Commodore Barney's Young Spies Part 34

"No troops remained in line, except the party under Commodore Barney, and two detachments on his right, that were well posted. Having been so roughly handled, the enemy made no attempt to advance directly in front of the seamen and marines, but, after forcing the troops on their right from the field, by a demonstration in that direction, they prepared to turn the rear of Barney in order to surround him.

"While these movements were going on in front, a party of light troops had been thrown out on the enemy's right, and the militia having abandoned the ground, they were also beginning to close upon the Americans that stood. By this time Commodore Barney, Captain Miller, and several other officers were wounded, and, victory being impossible against odds so great, an order was given to commence a retreat.

"The defense had been too obstinate to admit of carrying off the guns, which were necessarily abandoned. All the men retired, with the exception of the badly wounded; among the latter, however, were Commodore Barney and Captain Miller, who both fell into the enemy's hands.

"Of the marines, nearly one-third were among the casualties, and the flotilla-men suffered considerably, though in smaller proportions. The people of the flotilla, under the orders of Barney, and the marines, were justly applauded for their excellent conduct. No troops could have stood better, and the fire of both artillery and musketry has been described as to the last degree severe."

Jerry, who reads each day what I write, says that by putting down the account of what we of the flotilla did, I am blowing my own horn; but I do not so consider it, since the fact is a matter of history, and if we won praise on that disastrous day, then we should boast of it to the end that the picture may not be so black.

And now to return to us of the Avenger who were fugitives, without any idea of where safety might be found.

Strange to say, not one of us had been wounded, while many a better man close beside us had met his death.

Darius took it upon himself to lead our party, and right willing were we to have him act as commander, though I question if he really knew where he was going when we left the b.l.o.o.d.y field.

There is no shame in my heart when I set it down that we ran from the enemy, and did our level best at that game; the order to retreat had been given after we had done all that might have been expected from well seasoned troops, and to have remained longer would have been a useless sacrifice.

By instinct, rather than deliberation, Darius led us southward, close on the heels of several hundred men, all of whom were quite as eager as we to keep out of the enemy's clutches.

To the best of my knowledge the British did not pursue; they had won a victory, but in so doing received quite as much of a drubbing as was needed, and officers as well as privates were willing to remain on the hard-earned field.

I believe it was a full hour before Darius would allow us to slacken the pace, and then we were well among the foremost of the fugitives.

By this time we were so nearly winded that it was impossible to continue the flight without a breathing spell, and the old man allowed us to halt when we were close upon the city.

We could see that our people were bearing to the west, in order to give Was.h.i.+ngton a wide berth, and, when it was possible to speak because of my heavy breathing, I asked Darius where he proposed to go.

"That's what I haven't rightly made up my mind on," the old man said thoughtfully. "It stands to reason that the enemy will, sooner or later, try to make as many prisoners as possible, an' I'm allowin'

that those fellows ahead are bound to have a hot time of it before they're many hours older. If we could only get down the river!"

"But we can't, an' that much is certain," Jerry said petulantly.

"Perhaps you've got another scheme in your head, since the oyster business turned out so well," and it is possible that I spoke sharply, realizing with bitterness just then that but for my partner's proposition to sell fish to the fleet I might never have discovered I owed my country a duty, and, consequently, would not at that moment be hunted down, or in danger of it.

"Perhaps I have," Jerry replied quietly, giving no heed to my disagreeable manner of speaking.

"What is it, lad?" Darius asked curiously. "I take it that at such a time as this a bit of advice, no matter from whom it comes, is well worth listenin' to."

"Why not go straight into Was.h.i.+ngton, an' stay there till we find a chance to slip down the river?"

"Into Was.h.i.+ngton?" Jim Freeman cried in alarm. "Why the Britishers have promised to burn the town!"

"I know that, an' it ain't likely any of our people will go there because of that same thing."

"An' yet you allow that we should stick our noses into the mess?"

Darius asked.

"Ay, because the Britishers never will suspect that any who took part in the fight would go there. It should be possible to find a hiding-place somewhere in the town, an' it strikes me we wouldn't be in as much danger as if we kept with the crowd."

I began to think that there was more in Jerry's scheme than appeared when he first suggested it, and Darius seemed to be considering the matter very seriously.

"In the first place," my partner continued, warming to the subject when he saw that we were interested, "it would be necessary to get there before the Britishers took possession, an' it might be we could pa.s.s ourselves off as fellows who had stayed in the town like cowards, rather than take the chances of bein' shot."

"It's a pretty good scheme, lad, an' I for one am willin' to try it,"

Darius said abruptly as he rose to his feet. "If the others think as I do, we'd better be movin'."

After the old man had thus spoken there was not one of us who would have ventured to object, for he had shown that in any business of this kind he knew more than all of us put together, therefore we made ready to set out; but before the first step had been taken we saw coming toward us from the direction of Bladensburg, a man riding a mule, and waving his arms as if to attract our attention.

"Go on," I said petulantly. "We can't afford to hang around here very long if we count on finding a hiding-place in the city, and that is only one of the country people who wants to sell his mule."

"I reckon we'll wait a bit," Darius replied firmly. "Unless I'm way out of my reckonin', yonder man was in the fight, an' has scooped up one of the baggage-wagon mules to help him along."

"But our party is too big for safety now, and what will it be if we allow every straggler to trail on behind? We might as well follow the other fugitives."

All this I said like a peevish child, and no sooner had I ceased speaking than Darius seized me by the shoulder, forcing me to turn until I had a full view of the newcomer.

"Look at the man," the sailor cried sternly, "an' then say whether you will allow every straggler to trail on behind us when the road is as free to one as another?"

In an instant I was covered with confusion and remorse. The man to whose company I had objected was none other than my own father, and as he approached I could see that he was wounded in the right leg.

There was nothing I could say just then to show my comrades how deeply I regretted having spoken in such a tone, therefore I ran forward to greet him who, a moment previous, I had been eager to leave behind.

My comrades joined me as I saluted my father much more warmly than I might have done but for the unkind words I had spoken, and in a few seconds we heard all the story he could tell.

He had been wounded quite severely during the early part of the battle, and went to the rear in search of the surgeons. Failing to find those whose duty it was to be near the scene of action, and unable to walk any further owing to loss of blood, he laid down under one of the baggage-wagons which had been used to transport ammunition.

Here he bandaged his wound as well as possible, and was about to set out once more in search of aid, when the final retreat was ordered.

Unable to walk, he would soon have been made a prisoner, or, perhaps, in the heat of the moment, received worse treatment, when the idea of escaping on one of the mules occurred to him.

Cutting the traces he rode off, taking a course to the north in his ignorance of the country; but, discovering his mistake, he turned about, and the first persons he saw were those of our party.

Without wasting any time we told him of Jerry's scheme, and he, having nothing better to propose, agreed to make the venture, more particularly because he stood sadly in need of some attention, since the wound had been only rudely bandaged.

Darius claimed that he could treat it after a sailorly fas.h.i.+on, provided we found clean water and cotton cloth, and declared that it would heal as well after such treatment as if any save a skilled surgeon had dressed it.

As a matter of course we kept the mule, for it was necessary my father should ride, and after the delay needed in which to explain matters, our little party started toward Was.h.i.+ngton, knowing full well that we were going where it was certain the enemy would soon come.

Although I had agreed to Jerry's scheme, and was willing to do whatsoever the majority of my companions decided was for the best, I could not but believe that ours was as rash a move as fugitives ever made, for of a verity it was thrusting ourselves into the jaws of the lion.

Now that my father was with us, having his wound as proof that he had taken part in the battle, we could no longer hope to pa.s.s ourselves off as cowards who remained at home while others were fighting for us, and in event of being captured in the city I believed we would receive rougher usage than those taken prisoners on the battle-field.

CHAPTER XVI.

IN HIDING.