The Spy, Volume 2

by James Fenimore Cooper

  “Then you once formed part of the household, Madam, of Mr. Harvey Birch?”

  “You may say I was the whole of his household,” returned the other; “there was nobody but I and he, and the old gentleman; you did’nt know the old gentleman, did you?”

  “That happiness was denied me,” said Lawton, “but how long did you live in the family of this Birch?”

  “I disremember the precise time,” said Katy, “but it must have been hard on upon nine years, but what better am I for it all?”

  “Sure enough, I can see but little benefit that you have derived from the association truly. But is there not something odd in Mr. Birch?”

  “Odd indeed,” replied Katy, lowering her voice and looking around her; “he was a wonderful disregardful man, and minded a guinea no more than I do a karnal of corn. But help me to some way of joining Miss Jeanette, and I will tell you prodigies of what Harvey has done first and last.”

  “You will!” exclaimed the trooper, musing, “here, give me leave to feel your arm above the elbow---there---it is no small matter of bone that you have, I see.” So saying he gave the spinster a sudden whirl that at once destroyed her philosophy of mind, and effectually confused all her faculties, until she found herself safely if not comfortably seated on the crupper of Lawton’s steed.

  “Now, Madam, you have the consolation of knowing that you are as well mounted as heart can wish. The nag is sure of foot, and will leap like a panther.”

  “Let me get down,” cried Katy, struggling to release herself from his iron grasp, and yet afraid of falling; “this is no way to put a woman on a horse, besides I can’t ride without a pillion.”

  “Softly, good madam,” said Lawton; “for although Roanoke never falls before, he sometimes rises behind. He is far from being accustomed to a pair of heels beating upon his flanks like a drummajor on a field day--a single touch of the spur will serve him for a fortnight, and it’s by no means wise to be kicking in this manner, for he is a horse that but little likes to be outdone.”

  “Let me down, I say,” screamed Katy, “I shall fall and be killed. Besides, I have nothing to hold on with, my arms are full, don’t you see.”

  “True,” returned the trooper, observing that he had brought bundle and all from the ground, “I perceive that you belong to the baggage guard; but my sword-belt will encircle your little waist as well as my own.”

  Katy was too much pleased with this compliment to make any resistance while he buckled her close to his own Herculean frame, and driving a spur into his charger they flew from the lawn with a rapidity that defied further denial. After trotting on for some time, at a rate that discomposed the spinster vastly, they overtook the cart of the washerwoman driving slowly over the stones, with a proper consideration for the wounds of Capt. Singleton. The occurrences of that eventful night had produced an excitement in the young soldier, that was followed by the ordinary lassitude of re-action, and he lay carefully enveloped in blankets, and supported by his man, but little able to converse, though deeply brooding over the past. The dialogue between Lawton and his companion, ceased with the commencement of their motions, but a foot pace being more favourable to speech, the trooper began anew--

  “Then you have been an inmate in the same house with Harvey Birch?”

  “For more as nine years,” said Katy, drawing her breath, and rejoicing greatly that their speed was abated.

  The deep tones of the trooper’s voice, were soon convey’d by the night air to the ears of the washerwoman, and turning her head, where she sat directing the movements of her mare, she heard both question and answer.

  “Belike then, good woman, yee’r knowing whether or no he’s a-kin to Beelzeboob,” said Betty; “it’s Sargeant Hollister who’s saying the same, and no fool is the sargent, any way.”

  “It’s a scandalous disparagement,” cried Katy, most vehemently, “there’s no kinder soul than Harvey that carries a pack; and for a gownd or a tidy apron, he will never take a King’s farthing from a friend. Belzebub indeed! For what would he read the bible if he had bealings with the evil spirit?”

  “He’s an honest divil, any way, as I was saying before,” returned Betty; “the guinea was pure. But then the sargeant thinks him amiss, and it’s no want of larning that Mister Hollister has.”

  “He’s a fool,” said Katy tartly. “Harvey moutht be a man of substance, but he’s so disregardful. How often have I told him, that if he did nothing but peddle, and would put his gains to use, and get married, so that things at home could be kept snug and tidy, and leave off his dealings with the rig’lars and all sich incumberments, that he would soon be an excellent liver. Sergeant Hollister would be glad to hold a candle to him, I guess, indeed.”

  “Pooh!” said Betty, in her philosophical way; “yee’r no thinking that Mister Hollister is an officer, and stands next the cornet in the troop. But this pedlar gave warning of the brush, the night, and it’s no sure, that Captain Jack would have got the day, but for the rinforcement.”

  “How say you, Betty,” cried the trooper, bending forward on his saddle, “had you notice of our danger from this said Birch?”

  “The very same, darling; and it’s hurry I was till the boys was in motion--not but I knew yee’r enough for the cow-boys, any time. But wi’d the divil on your side, I was sure of the day. I’m only wondering there’s so little plunder in a business of Beelzeboob’s contriving.”

  “I’m obliged to you for the rescue,” said Lawton, “and equally indebted to the motive.”

  “Is it the plunder? But little did I think of it, till I saw the moveables on the ground, some burnt and some broke, and other some as good as new. It would be convanient to have one feather bed in the corps, any way.”

  “By heavens, ’twas timely succour. Had not Roanoke been swifter than their bullets, I must have fallen. The animal is worth his weight in gold.”

  “It’s continental you mane, darling. Goold weighs heavy, and is no plenty in the States. If the nagur had’nt been staying and frighting the sargeant with his copper-coloured looks, and a matter of blarney ’bout ghosts, we should have been in time to have killed all the dogs, and taken the rest prisoners.”

  “It is very well as it is, Betty,” said Lawton; “a day will yet come, I trust, when these miscreants will be rewarded--if not in judgments upon their persons, at least in the opinions of their fellow citizens. The time must arrive when America will learn to distinguish between a patriot and a robber.”

  “Speak low,” said Katy; “there’s some who think much of themselves that have doings with the skinners.”

  “It’s more they are thinking of themselves then, than other people thinks of them,” cried Betty; a thief’s a thief, any way, whether he stales for King George or for Congress.”

  “I knew that evil would soon happen,” said Katy; “the sun set to-night behind a black cloud, and the house-dog whined, although I gave him his supper with my own hands; besides, it’s not a week sin I dreamed that dream about the thousand lighted candles, and the cakes being burnt in the oven. Miss Peyton said it was all because I had the tallow melted to dip the next day, and a new baking set; but I know’d better nor that from the beginning.”

  “Well,” said Betty, “it’s but little I drame, any way--jist keep an asy conscience and a plenty of the stuff in yee, and yee’l sleep like an infant. The last drame I had was when the boys put the thistle-tops in the blankets, and then I was thinking that Captain Jack’s man was currying me down, for the matter of Roanoke: but it’s no trifle I mind either in skin or stomach.”

  “I’m sure,” said Katy, with a stiff erection that drew Lawton back in his saddle, “no man should ever dare to lay hands on any bed of mine--it’s indecent and despisable conduct.”

  “Pooh! pooh!” cried Betty; “if you tag after a troop of horse, a small bit of a joke must be borne: what would become of the states and liberty if the boys had never a clane shirt or a drop to comfort them? Ask Captain Jack there, if they’d fig
ht, Mrs. Beelzeboob, and they no clane linen to keep the victory in.”

  “I’m a single woman, and my name is Haynes,” said Katy, “and I’d thank you to use no disparaging terms when speaking to me; it’s what I isn’t use to, and Harvey is no more of Beelzebub nor yourself.”

  “You must tolerate a little license in the tongue of Mrs. Flanagan, madam,” said the trooper; “the drop she speaks of is often of an extraordinary size, and then she has acquired the freedom of a soldier’s manner.”

  “Pooh! captain, darling,” cried Betty, “why do you bother the woman--talk like yeerself, dear, and it’s no fool of a tongue that yee’ve got in yee’r own head. But it’s here away that the sargeant made a halt, thinking there might be more divils than one stirring, the night. The clouds are as black as Arnold’s heart, and deuce the star is there a twinkling among them. Well, the mare is used to a march after night-fall, and is smelling out the road like a pointer slut.”

  “It wants but little to the rising moon,” observed the trooper. He called a dragoon who was riding in advance, to him, gave a few orders and cautions relative to the comfort and safety of Singleton, and speaking a consoling word to his friend himself, gave Roanoke the spur, and dashed by the cart at a rate that again put to flight all the philosophy of Katharine Haynes.

  “Good luck to yee for a free rider and a bold,” shouted the washerwoman as he passed, “if yee’r meeting Mister Beelzeboob, jist back the baste up to him and show him his consort that yee’ve got on the crupper. I’m thinking it’s no long he’d tarry to chat. Well, well, it’s his life that we saved, he was saying himself--though the plunder is nothing to signify.”

  The cries of Betty Flanagan were too familiar to the ears of Captain Lawton to cause any alteration in the gait of his steed, or to elicit a reply. Notwithstanding the unusual burden that Roanoke sustained, he got over the ground with great rapidity, and the distance between the cart of Mrs. Flanagan and the chariot of Miss Peyton, was passed in a manner that, however it answered the intentions of the trooper, in no degree contributed to the comfort of his companion. The meeting occurred but a short distance from the quarters of Lawton, and at the same instant the moon broke from behind a mass of clouds that hovered over the horizon, and threw a light upon objects that seemed paler than usual after the glaring brightness of the conflagration. There is, however, a sweetness in moonlight that no competition of art can equal, and Lawton checked his horse, and mused in silence for the remainder of the ride.

  Compared with the simple elegance and substantial comfort of the Locusts, the “Hotel Flanagan” presented but a dreary spectacle. In the place of carpeted floors and curtained windows, were the yawning cracks of a rudely constructed dwelling, and boards and paper were ingeniously applied to supply the place of the green glass in more than half the lights. The care of Lawton had anticipated every improvement that their situation would allow, and blazing fires were made before the party arrived, to cheer as much as possible the desolation within. The dragoons who had been charged with this duty, conveyed a few necessary articles of furniture, and Miss Peyton and her companions on alighting, found something like habitable apartments prepared for their reception. The mind of Sarah had continued to wander during the ride, and, with the pliability of insanity, she accommodated every circumstance to the feelings that were uppermost in her own bosom. It was necessary to support her to the room intended for the ladies; but the instant she was placed on the seat where her sister sat, she passed an arm affectionately around the waist of Frances, and pointing slowly with the other, said in an under tone---

  “See, this is the palace of his father; here is the light of a thousand torches---but no bridegroom. Oh! never---never wed without a ring--- a prepared ring; and be wary lest another has a right to it. Poor little girl, how you tremble! but you are safe---there never can be two bridegrooms for more than one bride.---Oh!---no---no---no--- do not tremble, do not weep, you are safe.”

  “It is impossible to minister to a mind that has sustained such a blow,” said the trooper, who was compassionately regarding the ruin, to Isabella Singleton; “time and God’s mercy can alone avail her; but something more may be done towards the bodily comfort of you all. You are a solider’s daughter and used to scenes like this;-- help me to exclude some of the cold air from these windows.”

  Miss Singleton promptly acceded to his request, and while Lawton was endeavouring from without to remedy the defect of broken panes, Isabella was arranging a substitute for a curtain within.

  “I hear the cart,” said the trooper, in reply to one of her interrogatories. “Betty is tender-hearted in the main; believe me, poor George will not only be safe but comfortable.”

  “God bless her for her care, and bless you all,” said Isabella fervently. “Dr. Sitgreaves has gone down the road to meet him, I know--but what is that glittering in the moon-beams?”

  Directly opposite to the window where they stood, were the out-buildings of the farm, and the quick eye of Lawton caught at a glance the object to which she alluded.

  “ ’Tis the glare of fire-arms,” said the trooper, springing from the window towards his charger, who yet remained caparisoned at the door. His movement was quick as thought, but a flash of fire was followed by the whistling of a bullet, before he had proceeded a step. A loud shriek burst from the dwelling, and the Captain sprang into his saddle--the whole was the business of but a moment.

  “Mount--mount, and follow,” shouted the trooper, and before his astonished men could understand the cause of alarm, Roanoke had carried him in safety over the fence which intervened between him and his foe. The chase was for life and death, but the distance to the rocks was again too short, and the disappointed trooper saw his intended victim vanish in their clefts where he could not follow.

  “By the life of Washington,” muttered Lawton, as he sheathed his sabre, “I would have made two halves of him had he not been so nimble on the foot--but a time will come.” So saying he returned to his quarters with the indifference of a man who knew his life was at any moment to be offered a sacrifice to his country. An extraordinary tumult in the house induced him to quicken his speed, and on arriving at the door, the panic-stricken Katy informed him that, the bullet aimed at his own life had taken effect in the bosom of Miss Singleton.

  CHAPTER VIII.

  Hush’d were his Gertrude’s lips! but still their bland

  And beautiful expression seem’d to melt

  With love that could not die! and still his hand

  She presses to the heart no more that felt.

  Gertrude of Wyoming

  The brief arrangement of the dragoons had prepared two apartments for the reception of the ladies, the one being intended as a sleeping room and situated within the other. Into the latter, Isabella was immediately conveyed at her own request, and placed on a rude bed by the side of the unconscious Sarah. When Miss Peyton and Frances flew to her assistance, they found her with a smile on her pallid lips, and a composure in her countenance, that induced them to think her uninjured.

  “God be praised,” exclaimed the trembling spinster; “the report of fire-arms, and your fall, had led me into an error. Surely, surely, there was enough of horror before, but this has been spared us.”

  Isabella pressed her hands upon her bosom, still smiling, but with a ghastliness that curdled the blood of Frances, and said--

  “Is George far distant? let him know--hasten him, that I may see my brother once again.”

  “It is as I apprehended!” shrieked Miss Peyton; “but you smile--surely you are unhurt.”

  “Quite well--quite happy,” murmured Isabella; “here is a remedy for every pain.”

  Sarah arose from the reclining posture she had taken, and gazed wildly at her companion. She stretched forth her own hand, and raised that of Isabella from her bosom, where she had continued to hold it, and exhibited it stained with blood.

  “See,” said Sarah, there is blood, but it will wash away love! Marry, young woman, and
then no one can expel him from your heart, unless,” she added, whispering and bending over the other, “you find another there before you--then die and go to heaven--there are no wives in heaven.”

  The lovely maniac hid her face under the clothes, and continued silent during the remainder of the night. It was at this moment that Lawton entered. Inured as he was to danger in all its forms, and accustomed to the horrors of a partisan war, the trooper could not behold the ruin before him unmoved. He bent over the fragile form of Isabella, and the gloomy lowering of his eye betrayed the extraordinary workings of his soul.

  “Isabella,” he at length ultered, “I know you to possess a courage beyond the strength of woman.”

  “Speak,” she said earnestly, “if you have any thing to say, speak fearlessly.”

  The trooper averted his face as he replied-- “none ever receive a ball there and survive.”

  “I have no dread of death, Lawton,” returned Isabella--“I thank you for not doubting me; I felt it from the first.”

  “These are not scenes for a form like yours,” added the trooper; “ ’tis enough that Britain calls our youth to the field, but when such loveliness becomes the victim of war, I sicken at my trade.

  “Hear me, capt. Lawton,” said Isabella, raisin herself with difficulty, but rejecting aid; “from early womanhood to the present hour have I been an inmate of camps and garrisons. It was to cheer the leisure of a father and brother, and think you I would change those days of danger and privation for all the luxurious ease of England’s palace?” The paleness of her cheek gave place to a flush of ardor as she continued--“No! I have the consolation of knowing in my dying moments, that what woman could do in such a cause, I have done.”

  “Who could prove a recreant and witness such a spirit!” exclaimed the trooper; unconsciously grasping the hilt of his sabre. “Hundreds of warriors have I witnessed in their blood, but never a firmer soul among them all.”