Altsheler, Joseph - [Novel 09]

by In Hostile Red (lit)

  His solemn, even despondent tone depressed us. We began to feel afraid of the future and to wonder what General Washington would say to us. Our period of suspense was not long, as within two hours we were summoned to appear before the Commander- in-chief.

  An aide led us to his headquarters, a small square log-house such as frontiersmen build for themselves. A sentinel was watching at the door, but we passed in and stood before the general, who was alone writ- ing at a table.

  The aide withdrew to the further end of the room and left us standing there, watching the goose quill, held in the large muscular hand, as it travelled over the paper, writing perhaps the instructions for our own execution as deserters. I shall never forget the few minutes that we stood in that room hearing only the scratch of the quill on the paper. I have dreamed of them often, and have awakened to hear the rustle of the quill in my ears.

  No one could feel frivolous or flippant in the pres- ence of General Washington. The air was never very warm about him, and I have noticed that it is usually so with men of great mental powers and great responsibilities.

  On went the goose quill. Scratch ! Scratch ! T hate the sound of a goose quill to this day. I looked at the silent aide, but his face gave no encourage- ment. I looked at Marcel, but he was looking at me 264

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  for the same purpose, and neither was able to be a help to the other.

  The general wiped the goose quill and put it away. Then he turned to us, and his face was as stern as any into which I ever looked. I saw no ray of mercy in those severe, blue eyes.

  " Lieutenant Robert Chester ? " he said to me. I bowed, and then Marcel bowed when his name, too, was called.

  " You deserted, according to your own confession, to the enemy, and Sir William Howe, not thinking you of sufficient value, has sent you back to me."

  I flushed at both the charge and the irony, and protested that we were not deserters, and had never meant to be. Moreover, we had sent word by Ser- geant Pritchard of our intention. Then I begged him to let me repeat the whole story. He bowed slightly, and told me to proceed. I fear that I was disturbed somewhat by the steady gaze of those cold, blue eyes, which never left me, and I limped more than once in my narrative. Whenever I did so, he made me go back and take up the loose thread. It was his way to be exact in all things.

  "A likely tale! A likely tale!" he said, when i finished, " and does credit to your powers of narra- tion. I shall not enter into a discussion of its truth or falsity ; but even if true, you left without per- mission, the army to which you belonged and mas- queraded as officers of the enemy. It seems to me that you have succeeded in being false to both Amer- icans and British, and I do not see how anything could be more serious, though you young gentlemen 265

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  may choose to call it an adventure or a jest or a whim. Sirs, a great war is a deadly matter, and it is not to be won with jests ! "

  The blue eyes grew colder and sterner than ever. I wished to say something, but I could think of nothing that would avail, and I was silent. I fear that my lips trembled, not from fright, but at the re- buke. I know my comrade's did, and Philip Marcel, the gay and irrepressible cavalier, was wordless for once in his life.

  " Take them to the guard-house, Mordaunt," said the commandor-in-chief to the aide, " and we will have them disposed of to-morrow. See that they have no chance to escape. Nor shall they be permitted to send messages to any one."

  Then he turned his cold face away, and began to write again. I think that the shock of this sudden and terrible sentence was taken from me by the flame of indignation that leaped up in my heart. We were no deserters, however foolish we had been, and how- ever great the liberty we had taken ! I felt that we did not deserve such a punishment. Both Marcel and I had served our country well, and to put us to deatli for this adventure, although it might come within the military law, was harsh, beyond all mea- sure. I considered ourselves martyrs.

  "Do not be afraid that we will try to escape," I burst out, "and if this is to be the reward of men who serve their country, no wonder that our cause is in such straits 1 "

  He did not appear to notice us, but wrote calmly on, and the deadly scratching of the goose quill was 2G6

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  unbroken. The aide beckoned to us, and we followed him from the room.

  " I am sorry, very sorry," said Mordaunt, when we were outside, "and, in truth, I think that your sen- tence is far too severe."

  His face showed deep concern.

  " Don't be afraid that we will repeat your opinion to your hurt in the general's good graces," said Mar- cel, with a laugh that was pathetic. " We won't have many opportunities in the next twenty-four hours, and after that well, the best story in the world will not interest us."

  We were put in a one-room house of logs, and we sat there in silence for many hours watching the day fade. I was still hot with indignation. We de- served punishment, it was true, I repeated, but not death, an ignominious death such as that decreed for us. What good end could be served by such a deed?

  But with the fading of the day my anger faded also. Then I thought of Mary Desmond, the curve of her cheek, the blue of her eye, and the sunshine in her hair. She did not hate me I knew. " Mary," I said under my breath, " I shall never see you again ! " and I covered my face with my hands.

  " Bob," said Marcel, presently, holding out his hand, " forgive me."

  " Forgive you, for what?"

  "For leading you into that wild adventure. It was I who dared you to do it, who provoked you into joining me."

  I could not accept any such assertion, and I told 267

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  him so, adding that I did not wholly regret our excursion into Philadelphia.

  " Miss Desmond ! " said Marcel, understandingly, " she is worth any man's winning, and you might have won her if if

  Then he stopped abruptly and stared blankly at me, unwilling to finish the sentence. The night came presently, and they brought us food, which we scarcely touched. There was no light in our prison, but through the single iron window we could see flickering camp-fires outside. The low murmur of the army came to us.

  We sat on our stools for a long time in silence. I was trying to prepare myself for the future, and I suppose that Marcel was occupied with a similar task. It must have been past 10 o'clock when the door of the prison was opened and our colonel came in. Sincere sorrow was written plainly on the good man's face.

  " I have heard about you," he said, " and I went to him at once, and pleaded with him. I urged your previous good service and your youth, but I could not shake him a particle. There have been too many desertions lately, and the army is at a low ebb. You are officers, and your fate will be an example for all."

  " Our case is past mending," said Marcel. " We thank you for your good wishes and your efforts, but I don't think that anything can be done."

  " That is so," said the colonel. " The next life is what you must now consider."

  Our colonel was a good man and a good soldier, 268

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  but he was never noted for tuet. Somehow he could not get off the subject of our execution, and when he left with tears in his eyes, and an expressed hope that he might deliver our last messages for us, he took with him our few remaining grains of cour- age, and we felt that death was very, very near.

  Bye and bye, two more officers whom we knew well came to bid us good-bye. They had obtained permission from the general, they said, and they too had interceded for us, but fruitlessly ; they could offer us no hope whatever. They were frank in condemning the severity of General Washington, and this knowledge that our friends regarded our punishment as far out of proportion to our crime, made it all the more bitter to us.

  " General Washington may be a great man and a fine commander," said Marcel, after they had gone ; " but he will never get forgiveness for this."

  I pressed my dry lips together and
said nothing. In an hour three more officers came, and one by one bidding us farewell went out again. Their gloomy manner depressed us still further.

  "Curse it!" exclaimed Marcel. "I wish they wouldn't come here with their solemn faces, and their parting sermons ! They make me afraid of death ! "

  He expressed my state of mind exactly, but there were more farewells. It was about midnight when the last of them came, a major who had been a minister once, and was never known to laugh. He talked to us so dolefully about the future, and the duty of all men to be prepared for the worst, that 269

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  my nerves were jumping, and I could scarce restrain myself from insulting him. We were glad to see him go, and if ever I was thoroughly unprepared for death it was when the major left us.

  The long night dragged wearily on, every minute an hour. Once I laughed aloud in my bitterness, when I thought of Mary Desmond hearing the news of my death.

  We slept by snatches, a few minutes at a time ; but we were wide-eyed when the day came. I saw black lines under Marcel's eyes, and I knew that my own face was haggard too. The sentinel brought us breakfast ; but did not retire as we ate, and when I looked at him inquiringly, he said,

  " Your escort is waiting outside."

  The food choked me, and I could eat no more. "Come," I said to Marcel, "let's get it over."

  We arose, and, walking out at the door, met sol- diers who fell in before and behind us. The camp, or at least nearly all of it, was yet slumbering. Only a few fires were burning. Over the forests and fields the new-risen sun shone with a clear light.

  They marched us to a little grove, and there General Washington and a half-dozen officers, our colonel among them, met us.

  " I think that he might have stayed away," said Marcel, when he saw the coimnander-in-ehief.

  But General Washington, looking closely at us, said : " You do not appear to have slept well."

  " Our time was so short that 1 thought we could not afford to waste any of it in sleep," I replied, with a sad attempt at a jest. 270

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  " General, kindly shoot us at once and have done with it ! " exclaimed Marcel, who was ever an im- patient man and now, expecting death, felt awe of nobody.

  "Who said that I was going to have you shot?" asked General Washington, regarding us intently.

  " Did yon not tell us so yesterday ? " I exclaimed.

  "Xot at all," he replied, his grim face relaxing. "I merely said that I would dispose of you to-day. I said nothing about shooting. That is an assump- tion of your own, although it is what you had a right to expect, and perhaps my words indicated such action. At any rate you seem to have had a fore- taste of what you expected."

  The officers, all high in rank, our colonel among them, laughed aloud. At another time I would have been deeply mortified, but not now. I began to see. I understood that our punishment was not to be death ; but we had already paid the price, the night's expectation of it.

  " Fortune loves us," whispered Marcel to me.

  " What did you say ? " asked the commander-in- chief, seeing the motion of his lips.

  " I was telling Lieutenant Chester how thankful we should be that our understanding of your words was a w ^understanding," replied Marcel, promptly, and with that smile of his which few people could resist.

  " Call it a jest. Do you imagine that you are the

  only jesters in this camp ? " said the general, laughing

  a little. " I thought that you needed punishment,

  and you were too brave and useful to be shot. So I

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  decided upon another plan, and I think it has been successful."

  This, they say, was the only jest of General Washington's life, but I thank God that he made the exception. Marcel joins me.

  " Moreover, some picas have been made in your favor," continued the general. " Sir William Howe himself, before leaving, took the trouble to write to me and ask that you be treated gently. You are lads whom he loves, he said. Certainly I could affor d to do so small a favor for the man who has made it necessary for his successor to give up to me the city of Philadelphia. And there is a young lady, too, who speaks well of you."

  " A young lady ! " I cried, suspecting.

  "Yes, a young lady, Miss Mary Desmond, to whom we owe much, and who has just added to our debt, because last night when you were preparing so well for your future life, she was riding to us with the news that the British were about to depart from Philadelphia. She has told too, Mr. Chester, how she met you that night you were on the way to warn us of the British attack, and how you rode on to- gether. The circumstance was much in your favor. Yonder she is. You might speak to her, and then make ready for duty, like the valiant and loyal officers that you have been always that is nearly always."

  He smiled in kindly fashion, and patted us both on the shoulder. We thanked him with deep and fer- vent sincerity, and then I hurried away to Mary Desmond.

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  She stood under the boughs of one of the trees, holding her horse by the bridle.

  " I am glad to see you, Lieutenant Chester, in your own proper guise," she said.

  I took her warm little hand in mine, as I replied : " And I to see you again in yours." Then I added : " You have brought the news that the British are leaving Philadelphia ? "

  " Yes," she replied.

  " Theu may I come to see you there, still in my own proper guise ? "

  " If General Washington gives you time," she replied. " But to tell you the truth, I don't think you will stay long in Philadelphia. Now, good-bye."

  I helped her upon her horse, and she gave me her hand again. Perhaps I held it a second or two longer than custom demands, but of that I shall say nothing more.

  I watched her as she rode away, the morning sun- shine rippling on her hair, a slender figure, yet so strong and brave. There, I knew, beat a dauntless heart. Her spirit and courage led me on to love her from the first, and then the mystery about her, the strange, magnetic charm had drawn me too. She might take my love and tread upon it if she would, but it was hers, and no woman could ever dispossess her.

  18 273

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR In the City Again

  A DETACHMENT of our army entered Philadelphia the next day, hot upon the heels of the retreating British, and Mar- cel and I were among the first dozen Americans who rode into the city, Wildfoot, the ranger, commanding the little band which had the honor of taking the lead. Seldom have happier horsemen galloped to the music of triumph.

  " See, Lieutenant Chester ! " said Wildfoot to me, pointing across the fields.

  I followed his long forefinger with my eyes, and saw the tips of Philadelphia's spires, a most stimu- lating sight. Philadelphia was then our largest, richest, and most important city. The great Declara- tion had been made there, and in a way we consid- ered it our capital. It had been a heavy blow to us, when we were forced to yield it to Howe, and now when his successor, Clinton, felt himself obliged to give it back to us, our spirits, so long depressed, sprang up with a bound.

  " Aye, it 's Philadelphia," said Wildfoot, " and we 've worked and waited long to get it back again."

  I thought I saw a mist appear in the eyes of the strong backwoodsman, and I knew that he was deeply moved. Certainly no one had worked more 274

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  than he, and perhaps none other had taken such great risks. He was entitled to the honor of leading the vanguard.

  Wo expected to find skirmishers and bands of the British prepared to make our way troublesome ; but we met no foe and galloped, unopposed, into the city, from which the British had gone but a few hours, and from which more than three thousand Tories, too, had fled. The departure of the enemy had been so abrupt, and we were so close behind, that several British officers, either laggards or late risers, were captured by our men, and our little troop, scattering, galloped about the stre
ets, hoping to take more such trophies.

  Marcel and I turned into one of the cross streets, and saw a hundred yards ahead of us two officers in red-coats, riding at a great rate.

  " British ! " cried Marcel.

  " So they are ! " I replied, " and they must be ours!" We were wild with enthusiasm, and even with General Washington's lesson fresh in our mem- ories, we thought little of consequences while in that state of mind.

  We shouted to our horses, and followed the Eng- lishmen at full speed, eager to make the capture. They heard the clattering of hoofs, and, seeing us, fled at a greater speed. We were but two, and no doubt they would have turned and fought us ; but they knew the American army to be at our back, and there was nothing for them to do but gallop.

  On they sped, lashing their horses, and after them came Marcel and I, also lashing our horses. The 275

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  dust flew from the street, and pedestrians scuttled to safety.

  " It will be something for us to talk of if we take them ! " said Marcel.

  " It must be done ! " I replied, as I sought to draw more speed from my panting horse. The dis- tance between us was decreasing, slowly it is true, but yet at a rate that could be noticed. I called Marcel's attention to our gain, and his face flushed with the hope of triumph.

  " We shall take them to the general himself," he said, " and it will help us in his eyes."

  The horses of the fugitives began to stagger, and I noticed it with exultation. Obviously, they could not escape us now. We soon gained rapidly, and I shouted to them to halt. One of the men whirled about quickly and fired a pistol. The bullet whizzed between Marcel and me, and its only result was to add anger to the motives that drew us on. We gained yet more rapidly, and cried anew to them to halt. A second pistol bullet was the reply, but, like its predecessor, it went wide of the target. Ve gal- loped on, and each of them fired at us again, and missed.