The Minute Boys of Boston Part 34

When I was come into the cellar again, Job Lord had been bound hand and foot after much the same fas.h.i.+on as was Seth Jepson, and the lads must have lifted him upon one of the beds, for he was lying there with a gag, formed from Hiram's coat, in his mouth, glaring at us fiercely.

"We may as well bring the Tory lad out here to bear him company," Archie suggested, and in a twinkling Hiram came from behind the casks with Seth in his arms.

Even though up to this time we had had suspicions in our minds that a wrong was being done Job Lord, they would have vanished when those two saw each other.

Seth Jepson gave vent to a cry of surprise, and on Master Lord's face could be read that which told, so I fancied, of an acquaintance between them.

"Shall we gag Seth?" Harvey asked, and Hiram replied as if it was a matter of little moment:

"There's no need of taking so much trouble. You and Archie are to stay here while Luke and I have a look over the house, and if so be Seth unwisely attempts to make a disturbance, put your knife into him, for we should be doing the Cause no little service by sending both these fellows out of the world."

Then, motioning to me, Hiram led the way up the ladder, and after some searching in that room which served Job Lord as a kitchen we found a store of tallow dips, one of which we lighted, because, since the shutters had been closed, it was almost dark within the dwelling.

Master Lord's home was not sumptuously furnished; but he was well outfitted with chests of drawers and cupboards such as housewives fancy, and among these we began our search, taking first that piece of furniture which was at the same time a desk for writing and a receptacle for books and papers.

We had not long to search, if to prove that Job Lord had been acting as a tool for the Britishers was our only aim. On the top of the desk, as if it had been but lately placed there, was a folded paper, and when Hiram opened it eagerly I read these words across the top:

"Information for Job Lord to send to the rebels."

Then followed what I knew to be a false account of the doings of the Britishers; but neither Hiram nor I cared to read it entirely.

"I reckon here's enough to hang Master Lord, if so be we had him in Cambridge," my companion said grimly, and then, his appet.i.te for evidence being whetted by that which had come so conveniently to hand, he continued the search, finding four or five doc.u.ments proving that our host was in friendly communication with the Britishers.

Then we came upon that which caused Hiram to cry aloud in triumph and satisfaction, for it was neither more nor less than a pa.s.s from General Gage himself, permitting the bearer _and friends_ to leave the city by any route whatsoever.

"I'm allowing we won't have to swim from here to Cambridge!" Hiram said exultantly, as he carefully folded and placed the precious doc.u.ment inside his stocking.

I believed this would be the end of our search, because we had found all for which we came, and more. To people in our situation a safeguard from the king's governor was something of more value than can well be understood by those who did not live in the days when British might made right.

"Now we can go when we please, and the sooner we set off the better, for surely it would be folly to make any attempt at aiding Silas while he is so closely guarded," I cried, and Hiram replied grimly:

"Even though we decide to leave without making any effort toward accomplis.h.i.+ng that for which we came, I'm allowing there's no need for overly much haste, more especially since we can pa.s.s ourselves off as Job Lord and friends easier after night has fully come."

Then Hiram began searching once more among the papers, this time doing it in a methodical manner, and I, who feared each instant lest there should come a summons at the door, or we hear tokens of trouble from the room below, had half-turned to go toward the trap-door when Hiram caused me to wheel about suddenly as he leaped to his feet, waving above his head a slip of paper as if having taken leave of his senses.

"I'm allowing there's still a chance left for us to lend Silas Brownrigg a hand!" he cried, speaking so loudly that I leaped upon him, covering his mouth with my hand lest peradventure some one from the outside might hear and be so inquisitive as to make an attempt at entering.

"Read this, lad! Read this!" Hiram cried as soon as he could free his mouth from my hand, and at the same time he laid upon the desk, where the flickering light of the tallow dip might fall upon it, the paper which had caused him so much of excitement.

During a full minute I stood gazing at the doc.u.ment, not daring to believe the evidence of my own eyes, and saying to myself over and over again that it must be impossible such an order could have come into our hands.

This is what I read, and you may see whether a lad in my situation would not have doubted even the written words:

"The bearer, Job Lord, is hereby authorized to take from the Bridewell any one of the prisoners captured at Charlestown, which he may select.

The officer on duty will follow the bearer's instructions in every particular, and retain this order as receipt for the prisoner."

It was signed by the governor's aide-de-camp as secretary, and bore the king's seal. In other words, it was a direct command from General Gage to the officer at the Bridewell to deliver over any one of the prisoners taken at Breed's hill which Job Lord might point out, and, what is more, was dated the very day before we made a prisoner of this double-dyed villain!

"If we had a key to all the plots in that scoundrel's head, then would you find that this permit to take away a prisoner is part and parcel of some scheme concerning us," Hiram said emphatically, and I was quite of the same mind, being convinced thereto because the doc.u.ment had been so lately written.

In some way, and I hoped it might be made clear before many days had pa.s.sed, the delivery of a prisoner to Job Lord was, together with the holding of us, a trap for more important ends; but what those ends might be my mind failed totally in the grasping.

Hiram, like me, no longer had any interest in Master Lord's belongings.

We had found sufficient to brand him the vilest of traitors, and, what was more to our purpose, had obtained at the very moment when we despaired of being able to aid our comrade in any way, that which would effect his release, unless it so chanced that the worthy Master Lord was particularly well known at the Bridewell. This last thought came into my mind, darkening all hope, at the moment Hiram turned to go into the cellar that he might acquaint the other lads with our good fortune, and, clutching him nervously by the arm, I reminded him of the disagreeable fact that whosoever presented himself with that order from Governor Gage, might speedily find himself a prisoner with the tables turned completely in favor of Job Lord.

"Aye, lad, I have already reckoned on that, yet at the same time when night has come it is my purpose to go to the Bridewell as boldly as that double-faced villain would have done, trusting I can get my nose out of the sc.r.a.pe if so be the officer on duty chances to know the scoundrel we have got tied up below."

"It is a desperate chance," I said with an inward tremor that was much like faint-heartedness, and he replied laughingly:

"Tell me, Luke Wright, how much more desperate is it to go out armed with a safeguard from the king's governor, and due authority to take charge of a prisoner, than was your act in capturing Seth Jepson at the very time when we ourselves were captives?"

"I did that because there was nothing else to be done," I cried.

"And so shall I go to the Bridewell, because there is nothing else to be done if we would aid Silas Brownrigg."

It was not my intention to say aught which might discourage him from taking advantage of the doc.u.ment so strangely come into our possession.

As a matter of course I burned to have him do it; but I could not for the life of me refrain from considering all the chances against us.

Snuffing out the tallow dip, we two went into the cellar, Hiram holding 'twixt his thumb and finger the precious order from Governor Gage, and when we were come to where Job Lord lay, Griffin took up the lantern that the scoundrel might see what we had found.

There was no change of expression on his face. The villain knew full well that we would come upon evidence against him after ever so careless a search of his belongings, and therefore counted on our having this paper through which he hoped to work some wild scheme.

"What is it? What are you showing him?" Archie asked eagerly, and Hiram, disappointed because the prisoner had failed to show any signs of surprise or distress, held it up for the lad to read.

"But that cannot be!" Archie cried in amazement. "Governor Gage would never issue any such order!"

"But he has done so, else another must have stolen the king's seal,"

and Hiram pointed triumphantly to the impression in wax which was fastened to a short length of blue ribbon.

"But how could it be that Job Lord would be allowed to choose a prisoner from among those taken at Breed's hill?" Archie continued in bewilderment, and I cried, eyeing the prisoner sharply all the while:

"He got it for some purpose which General Gage understood and approved, and that purpose was all of a piece with our being held here! Some day we shall learn the secret, and then I hope most earnestly that this same Master Lord, who has claimed to be devoted body and soul to the Cause, may be given over to my mercy even as he is at this moment."

They were high sounding words, perhaps, for a lad like me to use, and yet Master Lord shrank under them as if in fear, which was the first exhibition of feeling he had given since we came from the room above.

It can well be understood that after Archie and Harvey had recovered from the amazement caused by reading the order from Governor Gage, our tongues were loosened, and during a certain time we gave ourselves over to rejoicing, as if already the task we had set ourselves was accomplished. But even while we indulged in words of triumph, there was in my heart a certain undefined fear because all this had come about in such a mysterious way, having really been gained by that blunder of mine in making a prisoner of Seth Jepson, when it had seemed as if such an act on my part would lead to direst results.

Hiram still held to it that when nightfall was come he would present himself at the Bridewell, and with that as a starting point we set about laying plans for the future.

They were simple enough, if so be everything worked as we would have it, because once with Silas in our company we could, thanks to the pa.s.s in Hiram's stocking, march out over Boston Neck as bold as lions. The stumbling block was, a possibility that the officer at the Bridewell might be sufficiently well acquainted with Master Lord to take into custody whoever presented the governor's order, and the greater part of our discussion had to do with that chance.

Hiram claimed that we should allow no more than an hour to elapse from the time he set off for the Bridewell, before taking to our heels if so be he failed to return, because, as he said, within that time he would either be returned to Cow lane with Silas by his side, or lie in one of the cells of the jail.

"You shall take this pa.s.s, Luke Wright," he said, pulling the paper from his stocking, "and see to it that if I'm held in custody you make all speed out of the town, leaving me to my fate."

"Indeed I will do nothing of the kind," was my reply, and I refused to take the paper from his hand. "If you are held at the Bridewell, all the more reason why we three should strain every nerve to do whatsoever may be in our power to aid you."

"The only thing within your power, lad, will be to save your own skins, for once this trick of ours is discovered, you may rest a.s.sured the Britishers will pay a visit to Job Lord's house in order to learn what has become of him, and if peradventure you delay after there is reason to believe I am a prisoner, you will have effected nothing save a loss to the Cause of three stout-hearted lads."