Commodore Barney's Young Spies

CHAPTER III.

ELIAS MACOMBER

Of a verity Elias Macomber did me a good turn when he started the quarrel with Darius Thorpe, for up to this time I had been sadly lacking in patriotism, as may have been learned from that which is already set down in these pages.

Until this day it had been as if the war did not concern me or mine, save as it affected the price of oysters, and when I saw this lad or the other who had enlisted, I said to myself that another foolish one had been found who willingly engaged to go where he might be killed.

Within a very few moments after the fight between Elias Macomber and his crew of British-lovers had come to an end, I began to view the situation of affairs as an honest lad should.

The country which protected me in my home – that territory which had been bought, or redeemed, by the blood of brave men, and even of women and children, from the savage Indians and a merciless king, was in danger, and if I did not rush to its defense how might I expect my heritage of a free land could be preserved to me and those who came after me?

Like a picture I saw before me those brave men and women who had battled against the forces of nature as they made homes in the wilderness; then struggled against the bloodthirsty Indians to protect their little all, and were finally called upon to fight a powerful nation in order to hold themselves free in the land already redeemed by sweat and blood.

Once that was presented to my mental vision I ceased to regret having been forced to thus set off for the purpose of joining Commodore Barney's fleet, and rejoiced that my comrades had prevented me from showing the white feather when even my loving mother urged me forward. I forgot all the fears which had assailed me, and thought only of what it might be possible for me to do in order to show myself worthy the land of my birth.

In a word, I had in a few seconds been transformed from a cowardly lad who would shirk his duty lest, perchance, he receive some bodily hurt, to a boy burning with the desire to do whatsoever lay in his power toward checking the advance of an enemy who was bent upon carrying on the war by destroying the property of peaceful settlers.

Unless my comrades read what I have here set down, they will never know how near I was on that day at Benedict, to proving myself a false-hearted American lad.

The afternoon was considerably more than half spent when we left home for the eighteen-mile sail up the river, and I saw little chance of our coming upon the fleet before morning, unless we kept the pungy under sail far into the night, for the breeze, what little we had of it, came from the westward, and we could not make more than two miles an hour against the current.

Therefore it was that I said to Darius when we were half an hour or more from port, after Jim Freeman and his friends had wearied themselves by cutting monkey-shines on the deck in order to prove their joy at thus having an opportunity to do whatsoever they might in defense of their country:

"With so light a wind we are like to be forced aground when it is so dark that we cannot give the shoals a wide berth, because of not seeing them," and the old man replied, saying that which was in my own mind:

"It'll be a case of comin' to anchor, lad, after the sun has set, for we had best make haste slowly rather than jam the pungy up where a day may be spent in tryin' to float her."

"But suppose the British are close at hand?" I asked, for now I was hot with the desire to make certain of keeping so far ahead of the enemy that I could take part in whatsoever might be done by way of fighting.

"They will be more helpless than we, after night has come, for we know the river fairly well, while they are strangers to it."

If it had not been that we lads were about to take part in the war I might have refused to accept Darius' advice so readily, for, it must be confessed, I am overly headstrong and apt to go contrary when one makes the least show of driving me; but in the business we were about to embark upon, I knew it was safe to follow the old man, since he had had long experience in such matters, the telling of which would be more entertaining than will be the account of our adventures.

It was destined, however, that the Avenger should come to anchor even before the river was shrouded in darkness, for we were not more than four miles above our own town of Benedict, when the wind, died away completely, thus forcing us to make fast somewhere, unless we were minded to drift back to our starting point.

In my ignorance, I would have anchored the pungy in the stream, hoisting a riding light, and turned in feeling that everything was safe and snug; but to this Darius made decided objection.

"Keep out of the channel," he said emphatically. "We know beyond a peradventure that the enemy is astern of us, and there is no tellin' when he may come – "

"He will wait for wind before goin' very far up the river," I interrupted, and thus showed my ignorance of anything concerning warfare, for the old man replied:

"It wouldn't be strange if he should send a boat in the night to make certain of the water, and get such other information as might be useful. This 'ere pungy would be captured by half a dozen men as easily as if the whole British fleet was close by."

"Are you of the opinion that we should haul in to the bank?" I asked very humbly, understanding that if we would run safely it might be better to give Darius the command.

"Let her drop back beyond the point, an' then sneak in as far among the trees as her spars will permit," he said, and this we did, pulling her around by aid of the canoe until we were nicely hidden from all save by closest scrutiny.

Right glad was I by this time that Jim Freeman and his two friends had come aboard, for they were willing lads, who strove to do all they might in the way of work, and we who belonged on the Avenger had an easy time of it.

Jim took it upon himself to get supper, and he had brought with him such a tempting store of provisions, all of which he turned over to the party, that our meal that night was a veritable feast. I had never but once before had such an appetizing repast, and that one exception was when oysters were scarce, and a Baltimore dealer gave us a dinner at the hotel in addition to the regular price of the cargo.

When our hunger had been satisfied, and the cuddy put to rights, we lads would have spent the time spinning yarns, or in some other such amusement; but Darius put his foot down strongly against it.

"Remember that you are liable to be made prisoners of war at any moment," he said gravely. "Wise men do not hide themselves and their vessel, an' then talk and laugh that strangers may know where they are hidden."

"Do you really expect to see Britishers on the river this night?" Jim Freeman asked with a laugh, and, much to my surprise, the old man said emphatically:

"I surely do, if all we heard at Benedict be true, an' I have little doubt of it. The enemy count on destroyin' Commodore Barney's fleet, an' know that it can be found up this stream. It will be strange, 'cordin' to what I know of such business, if the admiral does not send out spies before shovin' any armed vessels up here."

It can well be supposed that such talk as this insured silence among us; we had hardly begun to understand that we might be very near a British prison unless every precaution was taken; but the old man's words, and manner of speaking them, brought us to a better realization of the situation.

We almost held our breath, fancying the enemy might be close aboard, until Darius, talking in a whisper, said:

"I'm countin' on seein' or hearin' the Britishers 'twixt now an' mornin', an' it strikes me that we might do a good stroke of work for Joshua Barney, by lookin' after a prisoner or two. It wouldn't be no ways strange if we could nab 'em, pervidin' they put themselves in a fair position to be taken."

I was dumfounded by such a proposition, and it is not impossible that my knees began to shake as I thought of attempting such a thing. Then I suddenly remembered that we had no weapons aboard, except an old musket which we used to shoot into a flock of ducks now and then, and I said with a laugh:

"Do you expect that the Britishers will surrender if we simply invite them? Our one musket wouldn't make much of a showin' against a boat-load of men."

"All that has been in my mind, lad, an' I reckon it won't be hard to put ourselves in right good shape. If any British spies count on comin' up the river, it wouldn't be till after dark, an' we've got no right to expect they'd be around this way much before midnight. Now I'll paddle back to the village, an' see if I can't scare up two or three muskets. It won't take me more'n an hour for the whole job."

Darius said this as if asking advice; but I could make no reply, and my companions held their peace, therefore, after waiting a few moments without hearing any comment, the old man set about carrying his plan into execution.

Noiselessly he hauled the canoe alongside, went over the rail into her, and took up the paddle, as I stood near the bow waiting for his command to cast off the painter.

"Keep quiet, whatever happens, an' don't fuss if I'm kept quite a spell, for if there's anythin' to be learned, I shall make mighty little account of time. Cast off, lad, an' be certain that nothin' goes up or down the river without your seeing it."

I obeyed the command, and in an instant the canoe glided into the obscurity of the shadows cast by the overhanging trees.

With the disappearance of Darius there came upon me the full sense of my responsibility, for I was the one to whom the others would look in event of trouble, and I knew full well how poorly fitted I was by experience to be in command of the pungy.

The knowledge of my own short-comings at least served one good turn, since it made me more than usually cautious, and without delay I set about preparations for obeying the command given by Darius.

All my companions were on deck, and calling them aft to the cuddy companion-way, I said in a whisper:

"You heard the words of Darius. Now I propose the work shall be done in this fashion: All hands will remain on duty, not in a group, but stationed equal distances apart at the rail, each one to watch and listen to the best of his ability. No fellow shall speak with his neighbor, nor can he move about lest the sound of footsteps on the deck give an alarm."

Then I took up my station near the stern, and in the gloom I could see the forms of my companions while they ranged themselves as I had suggested, neither of them making more noise than so many mice.

From that moment not a sound could be heard from the deck of the Avenger. That which Darius said had aroused us all to the danger, and even though we had only a crew of lads, I felt confident no blunder would be charged against us.

It was dreary work waiting there in the darkness, listening intently for the lightest unusual noise, and believing that an enemy was, or soon would be, close at hand. The gurgling of the water in an eddy; the leap of a fish, or a bit of drift-wood striking against the side of the pungy, sounded in our ears loud as thunder, and we heard the ordinary night rustlings of the forest as if it was something strange to our ears.

Then came that which caused us to bend far out over the rail, trying to pierce the gloom with our eyes, for the measured stroke of oars could be heard, and it was a positive relief to me, even though it betokened the coming of strangers.

I felt certain an enemy's boat was approaching, because had any one living on the river been coming up at that time of night, paddles would have been used instead of oars. I knew of no one nearabout Benedict who would have rowed a boat against the current when she could have been handled so much more readily the other way.

Nearer and nearer came the splashing of water, as if more than one oarsman was at work, and when it seemed as if the boat must be close upon us, I heard a low voice, but could not distinguish the words.

Immediately the noise of the oars ceased, and then came the words, not loud, but clear enough for us who were listening so intently to hear with reasonable distinctness:

"On which side of the river were we to pick the man up?"

"The left, sir; the same side as the village."

The Avenger was lying near the right bank of the river, such position having been taken because of the trees, and not through good judgment.

"One of you men get ashore, and see what can be found. If this is the place agreed upon, and he said he would be about three miles above the village, there should be a road running on a line with the river."

There was no question in my mind but that the speakers were Britishers from one of the fleets, and that some of our people had agreed to play the traitor by giving information, or piloting the boat. But, if such was the case, where was Darius? He had not had time to reach Benedict before this boat came past there, and might already be a prisoner on his way to the nearest English vessel.

Even though he had gained the village while the strangers were yet below it, then was his danger the greater, for he might unwittingly come directly upon them when he returned. Whichever way I looked at the matter I saw cause for grave fear, and the perspiration came out in big drops on my forehead, for without him we would be in a bad predicament.

While these thoughts were running through my mind I gave due attention to what might be going on at the opposite side of the river, for I was convinced that the boat was nearly in a straight line across from where we lay.

I could hear such noises as told that one of the crew was scrambling ashore amid the underbrush, and I heard a man cough; but after that all was still until at least fifteen minutes were passed, when there was a faint sound of voices from a distance, and then the rustling of the foliage as if one or more was forcing a passage through the tangle of vines.

"Hello!" came in a hoarse whisper from the boat, and some one ashore replied:

"It's all right, sir."

From what could be heard I knew that a man, or men, were making their way to the boat from the highway, and then, when it seemed as if he or they were aboard, the voice which had given the command, said in greeting:

"So you're come at last, Macomber. I had begun to believe we were mistaken as to the rendezvous."

"I was delayed in the village, for your orders were that I must get away without its being known, and there are many inquisitive ones in Benedict."

My heart gave a great bound. So it was Elias Macomber who was playing traitor, for even though he was born in England, the United States was his home by adoption, and to our people he was bound in honor.

If Darius could only get weapons so that we might capture the boat's crew, what joy would be mine to carry the base hound to Commodore Barney as a prisoner!

Elias was speaking in a low tone and rapidly to some one – whom I had no doubt was a British officer – , and I could only catch a word here and there; but it was enough to let me know that he was reporting all he had heard concerning the movements of the flotilla.

"At Nottingham yesterday," I heard. "Thirteen barges an' pungies, with the schooner Scorpion. Five hundred men all told. Well armed, an' knowin' how to use their weapons."

It was by such fragments of conversation as set down above that I knew Elias Macomber was giving all the information in his power to the enemy, and I resolved that some day he should pay the penalty of the crime, even though I was forced to pursue him single-handed.

When all the story had been told the officer asked:

"Can you give us a place on the river where we may lay by during the day? I am minded to have a look at the boats before going back to make report."

I bent forward eagerly to hear the reply:

"At a mill, five miles above here, you will find a friend by name of Essek Harland. He can give you all that may be needed."

"You shall go with us to make certain he takes us in."

"Very well, sir; but in that case I cannot get back home before morning."

"You should be able to pull eight miles with a current in a few hours, and I will pay for the hire of a boat."

"Very well, sir," Macomber replied in a tone of content, and I laughed inwardly with joy, for he would be our prisoner to a certainty if he came down the river alone.

Then the word was given for the oarsmen to resume their work, and we heard the light splashing of water as the boat was pulled up-stream.

After that all was silent once more, and Jerry came tip-toeing aft to whisper in my ear:

"Do you think Darius managed to give them the slip, or did they capture him?"

"It seems to me that the officer would have told Elias if he had taken a prisoner," I replied, and such fact gave me great satisfaction. "At all events he must be here soon if nothing has happened to his disadvantage."

Even as I spoke the canoe came out of the shadow, gliding lightly and noiselessly as thistledown, and we knew that Darius was safe, for the time being at least.

"Did you run across the boat when you went down?" I asked in a whisper as he came over the rail, and he stood silent as if with surprise.

"Didn't you see a boat?" Jerry asked impatiently, and the old man replied:

"I met with nothing either goin' or comin' an' I've brought back two muskets with a mighty small lot of powder an' ball; but it's better'n nothin'. What do you mean by a boat?"

Then we told him what we had heard, and when I mentioned the name of the traitor, he brought his hand down on his leg with a resounding thwack that might have been heard some distance away, as he said incautiously loud:

"We'll have that snake, lads, if we don't do anythin' more, an' he shall have a chance to see how the commodore looks when the Britishers come up the river!"

"Then it is for you to take command of the Avenger, Darius. The boat has not been gone from here above ten minutes, therefore it is likely to be some time before the traitor comes down stream."

"We won't wait here for him, lads. There's breeze enough stirrin' now to send the pungy against the current, an' we'll push ahead."

Sheltered by the trees as the vessel had been, we were ignorant of the fact that a night breeze was springing up, until the Avenger swung out into the stream, and then we found it as Darius had said.

The little craft could make about two miles an hour against the current, which, as I reckoned, was about what the boat could do with a couple of men at the oars, and I suggested to the old man that there was danger we might over-run our game.

He gave heed by sending all hands, save me, into the bow as lookouts, and steered a zig-zag course, which reduced our speed a full third.

"I don't believe I've ever heard of this Essek Harland you tell about," the old man said to me in a whisper, and, understanding that he desired all the information I could give concerning the miller, I replied:

"He's of much the same kidney as Elias Macomber, except that he was born in this country. A mean native of North Carolina, who starves his slaves, and makes them work twice as many hours as they should. He runs the mill, and it is said that all those who carry grist to him keep a sharp watch lest he take out too much toll. If he hides the Britishers, or gives them any information, it will be because they pay him, for he will do any mean thing for money."

"Have you ever heard it said whether he was for or against the war?"

"No, and I haven't heard his name spoken for a year or more. It would make little difference with him which side he was on, if the opposite party offered money they could buy him."

Then we fell silent again during half an hour or more, when Darius said:

"You shall tell me when we are within a mile of the mill; it won't be safe to run any nearer unless we have overhauled that snake of a Macomber."

I was so well acquainted with the river as to know every crook and turn for at least ten miles above Benedict, and when it seemed certain the pungy had run three miles or more, I kept a sharp look-out on the banks in order to comply with the old man's request.

It was just when I believed we were close upon the spot where the Avenger should be stopped, that Jerry came tip-toeing aft, waving his arms to attract our attention.

"Macomber has hove in sight!" Darius whispered. "Take the tiller, an' head her for his canoe!"

As he spoke he darted into the cuddy, returning a few seconds later with two muskets, and these he carried with him well forward.

I strained my eyes in vain for a view of the canoe, which should be coming right fast, with a favoring current, and had not yet made her out when Darius hailed:

"In the boat there! Whereabouts are our people?"

The old man had disguised his voice, and the traitor must have believed that we were a party of British coming to join those whom he had piloted, for he paddled alongside fearlessly, as he replied:

"Up the river half a mile or so."

"Can you show us the way?"

"Ay, that I can; but it will delay me in – "

He ceased speaking very suddenly, for at that moment Jerry incautiously came toward the port rail, and even though the night was dark, it was possible to see that he was neither a British soldier nor sailor.

Quickly he seized the paddle to shove off; but Darius thrust the muzzle of a musket in his very face, as he cried sharply:

"Pass up your painter, or I'll shoot! Quick, or your life is gone in another second!"

Elias Macomber was a coward, as we knew full well, but I never believed he would give in quite as readily as he did. He passed up the painter as meekly as any cooing dove, and when Darius ordered him to come over the rail, he made all haste to obey the command.

When we gathered around the cur, however, for all of us were so eager that we could not keep out of sight any longer, and he saw who had captured him, he let go a cry of anger that was like unto the whoof of a bear, as he struck out with both fists savagely.

He would have showed better sense had he taken matters with a bit more grace, for before he could land a blow on either of us, Darius floored him with the butt-end of the musket, and during a minute or two he laid like one dead.

"You struck too hard!" I cried in alarm, for even though the man was a traitor, it seemed terrible to take a human life.

"Not a bit of it," the old sailor said quietly as he set about lashing the fellow's arms and legs. "He ain't the kind that can be killed so easily. Get off the hatch, for we must have him out of sight before coming up to the mill."

Five minutes later our prisoner was snugly stowed aft, near the cabin bulkhead, and we had brought the pungy to anchor lest she over-run the port we counted on making.

CHAPTER IV.

A LIVELY TUSSLE

Darius would have it that the traitor had not been seriously hurt by the blow on the head; but when he failed to show any signs of consciousness after we stowed him away in the hold, I grew alarmed, and, calling on Jim Freeman for assistance, set about trying to bring him to life, for of a verity I believed him dead.

It was not until we had worked over him ten minutes or more that I could see any change, and then suddenly he opened his eyes, blinking in the rays of the lantern Jim was holding close by his face.

"What happened to me?" he asked wildly, and as my fears that he had been killed were banished by the words, so did my anger against him return.

"You were known to have been giving information to the enemy, and piloting English spies to a hiding-place," I replied sharply. "We took it upon ourselves to cut your career as a traitor short, and while the job was being done you got a clip on the head that knocked you senseless."

While I was speaking the cur looked me full in the face, as if trying to make out who I was; but I believe he feigned ignorance only that he might have time in which to decide upon a course of action.

I could see by the look in his eyes, when his mind was made up as to how he should steer, and a moment later he said with a start of pretended surprise.

"Is it you, Amos Grout? I was afraid I had fallen into the hands of enemies!"