CHAPTER IV
BENZEOR'S VISITOR
"HOLD on there! Hold on, I say! Stop, or we'll shoot!"
The words were shouted by some one in the whaleboat, and Benzeorevidently was about to heed the sharp command. He quickly changed thecourse of the boat, and as the shortened sail flapped in the wind as thelittle craft came about, the whaleboat came alongside and some onereached forth with a boat-hook, and the progress was instantly stayed.
Tom's heart was beating rapidly in his excitement. A wild impulse toleap into the river seized him, but before he could leave his positionin the bow, two of the other crew clambered on board, and he knew thatan attempt to escape would now be useless. Doubtless the men were armed,and the darkness was not deep enough to conceal him from their sight.His only hope now depended upon the actions of the men and the coursewhich Benzeor should decide to follow.
The sail was instantly lowered in obedience to the sharp command of themen who had boarded the boat, and, in great fear, the lad waited for thepurpose of their captors to be declared. He drew back in his position inthe bow, hoping to escape the notice of all on board, as he saw thatBenzeor had arisen from his seat and stood facing the men.
"Who are you? What ye out in a night like this for? Whose boat is this?"exclaimed the one who appeared to be the leader.
"Is that you, Fenton?" replied Benzeor in a low voice.
"Ho, it's Benzeor Osburn!" exclaimed the man, peering intently into theface before him as he spoke. "I thought it was strange we didn't findyou in your house. We waited an hour as we agreed to, but when youdidn't put in an appearance, we thought we'd start back. Where ye been,Benzeor? What's up now?"
"I'd been back home in time if it hadn't been for the storm and an alarmwe had back in the bay. I think ye'd better go back with me now, Fenton.I've got some facts that may interest you, and we can't talk them overhere."
"Who are these men with you?" inquired Fenton suspiciously.
"Oh, they're all right. I'll vouch for them, every one," repliedBenzeor. "You haven't anything to fear from any of my friends. Come upto my house and I'll tell ye all about it."
Fenton hesitated a moment before he replied, and Tom peered intently atthe man of whom he had already heard so many tales. He could see hisgreat form, although he could not distinguish the features of his facein the darkness. His deep voice and gruff manner had not tended to allaythe lad's fears, and now Benzeor's words and actions filled his heartwith a new alarm. Was Benzeor about to cast in his lot with Fenton? Hiswords betrayed the fact of their previous acquaintance, and all therecent suspicious actions of his foster father came back to him. No onein the party had yet spoken, except Benzeor and Fenton, but the recentconversation on board the boat, much of which Tom had overheard,convinced the troubled lad that no very strong protest would be madeagainst any proposal that Benzeor might feel disposed to make.
"I'm rather of the opinion," said Fenton roughly, "that it's about timeyou went home with me. I don't know who these fellows on board here are,and I don't care. You're the one I'm after, Benzeor, and it seems to methe time's come for you to join us or quit. You've been shilly-shallyinglong enough."
"Hush! Don't speak so loud!" replied Benzeor anxiously.
Fenton laughed outright at Benzeor's evident alarm, and, turning to hiscompanions in the whaleboat, said, "I think we'd better take the boatalong with us. We can land this crew anywhere along the shore, or we cansink 'em in the river, just which you please. It's too much of a stormfor us to be hanging around here on the Navesink."
"Fenton," said Benzeor, rising and stepping up to the side of theoutlaw, "you'd better do as I say. I've got something to tell ye, andit's worth hearing, too."
A low conversation followed between the two men which Tom, with all hisefforts, was not able to hear. The result of it, however, quickly becameapparent when Fenton turned to his companions and said, "It's all right,boys. You go on without me, and I'll join you to-morrow. I'm going upto Benzeor's now."
The boat-hook was quickly withdrawn at his command, and the sound of theoars of the departing boat soon ceased to be heard.
The sail of Benzeor's boat was then hoisted again, and once more thelittle party, increased now by the addition of Fenton, began to maketheir way up the Navesink. Though the rain was steadily falling, thewind was favoring, and the boat, handled by the skillful Benzeor, heldsteadily to its way. The low shores could be seen in the distance oneither side, and an occasional light betrayed the location of somelonely farmhouse, whose occupants in the confidence begotten of thestorm had ventured to sit up till a later hour than was customary inthose days.
Not a word was spoken on board the boat, and Fenton had taken a positionnear Tom from which he did not move. All were drenched, but a summerrain was something which none of them minded in such a time as that.
When an hour had passed, Benzeor ran his boat closer inshore and in afew moments landed. Then turning to his companions he said, "Come overto my house to-morrow, Jacob, and I'll give you and Barzilla yourshares of the money."
"We'll go with you now," replied Jacob, evidently not desiring to putoff the day of reckoning too long, a desire in which Barzilla alsoshared.
"No, I can't fix it up to-night. You can take the bag, though, if youwant to, and bring me my share to-morrow."
Benzeor's confidence in his fellows served the desired purpose, andJacob and Barzilla speedily departed, taking with them the little bag ofgold which had been received as the price of the produce they had takento New York.
"Tom, you look out for the boat," called Benzeor, as he and Fentonstarted towards the little house whose outlines could be discerned inthe distance.
Tom obeyed, and as he worked over the little boat, looking well to allthe details, his thoughts were far more busy than his hands. The changeswhich he had noted in Benzeor of late seemed almost to have reachedtheir climax. Was the man intending now to go with Fenton? All hisrecent absences from home came up before the lad's mind, and the strangevisitors he had received there of late were not forgotten. What was itBenzeor was planning to do? He was not much like the man he had been afew years before this time, and as Tom thought over all the changes, hewas troubled more and more.
He knew that Sarah had not been unaware of what was going on, for many atime had they talked it all over together. Sarah had remained asteadfast champion of her father, but Tom had not failed to see that shewas none the less troubled by his strange actions. His graspingdisposition had become more and more apparent of late, and while he hadnever in the presence of his family referred to anything he had in hismind to do against the patriots, his very silence in such times was morethreatening than any words he could utter. But Sarah had steadilyrefused to believe that her father would desert the cause for which atthe outbreak of the war he had professed the most ardent attachment;still, it was impossible for her not to discover, what Tom for a longtime had seen, that he was strangely silent of late.
The change in Benzeor Osburn had been so gradual as to deceive many ofhis friends and neighbors. All had known his "closeness," as the countrypeople termed his love of money, but few of them had thought it wouldever lead him into the position in which the man at that time reallystood.
Benzeor in '76 had been among the loudest in his expressions of loyaltyto the cause of the colonies, and had been foremost in blaming his ownbrother for his "toryism." His brother's property had been confiscated,but Benzeor's had been left unmolested, so confident had all the whigsbeen in the sincerity of his expressions. And at the time Benzeor hadmeant what he said, and said what he meant. But never for a moment hadhe dreamed that the struggle would be such a long-continued one as ithad proved to be, nor had he thought that patriotism would affect hisown possessions. All that would be done would be to make a strongprotest against the unjust taxation, for Benzeor had hated taxes as hedid few things in this world, and then a compromise would be effected,which would permit the colonists to go on with their occupations, andthe mother country would soon see tha
t it was not to her own advantageto drive her rebellious children too far.
The first shock had come to him when the Continental Congress haddeclared the country to be a free and independent nation. That wasgoing too far, Benzeor thought, and so he freely expressed himself; butstill hoping that a compromise of some kind would be made, and that hisown possessions would not be disturbed, he had uttered no furtherprotests, though his voice ceased to be heard in favor of the rebellion.
As further events betrayed the weakness of the patriot cause, and he hadfound that patriotism was likely to prove a somewhat expensive virtue,his feelings had undergone a still more decided change. At first he hadentered into one or two secret projects by which he had succeeded inenriching his own pockets, and the success had so affected him that ashis patriotism decreased his hopes of gains correspondingly increased;and soon from deeds for which he tried to justify himself, he had beengradually drawn into others which even his own seared conscienceproclaimed to be wrong. In some of the latter he had come into contactwith the outlaws of Fenton's class, and his association with them hadsoon banished the feeling of disgust he had formerly cherished for them,until it had even come to pass that Fenton himself was a not unwelcomeguest in his own home.
At first the visits had been made secretly, and the promises of richharvests to be reaped, as the result of their evil deeds, had appealedto Benzeor more strongly than even he himself was aware. The lawlesstimes, the constant turmoils, the bitterness between those who hadrecently been the warmest of friends, the ease with which raids weremade, and the apparent impossibility of detection, had all combined toarouse the avaricious Benzeor more and more; and now not very much wasneeded to draw him still farther within the toils of Fenton and hisband.
Not all of these things were apparent to Tom when at last he left theboat and started towards the house, but he had seen sufficient to makehim suspicious of Benzeor, and he was as perplexed as he was troubled.All his own feelings had gone out more and more to the patriot cause,and more than once had he been sadly tempted to depart from his homewithout waiting for the formality of buying up his time, and he had evengone so far as to suggest to Sarah several times what he had it in hismind to do. Sarah's grief, however, and the confidence which she stillprofessed to feel in her father, as well as the dislike in his own heartto do anything which bore any resemblance to stealing,--for so thetroubled lad regarded the taking of time which did not really belong tohim as the bound boy of Benzeor Osburn,--had hitherto held him back. Howlong such feelings would continue to sway him Tom could not decide whenat last he lifted the latch and entered the kitchen.
Benzeor and his guest were seated before the fire which had been startedin the wide and open fireplace, and were drying their wet clothing asthey conversed eagerly together.
As Tom came in, Benzeor glanced up hastily and said, "You can go to bed,Tom. You must be wet and tired, and there is a lot of work to be doneto-morrow." Benzeor's voice was not unkind, but Tom did not fail to seethat his presence was not desired. He quickly lighted a candle with asplinter which he thrust into the fire and held until it was in a flame,and then went up the low stairway to his room directly over the kitchenin which the men were seated.
As he entered the room he noted the gleam which came through the openspace near the rude chimney, and, placing the candle on the low table,he advanced and peered down at the men. He could see both plainly, and,after observing them for a moment, he was about to turn away and takeoff his dripping clothing, when he suddenly stopped. He had overheard aword which caused his heart to beat much more rapidly, and in a momenthe was upon his knees striving to hear what more would be said.
He remained in the same position for an hour, and at last arose onlywhen Fenton opened the door and went out into the darkness. Then Benzeorclosed and barred the door, and started directly up the stairway.
Instantly Tom blew out his candle and leaped into bed, all wet and muddyas he was, and drew the bedclothes close up around his face.
Benzeor came slowly on and then stopped before the door of Tom's room.The lad was trembling in his excitement, for he well knew that if theman should enter and discover that he had not removed his clothingbefore going to bed, his suspicions would at once be aroused. And aboveall things Benzeor's suspicion at that time was what Tom most desired tolull.
There were wild thoughts in Tom's mind of leaping from the bed and,rushing past the man, making a break for the outside. Perhaps the manmight not enter, however, and, trembling with fear and excitement, Tomwaited.
It seemed to him that a long time had elapsed, and still no soundoutside the door could be heard. Had Benzeor gone on? The light of hiscandle which still shone through the cracks disproved that. What couldhe then be doing?
Tom tried to conjecture what must be going on on the stairway, but thesilence was still unbroken. The minutes were like hours to thefrightened lad. It seemed to him as if the beatings of his heart must beheard throughout the house.
His suspense was soon ended--when Benzeor lifted the latch and Tom feltthe light of the candle streaming in full upon his face.
Boys of Old Monmouth: A Story of Washington's Campaign in New Jersey in 1778 Page 4