Altsheler, Joseph - [Novel 09]

by In Hostile Red (lit)

  Clouds obscured the moon again, and the added darkness helped us. After midnight we found a company camped on a hillside on the fringe of the army, but a little farther from the main body than usual. The tethered horses grazed on the grass near by, and I was willing to swear that I knew several of them.

  " Yes," said Wildfoot, at whom I looked question- ingly, " that 's the company with which you rode the night you and Miss Desmond brought us the warn- ing. I have no doubt that your friend Belfort, who was exchanged for you, and other friends of yours, too, are there. We will rouse them up a bit."

  He signalled to his men, and a half-dozen bullets clipped the grass among the tents. The return fire came in an instant, and it was much fiercer than we had expected. The musket-balls whistled around us, and two men and a horse were grazed. We sent back a second volley, and the British, rushing to their horses, galloped after us, at least a hundred strong. 302

  Average Night with Wildfoot

  Away we crashed through the woods, expecting to shake them off in a few minutes, as we had rid our- selves of the others, but they managed to keep us in sight and hung on to the chase.

  "We must discourage such enthusiasm," said Wildfoot, and he gave orders to our men, who had reloaded their rifles, to fire again, cautioning them to take good aim. Two troopers fell to our volley, and others seemed to be hurt. The pursuit slackened for a few minutes, but was resumed to the accom- paniment of scattering rifle-shots that urged us to renewed speed. Three of our men were wounded, though slightly, and the affair was growing decidedly warm.

  But the darkness of night and our knowledge of the country gave us a vast advantage, which we used to good purpose. Wildfoot ordered us to curve far- ther away from the British camp, and in five minutes we entered the deeper forest. Marcel and I were thankful now that Wildfoot had made us take the horses. All the men were specially well mounted, in truth, on horses trained for such work, and our pursuers began to diminish in number, the slower ones dropping off. They decreased rapidly from a hundred to fifty, and then to twenty-five, and then to less. But a small group clung persistently to us un- til at last Wildfoot laid a restraining hand on the rein of his horse, and said : "Not more than seven or eight men are following us now. We must show them that they are rash."

  We stopped and raised our rifles, all except Marcel and I, who had none, pistols taking their place. Our

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  pursuers were too eager and too hot with the chase to notice instantly that we were no longer fleeing, and dashed at us like knights riding down an antag- onist at a tournament. The man at their head was Belfort, I saw him plainly, who never lacked bravery and zeal, however unlikable he may have been otherwise. I had spared his life once, and I would not fire at him now, but of course I was not responsible for what the others might do.

  Our weapons flashed, and two of the pursuing horsemen fell. One horse also went down. The unhurt, warned by this terrible volley that they had come too far, whirled about and fled all except two.

  The two who did not flee were a wounded man who had fallen from his saddle and the one whose horse had been killed. Both wore the uniform of officers.

  The dismounted man might have darted among the trees and eluded us easily, but he did not run. Instead he raised up his wounded companion, who began to limp away. I saw that the latter was Bel- fort, but I judged that he was not badly hurt, the blood on his coat indicating that the bullet had struck him in the shoulder. The moonlight fell on the face of the man who led him, and we saw that it was not a man at all, merely a fair-haired English boy of seventeen or eighteen years. He put his arm under Belfort's shoulder, and the two walked towards one of the horses that stood near with empty saddle.

  "Surrender!" shouted Wildfoot. 304

  Average Night with U^ildfoot

  The boy turned towards us, and his face showed defiance. Then lie shook his fist, and walked on with his comrade towards his horse.

  We held the lives of both at our mercy, and the boy probably knew it, but he never flinched. We might fire or we might not ; but he did not intend to desert a comrade or surrender. One of our men raised his rifle, but Wildfoot struck it down.

  "There is some English mother whom we can spare ! " he said.

  So we sat there on our horses until the boy helped Belfort into the saddle, and climbed up behind him. Then he looked at us intently for a moment, and raised his hand. I thought he was going to shake his fist in our faces again ; but the hand went to his head, and he gave us a military salute. Then, with his wounded comrade, he rode away towards the British army.

  "A fine spirit and fine manners," said Wildfoot

  We, too, rode off in the forest, and I was very glad that the ranger had spared the boy. He had given me my life once, but then he knew that I was not an Englishman.

  There was no cessation of the work for hours, and we continued our circuit, stirring up alarm after alarm, Wildfoot, sleepless and untiring, at our head. At last when day was bright, and our three bands had reunited, he looked at the rising sun and said, with a deep sigh of regret :

  " I 'm afraid we '11 have to quit and go back to General Washington's camp." 20 30i)

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  " Don't you think that we 've had rather an active night ? " I asked.

  " It's been a fair average night," he replied.

  Such was the man.

  When the sun was well risen, we were riding into camp.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Pure Gold

  I WAS so sleepy and tired that I practically fell from my horse when w e reached quarters ; but I had slept only three or four hours when a messenger from (ienerul Washington himself came to me, bearing instructions for me to go to John Desmond's house in Philadelphia with ten armed men and bring what he would give. I was to show Mr. Desmond a sealed order which the messenger brought.

  The armed men were waiting, and I rode at their head to John Desmond's house, wondering what the nature of my errand could be. Yet my ill-humor at being awakened so early had vanished when I found where I was to go. It was Mr. Desmond's residence, not his counting-house, and I found him in the parlor, where I gave him a note. lie was not alone. He sat at one side of a wide table and on the other side was a man whom I knew to be a trusted aide of General Washington. Between them lay a heap of shining gold of English and French coinage, and they were counting it. It was a fine yellow heap, one of the most luscious sights that I had beheld in a long time, and my eyes lingered over it.

  " It is this that you are to take," said Mr. Des- mond, with a smile, and indicating the gold, when he had read my sealed order. 307

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  " For what is it ? " I could not restrain myself from asking.

  " For the cause," he replied. " It is the contribu- tion of some of Philadelphia's merchants and bankers to the Continental army. They have awaited this opportunity a long time."

  I suspected that his own contribution was the largest of all, and such I afterwards found to be the truth.

  " It is well to be exact," continued Mr. Desmond, " and so we are counting it in order that Captain Reade here may give us a receipt for the exact amount. It will take us more than a half hour yet to finish the task, and you might walk into the gar- Sen while you are waiting."

  He indicated the way, and going into the garden I found Mary Desmond there. She wore June roses on her shoulder, their pink and red gleaming against her white dress, and her face was bright. The charm of her eyes did not depart in the daylight.

  " So you have come back unharmed," she said. " But you have returned early."

  " We have not fought the battle yet," I replied.

  " But you look worn," she said. " Have you not seen service ? "

  " Yes," I replied, " I have spent a night on duty with Wildfoot."

  " I might have known," she replied, as she laughed. "That man never sleeps at least not in the night. He is always seeking to do something for our cause, which may have friends more powerful,
but never better."

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  " I know it," I replied earnestly.

  We walked on between the (lower beds. It was just such another garden as that at the Tory's house, in which we had talked at cross-purposes after our night's ride, but somehow we seemed to understand each other much better here. The atmosphere was different.

  I began to tell her of our night with Wildfoot, and first of our visit to the lonely house where Mother Mel rose challenged the Hessian. Her eyes filled and grew tender.

  " I know her well," she said, " and she is as loyal and true as Wildfoot himself. She has been one of the links in our chain of communication with the American army, as perhaps Wildfoot told you. I have left messages there myself more than once, and sometimes I have urged her to go away to a safer place. But she seems never to be afraid in that lonely house ! "

  I looked with admiration at this young girl who spoke with such praise of another's bravery, but was unconscious of her own.

  " But if Mrs. Melrose should be afraid there," I said, " should not you be afraid to ride alone, at night, in our service through the dangerous forests? "

  " I never thought of that," she replied simply. " I had ridden all about Philadelphia before the war, and I knew the country. It seemed easy for me to go, and I was sure that none would ever suspect me, I claimed to be such an ardent Tory, and I seemed to be all that I claimed. Theu we needed friends in Philadelphia."

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  " In truth we found the best," I replied with earnestness.

  She blushed, but did not look wholly displeased.

  " You flatter like a courtier, Lieutenant Chester," she said, " and this is too grave a time for flattery."

  " But were you never afraid ? " I persisted.

  " Once I was," she said, " when some horsemen, I know not whether they were soldiers or robbers, pursued me. They followed me five miles ; but my horse was too swift, and when they saw the lights of the picket they turned back. I had a pass from Sir William Howe, but I know that my hand trembled when I showed it to the sentinels. I was too ill to leave our house tiie next day, but I went again a week afterward."

  I looked with increasing wonder and admiration at the slender figure that could dare so much. If our women even were so brave, surely our cause could not fail !

  " Why did you talk so strangely to me when we met for the first time after that night's ride to- gether ? " I asked. " Why did you seem to have forgotten it or to pretend that it had never been ? "

  " I did not know who and what you were as well then as I do now ; Captain Wildfoot did not tell me," she replied. "One, perforce, had to be cautious then, Lieutenant Chester."

  " But were you not afraid that I would betray you after that ride we took together."

  " I was sure you would not do so."

  "Why?"

  She looked me directly in the eyes for a moment, 3)0

  Pure Gold

  and then turned her face away. But she was not so quick that I did not see the red coming into her cheeks.

  We walked on among the roses in the gol- den sunshine, and the time was all too short for me.

  " Will you not wish me success in the coming battle ? " I asked, when they called me to take the gold.

  " Yes, and you may wear my colors, if they will last long enough," she said. She took one of the roses from her shoulder, and pinned it on my coat. As she bent her head over the rose, silken strands of her hair blew in my face.

  I forgot myself then, but I have no excuse for it now. I bent down suddenly and kissed her. She sprang away from me, uttering a little cry, and her cheeks were flaming red.

  " Mary," I said, " I don't ask any forgiveness. I kissed you because I could not help myself. You were not afraid that I would betray you after that ride to the American army, and it was because you knew that I loved you. No, I would not have betrayed you even had I been Lieutenant Melville, the British officer that I seemed to be. But much as I loved you then, I love you more now. Mary, will you marry me ? "

  An elusive smile came into her eyes, as she made me a pretty bow, and replied : " Lieutenant Melville of Newton-on-the-Hill, Staffordshire, England, I thank you for your offer, but I have resolved never to marry an Englishman." 311

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  Then, before I could stay her, she ran into the house. But she had left her rose with me, and I did not despair.

  I carried the gold to General Washington, and our main force pressed forward a little later in pur- suit of the British army.

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  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT At the Council Fire

  THE British, going from Philadelphia to New York, inarched on a slightly curv- ing route, while we, almost parallel with them, were advancing in a straight line ; that is, they were the bent bow and we were its cord. Therefore we held the advantage, and it was obvious that we would overtake them. Great hopes began to rise among us. The British army was the larger, composed of regular troops, and far better armed than ours ; but it had just given up the chief city of the colonies, and was in retreat. It was suffering from depression, while we were elated over the French alliance and the sudden and favorable turn of our fortunes. Many of us believed that a heavy blow, well directed, might now end the war. We heard, too, that it was General Washington's own hope, and it was my fortune to discover, through personal observation, that this was so.

  It was several nights after my return with the gold. Our scouts had been engaged in some skir- mishing with British outposts, and just as the evening fell, Marcel and I returned with a report of it. The weather was still intensely hot, and the men, terribly tired by forced marches in such a temperature, were 313

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  lying on the ground with their faces to the sky that they might feel the first coolness of the evening. The cooks were preparing supper, and fires blazed here and there ; but we were too languid to show much energy, and the camp was unusually quiet.

  We made our report to the colonel ; but he con- sidered it of sufficient importance to be heard by the general-in-ehief himself, and he directed me to take it to him.

  "You will find him among the trees," he said, pointing to a small wood. Under the boughs of the largest tree, a fire was burning and over it swung a camp-kettle. Several men, sitting on logs in front of the fire, were talking earnestly, and now and then looking at a map. The one who held the map was large and straight-shouldered, and I knew the figure to be that of the general-in-chief. As I approached, I recognized, too, the swarthy face of Charles Lee, the foreigner who came to us with such an air of superior wisdom, and whom we put in high place, but whom the real soldiers already hated. Then I recognized Wayne, with his trim figure and fine frank eyes, Greene, the silent Rhode-Islander who after- ward became so great, and others.

  The council if council it was seemed t o have developed some heat. General Washington's blue eyes plainly showed anger, and Lee was whipping his own high cavalry boots with a small switch. I approached with much embarrassment and hesitation. My Philadelphia exploits in company with Marcel were yet fresh in the memory of men, and to appear presumptuous was, of all things, the one that I wished 314

  At the Council Fire

  least. I was sorry that Marcel had not been chosen to deliver the report. It was a situation that would have pleased him.

  But General Washington saw me as I came near, and delivered me from further embarrassment by calling to me in very kind tones,

  " A report for me, is it not, Lieutenant Chester ? " he asked.

  I said yes, and stated it briefly, while the others listened with attention. Then I stood awaiting the general's further orders.

  " It is just as I told you," he said emphatically to Charles Lee, and seeming to forget my presence. " Our army will overtake theirs in three days at furthest, and we must strike with sill our strength. We may be able to destroy Clinton's army, and then our cause will be won."

  "But Clinton has more men than we,"
replied Charles Lee, in protesting tones, " and his equipment is much superior."

  " He retreats, and we pursue," said the general-in- chief.

  " That is true," rejoined Lee ; " but I think we should be very cautious."

  His words and tone did not indicate zeal. How heartily I have since cursed the traitor, and how many others have done the same.

  " And why so cautious ? " burst in the impetuous Wayne. " One cannot win a battle unless he fights ! "

  "You might have found caution a good thing, General Wayne," replied Lee, in smooth, soft tones. " Remember how they cut yoa up at Paoli." 315

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  Wayne flushed with anger, but he was too manly to deny his only disaster.

  " It is true," he said, " but the fault was mine. My troops did not get a chance to fight. Here they will have it."

  " We shall invite our own rout," said Lee. " The Americans cannot stand the British grenadiers."

  It was the feeling of an old race towards a new one that spoke in him, and this man, who proved himself a traitor to two countries, the old and new, was unwise enough to say it.

  " You are mistaken," said the commander-in-chief, promptly and emphatically. " That is a delusion which the British may cherish, but not we. This war has furnished too many instances to the con- trary. The attack shall be made, General Lee, and you shall lead it. We must end this war as soon as possible, and benefit two nations ; for I take it that Englishmen do not love to kill Americans, any more than Americans love to kill Englishmen."