CHAPTER IV
_Lord Dunmore's Men Pay an Evening Call_
"Oh, father, it must be the raiders! That was Blodgett's voice," criedKatharine, looking very pale and clasping her hands.
"Let me go and investigate, colonel," said Seymour, leaping to his feetand seizing his sword.
"Do so, Seymour," cried the colonel, as the sailor hastily left theroom. "Phoebus," to the butler, "go tell Caesar to call the slaves tothe house. You, Scipio," to one of the footmen, "go open thearm-chest. Katharine, reach me my sword. See that the doors areclosed, Billy," said the colonel to the other servant, rapidly and withperfect coolness. "I think, Katharine, that perhaps you would betterretire to your room;" but even as he spoke the sound of hurriedfootsteps and excited voices outside was heard. After a few momentsone of the field-hands, followed by Seymour, burst panting into theroom, his mouth working with excitement and his eyes almost startingfrom his head.
"Well, sir, what is it?" said the colonel.
"Foh de Lawd's sake, suh, dey'se a-comin', suh, dey'se a-comin'.Dey'se right behin' me; dey'll be heah in a minute, suh."
"Who is coming, you idiot!" exclaimed the colonel.
"De redcoats, de British sojuhs, suh; dey 'se fohty boat-loads ob 'em;dey'se come off fum de lil' sloop out in de ribah, and dey 'se gwinekill we all, and bu'n de house down. Dey done shot Mars' Blodgett, anddey'se coming heah special to get you, suh, Mars' Kunnel, kase I heahddem say, when I was lyin' down on de wha'f, dat de man dey wanted wasdat Kunnel Wilton."
"It is quite true, sir; they seem to be a party of raiders of somesort," said Seymour, coolly. "I fear that Blodgett has been killed, asI heard nothing of him. I saw them from the brow of the hill. Perhapsyou may escape by the back way, though there is little time for that.Do you take Miss Wilton and try it, sir; leave me to hold these men inplay."
"Yes, yes, father," urged Katharine; "I know it must be Lord Dunmore'smen and Johnson. They know that you have come back from France, andnow the man wants to take you prisoner. You remember what the governortold you at Williamsburg, that he would make you rue the day you castyour lot in with the colonists and refused to assist him in theprosecution of his measures. And you know we have been warned at leasta dozen times about it. Oh, what shall we do? Do fly, and let me stayhere and receive these men."
"What! my daughter, do you think a Wilton has ever left his house to bedefended by his guest and by a woman! Seymour, I believe, however, asan officer in the service of our country, your best course is to leavewhile there is yet time."
"I will never leave you, sir; I will stay here with you and MistressKatharine, and share whatever fate may have in store for you."
But even as he spoke, the crowding footsteps of many men were heard atboth entrances to the wide hall-way which ran through the house. Atthe same moment the door was violently thrown open, and the dining-roomwas filled with an irregular mass of motley, ragged, red-coated men,whose reckless demeanor and hardened faces indicated that they had beenrecruited from the lowest and most depraved classes of the inhabitantsof the colony. They were led by a middle-aged man of dissipatedappearance, whose rough and brutal aspect was not concealed by thecaptain's uniform he wore, nor was the malicious triumph in his bearingand in his voice veiled by the mock courtesy with which he advanced,pistol in hand.
"What means this intrusion, sir?" shouted Colonel Wilton, in a voice ofthunder.
"This is Colonel Wilton, I believe, is it not?" said the leader of theband, taking off his hat.
"Yes, sir, it is; you, Mr. Johnson, should be the last to forget it,and I desire to know at once the meaning of this outrageous descentupon a peaceful dwelling."
The man bowed low with mock courtesy. "I shall have to ask yourpardon, my dear sir, for appearing before the great Colonel Wilton sounceremoniously. But my orders, I regret to say, allow me nodiscretion whatever; they are imperative. You are my prisoner. I havebeen sent here by my Lord Dunmore, the governor of this colony ofVirginia, to secure the persons of some of the principal rebellioussubjects of his majesty King George, and your name, unfortunately, isthe first and chiefest on the list. I shall have to request you toaccompany me at once."
The master of the situation smiled mockingly, and the colonel, whitewith anger, looked about the room. Resistance was perfectly hopeless;all the windows even were now blocked up by the irregular soldiery.
"He has chosen a fit man to do his work," said the colonel, in haughtyscorn; "failing gentlemen, he must needs take blackguards and bulliesinto his service as housebreakers and raiders."
Johnson flushed visibly, as he said with another bow, "Colonel Wiltonwould better remember that I am master now."
"Sir, I am not likely to forget it. There is the family plate. Ipresume, from what I know of your habits, that will not be overlookedby you."
"Quite so," he returned; "it will doubtless be a welcome contributionto the treasury of his majesty's colony. Mistress Wilton's diamondsalso," he said meaningly; and then, turning to two of his men,"Williams, you and Jones bundle up the plate in the tablecloth, getwhat's on the sideboard too;" and laying his pistols down upon thetable, he continued:
"But before Colonel Wilton insults me again, it might be well for himto remember that I am master not only of his person, but of the personsof all others who are in this room."
The colonel started, and Johnson laughed, looking with insolence fromKatharine to her father.
"What, sir! I reach through your insolent pride now, do I? Curseyou!" with sudden heat, throwing off even the mask of politeness he hadhardly worn. "I swore I would have revenge for that insult atWilliamsburg, and now it's my hour. You are to go with me, and gopeaceably and quietly, or, by God, I 'll have you kicked and draggedout of the building, or killed like that old fool who tried to stop uscoming up on the landing."
"What! Blodgett, my old friend Blodgett! You villain, you haven'tdared to kill him, have you? Oh, my faithful--"
"Silence, sir! We dare anything. What consideration has a rebel aright to expect at the hands of his majesty's faithful Rangers? You,Bruce and Denton, seize the old man. If he makes any trouble, knockhim down, or kill him, for aught I care. One of you, take the girlthere. As for you, sir," to Seymour, who had been quietly watching thescene, "I don't know who you are, but you are in bad company, and youwill have to consider yourself a prisoner; I trust you have senseenough to come without force being used. And so," clapping his hat onhis head defiantly, "God save the king!"
Two of the soldiers seized the colonel in spite of the vigorousresistance he made; another approached Katharine, who had stood withclasped hands during the whole of the colloquy between Johnson and herfather. The soldier rudely chucked her under the chin, saying, "Comeon, my pretty one! you 'll give us a kiss, won't you, before we start?"As she drew back, paling at the insult, Seymour, who had seen and heardit all, quick as a flash drew his sword, and threw himself upon thesoldier; one rapid thrust at the surprised man he made, with all theforce and skill begotten of long practice and a strong arm, and thehilt of his blade crushed against the man's throat, and he fell deadupon the floor. At the same instant one of the other soldiers, who hadobserved the action, struck Seymour over the head with his clubbedmusket, and he also fell heavily to the floor, and lay there senselessand still, blood running from a fearful-looking wound in his forehead.The room was filled with tumult in an instant, and with shouts of "Killhim!" "Shove your bayonet through the damn rebel hound!" "Shoot him!""Kill him!" the men moved towards Seymour. Johnson looked onunconcernedly.
"Good God!" shrieked the colonel, writhing in the grasp of the men whoheld him, "are you going to allow a senseless, wounded man to bemurdered before your eyes? Oh, how could anybody ever mistake you fora gentleman for an instant?" he added, with withering contempt; andthen turning his head toward the fierce soldiery, "Stop, stop, youbloody assassins!" he cried.
"Silence, sir! He might as well die this way as on the gallows.Besides, he struck the first
blow, and he has killed one of hismajesty's loyal soldiers. The soldier only wanted to kiss the girlanyway, and she will find, before she gets to camp, that kisses arecheap."
"Oh, my God," groaned the father, "and they call this war!"
At this moment one of the soldiers lifted his bayonet to plunge it intothe prostrate form of the unconscious sailor. There was a blindingflash of light in the room, and a quick, sharp report. The man's armdropped to his side, and he shrieked and groaned with pain. Katharine,unnoticed in the confusion, had slipped to the side of the table, andhad quickly picked up one of the pistols which Johnson had laid upon itafter the silver had been taken away. Her ready decision and unerringaim had saved her lover's life. She threw the smoking pistol she hadused with such effect down at her feet, and, seizing the other, shestepped over to the side of her unconscious lover.
"I swear," she said, in a shrill, high-pitched voice which just escapeda scream, and which trembled with the agitation of the moment, "by myhope of heaven, if a single man of you lay hands on him, he shall havethis bullet also, you cowards!"
After a moment's hesitation, amid shouts of "Kill the girl!" the mensurged toward her. Chloe, her black maid, flung herself upon hermistress' breast.
"Oh, honey, I let dem kill me fust."
"Well done, Kate! It's the true Wilton blood. Oh, if I had a freearm, you villains!" cried the still struggling colonel.
"Seize the girl," Johnson commanded promptly, "and let us get out ofthis."
The men made a rush toward the table where Katharine stood undaunted,her face flushed with excitement, her mouth tense with resolution. Shecried,--
"Have a care, men! have a care!"
One life she could still command with her loaded pistol. Her hands didnot tremble. She waited to strike once more for love and country, butit would be all over in a moment.
The colonel groaned in agony, "Kate, Kate!" but they were almost uponher, when a new voice rose above the uproar,--
"Hold! Are you men? Do you war with old men and women? Back withyou! Get back, you dogs! Back, I say!"
For Love of Country: A Story of Land and Sea in the Days of the Revolution Page 5