Commodore Barney's Young Spies Part 44

Then it was a case of clawing away from the fort, which was not easy, since the wind that had brought us down so finely, now blew directly in our teeth, and the pungy was a master-hand for sliding off when you tried to tack.

As a matter of course it was necessary to stand over toward the opposite sh.o.r.e, which was not a pleasant piece of business since it carried us within view of the enemy; but we had no choice in the matter.

"If we get back as far as Alexandria by sunset we'll be doin' mighty well, unless you bring her around an' try to slide up," Bill Jepson said grumblingly; but she did not make any better headway because of his being disgruntled.

"We'll have to take things as they are, matey," Darius said grimly.

"If the old hooker won't carry us out of harm's way, we can take to the sh.o.r.e at any time, which is a bit of consolation you'd better keep pasted in your hat."

"This breeze will fine down within an hour," Captain Hanaford said as if speaking to himself, "an' then it'll be a case of anchorin', no matter where we----"

He did not finish the remark, for at that moment it was as if the earth and sky had come together with one deafening crash; then followed three or four reports like unto peals of thunder near at hand, and those of us who chanced to be looking astern, saw the fort actually leap into the air, while from the ma.s.s of earth and stone came a shower of fragments such as literally obscured the light of the sun for an instant, after which it fell upon us with a crash that caused the pungy to rock to and fro like an egg-sh.e.l.l.

While one might have counted fifty I stood dazed, unable to understand what had happened, and bleeding from a dozen scratches caused by the fall of fragments which absolutely covered the deck of the pungy to a depth of two or three inches. Then I understood that the fort had been blown up, Captain Dyson believing he could not hope, with the small force under his command, to withstand an a.s.sault from the fleet.

As we afterward came to know, his instructions from the War Department were to the effect that he should destroy the fortification rather than take the chances of its being captured by the enemy; but what seemed strange to me then, and does now, was the fact that he had not fired a single gun in defiance. Surely he might have discharged his pieces once, in the hope of doing a little damage, before setting a match to the magazine.

Of all our party in the pungy, not one escaped more or less severe bruises or scratches, and the wonder is that the vessel was not sent to the bottom off hand.

However, we were yet afloat, and the river was open for the pa.s.sage of the Britishers, therefore it may be understood that we could not afford to spend many minutes in speculations upon what might or might not have been done.

Within three minutes from the time of the explosion, Darius and Bill Jepson were in the small boat making fast to the bow of the pungy, and when Captain Hanaford shouted to ask what they counted on doing, the old sailor replied:

"There's a creek half a mile further up stream, an' if you can get any headway on this apple-bowed lugger, we may be able to hide before the Britishers come in sight."

It was absolutely certain that we could not hope to escape by sailing, because any four-oared boat in the British fleet would have overtaken us in a twinkling, therefore, unless it might be possible to hide, we were in a bad sc.r.a.pe, from which I saw no relief save at the expense of abandoning the pungy.

How we worked to push the vessel through the water! Darius and Bill plied the paddles with every ounce of strength in their bodies, while we on deck trimmed the sails to a nicety, s.h.i.+fted everything movable to bring her into better trim for sailing, and even swung the two long sweeps outboard.

We five lads manned the enormous oars with which the pungy was provided to help her around, or when she drifted too near insh.o.r.e, and I dare venture to say that we did quite as much toward forcing the craft ahead as the two old sh.e.l.l-backs did by towing.

Fortunately for us, the Britishers did not appear to think it necessary to move up the river swiftly, knowing full well that all the towns above were at their mercy whenever they arrived; but the fleet hove to off the ruins of the fortification while some of the officers landed to ascertain the amount of damage done. It was this last which gave us the opportunity of which we stood so sorely in need, otherwise we were taken prisoners beyond a peradventure.

By dint of pulling and paddling we contrived to get the pungy into the creek of which Darius had spoken, before the enemy came in sight again, and then it was a case of hauling her so far inland that she would be hidden from view by the foliage.

It can well be supposed that we did not waste any time at this last work; the perspiration was running down our faces in tiny streams when the craft was finally as far up the narrow water-way as she could be taken, and then all hands were so exhausted that we threw ourselves on the deck to regain breath and strength.

All the while that we had been in strenuous flight my father stood at the helm, thus giving Captain Hanaford the chance to aid us, otherwise the task would not have been accomplished so quickly.

But even when we were thus snug, unless, perchance, the Britishers took it into their heads to search the river banks, our work was by no means done.

It was now necessary that we should know if the enemy went up stream, and after we had rested no more than five minutes, when a full hour would have been hardly enough to put me in proper trim again, Darius said:

"Come, Amos, you an' I will stand the first watch. Bill an' Jerry can spell us in a couple of hours."

"What do you count on watching?" I asked curtly.

"The Britishers, of course. We'll paddle down to the river, an' lay there till the fleet goes one way or the other."

It would have been a long watch had we remained on duty until the entire fleet sailed in one direction; but as to that we were happily ignorant, and I took my place in the canoe believing the enemy would sail past our hiding place in a very short time.

We allowed the canoe to drift down the creek until we were come within a few yards of the river, and then, well hidden by the undergrowth, we made ourselves as comfortable as possible where we could command a full view of the channel.

"It doesn't appear to be as easy to get back home as we counted on," I said, by way of starting a conversation, and Darius replied confidently:

"This 'ere stop won't put us back very much, though it'll make a power of extra work, for I count to be slippin' down river within a couple of hours at the longest."

Then the old man fell silent, and I was not disposed to wag my tongue, because of looking ahead to the meeting with mother and the children, which now seemed so near at hand.

We had been on watch an hour or more when the enemy appeared. The schooner was leading the way slowly, being towed by boats, with the men taking soundings every fifteen or twenty yards in order to show the channel to the two frigates close astern, and another hour went by before the three vessels had pa.s.sed our hiding-place.

Then we watched eagerly, expecting to see the rocket-s.h.i.+ps and bomb-vessels appear; but they did not heave in sight, although it seemed to me as if they should have been close behind the larger s.h.i.+ps in order to take advantage of the labor being performed by those on board the schooner.

When half an hour had pa.s.sed, and the river, so far as we could see in either direction, was free from craft of any kind, Darius bestowed a resounding slap upon his leg as he cried angrily:

"What an old fool I am, to be sure! In two years more, if I keep on runnin' down hill, I won't be able to tell my own nose from somebody's else, even when it's pulled."

"What's the matter now?" I asked in surprise.

"What's the matter, lad? Can't you see that only part of the fleet is goin' up stream? If the other s.h.i.+ps counted on leavin' anchorage they'd been in the wake of the frigates. We're shut in here between two ends of the British force, an' likely to stay quite a spell."

There could be no question but that he was right, and I sat staring at him like a stupid, the dreams in which I had been indulging disappearing like mist before the morning sun. Of a verity mother and the children were further from me than when we had crouched in the smoke-house at Was.h.i.+ngton with General Ross' army close at hand.

"What _can_ we do?" I asked at length.

"That's a question easier asked than answered," the old man replied as if he had come to an end of his ideas. "While your father is wounded beyond the power of walkin', we're anch.o.r.ed to the pungy, so to speak."

"What would you do if he was in good shape?"

"It couldn't be such a terrible tough voyage to strike across the country from here to Benedict, leavin' the pungy in the creek till the Britishers get tired of foolin' around in the Potomac; but it's no use to spend breath on what can't be done. Our crew will hang together, whatever comes. Let's go an' report; it won't do us any good to stay here."

We paddled slowly back to our comrades, and when we had told them the situation of affairs they were in as much of a muddle as had been Darius and I.

"There's no tellin' how long the frigates will stay 'round Was.h.i.+ngton," Captain Hanaford said, and then, as a sudden thought came to him, he added, "I'm gettin' the best of this sc.r.a.pe, I reckon. If the pungy was where you lads found her, she'd fare badly when the bloomin' Englishmen get where they can make mischief."

"I'll stay here and keep s.h.i.+p, while the rest of you walk across lots to Benedict," my father suggested; but Darius refused to hear any such proposition, declaring as he had when we were in the canoe, that our party should hang together to the last.

"So far as bodily harm is concerned, we're safe here till the cows come home," the old man said thoughtfully, "an' that oughter make us feel reasonably good, seein's how, one spell, it looked a deal like bein' killed, or stayin' in a British prison-s.h.i.+p. We're a mighty poor crowd if we can't manage to lay still a week or two."

It did really seem as if we had reason to be ashamed of grumbling when matters had been so much worse, and I mentally resolved that I would make the best of the situation, even though we were forced to remain in hiding a full month.

My father did his best at cheering us by saying, and with a deal of reason in his speech, that the enemy would not dare remain shut up in the river very long, lest the American fleet come to the mouth of the river and blockade him, or with a superior force, force him to surrender.

"It's Captain Gordon of the Sea Horse, who is in command," Bill Jepson said, "an' you can count that he won't be caught nappin'."

"Then we can reckon on bein' free to leave this creek within three or four days at the outside, and after that it'll be a question of dodging the Britishers into Chesapeake bay, which shouldn't be a hard task."

Taking this view of the matter, and knowing we had provisions in plenty, all hands began to look at affairs in a more cheerful light, with the result that ours was soon a jolly party, with but one aim, which was to make the time pa.s.s as pleasantly as possible.

During the remainder of that day we talked of all that had occurred since Commodore Barney left Pig Point, and speculated upon the result of an attack upon Baltimore.