Commodore Barney's Young Spies

I am well aware that by writing down all my thoughts I have pictured myself as a weak-kneed lad, and one who delighted in making a show of authority, as has been seen when I was disgruntled because Jerry or Darius took it upon themselves to say that this thing or that should be done, without first consulting me, and yet I hold it is only fair I give the same plain dealing concerning myself as I try to in the case of my companions.

Now, however, as we were setting out on a cruise from which not one of us might return, I was more than glad to surrender up to Darius the charge of the Avenger, and I was determined that he should keep it, taking whatsoever of honor might come to the commander, contenting myself with being simply a member of the crew who would ever strive to obey all orders promptly, whatever might be the situation. And in so doing I counted myself to be wise.

The old man remained at the helm speaking not a word, and chewing vigorously as we worked the pungy down the reaches in face of a head wind, not very strong at that, but the current favored, therefore we had the satisfaction of knowing that with all our pulling and hauling we were doing better than two and a half miles an hour.

I had expected Darius would propose that we hold a consultation as to our future course; but he gave no sign of so doing and Jerry finally asked:

"Where are we headin' for?"

"Fishin'."

I turned away, thinking the old man had given an idle answer to evade questions; but Jerry was not to be turned down so readily, and he said with a laugh:

"We've given over the fishin' business for quite a spell, I reckon. 'Cordin' to my way of thinkin', an' seein's how this cruise may turn out to be anything rather than a picnic, I allow that all hands should know what is to be done."

"That's my idee to a dot, lad, an' I'm tryin' to think up some kind of a plan so that when you fellows begin to figger, I can put in my oar with some show of sense."

"But where do you reckon that we're bound for?"

"Fishin', lad. Where else can we be bound?"

I turned again, understanding now that the old man was serious, and asked him if he supposed we could do any spying on the British fleet while we were wasting time getting oysters or fish.

"Didn't the commodore allow that we should keep right on bein' oystermen?" Darius asked with just a shade of impatience. "How do you expect we can sneak around the British fleet unless we've got some excuse for goin' there? It was in Joshua Barney's mind, the way I looked at it, that we might sell oysters to the fleet, which would account for our bein' among the vessels, an' to do that we've got to put in a cargo."

It was plain enough, now that the old man had spoken of it, and I understood that we had a bit of dredging before us in order to make ready for the more important portion of the work.

"But after we get a load, Darius? Shall we sail boldly down the bay, asking the Britishers to buy?"

"That's what I've been tryin' to make out. All of you can figger it 'cordin' to your own idees, an' then we'll talk it over."

Surely this was putting it fairly, and we tried to follow the old man's advice, or, at least I did; but without arriving at any satisfactory conclusion. The only plan I could put together was that we first get our wares and then blunder ahead trying to sell them, trusting to luck for the rest.

We were a silent crew for some time, as each fellow tried to think up some brilliant scheme, and then, when midnight was nearly come, we had arrived off Benedict.

"Why not go ashore for an hour?" Jerry suggested, and all of us gladly agreed, I in particular, because I wished to see my mother once more now there was no petulance in my heart on account of her willingness to have me go into danger.

Darius had no relatives, or even very near friends, in the village, therefore he volunteered to keep ship, and Jim Freeman set us ashore in the canoe, taking two at a trip, after which each fellow went his way.

My mother was overjoyed at seeing me so soon again, even though I aroused her from sleep to open the door, and asked so many questions that I could do no less than tell her all which had happened since I last saw her.

She was frightened at learning what we were about to do, and showed it plainly; but never a word did she speak against the project.

"If it is your duty, Amos, I have nothing to say, although I wish most heartily that others had been pushed forward into danger, and in thus speaking I am selfish, for then some other mother's heart would ache. Be as prudent as you can without being cowardly, my boy, and may God be ever with you. It is believed in the village that Elias Macomber has gone to join the British, because he has not been seen since last night; but if he should escape, Amos!"

"There is little fear of that, mother," I replied confidently. "Commodore Barney is not the man Darius has pictured him, if he allows such a villain to escape."

After this we talked of family matters until I went up stairs to look at my sisters and brother who were asleep. Then the visit was come to an end, and I went out into the night with a heavy heart; but determined that my family should have no cause to blush for me.

I was the first to arrive at the shore, and, lying at full length in the canoe, I waited until my comrades returned from their visit.

Jerry and Jim came in company, and appeared to be excited over something, therefore to draw them on without asking any questions, I repeated what my mother had said concerning Elias Macomber.

"Ay, that was the talk in town this forenoon," Jerry replied; "but now people are saying that he came back just before sunset – "

"Back here to Benedict?" I cried in amazement.

"Ay, Jim's mother saw him as he went by her house on the way to his own. She saluted him, but he made no reply – "

"But to be here he must have escaped!" I interrupted, unable to hold my peace. "The commodore would not have set him at liberty without telling us!"

"That goes without sayin', an' now what shall we do?" Jerry asked as if he had some plan in mind.

"What can we do, except to get away before he brings some of his cronies down here to make a row?"

"Jerry wants to catch him over again," Jim replied, since my partner did not speak. "If he's alone in his house it wouldn't be such a dreadful hard job, surely not as compared with what we did at the mill."

It seemed as if our own safety demanded that we give some especial attention to the traitor, and I proposed that we consult with Darius at once.

This was agreeable to my companions, and we boarded the Avenger without delay, rousing the old man to bitter wrath when we told that Elias had escaped.

"Somebody will smart for bein' so careless!" he cried. "Joshua Barney ain't the man to overlook anythin' of that kind. Do you allow there may be traitors in the fleet? It looks mightily like it when a coward like Macomber can give 'em the slip inside of twelve hours, for if he was seen in this town at sunset, he must have been at liberty by noon, ay, even before we got under way!"

"Jerry thinks we might catch him again, by going at once to his home," I said, impatient to make the attempt or set sail, for I was not easy in mind at lying there while the villain was free.

"And Jerry is right!" Darius, exclaimed, darting into the cuddy and returning in a twinkling with the old muskets. "See that these are well loaded, lads, an' if we can lay hands on that cur again, I'll attend to it that he don't walk off like a gentleman at large within any very short time."

Well, we found the weapons in fit condition for immediate use, and paddled ashore in a hurry, finding Josiah and Dody waiting for us. They also had heard that Elias was in the village, and we knew beyond a peradventure, even if we had not been certain before, that the cur had slipped away from those who should have guarded him with their lives.

It was not a long walk to Macomber's house, and on arriving there we found the building closely shuttered as if deserted; but we were not for taking outside indications as facts.

Although knowing full well that we were not proceeding in accordance with the law, since we had no authority for forcing an entrance into a dwelling, we burst open the rear door, and made thorough examination of the place.

The household goods were tossed and tumbled about as if some one had lately been there having little time to spare; but no living thing could be found.

The traitor had no children, therefore flight with his wife would be comparatively easy, and I was convinced that he had gone down the river intending to claim protection from the enemy.

"That's what he has done!" Darius said emphatically when I gave words to my belief. "It stands to reason that he went away in a boat, an' there's just a chance we may come up with him yet! Let's get on board, lads, an' if the Avenger knows how to sail we'll bring it out of her this night."

Then we returned with all speed to the shore; but I had little hope we could overtake the traitor, because he had at least three or four hours the start, and a canoe might be paddled twice as fast as the pungy would sail with such a light wind.

Darius, however, seemed certain we would overtake him, and urged us lads to greater speed or more severe exertions until the little vessel was under way, gliding down the river but little faster than the current would carry a canoe even though no paddles were used.

So eager in the chase was Darius that he would not allow either of us to go below, but insisted that all hands remain on the lookout, lest we over-run the game, and losing no little time as he swung the Avenger in close to this bank or that where the overhanging foliage afforded a hiding place for a small boat.

Not until daylight did we arrive off St. Leonard's bay, and it goes without saying that we had seen nothing of our traitor, neither had we come across a craft of any kind.

"He's bound now to go on until he overtakes the British fleet," Darius said angrily when the coming of daylight revealed the shores to us. "We'll have the best of him once we're out of the river!"

"You can't keep up the chase much longer if we count on gettin' a cargo of oysters," Jerry suggested, and the old man declared that he would never throw over a dredge until it became certain that Macomber had really escaped us.

But after some reflection he was willing to take back his words, knowing we could not go very far into the lower bay without some excuse for being there, and also realizing that we must never pursue Elias within sight of any vessel of the fleet, otherwise he might give such information as would cut short our career in this world.

With the coming of the new day the wind came out of the west with a force that gave promise of providing the pungy with a goodly sized bone in her teeth, and in case Macomber was no more than two hours in advance there was yet some possibility of overtaking him.

We usually dredged for oysters off Hog Point, or Parker's creek, therefore in a short time we would be on the fishing grounds, unless we took the risk of standing across the mouth of the Potomac on the chance of seeing the traitor, and I did not believe he would venture to make that long stretch while the breeze was so strong.

By the time we arrived at the mouth of the river there was no necessity of discussing the situation, for the chase had surely come to an end.

However great his need of coming up with the British, Elias Macomber knew too much to trust himself in a canoe on the open bay while the wind held as it did, and we knew beyond a peradventure that if he had not already gained the fleet, he was hiding on shore somewhere.

It would be folly to spend time in such a needle-in-the-haystack business as looking for him on shore when we had no clue to guide us, as even Darius was forced to admit, and, therefore, we set about the work in hand, which was the dredging of oysters enough to give us excuse for seeking out the enemy.

It seemed to all of us that we were in more danger through information which Elias might give, than we would have been while playing the spy with him safely cared for on one of the vessels of Commodore Barney's flotilla, and we went about the work as if it was possible to feel the chafing of British halters around our necks.

We began dredging exactly as we would have done had we been trying to get a cargo for the Baltimore market, and never a sail did we see during all that day, a fact which told us that the enemy was not yet ready to open his campaign.

Not until well into the night would Darius allow that we had a sufficient quantity of oysters to warrant us in finding purchasers, and even then there was no more than fifteen bushels aboard.

"It will do for a starter," Jerry said when Jim Freeman proposed that we spend one more day dredging.

"But the first Britisher we came across would buy as many as we've got," Jim objected, and Jerry replied with the air of one who has thoroughly turned the matter over in his mind:

"So much the better. We shall then have established ourselves in the business, and can come back for another cargo. There will be less suspicion of us the second time."

"I reckon you're right, lad," Darius said decidedly. "We can't expect to gather much of any news the first pop, an' if we get acquainted, it will be a long step in the right direction."

As a matter of course, the old man's opinion settled the question, and we hauled around for a run down the bay, double reefing the mainsail and jib, as was proper when you take into consideration the fact that we had the same as no cargo aboard to give the pungy stiffness.

Up to this time neither one had made any proposition as to how we were to begin operations, and I naturally concluded that we would sail boldly up to the first craft we saw, asking if we could sell them oysters, therefore I suggested, when we were standing off on a course that would bring us on to the Tangier Islands:

"If we keep up this rate of speed, we may come upon the enemy while it is yet night."

"Ay, lad, an' I'm thinkin' it would be a good plan."

"But people don't go out sellin' things before daylight," I said with a laugh.

"I'm countin' on bein' properly interduced," Darius replied with a grin. "If we're hailed, an' ordered to lay by till mornin', we shall have one ship's crew that'll listen to us."

I did not understand this explanation more than if it had been given in Latin; but the others appeared to be satisfied, and I held my peace rather than display ignorance.

We kept our course a couple of hours, and, then, directly in a line with the Tangiers, I saw the loom of what appeared to be a large ship.

"There's one of the fleet," I said in a whisper to Darius, who was at the tiller, and he replied in a matter-of-fact tone:

"Ay, lad, I'm allowin' she's the Severn or the Narcissus, both of which made it hot for the commodore in the Patuxent."

"How large are they?"

"The Severn should be carryin' thirty-eight guns, an' the other four less, if I remember rightly."

"I had rather we made our first attempt with a smaller vessel," I said, feeling decidedly uncomfortable in mind now we were so near beginning the dangerous work.

"Bless you, lad, we might as well be overhauled by a frigate as a sloop, so far as the chances of bein' found out are concerned; but we're goin' through this business as slick as we did at the mill."

Darius held the Avenger straight for the enemy, and when we were come within half a musket-shot I heard the hail we had been expecting:

"Sloop ahoy!"

"Ay, ay, sir!" Darius cried.

"What craft is that?"

"An oyster pungy with part of a cargo which we're hopin' to sell, sir. Can we do any business with you?"

"Heave to, an' lay alongside until daylight."

"Very well, sir," the old man cried, and then he let fly a lot of orders to us of the crew which would have shamed a landsman to utter, for of a verity no sailor could have understood them.

However, by giving no heed to what he said, we brought the Avenger into position; but I soon saw that the tide was setting us away from the Britisher, and suggested that we let go the anchor.

To this the old man would not agree.

"Obey orders if you break owners," he said with a grin, and I knew he had some reason for thus being so foolish.

However, to make a long story short, we remained hove to until day dawned, and then we were within a cable's length of a large ship, while a mile or more further up the bay was the vessel that had first hailed.

"Ahoy on the sloop!" came from the second ship, and Darius replied in the tone of a countryman:

"Ay, ay, sir."

"Why are you loafing around here?"

"We came down to sell some oysters; but the chap on t'other craft told us to heave to, an' we've been driftin' 'round here ever since. I dunno whether we ought'er go back to him, or try to sell you what few bushels we've got."

"When did you take them?"

"Last night. Oh, they're fresh enough, if that's what you're thinkin' of. Don't you want to try 'em?"

"What is the price?"

"Ten cents a bushel; that's what we ought'er get up to Baltimore, an' I reckon we might knock off a little if we don't have to run there to unload."

Then, without waiting for permission, Darius began giving us fool orders intended to get the pungy under way, and we came lumbering around under the ship's starboard, where we could have been blown into the next world with no more labor than the lighting of a match.

Darius lifted one of the hatches and leaped into the hold ordering us to "bear a hand lively that the gentlemen might taste the oysters," and passing up a basket full, shouting to me so loudly that he could readily have been heard on the ship:

"Pass 'em over the side, Bubby dear, an' be careful how you fool 'round the rail!"

I should have laughed at his manner of speaking but that I knew he was playing a part, and I did my best to obey the command.

The sailors of the ship, eager for anything by way of a change of food, held out both hands invitingly for the fish, and I contrived to swing the basket aboard.

Then it was that I saw an officer take charge of the fish, calling for the after steward to come forward, and a moment later some one cried:

"Where's your captain?"

I sung out for Darius; but he pretended to misunderstand, and replied:

"They can have the lot for eight cents a bushel. Ask 'em if I shall begin takin' 'em out?"

Then it was that I fancied he had some good reason for wanting to remain out of sight, and I looked around in alarm to see what had caused the trouble.