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diff --git a/41420-0.txt b/41420-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..964acf1 --- /dev/null +++ b/41420-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6131 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41420 *** + +[Illustration: "MY LAD," SAID WASHINGTON, "I THANK YOU"] + + + + + IN THE + + DAYS OF WASHINGTON + + A STORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION + + BY + + WILLIAM MURRAY GRAYDON + + [Illustration] + + THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + PHILADELPHIA MDCCCXCVI + + + COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + + FRANKLIN PRINTING COMPANY + 516-518 Minor Street + Philadelphia + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I IN WHICH MR. NOAH WAXPENNY INTRODUCES HIMSELF 5 + + II IN WHICH A BRITISH OFFICER LOSES A FINE HORSE 24 + + III IN WHICH NATHAN BECOMES A SOLDIER 42 + + IV IN WHICH NATHAN'S MILITARY CAREER VERY NEARLY + TERMINATES 62 + + V IN WHICH BEGINS A MEMORABLE BATTLE 91 + + VI IN WHICH NATHAN MEETS AN OLD ENEMY 106 + + VII IN WHICH A BUTTON BETRAYS ITS OWNER 117 + + VIII IN WHICH SIMON GLASS MAKES A VERY STRANGE REMARK 135 + + IX IN WHICH NATHAN TAKES PART IN THE BATTLE OF WYOMING 154 + + X IN WHICH NATHAN FINDS THE PAPERS 176 + + XI IN WHICH GODFREY PLEADS FOR THE CONDEMNED PRISONERS 190 + + XII IN WHICH A MYSTERIOUS ISLAND PLAYS A PART 208 + + XIII IN WHICH NATHAN MAKES A PERILOUS SWIM 226 + + XIV IN WHICH NATHAN FEIGNS SLUMBER TO SAVE HIS LIFE 244 + + XV IN WHICH THE MYSTERY IS VERY NEARLY EXPLAINED 263 + + XVI IN WHICH A PEEP AT THE STATE-HOUSE LEADS TO AN UGLY + ADVENTURE 273 + + XVII IN WHICH MR. WAXPENNY ASSERTS THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW + AND THE CURTAIN FALLS 300 + + + + +IN THE DAYS OF WASHINGTON + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN WHICH MR. NOAH WAXPENNY INTRODUCES HIMSELF + + +It was an evening in the first week in February, 1778. Supper was over +in the house of Cornelius De Vries, which stood on Green Street, +Philadelphia, and in that part of the town known as the Northern +Liberties. Agatha De Vries, the elderly and maiden sister of Cornelius, +had washed and put away the dishes and had gone around the corner to +gossip with a neighbor. + +The light shed from two copper candlesticks and from the fire made the +sitting-room look very snug and cozy. In one corner stood a tall +clock-case, flanked by a white pine settee and a chest of drawers. A +spider legged writing-desk stood near the tile lined fireplace, over +which was a row of china dishes--very rare at that time. The floor was +white and sanded, and the walls were hung with a few paintings and +colored prints. + +Cornelius De Vries, a well-to-do and retired merchant, occupied a +broad-armed chair at one side of the table that stood in the middle of +the room. He was a very stately old gentleman of sixty, with a +clean-shaven and wrinkled face. He wore a wig, black stockings, a coat +and vest of broadcloth, and low shoes with silver buckles. His features +betrayed his Dutch origin, as did also the long-stemmed pipe he was +smoking, and the glass of Holland schnapps at his elbow. + +At the opposite side of the table sat Nathan Stanbury, a handsome lad, +neatly dressed in gray homespun and starched linen, and of a size and +strength that belied his seventeen years. His cheeks were ruddy with +health, and his curly chestnut hair matched the deep brown of his eyes. + +Nathan was a student at the College of Philadelphia, and the open book +in his hand was a Latin Horace. But he found it difficult to fix his +mind on the lesson, and his thoughts were constantly straying far from +the printed pages. Doubtless the wits of Cornelius De Vries were +wool-gathering in the same direction, for he had put aside the hated +evening paper, "The Royal Gazette," and was dreamily watching the blue +curls of smoke as they puffed upward from his pipe. Now he would frown +severely, and now his eyes would twinkle and his cheeks distend in a +grim sort of smile. + +There was much for the loyal people of the town to talk and think about +at that time. For nearly six months the British army, under General +Howe, had occupied Philadelphia in ease and comfort, while at Valley +Forge Washington's ragged soldiers were starving and freezing in the +wintry weather, their heroic commander bearing in dignified silence the +censure and complaint that were freely vented by his countrymen. Black +and desperate, indeed, seemed the cause of the United American Colonies +in that winter of 1777-78, and as yet no light of cheer was breaking on +the horizon. + +After grappling for the twentieth time with his lesson, Nathan suddenly +closed the book and tossed it on the table. + +"I can't translate Latin to-night, Master De Vries," he exclaimed. "It's +no use trying. I wish I was down-town. Perhaps a walk in the fresh air +will compose my mind." + +The merchant answered only by a negative shake of the head, as he filled +and ignited his pipe for the third time. + +"Yes, you are right," Nathan said, resignedly. "I suppose I should keep +indoors as much as possible to avoid suspicion, and I may be needed +again shortly--" + +Rat, tat, tat! Low and clear rang a knocking on the panels of the front +door. + +"There!" exclaimed Nathan, jumping up and running into the hall. The +opening of the door revealed a short man standing on the lower step; it +was too dark to see his face plainly. Without a word he handed the lad +a slip of paper, and then strode swiftly off down the street. + +Nathan closed and locked the door, and hurried to the light of the +candles. He unfolded the paper and read aloud the following brief +message, written in a small and legible hand: + +"Come to the Indian Queen at once. Thee will find friends waiting thy +trusty services." + +The lad's eyes sparkled, and his cheeks were flushed with excitement. +"Another ride to Valley Forge," he said, eagerly. "How glad my father +will be to see me! And it is a night ride this time, Master De Vries. +I'll warrant 'tis a matter of great importance." + +"Not so loud, lad," cautioned the merchant. "But how comes it the word +was trusted to paper? Did you know the messenger?" + +"It was Pulling, the deaf and dumb hostler from the tavern," Nathan +replied. "Doubtless they have just heard news, and could not spare time +to seek the usual messenger. Pulling is trustworthy enough and, of +course, since he can't speak--" + +"It was imprudent to write," interrupted the merchant, "but I dare say +they could do no better. Certainly, the summons is urgent, since it +calls thee out at night." + +"Yes, I must go at once," said Nathan, "and without so much as a change +of clothes. If the service is what I think it to be I will hardly be +back by morning." As he spoke, he abstractedly dropped the slip of paper +into the side pocket of his jacket, and moved toward the hall. + +"May the good God bring you back in safety," Cornelius De Vries said, +earnestly. "I love you dearly, lad, even as I love your father, and I +would not see you come to harm. I have long mistrusted these perilous +doings, and yet for the sake of the cause--" + +"To save my oppressed country I would risk life ten times over," +declared Nathan. "If there were no work for me to do here I should be +fighting with our brave soldiers. But there is really no danger, Master +De Vries. You know how often I have been back and forth." + +"But not at night, lad." + +"So much the better, with the darkness to shelter me," replied Nathan. +"I must be off now. Good-bye, and don't worry." + +He put on his cap and briefly returned the pressure of the old man's +hand. A moment later the door had closed behind him and he was walking +rapidly down the silent street. The weather had changed a day or two +before, and there was a suggestiveness of spring in the mild, damp air. + + * * * * * + +Richard Stanbury, the father of Nathan, had come from England to America +in 1760, at the age of twenty-six. He brought a wife with him--a pretty +and refined woman--and they settled in Philadelphia. The next year +Nathan was born, and five years later his mother died. The blow +was a severe one to Richard Stanbury, and, the Quaker City being +now distasteful to him, he removed with his son to New England. +He accompanied the Connecticut colony to the Wyoming Valley in +Pennsylvania--which grant they had purchased from the Delaware +Indians--and took part in the long struggle with the Pennsylvania +settlers who were found in unjust possession. When the warfare finally +came to a peaceful end he settled down to a life of farming and hunting +in that earthly paradise. + +Richard Stanbury was a handsome and refined man, and a highly educated +one. All with whom he came in contact were quick to realize his +superiority, but in spite of that and his reserved nature, he made +friends readily. He closely guarded the secret of his past, whatever it +was, not even opening the pages to his son. But at times he hinted +mysteriously at a great change that was likely to happen in the future, +and he took pains to teach Nathan reading, writing, and history, and the +rules of gentlemanly conduct. There was deep affection between father +and son, and that the lad did not seek to know the mystery of the past +was because he respected his parent's silence. He grew up to be brave +and strong, generous and fearless, and few companions of his age could +shoot with such skill or track game so untiringly through the forest. + +Soon after the great struggle for liberty began, and the colonies were +in arms to throw off the British yoke, many of the settlers of Wyoming +left their families and the old men at home and marched away to join +Washington. Richard Stanbury went with them; he was Captain Stanbury +now, and commanded a company. Nathan, young as he was, burned to enlist +and fight. But his father would not hear of this. He had long ago formed +other plans for the lad, and now the time for them was ripe. To +Philadelphia went Nathan, to attend the admirable college that the +Quaker town boasted, and to find a happy home with Cornelius De Vries. +The expense was to come out of the worthy merchant's pocket. He had +claimed this right because of the long friendship between himself and +Richard Stanbury, which dated from the latter's arrival in America. + +So Nathan studied hard, a favorite with masters and pupils, while the +first two years of the Revolution scored their triumphs and adverses. +But he was not content to let others do the fighting, and when the +British occupied Philadelphia, in the fall of 1777, the lad found at +last a chance to help the cause of freedom. Several loyal citizens of +the town had secret means of getting information about the plans of the +British officers. These men were friends of Cornelius De Vries, and they +came to know that his young lodger was a plucky and intelligent lad, and +one to be relied upon. So Nathan was frequently chosen to carry messages +to the camp at Valley Forge, where he sometimes saw his father, and +where he made the acquaintance of General Washington and other officers. +It was a very simple plan, and one that was not likely to be suspected. +The citizens were permitted to take their grain through the British +lines to the grist-mill at Frankford, and the lad would ride out after +dinner on this errand. While the grain was being ground it was an easy +matter for him to gallop to and from the American camp, then returning +to the city by night with his sacks of meal. + +As Nathan hurried away from the Dutch merchant's house on this February +evening, he knew that he was wanted for some service of more than +ordinary importance. "This is the first time I have been sent for at +night," he reflected, "and I guess it means a dash through the lines. +The sentries don't allow any trips to mill after dark." + +He looked up to find himself passing the British barracks, which fronted +on Green Street from Second to Third, and had been built soon after +Braddock's defeat. Howe's army now occupied them, and the red-coated +sentry at the gate glanced sourly at the lad in the gloom. Nathan went +on, carelessly whistling a snatch of a tune, and presently turned down +Fourth Street. A few yards from the corner, where a narrow bar of light +streamed across the pavement from an open window, he collided with some +one coming from the opposite way; both came to a halt. + +"Why don't you watch where you're going?" brusquely demanded the +stranger, who looked to be about Nathan's age, and wore a new and +well-fitting British uniform. + +"I might ask you the same," Nathan responded pleasantly, "but I won't. +You see it's so dark hereabouts, and--why, Godfrey! I didn't know you." + +"Nathan Stanbury!" cried the other, in keenest surprise and pleasure. +"How glad I am to see you!" He held out his hand expecting it to be +taken. + +"No; I can't," Nathan said gravely. "I--I'm sorry to see you in those +clothes." + +"And I'm proud of them. So you're as much of a patriot as ever? I +thought you would turn." + +"I'll never turn," declared Nathan. "I'm more of a patriot than I was, +and some day I'll be a soldier--" + +"Hush! don't air your opinions so loudly around here," cautioned +Godfrey, in a good-natured tone. "I'm not going to quarrel with you, +Nathan. Two such old friends as we are can surely meet without talking +about the war. I can't forget that you saved my life once, and I will +always be grateful." + +"That sounds well from a Tory," interrupted Nathan. "Why don't you begin +by being grateful to your country?" + +The other flushed, and for a few embarrassing seconds nothing was said. +Standing together in the stream of yellow lamp-light, the two lads +looked strangely alike, a resemblance that others had frequently +observed. They were of the same build and height, and had the same +general features. Godfrey Spencer was older by a year, with black eyes +and hair. Nathan's eyes and hair were deep brown. + +"You are still attending college?" Godfrey finally said. + +Nathan nodded. "When did you come back to town?" he asked. + +"Two days ago," Godfrey replied, "with dispatches for General Clinton. +You know I went with my mother to Long Island, and there I enlisted in +a--a Tory regiment. I was promoted to lieutenant a month ago, and now +Major Langdon, who is stationed here, has promised me a place on his +staff." The last words were spoken with evident pride. + +"I'm sorry for you," said Nathan. "I can't wish you success, Godfrey, +but I truly hope, for the sake of old times, that you won't get shot. I +must go now. Good-bye." + +Disregarding the other's appeal to return, Nathan walked rapidly down +the street, ignorant of the fact--as was Godfrey--that a British officer +had been watching both lads closely from the open and lighted window of +the house in front of which they were standing. + +"Who was that lad, Spencer?" he demanded. + +"An old college friend, Major Langdon," replied Godfrey, a little +startled by the question. "His people are rebels. I was trying to +convert him." + +"I mean his name, stupid, quick!" + +"Nathan Stanbury," said Godfrey. + +The major's face turned white, and something like an oath escaped his +lips. His hands shook as they rested on the window-sill. + +"I might have known," he muttered to himself. Then aloud: "Yonder is a +bit of paper the lad dropped when he pulled out his handkerchief. Fetch +it, Spencer." + +Godfrey reluctantly picked up the paper, and Major Langdon opened the +door to admit him. + + * * * * * + +A few months before Richard Stanbury's arrival in the Colonies there +came from England to Philadelphia a merchant of London, Matthew Marsham +by name. He was accompanied by his daughter, Betty Spencer, and her +infant son Godfrey. Mrs. Spencer wore mourning for her husband, who had +died recently. The merchant engaged in business, and prospered +sufficiently to keep his little family in comfort and give his grandson +a thorough education. + +To college went Godfrey in due course, and here he and Nathan were +classmates for nearly a year after the beginning of the Revolution, +during which period they formed a warm boyish friendship. + +On one occasion, while swimming in the Delaware, Nathan risked his own +life to save Godfrey from drowning. But the growing animosities of the +war finally began to draw the lads apart, for Godfrey's mother and +grandfather were Tories. In the spring of 1777 Matthew Marsham died, and +Mrs. Spencer removed with her son to Long Island, where she had friends +living. + +It was of this past friendship--so strongly recalled to-night--more than +of his errand, that Nathan was thinking sadly as he kept on his way +down-town. Frequently he crossed the street to avoid a group of drunken +and riotous soldiers, or put on a careless gait and attitude as some +mounted officer spurred barrackwards past him. He met but few others, +for reputable citizens kept indoors after dark. + +The Indian Queen tavern, one of the oldest and best known hostelries of +the town, stood on South Fourth Street near Chestnut. The tap-room was +empty when Nathan entered, and the secretly loyal landlord, Israel +Jenkins, was taking his ease on a bench. + +"Well, here I am," said Nathan. "Company in the back room again, eh?" + +"Not this time, lad," replied Jenkins, with a wink of the eye. "The back +room is too open for to-night's work. You'll find them--" + +Sudden footsteps outside caused the landlord to bite off the sentence +abruptly. "Get yourself yonder," he added, "and wait till I come. Quick! +you mustn't be seen." + +He pushed Nathan into a dark hall on one side of the room, leaving the +door open several inches, and from his place of concealment the lad saw +the new arrival enter the tavern. + +He was a man who would have attracted attention in any surroundings, and +was as likely to excite mirth as respect. His age was about fifty, and +his tall, gaunt figure was dressed in rusty broadcloth, black stockings +without knee or shoe buckles, and a gray cocked hat. He wore a flaxen +wig, and a steel watch chain with seals dangled from his waistcoat. His +face was smooth and of a parchment color, his nose abnormally large, and +his eyes small and piggish. He had long white fingers, and he snapped +them nervously as he nodded with an air of condescension to the +landlord. + +"Good evening, sir," he said, in an oily voice. "I would have a pot of +your best brew, and an ounce of mild tobacco." + +"I don't sell the last named," curtly replied Jenkins, who was by no +means favorably impressed with his customer. + +"But you will let me have a little, eh, my good friend? Here is some," +tapping his breast pocket, "but the sea air has quite destroyed its +flavor." + +"You have lately crossed then?" asked Jenkins, who was always on the +alert for news, and scented a present opportunity. + +"But this day I arrived from England on the packet-boat 'Bristol'," +replied the stranger, "and right glad was I to put foot on solid ground. +Thank you, my friend," he added, as Jenkins placed before him a tankard +of ale and a twist of tobacco. "And now may I make bold to ask a little +information of you?" + +"Depends on what it is," growled Jenkins, his suspicions suddenly +awakened. + +"It is nothing harmful, sir; quite the contrary. Does not my face +inspire confidence? Then you shall have my name. It is Noah Waxpenny, +and I have the honor to be confidential clerk to the firm of Sharswood & +Feeman, solicitors, Lincoln Inn, London." + +"It's no odds if you were the king himself," imprudently replied +Jenkins. + +"Ha, very clever! A neat joke," laughed Mr. Waxpenny. "God save King +George, and all his loyal subjects!" + +"Amen to that!" muttered the landlord, aloud. "And God forgive the lie," +he added to himself. + +Mr. Noah Waxpenny chuckled, and half emptied the pewter at a draught. +Then he leaned toward Jenkins in a confidential manner, and his next +words were of so startling a nature that Nathan very nearly toppled +against the door that separated him from the tap-room. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN WHICH A BRITISH OFFICER LOSES A FINE HORSE + + +"I wish to learn the present whereabouts of Richard Stanbury," said Mr. +Waxpenny, slowly and deliberately. "Under that name he came from England +to America in 1760, and a year later he was known to be residing in +Philadelphia with a wife and infant son. Can you give me any information +about him?" + +With a heightened color Jenkins stared first at the ceiling, and then +shot a glance of apprehension at the hall door. "Stanbury ain't a common +name," he replied, by way of gaining time, "but it seems like I've heard +it somewheres or other. It might'n be Stanwix, now?" + +"No, Stanbury--Richard Stanbury." + +The landlord propped his elbows on the counter and looked meditatively +into vacancy. "I've heard of Bow Street runners," he said to himself, +"and I misdoubt but this chap is one of the snaky varmints in disguise. +It ain't likely Dick Stanbury is wanted over in England, but there's no +telling. What am I going to do about it? I'll bet a ha'penny the lad's +listening out yonder with both ears. I'll just lie low till I get my +bearings--that's the safest plan." + +During the course of this mental soliloquy he was cocking his head this +way and that, and now he shook it in a manner that indicated profound +and hopeless ignorance. + +"If a golden guinea would jog your memory, why, here it is," suggested +Mr. Waxpenny, displaying the coin. + +"The gold wouldn't come amiss," said Jenkins, with a sigh, "but it ain't +possible for me to earn it." + +The law clerk pocketed the guinea. "It's unlikely that Richard Stanbury +was in your walk of life, my man," said he, with quiet scorn. "Your +ignorance is excusable." + +"My what?" + +"Your disability to remember," corrected Mr. Waxpenny. "And now we'll +try again. Can you tell me if Major Gerald Langdon, of the British +cavalry, is stationed in this town?" + +"I seen by the 'Royal Gazette,' a fortnight ago, that he was in New +York," replied Jenkins, truthfully enough. "What on earth is the game?" +he asked himself in amazement. + +Mr. Waxpenny nodded his satisfaction. "There is one more person I wish +to inquire about," he said. "Did you ever hear of--" + +The rest of the sentence was drowned in a burst of noisy voices and +shuffling feet, as half a dozen tipsy soldiers and marines swung round +the corner and entered the tavern. The London law clerk looked +disdainfully at the company, and then made a hasty exit. Having served +his customers Jenkins left them with brimming mugs in hand, and darted +into the hall, slamming the door behind him. + +"Where are you, lad?" he whispered. + +"Here!" Nathan answered, hoarsely, from the darkness. "I have heard all, +Mr. Jenkins. What can it mean? Why did that man inquire for my father?" + +"I haven't an idea," replied the landlord. "If he comes back I'll try to +pump him. Meanwhile, it won't be amiss to tell your father there's a +London chap seeking him." + +"I'll do that," muttered Nathan. "But it's queer--" + +"Don't bother about it," whispered Jenkins. "They're waiting for you up +above--in the little room on the right at the head of the stairs. You'll +see a light under the door. I must be off." + +The landlord returned to his customers, and Nathan slowly ascended the +stairs, still puzzling over the strange inquiries of Mr. Waxpenny. +Guided by the glimmer of light, he entered a small bed-chamber--the +identical room, in fact, in which Jefferson had written the Declaration +of Independence two years before. Here the lad found Anthony Benezet and +Timothy Matlack, two elderly and highly respectable Quaker citizens. A +candle, standing on a small table between them, dimly revealed their +solemn faces and sober, gray garments. + +"Thee is late to-night," said Timothy Matlack. + +"I was detained at several places," explained Nathan. "I came as quickly +as I could." + +"And is thee ready to serve us as before?" + +"Ready and willing, sir." + +"This is a task of greater peril and difficulty," said Anthony Benezet. +"We have tidings for General Washington which cannot be conveyed +verbally, and should reach him before morning. Here is the packet," +drawing a sealed and folded paper from his bosom. "Thee must slip unseen +through the enemy's lines. It is the only way." + +"I will do it," Nathan replied firmly. "There are many weak places, and +the night is dark. I am not afraid." + +"Thou art a brave lad," said Anthony Benezet, "and God will protect +thee. So, now hasten on thy journey. When thou hast passed the sentries, +go to the house of Abel Sansom, on the Germantown Road. He will give +thee a horse for the ride to Valley Forge." + +Nathan concealed the precious packet about his clothes, and turned +toward the door. + +"Wait," said Timothy Matlack. "Did thee destroy the message I sent thee +by Jenkins' man?" + +"I--I think I put it in my pocket," faltered Nathan, making a hasty +search. "But it is not here now, sir. I fear I have lost it." + +"Where, lad? not on the street?" + +"Yes," Nathan admitted huskily, "up near the barracks." He remembered +pulling out his handkerchief while talking to Godfrey. The note must +have fallen out then, and he shivered to think of the possible +consequences of the loss. + +"What rashness and folly!" groaned Timothy Matlack. "We are ruined, +Anthony--" + +"Do not blame the lad," said his companion. "It was but a pardonable +want of caution. All may be well if we can get safely out of the house. +Go, Nathan--" + +Too late! Just then came a clatter of feet from down-stairs, and a +couple of sharp words of command, a confused tumult arose and Jenkins +was heard expostulating in loud and indignant tones in the tap-room. +Next a door banged open, and the lower hall echoed to the tread of +booted feet. + +For a few seconds after the disturbance began the occupants of the +little room stared at one another in dazed terror. + +"The note has been found," gasped Timothy Matlack, "and British soldiers +have come to search the house. We will all be hanged!" + +"They must catch us first," exclaimed Nathan, extinguishing the candle +with a puff, and darting to the window. "We are trapped," he added, with +a gloomy glance at the street below. "Two grenadiers are on the +pavement." + +"Thee may get out by the rear of the house," hoarsely replied Anthony +Benezet. "Those papers will be our death-warrant if the enemy take them. +Thee must escape, lad--thee must. Quick! there is not an instant to +lose." + +"But you?" demurred Nathan. + +"Friend Matlack and myself will remain quietly here," replied the old +Quaker. "The note can but cause suspicion. There will be no proof +against us, with thee out of the way. Here, take this. I had forgotten +to give it to thee. Use it only in self-defense." In the darkness he +pressed a heavy, brass-barreled pistol into the lad's hands. + +"I will do my best," muttered Nathan. "If I am shot tell my father--" A +lump rose in his throat, and without finishing the sentence he opened +the door and stepped into the hall. Fortunately the invading party had +halted below while Jenkins tardily fetched them a light, and now they +were but two-thirds the distance up the staircase. In the front was a +stern and handsome officer, with a naked sword in one hand and a glass +lantern held high in the other. The flashing light shone behind him on +the red coats and fierce countenances of half a dozen grenadiers. + +Nathan saw all this at a brief glance, and recognized, with a thrill of +anger, the face of Godfrey Spencer among his foes. He was himself +instantly discovered as he turned and sped along the hall. + +"Halt, in the King's name!" roared the officer. "Halt or die!" + +On dashed Nathan, his heart thumping with terror as the din and clatter +of pursuit rang behind him. He knew all about the house and its +surroundings, and a dozen strides brought him to an angle of the hall. +He slipped round the corner, and dimly saw, twenty feet ahead, a small +window that opened from the rear of the house. + +He was but half way to it when a bright light streamed over him, and +glancing backward he saw the officer turn the angle at the head of his +men. Eager shouts told that they believed their victim to be trapped. + +It was a terrible crisis for the lad. Either he must check the enemy or +abandon hope of escape, and he realized this in the flash of a second. +He halted, faced about, and took quick aim with his pistol. + +"Look out, Major Langdon," cried a warning voice. "He's going to shoot." + +Bang! The thunderous report shook the building. The shattered lantern +crashed to the floor, followed by total darkness, a yell of pain, and a +volley of curses and threats. + +Amid the drifting smoke Nathan darted on to the window, threw up the +sash, and let it fall with a clatter as he vaulted safely down upon the +low roof of a shed. + +He was just in time. Crack! crack! crack!--bullets whistled overhead, +and broken glass and splinters showered about him as he half tumbled, +half climbed to the ground. In a trice he was through the stable-yard +and over a wall into Third Street, across that deserted thoroughfare, +and speeding through a dark and narrow lane in the direction of the +Delaware River. + +There was dull shouting and outcry behind Nathan as he ran on, still +clutching the empty pistol, and keeping a keen watch right and left; but +he heard no close pursuit, and there were no dwelling-houses on the +lane to imperil his present safety. + +"I'm going the wrong way," he said to himself, "but I daren't turn now. +I hope I didn't kill that British officer--I never shot at any one +before, and I hated to do it. One of the soldiers called him Major +Langdon--why, that's the man who is going to put Godfrey on his staff, +and the same that the London law clerk was inquiring about. Well, if I +killed him I'm not to blame. It was in self-defense, and for my +country's sake. If I'm caught they'll surely hang me--but I'm not going +to be caught. These dispatches," feeling to make sure he had the +precious packet, "must be saved from the enemy, and it won't be my fault +if I don't deliver them at Valley Forge before morning." + +The plucky lad had now reached Second Street, and finding no one in +sight, he turned up-town on a rapid walk. He had passed Market Street +and was near Arch when he heard faint shouts, and looking back he saw a +group of dark figures in pursuit. + +"They've tracked me clear from the tavern," he muttered, "and it won't +be easy to give them the slip." + +He began to run now, with the hue and cry swelling behind him. He did +not dare to turn into Arch Street, seeing people moving here and there +in both directions; so he continued up Second, slinking along in the +shadow of the houses. + +From a doorstep across the way some one shouted, and the human +blood-hounds down the street caught up the cry with hoarse energy. The +rush of many feet rang on the night air, and the tumult was rapidly +spreading to the more remote quarters of the town. + +Nathan ran doggedly and swiftly on, looking in vain for a place of +hiding, and knowing that the occasional lamp-posts he passed revealed +his flying form to the enemy. Above Race Street a sour-visaged +man--evidently a Tory citizen--leapt forward from one side with a demand +to stop. "Get out of the way," the lad muttered fiercely, aiming his +empty weapon. The coward fell back with lusty shouting, which was heard +and understood by the approaching soldiers. + +Breathless and panting, Nathan turned west into Vine Street. With +flagging strength and courage he kept on in his flight, realizing that +unless some unforeseen help intervened he must soon be caught. Louder +and nearer rang the roar of the pursuit, and a glance behind showed him +the eager mob, led by red-coated grenadiers, within a hundred yards. + +With a desperate spurt the lad pushed on. Up the street beyond him he +heard cries and saw people running excitedly. "It's no use; I'm +trapped," he muttered, and just then he made a discovery that sent a +thrill of hope to his heart. + +On Vine Street, a few yards from Cable Lane, was the house of Mr. +Whitehead. Here Colonel Abercrombie was quartered, and a horse belonging +to that officer, or to a visitor of rank, was standing before the door +in care of a small boy. It was a large and handsome bay, and from each +saddle-bag peeped the shiny butt of a pistol. + +"What's the fuss about?" asked the small boy--who was Mr. Whitehead's +son Jonas--as the fugitive pulled up breathlessly in front of him. "All +that mob ain't chasing you, are they? Did you steal something?" + +"No, but I'm going to," panted Nathan, with make-believe ferocity. He +lifted the empty pistol. "Give me that horse. Don't make a whimper. I'll +shoot you." + +Terrified by the threat and weapon, Jonas let go the bridle and fled to +the pavement. Nathan swung himself into the saddle, clapped feet in the +stirrups, and gave the bridle a tug that swung the horse around and +started it across the street. The rush and roar of the pursuers rang in +his ears, blending with a shrill cry from Jonas. He heard the house door +fly open, and the voices of Colonel Abercrombie and other officers +raised in a profane howl. Then he was clattering madly up the dark +roadway of Cable Lane, with the din and tumult ebbing fainter and +fainter behind him. + +On his stolen steed the lad cleared street after street at a gallop, +making turns here and there, but trending mainly in the direction he +wanted to go. Men and women in night-caps flung shutters open to look +out, and called to people in the street as he whirled by. He had thrown +his empty pistol away, and had taken from the holster a fresh one, which +he held ready for use in his left hand. + +Soon vacant lots began to take the place of houses, and lighted windows +and startled citizens were seen less frequently. Nathan ventured to +check his horse and listen. Far behind he heard the dull pounding of +hoofs, telling him that some of his pursuers had found mounts and were +on the track again. With a glance around to get his bearings he pushed +on at a rapid trot to the open country, thinking this gait more proper +for the half-formed plan he had against the coming and unavoidable +emergency. He knew the locality, but not so well as he could have +desired. + +"The lines are some place about here," he muttered half aloud, "what +shall I do? Trust to a dash to take me through, or abandon the horse +and try it on foot? I must decide before the pickets--" + +"Halt! who comes?" The gruff command rang out from ten feet ahead, where +a shadowy form had suddenly risen from the darkness of the open field. + +"Friend!" called Nathan, and with that he drove the stirrups so hard +that his horse bounded forward on a gallop--straight for the dumfounded +sentinel. There was a futile shot in air, a yell of pain, and then the +Britisher was down under the cruel hoofs. + +Nathan and his galloping steed swept on, while behind them the night +blazed with red flashes, and echoed to musket shots, oaths, and +scurrying feet. + +"Safe at last!" the lad cried exultantly, and even as he spoke a jangle +of equipments and a patter of hoofs on the turf gave the lie to his +words. He had stumbled not on one or two pickets, but on a dismounted +patroling party watching for deserters, who had been stepping off +rather frequently of late through this weak part of the lines--mostly +Hessians who had taken a fancy to the country. + +Nathan did not lose heart, black as his chances seemed. He urged his +horse to its top speed, and the noble animal did gallantly. For five +minutes the chase thundered on, the enemy slowly but surely gaining. A +glance showed the lad that his pursuers were less than two hundred yards +behind, and when he looked forward again it was to see the river +Schuylkill looming dark and quiet under the canopy of stars. + +No time to hesitate. Over and down the bluff plunged horse and rider, +their disappearance being the signal for a rain of bullets. Splash! +splash! they were in the water now, and the gallant steed was breasting +waves and current and slush ice as he swam toward the opposite bank and +safety, with the lad out of the saddle and clinging to the flowing mane. + +Now they were at mid-stream--the river was narrower--and from the rear +bank the halted dragoons opened fire. Crack, crack, crack!--the balls +whistled and sputtered harmlessly. It was too dark for good aim, and +there was little in sight to aim at. + +But keen eyes spied a boat moored in the bushes, and two soldiers were +quickly in it and paddling after the fugitive. They were gaining +rapidly, as Nathan saw by turning his head. Clinging to the horse's mane +with one hand he snapped the pistol that he still held in the other. It +was wet, and would not go off. He snatched the second from the +unsubmerged saddle-bag, aimed and fired. With the report, the soldier +who was paddling tossed up his arms and fell back with a hoarse cry. His +comrade rose to his feet in the swaying boat, now but six yards away, +and leveled his musket with a terrible oath. + +Flash! bang! the gallant horse quivered, whinnied with pain, and swung +helplessly around with the current. Nathan's hand let go the bridle, and +the black waters closed over the lad's head. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +IN WHICH NATHAN BECOMES A SOLDIER + + +Nathan's sudden disappearance indicated that the bullet had struck him +also, but such was not the case. He knew the horse was shot the instant +the report rang out, and his object in bobbing under was twofold; to +escape the animal's struggles and to deceive the soldier. Letting +himself sink a few feet, he dived still deeper, and then swam beneath +the surface toward shore. In spite of his clothes he covered a good +distance, and when lack of breath forced him to the top he was within +ten yards of the bank. + +The watchful and suspecting dragoon spied the lad at once, and announced +his discovery to the rest of the party by a shout, as he picked up the +paddle and drove the boat nearer. On coming within the same range as +before he snatched the musket from his dead or dying comrade, and again +drew a bead on his intended victim. + +Just at this point, when he was nearly to the shore, Nathan looked back +and saw his danger. He was all but exhausted, and he knew that he had +not a ghost of a chance to escape. He was too weak even to dive, and for +a terrible second or two, while his enemy made sure of his aim, he +expected instant death as he struggled feebly on. + +But an undreamed of deliverance was at hand. From the near-by edge of +the bank, in front of the lad, came a flash and a report. He glanced in +bewilderment over his shoulder in time to see the murderous dragoon drop +his unfired weapon and pitch head first into the water. The body sank at +once, and the boat drifted on in pursuit of the dead horse. + +Nathan swam to shore, scarcely able to credit his good fortune, and no +sooner had he planted his trembling feet on the bank than a stalwart +figure rose before him out of the gloom--a Hessian with bristling +mustache, a blue and yellow uniform, and a brass plate on his tall, +black cap. He uttered a few angry words in German as he stared at the +lad. + +"You saved my life," said Nathan, who was quick to see how the land lay, +"and I thank you for it." + +"Och, I mean not to," the Hessian replied, in broken English. "I think +you vas a comrade whom I watch for. You are American, eh? And you escape +from the British?" + +"Yes," boldly admitted Nathan. + +The Hessian hesitated a moment. "You come mit me," he said. "This no +safe place to stay." + +Nathan was of the same mind, and he followed his companion up the bank +and then into the woods, while the angry voices of the British dragoons +grew faint in the rear. As they went along the Hessian explained that he +had deserted that evening, and was to have been joined by another man +from his company. He had taken Nathan to be that expected comrade. "I +will look for Hans no longer," he added. "He may be dead or captured." + +"Why did you run away?" asked Nathan, who had a thorough contempt for a +deserter. + +The Hessian was not angered by the question. + +"Vy should I not?" he replied. "I haf no quarrel mit the colonists, and +I like not to fight mit King Shorge for hire. In my native Anspach I get +leedle pay und poor foot. I like America, and I alretty spike the +language. Ach, is it not so?" + +"Yes, you'll do," assented Nathan. + +"I spike it better soon," the Hessian added. "And now vere you go?" + +"To the American lines," Nathan answered. "I'll take you there if you +wish." + +"Nein, nein," the man replied; shaking his head vigorously. "Your +general vill make me fight, und I haf enough of it. You go your vay und +I go mit mine." + +He was plainly unwilling to disclose his plans, and the lad did not care +to press him. So, with a hearty hand-shake, they separated, the deserter +striding off toward the west, while Nathan turned northward. + +To reach the Germantown Road from the lad's present location would have +meant a recrossing of the Schuylkill and a long detour out of his +nearest course--a plan not to be contemplated for a moment. After +parting from the Hessian he squeezed the water out of his clothes, dried +the dispatches as much as he could, and then tramped for half an hour +through the dark woods and open fields. Coming to a road that he +recognized, he pushed on more rapidly, and was soon knocking at the door +of a loyal farm-house. Down came the proprietor, nightcap on head and +gun in hand, and on learning what was wanted he willingly loaned the lad +his old mare and a pistol, on condition that both should be returned +within a day or two. + +Nathan mounted in haste and rode off. Mile after mile slipped from under +the flying hoofs and no enemy barred the way. As dawn was breaking a +gruff voice challenged him, and he knew he had reached the outer picket +lines at Valley Forge. + +The lad was known by name and reputation, and after a short wait he was +taken in charge by an officer and conducted through the camp. There was +much of interest to be seen. The narrow streets were waking up to the +day's activity, and ragged and starved-looking men were issuing from the +little huts. Some were building fires and others carrying wood. Night +pickets, just released from duty, were stumbling sleepily toward their +quarters. Wan and hollow faces peeped from the windows of the hospitals, +and here and there a one-legged soldier hobbled along on crutches. + +Nathan and the officer presently reached the angle formed by the +junction of the Schuylkill River and Valley Creek, where stood the large +stone house that served for headquarters. The sentries passed them +through the yard, and thence into the dining-room of the house. Here, +early as was the hour, the American commander sat at breakfast. With him +were two of his officers--Baron Steuben and General Knox. + +"A messenger for you, General," said the lad's companion, Lieutenant +Wills. "He left Philadelphia last night and had the hardest kind of a +time to get through. I thought you had better see him at once." + +With this the lieutenant left the room, and Washington drew his chair a +little out from the table. His grave and somewhat haggard face lit up +with a smile of welcome as he looked at Nathan. + +"So you are here again, Master Stanbury," he said, "and what do you +bring me this time?" + +"Dispatches from Anthony Benezet, sir," replied Nathan, drawing the +precious packet from his bosom. + +Washington opened the documents, and read them slowly and attentively. +Then with a few eager and low-spoken words, he handed them to his +companions. They perused them in turn, and seemed impressed by the +contents. + +"Most satisfactory indeed!" commented Baron Steuben. + +"And highly important," added General Knox. "But the papers have been +wet." + +"Yes, I observed that they were damp," said Washington. "How do you +account for that, Master Stanbury? Why, my lad, you have surely been wet +yourself! Am I not right?" + +"You are right, sir," replied Nathan; and in a modest way he went on to +tell of his experiences. But Washington and his companions, perceiving +that more lay beneath the surface, asked question after question. Thus, +by degrees, the whole of the lad's story was drawn from him, and his +hearers learned in detail of the thrilling fight at the Indian Queen and +the subsequent perilous escape from the town. + +Washington's look was more eloquent than words, and he impulsively +clasped Nathan's hand. "My brave lad!" he exclaimed, "I am proud of you. +Thank God that you came safely through such terrible dangers! I have not +in my army a man who could have done better." + +"Not one, General!" assented Baron Steuben. "There is not one with a +shrewder head and a pluckier heart." + +"The lad is a hero," cried General Knox. "I predict that he will be +heard of in the future." + +Nathan blushed at these outspoken tributes of praise. He had never known +such a happy moment, and he felt more than repaid for all he had +suffered. + +"My lad," said Washington, "I thank you in the name of the country. You +have performed a great service, and the safe-keeping of these dispatches +means more than you can understand. Had they been captured by the enemy, +many lives must have been forfeited. And what will you do now? You dare +not return to Philadelphia at present." + +"Sir, I wish to be a soldier," Nathan answered. "That is my desire above +all things. But my father will not permit me to enlist." + +"You will make a good soldier," declared Washington, after a thoughtful +pause. "No doubt an officer in time. We have need of such recruits." He +summoned an aid from the adjoining room, and said to him: "Tell Captain +Stanbury that I wish to see him at once." + +The man departed on his errand, and, during the interval of waiting, +Nathan was made to sit down at the table, and satisfy his keen hunger on +the breakfast prepared for Washington and his guests. Nathan's father +presently arrived--a big, handsome man, bronzed and bearded. He warmly +embraced the lad, and listened with mingled pride and alarm to the +narrative of his adventurous journey. + +"You have a noble son, Captain Stanbury," said Washington. "One that you +may well be proud of. He tells me that his dearest wish is to serve his +country in the field." + +Nathan fairly trembled with eagerness and suspense, and his father +looked soberly at the floor, evidently at a loss for a reply. + +"Sir," he said, finally, "this is a hard thing you ask. The lad is +young, and his education is still unfinished. And he is all I have in +the world." + +"He has proved himself a man in discretion and bravery," replied +Washington. "After the events of last night it will not be safe for him +to return to Philadelphia at present. And his country needs him--" + +"His country shall have him, sir," cried Captain Stanbury. "Take the +boy! I can no longer withhold my consent." + +So the question was settled to Nathan's satisfaction and delight, and in +all the camp that morning there was no heart so light and happy as his. +That he had attained his dearest and long-wished-for ambition seemed +almost too good to be true, and it is to be feared that he felt but +slight regrets at leaving his studies and the protecting care and home +of Cornelius De Vries. + +He did not find an opportunity to tell his father of the mysterious +visit of Mr. Noah Waxpenny to the Indian Queen, for Captain Stanbury and +a small force of soldiers speedily and secretly left camp in the +direction of Philadelphia, no doubt on account of the dispatches +received from Anthony Benezet. And they took with them the mare and +pistols borrowed from the loyal farmer. + +That same morning Nathan was mustered as a private into his father's +company of Wyoming men, most of whom were neighbors he had known up at +his old home on the Susquehanna, and which belonged to General Mifflin's +division of the Pennsylvania troops. A supply of powder and ball and a +musket were given to him; but he retained his own clothes, for uniforms +were few and far between in the American army at that time. Having thus +become a full-fledged soldier the exhausted lad went to bed in the hut +assigned to him, and slept under blankets all the afternoon and through +the following night. + +On turning out in the morning, hungry and refreshed, Nathan found a sad +and shocking piece of news awaiting him. Briefly, it was as follows: + +Late on the previous afternoon Captain Stanbury's little force met and +attacked, midway between Valley Forge and Philadelphia, a foraging party +of British soldiers in charge of two wagon-loads of provisions. In the +fight that ensued the enemy were driven off with severe losses, and the +supplies fell into the hands of the Americans. Only two of the latter +were killed, and Captain Stanbury was shot in the groin. His men had +brought him back during the night, and he was now lying in the hospital. + +Thither Nathan posted in haste, only to learn from the attendants that +his father was too ill to be seen, and that his ultimate recovery was +very doubtful. A kind-hearted surgeon came out and tried to cheer the +lad up, bidding him hope for the best; but in spite of this well-meant +consolation the young recruit spent an utterly wretched day. During the +morning and part of the afternoon he was under the tuition of a +drill-sergeant. At another time he would have taken keen delight in +learning the duties of a soldier, but the thought of his father lying in +the dreary hospital made the work irksome to him, and it was a great +relief when he was set at liberty. + +At eventide, when supper was over, and the camp-fires were casting ruddy +gleams on the quiet waters of the Schuylkill and the brown hills, +Nathan was drawn aside by a member of the company named Barnabas Otter. +The latter had been a friend and neighbor of Captain Stanbury and his +son up at Wyoming, and though now quite an old man he was as rugged and +able-bodied as many who were half his age. + +"Sit down here, my boy," said Barnabas, indicating a log in front of his +hut. + +"None of my mess-mates are about, an' we can have a quiet chat to +ourselves. This open sort of weather is nice after what we've had, but +I'm thinkin' it won't last long. Lucky for you the Schuylkill wasn't +froze night before last, else you would hardly have given the British +troopers the slip. Why, it's the talk of the camp, lad--the way you +outwitted the enemy. We fellows from Wyoming ain't the ones to be caught +napping, are we?" + +Nathan smiled sadly. "I did my duty, that was all," he replied. "But I +would go back this minute and surrender myself to the British, if that +would restore my father to health." + +"I don't wonder you feel bad about it," said Barnabas. "We all do, lad, +for there ain't a braver and better liked man at Valley Forge than +Captain Stanbury. I only wish I'd been along to take part in that little +scrimmage; it was this pesky lame foot that kept me in camp. How is the +captain this evening? Have you heard?" + +"Just the same--no better," answered Nathan. "I was at the hospital a +bit ago, and they won't let me see him. The surgeons were awfully kind, +but they don't seem to have much hope. The wound is a bad one, and it's +in a vital place. Oh! what will I do if my father dies--" + +The lad broke down, and could say no more. He covered his face with both +hands, and hot tears fell from between his fingers. + +Barnabas patted Nathan on the shoulder. "Now, now, don't take on so," he +muttered huskily. "Cheer up, young comrade! Your father ain't going to +die--his country and General Washington need him too badly. He's been +through too much this winter to be taken off by a British bullet. Mark +my words, lad, he'll be on his feet again before the spring campaign +opens." + +"I hope and pray that he will," said Nathan, cheered by the old man's +confident words. + +"That's the way to talk," exclaimed Barnabas. "Listen, now, an' I'll +tell you what the captain an' the rest of us have been through since we +went into camp here. I reckon you ain't heard all." + +"I never heard as much as I wanted to," replied Nathan; "I didn't get +the chance. But I know it was awful." + +"Awful ain't half the truth," declared Barnabas, with strong emphasis. +"There's been wars and wars in this world, but I don't believe any army +ever suffered like ours did the last few weeks. It's bad enough now, but +it's not what it was. I tell you, lad, we've got to win if there's a +Providence up yonder--and I know there is." + +Barnabas was silent for a moment, and then he resumed. "It was the 11th +of last December when we started for here from Whitmarsh, lad, and the +march took us four days. Half of us were without shoes, and there was a +steady trail of frozen blood along the way. And when we got here things +looked as blue as could be. The place was a lonely wilderness--mostly +trees and water and hills. But Washington and his officers declared it +was a strong position, an' I reckon they were right." + +"What did you do first?" asked Nathan. + +"Built redoubts and dug entrenchments," replied Barnabas, "an' then we +commenced on the huts. What a time we had of it in the bitter weather +and snow, felling and hauling the trees and putting the logs together! +And it took purty near as long to stuff the cracks with clay, and cover +the window openings with oiled paper. Why, it was the first of the year +till we got into the huts." + +"I don't see how you lived through the exposure, all the time you were +working and sleeping without shelter," said Nathan. + +"I hardly see myself, lad, looking back on it now," declared Barnabas. +"It were little short of a miracle. We were without proper food and +clothing, to say nothing of shelter. Flour and water, baked at open +fires, was mostly all we had to eat, and we were without bread for days +at a time. You see, supplies were scarce in the surrounding country, +owin' to the military operations of last summer. Lots of us had no +shirts, and the hospitals were full of barefooted soldiers who couldn't +work for want of shoes." + +"And where did you sleep at nights?" inquired Nathan. + +"Where we could," Barnabas answered bitterly. "Those of us who had +blankets were glad to sleep on the hard ground, though the weather was +the coldest and the snows the deepest I ever knew. As for those who had +no covering--why, lad, I've seen dozens of men, after working hard all +day, sit awake around the fires from sunset till sunrise to keep from +freezing. And all this time Lord Howe and his army were snug and warm in +our Philadelphia, an' livin' off the fat of the land." + +"Which they're doing yet," Nathan exclaimed, wrathfully. "Haven't I seen +them with my own eyes?" + +"Just wait till the winter's over," said Barnabas. "They may be singing +a different tune then. Ain't Benjamin Franklin across the sea tryin' to +get the French to help us, lad?" + +"Yes," assented Nathan. + +"And is there no word from him yet?" + +"Not yet, Barnabas; but it may come any day." + +"It can't come too soon," replied the old man. "And now to go on with my +story. As I was saying, lad, it was the first of the year till we got +into the huts, and since then we've been sufferin' purty near as bad. +The horses died by hundreds, and the men had to haul their own supplies +and fire-wood. And look at the sick men in the hospital, and men with +legs amputated, and men with legs froze black--that's on account of +there being no straw to sleep on. But it's no use my tellin' you, for +you'll see it all yourself." + +"I have seen it," exclaimed Nathan, "even in the short time I have been +here, and what I wonder at most is the way the men endure their +sufferings. There is no complaining--" + +"Complaining?" interrupted Barnabas. "I should say not, lad. This is an +army of heroes, from General Washington down. You should have seen your +father during some of them blackest times, not thinking of himself, but +sharing his rations and blanket with others, and helping weak and sick +soldiers in their work--" + +Barnabas stopped thus abruptly, seeing tears in Nathan's eyes, and +wisely tacked off on a different subject. For some time longer the two +friends chatted, discussing the past and the future, and deploring the +well-known fact that Congress and the people were withholding their +sympathies and confidence from Washington in this the darkest period of +his career. + +At last the bugles sounded taps, and they retired to their damp huts to +sleep till the dawn of another day. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN WHICH NATHAN'S MILITARY CAREER VERY NEARLY TERMINATES + + +Within a few days Nathan was thoroughly accustomed to his new life, and +though the weather turned bitter and freezing, giving him a taste of the +hardships the army had endured before his arrival, he felt no longing or +desire to return to the comfortable guardianship of Cornelius De Vries. + +On the contrary, he took pride in showing that he could endure the +rigors and duties of camp-life as unflinchingly as the older and veteran +soldiers. His pluck and boyish good nature quickly made him a favorite +with officers and men alike. He was always ready to help a comrade, or +to assume tasks that did not properly belong to him. Without a murmur he +did picket-duty by day or night, in rain and snow and freezing cold. He +made light of the poor and scanty food that was served out to him, and +when he lay awake shivering for want of sufficient covering, his +bed-fellows heard never a word of complaint from his lips. + +Thus a week passed, and the lad's heroic and steadfast performance of +duty was all the more praiseworthy because he was hourly tortured by +fears for his father's life. The result of Captain Stanbury's wound was +still uncertain. He was delirious and in a high fever, and none but the +hospital attendants and surgeons were permitted to see him. He was +receiving the best care and treatment possible under the circumstances, +and his vigorous constitution was a strong point in his favor; but until +the crisis was reached the issue could not be foretold. Not only the +Wyoming men, but many others as well, longed and prayed for the gallant +captain's recovery. Washington sent twice daily to inquire for him, and +on several occasions spoke a few words of comfort and hope to Nathan in +person. + +In the meantime the lad had written to Cornelius De Vries, and the +letter, together with certain official dispatches to patriot friends in +Philadelphia, was delivered by a trusty messenger. The latter, on his +return to camp, brought papers for Washington and a reply to Nathan's +letter. Of necessity the worthy Hollander wrote briefly, yet what he had +to say was full of interest. He expressed deep sorrow for Captain +Stanbury's critical illness, and while he showed that he was sorry to +lose Nathan and missed him greatly, he took pains to give the lad some +good advice suitable for a soldier's career. Referring to the memorable +night at the Indian Queen, he stated that Anthony Benezet and Timothy +Matlack had escaped to the lower floor of the tavern in the darkness and +confusion that followed the pursuit of Nathan, and that Jenkins had +concealed them in the cellar until the danger was over. "Major Langdon +was slightly wounded in the arm," a postscript added, "by the bullet +that shattered his lantern." + +A few words must be said here concerning Mr. Noah Waxpenny. That +peculiar individual did not appear again at the Indian Queen. Being +under the impression that the information given him was true, and that +Major Langdon was not in the town, he took up temporary quarters at the +Cross Keys Inn on Chestnut Street. For several days he was occupied in +making sly inquiries about Richard Stanbury and a certain other person, +with what success will appear further on in the story. Then, still +taking it for granted that Major Langdon was not in Philadelphia, he set +out for Long Island in search of him. But on reaching New York he was +prostrated by illness resulting from a heavy cold, and in that city he +lay on his back for weeks, unable to give any attention to the task that +had brought him to America. + +A few days after the receipt of Cornelius De Vries's letter, and while +Captain Stanbury was still hovering between life and death, Nathan met +with an adventure which very nearly terminated fatally, but which raised +him even higher in the estimation of the commander-in-chief. To his own +quick wits and courage he owed his escape, but in after life he could +never recall that night without a shudder. + +Driven by necessity to make use of a power granted him by Congress, +Washington had issued a proclamation to all the farmers within +seventy miles of Valley Forge--they were mostly Tories in their +sympathies--ordering them to thresh out as much grain as might be +demanded, and at short notice, under penalty of having their whole stock +seized as straw. Requisitions were first made on the farmers living at a +distance, while those in the vicinity of the camp were prudently left +till the last. Among the latter was a certain Jacob Troup, a man known +to be loyal to the Americans, and the owner of a large barn stocked with +the previous summer's crop of wheat and oats. His turn came during the +third week in February, and as the farm was close to camp, and Troup had +three or four hirelings in his employ, a lot of confiscated grain was +brought there to be threshed at the same time with his own. + +For three days the work went on, the greater portion of the grain +accumulating in the loyal farmer's granary preparatory to being carted +to camp. But, late in the afternoon of the fourth day, Washington +received word that a force of British cavalry had been seen within +twenty miles of Valley Forge, and this news, considered in connection +with a well-founded rumor that spies were, or had been, within the +lines, led him to take prompt measures to secure the large store of +grain. + +For this duty twenty men of the Wyoming Company were detailed, and +Barnabas Otter and Nathan were of the number. So many of the officers +were sick or disabled that the command of the little party fell to the +lot of Corporal Dubbs. Shortly after supper they formed in the company +street and marched quietly through the camp, heading southwest toward +Philadelphia. They passed out of the lines between Knox's batteries and +Woodford's redoubt, from which point the farmhouse of Jacob Troup was +rather more than a mile distant. + +It was as bitter and stormy a night as the army at Valley Forge could +remember in all that winter. That morning a brief thaw had been +succeeded by a cold snap, which formed a hard crust on the snow that +thickly covered the ground. Since afternoon fresh snow had been falling, +and now the flakes were coming down in a dense, fine mass. Aided by a +cutting wind drifts were gathering here and there, and it was impossible +to see more than a few yards in any direction. The cold was still +intense. + +Under these circumstances the thinly-clad and poorly-shod men suffered +greatly as they marched on in the teeth of the storm, leading with them +four horses that were to haul the grain to camp in the farmer's big +sledge. But not a word of complaint was uttered. The thought that the +success of their mission meant bread for the army kept their spirits up, +and like true heroes they faced the cold and snow. No doubt the brave +fellows longed for a fight to heat their blood, but there was little +chance that any of the British would be hovering near on such a night as +this. + +On they went, holding their musket-stocks with numbed fingers. In a +black line they straggled through the storm, up hill and down, across +patches of timber and low scrub, now knee-deep in fresh snow-drifts, now +plodding over the wind-swept crust beneath. At last the leader gave the +word to halt. It was in a hollow partly sheltered from the wind, and +straight ahead, toward Philadelphia, the snowy landscape merged duskily +into the night. To the left a narrow lane led fifty yards to the farm +buildings of Jacob Troup. Word of the coming had been sent to him, and a +cheery light was flashing in house and barn. + +"All's well," declared Corporal Dubbs. "I expected nothing else, for the +Britishers ain't the kind of chaps to stir from their warm fires in such +weather. But precautions won't go amiss, and I'm going to post half a +dozen pickets to watch while the rest of us load the grain." + +Accordingly he selected two men, and gave them orders to advance to the +left and take their stand on a road that lay some distance to the rear +of the farm buildings. "Amos Brown," he said, "you and Tom Relyea march +in the opposite direction--off here to the right--and keep on till you +come to the road that leads to the Schuylkill beyond Valley Creek." + +The corporal now turned to Barnabas Otter, pointing one numbed hand +straight ahead to the southwest, in a direction at right angles to those +indicated to the other sentries. "Comrade, you know who lives over +yonder?" he asked. + +"Abner Wilkinson," replied Barnabas. "I've seen the place often. The +owner is a rank Tory." + +"Ay, he's said to be," admitted the corporal, "and I reckon opinion is +right. He certainly looked mighty sour when we stript him of his grain +and stock. Well, to proceed, just back of Abner Wilkinson's barn is a +broad lane that connects further on with the main highway from +Philadelphia. It's bordered by woods, and if the enemy come at all, +they'll likely come that way. So you post yourself on that little hill +overlooking the road beyond the barn--it's not much over a quarter of a +mile from here. Nathan Stanbury will go with you as far as the orchard +this side of the house, and that's where I want him to stay. Do you +understand?" + +"Ay, ay, sir," assented Barnabas. + +"And you, lad?" + +"Yes, I understand," said Nathan. "I'm to mount guard at the edge of the +orchard." + +"Exactly; and keep an eye on the house. I'm telling you this because of +the rumors about spies being in camp. The family are living in +Philadelphia, and Abner Wilkinson is said to be there too. But I've my +doubts about that, and you and Barnabas may learn something to-night if +you're wide-awake." + +The six pickets had stepped to the front as their names were called, and +Corporal Dubbs now addressed them collectively in a few brief words. +"These precautions are no more than my duty warrants," he said. "A +soldier never knows what's going to happen. As for the posts I've +assigned you to--why, I don't believe General Washington himself could +improve on 'em. If the enemy come they won't find us napping, and +there'll be plenty of time to save the grain. In case all goes well you +can leave your places in about half an hour from the time you get there. +Should one of you discover the British he will fire his musket, and then +you must all fall back. The report will reach us over here, and will +give us a chance to get the grain into the lines. Now off with you, and +be spry about it." + +The corporal gave the word to march, and his fourteen men and four +horses followed him down the lane toward the farm-house. The six +pickets, trudging off by twos, quickly vanished in the darkness and the +storm. Side by side Nathan and Barnabas struck over the open field, and +a tramp of a quarter of a mile brought them to the crest of a slight +ridge, from whence they saw the Tory farmer's house and barn looming +mistily out of the snow at a distance of four hundred yards. The wind +now had a clean sweep at them, and the snow cut their faces like sleet +as they pushed on down the slope. They felt their limbs growing numb, +and half of the time they had to close their eyes. At length, panting +and exhausted, they reached the welcome shelter of the orchard, and were +out of the worst of the storm. For several minutes they crouched in a +snow-drift on the farther side of the fence to recover breath and to +reconnoiter. But there was no sign of danger--so far as they could see +or hear. The house, looming close by, had a dreary and desolate look +with its shuttered windows below and its black squares of glass above. + +"I reckon there's nobody in yonder," said Barnabas, his teeth +chattering as he spoke. "I sort of agreed with the corporal that +Abner Wilkinson might be lurking about, but I daresay he's keeping +snug in Philadelphia." + +"Yes, that's more likely," assented Nathan. "And I don't believe that +troop of cavalry is anywhere near." + +"Perhaps not," replied Barnabas, "but if they are, it'll fall to my lot +to spy 'em. I must be going now, lad. Just you stay right here, and be +sure to keep moving a bit, else you'll get numbed and drop over asleep +in the snow. If you hear the crack of my weapon don't wait--cut and run +for Troup's place." + +"And if I fire you'll hurry this way?" asked Nathan. + +"Of course, lad; but there's no danger of you givin' an alarm. If the +British are prowlin' about I'll be the first to see 'em." + +With this Barnabas shouldered his musket and trudged off. His tall +figure grew dimmer and dimmer amid the flurrying snow-flakes, and he was +out of sight before he had reached the farther end of the orchard. + +A sudden feeling of loneliness now oppressed Nathan, and with it came an +unaccountable suspicion of danger. He looked warily up the bare, white +hillside toward the Troup farm, and then he trudged across the orchard +in the opposite direction. Looking from the fence past the end of the +barn, he could vaguely make out against the sky-line the rounded and +wooded little hill on top of which Barnabas was to mount guard. It was +very nearly a quarter of a mile distant. Coming back to his former +post, he riveted his eyes on the house. It faced toward the barn, and +the side wall was directly opposite him, separated by a thirty foot +strip of yard. He half expected to see one of the shutters thrown open, +or to hear the sound of voices from within. + +But, as the minutes slipped by, and only the moaning of the wind broke +the silence of the night, the lad grew ashamed of his fears. The bitter +cold was the only enemy he had to contend with. His bare ears and hands +pained him terribly, and a slight sensation of drowsiness warned him +that he must keep moving. So he stood his musket against a big apple +tree, wrapping a rag around the flint and pan to protect them from the +damp, and began to pace up and down the narrow angle of the orchard. He +continued this for a quarter of an hour, stopping occasionally to look +and listen, until his feet had trodden a well-defined path between the +trees. Feeling the need of more violent exercise, he rapidly folded and +unfolded his arms for a few minutes, and then, fastening his hands on a +big limb overhead, he repeatedly drew his chin up to a level with it. +When he had warmed himself comfortably by these means he shouldered his +musket and stepped to the fence. + +"Why don't Barnabas come?" he said half aloud. "I've surely been here +half an hour, and that was the limit. By this time the grain ought to be +all loaded and on the way to camp. I wouldn't mind the cold if there was +any fighting going on, but this sentry duty in winter is the worst part +of a soldier's life. And I am anxious to get back to see how my father +is--" + +The sentence was stifled on the lad's lips, and he very nearly uttered a +sharp cry. For just then, under one of the shuttered windows of the +house, he saw a flash of yellow light. It was visible for a few seconds, +and then it vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared. + +Nathan felt a cold shiver run down his back. "Did I imagine that light?" +he asked himself, "or is there some one in the house?" + +The next instant he was crouching low behind the fence, every nerve +quivering with excitement, and his musket trembling in his hands. He had +made another startling discovery, and one that was too real to be +doubted. The dark figure of a man was approaching the rear of the house +from the direction of the American lines, and it was only too evident +that he was not one of Corporal Dubbs's sentries. On he came through the +drifted snow, stepping quickly but stealthily, and turning his head from +right to left. + +Nathan aimed his musket through the fence. "A spy!" he muttered. "He's +just been to the camp! Shall I shoot?" putting his finger to the +trigger. "No, I have a better plan. He's going to the house, and there +he'll be trapped." + +The lad was right. A moment later the crouching figure had gained the +rear wall and was lost to sight. A door was heard to softly open and +close. + +Nathan watched and listened in vain. For half a minute he hesitated. +Should he hurry off to bring Barnabas, or should he first endeavor to +learn who was in the house? The thought that he might, after all, be +mistaken decided him. Holding his musket ready for instant use he +lightly scaled the fence, and waded through the snow to the side wall of +the house. He crept to the rear angle, cautiously peeped around, and +then boldly turned it. A few steps brought him to the door, and he +discovered it was open a few inches. The wind had evidently done this, +the latch having failed to drop into its socket. + +Nathan stood at attention, outwardly cool and alert in spite of his +inward excitement. All was black behind the crevice, but he could hear +faint voices at a distance. The temptation was too strong to be +resisted, and with a sudden impulse he carefully pushed the door farther +open and stepped into what seemed to be a wide hall. Looking to the left +he saw another door. This also was open an inch or two, and in the +lighted room to which it led two persons were talking in low and eager +tones. + +"I've got to find out who's in there," the lad resolved. Holding his +gun in front of him he advanced with a cat-like tread. Happily the bare +floor did not creak under him, and his ragged shoes were so full of snow +that they made no noise. He reached the door, halted, and peered +anxiously through the crack. + +What he saw was a small room, scantily furnished with a bed, two chairs, +and a table. A lamp was burning dimly on a shelf, and every crevice of +the one window was stuffed with rags to keep the light from showing +outside--a precaution that had not been entirely successful. + +In the chair beside the table sat a bearded, harsh-looking man, who +could be none other than Abner Wilkinson himself; he was wrapped in a +heavy cloak and held a hat in his hand. Near by stood the man who had +just entered the house. He was young and smooth-shaven, with a handsome +but sinister countenance. He was hurriedly exchanging his snowy and wet +garments for a uniform of green faced with white--the uniform, as Nathan +well knew, of the Tory soldiers of the British army. + +The lad saw all this at a brief glance, and then he listened keenly to +the conversation. "I wouldn't have done what you did for a king's +ransom," Abner Wilkinson was saying. "Man, you took your life in your +hands--" + +"But I got what I wanted," the other interrupted, calmly, "and now that +I have them safe we had better be off at once. There's no telling what +will happen if the loss is discovered, as it may be at any moment." + +"It's a bad night to travel on foot," said Abner Wilkinson. "Don't you +think we might wait till morning? There's no danger of your being traced +here, for the snow will cover your footsteps--" + +"But not right away. I tell you we're in danger, and the sooner we start +the better. Have you got those other papers ready?" + +"Yes, Captain," the Tory farmer answered; and he stepped toward a closet +at the end of the room. + +Out in the dark hall Nathan trembled with excitement. "They have +papers," he said to himself, "and the one in uniform has been spying in +our lines. They mustn't get away." + +Just then Abner Wilkinson turned around from the closet, holding a +packet in his hand. "Here they are, Captain," he said. + +"Put them in your pocket," replied the officer. "They may be as +important as those I have. Are you ready to start? We'll go as soon as +Mawhood comes back. I'm beginning to feel worried about him." + +"Oh, he'll be in presently," said Wilkinson, "unless he's lost his +bearings in the storm--" + +Nathan trembled with sudden fear, missing the rest of the sentence. +"There's another spy," he reflected, "and he's outside somewhere. These +two are waiting for him. Whew! what a scrape I'm in! There's no time to +lose if I want to get away." + +He turned cautiously around to retreat, and even as he did so the floor +creaked and he saw a dark object between himself and the outer door. The +next instant, as he made a headlong dash for liberty, a strong arm +encircled him and a hand clutched his throat. The lad's musket fell +with a crash, and he struggled hard to break loose. But his efforts were +futile. In less time than it takes to tell he was dragged, bruised and +half-choked, into the room. Abner Wilkinson was trembling with fright in +a far corner, and the officer had drawn a sword and a pistol. With an +oath he reached for the lamp, evidently intending to blow it out. + +"Stop, sir; you needn't do that," cried Nathan's captor, who was a burly +Britisher in plain dress. "There's only one of 'em, and I've got him +safe. He must have crept into the house a bit ago, for he was listening +at yonder door when I spied him." He released the lad's throat, and held +him out at arm's length. + +The officer glared at Nathan. "Are you sure there are no more, Mawhood?" +he demanded hoarsely. + +"Quite sure, Captain," the man replied. "There's a party of rebels +removing the grain from Troup's farm back across the hill, and this chap +was posted here as an advance picket. There are no others in the +neighborhood, for I've been all around the house. But I would advise +getting away just as quick as possible--" + +"Yes, yes, let's start at once!" interrupted Abner Wilkinson, who was +pale with fright. "We will be hung if we are caught." + +"We must attend to the prisoner first," said the officer. "Who are you?" +he added to the lad. "Why did you come in here?" + +Nathan tightened his lips and made no reply. + +"Do you hear?" thundered the officer. "Answer my questions! Were you +listening at the door while we talked? Are any more of your rebel +friends posted in the neighborhood?" + +"I won't tell you, sir," the lad replied firmly. + +"You won't?" cried the officer. "Well, if you did it wouldn't help you +any now. I'm going to hang you, my fine fellow." + +"Yes, hang the dog," exclaimed the Tory farmer. "I'll show you how." He +darted to the closet and produced a coil of heavy rope. The soldier +quickly seized this in obedience to a signal from his officer, threw one +end over a thick beam of the ceiling, and deftly looped the other end. +Swish! the fatal noose settled on Nathan's neck, and was tightened by a +jerk. + +The lad stood firm, but in a few seconds a thousand thoughts seemed to +flit through his throbbing brain. He thought of Philadelphia, of +Cornelius De Vries, of his father lying sick in the hospital--of all his +past life. He realized that there was no hope for him. Even should he +shout, Barnabas and the other sentries were too far away to hear him. + +Mawhood stood face to face with Nathan at a distance of a couple of +feet. The end of the rope was twisted in both his hands, and the officer +was close alongside of him. The latter pulled out a watch. "I'll give +you twenty seconds to pray," he said, "and then up you go." + +"Don't murder me," Nathan begged hoarsely. "I've done nothing to deserve +death." + +"You're a dog of a rebel," was the brutal answer, "and that's enough. +Ten seconds gone." + +The lad glanced at the mocking and merciless faces of his enemies, +hardly realizing his doom, and then a ray of hope flashed suddenly to +his bewildered brain. His hands had fortunately been left untied, and as +he saw a huge pistol protruding from the soldier's belt decision and +action were almost simultaneous. A rapid snatch, and the barrel of the +weapon was between his fingers. As quickly the butt crushed with +stunning force on Mawhood's temple, and over he went like a log, the +rope slipping from his nerveless fingers. + +Back Nathan sprang with a shout, and reversing and cocking the pistol he +turned it on the officer. The latter already had his own pistol out and +leveled, but when the hammer fell only a sharp click followed. With an +oath he dodged to one side, and his agility saved his life. The lad's +bullet barely grazed him, and struck Abner Wilkinson, who was directly +in range. With a shrill cry the Tory farmer fell to his knees and then +toppled over on his back. + +The report was terrific and seemed to shake the very house. The powder +smoke hid the scene for a moment, and then it cleared sufficiently to +reveal the officer in the act of drawing his sword. There was no time to +hesitate, and Nathan dashed at him before he could lift the weapon for a +thrust. The two grappled, swayed fiercely for a few moments, and then +came heavily to the floor. Over and over they rolled in a tight embrace, +the officer cursing most savagely, and Nathan shouting at the top of his +voice. + +The struggle lasted but a short time, though to the combatants it seemed +a long while. The lad was the weaker of the two, and he realized that he +must soon succumb. But he fought on, gasping hard for breath, and just +when his hold was relaxing there came a rush of feet and a loud shout. + +The faithful Barnabas had arrived, and without an instant's delay he +hauled the officer away from his intended victim. Nathan was able to +assist, and between the two the desperate Britisher was overpowered and +his arms were bound behind him with the rope that had so nearly ended +the plucky lad's life. Abner Wilkinson was just breathing his last, and +the soldier Mawhood was beginning to show signs of returning +consciousness. + +"The shot brought me here in time," exclaimed Barnabas. "But what does +it all mean, lad?" + +Before Nathan could reply a muffled clatter of hoofs was heard from the +rear of the house, followed by the shrill whinny of a horse. Barnabas +and the lad exchanged startled glances, but they quickly discovered that +they had no cause for alarm. The next instant half a dozen soldiers in +the uniform of Washington's bodyguard surged into the room, and with +them, muffled in a heavy cloak, was General Washington himself. + +"Gentlemen, we appear to have come too late," remarked the +commander-in-chief. "I think that is the spy yonder." Then he asked for +explanations, and Nathan briefly and clearly told the whole story. + +"You have done well," said Washington. "Search that man at once," he +added, pointing to the prisoner. + +Barnabas did so, and speedily produced a thick bundle of papers. +Washington took them eagerly, glanced over them, and then thrust them +into his bosom. + +"These were stolen from a chest in my private room but half an hour +ago," he said. "The thief entered the window by means of a tree, and I +suppose the storm enabled him to pass the sentries. Fortunately the loss +was discovered a few moments afterward, and before the snow had covered +the man's tracks sufficiently to prevent us from following him. The +importance and value of the papers cannot be exaggerated, and I am +indeed fortunate to recover them." + +Washington now ordered Abner Wilkinson to be searched. The Tory was +quite dead, having been shot through the heart, and in his pocket were +found minute plans and data relating to the camp, showing that the man +must have made numerous excursions within the lines. + +As there was possible danger of a surprise by British cavalry, the +whole party speedily left the house, taking the two prisoners with them, +but leaving the body of the Tory behind. Mawhood and the officer refused +to speak, and they sullenly submitted to be mounted behind a couple of +the troopers. Barnabas and Nathan trudged behind the little procession +to the house of Jacob Troup, where they found Corporal Dubbs and his men +in a state of excitement induced by the pistol shot. The other sentries +had come in, and the grain was already far on its way to camp. An hour +later all who had participated in the night's adventure were sleeping +soundly in their quarters, and the two prisoners were pacing restlessly +up and down the narrow confines of the guard-house, with the spectre of +the hangman's noose dangling over them. + +The following day Nathan was summoned to headquarters, where Washington +thanked him for the great service he had performed and complimented him +highly on his pluck and bravery. This gave the lad keen pleasure, but it +was as nothing compared to the joy he felt a week later, when his +father passed the crisis and began to recover. His convalescence lasted +a long time, and during that period Nathan did not venture to excite or +worry his father by telling him of the visit of Mr. Noah Waxpenny to the +Indian Queen. And when at last Captain Stanbury had entirely recovered, +the lad had come to regard the affair as hardly worth speaking of. + +Brief mention must be made of the two men captured in the farm-house of +Abner Wilkinson. The officer turned out to be Captain Conway, of the +Tory troop of horse known as the Queen's Rangers, and Mawhood was a +private of the same force. Death by hanging would certainly have been +their punishment had they not made a desperate attempt to escape shortly +before being brought to trial. Mawhood did succeed in eluding the guards +and getting out of the camp, but Captain Conway was riddled with +musket-balls and killed instantly. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN WHICH BEGINS A MEMORABLE BATTLE + + +As the spring months wore on, bringing sunshine and warmth instead of +snow and ice, the situation at Valley Forge changed decidedly for the +better. The shadows of the winter were fading before the hopes of +freedom promised by the fresh campaign soon to be opened. Most of the +sick had recovered, and the troops fit for active service numbered about +fifteen thousand. They had much to cheer them, and the greatest source +of gratification was the good news from France. For, early in February, +Benjamin Franklin had negotiated a treaty with that nation, news of +which reached the United States in the following May, and was promptly +ratified by Congress. And, to further encourage the struggling people, +it was learned that a French fleet, commanded by Count d'Estaing, had +already sailed for Philadelphia. + +Meanwhile, on the 11th of May, Lord Howe had been superseded in command +of the British army by Sir Henry Clinton, and it was generally believed +that the latter had been ordered by the ministry to evacuate +Philadelphia. + +But that much-desired event was long delayed. The enemy spent weeks in +slothful preparation, and the middle of June found the boats of the +fleet all collected and moored below the town--which was taken as a +pretty sure sign that the flight would be by water. At almost any day +the French armament might be expected to sail up the Delaware. + +But, in spite of this danger of a blockade, the British still lingered, +to the satisfaction of Tory citizens and the disgust of all good +patriots. And at Valley Forge, Washington was patiently watching and +waiting, with his orders written out, his baggage ready to be packed at +a moment's notice, and his troops in condition to form in line of march +at the first beat of the drum. + +It was past midday of the 17th of June, 1778, when the long-expected +word came at last to the American camp. It was in the form of a private +dispatch, the tenor of which was not at once communicated to the army. +But a conference took place between Washington and his staff, as a +result of which a trusty officer named Captain McLane left Valley Forge +that evening under secret orders. He was suitably disguised and well +mounted. + +The night was far advanced when Captain McLane entered Philadelphia, +unchallenged by a single sentry as he rode along. + +He found the town in a ferment of excitement and joy. At nine o'clock +the long-expected evacuation of the British army had begun. Down to the +Delaware the troops marched quietly, regiment by regiment, and embarked +in small boats. But instead of boarding the big vessels at anchor, they +crossed the river and disembarked on the Jersey shore. The retreat was +to be by land, and not by water. + +Captain McLane found means of crossing with the enemy, and all night +long, while the boats flitted from shore to shore, the brave man went +here and there unsuspected. He followed the lead of the column five +miles into the Jersies, to Haddonfield, ascertained General Clinton's +intended line of march, and then retraced his steps past the long train +of baggage, provisions, carriages, and saddle-horses that brought up the +rear of the retreating army. + +He safely reached the city early on the morning of the 18th--while the +evacuation was still in progress--and before ten o'clock he was back at +the camp with the electrifying news. Two hours after the last of the +British had departed, Washington's dragoons were riding through the +streets of Philadelphia, and a small detachment under General Arnold +occupied the town. + +Before night the whole of the patriot army was in motion toward the +Delaware, and the huts at Valley Forge, consecrated by the winter's +heroic sufferings and fortitude, were left to solitude and decay. The +line of march was in the direction of Trenton, it being the intention of +Washington to press closely on the rear of the enemy, and of the +thousands of American soldiers who longed for a decisive battle, none +desired it more ardently than Nathan Stanbury and his father. + +General Clinton led the British army northeast through the Jersies, his +object being to reach the Raritan River and there embark his troops. But +the sandy roads and oppressively hot weather made marching tedious and +slow, and, as there was but a single road, his train of baggage-wagons, +horses and men made a line nearly twelve miles in extent. In addition, +he had to build bridges and causeways over the streams and marshes. + +Meanwhile the American army was moving swiftly, and had crossed the +Delaware near Trenton in several divisions. On the 25th of June, +learning that Washington was almost on his front, Clinton concluded to +change his course rather than risk a general action with his numerous +encumbrances. So, turning to the right, he followed the road leading to +Monmouth Court-house and Sandy Hook, intending now to embark his troops +at the latter place instead of on the Raritan. + +As yet Washington was himself disinclined to risk a battle, and was +merely trying to harass the enemy on their march. The advance American +forces--certain corps and brigades under Maxwell, Morgan, Scott, +Dickinson, and Cadwallader--had been ordered to annoy the British on the +rear and flanks. On June 25th, when Clinton turned toward Monmouth +Court-house, the Americans reached a place called Kingston. Here another +council was held, and though General Lee, as before, was strongly +opposed to any interference with the movements of the enemy, Lafayette, +Green, and Wayne declared in favor of a general battle. Washington was +of the same mind, and so he promptly proceeded to make his arrangements +to that effect. He sent a thousand men forward under General Wayne to +join the troops nearest the enemy, gave Lafayette the command of all the +advanced forces, and himself moved with the main body to Cranberry on +the 28th of June. + +Early on the morning of the 27th, Lafayette reached Englishtown, a +village about five miles to the west of Monmouth Court-house. The +British general, being advised of the movements of the Americans, +prepared for battle at Monmouth, where he had now arrived. He placed his +baggage train in front and his best troops--the grenadiers, light +infantry, and chasseurs--in the rear. Then he encamped near the +Court-house, in a strong position that was secured by woods and marshy +ground. His line stretched a mile and a half on the right toward +Shrewsbury, and three miles on the left in the direction of Allentown. + +Washington heard of this, and found it necessary to increase the numbers +of his advance corps. He sent Lee with two brigades to join Lafayette, +and gave him the command of the whole division. The main army marched +the same day to within three miles of Englishtown. Morgan was now +hovering on the British right, and a force of militia under Dickinson +was menacing their left. Three miles beyond Monmouth were the heights +of Middletown, which offered a great advantage to the enemy. To prevent +them from obtaining that advantage, Washington determined to attack +their rear the moment they should attempt to move, and he gave General +Lee orders to that effect. Sir Henry Clinton, finding a battle to be +inevitable, was no less busy, and the night of the 27th was one of +anxiety to both armies. + +The 28th of June, 1778, was Sunday. The sun rose out of a cloudless sky, +and not a breath of air was stirring. It was the hottest and sultriest +day of the year. The Americans were all eager for the fight, and hopeful +of striking a decisive blow at the enemies of their country. The force +to which Nathan and the Wyoming men belonged were with the main army +back near Englishtown, and this was a disappointment to the lad, since +he feared that he would miss the battle. But his anxiety was needless, +as after events proved. + +Before dawn the regiment of Colonel Grayson and the brigades of Scott +and Varnum were in the saddle and moving toward Monmouth Court-house. +General Knyphausen, with a British force that comprised Hessians +and Pennsylvania and Maryland Tories, advanced at daybreak, followed +later by Sir Henry Clinton with his main army. Dickinson, observing +the earlier movement, sent an express in haste to Lee and the +commander-in-chief. Washington at once put his army in motion, +and sent orders to General Lee to attack the enemy unless there +should be a strong reason to the contrary. + +So Lee pressed forward, supported by Dickinson, Grayson, and the +brigades of Wayne and Maxwell. He crossed the morass by a causeway near +the parsonage, and on reaching a height was joined by Lafayette with the +main body of the advanced corps. Here conflicting intelligence was +received, some messengers asserting that the enemy were in full retreat, +while others reported that the whole British army was filing off to the +right to attack the Americans. + +Satisfied that no important bodies of foes were on either of his flanks, +Lee marched on with about five thousand troops through a broken and +heavily-wooded country, and came to the verge of the plain of Monmouth. +Seeing a column of the British about two thousand strong on the left, +and taking them to be a covering party, he determined to try to cut them +off from the main army. So he sent Wayne with artillery and seven +hundred men to attack them in the rear, while he himself sought to gain +their front by a short cut. + +It was now nine o'clock in the morning. Wayne was about to descend on +the enemy when a body of the Queen's Dragoons appeared on the edge of a +wood, parading as though about to make an attack. Lee, seeing this, +planned and partly carried out a clever ruse. He ordered his light horse +to entice the dragoons as near as possible, and then retreat to Wayne's +position. The dragoons, following the light horse as was expected, were +met with a hot musketry fire from an ambush party under Colonel Butler, +of Wayne's command. Then they wheeled about and galloped off toward the +main column. Wayne ordered Colonel Oswald to open two pieces of +artillery upon them, and he himself made a bayonet charge forward with +his whole force. + +The battle now seemed about to begin in earnest, for Wayne and his +command were fighting with vigor, and with good prospect of success. He +was therefore greatly chagrined and irritated when Lee ordered him to +make only a feigned attack, lest he (Lee) should fail in his plan to cut +off the covering party. But Wayne was a true soldier. He obeyed without +questioning and checked his troops, hoping that Lee would recover what +his untimely order had lost. But here again Wayne was disappointed, for +only a small portion of Lee's troops issued from the wood on the right, +and these were actually within cannon-shot of the royal forces. + +About this time Sir Henry Clinton discovered that the Americans were +marching in force on both his flanks, and with the hope of drawing them +off by making an urgent necessity for them elsewhere, he faced his army +around and prepared to attack Wayne. This move was made, and soon a +large body of cavalry were seen approaching. Lafayette discovered this, +and it suggested so good a plan to him that he rode straightway and in +haste to Lee. + +"General," he cried, "have I your permission to gain the rear of these +cavalry who are marching against us? I am satisfied that I can do so, +and thus cut them off." + +"Sir, you do not know British soldiers," replied Lee. "We cannot stand +against them. We shall be driven back at first, and we must be +cautious." + +"Perhaps you are right, General," declared Lafayette. "But British +soldiers have been beaten before this, and they are not invincible. At +all events, I wish to make this attempt." + +Lee partly consented, ordering Lafayette to wheel his column by the +right, and gain and attack the cavalry's left. Next he unaccountably +weakened Wayne's detachment on the left by sending three regiments to +the right, and then rode toward Oswald's battery to reconnoiter. + +At this moment, to his great astonishment, as he afterward declared, Lee +saw a large portion of the British army marching on the Middletown road +toward the Court-house. Apparently confused, he immediately ordered his +right to fall back, and gave other commands that virtually amounted to a +retreat. Lafayette was instructed to fall back to the Court-house, and +Generals Maxwell and Scott, who were about to form for action on the +plain, were sent to the woods in their rear. + +A general and disastrous retreat had now begun, and one for which there +was no excuse, since Lee might have made an effective stand in his +advantageous position. The Americans were pursued as far as the +Court-house, where the British temporarily halted and opened fire with +several batteries. The routed army pressed on across the morass, +suffering terribly from heat, thirst, and fatigue, and sinking +ankle-deep in the loose and sandy soil. They reached the broken heights +of Freehold, and paused here for a brief rest. But soon the British +forces came on, and Lee resumed his retreat toward the Freehold +meeting-house. The demoralized troops fled in great confusion, many +perishing in the mud and water of the swamps, and others, dropping over +with the heat, being trampled to death by those behind. It was a black +commencement to the battle of Monmouth. + +Meanwhile Washington had been pressing forward in haste, and with his +right wing commanded by General Greene, and the left wing in charge of +himself, he had reached the vicinity of the Freehold meeting-house and +Monmouth Court-house. Just at that time arrived a farmer on a fleet +horse, announcing that Lee and his forces were in full retreat, with the +enemy in close pursuit. Washington at once rode forward with his staff, +passing and checking the flying columns of troops, until he met Lee near +the rear. + +"Sir," he cried, in tones of bitter anger, "I desire to know whence +arises this disorder and confusion, and what is the reason." + +Lee was a high-spirited man, and being stung more by the manner than +the words of his commander, he retorted harshly. A few sharp words +passed between the two, but there was no time for full explanations, +since the advancing enemy were within fifteen minutes' march. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN WHICH NATHAN MEETS AN OLD ENEMY + + +Wheeling his horse, Washington spurred on toward the rear to avert the +consequences of Lee's disaster and check the rout, and the effect of his +personal presence on the demoralized troops was speedy and gratifying. +Within ten minutes the retreat was suspended, the fugitives were +rallying, and order and discipline were visible in the midst of the +confusion. + +Colonel Oswald, with two pieces of artillery, took a position on an +eminence, and by a well-directed fire from his battery, checked the +pursuing enemy. Stewart and Ramsey supported him, having formed their +troops under cover of a wood. While the British grenadiers were pouring +their deadly volleys into the still broken ranks of the Americans, +Washington rode fearlessly to and fro in the face of the leaden storm, +issuing order after order. The whole of Lee's army, so shortly before +on the verge of destruction, was soon drawn up in battle array, with a +bold and well-arranged front. Having thus saved the day, Washington rode +back to General Lee. + +"Will you command in that place, sir?" he said curtly, pointing to the +reformed division. + +"I will," Lee answered, eagerly. + +"Then I expect you to check the enemy at once." + +"Your command shall be obeyed," assured Lee, "and I will not be the +first to leave the field." + +Washington hurried further back to the main army, and lost no time in +forming it in battle order on the ridge that rose above the western side +of the morass. Meanwhile General Lee partly atoned for his fault by a +display of skill and courage in obedience to his commander's orders. +While a hot cannonade was going on between the artillery of both forces, +he gallantly repulsed a troop of royal light horse that charged upon the +right of his division. Nevertheless the enemy were too strong to be +held in check more than temporarily, and before long the greater part of +the Americans were obliged to give way and fall back toward Washington. + +Stretching across the open field in front of the causeway over the +morass was a hedgerow, and here the conflict raged for some little time, +the place being held stoutly by Livingston's regiment and Varnum's +brigade, with a battery of artillery. But their ranks were finally +broken by a desperate bayonet charge from the British cavalry and +infantry, and Varnum and Livingston, with the artillery, retreated +across the morass, their rear effectually protected by Colonel Ogden and +his men, who held a wood near the causeway. Lee was the last to leave +the field, bringing Ogden's corps off with him, and after forming the +whole of his division in good order on the hillside west of the morass, +he reported to Washington for further instructions. + +Lee's forces had thus far borne the brunt of the day's fighting, so +Washington considerately ordered them to the rear in the direction of +Englishtown, while he himself prepared to engage the enemy with the +fresh and main army. His left was commanded by Lord Stirling, and the +right by General Greene. Wayne was on an eminence in an orchard near the +parsonage, while on his right a battery of artillery occupied the crest +of Comb's Hill. + +The battle now began in earnest, the enemy being drawn up in force on +the hills and in the fields across the morass, and having possession of +the lost hedgerow. They were repulsed from the American left, and on +trying to turn the right flank they were driven back by Knox's battery, +supported by General Greene. Meanwhile Wayne kept up a brisk fire on the +British centre, and repeatedly hurled back the royal grenadiers, who +several times advanced upon him from the hedgerow. + +The commander of the grenadiers, Colonel Monckton, determined to make a +last attempt to drive Wayne from his position. So he formed his men in +solid column, and advanced anew with the regularity of a corps on +parade. Wayne's troops were partly sheltered by a barn, and they +reserved their fire until the enemy were very close. Monckton was about +to give the order to charge, sword in hand, when the terrible volley was +poured forth. He himself was killed instantly, and most of the British +officers fell with him. A desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued, and the +survivors of the grenadiers finally fled in confusion, leaving the body +of their commander behind. Thus the conflict raged from point to point, +while the sultry day grew older, and the roar of cannons and muskets +echoed far over the peaceful Jersey countryside. + +And what was Nathan Stanbury doing all this time? We shall see. Behind +the American lines was the meeting-house, and in front, down the hill +toward the swamp that separated the two armies, were the parsonage and +barn, an orchard, and a bit of woods. These places of shelter bristled +with Washington's skirmishers. From behind trees and fences, from the +loop-holes and crevices of the barn, they poured a hot and steady fire +on the red-coats. + +The Pennsylvania regiment to which the Wyoming troops belonged, occupied +the strip of woods near the morass. Nathan was crouched behind a stump, +and next to him was Barnabas Otter. Captain Stanbury was twenty feet +away, and from time to time he looked anxiously around to see that his +boy was all right. Overhead bullets whistled, sending down fluttering +showers of leaves and twigs. Shells went screeching and hissing by, some +bursting far off, others exploding close at hand with a deafening +report. But Nathan kept his place like an old soldier, steadily loading +and firing, and shifting the hot breech of his musket from hand to hand. + +At first the lad was nervous under fire, but that feeling had long since +passed away. His head was cool and his nerves steady. He felt that he +had to do his part in winning the battle, and he regretted that his post +of duty was with the skirmishers instead of on one of the flanks of the +main army. Men died around him by shot and shell, but these dreadful +sights only made his hand steadier and his aim truer. + +"Be careful, boy," his father called to him. "Keep your head down." + +"All right, sir," Nathan shouted back, "but I've got to see to fire." + +"Aim low, lad," muttered old Barnabas Otter. "You know it's the natural +tendency of a musket to carry high." + +"And who taught me that but yourself, Barnabas?" retorted Nathan. "Have +you forgotten all the fat deer I killed up on the Susquehanna? I'm +shooting just as carefully now." + +He went on loading and firing, peering this way and that through the +smoke to get a glimpse of the red-coats. Far off he saw officers +galloping to and fro, and he wondered if one of them could be Godfrey +Spencer. He hoped the cruel fortune of war would not bring them together +on the battle-field. + +So, for hour after hour through the long afternoon, the fight went on, +the skirmishers bravely holding their position. To right and left, +where the morass ended, there was a constant panorama of moving cavalry, +infantry and guns. The roar of battle echoed miles away, and the smoke +floated overhead on the still air. The heat was terrific, and men +dropped, fainting and exhausted, to the ground. Not since Bunker Hill +had the American army shown such desperate valor. In vain Clinton +thundered and stormed at the centre. In vain did Lord Cornwallis assail +Sterling's invincible left wing. + +The approach of evening found both armies still holding their ground, +and now a large force of the British advanced on the American right +wing. But a spare battery hastened to that quarter, unlimbered their +guns, and poured into the enemy such a storm of shot and shell as drove +them back in confusion. + +Part of an infantry brigade--mostly grenadiers--passed near the strip of +woods. The skirmishers had just turned their fire in this direction when +a mounted officer arrived with orders to charge on the enemy's flank. +With ringing cheers the Pennsylvania regiment poured out from the +trees, Captain Stanbury's Wyoming company in front; and a double-quick +trot brought them to close quarters with the rear of the British. + +The grenadiers doggedly kept up the retreat, firing as they went, and +many fell on both sides. Most of the enemy's officers were far in front, +and Nathan felt sure that he recognized Godfrey's figure at a distance. + +But one mounted officer, seeing what was taking place, pluckily galloped +back to the rear to try to rally the broken lines. He ventured too far, +and a shot brought horse and rider to the ground. Before his own men +could rescue him, the front line of the Americans was nearly at the +spot. + +Barnabas and Nathan had seen the occurrence, and they ran up to the +officer just as he struggled to his feet from under the body of his +horse. At the first glance Nathan recognized Major Langdon, and he was +quick to observe the half healed scar on his left wrist. + +[Illustration: "SURRENDER!" YELLED BARNABAS] + +"Surrender!" yelled Barnabas, presenting his musket at the officer's +head. + +Major Langdon glanced around, bit his lip passionately, and then dropped +his half-drawn sword into its scabbard. + +"The fortune of war has made me your prisoner," he said proudly; "I am +an officer and a gentleman, and I demand proper treatment." + +"You Britishers never were backward about demandin'," snorted Barnabas. +"Fall to the rear now." + +Though the bullets were flying thickly Major Langdon showed no +inclination to move, he had suddenly seen and recognized Nathan, and +there was a strange look of hatred on his deeply flushed face as he +stared at the lad. Nathan returned the officer's piercing gaze for an +instant, and then, hearing a couple of loud shouts to one side, he +looked around in time to see his father toss up his arms and fall. + +The retreating grenadiers were still being hotly pressed, both sides +firing steadily, but half a dozen men of Captain Stanbury's company at +once ran to him. He was lying on his back, deathly pale, and with blood +oozing from the left breast of his coat. + +He lifted himself on one elbow as Nathan reached him and sank tearfully +down at his side. + +"I am wounded, my boy--mortally wounded," he gasped, "but before I die I +have a secret to tell you--a secret that will change your whole life. +Listen, while I have breath to speak." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN WHICH A BUTTON BETRAYS ITS OWNER + + +"No, no, you will not die, father," cried Nathan. "It may not be a +mortal wound. Where are you hit?" He looked wildly around, wringing his +hands. "Can't something be done?" he added. "Bring water from the swamp, +or send for a surgeon." + +"I'm afraid it's no use, lad," said the lieutenant of the company. "If +it was possible to help him--" + +"No, I'm past human aid," groaned the wounded man. "My time has come, +and I must answer the call. I'm shot in the breast, and my strength is +nearly spent. Compose yourself, dear boy, and listen to me. Remember, it +may soon be too late." + +Nathan forced back the tears, and with a white, rigid face, he bent +nearer his dying parent. "Speak, father," he replied, huskily. "I am +listening." + +Captain Stanbury nodded. "There are papers buried under the floor of my +cabin up at Wyoming," he said in a voice that was broken with pain. "I +have kept them all these years--for you. Get them, Nathan, and guard +them carefully. You little know--how important they are." + +"Yes, I will get them, father," promised Nathan. + +"Barnabas will help you, lad. He is a trusty old friend--and neighbor." + +"You kin count on me, Captain," declared Barnabas, as he wiped a tear +from his eye with the palm of his horny hand. "An' what are you doin' +here, Mister Redcoat?" he added sharply. + +The last remark was addressed to Major Langdon. He had pushed into the +group uninvited, and heard the American officer's words to his son. Now, +as he peeped furtively at the wounded man from one side, his face was +pale and bloodless under its bronzed skin, and in his black eyes was a +strange and half-triumphant expression. + +"Have you a prisoner there?" asked Captain Stanbury, catching a glimpse +of the red uniform. "See that he is well treated, men. Oh, this pain!" +he added, grasping at his breast. "Nathan--don't forget--the +papers--they contain the secret--and the proofs of--" His head dropped +back and his eyes closed, the secret that had been on his lips still +untold. + +Was the brave officer living or dead? There was no time to tell. As +Nathan clasped his father's hands in a passion of grief, the straggling +musketry-fire in front suddenly ceased, and back in full flight poured +the Pennsylvania troops. On their right flank, sweeping along under the +gathering shades of evening to cover the retreat of the British brigade, +came a compact line of dragoons. A dozen voices yelled at Nathan, but he +only shook his head. + +"Take my father along," he cried, "and I will go." + +Crack! crack! crack!--the rear ranks of the grenadiers had turned and +were firing. The dragoons were galloping closer. A ball tore the lad's +cap from his head, and he sprang to his feet, staring around him +undecidedly. Then Barnabas Otter and Corporal Dubbs grasped him by each +arm, and in spite of protest they dragged him rapidly along with the +retreating regiment. In the rout Major Langdon was forgotten, and he +seized the opportunity to drop into a clump of bushes, where he lay +unseen until his own men came up. + +The dragoons continued the pursuit almost to the edge of the woods, and +there a hot fire from the rallied skirmishers, and a few shells from +Knox's guns on the hillside, drove them back with severe loss to the +British lines. + +Night was now closing in, and with darkness the battle ended. The +British had lost nearly a thousand; the Americans less than three +hundred. But Washington was not satisfied. He issued orders to resume +the attack at daylight, and after eating supper in ranks the weary +troops slept upon their arms. + +For Nathan the joy of victory was swallowed up in bitter grief. After +the moon rose, with Barnabas Otter and a few other faithful comrades, he +ventured out from the woods to recover his father's body. But it could +not be found, though the spot where he had fallen was easily located. +All around were dead and wounded, British and American, but no sign of +Captain Stanbury. + +"It's no use to look," said Nathan. "My father is not dead. He is alive, +and a prisoner in the hands of the enemy." + +"What makes you think so?" asked Barnabas. + +"Because the British have left their own dead on the field," was the +reply. "Would they have carried off an American officer, unless he was +alive?" + +"True fur that, lad," said Barnabas, "but it's a mighty queer +disappearance just the same." His brow knitted as he remembered the +strange and evil look on Major Langdon's face while he watched Captain +Stanbury. "I wish that stuck-up British officer hadn't slipped away," he +added angrily, little dreaming, as he spoke the words, of what the +major's escape was to cost himself and others. + +"We'd better be going back, my lad," said Corporal Dubbs. "Your father +will be exchanged one of these days, if he is alive; and I don't doubt +but he is. It's my belief the ball glanced from his ribs, or went in a +bit sidewise, and whichever it was the pain and shock would be enough to +make him faint." + +Nathan brightened up at this opinion, and his mood was cheerful as he +trudged back to the lines with the search party. + +"What can those papers contain?" he asked himself. "I suppose they will +reveal the secret of my father's early life, of which he would never +speak. I will get them at the first chance, but I will never open them +so long as there is a possibility of my father being alive. A dozen +times in the past week I was tempted to tell him of the queer chap who +inquired for him at the Indian Queen. I wish now I had done so, but it +is too late for regrets." + +Nathan's sleep that night was peaceful, but he awoke in the morning to +share a great disappointment with the whole army. Under cover of +darkness, the British had stolen off, cavalry, infantry, and batteries. +They were already miles on the march to Middletown--too far away to be +overtaken. + +This discovery was followed immediately by a piece of news that proved +of the deepest interest to Nathan and his friends. A courier rode into +camp with a letter for Washington from the Board of War. It appeared +that messengers had lately been sent to the Board by the Wyoming +settlers, stating that their peaceful valley was threatened by the +invasion of a large force of Tories and Seneca Indians under Colonel +John Butler; that they were too few in number to hold their scattered +forts with any hope of success, and begging for the immediate return of +their able-bodied men who were serving in the American army. The letter +concluded by urging that their request should be acceded to. + +Washington lost not an hour's time, realizing that the intended attack +was prompted by the knowledge that the greater part of the fighting men +of the settlements were absent, and that it might even now be too late +to save the almost defenseless women and children from Tory bullets and +Indian tomahawks. + +Ammunition and arms were distributed to the Wyoming men, and ere the sun +was well up the little band--numbering less than ten-score--had started +on their long march of nearly one hundred and fifty miles to the +northwest, eager to save families and friends from massacre. + +Nathan and Barnabas were naturally of the party, and while they shared +the fears and resolves of the others, they were also determined to +procure the papers that were buried under Captain Stanbury's cabin--the +success of which mission depended on their reaching the valley before it +should be seized and occupied by the enemy. General Washington had +promised to do all in his power to procure the exchange of Nathan's +father--if he was still alive--and this enabled the lad to set out on +his journey with a comparatively light heart. + +Barnabas Otter was a product of the early days of Pennsylvania +colonization. One of the first settlers in the Wyoming Valley, his +bravery and sterling qualities had there gained for him the honest +liking of his neighbors. He was now nearly sixty years old, lean and +rugged, with a physique like iron and limbs that never tired. He was a +master of woodcraft, as many a wary Indian had learned, and his aim +rarely missed. With the fearlessness of a lion and the stealth of a +panther, he combined the vision of a hawk and the hearing of a deer. +Altogether, he was such a friend as Nathan might well count worth +having. + +Many of the Wyoming men were weak and exhausted, and though the march +was kept up at a fairly good speed, it was not fast enough to suit +Barnabas. So, at noon of the third day, July 1st, when the party had +halted for a brief rest in the lonely country, miles to the northwest +of Trenton, the old woodsman suggested that himself and half a dozen +others--naming those most capable of speed and endurance--should push on +in advance of the main band. He urged as a reason the necessity for +letting their imperiled friends know that aid was on the way, so that +they might hold out with better spirit. The possession of Captain +Stanbury's papers was purely a minor reason with Barnabas, as he frankly +admitted to Nathan. "The first object of the journey is to save the +settlements, lad," he said; "but of course we'll dig up these papers as +soon as we git a chance." + +The officers commanding the troops promptly recognized the wisdom of the +suggested course. Barnabas chose Nathan--whose wind and strength well +fitted him for the purpose--and five brave and hardy men of his own +company. They started at once, taking plenty of ammunition and supplies +for three days, and were a mile on their way when the main body which +they left behind, began the afternoon's march. + +The region stretching northwest to the Susquehanna at Wilkesbarre was +wild and lonely, but Barnabas knew every foot of the way. He avoided the +circuitous bridle-road, and led the party by narrow and direct trails of +his own choosing--over rugged and dismal mountain passes, through +forests where deer and bear, turkeys and pheasants abounded, and across +streams that teemed with fish. + +By the aid of an early moon they traveled until ten o'clock that night, +and after sleeping soundly in the woods, and without camp-fires, they +resumed their march at daybreak. About the middle of the morning, coming +to an open glade by a spring, they made a startling discovery. Here a +party of horsemen had plainly spent the previous night. The ground was +trodden by hoofs and footmarks. The ashes of two fires were still warm, +and close by were heaps of pine-boughs that had served for bedding. + +"Who can they have been?" asked Nathan. + +"I can't guess, lad," replied Barnabas, shaking his head, "an' it's hard +to say where they're bound for. They ain't been gone long, an' from the +looks of things they numbered nine or ten. We must have crossed their +trail somewhere's back without seein' it. From here," stepping forward +and pointing to the trodden grass, "they went almost due north. I reckon +they're striking for the bridle-road yonder, which runs sort of parallel +with the course we're making--" + +He stopped suddenly as he spied a glittering object at his feet: "A +Britisher's spur!" he exclaimed, picking it up. "An' the pattern the +dragoons wear. What on earth does this mean?" + +"It means a squad of the enemy's cavalry, Barnabas," declared Evan +Jones. + +"I believe you, man," said Barnabas, "who else but the cussed British +would have cut limbs for bedding? An' the camp-fires show that they +didn't reckon on any other travelers bein' in the neighborhood. I'm +clean beat to know--" + +"Here's something else," interrupted Nathan, handing Barnabas a large +horn button of an odd color. + +The old man looked at it intently. His eyes flashed, and his teeth +showed behind his parted lips. "Simon Glass!" he cried. + +"Simon Glass?" echoed three or four voices. + +"Aye, Simon Glass, men," repeated Barnabas. "I'll swear to this button. +It came off his buckskin coat, an' the inhuman fiend lost it here +hisself." + +"I've heard of Simon Glass," Nathan said curiously. "Who is he?" + +"You don't want to meet him, lad," Barnabas answered grimly. "If ever +there was a devil in human shape he's that same. He's a little squatty +man, with one eye out; but the other's worth half a dozen. An' his face +is a criss-cross of knife-scars. + +"There ain't any crime too bad for the wretch," Barnabas continued +earnestly. "Until eight years back he lived about Wyoming, an' every one +was afraid of him. He shot two men what crossed him, an' robbed an' +murdered another. Then he had to light out, an' the next heard of him +was that he'd killed a man an' woman up at Niagara. When the war begun +he turned Tory an' joined the British, an' since then they say he's +killed a heap of Americans in cold blood. I have a score agin him, an' I +won't forget it. An' as for this old buckskin coat--why, he's been +wearin' it steady for fifteen years, an' he wore it on this very spot +last night. I know the buttons." + +"What can he be doing here?" asked a Scotchman named Collum McNicol. + +"He may have some bloody work of his own on hand," replied Barnabas, +"but it's more likely he's been hired to lead these dragoons up to join +Butler's forces at Wyoming. An' yet it ain't natural for such a little +handful of British to march a hundred and fifty miles up country from +Clinton's army. Well, it's no use guessin'. We can't overtake the party, +seein' they're mounted, and p'raps it's just as well. But if we do run +across 'em--along the way or up at Wyoming, I'll have a bullet ready for +Simon Glass. We've fooled too long, men--march on." + +Rapidly, and with untiring speed, the little band of seven filed on +through the forest paths, while the sun crept from horizon to horizon. +Barnabas was in a sober and thoughtful mood, and his companions could +not shake off a feeling of impending ill. Brave men though they were, +the presence of Simon Glass in the vicinity was enough to unsteady their +nerves. Eyes were keen and ears alert as they advanced. + +About the middle of the afternoon footsteps were heard in front, and +down dropped every man to cover. Seven musket barrels were in line with +the stranger as he came in sight among the trees--a bearded settler in +gray homespun. + +"Hooray! Luke Shippen!" cried Barnabas, jumping up, and soon the whole +party were shaking hands with an old friend and neighbor. + +"Where's the rest of the troops?" was the new-comer's first question. +"I've come to hurry them up." + +"Are they needed sorely?" asked Barnabas. + +"Aye, men," Shippen replied. "When I left Wilkesbarre night afore last +Colonel John Butler was up above the valley at the mouth of the +Lackawanna, with a force of Tories and Indians from Canada. He's +holding off for reinforcements, but they may come any time. Our people +are in the forts, but they won't be able to offer much resistance." + +"God help them!" muttered Barnabas. "Push on, Luke. You'll find the +Wyoming troops half a day's march behind. Bid them travel with all +haste. Meanwhile, we'll let no grass grow under our feet." + +"I'll trust you for that, man. I'm off." + +"Wait," added Barnabas. "You met none on the way, Luke?" + +"Not a soul. Why do you ask?" + +"No matter," said Barnabas. "Good-bye." + +"Good-bye, comrade," replied Shippen, and his long strides quickly +carried him out of sight. + +"Now for a hard march," said Barnabas to his men, "and God grant we +arrive in time. We are sorely needed, few as we are." + +Twilight came, and a brief interval of darkness, and then the glow of +the rising moon. For mile after mile the little band pressed on, +heedless of hunger and weariness, and it was close to midnight when +their leader halted them on a far-stretching plateau high up among the +mountains, sparsely timbered with pine and oak. + +"Here we'll spend what little of the night is left, bein' as we're all +done out," declared Barnabas. "I know the spot. Wyoming is but six or +eight miles off, an' we'll make it afore to-morrow noon. Now for supper +an' rest." + +Rations were served out and eaten, and then Barnabas divided the night +into three watches and assigned the men to duty. Reuben Atwood's turn +came first, and the soft step of the sentry was the last sound the weary +men heard as they fell asleep on the fragrant pine needles. + +Nathan slumbered for hours, too fatigued even to dream, and then he +suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, barely able to repress a cry. A +small snake glided from his side, and he knew that the cold touch of the +reptile on his hand had wakened him. + +His companions were sleeping around him, but he saw nothing of the +sentry. Looking further his eyes rested on an open glade, bathed in +moonlight, that was twenty feet away among the trees. Cold perspiration +started on his brow, and he trembled from head to foot. His breath came +quick and hard. Was it a real or a ghostly visitant--that slim figure +standing in the centre of the glade; that familiar face staring toward +him, with its every feature clear in the moon's silver glow? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN WHICH SIMON GLASS MAKES A VERY STRANGE REMARK + + +Little wonder that the lad shivered; that cold sweat started on cheeks +and brow; that, at first, he knew not whether he was awake or dreaming! +For the face in the moonlight was Godfrey Spencer's, and so were the +step and figure as the intruder crept stealthily nearer. + +The camp was in deep shadow, and Nathan himself could not be seen. For a +few seconds he watched and trembled in mute horror, unable to utter a +sound. "I am not asleep," he decided, feeling the night breeze on his +hot temples. "Am I going mad? That can't be Godfrey. Yes, it is--" + +Just then the spell was broken by the snap of a dry twig under the +supposed Godfrey's tread. He slipped to one side of the glade, showing a +short, thick-set man behind him, and both darted back into the shadow +as Nathan sprang up with a cry that echoed far through the forest. At +the same instant the missing sentry scrambled to his feet from the left +of the camp, where he had fallen asleep, and down he went again, almost +as quickly, as a musket-shot rang out of the darkness. Barnabas and his +companions, now fully roused, ran this way and that in confusion, +inquiring the cause of the alarm. "They're gone now," exclaimed Nathan, +and he briefly told what he had seen. + +There was a rush to the spot where the sentry had fallen. Robert +Lindsay, who had taken the second watch, lay dead with a bullet through +his heart. A clay pipe, long since cold, was still clutched between his +teeth, and near by a little patch of dry grass and pine-needles was +burnt close to the ground. A shuddering fear fell on the men as they +looked at the body of their comrade and fierce were the threats of +vengeance. + +"It's plain as daylight what happened," said the keen-witted Barnabas. +"The British have a camp over yonder by the bridle-road," pointing +northward. "They traveled slow yesterday, an' we just about caught up +with 'em at midnight. Then poor Lindsay here lights his pipe for a +smoke, and sets fire to the grass. Before he kin outen it the enemy see +the blaze an' come creepin' over. By that time Lindsay had fell asleep, +an' small blame to him arter the march we made." + +"He was sort of drowsy when I roused him for his turn," said Atwood. "I +wish I'd let him sleep." + +"He's sleepin' now," Abel Cutbush answered, softly, "and I reckon right +here will have to be his grave for the present. We couldn't bury him in +this hard ground, even if we had the tools." + +"Or the time," said Barnabas, "which we can't spare. He was a brave +soldier an' a true friend, an' I say it who knows. God rest his soul!" + +"We'd better be seeking his murderer," grumbled Collum McNicol, and the +rest approved warmly. + +"Have a bit of patience, men," replied Barnabas. "It's no use to pursue +now." Turning to Nathan he added: "The little man was surely Simon +Glass, lad. Are you certain about the other?" + +"The one in front was Godfrey Spencer," declared Nathan. + +"The fellow who looks summat like you?" asked Barnabas. "I seen him at +De Vries's house two years ago, when I brought a letter from your +father." + +"Yes," replied Nathan. "He's a lieutenant in the British army now, and I +believe he is attached to Major Langdon's staff." + +"Major Langdon?" exclaimed Barnabas. "That's the name of the prisoner I +lost! I wonder if he is with the party." + +"Very likely, since Godfrey is here," Nathan suggested. + +Barnabas scratched his head thoughtfully for a moment, seeing in this +affair a relation to certain other things that had puzzled him +considerably of late. + +"I'm forgetting my duty," he said. "It ain't safe to stay here a minute +longer. Forward, now, an' make no noise." + +With loaded muskets, the men fell in behind their leader, leaving the +body of poor Lindsay to stiffen on the grass. Barnabas led the party +about a hundred yards to the northeast and halted them in a cluster of +pine trees. + +"You're safe from attack here," he said. "Don't stir till I come back. +I'm going forward a bit to reconnoiter." + +Several volunteered for this duty, but Barnabas knew that he was best +fitted for it, and he had his way. He crept off as noiselessly as a +serpent, and the shadows hid him from view. + +Nathan and his companions waited anxiously in the dark cover, not daring +to speak above a whisper, and expecting at any moment to hear a shot. +Fully half an hour elapsed, and dawn was beginning to break when +Barnabas returned. + +"I've been to the enemy's camp," he announced, eagerly. "They're less +than a mile due north from here, across a creek that flows through a +deep an' narrow ravine. An' just on the other side of the creek an' the +camp is the bridle-road. There's a big pine tree fell across the chasm, +formin' a natural bridge from bank to bank, an' I crept over that to +peek an' listen." + +"Are they going to attack us?" asked Reuben Atwood. + +"They're thinkin' more of gettin' away," replied Barnabas. "From what I +kin make out they're in a hurry to reach Wyoming, an' they propose to +start as soon as they've had breakfast. They're at the cookin' now, just +as though we wasn't in the neighborhood to be reckoned with. The spies +didn't learn our strength a bit ago, an' that's why they're doubtful +about attackin'." + +"Is Major Langdon there?" inquired Nathan. + +"No, lad, he ain't; but unless my ears deceived me, it was him give the +party their orders. I seen young Godfrey Spencer sittin' by the fire. +An' Simon Glass was there, as big as life, waitin' for the bullet that's +in my pouch to reach his black heart. There's nine in the party--all +British cavalrymen, except Glass--but they're wearin' plain clothes +instead of uniforms. The horses are the same way--no brass nor polished +leather fixin's." + +"I reckon they want to pass for Americans," said Evan Jones. + +"That's just it," assented Barnabas. "An' now look to your flints, men, +an' your powder an' ball. I'm going to lead you straight agin' the +enemy. We'll shin over the tree, and fall on 'em by surprise. If they +expect us at all, they're countin' on our comin' round to the +bridle-road by the ford, which is five hundred yards further up the +creek." + +"We're six to nine, Barnabas," McNicol suggested in a dubious tone. + +"We're worth a dozen Britishers, man," stoutly declared Barnabas. "We'll +have the first fire, an' that ought to drop five or six of the enemy. +The rest will run--if I knows 'em right--and then we'll grab the horses. +It's the horses we want most. They'll take us gallopin' over the +bridle-road, and into Wyoming early in the morning." + +Barnabas had struck the right chord. The hope of reaching their +imperiled families within a few hours was a stronger inducement to the +men than vengeance for poor Lindsay. Without a dissenting voice they +approved their leader's plan, and examined their loadings and flints. +Five minutes later they were following Barnabas in single file through +the thick wood, now cold and gray in the breaking light of dawn. + +Nathan alone was gloomy and sad. At every step he saw before his eyes a +mental picture that made him shudder. "Godfrey will be there," he +reflected. "He may kill me, or I may have to fire at him. Somebody else +will likely shoot him if I don't. He is a Tory and an enemy, and he +betrayed me that night in Philadelphia; but I can't forget that we were +old friends. I must do my duty, though. And I will do it, come what +may." + +He compressed his lips, and marched on resolutely. + +With a warning gesture Barnabas halted; and the men behind him, half +hidden in the laurel scrub, shifted their muskets noiselessly, and +peered past their leader with strained, intent faces. + +There was danger in the still air. Tragedy and death brooded over this +dense woody spot in the mountainous solitudes of Pennsylvania. The brink +of the chasm was three yards away--a chasm that dropped seventy feet, +between narrow, hollowed-out walls of rock, to the deep and sluggish +waters of the creek. Through the vistas of foliage and timber could be +seen the trunk of the fallen pine, with many a bushy offshoot, that +spanned the gorge from bank to bank. But there was no sound of enemy's +voices on the farther side; no evidence of the camp save a curl of gray +smoke drifting upward to the blue sky, now rosy-flushed with the first +light of day. + +"Looks like they'd finished their breakfast an' gone," Barnabas said, in +a low voice; "but then, ag'in, they may be layin' a trap fur us. It +ain't safe ter calkerlate when Simon Glass is around." + +"We'll do no good tarrying here, man," grumbled McNicol. "Yonder's the +tree, and we're ready to follow." + +Barnabas thought of poor Lindsay and then of the horses, and suddenly +flung prudence to the winds. "Forward!" he whispered, and starting +quickly through the scrub he planted his feet on the fallen pine. Nathan +followed with a beating heart, and the next man had just stepped out +when a musket-barrel was poked from the bushes across the chasm. + +"Back, men," roared Barnabas. "Get to cover," and as he turned around +and gained the rear bank by an agile spring, a thunderous report woke +the echoes of the gorge. + +Nathan tried to leap also, but it was too late. He saw the flash and the +puff and felt a stinging pain on the right side of his head. All grew +dark before him. He tottered, lost his balance, and fell. His hands, +clutching at the empty air, caught a projecting limb, and he held to it +with desperate strength. As he hung dangling over the gulf, dizzy and +stupefied, he heard a harsh voice above cry out: "You fired too soon, +you fool. Let the rebels have it now, men. Blaze away at the bushes." + +A straggling discharge of musketry followed the words, and then Nathan's +fingers slipped. He shot downward forty feet to the bushy top of a tree +that grew slantwise from the wall of the gorge. This broke the violence +of his fall, but it did not stop him. He bounded from branch to branch, +and fell the remaining distance to the creek, plunging head first +beneath the surface. + +The instinct of life was strong within the lad, and his struggles soon +brought him to the surface, choking and gasping. He was too bruised and +stunned to swim a fair stroke, but by feeble paddling he managed to keep +his head above water. + +That was all he thought about in his dazed condition, and without making +an attempt to reach either shore he drifted with the sluggish current +for twenty yards or so. Then he saw a conical rock close ahead, rising +several feet out of mid-stream, and by an effort he reached it and +clasped both arms around the top. + +There he clung for fully five minutes, while strength returned and his +mind cleared. He had not heard a sound since he fell, and he wondered if +all his companions were dead. He listened in vain, looking up at the +distant blue vault of the sky. The silence of death rested on wood and +stream. + +A sharp pain suddenly recalled the fact that he had been shot, and he +put one hand to his head in a fever of apprehension. His fingers were +red with blood when he looked at them, but his fear was gone. The bullet +had merely grazed his brow, leaving a narrow skin wound. + +This discovery put new life into Nathan, and he determined to get to +shore and search for his friends, if they were still alive. But as he +was about to let go of the rock he heard a noise from the north bank, in +which direction he was facing. Here the slope was less precipitous than +above, and was heavily timbered. + +Some person was descending toward the stream at a recklessly rapid +speed. Loosened stones rolled down to the water with a splash. Here and +there amid the trees and bushes a dark form showed at intervals. Was it +friend or foe? Nathan asked himself, and all too soon the question was +answered. + +The noise suddenly ceased, and from out the fringe of laurel at the base +of the slope peered a man's face--a hideous countenance with but one +eye, and with skin like wrinkled parchment slashed by a quillful of +purple ink. It needed not a glimpse of a dingy buckskin jacket with horn +buttons to tell Nathan that this was the terrible Simon Glass. + +The face was followed by a long-barrelled musket, but the ruffian did +not at once raise it to his shoulder. He stared keenly at the lad for a +moment, and then grinned like a fiend. + +"No mistake about it, that's him," he muttered aloud. "Die, you dirty +rebel," he added, levelling the gun and squinting along the tube with +his one eye. + +Nathan heard the first words so indistinctly that they caused him no +wonder, but the sentence that followed chilled his very blood. He could +neither move nor utter a sound as he faced the death that seemed +certain. A spell was upon him. He was charmed into helplessness by the +musket's black mouth--by the ghastly grin on the one-eyed Tory's face. + +A few seconds slipped by, and they were like so many minutes to the +tortured lad. Then, just as Glass pressed the trigger, a fusillade of +musketry rang out from some point up the bluff. Bang! went the Tory's +gun, but the surprise of the shooting overhead had fortunately spoilt +his aim. The bullet hit the rock within two inches of Nathan's face, and +a shower of splintered chips flew around him. + +Crack!--crack!--crack!--crack!--crack! The muskets were blazing merrily, +and there was a din of yells and cheers. Nathan looked up, and saw two +figures dart across the pine-tree bridge. A third had gained the centre +when a bullet sent him plunging down to the creek. + +The lad let go of the rock, dived, and came to the surface. Over on the +bank Simon Glass was reloading. He had driven the powder in, when the +firing suddenly ceased, and now he seemed to hesitate. + +"Help! help!" Nathan yelled loudly. There was an answering shout from +the summit of the gorge, and then a crashing noise. The Tory glanced +above him, tossed his partly loaded musket over his shoulder, and ran +swiftly down the edge of the stream. He was soon hidden from sight in +the bushes. + +"That you, Nathan?" called a familiar voice. Nathan answered lustily, +and a dozen strokes brought him to shore just as Barnabas Otter reached +the foot of the bluff. + +"Thank God! lad," cried the old man. "I gave you up for dead when you +fell off the tree." + +When Nathan had told his story, Barnabas declared that it would be both +useless and perilous to pursue Simon Glass. "We'll settle with the +ruffian another time," he said. "To think of his creepin' down here to +make sure you was dead! But that's jist like him. An' now, if you're +able, we'll be gettin' back to the party." + +Nathan was all right except for a slight weakness, and with a little +assistance he made fair progress up the bank. As they climbed, Barnabas +told what had happened. "We got under cover too quick for the enemy," he +explained, "an' while they thought we was hiding in the wood we were +making for the ford on a trot. It was round a bend of the creek, and +luckily we got across without bein' seen. Then we circled around to the +camp, and surprised the British from the rear as they were getting to +saddle. We dropped three in their tracks, an' shot another on the +bridge, an' the rest cut an' run fur life. It's a pity Simon Glass +wasn't there then." + +"Any of our men killed?" asked Nathan. + +"Evan Jones," Barnabas answered, soberly. "He was shot by a little chap +that fired as he run." + +By this time they were at the captured camp, and Nathan was warmly +greeted. He examined the four dead dragoons, but Godfrey was not among +them. + +"What did the man look like who was shot on the tree?" he asked. + +"He was my age, and had a heavy mustache," replied Reuben Atwood; and +the lad's mind was relieved. + +It was considered expedient to start while the five survivors of the +enemy were scattered, and before they could get together. Three horses +had been killed in the assault--they being in direct range--and a fourth +was so badly crippled as to be useless. The five that remained were just +enough for the party, now reduced by two. + +While the men gathered up what muskets, ammunition, and other stuff had +fallen into their hands, Barnabas dressed Nathan's skin-wound and +squeezed his clothes partly dry. Once in the saddle the lad felt quite +himself again, though he shuddered frequently to think of his narrow +escape. + +The victory was not without its sting. Poor Lindsay and Jones had +answered their last summons, and the bodies had to be left where they +had fallen. Their comrades would gladly have buried them, but duty to +the imperiled settlers at Wyoming forbade a moment's delay. + +The sun was just peeping above the horizon when the little band mounted +the captured horses and rode away from the scene of death and bloodshed. +For the first two miles they kept close watch as they trotted along the +bridle-road, and then, the chance of a surprise being now past, they +urged their steeds to a gallop. + +But the country was very rugged, and the road winding, and it was +necessary to walk or trot the horses much of the way. So it was close to +nine o'clock of the morning when the travelers rode out on the elevated +crest of the mountainous plateau, and beheld the lovely Wyoming Valley +spread out before them in the soft July sunlight. + +Here was the Susquehanna winding in a silver loop from mountain gap to +mountain gap. There, a little to the westward, the hamlet of +Wilkesbarre nestled at the base of the hills. Farther east the stockade +of Forty Fort rose from the opposite lying bank of the river, and the +flag was still fluttering from its staff. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN WHICH NATHAN TAKES PART IN THE BATTLE OF WYOMING + + +Barnabas and his companions checked their horses, and for several +minutes they sat still in the saddle, gazing with stirring emotions on +the peaceful and beautiful scene. In vain they listened for hostile +shots; in vain they scanned the horizon for the smoke and flames of +burning dwellings. + +"We've come in time!" exclaimed Nathan. + +"We have, lad; no doubt of it," assented Barnabas. "God grant the rest +of the force get here before the trouble begins. And now let's be +pushing down to the fort." + +"Hold on, comrades," said Abel Cutbush. "Here our ways must separate. +I'm a married man, and I'm going to strike fur Wilkesbarre, where my +wife and child will be expecting me." + +"They may be yonder at the fort," suggested Barnabas. + +"Perhaps, man," was the reply; "but I'll look at home first." + +So, with a few words of farewell, Cutbush turned sharply off to +the left. The other four urged their steeds cautiously down the +mountainside, and without mishap they reached the valley. They crossed +the Susquehanna by a fording, spurred up the farther bank, and were +shortly challenged by watchful sentries. A little later they rode +triumphantly through the gates of Forty Fort, which was a large, +stockaded inclosure with double rows of huts inside. + +Here thrilling sights were to be seen, and it was evident that a battle +or a siege was shortly expected. The fort was full of men, women, and +children. The former were hard at work, cleaning and loading muskets, +measuring out powder and ball, and repairing clothes and shoes for a +march. Many of these eager defenders ranged in age from fourteen to +sixteen, and there were also a number of very old men. The little +children were prattling and playing as though they had been brought to +the fort for a holiday. Of the women, some had given way to utter grief +and were weeping bitterly; others, more stout of heart, were cheering +and encouraging their husbands. + +Barnabas and his companions were joyfully greeted, many friends and +relatives pressing around to clasp their hands. When the first +excitement was over Colonel Zebulon Butler pushed to the spot, +accompanied by his associate officers, Colonels Denison and Dorrance. + +"My brave fellows, you are heartily welcome," cried Colonel Butler. "Do +you come from Washington? What news do you bring? Where are the rest of +the Wyoming men?" + +"A couple of days' march behind, sir," replied Barnabas, in answer to +the latter question. Then he briefly went on to tell of the battle of +Monmouth, the departure of the Wyoming troops, and the subsequent +adventures of his own little party. Men and women listened to the +narrative with breathless attention, and when they learned of the +uncertain fate of Captain Stanbury--who was known and liked throughout +the valley--Nathan was the recipient of numerous looks and words of +sympathy. But all other news dwindled to insignificance beside the fact +that the relieving force was still miles away, and how sorely the absent +ones were needed Barnabas and his friends soon understood. + +It appeared, according to Colonel Butler's hasty account, that the enemy +had entered the head of the valley on the 30th of June. They numbered +more than a thousand in all, six or seven hundred of them being +blood-thirsty Seneca Indians under the terrible half-breed Brandt, and +the remainder consisting of Colonel John Butler's Rangers, Captain +Caldwell's Royal Greens, and Tories from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and +New York. Colonel John Butler, who was in no wise related to the patriot +leader, was in full command. + +The enemy were too strong in numbers to be successfully resisted, and +since the first of July they had ruthlessly murdered half a score of +settlers, taken possession of Fort Jenkins, the uppermost one in the +valley, and had advanced to the next fort, called Wintermoot's. Here +they now were, on this morning of the 3d of July, and it was believed +that they were preparing to move on Forty Fort. + +"So you see that the situation is critical," Colonel Butler concluded. +"We have not yet decided what to do, but the day can hardly pass without +action of some sort. It is useless to hope for aid from the relieving +force--they cannot arrive in time. The little army assembled here now +under my command, is all we can count upon. They have come mostly from +the neighboring lower part of the valley. A few companies of our home +regiment are unfortunately in the outer settlements, and they can't +reach us inside of twenty-four hours." + +"Then we must get along without them, sir," exclaimed Barnabas. "We'll +give the Tories such a lesson as Washington gave Clinton at Monmouth a +few days ago." + +"God grant that we may!" Colonel Butler said fervently. "I expect word +shortly concerning the movements of the enemy, and then will be the time +to form our plans. And now, my good men, I want to thank you for your +heroic march. You will be provided with food, and everything else you +may need, and I shall depend on your support in the coming struggle." + +"You are sure to have it, sir," declared Barnabas; and this opinion was +eagerly echoed by the rest. + +During the next hour the work of preparation went on, fresh recruits +straggling in at intervals. Nathan and his companions, who were already +fully equipped, lent what aid they could, or engaged in conversation +with old friends and neighbors. + +About eleven o'clock in the morning a settler named Ingersoll, who had +been captured by the enemy several days before, near Wintermoot's fort, +arrived under a flag of truce, in custody of an Indian and a Tory. He +was the bearer of a message from Colonel John Butler, demanding the +immediate and unconditional surrender of all the forts in the valley and +all public property. This was, of course, refused, and Ingersoll left +with his guards, the latter having taken advantage of their visit to +observe the condition of the fort, and the number and spirit of its +defenders. + +Colonel Zebulon Butler now called a council of war, at which opinions +were freely expressed. Many of the settlers were admitted to this, +including Barnabas and his companions. Colonels Denison and Dorrance, as +well as a number of others, were in favor of delaying action, on the +ground that the absent militia companies and the relief force sent by +Washington might yet arrive in time to save the valley. But Colonel +Butler was opposed to delay, and made an eloquent oration against it. + +"For three days the enemy have been within the valley," he said, "and +they have steadily carried on their work of destruction and murder. Two +forts are already in their possession, and if we show an inclination to +be idle they will certainly press their advantage. They have boats, and +they can easily cross the river from Wintermoot's to Pittston, and take +the little fort there under Captain Blanchard. They can march or float +from place to place, and will destroy the valley piecemeal. And once the +butchers spread throughout the country, we will no longer be able to +hold our little army together. Each man will fly to protect his own +home. The relief force cannot reach us in time, and it is doubtful if +the absent militia companies will arrive within two days. So we must +clearly depend on God and ourselves, and I assert that to attack and +defeat the enemy is the only hope for the settlement." + +These spirited words made an impression, and at once won over a large +majority. The rest were finally induced to assent, and without further +delay the preparations for the advance were begun. + +Six companies were available, and of these one consisted of regulars +under Captain Hewitt. The others were as follows: Captain Whittlesey's +company, from Plymouth; Captain McKarrican's, from Hanover; the Lower +Wilkesbarre and Upper Wilkesbarre Companies, commanded respectively by +Captain Bidlack and Captain Geer, and a company from Kingston under +Captain Aholiab Buck. Barnabas and Nathan were assigned to Captain +Whittlesey's company, as were also Reuben Atwood and Collum McNicol. In +all, the force was three hundred strong--two hundred and thirty enrolled +men, and about seventy boys, elderly settlers, judges of the valley +courts, and civil magistrates. And this brave but meager army was about +to attack one thousand Tories and Indians! + +It was an hour past noon when the band of defenders filed out through +the gates of Forty Fort, leaving a few sentries behind them to protect +the weeping and well-nigh distracted women and children. It was a clear, +warm day, and never had the Wyoming Valley looked more beautiful and +peaceful. Birds were twittering, and the sun shone brightly on forest +and river. + +Forward the column marched, not knowing that their movements were being +watched by vigilant spies. But such was the case, and fleet couriers +bore word of the advance to Colonel John Butler, at Wintermoot's. He at +once sent a message to his rear guard at Fort Jenkins, who were +destroying the defenses of that place, to hasten down to join him and +meet the Yankees. + +In the neighborhood of three o'clock the Americans approached +Wintermoot's fort, and from a distance they saw that it was in +flames--the motive for which act on the enemy's part was never fully +understood. At this point there were two plains between the river and +the mountain, the upper and lower flats being divided by a steep bank +fifteen or twenty feet in height. The fort stood on the brow of the +bluff. + +Colonel Zebulon Butler sent several officers forward to reconnoiter the +ground, and when they returned with their reports, and with the +intelligence that the foe were close in front, the little army at once +proceeded to form in line of battle. They ascended the dividing bluff, +and deployed across the upper plain. Their right rested on the steep +bank, and the left stretched across the flat to a morass that separated +the bottom land from the mountain. The plain was sparsely wooded with +yellow pine trees and oak scrubs. Captain Whittlesey's company, to which +Nathan and his friends belonged, was on the extreme left, and that flank +was in charge of Colonels Denison and Dorrance. Colonel Butler himself +commanded the right wing. + +The enemy's left, under Colonel John Butler, rested on Wintermoot's +fort, which was now on fire, and from which the Susquehanna was distant +about eighty rods. A flanking party of Indian marksmen were hidden in +some logs and bushes near the top of the bank. Next to Colonel John +Butler were more Indian marksmen and Caldwell's Royal Greens, while the +main body of the Senecas under Brandt formed the right wing, which +extended over the plain to the morass. + +Thus face to face, the two armies remained inactive for some little +time. At a distance Nathan's keen eyes could make out the glitter of a +uniform here and there, or see the feathered plumes of the Indians +nodding. Through the green of the trees the sun shone on tomahawks and +musket barrels. + +"How do you feel, lad?" asked old Barnabas. + +"Ready for the fight," was the cool reply. + +"But this ain't the battle of Monmouth, lad. There's worse odds ag'in +us." + +"All the more reason why we should fight the better," declared Nathan. +"Monmouth was for our country and this is for our homes." + +"Ay, that's proper talk," exclaimed Reuben Atwood. "I'm thinkin' we must +all fight to the bitter end, since there's no mercy to be looked for +from them fiends over yonder." + +Now a sudden excitement spread throughout the lines, and the men +straightened up at attention. Colonel Zebulon Butler came riding from +right to left, and checking his horse near Captain Whittlesey's company +he repeated the brief address he had just made to his followers on the +right. + +"Men, we are about to attack," he cried. "Yonder is the enemy. Slaughter +without mercy is what we must expect if we are defeated. We are here to +fight for liberty, for our homes and families, for life itself. Stand +firm with the first shock, and the Indians will yield. Let every man +remember his duty." + +Loud and hearty cheers followed the Colonel as he rode back to his post. +Nathan gripped his musket tight, and as he recalled the massacres of the +preceding days he resolved to make each shot tell. "Hurrah! we're +going!" he shouted. + +"Yes, we're at it, lad," cried Barnabas. "Steady, now!" + +The signal had been given, and the long line was in forward motion. They +drew nearer and nearer, and suddenly the order to fire came from Colonel +Zebulon Butler. Crash! crash! the deadly volleys rang out. Still the +Americans advanced, firing rapidly and steadily. Crash! Crash! Men began +to fall, some dead and some wounded. The bluish powder smoke rolled over +the field, mingling with the yellow clouds from the burning fort. Louder +and louder blazed the musketry fire. In spite of the pluck of its +officers the British line gave way a little. But it quickly rallied, and +the enemy stood their ground stubbornly. + +The American right was now hotly engaged with the Senecas and Rangers, +and soon the fight was waging along the entire line. On both sides the +dead and wounded increased, and as the Indian sharpshooters fired they +uttered fearful and hideous yells. Nathan was surprised at his own +coolness. He loaded and fired like an old soldier, never pulling trigger +until he had a bead drawn on a foe. Some of the men on the left began to +waver as their comrades fell about them, but a few words from Colonel +Dorrance had the effect of closing the broken line up. + +For half an hour the battle went on, growing warmer and warmer. As yet +Nathan was unhurt, and so far as he could tell his friends had fared as +fortunately. Animated by the hope of victory, the Americans displayed +the utmost valor and bravery. But now, alas! the enemy began to show the +power that superior numbers gave them. A large force of Indians was +thrown into the swamp, thus completely outflanking the left of the +patriot line. Seeing the danger, Colonel Denison ordered Whittlesey to +wheel his company at an angle with the main line, and thus present a +front to the foe. + +It is always difficult to perform such an evolution under a hot fire, +and in this case the result was disastrous. No sooner had Captain +Whittlesey's company made the attempt than the Indians rushed forward +with blood-curdling yells. Some of the Americans understood the order to +fall back on flank to mean a retreat, and by this fatal mistake the +whole of the left line was thrown into confusion. A part stood their +ground, and others fled in panic. Seeing the disorder and confusion +here, and finding that his own men on the right were also beginning to +give way, Colonel Zebulon Butler rode recklessly to and fro between the +fires of the opposing ranks. + +"Stand firm!" he cried in ringing tones. "Don't forsake me! Make a +stand, my brave men, and the victory will yet be ours." + +But it was too late. In vain did the daring commander harangue his men; +in vain did his officers support him by words and actions, and the +drummers beat the charge. The rout began--a rout that was too +overwhelming and widespread to be checked. The right and left lines of +the Americans fled in all directions, hotly pursued by the vengeful +Tories and Indians. The crack of muskets and the dull crash of the +tomahawk mingled with the shrieks of the dying and the yells of the +victors. Stephen Whiton, a young schoolmaster, was butchered by the side +of the man whose daughter he had just married. Darius Spofford, also +lately married, fell dead in the arms of his brother Phineas. Every +captain that led a company into action was slain. Bidlack, Hewitt, +Whittlesey--all died at the head of their men. + +And now, the battle over and the massacre begun, horror was piled on +horror. There was little chance of escape for the fugitives. The +flanking party of Indians pushed hastily to the rear to cut off the +retreat to Forty Fort, and thus the wretched and panic-stricken settlers +were driven in the direction of the river, over the open ground and +through fields of uncut grain. Some few swam to Monockasy Island, which +offered a temporary refuge. But many were speared and tomahawked at the +water's edge, and others, shot while swimming, were borne away lifeless +on the current. A man named Pensil, who had gained the island, was +pursued there and slain by his own Tory brother. Lieutenant Shoemaker, +as he plunged into the river, glanced over his shoulder to see a Tory +named Windecker who had often dined at his table in past times. Swimming +back to shore, he begged his old friend to protect him. The foul +ruffian pretended to consent, but while he helped the officer out of the +water with his left hand, with his right he drove a tomahawk into his +brain. Many others were thus lured to shore by promise of quarter, only +to be ruthlessly butchered. A number of the prisoners were thrown alive +on the burning logs of Fort Wintermoot, and no less than a score were +tomahawked by Queen Esther, an Indian fury in the form of a woman. She +slew them with her own hand while the savages held them, and the bodies +of her victims, scalped and mutilated, were subsequently found lying in +a circle where they had fallen. The carnage would have been greater had +not night intervened. Under cover of darkness a small proportion of the +fugitives escaped, and of the number was Colonel Denison and Colonel +Zebulon Butler. The latter was borne off the field on his horse, and by +a devious route he finally reached the fort at Wilkesbarre. + +Good fortune also fell to the lot of Barnabas and Nathan. After standing +their ground until valor had ceased to be a virtue they fled, side by +side, to the river, firing at intervals as they went. At the water's +edge they confronted and killed a Tory and an Indian who had overtaken +them, and then, being good swimmers, they safely reached the opposite +shore some distance below the island. In company with several other +refugees they pushed down the Susquehanna, recrossed the stream, and +safely entered Forty Fort at nightfall. They were rejoiced to learn that +Reuben Atwood and Collum McNicol had arrived some time before. + +Pitiful and heartrending were the scenes within the fort as the hours of +darkness dragged on. Women and children wept and wrung their hands as +they called the names of loved ones who would never return. Bleeding and +powder-grimed men stood about in weary and dazed groups. Of the band of +three hundred who started out to battle at noon-time less than one-third +had straggled back. The rest lay dead and mutilated in the woods, on the +sands of Monockasy Island, or were drifting on the rippling tide of the +river. So terrible was the defeat that the survivors had utterly lost +heart; they were ready to submit to any terms to save their lives. + +The night was full of horror, for an attack was constantly expected. In +the interval between darkness and dawn, a few settlers with their +families flocked to the fort from the lower part of the valley, and +several sorely-wounded fugitives crept in. Nathan could not sleep, and +for hours he wandered about the stockade. The disaster had stunned him, +unused as he was to the horrors of Indian warfare. The past week, with +its record of bloodshed and battle, had made a man of the lad. How +dreamlike and long ago seemed his happy student life in Philadelphia! + +The outcome of the Tory and Indian raid upon the colonists of the +Wyoming Valley may be briefly told. On the morning of the 4th of +July--the day following the massacre--Colonel Zebulon Butler started for +the nearest town on the Lehigh to send a report to the Board of War. +That morning one of the absent militia companies arrived at Forty Fort, +and there was some talk of offering further resistance. But this was +speedily abandoned, as messengers who had been sent out reported that +the panic-stricken inhabitants of the valley were fleeing in every +direction to the wilderness. It was also learned that Fort Brown, at +Pittston, had been surrendered by Captain Blanchard. + +So Colonel Denison at once opened negotiations with the leaders of the +enemy, and after hours of suspense and discussion it was decided to +surrender the fort on condition that the lives of the survivors should +be spared. The articles of capitulation were signed, and on the +afternoon of the 5th a sad and bitter ceremony took place on the bluff +of the Susquehanna. The gates of Forty Fort were thrown open, the flag +was hauled down, and to the music of drums and fifes the enemy marched +in behind Colonel John Butler--company after company of Rangers and +Tories, Captain Caldwell's Royal Greens, and the sullen, painted-faced +Indians headed by two human fiends--Brandt and Queen Esther. + +Colonel Butler prevented any immediate bloodshed, but the settlers were +ruthlessly plundered as they filed out. Knowing their danger too well +they fled in all directions, some toward the Delaware, others down the +Susquehanna by water and land. + +The Senecas and Tories shortly laid waste the valley, destroying what +they could not take away, burning the town of Wilkesbarre and many +cabins, and driving the horses and cattle to Niagara. The relief force +that had started from Washington's army turned back when the news of the +massacre reached them at Stroudsburg, and for a time the lovely Vale of +Wyoming was abandoned to ruin and solitude. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN WHICH NATHAN FINDS THE PAPERS + + +Among the last to leave Forty Fort after its surrender was Barnabas +Otter. In the dusk of the evening he slipped through the gate with +others, and made his way, unobserved, to a large rock several hundred +yards back from the river. He was joined almost immediately by Nathan, +and presently Reuben Atwood and Collum McNicol arrived at the same spot. +The two latter knew all about Captain Stanbury's papers, and were to +assist in getting them. The little party had previously arranged to meet +here secretly for this purpose, and they hoped to complete their task +and push some miles down the Susquehanna that same night. + +"All here, are ye?" said Collum McNicol, who was the last to arrive. +"Let's make haste and have done with the business. My heart is sore +after what I've seen yonder this afternoon--" + +"Peace, man," interrupted Barnabas. "The less said the better. We're all +sore at heart, I'm thinking--aye, an' something more. I feel myself like +a panther stripped of her cubs. Don't put fire to our passions, or we'll +be tempted to some desperate deed." + +"It ain't likely, with not a fire-arm among us," said Atwood. "There's +no chance of a shot at Tory or redskin. We must bide our time for +vengeance till we're back with the army." + +"Aye, we'll have a reckoning then," replied Barnabas. "Every Redcoat +will stand for Wyoming--Hist! who comes?" + +Soft footsteps were heard, and a settler named Morgan Proud glided up to +the rock. "Four of ye?" he said, peering at the group. "I won't be +intrudin', men, but I followed hither for a purpose. Do you want arms?" + +"Do we?" exclaimed Barnabas. "An' kin you pervide them, man?" + +"That I can," said Proud. "When we come up to the fort from Wilkesbarre +yesterday--ten of us--we brought nearly two muskets apiece along. But +we hid the guns and ammunition down by the river, half expectin' the +fort would be surrendered and all arms given up. And we acted wisely--" + +"Lead the way, man," broke in Barnabas. "This deed'll win you a golden +crown some day. But are you sure the stuff is there yet?" + +"They're well hid," replied Proud, "and I told our men, who just +started, to take a musket apiece and leave the rest. Will your party +join us, Barnabas? We're going down river in flat-boats from +Wilkesbarre." + +"We have an errand over yonder first," said Barnabas, jerking his thumb +northward. "We might ketch up with you, but don't wait on us." + +"No, we'll take no risk," Proud answered, "seein' as we'll have women +and children dependin' on us. But you're welcome to the arms all the +same." + +Without further speech he led the party obliquely toward the river, and +they came speedily to a windfall under the bluff. Proud's friends had +been here and gone, but the extra muskets were safe in their hiding +place. The man handed out the requisite number, adding a generous supply +of powder and ball. + +"I'll wait here a bit," he said. "There'll be others coming by, and I +have three guns left." + +Barnabas and his companions wished him farewell and good luck, and then +mounted the bank and struck into the woods. Now that they were armed +they felt like new men, and a great weight was lifted from their minds. +In single file they made a detour to the rear of the fort, and pressed +rapidly northeast through the woods for a mile and a half, speaking not +a word on the way. Every heart beat faster as the northern edge of the +battle-field was skirted, and now a sharp turn was made to the left. Ten +minutes later, as the moon peeped above the horizon, the party reached a +little cabin in a clearing. The tears came into Nathan's eyes as he saw +the home where his happy boyhood had been spent--the spot sacred to the +memory of his lost father. Here was the spring, and there the out-shed +where the winter's supply of logs was always stored. The path leading +to the step could still be traced between the weeds and grass. + +"Cheer up, lad," said Barnabas, divining his thoughts. "It'll all come +right in the future. And now we'll be making that search." + +They entered the cabin, the door of which was wide open. It had escaped +the torch of the Indians, and the interior was much as it had been left +on the day when Captain Stanbury started for the war. The end window was +closed, but the shutter was off the one in front. The ladder still led +to the sleeping-loft overhead, and in the room down-stairs were a table +and a broken chair. A few earthen dishes stood on the shelf, and a layer +of ashes covered the fireplace. + +"It's a bit out of the way," remarked Barnabas, looking around, "an' +that's why no one has lived here since. Where shall we begin, lad? +Which, to your mind, is the most likely spot? The captain said the +papers were under the floor." + +"I never knew the boards to be loose," Nathan answered, in a husky +voice. "Suppose we try the fireplace." + +"A good idea," approved Barnabas. By the light of the moon he scraped +the ashes off the big slab of stone that was set in the floor of the +chimney, and he was about to pry the stone itself loose when something +seemed to occur to him. He straightened up, and glanced toward the door. + +"What is the matter?" asked Nathan. + +"I'm thinking of Simon Glass," Barnabas answered. + +"Why, I forgot all about him," exclaimed Nathan. "He and what was left +of his party must have turned back. I didn't see them at the fort." + +"But I did, lad," declared Barnabas. "Glass marched in with the Rangers, +and that young Godfrey was close behind him." + +"Yes, I seen 'em both," corroborated Atwood. + +"I was watching the Indians all the time, and Colonel Butler," said +Nathan. "So Glass has arrived then? But you don't think he'll give us +any more trouble?" + +Barnabas only shook his head. + +"McNicol," he said, "stand yonder by the door, an' keep your ears to the +wood. Watchin' won't come amiss." + +The man went to his post, and Barnabas stooped down and lifted the slab. +He dropped to his knees, dug rapidly into the dirt with a knife, and +lifted out a flat tin box, much rusted. He forced the lid open and +handed Nathan a packet of papers sealed with green wax. + +The lad pressed it reverently to his lips. "I won't look at them," he +declared. "The seal shall remain unbroken until I find my father, or +until I am satisfied that he is dead." + +"It would be wise to learn the contents, lad," said Barnabas. + +Nathan shook his head. "My father's secret is sacred to me," he replied. +"If he is alive, he would wish me to guard it, I know. But the papers +must not be lost. Will you keep them for me?" + +[Illustration: BARNABAS HANDED NATHAN A PACKET OF PAPERS] + +Barnabas readily--even eagerly--assented. The packet was not large, and +he thrust it deep down into one of his wide-topped boots. "It's just +damp enough not to crackle," he said, as he dropped the slab back into +place, and cunningly strewed the ashes over it again--a wiser bit of +forethought than he knew. + +"Now," he added. "We'll be off--" + +"Hist, men!" McNicol interrupted, in a whisper. "Come hither, quick!" + +The three joined the Scotchman at the door, but they did not need to ask +what he meant. The forest was alive with whispering voices--with the +passage of feet over dry twigs and rustling grass. A light danced among +the thick foliage. + +It was too late for retreat, and, as the little band crouched behind the +shadowy doorway, they beheld a startling sight. + +By twos and threes a group of Tories and Indians glided into the glade, +close to the spring. The two foremost held a shrinking man between them, +and as they came nearer, one said aloud, in a familiar voice that made +Nathan shudder: "Is this the place, you rebel dog?" + +"It's Captain Stanbury's cabin," muttered the prisoner, who had +evidently been made to serve as an unwilling guide. + +"You know what you'll get if you're lying," Simon Glass--for it was +he--replied with an oath. "Come, men," he added. + +"God help us!" whispered Barnabas. "There's no escape unless we kin keep +hid. But they're comin' to the cabin, an' Colonel Butler's promise won't +count with such fiends. They'll kill every man of us in cold blood." + +Low as the words were spoken, they reached the ears of the enemy, and a +creaking noise made by McCollum's heavy boots completed the betrayal. +"There are rebels here!" roared Simon Glass. "Don't let a blasted one +escape! Surround the cabin!" + +"It's all up," cried Barnabas. "Give 'em a volley, an' remember the +massacre. Now--fire!" + +Four muskets flashed and roared, and, as the echo fled down the valley, +the night rang with yells of rage and agony. + +There was no time to look for the result of the volley through the +drifting smoke. Barnabas instantly slammed the door shut, and dragged +the heavy table against it. "Down, all of you," he shouted. "Stick to +the floor. Nathan, you guard the rear wall, an' watch through the cracks +of the logs. McNicol, you an' Atwood take the two ends. I'll tend to the +open winder here in front." + +The three crawled to their posts of duty, and for a time the silence +outside was broken only by an occasional moan of pain. The wary enemy +had taken to cover at once, until they could learn the strength of their +assailants. + +"Did you kill Glass?" McNicol whispered across the room. + +"He ain't in sight," replied Barnabas. "He moved his head just as I +fired. The Tory with him is lyin' dead here on the grass, an' the +prisoner is beside him--he's better off, for he'd a been tomahawked +anyway. An' there's a wounded Indian dragging hisself past the spring. +I won't waste powder on the wretch." + +"Glass must have learned where we were bound, and followed us here for +revenge," said Nathan. + +"It's either that or a deeper motive," Barnabas answered, and even as he +spoke a hot fire was opened on the cabin from three sides. The fusillade +lasted for several minutes, the bullets tearing through the crevices or +burying themselves in the thick logs, but by crouching flat all escaped +harm. + +As the fire slackened the enemy boldly showed themselves here and there +in the moonlight, but they learned a lesson in prudence when McNicol +shot two of their number from a loophole, and Atwood picked off a third. +Barnabas kept blazing away at the gleam of a torch some distance off in +the wood, where a part of the enemy was probably assembled. As nearly as +could be judged, the besieging force numbered nearly a score. + +"It's a bad lookout," said Atwood, "we can't count on help from any of +the settlers." + +"More likely the shooting will bring the whole party from the fort," +replied Barnabas. "We might make a dash by the rear if there was a +winder. The enemy ain't showed up on that side yet." + +"They're here now," whispered Nathan. "I see the bushes moving--" Bang! +the lad's musket cracked, and with a screech an Indian fell dead. Two +more who had been reconnoitering the rear of the cabin bounded into the +woods. + +"That's the way to do it," said Barnabas. "Load quickly, men, an' don't +all let your muskets get empty at once." + +An interval of silence followed, lasting perhaps ten minutes, and then a +harsh voice from the forest called for a truce. + +"Only one kin come near," shouted Barnabas. "What do you want, Glass, if +that's you?" + +"I'm willing to make fair terms," replied the Tory, who was careful to +keep hidden. "Come out and give up your arms, and not one of you shall +be hurt." + +"We'd sooner surrender to a rattlesnake than to you, Simon," Barnabas +answered. "We're goin' to hold the cabin, an' that's our last word." + +Glass accepted the ultimatum with a torrent of profanity and threats, +and a moment later the firing recommenced. For some minutes the bullets +rained against the logs, while the besieged, flattened on the floor, +kept watch at loopholes and crevices for any of the enemy who might +expose themselves. The plucky little band well realized that their fight +was desperate and well-nigh hopeless, but not a word or sign of fear +betrayed what they felt. + +Presently the firing ceased, and now there were indications that the foe +intended to make a combined rush. So certain of this was Barnabas that +he summoned Nathan and his companions to the front wall. But for at +least once in his life the old woodsman was outmatched. The Indians and +Tories advanced only to the edge of the clearing, whence they let drive +a straggling volley, and while this diversion was going on, three +torches were thrown from the rear upon the roof of the cabin. + +A strong breeze happened to be blowing, and with amazing rapidity the +flames took hold and spread. The roof was soon burned through in +patches, and now the loft floor caught fire. Clouds of suffocating smoke +rolled to the lower room, and a shower of sparks and blazing embers made +the situation unbearable. + +"It's all up with us here," cried Barnabas, "an' there's nothin' left to +do but die fightin'. Come, men, let's open the door, give the devils a +volley, an' make a rush. Each one for hisself arter that, an' mebbe one +or two of us kin reach the woods." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN WHICH GODFREY PLEADS FOR THE CONDEMNED PRISONERS + + +Without waiting for an answer, Barnabas jerked the table away and swung +the door partly open. The enemy were on the watch and immediately opened +a hot fire. Two bullets struck Reuben Atwood, and he fell dead across +the threshold. The others dodged back into the heat and smoke, and just +at the critical moment the firing ceased in response to a loud command. + +"It's the Tory colonel hisself," exclaimed Barnabas, as he peeped +through a crevice. "He's just arrived, an' there's lots of Royal Greens +along with him." + +"Colonel Butler," he added loudly, "we'll surrender, providin' you spare +our lives." + +"Come out first, and then we'll talk," the officer shouted back after a +brief pause. + +There was hope in the words, and Barnabas and his companions lost no +time in scrambling to their feet. Half-choked, and sweating from every +pore, they stepped over Atwood's dead body and staggered across the +clearing. At sight of the three figures there was a loud murmur of +astonishment. + +"Where's the rest?" demanded Simon Glass, as he roughly stripped the +prisoners of their muskets. + +"We're all here but one," Barnabas answered, pointing to the doorway, +"an' he's dead." + +"I'll send you to join him," snarled Glass, and with that he presented a +gun to the old man's head. But before he could fire, Colonel Butler +knocked the weapon aside. + +"You ruffian!" he exclaimed. "Would you shoot a prisoner in cold blood?" + +"He deserves it," remonstrated Glass, in an injured tone. "Why, this is +the leader of the rebel band that attacked my party a couple of days +ago, killed four of us, and stole our horses." + +"I have nothing to do with that affair," snapped Colonel Butler. "When I +want you to play executioner I'll tell you. Don't interfere again!" + +With a scowl Glass slunk away, and for a few moments the officer +scrutinized his three captives in silence. The upper part of the cabin +was now wrapped in flames, and the red glare made the scene as light as +day. Tories and Indians stood grouped in a half-circle, the former with +cold, pitiless faces, while the latter looked ferociously at the +prisoners under their painted cheeks as they gripped their blood-stained +tomahawks and edged nearer with fiendish anticipation. Godfrey, who had +been with the attacking party, was standing to the rear, and his face +alone expressed pity. He blushed as Nathan discovered him and gave him a +quick glance of contempt and defiance. + +"You can't expect mercy," Colonel Butler finally said. "Within a few +hours after the surrender you are found here with arms in your +possession--a direct violation of my terms. And you took the offensive, +firing deliberately on a part of my force." + +"That's right, Colonel," chimed in Glass. "They shot first. We've six +dead here." + +"We were compelled to fire, sir," said Barnabas. "We had no way to +retreat, an' that ruffian yonder told his men not to let one of us +escape." + +"Exactly," assented Glass. "But my object was to take you prisoners. I +saw you and your men recover the arms you had hidden in the woods, and I +was justified in following to discover your purpose." + +At this Godfrey started to come forward, but changed his mind and +stopped. His face was pale and haggard. + +"Man, you lie," cried McNicol, turning to the one-eyed Tory. "You never +saw us get the guns, and you didn't even know we were here till you +reached the cabin. And had we surrendered at the first, every one of us +would have been massacred in cold blood. I know you well, you dirty +traitor." + +"Colonel, don't believe that rebel," retorted Glass, with a glance of +fury at McNicol. "The affair happened just as I said." + +"Hang the affair!" testily exclaimed the officer. He moved aside for a +moment to converse in a whisper with Captain Caldwell, of the Royal +Greens, and then turned to the prisoners. "My duty is very simple," he +said. "There is but one question at stake. You were found bearing arms +in violation of my terms. You have brought your fate on yourselves, and +now--" + +"Sir, would our lives have been safe anywhere in this valley without +fire-arms?" interrupted Barnabas. + +Colonel Butler bit his lip with rage. "You rebel dog," he cried, "do you +dare to assert that I can't enforce my own commands? But enough. Captain +Caldwell, a platoon of your men, please. Stand the prisoners out and +shoot them." + +Nathan turned pale. Barnabas and McNicol heard the sentence without +moving a muscle. A file of the Royal Greens stepped forward, bringing +their musket butts to earth with a dull clatter. But just as several +Tories laid hold of the victims to place them in position, an +unexpected interference came from Godfrey Spencer. + +"Colonel Butler," he exclaimed, "let me speak to you before this goes +any further." + +"Stop, you fool," muttered Glass, trying to push the lad back. + +"Let me go," Godfrey whispered fiercely. "If you don't, I'll tell all." + +"What do you want to say?" asked Colonel Butler. "Oh, it's you, +Lieutenant Spencer!" + +"Sir, I beg you to spare these men," pleaded Godfrey. "With justice to +yourself, you can waive the question of their bearing arms, since their +object in coming to the cabin to-night was in no wise contrary to the +terms of the surrender. We came for the same purpose, and the meeting +was accidental. Simon Glass has lied deliberately, and I can vouch for +it that he would have shot the prisoners at once, had they given +themselves up." + +Glass ground his teeth with rage, and had looks been able to kill, the +lad must have fallen dead. + +"I can't understand this hurried march of your little detachment from +the Jersies to Wyoming," replied Colonel Butler. "You told me you were +sent by Major Langdon, and now I infer that this cabin was connected +with your mission; also, that the prisoners marched from the Jersies +with the same purpose in view. I would like a further explanation." + +"That I can't give, sir," Godfrey answered firmly. + +"Perhaps you can?" and the Colonel turned to Barnabas. + +The old man shook his head. "It's a private matter, sir," he replied, +"an' my lips are sealed. But what this young lieutenant says is all +true." + +Colonel Butler looked puzzled and vexed. "Whom did Major Langdon put in +command of the party?" he sharply inquired of Godfrey. + +"Simon Glass, sir." + +"And why were you--an officer of rank--sent along as a subordinate?" + +"I don't know, sir. I don't even know fully the object of the +expedition." + +"Glass, you can explain this mystery," exclaimed the Colonel, losing +patience. + +"Sir, would you have me betray my trust?" demanded Glass, with +well-feigned indignation. "You saw my papers yesterday. You know that +they are signed by Major Langdon, and that I am acting under his +orders." + +"And under mine as well, sir," replied the Colonel, with a frown. "There +can be no independent commands while I have control here. Come, we'll +drop the question of Major Langdon's authority. I want you to do some +work for me to-morrow. You are just the man for it, and you can have the +force you led out of the fort when my back was turned." + +"I am at your service, sir," Glass replied in a mollified tone. + +The Colonel nodded. "You may as well camp here for the balance of the +night, and start early in the morning. Scour the whole upper part of the +valley, and burn every cabin and house to its foundations." + +A wicked smile showed how well pleased the ruffian was with his orders. +"How about the prisoners, sir?" he asked carelessly. + +"The sentence stands," Colonel Butler replied grimly. "I will give them +a few hours to prepare for death. Hang or shoot them at daybreak." + +"I can't entertain your appeal," he added, to Godfrey. "Your arguments +do not mitigate the fact that these rebels were found in arms. I must do +my duty." + +In spite of Glass's angry and threatening looks Godfrey made a second +attempt to save the prisoners, but Colonel Butler cut him short in a +manner that forbade further appeal. The officer was in an ugly mood, for +his natural curiosity to solve the mystery connected with the cabin had +been baffled. But matters of more importance demanded his immediate +presence at the fort, and without delay he marched off at the head of +the Royal Greens. + +Glass's first act after the departure of Colonel Butler was to search +Nathan thoroughly from head to foot, and the lad submitted with an air +of surprise that was more feigned than real; by this time he had an +inkling of what it all meant. + +The ruffian could hardly conceal his disappointment when he +failed to find what he wanted. He proceeded to search McNicol and +Barnabas--luckily omitting the latter's boots--and then he reviled the +prisoners with the most bitter taunts and insults his brutal mind could +invent. + +Nathan lost his temper and answered back, thereby receiving a cruel blow +in the face; but Barnabas and McNicol stoically endured the shower of +abuse. None of the three showed any sign of fear, though they knew they +were to die in the morning, and their courage might well have won +admiration and pity from a more chivalrous foe. But Simon Glass's +half-dozen Tory comrades--who numbered among them the survivors of the +squadron of dragoons--were as brutal and degraded as himself. The rest +of the force were Indians, and mercy or pity could have been better +expected from a pack of panthers than from these blood-thirsty Senecas. + +The ruffian finally wearied of his pastime and walked toward the cabin, +which was now nearly consumed. After watching the dying blaze for a +moment he returned. + +"How soon will those ruins be cool?" he asked of one of his companions. + +"I should judge in about two or three hours," the man replied. + +Glass looked pleased. "We'd better be turning in," he continued, "for we +must take an early start in the morning. We'll hang the rebels before we +go. Bring them over yonder now." + +He led the way to a thicket of low bushes that stood on the near bank of +the spring. In the centre of the thicket were three saplings, and to +these the prisoners were secured in a sitting position, with their arms +fastened behind them and their backs turned to one another. Having seen +that the work was done thoroughly, Glass departed. + +"You'd better be praying, you rebels," he said, in a sneering tone, "for +your necks will stretch at the first light of dawn." + +The night was very warm and the Tories and Indians stretched themselves +in groups amid the thick grass that carpeted the clearing. A sentry was +posted on guard at the thicket, and as he paced to and fro with loaded +musket the upper part of his body was visible to the captives. They +could see no others of the party for the bushes, but the silence +indicated that all were asleep. Godfrey had kept in the background after +Colonel Butler's departure, either for the purpose of shunning Glass or +to avoid those he had vainly tried to befriend. + +There was no hope of escape, and for a while the wretched little group +talked in whispers, each nobly endeavoring to cheer and comfort the +others. None had rested much on the previous night, and finally Barnabas +and McNicol fell asleep. + +Nathan was now alone with his thoughts, and in the face of death his +fortitude almost deserted him, and his mind yielded to bitter anguish. +He lived the past over again--his boyhood days here in the valley, his +years at college in Philadelphia, and then the string of terrible +events that had begun with the loss of his father on Monmouth +battle-field. But amid the conflicting thoughts that distressed him the +memory of Godfrey's strange words was uppermost. + +"What can it mean?" the lad asked himself. "Is it possible that Major +Langdon sent Simon Glass here to find and steal these papers? He heard +my father tell me where they were, but why would he want to get them? It +is a deep mystery--one too incredible to be true!" + +Vainly the lad puzzled himself, and at last he fell into a restless +sleep. A couple of hours later he awoke with a start, realizing at once +where he was, and dreading to find that dawn had come. The moon was far +down and under a bank of clouds, and the cabin had long ago burnt itself +out to the last spark. But, from the direction of the ruins, floated a +dull noise and the sound of low voices. + +"Barnabas, are you awake?" Nathan whispered. + +"Yes, lad," muttered the old man, and as he spoke McNicol opened his +eyes and twisted his cramped body. + +Before more could be said the bushes rustled, and a dusky figure +shouldering a musket crept softly into the thicket. Godfrey--for it was, +indeed, he--put a finger to his lips. "Hush!" he whispered. "I've come +to save you. All are sleeping, except Glass and four of the Indians. +They're poking about in the ashes of the cabin, and we must get away +before they return. I am going with you, for my life is equally in +danger." + +He stooped down with a knife in one hand, and quickly severed the cords +that held the prisoners. "Now come," he added. "Look where you step, and +don't even breathe loudly." + +Nathan and his friends rose, trembling with joy, and almost doubting the +reality of their good fortune. But they knew by what extreme caution +safety must be won, and as noiselessly as shadows they trailed their +sore and stiffened bodies behind Godfrey to the farther edge of the +thicket. + +The young officer had thought out his plans beforehand, and with a +warning gesture he stepped into the spring at the point where it became +a narrow rivulet, and brawled its course swiftly across the lower corner +of the clearing. The others followed, and the murmur of the waters +drowned what slight noise was unavoidable. + +Now came the critical moment. With anxious hearts the fugitives waded +slowly down the stream, crouching low beneath the fringe of tall grass +that concealed, on both sides, the sleeping forms of Tories and Indians. +On and on they went amid unbroken silence, and at last the dense foliage +of the wood closed over them like an arch. They had safely passed the +limits of the camp. They waded twenty yards further, and then stepped on +land. + +Godfrey handed his musket to Barnabas. "You know the country," he +whispered. "Lead as you think best." + +"We'll make a wide detour back of the fort," Barnabas replied, "an' then +come around to the river at the lower end of the valley." + +On a brisk trot they started toward the northwest, and as they hurried +along the forest trails that the old woodsman chose, Godfrey briefly +told what all were anxious to know. + +"I got awake a bit ago," he said, "and heard Glass instructing four of +the worst Indians to tomahawk you people just before daylight. They were +to kill me at the same time, and pretend it was done by mistake. That +was to be Glass's revenge for what I said to-night. I remained perfectly +still, pretending to be asleep, and when Glass and the Indians went over +to the cabin, I decided all at once what to do. I told the sentry I had +been ordered to relieve him, and he handed over his musket without a +word. He was asleep in two minutes, and my way was clear." + +Barnabas and McNicol warmly thanked the lad, and Nathan impulsively +clasped his hand. + +"I hope we are friends again, Godfrey," he said. "I will never forget +what you did to-night." + +"I will do more, if I ever get the chance," Godfrey answered. "But I +can't explain now--wait until we are certain of freedom." + +By this time the fugitives were a mile from the enemy's camp, and before +they had gone twenty yards further a faint outcry behind them told them +that their escape was discovered. All now depended on speed, for it was +certain that the Indians, by the aid of torches, would follow the trail +with the unerring keenness of blood-hounds. + +Barnabas led the little party at a steady pace, taking them several +miles to the rear of the fort before he turned parallel with the river. +Now they headed for the lower end of the valley, and for nearly three +hours, while they traversed the lonely and gloomy forest, they heard no +sound but the chirp of night-birds and the distant cries of prowling +wild animals. + +"I can't keep this up much longer," panted Nathan. "The Indians may be +close behind, but for my part I believe they've lost the trail." + +"Mebbe so, lad," replied Barnabas, "though the quietness ain't an +indication of it. We're all badly winded, but the river ain't far off +now. Onct we git across, or find a boat--" + +The rest of the sentence was drowned by one blood-curdling whoop that +rang with awful shrillness through the silent wood. Another and another +followed, and the glimmer of a torch was seen coming over a knoll at a +furlong's space behind the fugitives. + +"The Senecas are hot on the trail!" cried Barnabas, "an' their keen ears +have heard us. On for the river! It's our last chance!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +IN WHICH A MYSTERIOUS ISLAND PLAYS A PART + + +Barnabas was right in guessing the river to be near, and the fugitives +could not have approached it at a better time or place, though they had +little idea of the good fortune in store for them. If they thought about +the chances at all, as they ran desperately before the screeching +Indians, it was to realize what little likelihood there was of finding a +boat, or of safely gaining the farther bank by swimming. + +But when they had plunged through a slope of water-birches, and +straggled breathlessly down to the pebbly shore of the Susquehanna, a +welcome sight at once met their eyes. Almost directly opposite, and +twenty yards out in the stream, a big flat-boat was drifting leisurely +with the current. + +Over the high gunwales rose two or three heads, and a voice demanded +sharply: "Who's yonder?" + +"Friends!" cried Barnabas. "Fugitives from the enemy! The redskins are +hot upon us. Cover the bank with your guns while we come aboard." + +Splash! went Barnabas into the water, and his companions after him. With +sturdy strokes they swam diagonally down-stream, caught the stern of the +flat, and hauled themselves on board. As they dropped low on the bottom, +yells and musket-shots split the air, and bullets rained like hail +against the thick timbers. + +From the shelter of the elevated bulwark the occupants of the flat +returned a cool and effective fire, and when Nathan ventured to peep +through a loop-hole he saw two Indians prostrate on the beach and a +third struggling in agony in shallow water. + +During the lull that followed the first volley from both sides, the boat +drifted over a course of rapids, and the swifter current swung it well +toward mid-stream. With a few parting shots the baffled foes +disappeared, and a peaceful calm fell on river and wood. + +The escaped prisoners were surprised to find Morgan Proud and Abel +Cutbush on board the flat. The latter's wife and child were with him, +and another member of the party was a negro named Cato. Mrs. Cutbush was +a hardy type of the colonial women of the time, and her six-year-old +daughter, Molly, had not even whimpered during the brief fight. + +"It's a good thing we happened to be here," said Proud, when he had +gleaned their thrilling story from the fugitives, "and it's all owin' to +chance, too. I waited a bit after you left, and as no one came along I +pushed down to Wilkesbarre. The people had all fled except Cato here, +and Cutbush and his family, and they were tryin' to tinker up this old +flat--the only boat left. I helped 'em to stop the leaks and rig +bulwarks on both sides, and about an hour ago we got started. There's a +couple of other parties ahead of us, but we aren't likely to ketch up +with 'em. This old craft is heavy, and it draws a heap of water. I'm +thinking we'll stick now and then." + +"We'll pull through all right," cheerfully replied Barnabas. "Now that +them redskins have turned back the danger is about over, for the enemy +will have enough plunderin' and burnin' to do right here in the valley +to keep 'em busy. How are you off for weapons? We brought just one with +us." + +"We have two extra muskets," said Cutbush, "and as Cato ain't much on +shootin', his'll make up the number your party will want in case of a +possible attack. There's food aboard, and as for ammunition--" He +pointed to a keg of powder and a quantity of bullets in one corner of +the flat. + +By this time the boat had drifted between the abrupt mountains that +closed the lower end of the Wyoming Valley, and there was a certainty of +good current and depth for some miles ahead. All through the night the +men of the party took turns at sleeping and at guiding the flat by means +of long poles and a rudder. No hostile shot or yell broke the quiet, +and at last the morning sun kissed the blue water into ripples and +stained the hoary mountain peaks with gold. Danger was behind, and hope +and safety in front. + +While Mrs. Cutbush prepared the frugal breakfast, aided by Molly and +Cato, Barnabas and Nathan found time to sit in the bow of the flat, +where they were presently joined by Godfrey. The lad looked haggard and +worried. + +"I'm ruined," he said, as he sat down beside his companions. "I feel +that I've nothing left to live for. Not that I regret what I did last +night. Don't think it. But I shall be branded as a deserter--and worse. +I can never go back to Major Langdon, and if I am caught I will be shot +or hanged as a traitor. I wish I had never been sent on this wretched +business." + +"Your mission was not legitimate war," replied Nathan. "Explanations +will surely right you. But why worry about the matter at all? You are +safe, and can share our fortunes. And after the fiendish acts you saw +done at Wyoming by a British force--" + +"Stop!" Godfrey said, sadly. "I am still true to my cause, Nathan--as +much as you are to yours. Let us not discuss that matter. We can at +least be friends while we are together." + +"How could we be otherwise, after your noble deed?" replied Nathan. + +"Then you have no ill-feeling?" asked Godfrey. "I was afraid you blamed +me for that night in Philadelphia. It was Major Langdon who found the +note, and he made me go along. I have always wished I could explain." + +"Well, it's all right now," said Nathan. "And it was all right then," he +added to himself, remembering his reckless flight through the town. + +"There is something else I want to speak about," continued Godfrey. +"Have you got those--those papers safe?" + +"Yes, I have them," Nathan exclaimed, eagerly. "Can you explain the +mystery about them?" + +Godfrey shook his head. "It is a mystery," he replied, "and a deep one. +I only know this. The day after the battle of Monmouth, while our army +was at Middletown, Major Langdon sent Simon Glass and a squad of +dragoons to Wyoming to get those papers. I don't know why I was sent +along, and I never knew until last night that the papers were the +property of your father. And Glass--who is the worst ruffian I ever +knew--has tried his best to get all of your party killed ever since he +learned you were bound for the same place. That's why he was so savage +with me last night, when I appealed to Colonel Butler to spare your +lives." + +"I've had an idea of what was going on for some time past," said +Barnabas. "I seen a mighty ugly look in Major Langdon's eyes when he +stood over Captain Stanbury on the battle-field. That's when he +overheard about the papers, but what in the name of creation did he want +with them? Could your father have known him before, lad--over in +England?" + +"I don't know," replied Nathan. "I never heard him speak of Major +Langdon. In fact, I don't know anything about my father's past. But I +believe the secret to this mystery lies over the sea, and I'll tell you +why." + +He went on to relate the visit of Mr. Noah Waxpenny to the Indian Queen, +and how he had asked information concerning both Richard Stanbury and +Major Langdon. This was new to Godfrey and Barnabas, and all three +discussed the matter earnestly, but without coming any nearer a +solution. + +"We've got to have patience, an' wait," said Barnabas. "That's the only +thing to do. The papers are safe, anyway, an' this fellow from London +may clear up the mystery if we run across him. Or your father may turn +up, lad--" + +"Perhaps Godfrey knows something about him," exclaimed Nathan. "Did the +British carry off any prisoners after the battle of Monmouth?" + +"Not that I know of," replied Godfrey. "I saw or heard of none; but then +I was in front during the retreat." + +"My father is alive," declared Nathan. "I am sure of it." + +"I hope so," said Godfrey. "Speaking about those papers," he added, "I +feel a good bit worried. If Glass gets it into his head that you have +them--as he probably will, when he has dug over the ruins of the +cabin--he is sure to follow you up." + +"It's hardly likely," replied Barnabas. "An' then he can't ketch us +anyway, pervidin' the currents and depth of water hold good. No, lad, I +think we're done with Simon Glass, as far as this expedition is +concerned. There, Mrs. Cutbush has got breakfast ready. She's calling +us." + +Barnabas and the two lads found no further opportunity that day to +discuss the mystery of Major Langdon and the papers. It was a day of +hard and unremitting toil. There had been a long spell of dry weather, +and, as the river gradually widened, its channel became more and more +obstructed by grass-bars, shallows, and outcropping ledges. Doubtless +the preceding boats had found a ready passage, but the abandoned flat +that Proud and Cutbush had tinkered up under the spur of necessity was +broad, heavy, and leaky. Cato was constantly kept busy bailing water, +and rudder and poles were of little aid to navigation. Every few minutes +all of the party except Mrs. Cutbush and Molly were compelled to get +out, and by their united strength drag the craft over the shallows. + +By ten o'clock that night less than twelve miles had been covered, and +the exhausted men could proceed no further. They encamped on a patch of +sand and scrub in mid-channel, and took turns at guard mounting until +morning. Mrs. Cutbush and her daughter slept in the flat, on a +comfortable bed of dried grass, that was protected from the damp planks +by an underlayer of pine boughs. + +"We're about thirty miles below Wilkesbarre, now," said Barnabas, as the +journey was resumed after breakfast, "an' it's a good twenty miles yet +to the main river, where we'll strike deep water an' the shelter of the +lower forts. If I thought the wadin' and haulin' was to last another +day I'd suggest we take to footin' it on shore." + +"It would be a wise plan," agreed Godfrey. "At the speed we've been +making, a force of Tories and Indians could have overhauled us twice +over, and they may do it yet. You don't know Simon Glass." + +"Don't I?" Barnabas interrupted grimly. "I reckon I do. But honestly, +lad, I believe he's given up the chase. It's best to take precautions +though, an' that's why I spoke of walkin'." + +"It won't be easy for me," declared Proud, shaking his head. "I've got a +sprained ankle." + +"And my little gal, who ain't no light weight, would have to be +carried," added Cutbush. + +"I've been down the river twice before," said Nathan, "and I'm pretty +sure that the lower part of the North Branch is deeper than up here." + +Several others suddenly remembered the same fact, from past experience, +and so it was decided to stick to the flat. Godfrey alone favored a land +journey, and he could not hide his apprehension at the choice. "If they +knew Simon Glass as I do," he said to himself, "they wouldn't lose any +time in getting below the forts." + +However, after three hours' repetition of the previous day's labors, the +channel actually did become deeper and less obstructed. In consequence +the current was more sluggish, but the flat drifted steadily on for mile +after mile, and there was a fair prospect of reaching the main river +that evening. + +Early in the afternoon a magnificent buck with large antlers burst out +of the woods on the south bank, about a quarter of a mile below, plunged +precipitately into the water, and swam for the opposite shore. + +"Something scared it," said Nathan. + +"A bear or a wolf," replied Barnabas. + +"Or a man," Godfrey suggested uneasily. + +Barnabas did not answer. He thoughtfully watched the animal until it +mounted the bank and disappeared, and after that an extra wrinkle or two +remained on his furrowed brow. During the afternoon he scanned both +shores intently, and furtively examined the muskets to see that all +were loaded. + +The sun faded in a haze of gold and purple, and the shroud of night fell +on lonely mountain and river. There was no moon, and through the +blackness the flat gurgled on its watery way. An hour after dark a misty +object loomed out of mid-stream. It was an island, and as the upper +point drew near, Cutbush gave the rudder a twist that sent the flat into +the channel on the left. + +"It's the proper course," he explained, "and the one that we boatmen +take. T'other side is full of rocks and shallows." + +"But there's a bit of rapids below," said McNicol, "if my ears don't +deceive me." + +"They're no account," replied Cutbush. "There's a clean passage through +toward the shore side." + +He swung the boat further to the left, and it glided silently along +within fifty yards of the bank, and three times that distance from the +island. + +"I've got my bearin's exactly now," said Barnabas. "That's what they +call Packer's Island acrost from us, an' a mile or so down yonder on the +right is the settlement of Northumberland, where the North an' West +Branches meet. We'll be on the main river in half an hour." + +"I want to stop at all the forts on the way down," said Nathan, "because +the soldiers may have had late reports from the army, and can tell me if +my father--" + +"Look out, sir," Godfrey eagerly interrupted, turning to Cutbush. "We're +running straight into a little island. Don't you see it?" + +The men were grouped in the stern at the time, and Godfrey's warning +cry, coming so suddenly, startled and confused Cutbush. The result was +that he sharply twisted the rudder the wrong way, sending the flat +farther toward the shore, and in a direction where the depth of the +channel was very doubtful. + +Cutbush did not discover his mistake until the others called his +attention to it. Then he saw what they meant. Close ahead a triangular +promontory of rock and timber jutted in a gradual slope some forty yards +beyond the normal line of the bank, and thirty feet straight out from +its apex lay the island to which Godfrey had reference. The location was +an odd one, and it was a decidedly queer-looking island--a long, narrow +cluster of bushy pine trees, pointing up and down stream, and thickly +fringed at its base with bushes that seemed to grow straight out of the +water. + +"It's risky to try that passage," said Barnabas, pointing to the +thirty-foot channel between island and promontory, whither the flat was +now steadily drifting. "We may find shoals there." + +"I give the rudder a wrong turn without thinkin'," muttered Cutbush. +"But it's not shoals I'm afraid of. If we float down yonder I won't have +time to steer for the rift through the falls, and they're only fifty +yards below." + +As he spoke he tried to rectify his mistake, and the first two sweeps of +the rudder veered the nose of the flat away from the bank. The third +swung it broadside across stream, and in this position it bore down on +the little island, with a slight diagonal trend toward the wider and +safer channel on the outer side. But there was hardly time for this +movement to take effect, and the danger of striking was so apparent that +Cutbush let go of the rudder--which was as good as useless while the +flat was turned broadside--and snatched up one of the poles. He drove it +in off the stern, leaned after it till he almost stood on his head, and +then rose up with both arms wet to the elbow. + +"The pole won't touch!" he exclaimed. "There's easy twelve foot of water +here." + +"Twelve foot of water!" cried Barnabas; "an' that island only ten yards +below! It ain't nateral, man!" + +"We're going to strike the island," said Nathan. "Try again." + +"No, it's all right," interposed Barnabas. "We're movin' slow, an' there +ain't any gravel beach as I can see to stick on. The rear end will +strike easy, an' then the flat will swing out toward the far channel." + +So Cutbush dropped the pole and the boat drifted on broadside with the +current, its occupants calmly waiting the moment of collision. As the +distance decreased from ten yards to five, Barnabas craned his neck +forward, and shaded his eyes to peer over the lower bulwark. "It's +queer," he muttered. "I've been here before, an' I don't mind seein' +that--" + +Just then a startling thing happened. The whole island was seen to lurch +visibly to one side, and at the same instant something flashed and +glittered amid the fringe of bushes. + +"Look!" Godfrey whispered, hoarsely. + +"Down for your lives, men!" yelled Barnabas. "It's a trap! Keep low, an' +don't let 'em get aboard." + +The entire party dropped like a flash, and grabbed their muskets. A +terrible instant of silence followed, broken by a howl from Cato and a +whimper of fright from Molly, who was lying flat on the bottom in her +mother's arms. Then a volley of shots rang out from the fiendishly +contrived ambuscade, and more than one ball tore through the thick +bulwark. + +But happily no one was hurt, and Barnabas, McNicol, and Nathan at once +fired through the three loopholes at which they were posted. A yell of +agony blended with another fusillade from the unseen foe, and now a +quicker current drove the heavy flat broadside against the mysterious +little island. + +There was a crash of timber meeting timber and a sound of branches +smiting the water. Then, with shrill and blood-curdling yells, four +painted Indians scrambled over the bulwark and dropped into the boat. At +the same instant a little one-eyed man, holding a musket high overhead +in one hand, pulled himself aboard at the bow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +IN WHICH NATHAN MAKES A PERILOUS SWIM + + +It is more than likely that the Senecas and their white allies +underestimated the strength of the party in the flat, or else the +discovery and demolition of their ambuscade drove them to such desperate +measures. At all events, they speedily found they had made a mistake, +and in the brief and sharp struggle that followed they got scarcely a +show. + +Of the four Indians who scrambled over the bulwark three cleared the +crouching men and landed beyond them, and the fourth fell heavily on top +of Barnabas and McNicol. Before he could use his tomahawk he was pounced +upon by the Scotchman, and the two began a lively scuffle. + +Mrs. Cutbush carried a loaded pistol at her waist, and while she pushed +Molly behind her with one hand, with the other the courageous woman +drew the weapon and shot one of the three remaining Indians through the +head. The second managed to inflict a severe slash with his tomahawk on +Cato's arm, and then Barnabas knocked him senseless with the butt of his +musket. The third did not wait to be killed, but with a screech, vaulted +over the far side of the boat and disappeared, narrowly escaping a shot +that Cutbush sent after him. + +At that moment the Seneca who was struggling with McNicol broke away, +leaving his tomahawk in the other's hand, and, as he bounded for +freedom, Morgan Proud jumped in front of him. They grappled, and fell +heavily against the bulwark. The wall of timbers gave way under the +strain and both splashed into the river. + +There was a quick rush to that side to help Proud, but he and the Indian +had disappeared utterly. + +As the missing man's friends anxiously scanned the water, a Tory +belonging to the attacking party scrambled up in the stern of the boat. +McNicol instantly saw him and fired, and the man dropped back with a +cry. + +Meanwhile, during the entire struggle, Simon Glass had been crouching +unseen amid the deep shadows at the bow of the flat, from which place of +vantage he had more than one opportunity for a certain shot at his +enemies. Now, just as McNicol fired at the Tory in the stern, Nathan +caught sight of the figure at the opposite end. With his empty musket in +his hand the lad ran toward the spot, little dreaming of the man's +identity, or that he was affording Glass just the opportunity for which +he had been watching and waiting. + +The ruffian rose a little higher, leveled his rifle, and fired. But for +the second time he missed his victim at close range, the ball whizzing +within a fraction of an inch of Nathan's ear. The report drew the +attention of the others, and Godfrey discovered and shot at the Tory +just as he made a bound to escape. He half jumped, half fell, into the +water, and all ran eagerly to the bow of the boat, which was now +drifting slowly down to the falls. + +"Was that Simon Glass, lad?" exclaimed Barnabas. + +"Yes," declared Nathan, "and he very nearly finished me!" + +"There he is!" cried Godfrey, as a dark object rose to the surface near +the verge of the falls. An instant later it slipped over and vanished, +nor could it be seen again. Equally futile was the search for Morgan +Proud and the Indian; beyond a doubt they had perished together. + +"It's no use," muttered Barnabas. "Poor Proud is gone. But I have my +doubts about that Tory ruffian. He's got as many lives as a cat, an' +it's possible he's makin' for shore now, out of sight yonder below the +falls." + +"Where's the rest of the party?" said McNicol. "It ain't possible we +cleaned them all up. We'd better be looking." With this he led his +companions back to the stern, past the bodies of the two Indians. Mrs. +Cutbush was engaged in binding up Cato's wounded arm, and Molly was +sobbing hysterically from fright as she clung to her mother's gown. + +The whole affair had transpired in such brief time that the cumbrous +boat had moved only a short distance. In plain view above was the +mysterious little island, now readily seen to be a long, narrow canoe +trimmed with bushes and pine boughs. The collision with the flat had +upset it, but it still rested stationary on the water, showing that it +was anchored. + +There was no sound or motion in the near vicinity, but a subdued +splashing in the channel between the canoe and the promontory told +clearly enough that some survivors of the enemy were swimming to the +shore. + +"It ain't likely they can do us any more harm," said Barnabas, "for I +reckon their guns an' powder are wet. Of all the infernal tricks I've +heard of, that was the neatest. They got ahead of us by land, run across +that canoe somewhere, an' anchored it yonder, where they knew we'd have +to pass within close range." + +"And expecting to pour in a volley, while we were exposed above the +bulwarks," replied Nathan. + +"Exactly, lad," assented Barnabas, "only we didn't give 'em a chance." +Turning to Cutbush, he added: "Better take the rudder, man; we're nearly +at the falls." + +Just then Mrs. Cutbush, who was in the bow, uttered a cry, and a tongue +of fire was seen to leap up from the bed of dry grass in the middle of +the boat. Evidently a bit of wadding had lain there smouldering, and now +a breeze had fanned it into a blaze. + +Godfrey was nearest, but before he could get to the spot the fire +reached an open powderhorn that lay in the grass. It blew up with a dull +report, and instantly the whole bed was a mass of hissing, roaring +flames. And in the very midst of the blaze, where it had been thrown +that morning to protect it from the damp floor, lay the cask of powder. +All realized at once their terrible danger. + +"It's too late to outen the fire," cried Barnabas. "The explosion may +come any moment! Jump for your lives!" + +Just then the flat swung over the falls, quivered and tossed amid the +rocks and waves, and darted on to the deep and sluggish water below. +Barnabas and Cutbush sprang past the flames to the bow, the former +taking Molly in his arms, and the latter grabbing his wife. They and +Cato sprang into the river at the same time that McNicol and the two +lads jumped from the stern, and as hard as they could the whole party +swam out toward mid-channel, scarcely heeding the two shots that were +fired at them from the cover of the bank. They safely gained a cluster +of rocks with a fringe of gravel at the base, and from behind this +shelter they turned to watch the blazing flat as it drifted by at a +distance of twenty feet. + +[Illustration: AS THEY LOOKED THE EXPLOSION CAME] + +They had hardly looked when a terrific explosion came, casting a red +glare all around, and seeming to shake the very bottom of the river. A +shower of sparks and splinters fell, and huge waves rolled in all +directions. For a second or two the shattered craft bobbed up and down, +still blazing here and there. Then it lurched under and disappeared, and +darkness and silence settled on the scene. + +The situation of the little party was now disheartening. They were +stranded on a rocky bar well out in the channel, dripping wet, and +without means of safely getting away. They were almost defenseless in +case of an attack, and to attempt to swim to shore would be a desperate +and foolhardy proceeding under the circumstances. + +But, in the stupor that followed the explosion, the first impression of +the castaways--one and all--was a feeling of intense gratitude for the +perils they had escaped, and, before they could realize how badly off +they still were, a faint shout came floating over the water, and a dark +form was seen struggling toward the rocks from a ledge higher up stream +and nearer the bank. The swimmer made a gallant fight against the +current, and when he finally gained the bar all were surprised and +overjoyed to recognize Morgan Proud. + +"Given me up, had you?" the plucky fellow exclaimed, as he clasped hands +with his friends. "Well, I had a close call. That redskin stuck to me +till we went over the falls. Then we parted company, and after I reached +yonder rock I didn't spy him again. I was lying over there getting my +breath back when the flat took fire and blew up." + +"Did you see anything of Simon Glass?" inquired Barnabas. + +"He shot by, swimming like a fish," declared Proud, "and I lost sight of +him among the ledges and shoals below my rock. I daresay he got safe to +shore." + +"I'm sure he did," Barnabas muttered grimly. "So that ruffian is still +alive, an' there's likely half a dozen more to keep him company. We're +in a pretty tight place, comrades. We can't make the far shore without a +boat, an' if we try to swim to yonder bank it means certain death. Glass +an' what's left of his party are prowlin' about on watch now--you heard +them fire twice as we were swimmin' away from the boat. An' the worst of +it is that we're defenseless." + +Immediate investigation proved the old woodman to be right. Nathan and +McNicol alone had held on to their muskets when they plunged from the +flat, and Mrs. Cutbush had her empty pistol. But all the weapons were +wet and useless, and though several of the party had a supply of ball, +the only powder that had survived the explosion was a small quantity in +Proud's water-proof horn. + +"It's aggravating to think how near we are to the forts and to +Northumberland," said Nathan. "Glass will hardly dare to prowl about the +neighborhood long." + +"I'm sure he won't leave yet," muttered Godfrey; "that is, if he knows +we are here." + +"He does, lad," replied Barnabas. "The light of the burning flat showed +us up plainly when we reached the rocks. The enemy will do one of two +things. The first--which is to come down an' attack us in their canoe up +yonder--I consider unlikely. The second is that they'll lie hid in the +timber till morning, expectin' we'll believe they've gone then, an' +we'll venture over to shore." + +"Hurrah!" exclaimed Nathan, who had suddenly conceived a brilliant idea; +"I know how to outwit them nicely, Barnabas, provided they don't try the +first of those two plans." + +"How, lad?" + +"Why, the canoe, of course! I can get it by swimming over to the big +island, running a quarter of a mile up the shore, and then swimming +quietly down and over to the spot." + +"But Glass or some of the Indians may be up there now," said McNicol. + +"No," replied Nathan, "I'm sure they are all straight across here +watching to get a shot. And they won't see me leave if I keep down in +the water." + +"The lad is right," declared Barnabas. "It's a good plan, but a mighty +risky one, since we can't be certain of the whereabouts of the enemy. +But I'll go myself." + +"I only wish I could," muttered Godfrey, "but I'm a wretchedly poor +swimmer." + +"No, I'm going," insisted Nathan. "I am long-winded, and ever since I +can remember I could swim like a fish." + +"Don't risk your young life, my brave boy," pleaded Mrs. Cutbush. "Leave +this to some of the older men." + +But Nathan refused to yield, and since he was obviously the best fitted +for carrying out the undertaking, and the canoe offered the only means +of escape for the party from a most perilous situation, a reluctant +consent was finally given. + +"Take this to cut the canoe loose," said Barnabas, handing the lad a +sharp knife. "You'll likely find it anchored by a rope." + +Nathan stripped off all but his light trousers, put the hilt of the +knife between his teeth, and swam quickly away from the outer edge of +the rocks, followed by anxious eyes and heartfelt wishes for his safety. + +Packer's Island extended some distance below the falls, as well as +above, and the current drifted Nathan nearly to the lower point before +he struck shallow water. He waded the remainder of the distance, and +then ran briskly up the bushy and sandy shore. The night was dark, but +he could dimly make out the jutting promontory when he came opposite it. +He continued five hundred yards further toward the head of the island, +and then softly entered the water for his diagonal swim of rather more +than a quarter of a mile. + +Only his head peeped over the surface and a slight ripple trailing +behind him was all that marked the gentle strokes of his arms and legs. +He was soon in mid-channel, from where he could darkly make out the +canoe. He swam to a point ten feet above it, and dropped down with the +stealth of a mink. As he drew nearer he saw that the craft lay bottom +up, and was held by a tow rope running down into the water from the bow. +A couple of half-submerged pine boughs still clung to it. + +The lad caught hold of the rope with one hand, and with the other he +took the knife from between his teeth. He was about to slash when a +husky screech made his blood run cold, and he looked up to see the +painted face of an Indian glaring at him within ten inches. + +The redskin had evidently been shot in the first volley from the flat, +and had been clinging to the canoe ever since, too badly hurt to cry out +or to swim to shore. But the sight of a hated foe revived his strength, +and on the very second that he made his presence known he sprang at +Nathan and clutched his throat. + +Down went both, entangled with the rope, and tearing it loose from the +anchorage in their struggles. The lad kept one hand free, and while he +held his breath he stabbed repeatedly with the knife. After a few +terrible seconds the grip on his neck relaxed, and he shot to the +surface. + +The Indian did not reappear, and Nathan lost no time in striking for the +canoe. He swung it around by the dangling rope, and started to swim with +it down-stream. Bang! went a musket from the promontory, and a bullet +whistled overhead. A second shot followed after an interval of half a +minute, but now lad and canoe were on the verge of the open passage +through the falls. They went plunging down the slope of spray and waves, +and three minutes later Nathan skillfully landed his prize on the outer +side of the cluster of rocks. + +Nathan's safe return was a joyful disappointment, for his friends had +given him up when they heard the firing. In a few words the lad told the +story of his adventurous swim, and some of the tributes to his bravery +made him blush. + +"Now let's be off while we've got the chance," cried Barnabas. "I judge, +from the shootin', a part of the varmints are still lurkin' above the +falls." + +So the canoe was turned right-side up and the fugitives hurriedly +embarked. They were a little crowded, but that discomfort they did not +mind. + +Either the enemy's weapons were empty, or else they could not see what +was taking place for the darkness of the night. At all events, no shots +were fired from the bank, and presently a swifter current took the canoe +past the distant lights of Northumberland and out into the broad channel +of the main river. The two muskets were reversed and used for paddles, +and an hour before midnight the fort at Shamokin was safely reached. + +Here the weary fugitives were warmly welcomed, and provided with supper +and lodging. Barnabas extracted the packet of papers from his boot, and +after drying them over a fire he restored them to their hiding-place. +Much to Nathan's disappointment, no news had lately been received from +the army; but the tidings of the Wyoming massacre had traveled quickly, +and great alarm was felt lest the enemy should advance down the +Susquehanna to raid the extensive military stores at Carlisle. + +Cato was unfit for travel, and Proud and Cutbush, with the latter's +family, decided to remain at Shamokin fort for a few days. McNicol also +wished to stay, so that he might visit a married sister who lived at the +settlement of Northumberland. + +So, at dawn the next morning, Barnabas and the two lads said good-bye to +their friends, and resumed their journey down the river in the canoe, +satisfied that Simon Glass would give them no further trouble. Indeed, +they were by no means sure that the ruffian had escaped drowning. + +Below the point of junction of the two branches the current of the +Susquehanna was very swift, and the little party traveled rapidly. They +made brief stops at McKeesport and the Halifax fort, where they found +the same ignorance prevailing concerning the seat of war. Just as the +sun was setting they came in sight of Fort Hunter, which stood on a +jutting bluff half a mile above the beautiful Kittochtinny Gap, where +the river flings itself over a barrier of rocks as it leaves the +mountains behind. + +Barnabas hauled the canoe high and dry under the stockade, and led his +companions up the bank and around to the gate. A sentry was on guard, +and after a little questioning he passed the party through. As they went +across the yard they observed a horse tied to a post; the animal was +saddled and bridled, and showed traces of recent hard riding. + +In the middle room of the block-house something of a stirring nature +seemed to be taking place. The new arrivals heard voices raised in +shrill and angry dispute, and as they entered they saw two soldiers +roughly pushing a man toward a door at one side of the room. + +The prisoner was strenuously resisting, and clamoring to be set free, +and in his struggles he revealed his face to Nathan. With a thrill of +excitement the lad recognized the last man he could have expected to +find here. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WHICH NATHAN FEIGNS SLUMBER TO SAVE HIS LIFE + + +"Unhand me, you ruffians!" cried the prisoner, as he continued to +resist. "I protest against this brutal treatment. I protest against so +unjust a sentence. I am not a spy. I am a non-combatant, and entitled to +freedom. I was sent to this country on a legal and private matter by my +employers, the firm of Sharswood & Feeman--" + +Just then one of the soldiers, losing patience, struck the man a blow +between the eyes that felled him to the floor. He was too stunned to +make any further resistance or appeal, and his captors flung him into +the room and slammed the door. + +"Lad, that--that ain't the lawyer chap you spoke of?" inquired Barnabas, +as he observed Nathan's agitation. + +"The very same!" Nathan cried, excitedly "Noah Waxpenny, of London, who +came to the Indian Queen that night!" + +"The man who wanted information of your father and Major Langdon?" +Godfrey asked, incredulously. + +"Yes, that's the one," exclaimed Nathan. "I'm sure he can clear up the +mystery. I must speak to him right away." + +The lad was too excited to know what he was doing, and before his +friends could check him he made a rush for the door of the inner room. +But the officer in command of the fort--an ill-featured sergeant--gave +him a push that sent him reeling back. + +"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "And you?" he added, turning to +Barnabas and Godfrey, and regarding them with angry suspicion. + +Barnabas briefly explained, and the sergeant was somewhat mollified when +he learned that the strangers were fugitives from Wyoming. + +"It's all right," he grumbled, "but you had no call to interfere with +my duty. Do you know that spy yonder?" The lad here spoke the name he +gives himself--Noah Waxpenny. + +"Spy?" exclaimed Barnabas. + +"Yes, man; I said spy. I've just given him a trial, and to-morrow +morning he hangs." + +"What proof have you of his guilt?" + +"Plenty," declared the sergeant. "Didn't he come riding by here a bit +ago on his way up the river? And didn't we find a paper on him with the +written name of Major Gerald Langdon, an officer in the British army? +There were two other names, but the first one was enough. It's plain as +daylight that the man was sent out to spy the frontier forts along here. +I've found him guilty, and I'm going to hang him." + +"You'll repent it, if you do," said Barnabas, quickly. "You'd better +hold the man, an' report on his case. There ain't enough evidence to +hang him, an' what's more, you haven't got the authority." + +"Man, I have got the authority," thundered Sergeant Murdock, who was a +hard-headed and obstinate Scotchman, very set in his ways, and with an +exaggerated idea of his powers. "I'm in charge of this fort, and what I +say is military law. The spy hangs at daybreak, and I'll report the case +afterward--" + +"Sir, you surely won't hang this prisoner?" interrupted Nathan. "He is +not a spy, and I can prove it. Let me ask you one question. Was Richard +Stanbury's name on that paper?" + +"Yes," growled the sergeant, in a tone of sudden suspicion. + +"Well, Captain Richard Stanbury is my father," said Nathan, "and he is +an officer in Washington's army." + +"Then you're the lad the spy was bound up the river to look for, +according to the yarn he tells," exclaimed the sergeant. "There's +something wrong here. I'm thinking I'll have to put you under +arrest--aye, and your companions, too." + +"Nonsense!" muttered Barnabas. "This foolery has gone far enough. Don't +you know me any more, Murdock? Have you forgot Barnabas Otter, who was +a private in your own company right here at Fort Hunter, after +Braddock's defeat? Twenty years is a long time, but you ain't changed +much--" + +"Man, I'm glad to see you," cried the sergeant, his grizzled face +breaking into a smile. "Aye, I recognize your features now. And can you +vouch for this lad?" + +"With my life," declared Barnabas. "An' what's more, I kin vouch that +the man in there ain't a spy." + +"You'll have to prove it to my satisfaction," said the sergeant, +stiffly. + +"I can't prove anything," replied Barnabas, "because it's a good bit of +a mystery. But the plain facts of the matter, as far as we know, are +these: That man in yonder, Noah Waxpenny, was sent over here from +England on legal business--sent over to find Richard Stanbury an' also +this Major Langdon. Whether there's any connection betwixt the two is +not for me to say. But this much is certain; your prisoner ain't a spy. +An' you admit yourself that the fellow was comin' up the river to +search for Captain Stanbury's son here. He must have learned that the +Captain was dead or a prisoner, an' that the lad had gone to Wyoming--" + +"And he expected to meet me among the returning fugitives," interrupted +Nathan. "I'm sure that's the way of it." + +"What does he want with you?" demanded Sergeant Murdock. + +"I can't tell you any more than Barnabas has told you," replied Nathan. +"It's a legal and private matter--I am certain of that much. But if you +will let me see Noah Waxpenny he may be able and willing to explain the +mystery. Please let me speak to him at once, won't you, sir?" + +"No, I won't," snapped the sergeant. "I don't want another rumpus around +here. You haven't proved the man's innocence and the sentence of death +still stands. And then there was a third name on that paper--" + +"Let me see it, Murdock," interrupted Barnabas. + +"I've no objection," replied the sergeant, after a brief hesitation. He +and Barnabas withdrew privately to one corner of the room, and as the +latter examined the paper that was put into his hands he started visibly +and his eyes opened wide with astonishment. For some minutes he and the +sergeant conversed earnestly in whispered tones, and then they came +forward again. + +"Lad," said Barnabas, "my old comrade has agreed to let us see the +prisoner in the morning. We must have patience till then." + +"Aye, you can see him in the morning," corroborated Sergeant Murdock, +"but unless the interview clears up the mystery and proves the spy's +innocence he hangs before breakfast. I'm a man of my word and you can +count on what I say." + +Darkness was now coming on rapidly, and while the sergeant went into an +adjoining room to fetch a candle Nathan found an opportunity of drawing +Barnabas aside. + +"You saw the paper?" he whispered. "Did it contain any clue?" + +"None at all, lad." + +"And whose was the third name?" + +"I'll tell you again," Barnabas answered, evasively. "Have patience till +morning, and I'm thinking all will turn out right. Meanwhile let the +matter drop and don't speak. Hush! here comes Murdock back." + +That was a long evening for Nathan. It taxed his patience sorely to +think that he could not see the prisoner until morning--to know that the +man locked up in the little guard-room could reveal, among other +secrets, why Major Langdon had made such desperate efforts to get the +papers that were buried under Captain Stanbury's cabin at Wyoming. +Godfrey was almost equally curious, but Barnabas had forbidden both lads +to allude to the matter openly, and the circumstances were such that +private speech between the three was impossible. + +The capture and examination of Mr. Noah Waxpenny had delayed supper, and +after the meal was over Sergeant Murdock unbent and became quite +friendly. He showed his guests around the interior of the fort, +pointing out the strong features of the stockade, and exhibiting with +pride the stores of lead and powder, casks of fresh and salt beef, and +barrels of flour. + +"I've got only a dozen men here," he said, "and that's as big a garrison +as the fort has had for ten years past. But I'm expecting reinforcements +up from Harris's Ferry any time now, and the settlers are threatening to +come in on account of the rumor that Butler's force will be marching +down the river from Wyoming." + +The rest of the evening was spent on the grassy knoll at one side of the +enclosure, where Nathan and Godfrey related their adventures at Wyoming +to an interested audience, and Barnabas and the sergeant discussed old +times between whiffs of their pipes. At intervals Noah Waxpenny could be +heard groaning dismally, or tramping up and down the narrow limits of +his cell. + +At ten o'clock Sergeant Murdock went his round, posting one sentry +inside the stockade gate and another at the rear of the fort, where a +small window opened from the guard-room. A third was put on duty in the +middle room of the block-house, with instructions to watch the +prisoner's door. + +From the left of this middle room opened the big room where the privates +slept, and on the right were the guard-room and the officers' quarters. +To the latter's apartment, which contained a number of straw pallets +spread on the floor, the sergeant led his guests. "All fixed, are you?" +he said. "Good night, then, comrades." He blew out the candle, turned +over, and was soon snoring loudly. + +A little later the slow and regular breathing of Godfrey and Barnabas +told that they, too, were slumbering. Nathan envied them, for try as he +would he could not induce the least symptom of drowsiness. For a long +time he lay with wide-open eyes and active brain, thinking of the +promised interview in the morning and listening to the occasional +footsteps from the adjoining guard-room, where Noah Waxpenny seemed +also to be possessed by the demon of wakefulness. + +When the lad finally did fall asleep from sheer weariness his rest was +disturbed by hideous dreams. From one of these he suddenly awoke, +relieved to find himself safe in the fort instead of battling with +blood-thirsty savages out on the river. + +As he listened to the regular breathing of his companions he fancied he +heard a low groan from outside, and almost immediately a rustling noise +at the open door of the room fell on his ear. Closer and closer came the +soft and stealthy sound, and the next instant, to the lad's unspeakable +horror, the dark figure of a man kneeling on all fours rose at his very +side, and a hand was passed gently over his body. + +Nathan's heart almost stopped beating, but by a tremendous effort he +choked back the cry that was on his lips. For, at that moment, his eyes +being partially accustomed to the gloom, he saw that the man held a +glittering knife between his teeth; and he realized that at the first +shout for help the blade would be plunged into his breast. + +He was terribly frightened, but by exerting all his will power he +succeeded in doing what was best under the circumstances. He feigned +sleep, and lay perfectly motionless. Not a muscle quivered, though cold +sweat started on his face and hands. All he could think about was that +glittering knife. It did not occur to him to wonder who the man was, or +what he wanted. + +The unknown intruder was deceived by the ruse. With both hands he +lightly and deliberately pressed every part of the lad's clothing from +his throat to his feet. Twice he went over him, and then a whispered +curse testified to his disappointment at not finding what he wanted. +Next, he took the knife from between his teeth with one hand, and as he +lifted it high to strike, he turned a little toward a window in the side +wall, dimly revealing a scarred and wrinkled face with but one eye. + +Nathan uttered a shrill cry, and grabbed the descending wrist with both +hands. A desperate jerk lifted him upright, and he heard the knife +clatter to the floor. He held tight for a second or two, and then a blow +on the face broke his grip and hurled him back. + +He sprang quickly to his feet, crying out in chorus with his companions, +who were now awake and stumbling blindly over the floor. He saw a dark +figure, followed by another, rush into the yard. Then the men at the +other end of the block-house woke up with noisy clamor, and amid all the +din, a musket-shot rang loud and clear. + +"What's wrong?" demanded Sergeant Murdock. "Speak, somebody!" + +"Simon Glass was here," cried Nathan. "He tried to kill me. He just ran +out! Don't let him get away!" + +The name of the Tory ruffian was familiar to all, and the angry and +excited men swarmed from both sides into the middle-room. A private +appeared on the scene with a lighted lantern, and by the yellow glare +the door of the guard-room was discovered to be wide open. + +"The spy has escaped," roared the sergeant. "This is Glass's doing! I +wish I'd hung the man last night!" + +"Glass didn't come here for that," declared Barnabas. "Waxpenny must +have opened the door an' run fur it when he heard the row in yonder; an' +where's the sentry?" + +Just then a clamor rose from several of the men who had hastened +outside. Led by Sergeant Murdock, the rest of the party ran into the +yard, and at one side of the door they found the prostrate body of the +sentry who had been posted in the middle-room. The man was breathing +faintly, and his swollen and purple face showed that he had been nearly +strangled to death by a pair of muscular hands. + +With shouts of vengeance the crowd scattered in different directions, +but a cry from Barnabas brought them together again at the partly-open +gate of the stockade. Here lay the second sentry stone dead, with a long +knife buried in his ribs. + +"If Simon Glass don't die for this may I never shoulder a musket again!" +roared the infuriated sergeant. "It was a sharp trick he played. He must +have come here a bit ago, persuaded the sentry to admit him, and then +stabbed the poor fellow to the heart. Next he enticed the other sentry +to the yard, and settled him, too. And after the lad here discovered him +in the room both he and the spy darted out the gate." + +"But where's the third sentry?" cried Barnabas, "an' who fired that +shot--Hark! some one's calling now!" + +Indeed, the shouting had been going on at intervals since the first +alarm, but owing to the noise and excitement the man had not been able +to make himself heard. The sounds came from the rear of the block-house, +and thither the whole party ran in haste, to find Private Mickley +prancing up and down on one of the lookout platforms. + +"Where've you been?" he yelled, hoarsely. "Why didn't you come sooner? +I've been keeping watch on the ruffian, but now he's gone--escaped in +that big canoe." + +"Escaped!" cried Barnabas. "Why didn't you stop him?" + +"Man, explain yourself," roared the sergeant. "Quick! find your tongue!" + +"Ain't I telling you?" sputtered the angry soldier. "Give me a chance. +When I heard the first yell I run round to the front just as a little +man dashed out the door. He was making for the gate, but when he seen me +he changed his mind and cut for the rear. I fired at him and missed, and +just then out pops the spy. Before I could lift my empty gun he was past +me and out the gate. So I let him go, and went for the other. I got +round here in time to see him scramble over the stockade. I reckon he +didn't know the drop that was below him, for when I looked over the +platform he was lying stunned in the bushes down yonder. I kept watching +him and singing out for help, and all at once up he gets, staggers like +a drunken man to the canoe, and goes a-paddling down stream with all +his might. I'm thinking his one leg was broke." + +"How long ago was this," thundered the sergeant. + +"Not two minutes, sir." + +"Then he ain't far off," cried Barnabas. "Have you another boat handy?" + +"There's a little canoe in the creek above the bluff, with two paddles +in it," replied Sergeant Murdock. + +That quickly Barnabas was off, calling to the lads to follow him. Nathan +and Godfrey were at his heels as he scaled the stockade at the upper end +and plunged down the sloping bank to the creek. They found the canoe at +once and jumped in, and a moment later the light craft had swung from +the creek's mouth to the river. The lads were paddling, and Barnabas +crouched amidships just in front of them. + +"Murdock, we're goin' to get the assassin," he shouted. + +"Good luck to you!" the sergeant called back. "I wish I was as sure of +overhauling the spy." + +The canoe was quickly past the fort, gliding like a duck on the swift +current, and now the other craft was dimly sighted about a hundred yards +down stream. + +"I knew he couldn't be far," muttered Barnabas. "Paddle hard, lads. He +can't do much with that heavy boat. This is going to be the last of +Simon Glass, or else the last of me." + +"We have no weapons," exclaimed Nathan. + +"Neither has he, lad, or he would a-fired at the sentry who tried to +stop him." + +"I hope he won't take the shore when he sees we're after him," said +Godfrey. + +"He's too badly hurt to do that," replied Barnabas. "No; we're goin' to +get him. I feel it in my bones. He'll pay with his life for venturin' +this far after them papers. When he lay in ambush that night he must +have heard us speak of stopping at the forts, an' I reckon he tramped +all this distance alone." + +During part of the above conversation a bend of the river had concealed +the fugitive from view, and now, as the pursuers swung around, the two +canoes were seen to be less than forty yards apart. Glass was close to +shore, struggling desperately to drive his heavy and unwieldy craft, +while with scarcely any effort Nathan and Godfrey urged their lighter +boat forward. + +The distance rapidly decreased to twenty yards--fifteen--ten. Now the +ruffian's scarred face could be seen by the moonlight that was breaking +through the clouds, as he looked back at quick intervals. And shortly +ahead of him was the line of noisy rapids, white with dashing foam and +spray, black with outcropping bowlders and ledges. + +"We'll hardly ketch him this side the falls," muttered Barnabas. "It +ain't an easy passage. Watch sharp for the rocks, an' don't--" + +Just then Simon Glass dropped his paddle and twisted himself around in +the stern. "I won't be taken alive!" he yelled, "and I'll kill one of +you first." With that he drew a big pistol, leveled it at Barnabas, and +fired. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +IN WHICH THE MYSTERY IS VERY NEARLY EXPLAINED + + +Just at this critical instant, when almost certain death threatened +Barnabas, a fortunate thing happened. The bow of the Tory's canoe struck +a half-submerged rock, and the sudden jar spoiled his aim, so that the +bullet passed a foot above his intended victim. + +In the twinkling of an eye the long craft swung around, lodged fore and +aft across a narrow passage of the falls, and turned bottom up. Out went +Glass, head-first into the foaming waves on the lower side. + +There was no time for his pursuers to sheer off, and scarcely an instant +later the second canoe crashed into the obstruction and swung broadside +against it, though luckily without capsizing. But the shock pitched +Barnabas out of the bow, and with a vain attempt to grab the canoe in +front he glided off the slippery bottom, and was borne down the stretch +of boiling rapids. The lads caught a brief glimpse of him as he bumped +into Glass, who had lodged on a spur of rock twenty feet away. Then both +were washed off by the furious current, locked together in a desperate +struggle, and the gloom hid them from view. + +"Barnabas will be drowned!" cried Nathan. "And we can't do anything to +save him! We're stuck tight!" + +"We've got to get loose!" exclaimed Godfrey, and with his paddle he +struck the forward boat a terrific blow. To his delight it grated free +at the stern end and whirled around, and that quickly the two canoes +were bounding side by side amid the perilous falls, swinging this way +and that, leaping high over crested waves, and rebounding from the cruel +rap of hidden ledges. + +Any attempt at steering was out of the question in so mad a current, but +the lads hardly thought of the danger. Before they could realize it, +their canoe had dashed safely down the roaring, raging slope, and was +cleaving the choppy little waves that marked the even flow of the river +beyond the rapids. + +With anxious hearts, and with a fear that they dared not put into words, +Nathan and Godfrey paddled swiftly along on the current, eagerly +watching ahead and out toward mid-channel, and over to the near-by +wooded shore. The moon was under clouds again, and the surface of the +river was misty. Frequently they shouted the name of the missing man, +but only the sullen voice of the rapids answered. + +When they had gone nearly a mile, some lingering hope persuaded them to +turn back. So they pushed up along the shore from eddy to eddy, scanning +every patch of sand and gravel, every clump of bushes, and constantly +calling Barnabas by name. Hope was utterly dead when they drew near the +falls, and now Nathan grounded the canoe in a little cove. Tears were +rolling down his cheeks, and he was not ashamed of them. "We've got to +face the worst," he said, hoarsely. "Barnabas is drowned. He and Glass +perished together." + +"Yes, there's no doubt of it," assented Godfrey. "I'm awfully sorry for +you." + +"If we could only find the body," said Nathan. + +"But we can't," Godfrey replied. "The water seems to be deep around +here, and they both must have gone to the bottom. They may not come to +the top for a day or two." + +Nathan groaned. "This is terrible," he exclaimed. "I can hardly believe +it. To think that Barnabas is dead--that we will never see him again! +You don't know how brave and noble he was--" + +"Yes, I learned that much during the last few days," interrupted +Godfrey. "Believe me, Nathan, I am as sorry as you are. To know such a +man as Barnabas Otter makes me feel sometimes that your cause will +triumph." + +Nathan silently clasped the other's hand and for some minutes the two +lads sat without speaking, gazing over the misty waters and listening +to the sad music of the falls. Then both heard a distant and muffled +clatter of hoofs. + +"Horsemen!" exclaimed Nathan, "and they are coming up the river road. I +must see them." + +"But there may be danger," remonstrated Godfrey. + +"No, not in this neighborhood. It is too close to the fort and to +Harris's Ferry. Come on, Godfrey!" + +They sprang out of the canoe and clambered up the wooded bank, reaching +the road just as two wagons came along, escorted by six mounted men. +Nathan halted the party, and after briefly explaining that he and his +companion were fugitives from Wyoming, he told what had happened that +night at Fort Hunter. The victims of the tragedy were known by name to +the men, and they expressed genuine sorrow for the death of Barnabas, as +well as heartfelt relief at the termination of Simon Glass's infamous +career. + +"We're bound for Shamokin fort with supplies sent by the +commissary-general of Pennsylvania," stated the leader of the party. "I +suppose you lads will go along back with us to Hunter's? Just hop into +the wagons yonder." + +Before either could reply one of the men in the rear dismounted and came +forward. With an exclamation of surprise he clapped Nathan on the +shoulder. + +"Corporal Dubbs!" cried the lad. "How did you get here?" + +"Why, you know I was on the sick-list the morning the Wyoming troops +left camp," the corporal explained, "and when I got a little better the +general sent me to the Board of War with dispatches. Then I learned that +my brother was lying up at McKee's fort with a bullet wound he got at +Wyoming, and I'm on my way there now to see him." + +"And was there any news of my father when you left camp?" Nathan asked +impatiently. + +"That's what I want to tell you," replied the corporal, drawing the lad +aside. "Your father is lying at the house of a loyal farmer named +Welfare. His place is near the head of the Shrewsbury River, and not far +from Monmouth. Welfare himself brought word to the camp the day I left. +He said the captain was badly hurt, and wouldn't be able to be moved for +a month." + +Nathan was speechless with joy for a moment. "Then my father is really +alive?" he cried. "I was sure of it. And do you think he is still at the +farmhouse?" + +"I'm pretty certain he is," replied the corporal. "I don't know how he +came there, or anything about his injuries, but you may count on it, he +is in good hands." + +"I'm going straight to him," declared Nathan. "I'll travel day and +night." + +Corporal Dubbs nodded approvingly. "That's the best thing you can do," +he said. "The sight of you, lad, will be better than medicine for the +captain. There's a stage from Harris's Ferry to Philadelphia in the +morning. You can catch it if you hurry. Don't forget the place, and be +sure you ask for Jonas Welfare. And be careful when you get in the +neighborhood of the Shrewsbury, for the enemy are making raids over that +way from New York." + +"I'll remember," assented Nathan. "I must go now. We have a canoe below, +and I mean to catch that stage. Will you tell Sergeant Murdock at Fort +Hunter that Barnabas is dead and ask him to find the body and--and--bury +it--" + +The lad's voice broke, and for a moment he could not speak. + +"In Barnabas's left boot," he added, "is a packet of papers that he was +taking care of for me. They belong to my father. Will you ask the +sergeant to keep them until they are sent for?" + +Corporal Dubbs readily promised, and with a hearty clasp of the lad's +hand he mounted and rode after the now moving wagon-train. + +Nathan and Godfrey hurried back to the canoe and were soon paddling +swiftly down the river. The roar of the falls faded behind them, and +when a curve hid the fatal spot from view, Nathan turned with +tear-dimmed eyes for a last look. + +"You forgot about Noah Waxpenny," said Godfrey, when the lads had +paddled some distance in silence. + +"So I did!" exclaimed Nathan. "I hope Sergeant Murdock won't catch him, +and if he does I don't believe he will dare to hang him. As for that +mystery--why, I'll get my father to explain it." + +"Then you are going straight to see him?" + +"Straight," declared Nathan. "You heard what Corporal Dubbs told me. I'm +going to travel as fast as I can. And what will you do, Godfrey, I don't +want to part--" + +"Nor do I," Godfrey said hastily. "At least not yet. If I thought I +could safely accompany you--" + +"You can," interrupted Nathan. "I'm sure of that. And I want my father +to meet you." + +Godfrey smiled sadly. "I'll go with you," he replied, "and then I'll +watch for a chance to take boat from the Shrewsbury to New York. I +intend to report to Major Langdon, come what may." + +"I suppose that's the best thing you can do," assented Nathan, "but I +was hoping you might have changed your mind about--" + +A look on Godfrey's face made him stop thus abruptly, and for half an +hour nothing was said. Then the day began to dawn, and about the time it +was fully light the stockade and houses of Harris's Ferry hove in sight +around a bend of the river. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +IN WHICH A PEEP AT THE STATE-HOUSE LEADS TO AN UGLY ADVENTURE + + +Harris's Ferry--now the populous capital city of Harrisburg--was, in +1778, a small and unimportant place. John Harris, an old Indian trader +and the founder of the town, lived here. Some years before, he had made +the acquaintance of Captain Stanbury, when the latter stopped at the +ferry on a trip from Philadelphia to Wyoming. Nathan was aware of this +fact, and resolved to make use of it at such a time of need. So, after +the lads had landed and given their canoe in charge of an old boatman, +they climbed the river bank and presented themselves at the door of John +Harris's big stone mansion. + +The old trader was at breakfast, early as was the hour, and he gave his +visitors a cordial greeting even before he had heard their story. +Nathan's explanation gained much sympathy and a ready promise of +assistance. There was little time to spare, but the lads tarried long +enough to eat a hearty meal. That finished, the trader took them to the +bank of the river directly opposite his house, and pointed out the +mulberry-tree to which he had been tied by hostile Indians some years +before, and where he would have been burnt to death had not aid arrived +in the nick of time. + +Then, in haste to the Three Stars Tavern on Front Street, where the +Philadelphia coach, with three elderly passengers inside, was about +ready to start. John Harris paid the fares, and after shaking hands with +the lads and bidding them come to see him again, they mounted to the +outside seat beside the driver. A couple of minutes later the blasts of +the coaching-horn rang through the little settlement, and the long ride +had begun. + +Nothing worthy of special mention took place during the journey. +Passengers got on and off, stoppages were made for fresh horses and +meals, and the nights were spent at wayside towns. The lads' incidental +expenses were paid by the driver, in accordance with secret instructions +given him by the kind-hearted trader. + +Lancaster was reached on the evening of the first day, and here the +night was spent. The two following days were rainy, and the muddy +condition of the roads made traveling slow. The lads remained outside, +sheltered by a sail-cloth hood that was stretched over the top of the +seat. Under other circumstances they must have enjoyed the journey, but +the shadow of the terrible events they had so lately passed through was +still upon them. They could not forget the horrors of Wyoming, the +vexatious escape of Noah Waxpenny, and the tragic death of Barnabas +Otter and the Tory ruffian. Nor was the future free from worry. Nathan +felt a burning impatience to reach the Shrewsbury, and he could not rid +himself of the fear that he would find his father either dead or gone. +Godfrey, on the other hand, was concerned not a little for his own +safety. In spite of the assurances of his companion, he believed +himself to be in danger. And there was some ground for this fear. The +lad, though not a spy, was still a British officer and loyal at heart to +the cause of the enemy. And he was on his way to Philadelphia, where +there was a strong likelihood of his being recognized as one of that +hostile army which had occupied the city during the previous winter. + +Nathan tried to inspire his friend with confidence, and partly +succeeded. Neither cared to be questioned concerning their past +adventures and their future plans, so they held aloof at all times from +their fellow-passengers. The driver was a garrulous fellow, but +fortunately with an inclination to do all the talking himself. This just +suited the lads, and from morning till night they listened with feigned +interest to his accounts of coaching experiences and his remarks on +passing scenery. + +On the evening of the fourth day after leaving Harris's Ferry, just as +dusk was falling, the coach rumbled down to Middle Ferry on the +Schuylkill, and the passage across in a big flat-boat was quickly made. +Then followed a short ride through the fields and woods in the cool of +the evening, and a spirited dash down Chestnut Street, where the good +citizens of the town were smoking and gossiping at their front-door +steps. Taranta, taranta, tara! sounded the horn as the lumbering stage +turned into Fifth Street at the corner of the State-House, and a minute +later the panting steeds drew up at their destination--Homly's Inn at +Fifth and Walnut Streets. The painted face of Benjamin Franklin beamed a +welcome from the creaking signboard that swung under a lighted lantern, +and there was further encouragement to the thirsty and hungry travelers +in the following printed couplet: + + "Come view your patriot father! and your friend, + And toast to freedom, and to slavery's end!" + +Nathan and Godfrey climbed down from the high seat, and stood looking +about them. Of the half-dozen passengers in the stage some had already +entered the inn, and others had trudged away in the shadows of the +night. + +"The dear old town again!" said Nathan; and a tear glistened in his eye. +"It seems too good to be true!" + +"I know how you feel," replied Godfrey, "and I'm sorry I can't feel that +way myself. But all I'm thinking about is getting away from a place +where recognition will mean danger." + +"And I'm in as big a hurry to leave as you are," said Nathan. "There are +miles and miles between me and that farm-house on the Shrewsbury where +my father is lying wounded--perhaps dead." + +"Not that," Godfrey answered quickly. "You will find him getting +well--I'm sure of it. And where are we going first? Not to the inn, I +hope--" + +"No," interrupted Nathan, "I'm too anxious to see Cornelius De Vries. +We'll go straight there, and get supper and a night's rest, and then +we'll arrange about the rest of the journey." + +"Lads, there's good cheer to be had inside," called the driver, as he +started to lead the horses to the stable-yard. "Homly's the man to give +you a meal and a bed." + +"Thank you, but we have friends here," Nathan replied. + +"All right! Good-bye, and good luck to you!" + +"Good-bye!" the lads answered; and then they started briskly up Fifth +Street. They reached Chestnut Street, where there were plenty of lights +and people, and crossed to the opposite side. On the corner Nathan +halted and turned around. + +"There's no danger," he said, noticing his companion's uneasiness. +"We'll go on in half a minute--I want to take a look at the State-House. +There's a light in the big hall, and up yonder hangs the dear old +bell--the bell that rang out liberty for us two years ago." + +"For you, not for me," Godfrey gently reminded. + +"Oh! I forgot!" Nathan exclaimed contritely. "Forgive me, old fellow. I +should have known better than to stop you here--we'll go on now." + +But it was too late. During that brief interval of delay, unobserved by +the lads, a ragged and sinister-looking man of middle age had been +staring keenly at Godfrey, whose features were partly exposed to the +glimmer of a street lamp. Now he came quickly to the spot, barring the +way up Fifth Street for the lads. + +"It's you, is it?" he said insolently, with a leer of malice at Godfrey. +"I thought I weren't mistaken. And what are you doing in Philadelphia, +my fine British officer? Did you just wake up and find the red-coats +gone? Or did you come over from New York to look about a little--" + +"You are mistaken, my good fellow," interrupted Godfrey, his face +turning slightly pale. + +"Get out of the way," Nathan added angrily. "Don't stop us here--" + +"I'm not mistaken," the man asserted loudly; "not a bit of it. I know +who I'm talking to--your name's Spencer, and you were here with the +British last winter. Don't be in a hurry to get away, you and your +friend." + +"Who is he--do you know him?" Nathan asked in an undertone. + +"I do now," Godfrey whispered. "His name is Burd, and he kept a store up +near the barracks. I had him arrested by the guard for threatening Major +Langdon. He's going to give us trouble, Nathan. Look, the people are +beginning to notice us--" + +"Whispering treason, that's what you are," exclaimed the ruffian. "No +such doings, my fine fellows. It's lucky I saw you--" + +"We must get away at once," muttered Nathan. "What a fool I was to stop +you here! Now will you get out of the way?" he added to the man. "You're +making a mistake that will cost you dear--I am a son of Captain Stanbury +of the American army, and a soldier myself--" + +"A likely story!" sneered the ruffian; and that quickly, as the lads +started to move, he threw himself upon Godfrey and bore him hard back +against the corner of the house. "A spy! a spy!" he yelled at the top of +his voice. + +Nathan lost his temper completely, and like a flash he fetched the man +a stunning blow in the face that made him release Godfrey. A second blow +sent him staggering to the edge of the sidewalk, where he set up a +prodigious shouting for help. + +Clamor and confusion followed, and escape for the lads was out of the +question. As they stood side by side against the wall they were quickly +hemmed in by an excited mob, and so deafening was the noise that they +could not make themselves heard. Men came running from every +direction--citizens, store-keepers, tavern loungers, lads eager for a +fight, and a few crippled and bandaged soldiers. + +"Spies! spies!" they howled. "Kill them! hang them!" + +Nathan, feeling himself to blame for the trouble, stepped a little in +front of Godfrey. He had a pistol in his pocket, and this he pulled out +with a flourish, though he hoped to avoid the necessity of using it. + +[Illustration: NATHAN PRESENTED HIS PISTOL] + +"Listen, my good people!" he shouted. "There must be some here who know +me. I am an American soldier, and my companion is not a spy--" + +It was no use. He could not make himself heard. Closer and closer +pressed the mob, inflamed and urged on by the ruffian, Burd. The sight +of the lad's drawn pistol kept the foremost back a few paces, but those +in the rear began to hurl missiles. Stones and clubs struck the wall on +both sides of Nathan, and a rotten apple burst on Godfrey's shoulder. +The crowd was increasing, and the clamor was waking noisy echoes in +other quarters of the town. + +Nathan's pallor gave way to a flush of anger. "Keep back!" he roared. +"Keep back, or I'll fire. You cowards! Give me a chance to speak." + +The uproar deepened, but the circle widened a little at the ominous look +of the weapon. Then, just as a rush began in the rear, a hoarse shout of +"The watch! the watch!" rose above the clamor of voices. The sound of +dull blows were heard, and right and left through the parting crowd, +wielding their staves at every step, came a dozen men of the town +watch. At their head, and seemingly acting as the leader, was a man +wearing a sword and a military coat. Without ceremony he snatched +Nathan's pistol. + +"Keep close to me," he commanded, "and walk boldly." + +At once the men of the watch surrounded the two lads and led them +quickly across Chestnut Street. The crowd followed, hooting and yelling, +but taking good care not to venture within reach of the staves. Right +into the State-House marched the officer, the watch, and the prisoners, +and a moment later Godfrey and Nathan crossed the threshold of the large +chamber on the eastern side of the first floor--the same in which the +memorable Declaration of Independence had been signed. + +Here several lights were burning, and a number of men were standing +about in groups. The watch had halted in the hall, but the officer +entered with the lads, and turned to a man who had just come forward. +The latter was tall and wore a long cloak of light material. As the +glow of a lamp flashed on his face it revealed the familiar features of +General Washington. + +"Sir, I have obeyed your orders," said the officer. "These young +gentlemen were the cause of the disturbance, and they can explain for +themselves. I think you will recognize one of them--" + +"Nathan Stanbury!" exclaimed Washington. He held out his hand, and the +stern expression of his face relaxed. + +"It is I, sir," replied Nathan, stammering in his surprise. Before he +could say more two arms were thrown around him from behind, a kiss was +planted on his forehead, and the familiar voice of Cornelius De Vries +cried: "My dear lad! God be praised!" + +Again and again the worthy old Hollander embraced the lad, giving him +scarcely a chance to breathe. Finally, in his delight, he turned to +Godfrey, and would have embraced him as well. But Washington held up his +hand with a smile. + +"Master Stanbury," he said, "I did not expect to find you in +Philadelphia so soon, nor was I certain that you had escaped the +bloodshed at Wyoming. It affords me the highest pleasure to know that +you are safe, for I assure you that I have not forgotten your valuable +and trusty services in the past. But a short time ago I was telling +Master De Vries how gallantly you fought at Monmouth, and what a narrow +escape you had from hanging when you saved my papers at Valley Forge." + +"You do me too much honor, sir," said Nathan, with a blush. + +"Not enough, my brave lad," replied Washington. "But come, I forget that +you may speedily fall in my good graces," he added, in a jesting tone, +"since you are accused of disturbing the peace of this good and loyal +town of Philadelphia. You shall give me an explanation, and account for +your companion." + +"That I will gladly do, sir," declared Nathan. + +"But I can spare you only a little time," added Washington. "I left my +army at White Plains, on the Hudson, and made a quick journey here to +confer with some of my Quaker friends on matters of importance. I must +be starting back by morning, and before my presence becomes generally +known in the town. And I prefer to talk apart from these worthy +gentlemen." + +He led the way to a far corner of the room, bidding Cornelius De Vries +follow himself and the lads. With as much brevity as possible Nathan +told his story, and he was careful to omit nothing, since he knew that +the whole truth would be best for the interests of Godfrey. + +Washington listened intently, now smiling, now frowning at parts of the +narrative. "I have already heard the news from Wyoming," he said, when +the lad had finished, "but not so clear an account as yours. You seem to +have displayed your usual bravery and clear-headedness, Master Stanbury, +and you have certainly had more than your share of perils and +adventures. I deplore the loss of Barnabas Otter, who was a trusty and +valuable man, and I regret that you have not fathomed this strange +mystery with which your father seems to be connected. I confess that it +has a deep interest for me. As for the recent brawl out in the +street--why, it seems that you are not to blame. But it was imprudent +for your companion to have entered Philadelphia, and I hardly know what +disposition to make of him." He paused a moment, smiling. "Is he +disposed to turn patriot?" + +"He is not, sir, with all due respect to you," Godfrey answered, firmly. + +"Let him accompany me, sir," exclaimed Nathan. "He risked his life to +save myself and my friends. He is not a spy, and he should not be held +as a prisoner. Help him to get back to the British lines." + +Washington shook his head. "I can't do that," he replied. "I can't lend +my aid to such a purpose. But Master Spencer deserves to be rewarded for +his gallant conduct, which I do commend most heartily. So I shall let +him accompany you to visit your father, Master Stanbury, and I dare say +he will be making a little trip over to Long Island one of these days. +Is that satisfactory?" + +"Quite so," replied Godfrey, with a smile, "and thank you, sir." + +Washington turned to Nathan. "Now, my boy, you will want to get speedily +to your father?" he asked. + +"As soon as possible, sir," Nathan replied, eagerly. "Please tell me how +he is? Have you heard lately?" + +"At last accounts he was doing well, but he was not able to be moved, +else I should have sent a party for him. I will not deny that he is in +some danger of capture by raiding-parties of the enemy, so you had +better get to him without delay. What is your opinion, Master De Vries?" + +"I agree with you, sir," answered the Hollander, "much as I should like +the lad to spend a day or two with me in Philadelphia. But it is all for +the best." + +"Yes, I must start at once," assented Nathan. "And how shall we go, sir? +By land?" + +"I think not," replied Washington; "the roads through the Jersies are +bad and lonely, and you would run a risk of meeting bodies of the enemy. +As it happens, there is a sailing vessel lying now down at South Street +wharf, and I can arrange with the captain to take you along the coast +and up the Shrewsbury. He and his crew are loyal and trusty men, and +have been engaged in secret service for me for some time past. Master De +Vries," he added, "you know the place and the man. Suppose you make the +necessary arrangements at once, and as soon as that is done the lads can +go secretly to the river. By then the streets will be quiet." + +"It is a wise plan, sir," agreed the Hollander, "and I will see to the +proper arrangements." + +He departed immediately, and then Washington drew Nathan a little apart +from Godfrey. + +"I can spare but a moment more," he said, in a low tone. "You are a +brave lad, Master Stanbury, and an honor to your country and to your +father. I shall not forget you in the future, and I predict that you +will have an officer's commission before you are much older. I will +speak to you of other matters at a better opportunity. I trust that you +will reach your father safely, and that he and you will speedily be +within the shelter of my lines at White Plains. When you leave the +farm-house with him come by way of New Brunswick, where you will find +American out-posts. You will both be needed. A battle cannot be long +delayed, and by this time the French fleet has probably arrived off +Sandy Hook. As for Master Spencer, to whom you owe much--why, I leave +his interests in your hands, and I trust no harm will befall him." + +Washington shook hands with both lads, and spoke a word of farewell. +Then he joined the gentlemen who were waiting for him, and an aid +shortly conducted Nathan and Godfrey to another apartment of the +State-House. Here they remained three hours, at the end of which time +Cornelius De Vries returned to announce his complete success. The town +was now quiet, and the lads safely reached South Street wharf. It was +not quite midnight when they parted from the old Hollander and went on +board the sloop "Speedswift," and when they came on deck in the morning, +after a good night's rest, the vessel was many miles down the Delaware. + +No British men-of-war were met with, but, owing to bad weather, the +voyage was prolonged to nearly a week--a delay that sorely tried +Nathan's patience. + +At last, one dark and sultry July night, the "Speedswift" entered the +mouth of the Shrewsbury, and sailed cautiously along the south shore. + +When the channel became shallow a small boat was lowered, and two of the +crew rowed the lads to a point near the head of the river. The captain, +who knew the locality thoroughly, went along with the party, and when +they landed in a little cove he pointed to a road that skirted the +north shore of the river. + +"That's your way, my young gentlemen," he said. "Follow the road for two +miles, and you'll come to Jonas Welfare's place. You can't miss it, for +it's the first house." + +A moment later the boat was pulling back to the vessel, and the two lads +were walking rapidly toward their destination. Nathan was in a state of +doubt and suspense--now confident of finding his father, now fearing +that he was dead or captured. He kept Godfrey almost on a run, and after +half an hour's tramp they reached an old stone farm-house standing in a +yard full of pine trees. + +No light was to be seen, and with a fast-beating heart Nathan mounted +the porch and rapped on the door. It was opened almost immediately by an +elderly man, who carried a candle in his hand. + +He looked at the lads suspiciously, and with an air of disappointment, +and then gruffly demanded their business. + +"Are you Jonas Welfare?" Nathan asked, eagerly. + +"That's my name, sir." + +"Well, I am Captain Stanbury's son. Is--is he still here?" + +"Captain Stanbury's son?" exclaimed the farmer, incredulously. "Yes, you +look like him. Come right in." + +The lads followed Mr. Welfare into the hall, and after closing and +barring the door he led the way to an apartment on the left. Here a lamp +was burning, and in a large chair sat a bearded man with sunken eyes and +pale and hollow cheeks. With an eager cry he rose to his feet, and the +next instant Nathan was clasped in his father's arms. + +Godfrey discreetly stepped back into the hall, and when he entered the +room five minutes later, the farmer had left it by a rear door. Nathan +was kneeling by his father's side, and the captain's hand rested +lovingly on the lad's head. + +"Who is this?" he asked, looking up. "Did he come with you, my boy?" + +"He is an old friend," replied Nathan, motioning Godfrey to sit down. +"He saved my life. But I will explain presently. You have been very ill, +father. Are you getting better and stronger now? Tell me all about it." + +"I have improved wonderfully in the last week," replied Captain +Stanbury, "though it will be some time before I am quite myself again. +And there is but little to tell, my boy." + +His face suddenly became grave, and he fixed his eyes on the floor. + +"The wound I received at Monmouth was more painful than dangerous, and +when I came to my senses I was a prisoner with the enemy's rear-guard of +Hessians. After carrying me some miles on the retreat they brutally +assaulted me with bayonets and clubbed muskets, and left me for dead +along the road. This kind-hearted farmer found me and brought me here, +and to him and his faithful wife I owe my recovery." + +"I was sure you were alive," said Nathan. "I never quite lost hope, +father, and now you will want to hear my story--" + +"Yes, if you can make it brief. There are reasons, my boy. I heard of +your perilous journey through Jonas Welfare, and when news of the +Wyoming massacre reached me I feared greatly for your safety. God has +been very good to us both." + +"I will tell you all about the journey," said Nathan, "but there is +something to come first." In a few words he related Noah Waxpenny's +visit to the Indian Queen tavern, and mentioned the name of the legal +firm that he represented. "The man was trying to find you, father," he +added, "and also Major Langdon, of the British army." + +Captain Stanbury's face turned even whiter, and there was a strange look +in his eyes. "Sharswood & Feeman, Lincoln's Inn!" he muttered, half to +himself. "It has come at last, after all these years! And at a time when +I despise and spurn it for myself! But for the sake of my son--" He +paused abruptly. "You should have told me this before, my boy," he +added. + +"I had so little chance," Nathan replied, "and most of the time I forgot +it." + +"And have you seen this man since?" + +"That is part of my story, father. I am coming to it--" + +"Go on quickly, lad. I am listening." + +Accordingly, as briefly and clearly as he could, Nathan described his +adventurous travels, telling how desperately Simon Glass tried to get +the papers for Major Langdon, and how Godfrey saved the lives of the +prisoners. He told all the leading incidents of the cruise down the +river, and concluded with the escape of Noah Waxpenny from Fort Hunter +and the sad death of Barnabas. + +Captain Stanbury listened with a countenance as rigid as marble, and +when the story was done he rose to his feet and feebly paced the floor +half a dozen times. On his agitated features were depicted grief, +passion, and unutterable horror. Finally he paused in front of the +lads, and took Godfrey's hand in his own cold and trembling grasp. "My +brave boy, I want to thank you," he said hoarsely. "Your conduct has +been indeed noble. I could not feel more gratitude and respect for you +were you a patriot at heart, instead of one who has clung to the cause +of oppression. But party feeling shall make no breach between us. Sir, +you are a hero." + +Turning to Nathan he went on hastily, and with an air of confusion: +"This is a terrible story, my boy, terrible. I hardly know what to make +of it. By God's mercy you have escaped death a dozen times over. And so +Barnabas Otter is dead! You say he perished with this Tory ruffian. A +braver man, and a truer friend never lived. But the packet of papers, my +boy? I fear they are lost." + +"They will be recovered with the body," replied Nathan, "and if Noah +Waxpenny has not been caught--" + +"Never mind about him," interrupted Captain Stanbury. "The papers are +the most important, and for your sake I trust they will be found." + +"For my sake!" exclaimed Nathan. "Father, what does this mean? Why do +you speak and act so strangely? What did Major Langdon want with the +papers, and why is Noah Waxpenny seeking you both?" + +Captain Stanbury pressed one hand to his brow, and a look of anguish +appeared on his face. "My boy, you shall know all," he said, in a tone +of hoarse resolve. "Sooner or later the truth would have to come out. +Major Langdon is--" + +Just then the rear door opened noisily and Jonas Welfare hurried into +the room. "Captain, they are coming!" he exclaimed. "I hear the tramp of +the horses on the road." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +IN WHICH MR. WAXPENNY ASSERTS THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW, AND THE CURTAIN +FALLS + + +"Coming, are they?" said Captain Stanbury. "Well, I am ready." He +buttoned his coat across his breast, and picked up a hat that lay on the +table. "Can you furnish a couple of extra mounts, Welfare?" he added. + +"Yes, I can fix you," said the farmer. "I have three horses in the +barn." + +"Father, where are you going?" exclaimed Nathan. + +"I am about to leave this noble gentleman's house for a safer refuge," +Captain Stanbury answered. "To be brief, my boy, I fear I am in some +danger. Last night the farmer's hireling, a surly fellow, whom I have +long suspected, vanished mysteriously. I concluded that he had gone to +New York to denounce me, and Welfare shared my opinion. He spent the day +in beating up a score of loyal yeomen, and they are now here to take me +to New Brunswick. You and Godfrey will go along, of course. The fact +that the enemy have been raiding almost nightly between here and Sandy +Hook, made a large escort necessary for my safety." + +Meanwhile the muffled sounds of hoofs and a jangle of equipments had +been heard in the yard, and, now, just as the Captain finished his +explanation, there was a sharp rap on the front door. + +"Is that you, Ruggles?" the farmer called loudly, as he led his +companions into the hall. + +"Yes," was the almost inaudible response. "Open quickly!" + +"It's a strange voice!" gasped Welfare. "We are betrayed--the enemy are +here!" + +"Already," murmured the Captain. "It can't be possible!" Godfrey and +Nathan turned pale. + +There was a brief wait, and then the rap was repeated. "Open in the +King's name, Jonas Welfare," demanded an angry voice. + +"Who are you? What do you want?" cried the farmer. + +"We want the rebel officer whom you are sheltering," came the reply. "If +you value your life you will let us in at once. The house is surrounded, +and it is useless to resist." + +Welfare snatched two loaded muskets from a rack on the wall, and gave +one to the Captain. "The first red-coat that tries to break into this +house, dies," he shouted loudly. + +"My good sir, this won't do," Captain Stanbury said firmly. "You shall +not risk your life for mine. Open the door and let them take me." + +"Never," declared the farmer. "I'll protect you as long as I can. Man, +do you want to end your days on one of those rotten prison ships?" + +"I am likely to die more speedily," muttered the Captain, half aloud, +and a terrible expression crossed his face. "You had better open the +door, Welfare," he added, "but first find a hiding-place for these lads. +Their presence can hardly be known, and this one will probably be +hanged if he is found here." + +"I know that, sir," interrupted Godfrey, "but I will stand by the rest +of you." + +"And so will I, father," Nathan cried, hoarsely. "Do you think I would +desert you at such a time? Mr. Welfare, can't you give me a gun or a--" + +Crash! A musket butt thundered against the panels of the door. Crash! +crash! The blows rained hard and fast, and the timbers began to split. +The farmer cocked his weapon, and held it ready. + +"I'll keep my word," he muttered. "If we can hold out a bit the yeomen +may arrive--" + +"By that time the house will be taken," cried Captain Stanbury. "There +is only one course, Welfare." He stepped toward the door, but before he +could reach it the report of a musket rang loudly, and a clatter of +hoofs was heard on the road. Then came yells and cheers, the pounding +ceased, and there was a rush of heavy feet off the porch. Crack! crack! +crack! Firearms were blazing noisily, and the night rang to the din of +angry voices and frightened and plunging steeds. + +"Our fellows have arrived," cried the farmer, "and are engaging the +enemy." + +"God grant they conquer!" said Captain Stanbury, throwing an arm around +Nathan's shoulder. + +For two or three minutes the fusillade and din lasted. Then a bugle note +rang clear, followed by triumphant shouts and furious clatter of hoofs. + +"The enemy are off!" cried Welfare. "We are saved!" + +As he spoke the porch echoed to the tread of many feet, and hearty +voices demanded admission. + +The farmer flung open the shattered door, and half a dozen sturdy yeomen +pushed into the hall, bearing in their arms a motionless form clad in a +red coat. + +"We just got here in time, Jonas," cried the leader of the party. "The +enemy are kitin' for Sandy Hook, with two-thirds of our boys at their +heels. We shot three of 'em, but we lost poor Lige Garret. And here's a +British officer with a bullet in his breast." + +"Put him on the couch in the room yonder, Ruggles," said the farmer. + +The wounded man was borne in and laid down, and a pillow was pressed +under his head. Nathan and Godfrey, who had drawn near out of curiosity, +were startled to recognize Major Langdon. + +"It's all up with him," said Ruggles. "I know the signs. A little brandy +might make him last longer, though it's a doubtful mercy." + +"I'll get some," replied Welfare, hurrying to a closet and producing an +earthen jug. A drink of the potent liquor had a speedy and reviving +effect on the Major. He lifted his head a little, and opened his glassy +eyes. There was blood on the breast of his coat, and a few drops oozed +from his lips. + +Just then Captain Stanbury came forward, and at sight of the wounded +officer he uttered a low cry. + +"My good fellows, I wish to speak to this man alone," he said, hoarsely. +"Be assured that I have a sound reason. Pray leave us together for a few +minutes. Nathan, you remain. And you, too, Godfrey." + +All the rest left the room, wondering at the Captain's agitation and +request. Welfare, who went last, softly closed the door after him. + +For a moment Major Langdon stared silently at Captain Stanbury and the +lads, and it was evident that he knew all three. His face was white with +pain, but it showed no trace of anger or hatred. In his eyes was a look +of unutterable self-reproach and contrition. + +"Dick," he whispered faintly, "this is the end." + +"Yes, I fear it is," said Captain Stanbury. "God have mercy on you! +Nathan," he added, "this man is my younger brother Gerald--my brother +and your uncle!" + +"Your brother!" gasped Nathan, and Godfrey uttered a cry of +astonishment. + +"It is a strange story," resumed the Captain. "Let me tell it in a few +words. My father was the Earl of Ravenswood, and at Ravenswood Court, +near Nottingham, in England, the three brothers of us were brought up. +Anthony, the eldest, died in 1760, and that same year I married the +daughter of a retired sea-captain of Bristol. Mary Harding was the equal +of any woman in the world, but my father chose to think that I had +disgraced him and the family. We had a bitter quarrel, and he disowned +me and cast me out. Being the oldest living son, I was then Lord +Langdon, but I cared nothing for the title. I came to Philadelphia under +an assumed name, Nathan, and there you were born and my beloved wife +died. Since then I have lived only for you, my boy, and that you might +some day come into your inheritance, I preserved the papers relating to +my marriage and your birth. They were in the packet you found under the +floor of my cabin. And from the day I left England I neither saw nor +heard of my brother Gerald until we met after the battle of Monmouth." + +Captain Stanbury sank into a chair, covering his face with his hands, +and for a moment there was deep silence. Nathan neither moved nor spoke. +It was a strange story he had just heard. So Major Langdon was his +father's brother--his own uncle! The mystery was growing clear, and he +shrank from what he suspected was to come. + +Godfrey seemed also to understand, for there was a look of fixed horror +on his face. + +"Dick," said Major Langdon, "it's my turn now. I can't last long, and I +want to confess--" + +"No, no," interrupted Captain Stanbury. "Let that rest, Gerald. It can +do no good to tell it." + +"But I must," persisted the dying man, in a shrill voice. "Do you think +I can go to my grave with such a burden on my soul? I came here to-night +to kill you, Dick, and I have been justly punished. God knows I am +repentant--" + +"I believe you are, Gerald." + +"Thank you, Dick. Now let me speak while I can--let me tell it all. I +recognized my nephew in Philadelphia, and you I discovered on the field +of Monmouth. I heard you speak of the papers, and it was then I first +conceived this awful crime. I wanted the title and estates--I wanted to +be Earl of Ravenswood, Dick, and you and your son stood in the way. But +I hated you both because you were rebels, else I could hardly have gone +so far. I had you carried off the field, and I told the Hessians to kill +you--" + +"I suspected that, Gerald. I saw and recognized you when you rode by me +to the rear. But I was too weak to speak." + +"And do you know what I did next, Dick? Do you know that I sent a band +of ruffians to steal the papers--that I paid Simon Glass to kill your +boy--my own nephew?" + +"Yes, I know that, too. I heard it from Nathan, who was mercifully saved +from death." + +"And can you forgive me, Dick? I have no right to ask it, but I am +truly repentant. You won't refuse a dying man?" + +Captain Stanbury leaned over and took his brother's hand. + +"Gerald, I do forgive you," he said. "I have no right to be a judge, and +you are paying the last penalty of your sins." + +A look that was almost peaceful came into Major Langdon's eyes. He +gasped for breath, and feebly raised his head higher. + +"I shall die happier now," he said, "as happy as any man in my +circumstances can. But what are you doing here, Spencer? I can't +understand it." + +In a few words Godfrey explained, and the Major smiled faintly. "You did +right, my lad," he whispered. "I am glad that Glass is dead, and that he +failed in his purpose. What a wretch I have been! I sent you along, +Spencer, so that Glass would know my nephew from his resemblance to you. +It is a strange likeness, and I have often wondered at it." + +He was silent for a moment, struggling with pain and weakness. When +Godfrey poured some brandy between his teeth his face flushed and he +gained fresh strength. + +"Dick," he whispered, turning to his brother, "you will go home now, +won't you? I received a brief letter a month ago informing me of +father's death. So you are the Earl of Ravenswood, and your son is Lord +Langdon." + +"I want neither the title nor the estates," exclaimed Captain Stanbury, +almost fiercely. "I am a true American, Gerald, and after what I have +seen of this bitter war I wish no more to do with England. And yet, for +my son's sake--" + +"I, too, am a true American, father," interrupted Nathan, his eyes +flashing with excitement. "Do you think I would go and live in +England?--that I would take title or fortune from King George, our +bitterest foe? Never, father, never! My blood boils when I think of +Wyoming! Let us stay here and fight for our rights, like true patriots. +I am glad those papers are lost, and I hope they will never be found." + +"Nobly said, my boy!" cried Captain Stanbury, in a voice that shook with +emotion. "I would not have had you choose otherwise--" + +At that instant a commotion arose outside--loud voices mingled with the +neighing and clatter of horses. The front door opened, and a strangely +familiar sound brought the hot blood to Nathan's cheeks. Then footsteps +crossed the hall, and into the room strode Barnabas Otter. + +The scene that followed can be better imagined than told. With a grin of +pleasure Barnabas shook hands with his friends, thereby convincing them +that he was not a ghost. Nathan was half-laughing, half-crying, as he +embraced the old man, and looked almost incredulously into his rugged +face. Major Langdon watched the scene curiously; his glazing eyes and +leaden hue told that the end was very near. + +"It's me, sure enough," cried Barnabas, when the first greetings were +over. "Here's your papers, Captain," producing the packet from his boot. +Captain Stanbury shrugged his shoulders as he took them, and Nathan did +not try to hide his disappointment. + +"So they aren't any account after all, lad," said Barnabas, in a +sympathetic tone. "It's hard luck! You see I've been made acquainted +with the whole story." + +"What do you mean?" asked Nathan. + +"You'll know soon," Barnabas replied. "Wait till I tell you how I +escaped death--it's not a long yarn. You may remember that the Carson +House stands on the Susquehanna half a mile below the Kittochtinny +Falls. It seems that after Braddock's defeat the family dug a secret +passage from the cellar of the house to the river, so's they might +escape by water in case of an Indian attack. Well, Glass an' I were +sucked under the bushes into the secret mouth of that passage. We were +both unconscious at the time, an' when I come to after a bit I didn't +know where I was. I hollered three or four times, an' down come Carson +an' his son with lanterns. Simon Glass was stone dead, an' I reckon they +buried him the next day. I pushed right up to Fort Hunter, learned from +Corporal Dubbs where you lads were gone, an' then struck for Harris's +Ferry. There I run across Noah Waxpenny--" + +"So the sergeant didn't catch him?" interrupted Nathan. + +"No, lad. We came on together to Philadelphia, and then across the +Jersies here. Waxpenny is out yonder now, washin' off the dust of +travel. He's a queer chap, but--" + +Just then Mr. Waxpenny himself entered the room, looking as fresh and +clean as though he had just stepped off ship. + +"I am informed that Major Gerald Langdon is here," he said, rubbing his +lean fingers. "Also Captain Richard Stanbury and his son. I have the +honor to represent the firm of Sharswood & Feeman, solicitors, Lincoln's +Inn, London. They sent me to this country in the interests of their late +estimable client, the Earl of Ravenswood--" + +"Your errand is already known," the Major interrupted, faintly. "My +minutes are numbered, and what you have to tell no longer concerns me. +But there stands the new Earl of Ravenswood, and his son, Lord Langdon." + +"Sir, these gentlemen have no claim to the titles," said Mr. Waxpenny. + +"No claim?" demanded the Major. Nathan and his father looked surprised, +and Barnabas nodded at them meaningly. + +"I said no claim," repeated Mr. Waxpenny. "The Earl had--a third and +elder son, Anthony--" + +"He died years ago," gasped Major Langdon. + +"Exactly, sir; but he left a wife and son behind him." + +Having made this announcement Mr. Waxpenny paused a moment to enjoy its +thrilling effect. "Anthony Langdon was a wild and dissipated young man," +he continued. "Under an assumed name he was married in London in the +year 1759. In the following year, after a son had been born to him, he +tired of his family, deserted them, and came home. A week later he was +stabbed in a drunken brawl in Nottingham. Before he died he confessed +his marriage to his father, who chose, for reasons that may be +understood, to keep the secret locked in his own bosom." + +Mr. Waxpenny stopped to stroke his chin. "The deserted wife," he +resumed, "was a proud and high-spirited woman. Feeling satisfied that +her husband had tired of her, she emigrated to America with her father +and her son, where the Earl kept track of them for a time. They were +worthy and upright people, and the knowledge of this fact doubtless +prompted him to make confession and restitution on his deathbed. By the +terms of his will, which was entrusted to my employers, one-half of the +estate is divided equally between his sons Gerald and Richard. The other +half goes to Anthony's son, who is the rightful Earl of Ravenswood." + +"Have you found him?" asked the major. + +"I regret to say that I have made no progress as yet," replied Mr. +Waxpenny. "The lad would now be eighteen years of age. The name of his +maternal grandfather was Matthew Marsham, and he himself was called by +the assumed name of his father, Godfrey Spencer--" + +Godfrey sprang forward, his face as pale as ashes. "Sir, my grandfather +was Matthew Marsham," he cried. "I am Godfrey Spencer, and my mother is +still living." + +Mr. Waxpenny tried hard to preserve his legal dignity, but the effort +was vain. "You are Godfrey Spencer?" he exclaimed excitedly. "Yes, you +have the family likeness. And can you prove your claim?" + +"My mother has the papers, sir--the certificate of her marriage and my +birth." + +"Then you are the Earl of Ravenswood," declared Mr. Waxpenny, rubbing +his hands with delight. "My Lord, I congratulate you." He made the lad a +sweeping and impressive bow. + +Godfrey blushed with confusion, and looked around him in a dazed manner. +"It seems like a dream," he said. "I can hardly realize it. Major +Langdon is my uncle, and so are you, Captain Stanbury--" + +"And you and I are cousins, Godfrey," cried Nathan. "I am glad to hear +of your good fortune, and I don't envy you one bit. I wish you all +happiness and prosperity." + +"Thank you, Nathan," Godfrey replied huskily, and the lads +affectionately clasped hands. + + * * * * * + +It is now time to drop the curtain. After several hours of +unconsciousness, Major Langdon died peacefully at daybreak, and was +buried a few hours later in a grove of oaks near the farmer's house. As +soon as the sad ceremony was over the whole party started for New +Brunswick, under the escort of the yeomen. + +From there Godfrey and Noah Waxpenny pushed on to New York. The lad was +sick of the war, and a week later he sailed, with his mother and the +law-clerk, for England, where he speedily proved his claim to the title +and estate of the deceased Earl of Ravenswood. + +Captain Stanbury, Nathan, and Barnabas rejoined Washington's army, and +fought bravely until the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown ended +the long struggle, and gave the United Colonies their freedom. + +A few months later Godfrey persuaded his uncle to accept half of the +late earl's estate, and with a portion of the money, Captain Richard +Langdon--to give him his rightful name--bought a handsome property in +the suburbs of Philadelphia. There he and Nathan lived happily together, +keeping up their old friendship with Cornelius De Vries, and +occasionally visited by Barnabas Otter, who had gone back to his beloved +Wyoming Valley at the close of the war. + +In after years, when his father was at rest on the banks of the +Delaware, Nathan made more than one visit to his ancestral home in +England, where he and Godfrey lived over again in the past, and the ties +of kinship that connected the cousins were not more strong than the +memory of the distant days when they had suffered and fought together +for the sake of Captain Stanbury's mysterious papers. + + + THE END + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Note: + +Punctuation and spelling standardized when a predominant +preference was found in this book; otherwise unchanged. Simple +typographical errors remedied; most retained. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Days of Washington, by +William Murray Graydon + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41420 *** |