The Minute Boys of York Town Part 11

Hard though our bed was, both us lads fell asleep shortly after we were in a position to invite slumber, and, without heed to the many dangers which surrounded us, slept soundly and peacefully until being awakened by Uncle 'Rasmus who, unable to ascend by the rude ladder, was calling us by name softly from below.

It was dark when I opened my eyes, aroused by the old negro's voice, so dark that I could not even distinguish the outlines of my comrade, and I understood that now was come the time for the venture of bringing Horry Sims to the cabin.

Pierre was already making his way toward the scuttle when I had come to a full realization of the situation, and I followed him as nearly in silence as was possible, until we had descended to where Uncle 'Rasmus stood awaiting us at the foot of the rude ladder.

"It's pas' midnight, chillun, an' I'se 'lowin' dat de time hab come for you to snake dat young Tory up here."

"Is everything quiet, Uncle 'Rasmus?" Pierre asked, and the old negro replied:

"I ain' heard a soun' dis las' hour, 'cept when dem sogers what am on guard raise up dere hootin' to let folks know dey're awake. It's dark as de lan' ob Egypt eber was, an' I'se kind'er reckonin' you kin go down to Ma.r.s.e Bemis's shop widout makin' trubble for yoursefs. 'Member, chillun, ef dese yere red-coats do sneak up on yer, an' fin' out what you'se erbout, take to your laigs. Don' stop to fight, kase it won't be any use. Des say to yoursefs dat de Hamilton plantation am a heap better place dan dis yere town ob York, an' you get dere, honey, you get dere!"

"What about yourself, Uncle 'Rasmus?" I asked with deep concern.

"Suppose the Britishers learn of our doings and we run away, you would be in danger, for surely Horry Sims never'd let the chance slip him to mix you up in the row."

"Don' you gib any heed to your Uncle 'Rasmus, honey. Ef trubble comes you des look arter yoursefs, an' leabe de ole n.i.g.g.e.r to crawl out ob de hole de bes' way he kin. Don' stop to talk nor to fight, ef de Britishers pounce on yer; but get back to de plantation. Git dere, honey, git dere!"

Uncle 'Rasmus's advice, instead of strengthening my courage, was weakening it. In the darkness, and now when we were about to make this venture which I knew to be in the highest degree dangerous, I was growing weak-kneed. The attempt to bring Horry Sims across the entire length of the village, where were Britishers on every hand, seemed an entirely different matter from what it had been when the sun was s.h.i.+ning, and, fearing lest I might show the white feather if we stood there many moments, I went out hurriedly into the night, giving little heed as to whether Pierre followed until I felt the soft pressure of his hand upon my arm.

"There is no need of great haste, Fitz," he whispered, and I replied in a tremulous voice:

"Indeed there is, Pierre, else am I like to grow so cowardly as to turn tail and make for the Hamilton plantation, regardless of anything save my own feelings."

"You will never do anything of the kind, Fitzroy Hamilton, and that you know as well as I," the little lad whispered with emphasis. "I am not afraid you will turn coward, for it is not cowardly to be afraid when one makes such a venture as this, providing he keeps his face resolutely toward the goal."

I might fill up an hundred pages with an account of my fears and forebodings as Pierre and I went cautiously through the darkness from old Mary's cabin, to Bemis's shop, and yet not have told anything which would interest a stranger, therefore it is that I shall content myself by simply saying that we crossed the village without having been molested, almost without having heard a sound from the enemy.

As a matter of course it was necessary we pa.s.s at this point or that near by where soldiers were in camp, or on duty; but the darkness was so intense that by making a slight detour we could avoid being seen, and, judging from what few noises we heard, the encampment was in a state of almost complete repose.

Arriving at the shed door we stood motionless and silent while one might have counted twenty, our ears p.r.i.c.ked up to catch the lightest sound which would tell of the approach of an enemy, after which, hearing nothing, we set about making our way into the rude building and thence across the rubbish to where were the two casks which formed Horry Sims's prison.

This last was anything rather than a simple matter, if we would move noiselessly, for in the darkness it was impossible to make out what obstruction lay in our way, and we were forced to pa.s.s our hands over every inch of the rubbish before daring to advance a single pace.

Not until we were come to the opening between the casks was a word spoken, and then came an exclamation from Saul:

"Thank G.o.d you are come! I was beginning to believe you had been made prisoners, and I would be left to get out of here unaided, which meant beyond a peradventure that I would speedily find myself in the clutches of the Britishers."

"Has Horry attempted to raise any row?" I whispered.

"Beyond speaking now and then to make threats as to what will surely come to us in the future, he has behaved himself," and Saul stood erect, stretching his limbs to throw off the cramp which had come upon him. "I have given him to understand thoroughly well how necessary it is we hold him prisoner, and to what lengths we are ready to go, therefore I believe he realizes that it would be taking his life in his hands if he made any attempt at giving us the slip."

Then Saul would have asked concerning what we had been doing during the day, and how we counted on making our way to the cabin, but I silenced him, promising that he should hear of all our movements when it should be possible for us to hold converse without danger of betraying ourselves.

Once more little Frenchie took upon himself the command of the party by literally dragging Horry out from the casks, and saying to me when the lad was on his feet beside us:

"Help me thrust this in his mouth, for it is not safe to take him through the streets without being gagged."

To my surprise I found that this little French lad had, without acquainting me with his purpose, made ready for the venture, thus again proving his right to act as our captain.

He had at some time while in old Mary's cabin made ready a gag of wood covered with strips torn from a blanket, and this, much against Horry Sims's will, we thrust into the fellow's mouth, tying it securely; but promising that if he followed at his best pace and without making an attempt to get away, he should soon be relieved from what must have been in the highest degree painful.

Then we began again to make our way over the rubbish, this time with greater noise than when Pierre and I had entered, because we could not direct the young Tory's footsteps as cautiously as our own, and more than once before we had come to the door did we dislodge a bit of timber or a fragment of wood, causing such a disturbance as must have been heard by any who might have been within an hundred paces of the shed.

At each time such a thing occurred we halted, silent and motionless, striving to learn whether any of the enemy had been aroused by the noise, and, hearing nothing that betokened danger, kept on until another mis-step forced us to a halt once more. Thus we continued, traversing a distance of no more than fifteen or eighteen feet, but which seemed to me a full mile, until we were come to the door and had crept out into the darkness, when I breathed a fervent prayer of thanksgiving, for surely it seemed as if we had already overcome the greater portion of the difficulties that lay in our way.

Saul and Pierre were leading the Tory cur, one on either side of him, and I set off in advance as if believing I was the only lad of the three who could pilot us in safety.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST WARNING I FOUND MYSELF IN THE CLUTCHES OF A MAN."]

Because we had succeeded in getting out of the shed without making sufficient of noise to bring the guard down upon us, did I fancy we were much the same as free to do as we pleased, and set off at a reasonably rapid pace around the corner of the shop, when suddenly and without the slightest warning I found myself in the clutches of a man, my throat held so tightly in his grasp that I could not give the faintest alarm to my comrades.

That a British sentinel who had dogged our footsteps held me prisoner, I had no doubt, and my heart sank like lead in my breast, for to my mind now was come the end of all things for me in this world. Because of having been taken while prowling around the village in the night, there could be no question but that I would be considered and punished as a spy.

I strove in vain to give some warning to my comrades so they might make their escape even though I was doomed; but he who held me seemingly understood that which was in my mind, for he forced me onward lest Pierre and Saul should over-run us, and thus for mayhap a distance of an hundred yards we advanced, I, a prisoner, forced to lead my comrades into what I felt certain was a shameful death.

Because the night was so black they could not see that there were two persons in advance of them instead of one, therefore did they follow blindly, and all unconscious of the sickly, deathly terror in my heart, until we were come to the rise of the land on our way toward the Pigeon Quarter, where the outlines of him who held me, and my own body, were marked against the lighter sky.

Then I heard a m.u.f.fled exclamation from Pierre, whereupon my captor suddenly wheeled me about until we were facing the two lads and their prisoner, when he whispered softly, yet sharply:

"Continue on as you were going, and as you value your lives make no outcry or delay!"

Having thus spoken, one can well fancy that I was nigh to being paralyzed with mingled astonishment and bewilderment, because the tone was friendly and the words indicated that he would aid us. He released his grasp on my throat, and involuntarily I stretched out my hands, when they came in contact with my captor, and by the sense of touch I understood that he wore a uniform.

"You are a British soldier!" I stammered, terror once more taking firm hold upon me.

"Ay, that I am for the time being; but now move on if you would continue that which you have begun, else are you like to fall into the hands of other soldiers in this encampment who will have less care for your safety."

I wish it might be possible for me to set down in words, so that he who reads could understand, the frame of mind into which I was plunged by this remark. When he first seized me I had no doubt but that I had begun my journey on the road which leads to the gallows, and on learning that he was a British soldier my fears were not lessened, yet was his behavior and his words so unaccountable, taking into consideration who he appeared to be, that I became numbed, like one who has received a blow which deprives him of a portion of his senses.

How my comrades were affected I had no means of knowing; but understood that they were obeying the commands of this man who had captured us, because they continued on close at my heels, and from the stranger's movements now and then I knew he was making certain they did not attempt to deviate from the straight course which led to old Mary's cabin.

Never did a journey seem so long, or a way so strange, as that over which I walked like one in a dream in the darkness, surrounded on every hand by the enemy, and knowing as I did that the king's officers set little value on the life of those whom they call rebels.

As we advanced the situation became yet more strange and terrifying, if indeed that could be possible, for suddenly I came to understand that this stranger who had taken us in custody seemed familiar with the course we should pursue, for instead of lagging ever so slightly to learn in which direction we would go, he led us straight as an arrow might be driven, toward our destination, and, having come to the cabin door, pushed it open and himself entered, leaving us to follow or to flee as might be our inclination.

I am free to confess that when he thus left me at liberty there was but one thought in my mind, and that to seek my own safety in flight, regardless of my comrades, or of the old negro whose life might be in danger if I thus deserted him. I was cowardly enough for an instant to think only of myself, to look forward only to the possibility of saving my own skin; but, fortunately, even before I could have turned to flee like a poltroon, I realized that it was my duty as a lad of Virginia, even though I had seemingly thrown aside the name of Minute Boy, to remain with my comrades whom I had thus counselled into peril.

Even at that supreme moment, when as I believed death stood facing me, there came into my heart a feeling of shame that I should have even thought of doing such a dastardly thing as to seek my own safety by deserting my comrades, and I went into the cabin, following the footsteps of our captor, hoping that no one, not even that red-coated soldier, might suspect what had been in my mind a few seconds before.

Pierre and Saul must have understood that they could do no less than enter this place of shelter, for it was the only one open to them in the town of York, even though we were led by an enemy, and so thrust Horry Sims forward on my heels until Uncle 'Rasmus closed the door behind us.

I stood there enveloped in a darkness so dense that one might, as is said, almost feel it, wondering what strange turn of affairs had come, and why it was that this British soldier should be so harmless--why he should have allowed us to come into the cabin when most like he counted on taking us to the nearest guard-house.

We remained there in silence, and, so far as I was concerned, in most abject terror, while one might have counted ten, and then the stranger, throwing himself down on the floor at one side of the fireplace in which a few half-dead coals yet glimmered faintly, as if he was a welcome visitor, said in a low whisper, yet in a tone which carried distinctly through the room:

"You lads are from the Hamilton plantation?"

No one made reply. I was yet too much confused to have answered such a simple question, and, as Pierre afterward told me, he refrained from speaking because of not understanding whether it would be safe to admit the truth.