Commodore Barney's Young Spies Part 42

"I went out, leavin' you people in hidin', with the idee that if many shops were to be robbed by the soldiers I might get somethin' to eat out'er the general wreck. First off nothin' came my way, an' then I ran square across a basket of s.h.i.+p's bread. Thinks I, this is good enough for one trip, an' I gathered the stuff under my arm, puttin'

for the smoke-house under full sail without bein' noticed by the red-coats, who were havin' too lively a time to give me much attention. As luck would have it, the thought never came into my mind that I had need to look for anybody but Britishers, an' before I was halfway to port I struck up agin that sneak, Elias Macomber.

"Then it was I understood that the red-coats wasn't the only snags in the road, an' I gave him one clip on the jaw that I counted would knock him down an' out; but my calkerlations was wrong. Instead of topplin' over as a decent man would have done after gettin' the full weight of my fist, he began to screech an' yell fit to raise the dead.

My legs moved mighty lively jest then, for a blind man could have seen what might happen; but the Britishers had me foul before I'd more'n got well started. No less than six grappled me, an' I hauled down my flag, 'cause there wasn't any sense in makin' a bad matter worse.

"Them soldiers must have had orders in advance to lug any prisoners they might take, to the shanty back of the a.r.s.enal, for they steered a straight course for the place without stoppin' to ask any man's advice, an' what chafed me more'n everythin' else was that rat of a Macomber, close at my heels, as he told what he would do now that his friends had taken possession of the country. I contrived to give him one kick on the s.h.i.+ns which I'll guarantee he remembers this minute, an' then he kept well back in the rear. That's the end of the yarn, lads."

"But where did you meet Bill?" I asked.

"In the jail. He was brought up with a sharp turn durin' the retreat, bein' so stuffy that he kept well in the rear, instead of pus.h.i.+n'

ahead as he might have done."

"Did Macomber succeed in getting into the prison?"

"He wasn't inside, an' that's a fact; but he stood at the window, an'

kept shoutin' all kinds of threats till one of the sentries drove him away, havin' had too much of his yip."

"You saw me quickly enough."

"Well, you see, lad, I had my eye on the window, countin' to throw my shoe through the gla.s.s when he showed his ugly face again, hopin' that he'd get cut a bit, an', besides, I somehow had it in my head that you an' Jerry would flash up sooner or later."

"But how did you contrive to come at the scuttle?" Captain Hanaford asked.

"That was plain sailin'. Bill was one of the first put into the place, an' knowin' he'd take a trip to the yard-arm when the Britishers found out who he was, he naturally took advantage of the chance to snoop 'round a bit. We had the run of the whole buildin', seein's there wasn't many of us, an' when he went in the prisoners didn't number more'n twenty. He found a key in the door that led up to the attic, which seemed to be a sort of store-room, an', thinkin' it might come in handy if the others didn't know the lay of the land, he locked the bloomin' place, havin' done so without bein' seen. When I came he didn't know anythin' about the scuttle; but we figgered that if there wasn't one, we could get up stairs an' pull bricks enough out of the chimney to give us a hole. There wasn't any need of doin' that, however, 'cause we found the hatch bolted on the inside, an' the rest was easy. The only thing about the whole business which bothers me is, why the Britishers didn't have a good look around before turnin' the buildin' into a jail."

"The drubbin' they got at Bladensburg, even though they did win the battle, confused them," my father said with a chuckle of satisfaction.

"It strikes me that we'd better get the pungy under way mighty soon,"

Captain Hanaford interrupted. "It can't be a great while before some of the crowd sees the rope we left danglin' from the chimney, an' then you may set it down as a fact that this city will be searched in a way that won't be comfortable for us."

"But where'll you go, Bob?" Bill Jepson asked. "The British fleet is in the river, an' to sail up stream strikes me as bein' dangerous, for they can send light boats after us, an' this draft won't make much fist of runnin' away from them in such a breeze as you've got now."

"I had an idee the wind was gettin' up," the oysterman said as he opened the hatch a few inches, and at that instant a gust swept into the cuddy bringing with it a full pail of water.

"A good, nice little thunder squall," the captain said in a tone of content, "an' if it comes from the right quarter, we're in luck."

Darius was on deck in a twinkling, and I followed him, hoping that we might be able to leave our mooring, for at such a time it would not be a very difficult matter to get so far up stream as to baffle pursuit.

At the moment, however, it seemed as if our good fortune had deserted us. The wind was drawing down the river with a force that shut off all hope of sending the pungy against it, and the rain came in such torrents that the deck was awash in short order.

"It's a case of stayin' where we are, or takin' the chances of runnin'

down river when you couldn't see a n.i.g.g.e.r under your nose," Darius said as he and I re-entered the cabin wet to the skin, although we had not been exposed to the fury of the tempest above two minutes. "I'm willin' to run a good many risks; but puttin' this pungy under sail, with half a dozen frigates somewhere on the course, is a little too steep for me."

Captain Hanaford was exceeding anxious to be under way; but he understood that nothing could be done while the storm raged with such fury, and we sat in the darkness, discussing what might be done when the morning came.

It was finally decided that we would take all the risk of going down stream as soon as the tempest abated, for there were many creeks along the sh.o.r.e where we might run under cover to avoid the fleet, or, if the worst came, we could go on sh.o.r.e, abandoning the pungy.

In order that Captain Hanaford might be willing to take the chances of losing his vessel, I showed him the guarantee we had received from Commodore Barney, and promised that when we got the money from the government he should share equally with us.

"I'm ready to do whatsoever is agreed upon without askin' you lads to pay for my pungy in case I lose her," he said stoutly. "There ain't any certainty I'd been able to keep her if you hadn't come aboard, for if the Britishers will burn nigh on to a whole city, they won't stop at a few oyster-boats, if there's any fun to be had in settin' 'em afire. I don't jest hanker, though, to fool around with a lot of frigates, an' that's a fact."

"We won't fool with 'em," Darius said decidedly. "It stands to reason they must be below Fort Was.h.i.+ngton, else we'd heard the firin' when they tried to come past. Now 'twixt here an' there we should find a creek where a pungy like this could be hidden."

"I know of a place about eight miles from here," the captain said thoughtfully, and Bill Jepson cried cheerfully:

"Then that settles the whole business. We'll get under way when this 'ere squall is over, and before daylight be where we can keep out of sight till the fleet comes up. Once they're this side of us we shall be in clear water."

But Bill was not calculating on the force of the "squall." I have seen a good many summer storms; but never one to equal that on the night of August twenty-fifth, in the year of grace 1814.

We could hear now and then ash.o.r.e, even amid the howling of the wind and the cras.h.i.+ng thunder the rending of wood as houses were unroofed, and from the terrible uproar which came later we believed the trees growing near where we lay were being torn up by the roots, as was really found to be the case when morning dawned.

The pungy rocked to and fro as if in the open bay, straining at her hawsers until it became necessary to pa.s.s extra ones, otherwise she would have been swept from her moorings.

Those of us who went on deck to do this work were wetted in an instant as if we had jumped overboard, and at times it became necessary to hold fast by the rail, otherwise we would have been literally blown into the river.

There was no possibility of getting under way that night, and all hands kept watch in the cuddy until day broke, when, and not until then, did the storm abate.

The wind had aided the Britishers in working havoc. From the deck of the pungy I saw no less than four houses, the roofs of which had been torn off, and one negro shanty was in ruins. As far as we could see the trees were uprooted, and the river ran so full of wreckage that I wondered we had not been swamped off hand.

"We'll stay here a few hours longer, I reckon," Darius said to me as he pointed toward the fragments of buildings and trees with which the river seemed literally to be choked. "If this pungy struck fair on somethin' like that yonder, she'd founder for a fact."

The veriest landsman who ever lived would have understood that it was folly to think of getting under way just then, and my heart grew heavy as lead in my breast, for I firmly believed that before another hour had pa.s.sed the enemy would be out searching for the prisoners who had escaped, in which case all hands of us stood a good chance of seeing the interior of that "stone house."

As we stood on deck, regardless of the possibility that some of the enemy might come that way, a man ran down the street toward the water's edge, waving his arms about and otherwise acting as if nearly beside himself with joy or grief.

"What is the matter, friend?" Captain Hanaford cried at the full strength of his lungs, and the man made quite a lengthy reply; but all we could hear of it was this one exclamation:

"The Britis.h.!.+"

"Are they comin' this way?" the captain demanded, screaming until his face was crimson, and Bill Jepson suddenly dropped out of sight through the companion-way.

"They've gone!" the man replied, and we could now hear his words more distinctly because he was coming nearer each instant.

"Gone where?" Captain Hanaford cried impatiently. "Can't you tell us what has happened?"

"The British have cleared out bag an' baggage--went durin' the storm!"

"What?" Darius screamed, and we looked at each other incredulously, for surely it could not be possible that the enemy had evacuated the city so soon.

"Come on board an' tell us what you know!" Captain Hanaford cried. "It is of the greatest importance for us to learn exactly the situation of affairs."

The stranger did not accept the invitation to come on board; but he halted within easy speaking distance and thus told the story, which seemed incredible:

"Last night the people livin' near the encampment were warned, on pain of death, to remain within doors from sunset till sunrise. Those who were curious enough to look out of the windows saw that the camp fires had been increased, an' supposed reinforcements were comin' in; but this mornin' neither hide nor hair is to be seen of the red-coats, an'

a planter comin' in from nearabout Long Old Fields, reports that the soldiers are marchin' in the direction of Nottingham. An' that ain't all, for the troops that stayed at Bladensburg after the battle, are on the way to Upper Marlboro, 'cordin to the report of an old darkey who came into town not half an hour ago."

Having thus unfolded his budget of news, the man hurried on to spread the glad tidings, leaving us who were aboard the pungy in a state of mingled bewilderment and joy.

"I can't understand it," Darius said after a brief pause, during which we had looked at each other questioningly. "I'm goin' to take the chances of findin' out for myself."