The Go Ahead Boys and the Mysterious Old House Part 19

"Of course you have," said Grant; "there were a lot of things doing there. I have a book at home that my great-grandfather used to read when he was a boy. It tells about a young fellow only seventeen years of age who was one of Was.h.i.+ngton's couriers. He used to ride between Morristown and Lake Champlain. At least he did in the year when Burgoyne was trying to bring his Hessians and redcoats from Montreal to New York."

"He didn't bring them, though," spoke up Fred quickly.

"Only as far as Saratoga," laughed Grant. "If it hadn't been for certain obstacles I guess he would have brought them all the way down the river."

"I guess he would too," laughed Fred scornfully, "but his 'obstacles,'

as you call them, were General Gates, Philip Schuyler, Benedict Arnold and a few other continental soldiers that did not seem to be enthusiastic over allowing Johnnie Burgoyne to come any farther."

"I was reading the other day," said Grant, "that the Baroness de Reidesel was with her husband when the Hessians were captured. She had her children with her and to show them due honor Mrs. General Schuyler took the Baroness and her children into her own home. The Hessian lady did not know that Mrs. Schuyler understood German and she rudely carried on some conversation with her children in that language when Mrs.

Schuyler was present. One time one of the children piped up and asked his mother, 'Isn't this the place that we are to have when our father is made a duke after he has whipped the Yankees?' As the Baroness glanced up she was aware that Mrs. Schuyler had understood what the boy was saying. She tried to apologize but Mrs. Schuyler was a perfect lady and at once smoothed things out. They say she was a brave woman. There's one story about her though that I never believed."

"What was that?" asked John.

"Why they say that thirteen was a magical number for the Americans. The British reported that Martha Was.h.i.+ngton had a big cat with thirteen stripes around its tail and that she wouldn't have any other kind. There were just thirteen of the colonies, you know, and that made it worse.

And it was reported that General Phil. Schuyler had just thirteen hairs left in his bald pate and that Mrs. Catherine Schuyler very carefully oiled and brushed them every night for fear that the magic number might be changed."

"She had better brush his hair than pull it," suggested George.

"I can remember the time," said John, "when my mother used to brush and pull my hair at the same time."

"So can I," said every one of the boys together.

"Well, the main thing is," said Fred philosophically, "that George Was.h.i.+ngton had some headquarters and that it's a good thing for the United States of America that he did. I wish we had some men now as great as he was."

"We have," said John quickly.

"We have?" retorted Fred scornfully. "Where are they?"

"Eight here," said John solemnly. "Here are four of them. They haven't all arrived yet, but they are on their way."

"Fine lot too," broke in Grant. "Scared so that they run like deer when they hear sounds in the old Meeker House and there isn't one of them that has shown that he has the nerve to stay there long enough to find out just what those strange sounds mean."

"We're not afraid of anything we can see, but it is the things that you can't see that scare us," explained Fred.

"Never mind the Meeker House," said Grant, "I want to take in what this place means. The old cannon b.a.l.l.s, the old guns, and the relics we saw inside the house," for the boys had entered the old building and inspected the various relics of revolutionary times that were on exhibition, "to say nothing about the old Hudson River itself, and the hills, ought to satisfy every one of us for a while, anyway."

"It's a great sight," said George. "I'm glad you brought us up here. I knew Was.h.i.+ngton's headquarters were here, but it had slipped my mind when we first came. I'm getting hungry. Come on back to the hotel and we'll have our dinner."

The following morning was unusually warm. The boys were early awake, but even then the heat was oppressive.

"Whew," said Fred when they left the dining room, "if it's as hot as this before we start what will it be afterward?"

"That's just like some people," declared John. "They aren't satisfied with the good or the bad they have, but they are always looking ahead for more. There's one thing we don't have to do."

"What's that?" inquired Fred.

"We don't have to swelter before the sun beats down upon us. It will be plenty of time to see what we have to do if we find it so warm on the road that we don't want to go on."

Soon after breakfast the boys started on their homeward ride.

True to its promise the heat steadily increased and a glare that was exceedingly trying to the eyes beat down upon the roadway.

George increased the speed at which he was driving, but the air which fanned their faces was almost like that which comes from a heated oven.

Already the cattle in the nearby fields had sought the shade of the trees in the pastures. The hens in the farmyards also were lying in the shade, their wings partly extended as if they were trying to cool their heated bodies.

"Hens in hot weather," said George, "always make me think they are laughing at us."

"What do you mean?" demanded John. "Who ever heard a hen laugh."

"I didn't say I had heard them laugh, but they have their mouths open."

"Hens don't have mouths, my friend."

"They don't?" demanded George. "Then how do they eat?"

"They have throats and bills and beaks, but they don't have mouths."

"What is a mouth anyway?" said George scornfully. "Isn't it the opening in the head through which one takes food into his stomach?"

"I suppose it is."

"Well, doesn't a hen swallow corn?"

"She does."

"Then she has a mouth, hasn't she?"

"Wait a minute and I'll tell you. It's this way, you see-"

At that moment there was a loud report directly beneath the car which at that time was pa.s.sing under a stone bridge.

George instantly stopped the car, but another driver directly in front of him was so startled by the unexpected sound that he lost control of his automobile and swung into the ditch, nearly overturning his car as he did so. Instantly rising from his seat he turned and glared at the Go Ahead boys as if he was tempted to visit some merited punishment upon them.

The boys, however, were so busy with their own troubles that they ignored the anger of the driver before them. Instantly leaping from their seats they began their investigations.

Only a brief time, however, was required to disclose the cause of the trouble. "A blowout," said George disgustedly. "It's torn that tube all into shreds."

"You blew it up too tight," suggested Grant.

"Thank you," said George as he took off his coat, "you're so well informed about these matters that I think I'll let you help me put a new tire on."

CHAPTER XVI-ANOTHER LOSS