XLV
IN WHICH WE FIND WHAT WE NEVER SOUGHT
'Tis fifty miles as a bird would fly it from the grazing uplands of theBroad known as the Cowpens to the lower plantation region lying betweenthat stream and the farther Catawba or Wateree; and Richard Jennifer andI ambled the distance leisurely, as befitted our mission and disguise,cutting the journey evenly in half for the first night's lodging, whichwe had at the house of one Philbrick--as hot a Tory as we pretended tobe.
From our host of the night we learned that within two days the Britishoutposts on the Wateree and the Broad had been advanced; and there wererumors in the air that Lord Cornwallis, who was hourly expecting GeneralLeslie with two thousand of Sir Henry Clinton's men from New York, wouldpresently move on to the long-deferred conquest of North Carolina.
"Has Cornwallis lost his wits?" Dick would say, when we were a-jog onthe southward road again. "'Tis a braver lordling than I gave him creditfor being--if he will put his head in a trap that will close behind himand cut him off from his line and base."
I laughed. "You may wager Jennifer House against an acre of the Cowpensthat Lord Charles will do no such unsoldierly thing. If this rumor betrue, we have heard only the half of it."
"And the other half will be?--"
"That my Lord Cornwallis will do his prettiest to pull the teeth of oneor the other of the trap-jaws before he trusts himself within them."
Jennifer was silent for an ambling minute or two. Then he said: "'Twillbe our teeth he'll try to pull, then. The Broad is nearer than thePedee; and ours is the weaker of the two jaws."
"Right you are," said I. "And now we know what we have to discover."
"Anan?" he queried.
"We must learn by hook or crook who is to be sent against Dan Morgan,and when."
"That should be easy--if the use of it afterward be not choked out of usat a rope's end."
"We can divide the rope's-end chance of failure by two. We may worktogether as the opportunity offers, but once within the lines we mustpass as strangers to each other, or at most as chance acquaintances ofthe road."
"Good," said he; and then his jaw dropped. "But what if one of us betaken? Never ask me to stand by stranger-wise and see you hanged, Jack!"
"I shall both ask it and promise to do the same by you. Your hand on itbefore we go a step farther, if you please."
"'Tis out of all reason," he demurred.
"'Tis the only reasonable course. Bethink you, this is no knight-errantventure; we are two of Dan Morgan's soldiers bent upon doing a thingmost needful for the welfare of the country and its cause. 'Tis a dutyhigher than any obligation friendship lays on Richard Jennifer or JohnIreton."
At this he yielded the point, though I could see that the proposaljumped little with the promptings of his generous heart.
"'Tis a scurvy trap you have set for me," he grumbled. "The risk ischiefly yours, and you know it. You are known to Lord Cornwallis, and toGod knows how many more of them, and belike--"
The interruption came in the shape of a troop of redcoat horsemengalloping in the road to meet us, and we were shortly surrounded and putsharply to the question. We answered each for himself. Dick was aloyalist from Yorkville way, eager to be set in arms against the banditDaniel Morgan. I was a refugee from "hornets'-nest" Mecklenburg, alsobent upon revenge.
The troop officer passed us on, something doubting, as I suspected. Butwe were riding in the right direction, and he was unwilling to cloghimself with a pair of plain country gentlemen held in leash asprisoners.
A few miles farther down the road the same brace of lies got us safelythrough the loosely drawn vedette line, and by evening we were in sightof our goal.
Viewing it from the rising ground of approach, Winnsborough appearedless as a town than as a partly fortified camp. The few houses of thevillage were lost in the field of tents, huts and troop shelters, andmeasuring by the spread of these, it would seem that my LordCornwallis's army had been considerably augmented since I had last seenit in Charlotte. I spoke of this, but Dick was intent upon the businessof the moment.
"Aye; there are enough of them, God knows. But tell me, Jack--I'm new tothis game--what's to do first when we are among them?"
I laughed at him. "You are my troop commander, Captain Jennifer. 'Tisfor you to make the dispositions."
"Have your joke and be hanged to you. There are no captains here."
"If you leave it to me, we shall ride boldly to the tavern, put up astravelers, and listen to the gossips, each for himself," I replied; andthis is what we did.
The village tavern, servilely bearing the king's arms thinly paintedover the palmetto tree of South Carolina on its swinging sign-board, wasa miserable doggery, full to overflowing with a riffraff of carousingsoldiery. Separating by mutual consent in the public tap-room, Richardand I presently drifted together again at a small table in a corner,with a black boy in attendance to set before us such poor entertainmentas the hostelry afforded.
"Well, what luck?" asked Dick, mumbling it behind his hand, though hemight safely have shouted it aloud in the din and clamor of the place.
I shook my head. "Nothing as yet, save that I overheard a tipsy corporaltelling his tipsier sergeant that the officers would be holding a revelto-night at a Tory manor house situate somewhere beyond the campconfines to the northward; the house of one Master Marmaduke Harndon, ifI heard the name aright." Then I added: "This rabble is too drunken toserve our purpose. 'Tis only the common soldiery, and we shall learnnothing here."
"There was at least one who was not a ranker," said Dick, and there wassomething akin to awe in his voice. Then he leaned across the table towhisper. "Jack, I've fair had a fright!"
I smiled. Fear, of God, man or the devil, was not one of the lad'sweaknesses.
"You may grin as you please," he went on; "but answer me this; do thedead come back to life?"
"Not this side of the resurrection reveille, if we may believe thedominies."
"Then I have seen a ghost--a most horrible mask of a man we both know toour cost."
"Name him and I will tell you whether he be a ghost or no."
"'Tis the ghost of Frank Falconnet; or else it is what of the manhimself the fire hath left," said Dick, and I marked his shiver at theword.
"No!" said I.
"I tell you yes."
I sprang up, but the lad reached across the table and smote me back intothe chair.
"Softly, old firebrand; 'twas you who said the public matter must takeprecedence of the private. Moreover, if this be Francis Falconnet whom Ihave seen, your sweetest revenge on him will be to let him live--as heis."
"I will kill him as I would a wild beast," I raged, thinking of thatmidnight scene in the great forest when my sweet lady had gone on herknees to this fiend in human guise. "And so should you," I added, "ifyou care aught for the honor of the woman who loves you."
But now it was this hot-headed Richard I have drawn for you who sawfarthest and clearest.
"All in good time," he said, coolly. "At this present we have DanMorgan's fish to fry, and sitting here saucing this devil's mess of asupper with thoughts of private revenge will never fry it. Set your witsat work; Falconnet's ghost has put mine hopelessly out of gear. Ye gods!but 'twas a most fearsome thing to look at!"
I did not answer him at once, and whilst I plied knife and fork for thesake of appearances, I would think upon what he had discovered. Thisreappearance of Francis Falconnet was not to be passed over lightly.What would he do, or seek to do? Nay, what devilish thing was it hemight not do? If the fire had burned his passion out, it had doubtlesskindled a feller blaze of revenge. And if his thirst was for vengeance,how could he quench it in a deeper draft than by harrying the woman weboth loved? 'Twas only by a mighty effort that I could drag myself backto Dick's urging and the needs of the hour.
"To have some chance of hearing gossip to our purpose, we must makeshift to gain admittance to this officers' rout at the manor house," Isaid.
"The devil!
" quoth Dick, "I venture that's easier said than done--fortwo plain country gentlemen."
"Never fear; there will be others there lacking fine clothes, and so thethrong be great enough, we may pass current in it."
Richard pushed his plate back with a grimace of disgust.
"Let us be at it, then. Another grapple with this pig-bait will finishme outright."
A half-hour later we were tethering our cobs at the already crowdedhitching-rail in front of a goodly mansion some mile or more beyond thecamp limits on the northward road; a rambling manor house to the full aslarge as Appleby Hundred, with a shaven lawn in front, and within,lights and music and sounds of revelry.
"By the Lord Harry! but this Master Harndon would seem to be a man ofsubstance," says Dick. And then: "Can you pick out a good horse in thedark, Jack? It may come to a race for our necks, by and by, and thesecobs of ours are too broad-backed for speed."
I said I could, and so we went deeper into the cavalcade at thehitch-rail and marked out two clean-limbed chargers, a gray and asorrel; this before we gave the final touches to our plan of action andpassed up the broad avenue to the manor house.
The Master of Appleby Page 47