The Minute Boys of York Town Part 3

Saul had thrown himself face downward amid the bushes, striving, as I understood from the pain in my own heart, to prevent giving noisy token to his grief, and I was in no mood to exchange words with him, therefore we two lads lay concealed by the side of the road, giving no heed to what might happen to our disadvantage; but dwelling only upon the loss which had come to us.

To some it may seem veriest folly that we should so mourn over the loss of our horses; but let him who laughs once have companions.h.i.+p with such a colt as Silver Heels, as I have had, and then if he can have mirth in his heart when she has been taken away from him, most like to be abused as are horses in the army, then will I say that he has not within him the instincts of a true man.

Silver Heels had come to know me as I knew her; at my faintest call she would gallop to my side however tempting the gra.s.s when she was hungry, and no dumb animal could have given greater proof of joy at being with me, than did she time and time again when we scampered here or there, bent only on pleasure.

I could not have said how long little Frenchie remained absent, for neither Saul nor I took heed to the pa.s.sage of time as we lay there amid the foliage eating our hearts out with sorrow.

Certain it is, however, that the afternoon was well spent before we saw him coming up the road, and our surprise can well be imagined when we learned that he had with him as companion none other than Horry Sims.

"He has taken up with that snake of a Tory brood simply because of believing that those on the Sims plantation stand higher in favor with the red-coated soldiers than do we of the Hamilton plantation!" Saul cried angrily, and so incautiously loud that I pressed my hand over his mouth as I whispered in reproof:

"You have no right, Saul Ogden, to cast aught of discredit upon Pierre, even though you have known him so short a time. He has shown himself a good friend, and, to my satisfaction at least, has proved that he would not turn traitor, more especially when it might be simply to his own advantage."

Now little Frenchie knew full well where he had left us by the roadside, for I saw him mark the dead cottonwood tree 'neath the foot of which we were lying, and yet he went on his way past us, giving no heed, but talking busily, and, as it seemed, interestedly with Horry Sims.

I must admit that just for the instant there came into my heart a great fear lest that which Saul had said might be true, and then I thrust it from me, saying in my mind that I would not so wrong a lad who had all the marks of gentlemanly breeding. Surely, even though he might at some other time be willing to play us false, he would not do so while we were in such deep sorrow.

"If he is playing fair with us, why should he at this minute be hand in glove with that Tory scoundrel?" Saul whispered hoa.r.s.ely, as he sat up to gaze after the two who were walking rapidly down the road in the direction of our home. "Why did he not have speech with us? Surely he knows where we are."

"To have spoken when he pa.s.sed would have been to tell Horry Sims that we were lying in hiding while he went into York Town to pick up such information as might be possible. The chances are the lad met the young Tory--came across him by accident, of course, and could do no less than show a friendly front, unless he was minded to much the same as tell him we were counting on making reprisals because of the loss of our horses."

Although this was the reasonable, and, to my mind, the only explanation of little Frenchie's behavior, Saul would not at first admit it; but insisted that there must be treachery somewhere else than in Horry Sims's heart, and thus he argued until I verily believe he convinced himself that our little comrade from New Orleans could have done no different. Then came the question as to whether we should remain where we were, or start homeward, for now it was too late for us to make any venture into the town of York even though we had been so minded.

Saul was for pus.h.i.+ng on hurriedly, and, overtaking the young Tory, flog him within an inch of his life. It was all I could do to hold him back sufficiently long to repeat again and again that a flogging was all too poor a punishment for the crime he had committed, and that if we should lay hand against him now we might, and very likely would, put a stumbling block in our way, for until the moment came when we could repay the debt in full, it was absolutely necessary we seem to hold ourselves friendly with this fellow who had dealt us such a cruel blow.

I forced Saul to listen to me so long that it would have been useless to set out in pursuit, and after that again came the question as to whether we ought to go on our way homeward, or wait where we were.

It was fortunate we spent so much time in such discussion; fortunate that Saul differed from me as to what we had best do, for while we lay there disputing we heard a cras.h.i.+ng of the underbrush where the growth was thick, and a moment later little Frenchie, looking heated and so nearly breathless that for a full minute he could not speak so we might understand, came into view.

Panting, and with the perspiration streaming down his face, he threw himself headlong on the ground beside me, breathing like one who had been running a race, until it was possible to have control over his voice, when he said hurriedly, as if eager we should understand all the reasons for his movements without loss of time:

"I was forced to go a certain distance with that young villain, else would he have mistrusted that you might be near about."

"How did you get rid of him?" I asked. "Why might he not suspect something when you broke away instead of continuing on so far as his home, which lay directly in your path, if you were heading for the Hamilton plantation?"

"I made out that I knew of a short way through the woods, which would take me directly out of his path, and when we were come to that trail which leads off toward the York river I left him, although he was mightily surprised at hearing that such a course would bring me to your home more directly than if I continued on the road."

"Where did you pick him up?" Saul asked impatiently. "Why did you waste time on the scoundrel? It would seem to me that after all he has done it was your business to flog, rather than make friends with him."

By this time Pierre had so far recovered his breath that it was possible for him to speak distinctly, and without undue effort. Rising to his feet and shrugging his shoulders as he spread his hands palm outward, he said in his mild voice, and with that peculiar accent:

"To have done so, my friend, would have been to show myself an enemy to you. While I was striving to make my way inside the British lines, pretending that I was simply bent on curiosity, he came up, seemingly having a right of way everywhere within the encampment, and when he greeted me civilly, evidently wondering why I was there alone, I could do no less than treat him as I would have done yesterday, in the hope that something might drop from his lips which would aid me in my search."

"And did it?" I asked eagerly, for now I began to understand that by bearing himself friendly toward Horry Sims, Pierre had succeeded where otherwise the chances were he must have failed.

"Indeed it did," the lad said in a tone of triumph. "It was far better than if I had indulged in a game of fisticuffs with him, because his red-coated friends would speedily have come to his relief."

"What did you learn?" Saul demanded fiercely.

"Where your mare and Fitzroy's Silver Heels are stabled," was the quiet reply, whereupon I sprang up as if within my body was a stout steel spring which had lately been released.

"You learned where they were stabled?" I cried excitedly.

"Ay, that I did," Pierre replied with a shrug of the shoulders, "and without any great labor, for Horry Sims led me at once, and meeting with no interference from the soldiers, to where all the horses which had been taken from the Hamilton plantation were quartered, showing them to me as if it caused him great pain in the heart because such an injury had been done a neighbor."

"What did he say about it?" Saul demanded.

"He told me that he was walking along bent only on coming into that town of York in order to see the British encampment, when a squad of Rangers rode past him leading your mare and Fitzroy's Silver Heels. Then I asked if he had no suspicion such a thing might have been thought upon by the Britishers, and he replied that until he was come this time to York Town he had never seen the Rangers. In fact, had not believed they were with my Lord Cornwallis's army, all of which went to prove that he, the snakey Tory, told the red-coated soldiers where they might find the largest and best supply of saddle beasts."

"Did he explain how it chanced he could wander at will inside the encampment, and also take with him a companion?" I asked.

"He told me he had come upon a lieutenant of Tarleton's Legion, who, when Cornwallis was in James Town, had been quartered at the Sims plantation, and that this officer had made the way plain for him, saying he might visit the encampment at will."

If there had been any question in our minds up to this time as to the guilt of Horry Sims, no doubt now remained. We knew, because of having seen the scoundrel, that he had had speech with Simcoe's Rangers before the horses were seized, and his story that one of Tarleton's officers had been quartered at the Sims plantation during Cornwallis's short stay in James Town I knew to be absolutely false. He had played the traitor deliberately, and as the price of his treachery gained admission to the encampment, most like vouched for by the officer who had met him on the road that morning.

"The hope is," Pierre said after a short pause and with that indescribable gesture, "that the Tory Horry will not suspect I took the trail to York river for any other purpose than that of gaining the Hamilton plantation as quickly as might be."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because it is not well he should know I have been in your company this day, else he might suspect that we know of his treachery. It is in my mind that we must keep him to the belief that we know nothing whatsoever concerning his misdeeds of this day."

"But how can we come at the scoundrel save he does know that same thing?" Saul cried, he ever being hot-headed and not inclined to listen to any plans or arguments when he was burning for revenge, or excited by the desire for pleasure.

"I have in mind," Pierre said, waving his hands in that odd fas.h.i.+on, "that which I believe will give the Tory lad into our keeping, where we may do by him without fear of interference--"

"What is it?" I asked eagerly, for all that time we had been awaiting the lad's return from the town of York I had turned over and over in my mind without avail, plans for laying the Tory villain by the heels.

"It may not be that I shall explain everything now," little Frenchie said as he shrugged his shoulders, "and for the very reason that it is not as yet plain in my own mind. I have a plan which, if it can be worked out, will not only give him to our hands; but also gain possession of at least the mare and Silver Heels despite the fact that they are within the British encampment."

CHAPTER III

UNCLE 'RASMUS'S ADVICE

Plead though I might, little Frenchie would give us no hint as to the plan of which he had spoken; but when we were on our homeward way, walking well within the cover of the foliage lest we inadvertently come upon Horry Sims, he turned the conversation upon such of the fortifications of the town of York as he had seen, and both by his tone and by his manner did I understand that he would give us no inkling whatsoever of that which he had in mind concerning Silver Heels and Saul's mare.

The lad must have seen more of military movements than we had fancied, for he knew full well all the names of the different kinds of fortification, and could explain their construction, speaking at times almost as a veteran soldier might have spoken.

Although Saul and I knew nothing whatsoever concerning such matters, we understood from Pierre's speech that he had not only taken note of each half-completed redoubt or bastion; but knew full well what part each might be called to play in the defences of the town, if so be our American army made an attack.

He told us that the British line extended on an irregular course from the river to the sloping grounds in the rear of the village near what is known as the Pigeon Quarter, and was seemingly intended, when completed, to entirely surround York Town. Across the peninsula of Gloucester and just in the rear of that settlement, he said that another line of entrenchments was being thrown up.

From what he had seen of the completed work, as well as that which was half finished, or but just begun, he announced that there would be seven redoubts and six batteries on the land side, all to be connected by entrenchments, and that on the river bank preparations were making for a line of batteries, the largest, or grand battery, being near the church.

As for outworks, Pierre said there would be three redoubts on the margin of the ravine to the southwest of the town, another a little eastward of the road to Hampton, two on the extreme right near the river, and the Fusileer's redoubt on the left.