Otis James
The Minute Boys of York Town

"Of what are you talking?" I cried in amazement. "The mischief has already been done. It is no longer possible for us to hold the lad in check, because he will go straight away to such officers as he knows, giving information that we are here. Once it is learned we claimed that Uncle 'Rasmus had been held in the cabin through his helplessness, and we were come to aid him, all our scheming will be made public, and we called upon to pay the penalty, whatever it may be."

"But Horry Sims has not yet laid information," Pierre whispered hurriedly. "If it be possible for you to call Saul off and make him understand now, on the instant, before any come nearer, that he must hold himself in check, we, meaning you and I, may be able to deal with the Tory by such methods that he can not do us one whit of harm until we are ready to give him the opportunity."

I looked at the little French lad in amazement, too much bewildered to be able to make reply, for it seemed to me he was talking veriest folly, and yet there was on his face an expression of determination in which I could see no token of fear, or even uneasiness of mind.

CHAPTER V
OUR PRISONER

Even as I gazed at little Frenchie in what was very like bewilderment, I noted that the lad was looking here and there furtively, as if to make certain there were no eavesdroppers near, and on the instant the haze of perplexity was cleared from my mind, allowing me to realize that the French lad had some plan on foot whereby the mischief wrought through Saul might be counteracted.

Although the situation seemed to me so desperate, and the possibility of extricating ourselves from the difficulties into which we had been suddenly thrown was so slight that I could see no ray of light, yet had I come to have such great faith in Pierre Laurens's quick wit and cool-headedness, that straightway much of the trouble was taken from my mind, and I laid my hand on his shoulder as if to say I depended upon him to draw us out from this slough into which my cousin's ill temper had plunged us.

Meanwhile Saul was giving no heed to anything save the desire to flog Horry Sims for what he had done to our harm, and Pierre whispered to me sharply and quickly:

"Is there no place near by where we can remain in hiding for a time?"

During an instant I failed to remember anything whatsoever concerning this shop of Master Bemis's, although it was familiar to me, owing to my having visited it a dozen times or more. Then I suddenly recalled to mind that just around the corner, in the rear, was an old shed sometimes used for the stabling of horses, which had frequently been half-filled with rubbish of such sort as empty cases, lumber or straw.

This much I explained to Pierre in the fewest words possible, and a look of relief came over little Frenchie's face as he went directly up to Saul, laying one hand on my cousin's shoulder, and with the other clutching the Tory sneak by the coat-collar.

Mayhap not more than thirty seconds had passed from the time my cousin announced his intention of paying off the score we held against Horry Sims, until Pierre said in a low, sharp tone to Saul, and conveying much of reproof:

"You have forgotten that by giving way to anger you not only endanger yourself, but Fitz and me, to say nothing of Uncle 'Rasmus. Now pull yourself up with a sharp turn; check that ill temper of yours if you would keep yourself at liberty – mayhap if you would hold the breath of life in your body."

As he spoke it seemed to me that Horry Sims had a dim understanding of what was about to come upon him, for he lunged quickly here and there like some trapped animal, and I fancied he was about to raise his voice in a cry for help, when I sprang forward and clapped my hand over his mouth.

"What are you about now?" Saul asked angrily. "What right have you to interfere when I count on dealing with this Tory villain even as he deserves?"

"I have every right," and now Pierre spoke in a sharper tone than I had ever before heard him use. "Even though there be no other reason, I shall protect myself, and it would seem, if you keep on at this pace, Saul Ogden, that Fitz and I must consider you equal enemy with this Tory. We are undone from this moment, and can count surely on being thrust into the guard-house as malcontents and rebels, unless you find strength of will enough in that hulking body of yours to behave in a decent fashion."

Nothing in the way of argument could have moved Saul so quickly as did reproof from the little French lad, who until this moment he had most like considered a child as compared with himself. Now, however, that the boy was talking in manly fashion, and with sound doctrine, my cousin gave way before him on the instant, becoming as meek and docile as any lamb.

"What would you have me do? I had no right to give rein to my temper, and yet I swear to both of you that I could not have held it in check."

"This is no time for making excuses," Pierre said, still speaking in a commanding tone. "The wonder of it is that we have had so many minutes allowed us, and now it stands us in hand to get this fellow out of sight."

"Out of sight? Where?" and Saul was in as thick a cloud of bewilderment as I had been, whereupon, pushing Horry Sims forward, with my hand still pressed over his mouth, I said hurriedly:

"Pierre would have us hide him in the shed. I know not how that may advantage us; but let me tell you, Saul Ogden, that little Frenchie has got more sound sense in one side of that head of his than you and I in both ours put together. Now do as he has said, and we will listen to him afterwards."

I forced Horry Sims on from behind, still gagging his mouth with my hand, while Pierre, retaining a firm hold on the Tory's coat-collar, dragged him along in the direction I indicated, Saul assisting as well as he could while in such a state of perplexity.

It was little less than a miracle that we could have stood talking there by Master Bemis's shop and then made our way half around it, without coming in contact with some of the red-coats. Even at this day, as I sit here in safety writing down that which we did in the town of York, it seems to me more than marvelous that we were not taken into custody before little Frenchie had time to give words to his suddenly conceived plan.

I set it down to the fact that all those soldiers of the king were busily engaged throwing up entrenchments, for it was known that not many miles away lay General Lafayette with his army, and my Lord Cornwallis must have said to himself that General Washington, finding he had so many of his majesty's troops in much the same as a trap, would push down from the North all the men he could spare. Therefore it came about that every officer was urging the men under his command to the greatest activity, and, fortunately, this shop of Master Bemis's was at a considerable distance from any part of the British works, which explains, at least to myself, why we were not lodged as prisoners in the British garrison.

I believe that from the first moment Pierre began to speak in a tone of command, Horry Sims understood he was in danger, not of a mere flogging, but of something he could not explain to himself, therefore was his fright all the greater.

When little Frenchie, while we were circling around the building, threatened vengeance even to the shedding of blood if he made any outcry, the lad was so terrified that even though he had had fair opportunity I question whether he could have raised his voice sufficiently loud to have been heard a dozen paces away.

He was as limp as any rag in my grasp as we forced him along, and for an instant I feared the cowardly cur would fall helpless from sheer terror of that which he knew not the nature.

Within the time it would take a tongue-tied man to count ten, we had hustled Horry Sims from the southerly corner of Master Bemis's shop around to the rear, where was the shed of which I had told little Frenchie, and again did fortune favor us, for no horses were stabled there, and the rude structure was so nearly filled with rubbish of all kinds that it would have been impossible to have sheltered even a mule beneath the crazy roof.

We entered with our prisoner, Pierre leading the way grasping Horry by the coat-collar, while I brought up the rear with my arm around the Tory's neck so that I might keep a hand clapped over his mouth.

"Shut the door, and, if it be possible, bar it so that no one may come without giving due warning," little Frenchie said to Saul, and my cousin obeyed as meekly as a well whipped cur obeys his master.

There was a crazy affair made of puncheon planks which had served as door, but it hung loosely on its hinges, and I question whether it had been used for many a year; but Saul was by this time so intent on doing whatsoever he might to repair the mischief wrought while his temper had the best of him, that it was as if he had the strength of two men.

While Pierre was looking about him trying to plan something in his mind, my cousin had the barrier closed and fastened with four or five short lengths of logs. It was not done so securely but that one from the outside might force an entrance, yet it would require a minute or two to effect such purpose, and this was what I fancy little Frenchie counted on when he gave the command.

"Over yonder," he said, pointing toward the end of the shed where were several casks and some old boxes, "is the place to which we must take him."

"How long do you count on keeping him there?" I could not refrain from asking, and Pierre replied promptly, thus showing that he had a plan thoroughly mapped out in his mind:

"Only until night, when we must get him to old Mary's cabin where he can be held prisoner."

I was astounded, to use a mild term, by the idea that we were to hold this Tory a prisoner for any length of time. Here we were, shut up within the British lines, in danger at any moment of being haled before some high mightiness of an officer to answer to the charge of being rebels, or of being in the town with evil intent, and we took it upon ourselves to capture a lad who stood to a certain degree in the favor of our enemies!

It was to my mind at that instant, and is even now, as reckless a bit of business as can well be conceived. Why we did not take to our heels at the first moment when Saul gave way to his anger, leaving Uncle 'Rasmus to his fate, and shake the dust of the town of York from our feet, I cannot understand. Yet I am wrong in saying this last, for it was Pierre Laurens who held us where we belonged, and who proved that if there were Minute Boys in York Town, he stood above them head and shoulders as their commander.

But for Pierre's quick wit and decision we had at that moment been racing through the village intent only on passing the British lines. Yet I said then, while we pulled Horry Sims across the rubbish, that perhaps it would have been greatly to our advantage if we had fled the town even though the hue and cry was raised on the instant, rather than remain where it might be impossible for us to go out again save in the custody of a squad of red-coated soldiers.

By the time Saul barricaded the door Horry Sims had been taken to the rear of the building, and there little Frenchie turned two huge casks down on their side, with the mouths facing each other, leaving sufficient space between them for a lad to crawl in, saying to the prisoner when this work was done:

"Creep in there, lad, and hold your peace! If you raise your voice above a whisper, I swear that it shall be the last moment of your life! You can well fancy we would not flinch at killing such as you when it might be to save ourselves. To hold you secretly, and yet securely, is our hope, therefore bear well in mind to what lengths we are bound to go rather than allow you to give us the slip!"

The Tory crawled head foremost into one of the casks, which was so large that he could readily turn around in it, and in the gloom of the shed I could see that his face was as white as my mother's table linen. He shook like one in an ague fit, as well he might, for the threats Pierre made carried with them such a ring of truth that he would have been dull indeed had he failed to understand how far we would go in order to save our own skins.

Pierre followed him into this snug hiding place, and I stood helplessly by, awaiting some word from little Frenchie, ready to obey whatever commands he might give, while Saul, shamefaced because of his indiscretion, came up to my side.

"It is like this," Pierre said as if he had asked a question. "So long as we can hold this Tory sneak secretly, so long are we at liberty to remain in York Town to compass the business which brought us here; but on the instant he gives us the slip, we may count on coming before a military court charged with being rebels, if not with being spies."

"How long do you think he can remain in this shed without being discovered?" Saul asked stupidly, and then it was that Pierre explained his plan, so far as he had formed it.

"One of us, and you should be that one inasmuch as it was through you that all this trouble came about," he said, looking at Saul, "must remain here until midnight, or thereabouts, on the alert all the while lest he give an alarm, while Fitz and I move about the village as we were intending when we left old Mary's cabin. When night has come, and if we find it possible, this Tory must be carried across the town and stowed safely in that loft above the room in which Uncle 'Rasmus is living. There, one or the other of us must act as jailor all the while, until – I cannot guess when our duties may be ended. If, perchance, the American forces give Lord Cornwallis battle, and are victorious, then may we come out of the snarl with whole skins; but if so be the British are the conquerors, we can look to have the tables turned on us, when Horry Sims will get all the revenge he may desire."

A pretty pickle we were in because of what Saul had done! The most we could hope for would be to hold Horry day after day in that loft of old Mary's cabin, with but one show of getting out of the box, which would be such a victory by the Americans that they might take possession of the town of York.

It was a slim chance, though I doubted not that General Lafayette's army, if reinforced as it should be, would whip the Britishers; but again and again the so-called rebels had been worsted by the king's soldiers, and why might they not get a drubbing here? It was well within the range of possibilities that the British army would be reinforced by vessels sent down from New York, in which case we stood to suffer.

Even though the Britishers allowed us to go here or there at will, we were held as close prisoners, because of having Horry Sims in custody, as though they put us under a strong guard. If at that moment when we stood by the casks in the shed speculating upon the situation, I had known that the town of York was to be besieged and shelled by our people, I would not have reckoned that my life was worth the turn of a hand.

Fortunate indeed was it for us that we could not look into the future. Fortunate we had no inkling of all that was to take place between the rivers of York and James within the next few days, else had our courage failed us entirely. As it was, however, I had great faith Pierre would pull through his scheme successfully, and trusted that the future would show us some way out of this snarl into which we had been so suddenly plunged.

"Come in here, and stretch yourself out beside this lad, with your hand closing on his throat so that at the lightest sign of his counting on giving an alarm you can choke him to death," Pierre said to Saul, who was crouching that he might look into the cask, and my cousin did meekly as he was bidden, for by this time he had come fully to understand that he alone was responsible for all this trouble which had come upon us.

Not until Saul was within the cask, and had taken position close by the side of the prisoner, did little Frenchie venture to come out. Then, halting and leaning over so his voice would carry to the prisoner and his jailor without being heard by any who might be in the vicinity of the shed, he said, still speaking in a tone of command which, had I been less excited and anxious, would have sounded comical from one so small:

"Remember, Saul, that your life, mayhap, and ours, depends upon your holding that Tory scoundrel safe. Fitz and I will learn what we may toward aiding us in getting him to the cabin."

"How long am I to stay here?" Saul asked, and I fancied that he was growing sulky again, whereupon I said soothingly, laying my hand on his leg in friendly fashion:

"Do not let your temper get the best of you again, Saul, else are we all undone past mending. We have fallen into a hobble, and each must do his best to come out alive."

"I am ready to do what I may, and understand, without its being roughed into me, that I am the one who is responsible for it all; but yet I ask how long am I to stay here?"

"Until we come again," little Frenchie said decidedly. "There is no probability we shall dare risk a visit here 'twixt now and the time when we have made ready to carry him to old Mary's cabin, therefore you can count that your duties as jailor will hold you inside that cask until midnight."

I would have added somewhat to that which Pierre had said, counting thereby to soothe my cousin; but little Frenchie dragged me back, motioning with his finger on his lips that I hold my peace. I understood that again was the lad right, for if we did what we might toward coaxing Saul into a better humor, we were possibly giving him an opportunity to fly off in a rage again, and that would have been fatal to all the faint hopes in which we then indulged.

Pierre clambered softly down across the rubbish, motioning for me to follow his example, and then set about pulling away from the ramshackle door the short lengths of logs which barred it; but he was careful to remove only sufficient of the barrier for us to creep out.

When we were in the open air, with the shed so nearly closed that no one, unless having special business there, would be likely to enter, he said to me in a whisper as he led the way up into the village once more:

"Now we will set about our work, and before Saul sees us again he will have had plenty of time in which to repent having given way to his temper."

"Our work?" I repeated dully. "Isn't it enough that we must hold Horry Sims prisoner, without thinking of aught else?"

"We came here to find Saul's mare and your Silver Heels, and, even though it be necessary to stand guard over the Tory, I am counting that we shall continue the work even as was at first proposed."

"It is to my mind that we have enough on our hands, without taking more," I said, and mayhap there was in my voice that same sulky tone which I had heard in Saul's a few seconds before.

"Surely one of us is enough to hold that Tory quiet, unless the Britishers get an inkling that we have him in our hands, and, besides, Uncle 'Rasmus should be able to help us in no small degree. Do you remember that we counted to call ourselves Minute Boys, and to do the work of Minute Boys?"

"Ay, that is what we reckoned on when we were foot-free – when we had not fettered ourselves with a Tory prisoner; but now it is all impossible."

"Why impossible?" and for the first time since we had come upon Horry Sims did Pierre indulge in that indescribable shrug and wave of the hands which was peculiar to him. "It would seem to me that now is the time, if ever, when we can do somewhat for the Cause – when we can prove that although our company of Minute Boys numbers but three, we are of importance, and may make our names known to those who are staking their lives for the liberty of this country."

I looked at the little lad in amazement. The idea that we three boys, who were in as bad a hobble as lads ever could be – we three who stood, one might almost say, face to face with death, should think of aught else, was to me most astonishing, and yet this small fellow from New Orleans was all afire with great plans.

Surely if our company of Minute Boys ever did anything in behalf of the Cause, it would be wholly due to him, for I had come to consider, half an hour since, that his was the only brain among us.

"My countryman, with an army of Americans, is near at hand, holding this English lord here as if he was in a prison, and do you not believe that it may be possible for us to carry to General Lafayette such information concerning what is being done here in this town of York as would be of importance?" Pierre asked, his eyes flashing and his cheeks flushing.

"Ay, if so be we were free to act we might, one or another of us, creep out through the lines and get speech with our people; but hampered as we are, how will it be possible? We are prisoners here, ourselves holding a prisoner."

"Look upon it in that way if you please," and again Pierre shrugged his shoulders. "I count on having one try for the horses, and, failing that, of having speech with General Lafayette himself after we have been through this town of York and set down in our minds all the work on which the Britishers are now engaged."

"I hope most sincerely you may succeed, lad; but yet I doubt it sorely. In the meanwhile, what about Uncle 'Rasmus?"

"We will go to his cabin now, explain what has happened, and then lounge around the stable quarters of the Rangers, where you shall have a glimpse of your beloved Silver Heels."

I believe the lad reminded me of the horse I loved so well, with the purpose of holding my courage straight, and he could have used no other bait that would have lured me so quickly from out the Slough of Despond into which I had fallen.

There was no hope in my heart, however sanguine he appeared, that I could regain possession of my horse. The most I dared look forward to was that events might so shape themselves as to make it possible for us to escape from this town into which we had voluntarily come, and yet I was such a simple that I failed of understanding it was Pierre Laurens who would get us out of the hobble, if indeed we ever did get out; but I followed him meekly as he led the way toward the Pigeon Quarter.

Uncle 'Rasmus was seated by the window; we could see his wrinkled black face through the dirty glass, and surely he had every appearance of being near to death as he sat there huddled up in a little ball, so to speak, wrapped in his blanket although the day was unusually warm.

"Are you really sick, Uncle?" I asked, hurrying into the hovel with the fear that I should find there additional trouble.

"I'se mighty bad, honey, mighty bad," the old man replied with an odd twinkle in his eyes. "I 'spects I'se 'bleeged ter stay right here, wid neber a chance ob gettin' back to de ole plantation, kase I'se got de misery in my back, my head, an' my legs till I'se des de same as a wuffless ole cripple."

"That's right, Uncle 'Rasmus," Pierre said cheerily. "You are a promising looking old invalid, and I guarantee that if any of these red-coated gentry have a suspicion you may be playing a part, one glimpse of that face of yours will convince them you are nigh to death."

"I'se bin reckonin' on des dat same ting, an' while de ole nigger am so po'ly dese yere gen'men who's in de army carn' grudge my seein' you chillun now an' den."

"You are likely to see a good deal of us, Uncle 'Rasmus," I said grimly, now understanding that the old negro was simply playing his part as had been agreed upon. "We had the ill luck to come across Horry Sims; Saul lost his temper, and let the fellow know we were acquainted with what he had been about."

"Lan' ob massy, chillun, lan' ob massy! Hab you bin rubbin' up agin dat Tory sneak?"

"It's worse than that, Uncle 'Rasmus," Pierre said with a smile. "In order to save our own skins we have been forced to make him a prisoner, and can stay in York Town only so long as it is possible to keep him out of sight. We count on bringing him here, if there's a living show for it, 'twixt now and midnight."

"Chilluns, chilluns, I 'low to goodness you'se done gone crazy! Whar's Saul? Wha's become ob de chile?"

I explained to Uncle 'Rasmus where my cousin was, and what he was doing, after which Pierre gave him a brief outline of his plans, and when both of us had come to an end of our speech, there was no need for the old man to exert himself very strenuously in order to play the part of invalid.

His wrinkled face went ashy pale as the facts of the situation were borne in upon him, and he sank back in the chair with both hands uplifted as if in supplication.

"You chilluns hab done gone crazy! Gone crazy!" he repeated again and again, and I stood helplessly by not knowing what to do; but little Frenchie set about soothing the old man's fears by explaining how it might be possible for us to do this, or do that, and declaring we could keep Horry a prisoner in the loft so long as one of us stood close by to insure his silence, until Uncle 'Rasmus recovered a goodly measure of his former serenity.

"I 'clar for it, chillun, it beats de snakes how much trubble you'se got us all into; but I reckon we'se boun' to hol' our backs stiff agin it, else dese yere Britishers am gwine ter make mighty short work ob us."

"That's just it, Uncle 'Rasmus, that's just it," Pierre cried cheerily. "We've got into the muss, and it stands us in hand to hold our own so long as we can. We're no worse off if Horry Sims gives us the slip after we've brought him here, than we would have been had we allowed him to go free after Saul was so foolish as to let the fellow understand we knew of all his knavery. Now it's a case of keeping our backs stiff, trying to get possession of the horses, and doing all we can toward carrying to the Americans news of what's being done in this town."

"Sure, honey, you ain' countin' on doin' nuffin 'cept holdin' Horry Sims quiet?" and again Uncle 'Rasmus showed signs of terror.

"Now look here, Uncle," and Pierre knelt by his side, looking up into the wrinkled black face with a cheery smile as if there was nothing in all this wide world to trouble him. "We are not going to waste our time on one Tory – that is to say, all of us are not, for one must remain on guard. After what has happened Saul should do more than his fair share of playing the jailor. Now you wouldn't have Fitz and me loafing around this town doing nothing, would you?"

"Sure enuf, honey, sure enuf."

"You believe if we could carry any word of importance to the Americans we should do it, don't you, Uncle?"

"Sure enuf, honey, sure enuf."

"And if matters should turn, such as we can't really hope for, that there was a possibility of getting hold of the horses, would you have us do it?"

"Sure enuf, honey, sure enuf."

In such manner did this little French lad talk with the old negro until he revived all his courage, and before having come to an end Uncle 'Rasmus was as eager as Pierre to be up and doing, meanwhile as seemingly careless of what the future might bring us as was that little lad on whom all my hopes for the future, so far as the Britishers were concerned, depended.

Having thus restored Uncle 'Rasmus to hopefulness and courage, Pierre announced, as if there could be no question of any protest from me, that we would make our way to where the Rangers were quartered, and I obeyed him, much as a child might have done, mentally clinging to the lad as if he had been my elder.

We two walked around the village as if having no other purpose than to view a military encampment. We gaped here, or stood there in open-mouthed astonishment, as if mightily impressed with everything we saw, and while doing so Pierre would whisper now and then as we passed this redoubt or that battery:

"Have you got everything well in mind now, lad? Seven redoubts and six batteries on the land side; a line of batteries on the river bank; the grand battery near the church; three redoubts just at the ravine, one near the road to Hampton, and two by the river."

Thus it was he called my attention to each point where the Britishers were working, although in some cases it would have been impossible for me to have said whether they were building redoubts, throwing up earthworks for a battery, or simply digging a canal. It appeared that little Frenchie understood all their purpose, and I said to myself that if so be he could make his way from out this town of York into the American lines, of a verity he would be able to give General Lafayette such information as would be of exceeding value.

We saw Silver Heels. She was made fast to the stable line with a lot of other horses, and, so far as I could see, was receiving even more attention than if she had been at home on the plantation, for there were a dozen men or more working all the time currying this horse, rubbing that one down, bandaging a leg that showed signs of swelling, and in many ways taking as good care of the steeds as the best jockeys in Virginia could have done.

"You see she hasn't fallen into such bad hands," Pierre said as we passed for the third time where I could have a good view of my pet, and I replied sorrowfully:

"It isn't that she won't be taken care of, Pierre, for he into whose hands she might fall would indeed be a fool if he neglected so valuable a bit of horse-flesh; but it is the thought that she will be taken into battle, wounded, and left on the field to die, that breaks my heart."

"And yet many a poor fellow will be wounded on the field of battle, and left there to die. Mayhap it will be the fate of you or of me, and since Silver Heels has been reared by a rebel, she must take the same chances that all us rebels in this country are forced to take if the yoke of the king's oppression is to be removed from our necks."

Little Frenchie spoke like a preacher, and I dimly wondered whether his courage might not be failing him, now that we were fully committed to as desperate a venture as ever lads embarked on; but I need have had no forebodings, for after remaining silent a dozen seconds or more he seemingly shook off somber thoughts, and said cheerily: