seen Duncan Hale's face brighten; but +he did not speak. A little later, Lord Percy turned to him. + +'Tell us,' he said, 'what is said of Nova Scotia in the geographies? +Is it really a habitable land?' + +Duncan bowed very low. + +'Yes, my lord,' he said, 'it is a country in no degree less fruitful +than that in which we live. In addition to what is writ in our books +of it, I have learned from traders that the soil is rich, that it is a +land of delightful summers, of mighty rivers, and of boundless forests. +The wealth of its fisheries and mines cannot be estimated; and best of +all, your lordship, it is a land undefiled by the feet of traitors.' + +The closing words were spoken in such a manner as to show that Duncan +Hale was not one of those who had found it difficult to choose between +King and people. + +Doctor Canfield, who had so far said little, rose and walked to a large +map of America that hung upon the wall. + +'This is Nova Scotia,' he said, pointing to a large, irregular +peninsula. 'Canada is further west, is it not?' + +[Illustration: 'THIS IS NOVA SCOTIA.' HE SAID, POINTING TO THE MAP.] + +We gathered about the map, a new and peculiar interest attaching to it, +owing to the situation in which we were placed. + +Duncan Hale explained fully and clearly that all the land on both sides +of the water marked Bay of Fundy was called Nova Scotia. This was a +single province, which had a Governor who lived in Halifax. 'Canada,' +Lord Percy explained later to my mother, 'is known as the Province of +Quebec. There are many French there,' he said; 'but in Nova Scotia +most of the people are English or Scotch. In Halifax they have had a +Parliament for some years now, and from all we have been able to learn +the people here'--he swept his hand all over the peninsula and around +the Bay of Fundy--'are happy and prosperous in the enjoyment of the +liberties of all British subjects.' + +After touching on the question of sailing for England, we discussed +with Lord Percy more fully the relative merits of Canada and Nova +Scotia. Then we went out. + +As we passed along, we noticed that the streets were crowded. There +were many soldiers in their bright red uniforms, but the great majority +of the people were like ourselves--refugees who had come in from the +surrounding towns and country for protection from the rebels who were +daily becoming more insolent and offensive. We had come almost to the +quarters kindly put at our disposal by Lord Percy, when in a crowd of +plain countrymen I caught sight of a face which I was quite sure I had +seen before. Doctor Canfield went on with my mother and sisters, while +Duncan Hale and I turned aside. + +A moment later, hearing the voice of the man who had attracted my +attention, I was fully convinced that I had hit upon my old +fellow-prisoner of the mine at Lexington, David Elton. He shook my +hand warmly, told me briefly of his escape, and of his return to his +home. + +'But when I got back,' he went on, 'I found a great change in the +settlement. Some had taken up arms on the side of the people; some had +enlisted with the King's men. I and several others could not think it +was right to fight on either side. Finally they came an' burned our +houses, an' drove off our stock, so we had to flee.' + +'What are your plans for the future?' I asked. + +'Some o' them here'--he waved his hand over the group of hardy, +honest-looking farmers--'have been talkin' o' goin' to--what's the name +o' the place?' he said, turning to those who stood behind him. + +'Nova Scotia,' several said at once. + +'Aye, Nova Scotia. That's it. There's peace there, they say, an' +plenty o' better lan' than what we've had here on the hillsides. Most +of us have about made up our minds to go there.' + +'Well done,' broke in Duncan Hale at this; 'for myself I'd rather be +there on two meals a day under the flag of the King than living as a +lord here among traitors, rebels and cut-throats.' + +At this a few of the crowd hurrahed and pressed closer. They listened +attentively for some time, as Duncan told them of the new land in the +north to which their minds had already turned. As I looked on this +group of rough, plain men eagerly listening to the schoolmaster, as I +marked their hard hands and weather-beaten faces, as I heard them cheer +the King's name, it came to me that it was not the cultured and refined +only who were with the King. The bone and sinew of the country, as +well as the brain and learning of it, were united in their loyalty to +the cause that was growing dearer to me every day. The siege of Boston +dragged slowly and painfully on. Weeks slid into months, and still no +decided advantage was gained by either side. There were times when we +heard that it would be useless to go to either Canada or Nova Scotia, +for these already had been invaded and conquered. All communication by +land was cut off, and closer and closer about the city were drawn the +lines of the besiegers. English ships kept coming and going, but +gradually it began to dawn upon me that Boston must be given up. + +The winter was wearing towards spring of the year 1776. The condition +of things in Boston was far from comfortable. It was eight months +since we had left our home in Cambridge. Almost all who sympathised +with the besiegers had left the city, but it was still much +overcrowded. The fleet lay in the harbour, but the supply ships from +England came less and less regularly. Food began to be scarce and +dear. The trade of busy and prosperous Boston languished almost to +nothing. A spirit of grumbling discontent seized the soldiers. The +heart of the Loyalists sank very low. Drunkenness and disorder, crime +and confusion, were spreading. + +It was during these dull, heavy days when even my mother's brave spirit +had almost deserted her, when even Doctor Canfield found it hard to be +cheerful, and when I was feeling particularly depressed, that a new +hope suddenly entered my life. For some time my sister Caroline had +been endeavouring to turn my mind inward upon myself. An experience +quite unlooked for lent her strange and powerful assistance. + +She had cautioned me again and again not to expose myself to danger +from the enemy. Several shells thrown by the besiegers had been +bursting in the city lately, and had done considerable damage. + +'Be careful, Roger,' Caroline said to me on leaving home one day for my +usual walk about the city: 'How dreadful it would be both for us and +yourself if anything should happen to you.' + +As I walked I could not help recalling the words, 'How dreadful for +yourself if anything should happen to you.' + +Did my sister really think I was unprepared for death? I had heard her +pray earnestly for me. I noticed that while the rest spoke much of the +war and the danger about us she said little of these things. For the +future she seemed to have no fear, except her fear for me. Why was +this? I was not openly wicked. I was not profane, and yet I was sure +my sister had a faith, a peace, a happiness even in our distressing +circumstances that I did not possess. + +It was at that moment that a great crashing noise fell upon my ears. A +shell burst almost at the feet of a man who had been walking but a few +yards in front of me. Through the great cloud of dust raised I saw him +fall; I heard him shriek out a prayer to God for mercy upon him; and +then a few moments later he was dead. + +For almost a year I had been familiar with the sight of many wounded +and dead. I had known of many being thus suddenly taken off; and yet +my own need of preparation never came home to me as at that moment. +Had I been a few yards further ahead all would have been over with me. +Then my sister's words came back with double meaning. + +That night, in the quiet of my small room, I poured out my soul to God +in prayer for forgiveness. I made up my mind that whether we finally +resolved upon going to England, to Canada, or to Nova Scotia, I would +go not in my own strength, but in the strength of God and in dependence +upon Christ as my Saviour. + +My decision was not made any too soon. The next morning showed that +during the night the Americans had strongly fortified themselves on the +heights much nearer the city than ever before. Seeing this, a council +of war was held by the British officers, and it was decided that Boston +must be given up at once. + +The following night the whole army, with eleven hundred Loyalists like +ourselves, were hurried on board the King's ships that lay in the +harbour, and by the time the sun rose we were well down the bay, with +our vessels headed for the new land in the north called Nova Scotia. + + + + +Chapter IX + +In the 'True North' + +As the vessels drew away from Boston I was surprised to hear not a +single expression of regret. On all of the forty or more vessels there +were crowded, in addition to the soldiers, over a thousand men and +women who were leaving the land of their birth for a country that was +new, strange, and practically unknown. Behind them, on the slopes that +rose from the city, through the lifting mist of the morning, many could +distinguish the outlines of the farms they had cleared by long and +patient toil. The white of their comfortable homes stood out sharply +against the grey ground about them and the green forest behind. In the +making of these clearings and homes, men and women had grown old; +neither the suns of summer nor the storms of winter had turned them +aside from their great purpose of living honestly, of passing the +result of years of toil on to their children, and then lying down to +sleep in the hillside cemeteries with their fathers. + +But the plans slowly being matured through the years had been rudely +broken in upon. War had come. And now, though they might have +remained; though history afforded, as Duncan Hale affirmed, no parallel +for their action in leaving as they did; though no sword had been +lifted up to drive them hence; though no law but the law of their own +consciences bound them, they were sailing away. And while they looked +back with interest, I could not see on the many faces about me a single +evidence of pain at the going. Many of the men were old, and must +begin in the new land, where they had begun here fifty years ago; but, +as was fitting in the pioneers of a new way for many thousands of their +countrymen who were to follow them during the war and after its close, +they looked back that day upon the receding shores of Massachusetts +without regrets, and when the homes and farms could no longer be seen +on the grey, cold slopes, they turned dry eyes and resolute faces to +the sea and the pure March north wind. If the country to which they +went would be new, the flag, at least, would be the old one. + +As soon as we were well away from Boston, a feeling of buoyancy +possessed us. The sun shone brilliantly; this, together with the wide +stretch of sparkling sea about us, the shouting from ship to ship, the +feeling of freedom after so many weary months of restraint in the +besieged city, all tended to render us unexpectedly happy. Social +distinctions vanished. One in our loyalty, we resolved to be one in +everything. My mother moved about among the farmer women from the +country, and at times talked even gaily with them. Elizabeth romped +the decks with children of her age from the hillsides, while Duncan +Hale and Doctor Canfield, both of whom were on our ship, discussed +plans for the future with the men. + +On the afternoon of the third day after sailing we entered Halifax +harbour. I was standing by Duncan Hale. + +'It's all magnificent, magnificent,' I heard him say partly to himself. +'The whole British navy might enter here and manoeuvre.' + +Then he hastened away to find Doctor Canfield. When he returned with +him the vessel was well within the projecting horns of land that shut +the great harbour safely in from the ocean swell. On our left a high +bold bluff rose sheer from the water to a great height; on the right +the land lay much lower. Directly in front lay the harbour. It ran +away to the north for full six or seven miles, by two or three in +breadth, and was dotted with the ships that had come in before, and +hedged about on every side by the dark magnificent forests--here and +there broken by ledges of rock. Doctor Canfield surveyed it all slowly. + +'Why, it's a whole inland sea,' he said at length. 'Neither Boston +harbour nor any others on the whole New England coast can be compared +with this.' + +Many others made remarks, all expressing wonder at the magnificence of +the harbour and the beauty of the surrounding country. At sight of the +Union Jack flying from a tall staff on the top of a great mound some +distance in front and to the left, a feeling of proud satisfaction came +in upon me. The feeling of my new responsibility seemed to press upon +me as it had not done before. The wind blew down over the forests +fresh and cool, for it was yet March; here and there broad patches of +snow held fast in the hollows. + +Our means were very limited; the new land before us was evidently a +wilderness. But when I had looked for a moment on the well-known flag +waving from the distant hilltop, when from this I allowed my thoughts +to run on upward to Him whom I had solemnly pledged myself to serve, no +matter where we went or what happened, then for a time in the great +happiness that came upon me, I forgot that I was but a boy of not yet +seventeen, landing in a strange country with the responsibility of +supporting my mother and two sisters resting upon me. God had heard my +prayer for the safety of myself and others. I recalled Doctor +Canfield's last text, and felt that I could best honour the King by now +more reverently fearing God. + +It was at this point that I was startled to hear my sister Caroline, +who had been standing beside me--looking forward in silence--break out +sweetly, but in a low voice, into an old familiar hymn. The spirit of +the words gave fitting expression to my own feelings, and forgetting +those about me, I joined with her as she sang:-- + + 'O God, our help in ages past, + Our hope for years to come, + Our shelter from the stormy blast, + And our eternal home.' + + +With the opening of the second verse we were joined by many others. +Soon it seemed that every person on the crowded deck was singing. +Other ships caught it. Just as we drew to the landing-place the +singers reached the last verse, and surely nothing could have been more +appropriate than the words:-- + + 'O God, our help in ages past, + Our hope for years to come, + Be Thou our guard while troubles last, + And our eternal home.' + + +The words had a strangely moving effect upon the people's emotions. +Tears that had refused to flow on leaving Boston, now, with many, had +their way. + +Doctor Canfield, seizing the opportunity presented by the quiet that +followed the hymn, stepped forward, and in simple but beautiful +language offered up a prayer of thanks for deliverance from the deep, +and finally and earnestly commended all to the guidance and the mercy +of God for the days to come. + +A little later, as great bars of scarlet were shooting up from the +west, over the hill on which gaily flew the King's flag--for which we +had willingly sacrificed so much--happy in the consciousness of having +done right, strong in faith for the future, like our ancient ancestors +the Pilgrim Fathers, with both songs and prayers on our lips, we +stepped ashore. And from that day--the 30th of March, 1776--though we +did not know it, a new nation began to be made, in the 'True North,' on +Canadian soil. + +The Governor of Nova Scotia welcomed us heartily. The sudden and +unexpected arrival of so many soldiers and Loyalists produced some +difficulties, but everything possible was done to make us comfortable. +For those of the Loyalists who had no means, both food and shelter were +provided by the Government. With the assistance of Doctor Canfield, I +was able to secure a temporary lodging for my mother and my sisters at +a moderate rental. In this we proposed to remain until matters assumed +a more settled shape, and we were enabled to resolve upon a course for +the future. + +Fully two weeks were occupied before all the people were even fairly +well provided for. Many had to be content with sheds, barns, and +warehouses for homes. Good food was not always easily obtained. Many +who had been accustomed only to finely carpeted halls, and to couches +of down, were forced to occupy quarters where the floors were of rough +planks, and the beds of straw. + +But there was no complaining. We resolutely determined to be happy; +and we were happy. On the streets, in the quarters I visited, at the +market, about the wharves, and on the ships, people moved care-free and +light-hearted. Few spoke of the country we had left. There were many +entertainments. The Governor, the army officers, the members of the +council, and the more wealthy citizens opened their homes freely for +our entertainment and comfort, and in a remarkably short time the +memory of our sufferings and loss began to fade. To many, the old, +happy days of colonial Boston came suddenly back again. + +It was one evening when the entire city had passed under the spell of +this lighter mood, that I walked with Duncan Hale to the top of the +great mound where flew the flag. The warmth of the beautiful spring +air was everywhere about us. The grass had sprung green on the +hillslopes, the brooks ran full to overflowing, and the dark green of +the great forest was taking on a lighter shade. But Duncan's face wore +a heavy, apprehensive look. + +'I have seen the Governor,' he said in answer to a question, 'and +things at present are far from hopeful. The rebels have been winning +in New England. Many in this province whom the Government had hoped +would be loyal have refused the oath of allegiance to the King. A few +have openly declared for the enemy. Two nights ago a cargo of hay +being shipped from here to New York for the King's cavalry was burned. +Worst of all, reports have come from about the great bay to the +north--from the St. John and Miramichi Rivers, that thousands of the +Indians, urged by agents from the rebel General Washington, are on the +point of rising.' + +At the last words I suddenly stopped. The beauties of the spring +evening had no more charm for me. 'Can all this be true?' I gasped. + +'It is not to be denied, the Governor fears,' Duncan said. 'Halifax +may be besieged in less than a month.' + +'But cannot something be done?' I cried. + +'The Governor has one hope, that the Indians on the St. John may yet be +kept loyal. He has asked me to go with others and make the attempt.' + +'I shall go also,' I said, 'if the Governor will permit.' + +'The Indian is treacherous; there will be danger.' + +'I shall go though, Duncan: I must go, if I may be of service. I +thought all was now safe.' + +'So do many. Few in the city know our real danger. And another thing +that is discouraging is this: David Elton and many other farmers, who +have been into the country for several miles, say that it is absolutely +unfit for cultivation. Rocks, rocks, and only rocks everywhere is +their report. Food also is running very low in the city.' + +We turned and walked down the slope. Had I been right in being so +cheerful? + +As I entered the door of our temporary home, I heard my mother and +Caroline in earnest conversation. + +'But I ought to accept the offer, mother,' my sister was saying. 'We +are poor now, and our money is half spent already. What are we to do +when it is gone? Are we to remain, like so many others, a burden on +the King and the Government?' + +'But, Caroline,' my mother said, 'you must remember your family, your +name, and social standing. To accept this position means that you +become a servant. Have you considered that, my dear?' + +'Yes, mother,' Caroline said as I entered the room, 'I have thought of +that. But how can there be any disgrace in doing honest work? I am +strong and well; I want to do something to help Roger support you and +Lizzie.' + +My mother did not speak. I saw that a conflict was going on within +her, the conflict that had to be fought out in so many Loyalist breasts +between pride and necessity in Canada. But in this, as in most other +cases, necessity won. My proud-spirited mother was finally overborne +in her opposition to my sister's proposal. Before we slept that night, +it was agreed that Caroline should enter a Halifax family where she +would earn some ten shillings per week teaching two children and doing +some other light duties. + +We were surprised the next morning by an early visit from Duncan Hale. + +'The Governor,' he said addressing me, 'will give you a place as +secretary to one of the officers who is to go to St. John with +Lieutenant-Governor Hughs to attempt to pacify the Indians. The salary +will be six shillings per day. Will you go?' + +'Yes,' I said eagerly; 'I will.' + + + + +Chapter X + +The Treaty + +The details of the expedition to the Indians on the St. John were +finally arranged, and we set off. Duncan Hale was to act as secretary +to Sir Richard Hughs, the lieutenant-governor, while I was assigned to +a similar position under a certain Colonel Francklin, who had been +appointed by the Government as superintendent of Indian affairs. There +went with us also a Rev. Father Bourg, a former missionary to the +Indians, a Romanist, a man of French descent, but, as I was afterwards +to learn, a valuable and loyal subject of King George. + +Our party, including soldiers and a few gentlemen who went to look over +the country north of the bay, with a view to getting some of the many +farmers who had come from Boston to settle upon it, numbered, in all, +twenty-seven persons. + +Somewhat tired from the long journey on horseback over a road that was +exceedingly rough, we finally reached Annapolis. The country about +here was partly settled, and seemed to be remarkably fertile. There +were wide, rich marshes, orchards, and many well-cultivated farms, +occupied mainly by settlers who had come in from the American Colonies +before the war. These lands, Father Bourg explained to me, had +originally been occupied by his ancestors, who had come from France +over a hundred years previously. + +From Annapolis we took a sailing vessel, and were soon across the Bay +of Fundy, and in the harbour at the mouth of the great St. John River. +The shores of the harbour seemed to be particularly rocky and +forbidding. At a place called Portland Point, where we landed, there +were a few buildings, somewhat rudely constructed, and used mainly by a +trading company that, for years, had done business with the Indians and +others up the river. On a hill to the eastward was a fort, called Fort +Howe; everywhere else, down even to the water's edge, stretched the +black, unbroken forest. + +We found the members of the trading company here, though American +born--unlike some others afterwards discovered up the river--to be true +and loyal subjects of the King. They exerted themselves to house us +comfortably, and then proceeded to give us much valuable information. + +'The Indians,' I heard Mr. Simonds, the head of the company, tell +Colonel Francklin, the evening of the day of our arrival, 'are becoming +more and more insolent. Not only have agents from the rebels been +among them, but their chiefs have, in answer to a special invitation, +visited General Washington at Boston. He there spoke many flattering +words to them, told them also that the English were planning to take +their country and make them slaves. Besides this he gave them large +presents, presented them with a wampum belt, a flag--a new design with +stars and stripes--provided them with arms, and finally exacted a +promise from them to kill or drive out the English found on the St. +John.' + +I saw Colonel Francklin's face take on a look of keen anxiety. 'Have +these chiefs yet returned?' he asked. + +'They have. For some days on the upper waters of the river they have +been poisoning the minds of the tribes. Cattle of the loyal settlers +have been driven off by them, houses burned, while the boats and nets +of some of our fishermen have been destroyed.' + +That night there was a long conference at the little trading post. The +next morning Colonel Francklin, Father Bourg, Mr. Simonds and myself, +with some dozen others, went on board a small sailing vessel, and +proceeded up the river, the plan being to meet the Indians and bring +them to the fort for an interview with the lieutenant-governor. + +As our vessel swung away from the wharf, and proceeded up the great +stream, I could not help admiring the grandeur of the scenery. On the +right there arose a great cliff of bluish white limestone. Far up this +a few workmen, in the employ of Mr. Simonds, were chipping and drilling +the rock, while down near the water's edge, where two schooners were +being loaded with barrels of lime, great puffs of smoke rose from the +kilns. It was my first glimpse of industry in the new country. + +After passing the cliffs, the banks of the river fell away back, +affording us a full and magnificent view of the great stream and its +surroundings. Far up the valley ahead, narrowed by the distance and +sparkling in the flood of May sunlight, I could see the winding line of +the river sliding among other lower hills, which showed blue through +the lifting mist. White, circling gulls shrieked out protests as they +swooped angrily very near to the Union Jack at our masthead; but apart +from this, and the strong swish of waters about our bows, the unbroken +silence of the great wilderness was over all. + +Standing on the deck and looking about, a feeling of exceeding +smallness and loneliness came in upon me. I had seen nothing like this +in New England, nor yet in Nova Scotia, for richness, for real +magnificent bigness and beauty. The sky above seemed higher and bluer, +the water below was clearer, the wind purer, the sweep of scenery finer +than any my memory could recall. Was nature to help in compensating us +for what we had lost and left behind? Had fate been cruel a year ago +in order to be kinder now? At any rate I felt as I looked out over it +all, then up at the small flag flaunting its red gaily against the +blue, that with these hills about me, with this river in front and with +that flag and God above me, I could be happy. I breathed a prayer, +then I resolved to make a home for my mother and sisters on the River +St. John. + +The evening of the second day on the river was approaching when I saw +Father Bourg rise from his seat on the deck, and advancing to the +vessel's prow, look eagerly up the stream. When he turned he said +simply, 'De Indian; dey are coming in great number.' + +For some time I could see nothing; but under the direction of the good +priest I was finally able to make out a long, thin line far up the +river, stretching almost from bank to bank. + +'Dese are canoe,' he said, and then leaving me to look and wonder, he +was off to seek out Colonel Francklin and Mr. Simonds. + +In half an hour our vessel was surrounded by over five hundred warriors +in ninety canoes. It was evident from the first that they were +hostile. The flag at our masthead became a target for many arrows; now +and then there sounded out sharply the crack of an American rifle; +there was also much shouting and wild jeering such as I had never heard +before. In one of the leading canoes waved a flag that bore stars and +stripes upon it. It was the new flag of the rebel colonies, and had +been presented to the chiefs by Washington. The sight of this filled +me with much bitterness. + +As the canoe bearing the flag came nearer to our vessel, I saw some of +the anxiety disappear from the face of Father Bourg. He said something +I did not hear to Colonel Francklin, then the next moment advanced to +the rail. 'Pierre Tomah,' he shouted, 'Pierre Tomah'; then still +speaking very loudly in a language I had never heard before, he briefly +addressed a distinguished-looking warrior who sat under the flag. + +When he had finished the warrior rose. He was a man of magnificent +proportions. His tall plume swayed in the gentle wind, and his +brilliant costume glittered in the evening sun. 'I baptize him +feefteen years ago on de Restigouche,' I heard Father Bourg say in a +low voice to Colonel Francklin. 'Dis is most fortunate: we may yet +succeed.' + +The chief lifted his hand commandingly to those behind him. Without a +word the five hundred warriors dropped their rifles and removed the +arrows from their bow-strings. A great silence fell over the fleet of +swaying canoes. On our vessel each man breathed uneasily. Pierre +Tomah was the chief of all the Indians in the great country north of +the Bay of Fundy. On the Restigouche, on the wide, full Miramichi, on +the St. John and all its branches, his word was law. + +'Pere Bourg,' I heard the great chief say in opening, and then all was +unintelligible to me for a time. At length I caught the word +'Washington' and a moment after I saw him point upward to the flag that +flew above him. + +Father Bourg replied with great spirit, waving his arms as he did so. +I heard him use the words 'Washington,' 'England,' and 'King George.' + +For a time Pierre Tomah was silent. Then his eyes wandered toward the +wide sandy stretch of shore. In a few moments it was arranged that we +should land, for a fuller discussion of the questions at issue. + +Colonel Francklin and Father Bourg then proceeded to reason with the +chiefs, most of whom showed themselves openly hostile. Finally Pierre +Tomah said he could not decide without having first consulted the +Divine Being. He then threw himself upon the sand and remained lying +face downward, speechless and motionless for a long time. On rising he +informed the other chiefs that he had been advised by the Great Being +to keep peace with King George and his people. For a time the decision +was very unpopular with many of the warriors, but all finally yielded, +and consented to accept the invitation of the lieutenant-governor, +asking them to go to the mouth of the river. + +The next morning, surrounded by the flotilla of canoes, we started on +the return journey, reaching the trading-post and fort at the river's +mouth after having been absent four days. Negotiations were at once +entered into, and the terms of a treaty of peace were, after several +days, finally agreed upon. When all had been arranged, the +lieutenant-governor, representing King George, accompanied by Colonel +Francklin, the commander of the fort, and several soldiers who formed a +bodyguard, marched down from the fort to a meeting-place previously +arranged. When the King's representative was seated, Pierre Tomah, the +other chiefs, and many of the principal Indians who had gathered from +all parts of Nova Scotia, came and solemnly knelt before him. + +First they delivered up the flag received from General Washington, also +the letter written by him to them, as well as the numerous presents he +had sent, together with the treaty made with the Massachusetts +government some weeks previously, binding them to send six hundred +warriors into the field. They then took a solemn oath, 'to bear faith +and true allegiance to His Majesty King George the Third; to take no +part directly or indirectly against the King in the struggle with his +rebellious subjects, and to return to their homes to engage in the +usual pursuits of hunting and fishing in a peaceable and quiet manner.' + +This declaration made, as a pledge that it should be kept, Pierre Tomah +then gave into the hand of the lieutenant-governor a belt of wampum, +while that gentleman, in turn, rising and walking along the line of +kneeling chiefs, placed a decoration on the shoulder of each. He also +presented the warriors with a large Union Jack. When handsome speeches +had been made on both sides the chiefs performed a song and dance in +honour of the great conference. The night was spent in feasting and +rejoicing under the British flag. + +The next day the warriors, accompanied by the loyal and clever Father +Bourg, embarked for the return up river. In answer to the salute from +the cannon on Fort Howe, they gave three huzzahs and an Indian whoop. +The last sound we heard as they drew around a bend in the river above +was Father Bourg, with his French accent, leading in singing, 'God Save +the King.' + +That night, after talking long with Duncan Hale of the clever manner in +which we had outwitted Washington and his agents, I fell asleep and +dreamed of the new home I was to build on the now peaceful St. John for +my mother and sisters. One step at least had been taken: from being an +enemy the Indian had been turned into a friend. + + + + +Chapter XI + +Home-Making Begun + +The treaty was not made a day too soon. Next morning I was awakened +very early by loud shouting around the fort. + +'The rebel vessels--the Machias men--the American pirates who were here +before and plundered us, have come again,' I heard some one say to +Colonel Francklin in the next room. + +I sprang up, and ran to the single window that overlooked the harbour. +Sweeping in on the flood tide I saw three New England schooners. From +the mast of each flew flags similar to that we had received from the +Indians. The decks were black with men. + +I dressed hurriedly, and presented myself in Colonel Francklin's +quarters. Mr. Simonds had entered before me, and was speaking. +'This,' he said, pointing to the schooners which had now come to +anchor, 'is another part of a plan to seize the fort. One of our men +heard that the Indians were to come down the river, and be met here by +the schooners: we were then to be subjected to a double attack.' + +Outside I could hear the quick, sharp commands of the captains and the +tramp of the garrison preparing for action. In less than ten minutes I +was at a loophole in the wall of the fort with a rifle, waiting the +order to fire. Not far from me, similarly armed, was Duncan Hale. I +noticed a look of triumphant glee upon his face, as he said to a +soldier beside him-- + +'Now we'll pay them in their own coin for trying to stir up the +Indians: then I've a score against these rebels on another account. +They'd have hanged me once.' + +'Hanged you? Where?' + +'Just out of Boston--two days after the war began. They'd a rope round +my neck.' The whole scene came back upon me vividly. + +'What had you done?' the soldier asked. + +'Done! I'd exposed some of their smuggling and treasonable actions. +That was all.' + +At that moment the movements of some on the schooners attracted my +attention. 'They are getting their boats in shape,' I heard Colonel +Francklin, who was looking through a glass, say to Lieutenant-Governor +Hughs, who stood beside him, 'and appear to be preparing to come +ashore.' + +There was a brief consultation among the officers. Then the Major in +command said: 'Every man ready to fire at them as they come over the +sides.' + +From that time onward moments seemed hours. Finally the painful strain +was broken by the single word-- + +'Fire!' + +There was a thunder of cannon and a sharp crash of musketry. When the +smoke blew to one side, we could see the boats pulling back to the +vessels. Looking through his glass, Colonel Francklin reported that a +number of shots had taken effect. + +As we reloaded the sound of quick-working anchor windlasses came in +over the water and up the hill slope. The rebels who had been playing +havoc on the river for so long had this time met a reception quite +different from that which they had planned. The fort, well hidden by +trees, had been built and garrisoned since their last trip, so their +surprise could not have been much more complete. + +When the ebb began to make they hoisted sail and drew off down the bay. +On looking seaward at noon, nothing could be seen but the line of the +Nova Scotia coast, pencilled low and irregular on the base of the sky. + +It is probably not to be wondered at that, during the afternoon, we +were somewhat high-spirited. All through the war the St. John settlers +had been harassed, plundered, imprisoned or shot, by cruel and +unscrupulous marauders from New England, who had never before been +resisted, much less repulsed. + +'Things are moving finely,' I heard Mr. Simonds tell Duncan Hale that +evening. 'With the Indians quiet, and the pirates scared out, we can +go on with our trade as usual. Till the war began we did well here. +Since that we have had dreadful times--no business possible--but now +I'm in hopes we can go on with the fishing, the lime-burning, and +"masting" as usual.' + +'Masting, Mr. Simonds,' I said. 'What is masting?' + +'Were you not up the river? Did you not see the magnificent forests of +pine and spruce? These make the best masts in the world. There is +nothing in New England like them; and in places they positively +overhang the rivers. Then there are thousands of trees. Masting on +this river must become a great industry. The King's whole navy may be +supplied from here. All we want is quiet Indians--and peace.' + +'I understand,' I said. + +'And what of the land?' Duncan Hale asked. 'Is it fit for farming?' + +'As good as any in the world. The crops raised on this river before +the war were wonderful. This is the richest part of the province.' + +'And how may the land be obtained?' I said. 'To whom should one apply +for a grant?' Mr. Simonds laughed heartily. + +'Thinking of settling, young man?' he said. + +'Yes,' I replied, a little resentment showing in my tone; 'my mother +and two sisters are in Halifax. I mean to settle on this river and +make a home for them.' + +Duncan Hale joined Mr. Simonds in his laugh. + +'You think I can't?' I said. + +'Of course you can,' Mr. Simonds said in a moment; 'and I shall do my +best to help you in any way I can. It's young fellows with push and +spirit we want here now.' He looked at me more critically than he had +done before. 'If things keep on improving, especially if the war ends, +we shall be going into masting strong here next winter, and we'll be +wanting a smart young fellow to look after accounts and act as clerk. +How much schooling have you had?' Duncan Hale explained somewhat fully +the work I had done, ending by saying he had considered me almost ready +for Oxford. + +'You might do us finely,' Mr. Simonds said, 'and as to you, sir,' +turning to Duncan Hale, 'what think you of founding a school? A +country as rich as this cannot but prosper. We shall yet have a city +here. The war drags now toward a close; and even though England +should, in spite of recent disasters, yet win, many will choose this +country in preference to New England. If I and my partners mistake +not, in five years this river valley will have thousands of inhabitants +no matter what flag waves over it. Think over the question of a +school, sir.' But customers were waiting, and Mr. Simonds left us to +serve them. + +For several days I remained about the fort. My duties as secretary to +Colonel Francklin were light, so I roamed about the high, rocky +country, sometimes alone, but oftener in company with Duncan Hale. The +hopeful words of Mr. Simonds, the fine buoyancy of the spring air, the +manner in which we had succeeded in making peace with the Indians, and +in driving off the rebel Americans, all combined to make us +surprisingly happy. + +The fishermen in the harbour were making fabulous catches of valuable +mackerel and other fish. The smaller streams near swarmed with salmon +and huge trout. Here and there on our rambles giant moose faced us for +a moment, then went crashing off into the forest. Vegetation was +springing up with marvellous rapidity, while all day long the woods +rang with the song and chatter of nesting birds. An exuberance of wild +beauty and unrestrained life abounded everywhere. + +In a little over a month our party, having accomplished the object for +which it had been sent, set off for Halifax, not, however, before I had +engaged to return and accept a position as clerk with Mr. Simonds later +in the season. + +We found a spirit of remarkable cheerfulness in Halifax. The soldiers +had all sailed for New York. Many of the Loyalists, both men and +women, had obtained situations. In several places, about the outskirts +of the town, the more resolute ones, to whom lands had been granted, +were boldly hewing their own way into the forest; and here and there, +where the gaps on the slopes were widest in the broken ranks of the +trees, small log houses were being built. + +In a few days the matter of my own grant on the St. John had been fully +arranged. Since I was not yet of age, the grant--it consisted of four +hundred acres some miles up the river in what Mr. Simonds had told me +was the most fertile part--was made out in my mother's name. My sister +Caroline, who was still engaged with the Halifax family, was delighted +with the prospect of having a new home of our own. + +'Mother, won't it be grand?' she said one evening as we sat and talked +together, 'simply grand. Four hundred acres--all ours--a big river in +front and mountains behind. We'll be far richer than ever we were. +When are we to go, Roger?' + +'Not till next spring,' I said. 'David Elton has secured a lot +alongside of ours; he is to do some chopping on both places this +summer, then during the winter we shall prepare for building houses. +Next spring the Government is to give us seed, tools, and a cow.' + +A few days later, accompanied by Doctor Canfield and Duncan Hale, now +free from his former duties as secretary, along with David Elton and +several other farmers not yet settled about Halifax, I bade a cheerful +goodbye to my mother and sisters and again set off for the St. John. + +It was the middle of August when we arrived. + +'The Indians are acting finely up the river,' Mr. Simonds told us on +our arrival, 'and as for the pirates, we have not seen hilt nor hair of +them since they scuttled out of the harbour in the spring. That was a +settler we gave them that day.' + +'How's business been since?' I said. + +'Fine, fine; looking up wonderfully ever since the peace with the +Indians. Fishing couldn't be better, and as for the lime, it's turning +out first class. We've almost all our plans made, too, for sending up +the largest masting crew this fall we ever put in the woods. You are +to go with them. You'll be quite near your own grant.' + +A few days later, and before entering finally on my duties with the +trading firm, with David Elton and some other farmers I went up the +river to my grant secured in Halifax. Though I was little accustomed +to the use of an axe, I felled the first tree myself. Before the +second day had closed my hands were much blistered. However, I +continued to work every day from early in the morning till late at +night for two weeks. + +This was the limit of time given me by Mr. Simonds. But before +returning to the mouth of the river, I engaged with David Elton to +spend at least a month in chopping upon my grant. + +I then returned to the river's mouth, and a few weeks later found +myself far in the forest with a crew of twenty men. First a camp of +logs was built, then the huge pines were cut, partly hewn, and dragged +to the river by means of oxen. Many spruce trees were cut for yards. +Much of the work was extremely laborious. My duties as clerk were to +see that the masts and yards were properly marked and measured when +cut, to keep a record of the time each man worked, and to record the +number of sticks, large and small, hauled to the river each day. Thus +employed, I spent the winters until one spring, when on my way down the +river, I learned that the war was over, that the rebels had won, that +agents sent to the St. John had reported favourably on the land, and +that five thousand Loyalists were expected from the New England +colonies. + + + + +Chapter XII + +Facing the Future + +On arriving at the river's mouth, I found everything bustle and +confusion. Mr. Simonds confirmed the reports I had heard on my way +down. 'The settlers are coming in thousands,' he said +enthusiastically, 'in thousands.' + +The words were to be verified sooner than I expected. That +afternoon--it was the 18th of May--I was sitting with Duncan Hale on a +bluff near the fort looking off seaward. Duncan was telling me of the +school he had succeeded in forming during the winter. + +'I have thirteen pupils,' he said; 'the exact number of worshippers +Doctor Canfield had at his first service in Mr. Simonds' house. But we +are both determined not to be discouraged. If these late reports that +were brought in by the schooner yesterday are true----' + +He stopped, shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked seaward. 'Look, +Roger!' he cried. + +The day was fine, the air thin and clear. Looking straight over the +harbour and directly across the bay, I saw the wavy line of the distant +coast beyond. My eye followed this southerly, till its irregularity +shaded into the steady, even line of the sea. On this, between the +distant low shore and the bold horn of land that made the westerly side +of the harbour, delicately but firmly etched on the sky, I made out the +shape of at least a dozen ships. Duncan looked more critically. + +'They're coming,' he said. + +'They're coming,' I repeated. + +For a full half-hour, speaking only now and then, till the vessels +already in sight had grown large, till numerous others had emerged to +stand like specks on the firm, far, high line of the sea, we sat and +looked eagerly down the wide, sparkling bay. + +After a time Duncan rose. 'They're coming,' he said once more. 'Let +us go.' + +We hurried down from the bluff to the little trading post at Portland +Point, the bearers of great tidings. Three hours later the headmost +vessels were at the rude piers, and the people were swarming ashore. + +It became evident at a glance that all classes were represented among +the newcomers. The soft-handed and fine-faced Englishman of culture; +ladies richly dressed, who bore themselves as proudly as at court, came +ashore rubbing shoulders with the rough, plain farmer men and women +from the hillside farms of Vermont. Some carried bundles in which were +all their possessions. Some bore peddler-like packs on their backs. +Others rolled barrels before them or dumped rough boxes ashore; many +women bore crying infants swathed in shawls. There were a few, of both +men and women, cripples; many were old and stooped. There were some +armless sleeves, and now and then came men who limped, or whose +foreheads were bandaged. These had been in arms. + +Almost immediately after landing the people began to scatter about. +Some of the younger and more spirited ran gaily up the slope toward the +fort, where flew the old familiar flag. Some slowly made their way +along the rough bush-hung paths, over rocks and through thickets, until +they found spots high enough to afford an outlook upon the surrounding +country. It was not difficult for me to understand the look of +disappointment which I saw creep over many faces. + +The surroundings of the harbour were not attractive. Wave-beaten, +weed-covered rocks, with the tide surging in and out among them, were +everywhere; high, bare cliffs, a single mill, a patch of brown marsh, a +score or less shanty-like buildings, a few Indian wigwams, the fort, +and behind these, huddled close, bare in some spots and wooded in +others, the unbroken ranks of the hills stretched away into the sunset. +Many looked long on these, then turned seaward to see the ships that +had brought them, sweeping off on the ebb of the tide that had borne +them in. The surroundings were forbidding, but the captains of the +vessels, by their speedy departure, had made going back impossible. + +That evening I was talking with Duncan Hale in his small but +comfortable quarters. + +'I'll have no lack of pupils now,' he said. 'Doctor Canfield has this +afternoon selected a site for a church.' + +'How many people have come?' I asked. + +'Almost three thousand; and there are many more to follow during the +summer. It is well your grant is secured. The whole river front will +be taken before fall, I hear. A new province is likely to be formed +here north of the bay also. Halifax will be too far away when it comes +to arranging the details of grants for all these people. See,' he +said, waving his hand toward the many tents the people were putting up, +'we've a city already.' + +It was only a few days after the landing of the Loyalists at St. John, +that I set off for Halifax on one of Mr. Simonds' lime-laden schooners. +The weather proved remarkably fine, and on the third day after sailing +we were discharging our cargo in Halifax, where I discovered much +interest manifested in what had been taking place north of the bay. + +I found my mother particularly happy over having received a letter from +my brother, who had joined the King's troops before my father's death. +We had not heard from him for almost two years. He had learned of our +flight to Nova Scotia from an officer who had returned to New York from +Halifax. + +My sisters were overjoyed when I told them that our new house would be +ready for us--I had left the building of it largely to David Elton--on +our arrival. They were very anxious to be off; and off we soon were. +After an uneventful voyage we reached the St. John in safety. + +During the two weeks of my absence many changes had taken place. There +were scores of new buildings in process of erection. Everybody seemed +happy and hopeful. The look of disappointment I had formerly seen on +so many faces had completely disappeared. Duncan Hale was happy in the +promise of a large new school building; Doctor Canfield already had the +foundation of a Church well under way. Back on the hill slopes there +were already numerous little gaps in the green of the forest. Vessels +from New England were bringing in new Loyalists almost daily. + +These invariably told the same sad stories of reckless cruelty. The +end of the war and the declaration of peace had roused many to +barbarities unheard of during the conflict. On the way up the river to +my farm with my mother and sisters, I talked with an old man on the +deck of the little schooner. + +'The mobs,' he said, 'were bad enough at the beginning of the war, but +weeks after peace was declared soldiers were found wreaking vengeance +on our helpless people. I saw my own son, whose only crime was that he +had fought for the King, tarred and feathered. As I sailed out of the +harbour of Charleston--it is true, every word of it, as God is above +me--I saw on looking backward the bodies of twenty-four Loyalists +swinging from a row of gibbets on a single wharf. And there, +too,'--his voice broke and tears came freely then, covering his face as +if to hide the awful scene, he sobbed out, 'there, too, I had a son.' + +No one spoke. I recalled the narrow escape of Duncan Hale, and could +believe it all. + +'They say General Washington was opposed to these cruelties,' the old +man added after a time, raising his head. + +He fumbled in his pocket and drew out a paper. 'Here is a copy of part +of a letter written by him. It fell into the hands of one of our +officers. The hand and signature were Washington's, so there can be no +mistake. Read this, young man,' he said, thrusting the paper toward +me. I opened it and read:-- + + +'BOSTON, _March_ 31, 1776. + +'DEAR SIR,--All those who took upon themselves the style and title of +Loyalists have shipped themselves off. One or two have done what a +great number ought to have done long ago, committed suicide. By all +accounts there never existed a more miserable set of beings than these +wretched creatures now are.' + + +'It may be,' the old man said, as I returned the paper to him, 'that +Washington was opposed to the scourging and hanging of our people, but +that's his opinion of the Loyalists, anyway.' + +Without further remark he rose, turned, and walked away. Though no one +spoke--it had become a fixed rule among us to treat the war and those +who had wronged us with silent disdain--I saw by the faces about me +that there had been a violent stirring up of deep and bitter thoughts.' + +We follow one current only of the times out of which the United States +grew into strength and greatness. The siege of Boston was far advanced +when General Gage wrote home, 'The rebels are shown not to be the +disorderly rabble too many have supposed.' Not all at once did +Washington bring into relief the finer qualities of his people. The +struggle when it began covered a vast region, and chaos brooded over +many districts. In the first division of men natural passion broke out +in acts of violence. There was even a time of terror, and numbers were +driven into the struggle who had little living interest in the things +at stake. Gradually the true issues appeared, and the work of +reconstruction went forward under different forms to the changes we now +see. + +It was wearing toward evening when the little schooner drew in toward +shore, directly opposite a clearing in the middle of which stood a +small log house. 'There is our home, mother,' I said, 'and there is +David Elton waiting for us at the foot of the path by the river.' + +My mother did not speak--she looked in silence. But a glance told me +that she was seeing, not the little house of logs before us on the +slope, but a fine, old colonial mansion with fluted Corinthian corners, +with two spreading lindens in front, and wide, rich meadows about it. + +In a short time all our possessions had been put ashore. Then the +schooner, bearing others to their grants further up the river, swung +away, and we turned to go up the path to our new but humble home. + +'I did the best I could, madam,' David was explaining to my mother, a +little later. 'It's hardly a place for fine ladies like you my wife +was telling me, but with good lan' and plenty of lumber you needn't +live here long.' + +'This is all right; this is good enough for anybody to live a whole +life in,' broke in Caroline, as she looked about the walls of wood, and +up to the ceiling of bark. 'This is all fine. And, mother, just see +the magnificent view from this door. Isn't it grand? The river, the +hills, the woods!' + +That night we slept soundly and well. The next day, with prayers over, +I climbed with a Union Jack to the top of a tall tree, flung it out to +the breeze, then came down and began--as all the thousands of Loyalists +began--the long, hard fight with the wilderness. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +The Governor's Peril + +Several years had slipped away since the day of our arrival at our new +home on the St. John, when, one day, I was standing watching the mail +boat making her way slowly up the river. + +Wonderful changes had taken place in the years since our coming. On +both sides of the river, far as the eye could range from the door of +our home, running from the water's edge away up into the dark, green +timber, stretched the smooth, fertile fields. The log houses had given +place to stately frame buildings. The request for a new province north +of the bay, to be called New Brunswick, in spite of strong opposition +from Halifax, had been granted by the Imperial Government and a +governor sent out. + +As the vessel drew toward the shore where I stood, I was surprised to +make out the figure of Duncan Hale on her deck. I had not expected +him. 'I came,' he was explaining a little later, 'to tell you that the +new governor--Colonel Carleton--is to visit you. He has been +overworked attending to the details of numerous grants, and wishes a +holiday and fishing trip--a general rest before the elections and the +meeting of the House.' + +'The elections,' I said. 'What elections?' + +'Didn't you hear there was to be an Assembly for the province, chosen +by the people, in addition to the Council appointed by the King?' + +'No,' I said. 'Are we to have representatives--a parliament?' + +'That is part of the new constitution granted by the King. It is the +intention of the Imperial Government to make New Brunswick one of the +freest countries in the world.' + +We were walking up the green slope from the river to the house. Duncan +broke off. 'What a herd of cattle,' he said, 'and such magnificent +fields!--and the house! Roger, is it possible that this is your house? +I had heard of it, but had no idea it was so fine.' + +Duncan was greeted with warm cordiality by my mother and my sisters, +now both young women. But it was difficult for me to long refrain from +telling the news I had heard. 'Mother, think of this--the new +governor--Colonel Carleton--is coming up to see us, and to go hunting +and fishing.' + +'The new governor!' + +'Yes, the governor. He'll be here to-morrow or next day.' + +Elizabeth clapped her hands gleefully. + +'The governor!' she exclaimed; 'a soldier, a fine gentleman just from +England, like those in books.' + +From my own farm a little later I wandered with Duncan to where David +Elton worked in his field. + +'Better off?' David said in answer to Duncan's question; 'of course I'm +better off than I ever could have been in New England. I'll confess I +thought it hard to be driven away as I was; but the lan' was poor an' +rocky there. There was no prospect. There I had twenty acres; here +I've two hundred. Then look at my stock, my lumber property, my marsh, +my frame house here. He knows,' he said, pointing to me, 'the kin' of +shanty I was living in, and would have died in, yonder. This is a +better country. The war was the best thing that ever happened us. Let +them have their rocky, poverty-stricken lan'; and to think of them now +passin' laws that we'll be hanged "without benefit of clergy;" them are +the words, aren't they? if we dare to go back. Go back,--back there!' +He gave a loud, shrill laugh. + +'I wouldn't go back if they made me president; an' I'd rather'--this +dropping his voice to a reverent pitch--'I'd rather see any child in my +family under the ground than under the new American flag. That,' he +said, pointing to a Union Jack that flew from the top of a staff on his +largest barn, 'that's the flag for me.' + +I saw the colour come up into Duncan's old face. 'Well said,' he +exclaimed; 'well and nobly spoken.' Then turning to me as we walked +away, 'Are there many like that on the river?' + +'We're all like that,' I said. 'Why shouldn't we be? David is just +one of thousands.' + +'It will be a right loyal representative you'll be sending to the new +parliament from here then, won't it? Who is likely to be chosen?' + +But my mind was on preparations for the coming of the governor. +'Wouldn't it be well to have the people gathered here to give the +governor a reception when he lands?' + +''Twould be capital, capital,' Duncan assented eagerly. 'He's not +coming officially, but he'd be immensely pleased. Isn't the time too +short, though?' he added. + +'David would go for Father Bourg and the Indians--they're only a few +miles up--I could see the French at Sainte Ann's; the people about here +will come in swarms--at a word. It can be done,' I said. + +Three days later the shore of the river in front of our home was lined +for a full half-mile with a strangely mixed crowd of expectant people. +The governor's vessel was in full view on the river--and coming slowly +up. Father Bourg was there with a group of Indians; there were many +French from Sainte Ann's; the Loyalists were present from the +surrounding country in hundreds. + +As the governor stepped ashore, a mighty cheer went up that seemed to +set the very bed of the river quivering. The people saw in this +representative, the King they loved, and for whom they had sacrificed. +After a loyal address, a reply, and much good humour on all sides, the +people dispersed. + +With the governor had come Colonel Francklin and Doctor Canfield. They +had tents and provisions sufficient for two weeks in the woods, and it +was arranged that Duncan Hale, myself and two Indian guides should +accompany them across the country by portage some twenty miles into the +very heart of the forest, to a trout stream that ran at a sharp angle +to the river, emptying into it some ten miles below. Our plan was to +strike the stream about thirty miles from its mouth, and fish down to +the main St. John. But not all plans are carried out. + +We reached the stream in safety, and I sent the team back to the +settlement. It was late June, and the whole forest seemed to throb +with life. The governor was delighted. He was a lover of the woods, +and insisted upon taking long rambles back from the stream, following +the winding, logging roads. It was owing to one of these rambles that +our original plan was not carried out. + +It was our fourth day in the woods. We were camped some five miles +below the point where we had reached the stream. A little after noon, +the governor, having fished for some time, left us, and wandered into +the forest. The middle of the afternoon, then evening, then dusk +came--and passed,--and he did not return. + +'I cautioned him,' I heard Colonel Francklin say to Doctor Canfield; +'telling him the woods were deceptive, also that there were many beasts +of prey.' + +He had scarcely spoken, when down over the forest, low but clear, came +a long, wailing sound as of a spirit in distress. Instantly I saw +Emile and Louis, our Indian guides, who bore the French baptismal names +given them by Father Bourg, start, and hastily make the sign of the +cross before their foreheads. A great fear overspread their faces; +they trembled and went pale. And then there flashed into my mind the +tales I had heard from the old inhabitants on the river, of the dread +Loup-garou, or Indian devil as many called it. The low, clear, sound; +its paralysing effect on the Indians; the time of day--just as evening +was shading into night--the rise and fall of the long, fear-filling, +distant wail; all these were exactly as described to me more than once +by Father Bourg and others who knew the remoter woods of the province. + +In the silence that followed the long-drawn cry, a feeling of chill +fear crept over me. The Loup-garou, was the one wild beast of all the +woods that unnerved the Indian. For him it was more evil spirit than +beast. It went, according to the belief, through the tree tops like +lightning: it seemed to come and go on the wind; from it there was no +escape; the giant moose, the bear, the deer, in one case a farmer and +his team of oxen far in the woods--I had heard the story told and +retold on the river--all had been fallen upon and eaten in a single +hour. + +The memory of these tales was far from comforting. The governor was +lost in the woods. Colonel Francklin, Doctor Canfield and Duncan Hale +were as ignorant of the forest as children. The Indians, my only hope, +stood terrified. What was I to do? + +At that moment, distant at first, then swelling louder and nearer, down +through the trees now swaying in the gentle evening breeze, clear, +weird, paralysing, there came again, the long-drawn, dreadful sound. +There was no mistaking it; it was the Loup-garou. + +Both Indians dropped on their knees, and turned their faces up to the +stars. The sound came at intervals seven times; then it grew faint in +the east, and we heard it no more. + +Far into the night we fired off guns, shouted and kept torches burning +on tree tops. But the governor did not come. Had the fierce +Loup-garou, that dread, strange blend of panther, wolf, and devil, +fallen upon him? + +A keen feeling of responsibility pressed heavily upon me. In a sense +the governor was my guest. He had come to this particular part of the +forest at my suggestion. I knew what it would mean in Britain, I +understood the derision that would be provoked in the United States, I +felt how our new province would suffer, when it went abroad that our +first governor had been eaten by a strange, half-devil fiend of the +forest. And yet what was to be done? + +The next day Emile and Louis were silent, morose and fearful; they +could not be induced to go more than a few rods from the tent. They +spent most of the time praying. All our efforts to trace out and bring +back our distinguished fellow-sportsman proved unavailing. + +When afternoon came, I made a proposal. 'You remain here,' I said, +addressing Colonel Francklin, Doctor Canfield and Duncan Hale, 'and I +will go up the stream and call out the portage for assistance. Father +Bourg and David Elton both know the woods. I shall get them to +organise searching parties, so that we may scour the country. The +governor must be found.' + +'Very well,' Colonel Francklin said; then, after some further +consulting, I was off. + +On my arrival on the river, I first told Father Bourg of the governor +being lost; then I referred to the strange sound, and to the action of +Emile and Louis, and ended by saying I supposed we could look for no +help from the Indians in the search. But the man who had won the +Indians from Washington seven years before, who had kept them faithful +to the King ever since, had power still. + +'Wait,' he said. + +He called the chiefs about him. He explained the situation of the +governor, and commanded the Indians to go and find him. 'As for the +Loup-garou,'--raising his voice and speaking with great energy, 'in the +name of the Great Spirit I pronounce a curse upon him until the +governor be found, and do now declare that during all the search he +shall be powerless to hurt you.' + +A great shout rose from the Indians. Then I hurried away. + +Two days later there were fully three thousand men in the woods. The +news of what had happened had run far up and far down the great river. +The King's representative was lost in the woods, the wail of the +Loup-garou had been heard. The whole province was stirred to unity in +a common hope, and in a common fear. The hearts of French, of Indians, +of Loyalists, of old and new inhabitants beat as one from the beginning +of the great search. + +On the fifth day after leaving the stream I was back again at our tent. +I first met Duncan Hale. He was pale and anxious-looking. 'There is +no word yet,' he said. + +I sank down from exhaustion and disappointment. 'But the Indians are +out,' I gasped--'and the French--everybody--men, even women.' + +'The Indians!' + +'The Indians,' I repeated. 'Father Bourg----' + +But I could say no more. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +Victory and Reward + +It was three weeks later. There were fully five thousand people on the +river in boats or canoes, and about our home. The great search was +over; the governor had been found. + +The honour of finding him had fallen upon two Indians and myself, who, +on the tenth day of the search, had somewhat unexpectedly come upon him +sitting on a knoll eating winter-green berries and fern-bulbs. + +He was somewhat reduced in flesh and strength; but as the season was +late June, and the weather had been dry and warm, he had not suffered +materially. We conveyed him to the stream, where a large and +comfortable canoe was secured; in this he had been safely brought down +the stream, then up the river to our home; and now, three days after +this, the morning of the day had arrived when the whole St. John was to +give expression to its feelings of joy and gratitude over the finding +of the governor, in a grand and loyal celebration of the event. + +Before entering upon the search, Father Bourg had sent out to all parts +of the province swift runners to call the Indians to the St. John. It +so happened, that the day before that set for the celebration, many of +the tribes from the remoter sections had just arrived. From the far +Restigouche and Madawaska; from the Miramichi and the Richibucto; from +the sandy reaches and pine-studded bluffs that jutted far into the +broad Grand Lake; from Shediac, from the beautiful Kennebecassis and +the still Neripeis; from Mispec and Lepreau; from Passamaquoddy and +Bocabec, even from the Penobscot and the surrounding country far over +the American line--from every corner of the land to which the news had +run as on the wings of the wind--there came the Indians, expectant, +anxious, interested, in swarms like bees that seek a new hive, in +flocks like birds that fly north in spring. + +Nor were the Indians all. The city had sent up its councillors, its +merchants, its shipowners, its fine ladies who had graced courts in +Britain or old colonial Boston, its handsome men, cold, dignified, and +English in tone and manner. The French were also there from the Jemseg +and Sainte Anne's; 'old inhabitants' of the river who had long since +successfully striven to wipe off the stain of their treasonable +correspondence with Washington and the government of Massachusetts; +several 'refugees,' now anxious to show the loyalty they had smothered +during the war for the sake of self; honest men who had foolishly been +deluded into following Jonathan Eddy to an attack on old Fort +Cumberland in '76--all these, as well as Loyalists of '83, in countless +numbers, of all classes and conditions, were there on that great day in +July. + +As I stood on the high platform that had been erected in front of the +house that the governor might more conveniently address the great +throng, and looked out upon it all, my heart swelled with feelings of +pride and satisfaction. Far above and below me, slipping between the +rich meadows, I could follow the winding, glittering line of the river. +The hills, rising belt on belt beyond, were throbbing with the warmth +and life of the magnificent mid-summer day. The air was warm and sweet +with clover bloom. The sun shone brilliantly and yet not oppressively. +The fields of grain, just beginning to show full green heads; the wild +gaiety of the flower-decked pastures and gardens; the neat, white +homes; the slow moving flocks and herds on the hillsides near and far; +the black mass of people in front; the hundreds of schooners and +thousands of canoes on the river, winding and passing, bowing and +saluting like figures in a dance, all gaily and variously decorated, +made up a picture that would be difficult to surpass. + +The forenoon of the day was spent in sports--in rowing, running, +wrestling, shooting, and jumping--in all of which the Indians took +prominent part. During all this part of the celebration, the governor +moved among the people as an ordinary citizen. Dressed as an English +gentleman, he moved easily and happily among the people. Now it was +the French with whom he talked, now the farmer Loyalists; now he +congratulated warmly a crew of Indians as they stepped from the winning +canoe in the race; now he was relating part of his strange adventure in +the woods to a group of interested and courtly ladies in the garden. +Everywhere, in everything, he was the fine gentleman, the master of the +art of manners, the representative of the finest traditions in both +colony and kingdom; and it was not to be wondered at that the hearts of +many Loyalists swelled larger that day, as they thought of the +transplanting to the St. John, of a finer culture, directly from the +homeland. + +But the proceedings of the morning were to be quite overshadowed by the +events of the afternoon. A vessel from St. John had brought up the +governor's magnificent uniform. He was arrayed in this--no longer the +citizen, but now the representative of the King--when in the afternoon, +surrounded by his entire council and many distinguished Loyalists, he +appeared upon the raised platform from which he was to speak. By the +governor's special request, my mother and sisters, Father Bourg, Pierre +Tomah (the Indian chief), I and the two Indians who had accompanied me +at the fortunate ending of our great search in the forest, were taken +to the platform. Then when the mighty cheer with which he was received +had died in the throats of the mass of people that filled the field +from the house to the river, the governor spoke. + +'Subjects of the King,' he began, 'my friends and fellow-citizens, it +is with feelings of just pride and thankfulness that I stand before you +to-day. In the name of your King, whose representative I am, I bring +you greeting.' A wave of applause swept the crowd. The people pressed +closer; canoes on the river hurried shoreward. + +The speaker went on-- + +'For many of you, around the name of King, there cluster, I am sure, +associations that cannot but bring memories of your past--a past as +noble as it is unparalleled in the history of the world. + +'My friends and fellow-citizens, I am not unacquainted with what you +have done and suffered; of your zeal and unflinching courage, of your +devotion to your flag, your country, and your King; of your loyalty and +sacrifices; of your honour and perseverance; of what you have done +south of the line, nay, of what you have done here;--of these things I +might say much, but I feel it is quite unnecessary that I should speak +of them. Further, it is a task to which I am unequal. Again, your +deeds are their own vindication; your acts are their own eulogy. You +left a country rich and beautiful for one that seemed poor and +forbidding. No sword was lifted up to drive you hence; driven only by +the fire of your loyalty you came; this is your defence. What more is +necessary?' + +Passing then from the Loyalists, he commended the French for their +refusal to assist the rebels; thanked the Indians for the fulfilment of +all their treaty obligations; and declared forgiveness to all who, on +the river, had been misguided into rebellion. Then, in a few words, he +closed. + +'And now, my friends and fellow-citizens, as I look abroad upon this +magnificent river before me; as I behold these fields and flocks; as I +look into your faces and read there your past, I read a future also. +You are happy now; it is the King's good pleasure that you shall be +happier still. In that distressed land to the south of us, though +cannon no longer boom, and though the sword is sheathed, a great war +still wages--the war of faction and political turmoil that must always +exist where men are unscrupulous and where measures are unjust. Here +peace shall flourish. If you will permit me a glimpse into the future +years, I see rising a nation, new, pure-blooded, loyal, strong, the +happiest land on earth.' + +A wave of applause surged over the crowd and swept off to the canoes on +the river. + +'I wouldn't go back'--it was the loud, shrill voice of David Elton from +the crowd that came up above the babel--'I wouldn't go back if they +made me president. Look at my farm an' herd o' cattle, an'----' But +the rest was lost in the ringing proposal, 'Three cheers for the +governor!' It came from a score of throats at once. The cheer, like +the applause, ran far out on the river over the swaying canoes. + +But the governor had not done yet. + +'Here in this magnificent valley'--he swung his hand all about--'here +men, by the will of God and the King, shall for ever be free, free to +worship as they will, free to govern as they choose, free in all +things. See to it, my friends, that you prove not only worthy of your +great past but worthy also of your great future.' + +He turned and sat down. + +Then, as when a volcano opens and pours out its lava and is relieved, +the mighty throng burst into 'God Save the King.' Everybody sang. And +this also helped in the laying of the foundations of a new province, of +a new nation. + +The next day, after the governor had departed for St. John, I was +talking with Duncan Hale, who had remained. 'What a fine thing it was +that the governor got lost?' Duncan said. + +'Yes,' I said, 'it drew out the people's sympathy, binding them +together, and showing them the governor in a new light.' + +'But it did more than that.' Duncan was smiling. 'Didn't you know that +last night the governor met a number of the leading people of the +river, and that, after explaining to them that you had really saved his +life by finding him in the woods, the people unanimously agreed to +nominate and elect you their representative in the new Assembly of the +province? Didn't you know that?' + +'No,' I said. 'I don't believe it.' + +'They did it though. You'll find out when the time comes in the fall. +And that was not the only matter arranged last night.' I saw a look of +mischievous interest grow on the old schoolmaster's face. + +'What more, Duncan?' I said. 'Go on.' + +'Did you see that tall, fine-looking young Englishman--the governor's +secretary--who took the long walk through the meadows and by the river +with Caroline in the evening?' + +'Well?' I said. + +'Well, you heard the governor make a prediction about this country; I +am going to make a prediction about that young man and Caroline. +They'll be married!' He came near and laid his hand on my arm. 'Do +you know,' he said, 'that there is only a single life,--a man of +seventy-four,--between that young man and a dukedom?' + +I laughed heartily. Soon I was calling at the top of my voice, +'Caroline! Caroline!' + + * * * * * + +In the late fall of the same year I was sitting one evening, with my +mother and sisters, around an open fire. The elections were over--the +report from the farthest parish had come in. + +A great happiness sat on my mother's face. 'To think,' she said, 'that +you were really elected, Roger, and at the head of the poll too.' I +did not answer. Something about the room and the way we were seated +had suggested to me another occasion, another evening, when, the day +after the fight at Lexington, over eight years ago, in deep sorrow, we +had gathered in the library of our former home at Cambridge, to make +plans for the future. But I recalled my thoughts. + +'Yes, mother,' I said, 'there is no doubt of it. I have been elected. +Things have not turned out so badly for us after all. Indeed, I do not +know a single one of our acquaintances who is not happier than before +the war. Doctor Canfield's new church is quite magnificent, Duncan +Hale's school is fast becoming a college; as for the farmers about, +well--I don't think there is much danger of any of them wanting to go +back to be buried "without benefit of clergy." What is it David Elton +says? Oh, yes--"I wouldn't go back if they'd make me president." Poor +David, the way he did storm and rage the day they put him in the mine +with me. True, they were hard days those for both of us.' + +'But the mine led to the parliament,' my mother said, smiling. + +'Yes,' I said, 'there is no doubt but the war was a blessing to us. We +were the real victors in the conflict. We are happier than we ever +could have been without it.' As I said this, I looked very hard at +Caroline. 'Aren't we, Carrie?' I said. The crimson mounted to her +cheeks, and I was preparing to defend myself, when she was forced to +join the rest of us in a merry laugh. + +'Everything had its part to play--the war--the mine--and last of all +even the Loup-garou,' I said, and we all laughed again. + +'And just to think, mother,' Elizabeth put in a little later, 'a member +of parliament in the family already, and'--her face was beaming with +mischief and delight--'and a possible duchess also!' + + + + +THE END. + + + + +UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roger Davis, Loyalist, by Frank Baird + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROGER DAVIS, LOYALIST *** + +***** This file should be named 34824.txt or 34824.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/8/2/34824/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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