The Minute Boys of York Town Part 8

"I count on flogging you until it is a question whether you can leave this town without a.s.sistance."

"It may not be safe to venture anything of the kind," and Horry looked around in the hope that some of the Britishers might be near at hand.

"Of course when there are three to one, I cannot expect to hold my ground; but let me warn you of this, Saul Ogden: Whatever you do to me while the odds are in your favor, shall be paid back an hundred fold before you are outside these lines! Now I know why that little French sneak claimed that there was a short cut through the woods from the York road to the Hamilton plantation. You fellows were hiding somewhere nearabout, and he counted on joining you without my knowledge."

"Well, is it necessary we shall explain to you what we do, or where we are going?" Saul shrieked, anger now having so far gotten the better of him that he was hardly responsible for the words which came from his mouth.

Pierre and I looked at each other in dismay which amounted almost to fear. We had but just succeeded in paving a way for ourselves to enter the town at will, and through Saul's hasty temper all the fat was in the fire!

I could see no other course than to warn Uncle 'Rasmus as soon as might be possible. Then take to our heels, trusting to the poor chance that we might gain the plantation without being laid by the heels, and all through an unthinking lad who had agreed, equally with us, that we must not let Horry Sims know we were aware of his treachery.

"It's a case of getting away from here as soon as may be," I whispered to Pierre, while Saul stood shaking Horry Sims and uttering threats which might have been heard fifty yards away. "My cousin must pay the penalty for thus losing his temper and destroying all our chances of regaining the horses, for in order to save Uncle 'Rasmus, as well as ourselves, we must leave him here to fight his battles with the Tory."

"I am not so certain that we should leave either of them," little Frenchie said thoughtfully, and seemingly forgetting to shrug his shoulders. "It is true the fat is all in the fire so far as our playing friendly with Horry Sims is concerned; but it seems to me possible that we can yet prevent that scoundrel from upsetting all our plans, even though it may be a dangerous venture."

"Of what are you talking?" I cried in amazement. "The mischief has already been done. It is no longer possible for us to hold the lad in check, because he will go straight away to such officers as he knows, giving information that we are here. Once it is learned we claimed that Uncle 'Rasmus had been held in the cabin through his helplessness, and we were come to aid him, all our scheming will be made public, and we called upon to pay the penalty, whatever it may be."

"But Horry Sims has not yet laid information," Pierre whispered hurriedly. "If it be possible for you to call Saul off and make him understand now, on the instant, before any come nearer, that he must hold himself in check, we, meaning you and I, may be able to deal with the Tory by such methods that he can not do us one whit of harm until we are ready to give him the opportunity."

I looked at the little French lad in amazement, too much bewildered to be able to make reply, for it seemed to me he was talking veriest folly, and yet there was on his face an expression of determination in which I could see no token of fear, or even uneasiness of mind.

CHAPTER V

OUR PRISONER

Even as I gazed at little Frenchie in what was very like bewilderment, I noted that the lad was looking here and there furtively, as if to make certain there were no eavesdroppers near, and on the instant the haze of perplexity was cleared from my mind, allowing me to realize that the French lad had some plan on foot whereby the mischief wrought through Saul might be counteracted.

Although the situation seemed to me so desperate, and the possibility of extricating ourselves from the difficulties into which we had been suddenly thrown was so slight that I could see no ray of light, yet had I come to have such great faith in Pierre Laurens's quick wit and cool-headedness, that straightway much of the trouble was taken from my mind, and I laid my hand on his shoulder as if to say I depended upon him to draw us out from this slough into which my cousin's ill temper had plunged us.

Meanwhile Saul was giving no heed to anything save the desire to flog Horry Sims for what he had done to our harm, and Pierre whispered to me sharply and quickly:

"Is there no place near by where we can remain in hiding for a time?"

During an instant I failed to remember anything whatsoever concerning this shop of Master Bemis's, although it was familiar to me, owing to my having visited it a dozen times or more. Then I suddenly recalled to mind that just around the corner, in the rear, was an old shed sometimes used for the stabling of horses, which had frequently been half-filled with rubbish of such sort as empty cases, lumber or straw.

This much I explained to Pierre in the fewest words possible, and a look of relief came over little Frenchie's face as he went directly up to Saul, laying one hand on my cousin's shoulder, and with the other clutching the Tory sneak by the coat-collar.

Mayhap not more than thirty seconds had pa.s.sed from the time my cousin announced his intention of paying off the score we held against Horry Sims, until Pierre said in a low, sharp tone to Saul, and conveying much of reproof:

"You have forgotten that by giving way to anger you not only endanger yourself, but Fitz and me, to say nothing of Uncle 'Rasmus. Now pull yourself up with a sharp turn; check that ill temper of yours if you would keep yourself at liberty--mayhap if you would hold the breath of life in your body."

As he spoke it seemed to me that Horry Sims had a dim understanding of what was about to come upon him, for he lunged quickly here and there like some trapped animal, and I fancied he was about to raise his voice in a cry for help, when I sprang forward and clapped my hand over his mouth.

"What are you about now?" Saul asked angrily. "What right have you to interfere when I count on dealing with this Tory villain even as he deserves?"

"I have every right," and now Pierre spoke in a sharper tone than I had ever before heard him use. "Even though there be no other reason, I shall protect myself, and it would seem, if you keep on at this pace, Saul Ogden, that Fitz and I must consider you equal enemy with this Tory. We are undone from this moment, and can count surely on being thrust into the guard-house as malcontents and rebels, unless you find strength of will enough in that hulking body of yours to behave in a decent fas.h.i.+on."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "I SPRANG FORWARD!"]

Nothing in the way of argument could have moved Saul so quickly as did reproof from the little French lad, who until this moment he had most like considered a child as compared with himself. Now, however, that the boy was talking in manly fas.h.i.+on, and with sound doctrine, my cousin gave way before him on the instant, becoming as meek and docile as any lamb.

"What would you have me do? I had no right to give rein to my temper, and yet I swear to both of you that I could not have held it in check."

"This is no time for making excuses," Pierre said, still speaking in a commanding tone. "The wonder of it is that we have had so many minutes allowed us, and now it stands us in hand to get this fellow out of sight."

"Out of sight? Where?" and Saul was in as thick a cloud of bewilderment as I had been, whereupon, pus.h.i.+ng Horry Sims forward, with my hand still pressed over his mouth, I said hurriedly:

"Pierre would have us hide him in the shed. I know not how that may advantage us; but let me tell you, Saul Ogden, that little Frenchie has got more sound sense in one side of that head of his than you and I in both ours put together. Now do as he has said, and we will listen to him afterwards."

I forced Horry Sims on from behind, still gagging his mouth with my hand, while Pierre, retaining a firm hold on the Tory's coat-collar, dragged him along in the direction I indicated, Saul a.s.sisting as well as he could while in such a state of perplexity.

It was little less than a miracle that we could have stood talking there by Master Bemis's shop and then made our way half around it, without coming in contact with some of the red-coats. Even at this day, as I sit here in safety writing down that which we did in the town of York, it seems to me more than marvelous that we were not taken into custody before little Frenchie had time to give words to his suddenly conceived plan.

I set it down to the fact that all those soldiers of the king were busily engaged throwing up entrenchments, for it was known that not many miles away lay General Lafayette with his army, and my Lord Cornwallis must have said to himself that General Was.h.i.+ngton, finding he had so many of his majesty's troops in much the same as a trap, would push down from the North all the men he could spare. Therefore it came about that every officer was urging the men under his command to the greatest activity, and, fortunately, this shop of Master Bemis's was at a considerable distance from any part of the British works, which explains, at least to myself, why we were not lodged as prisoners in the British garrison.

I believe that from the first moment Pierre began to speak in a tone of command, Horry Sims understood he was in danger, not of a mere flogging, but of something he could not explain to himself, therefore was his fright all the greater.

When little Frenchie, while we were circling around the building, threatened vengeance even to the shedding of blood if he made any outcry, the lad was so terrified that even though he had had fair opportunity I question whether he could have raised his voice sufficiently loud to have been heard a dozen paces away.

He was as limp as any rag in my grasp as we forced him along, and for an instant I feared the cowardly cur would fall helpless from sheer terror of that which he knew not the nature.

Within the time it would take a tongue-tied man to count ten, we had hustled Horry Sims from the southerly corner of Master Bemis's shop around to the rear, where was the shed of which I had told little Frenchie, and again did fortune favor us, for no horses were stabled there, and the rude structure was so nearly filled with rubbish of all kinds that it would have been impossible to have sheltered even a mule beneath the crazy roof.

We entered with our prisoner, Pierre leading the way grasping Horry by the coat-collar, while I brought up the rear with my arm around the Tory's neck so that I might keep a hand clapped over his mouth.

"Shut the door, and, if it be possible, bar it so that no one may come without giving due warning," little Frenchie said to Saul, and my cousin obeyed as meekly as a well whipped cur obeys his master.

There was a crazy affair made of puncheon planks which had served as door, but it hung loosely on its hinges, and I question whether it had been used for many a year; but Saul was by this time so intent on doing whatsoever he might to repair the mischief wrought while his temper had the best of him, that it was as if he had the strength of two men.

While Pierre was looking about him trying to plan something in his mind, my cousin had the barrier closed and fastened with four or five short lengths of logs. It was not done so securely but that one from the outside might force an entrance, yet it would require a minute or two to effect such purpose, and this was what I fancy little Frenchie counted on when he gave the command.

"Over yonder," he said, pointing toward the end of the shed where were several casks and some old boxes, "is the place to which we must take him."

"How long do you count on keeping him there?" I could not refrain from asking, and Pierre replied promptly, thus showing that he had a plan thoroughly mapped out in his mind:

"Only until night, when we must get him to old Mary's cabin where he can be held prisoner."

I was astounded, to use a mild term, by the idea that we were to hold this Tory a prisoner for any length of time. Here we were, shut up within the British lines, in danger at any moment of being haled before some high mightiness of an officer to answer to the charge of being rebels, or of being in the town with evil intent, and we took it upon ourselves to capture a lad who stood to a certain degree in the favor of our enemies!

It was to my mind at that instant, and is even now, as reckless a bit of business as can well be conceived. Why we did not take to our heels at the first moment when Saul gave way to his anger, leaving Uncle 'Rasmus to his fate, and shake the dust of the town of York from our feet, I cannot understand. Yet I am wrong in saying this last, for it was Pierre Laurens who held us where we belonged, and who proved that if there were Minute Boys in York Town, he stood above them head and shoulders as their commander.

But for Pierre's quick wit and decision we had at that moment been racing through the village intent only on pa.s.sing the British lines. Yet I said then, while we pulled Horry Sims across the rubbish, that perhaps it would have been greatly to our advantage if we had fled the town even though the hue and cry was raised on the instant, rather than remain where it might be impossible for us to go out again save in the custody of a squad of red-coated soldiers.

By the time Saul barricaded the door Horry Sims had been taken to the rear of the building, and there little Frenchie turned two huge casks down on their side, with the mouths facing each other, leaving sufficient s.p.a.ce between them for a lad to crawl in, saying to the prisoner when this work was done: