CHAPTER XV

ROWE’S SMITHY

When we were come to the highway Master Sawyer reined in his horse that he might ride in the rear of the company, whereupon Gabriel, who was in the lead, called to him:

“Why should you not ride with me, Master Sawyer, instead of tailing on alone?”

“Because I am not going out as a member of your company, but simply as one who has a fancy for a bit of adventure.”

I could understand, and so evidently did Gabriel, that he would not take position in the line where it might seem as if he was sharing in the leadership, or was eager to give advice, but we knew right well that if we came to close quarters with an enemy, he would be in the front without waiting for an invitation.

Gabriel insisted that it was a guest’s right to ride with the leader, and Master Sawyer laughingly spurred his horse forward, saying as he came up:

“When I am with lads who in the midst of victory can mourn because they had no better opportunity to display their courage than by standing fast in line as soldiers should, then am I careful not to do that which might detract in any way from whatsoever of success may come to them.”

“But we are looking upon you in the light of an adviser,” I cried, and it must be remembered that among us Minute Boys there was little of that military discipline and strait-lacedness which the king’s officers thought necessary to maintain.

“There is a question in my mind, lad, whether my advice would be any better than Master Marion’s judgment, for I have both heard and seen him prove himself well able to command even a much larger company.”

Then it was that Gabriel asked, speaking purposely loud so all in the line might hear him:

“Is it in your mind, Master Sawyer, that we should ride boldly up the road until arriving at Rowe’s smithy, or had we better reconnoitre, as the general seemed to suggest?”

“First let me hear your opinion?” the gentleman said, as if speaking to one whom he considered an equal.

“It appears to me,” Gabriel replied after a brief hesitation, “that we would be in no more danger, if peradventure danger menaces, by riding boldly on. In case that message be the bait of a trap, then would those who are evilly disposed toward us be on their guard against whatsoever reconnoitring we might do.”

“Yours is much my way of thinking, lad; but I would say that while we go as if there was no suspicion in our minds, we be constantly prepared for a surprise, and then if anything serious should come up, the company would not be taken at any great disadvantage.”

There was little need for a suggestion like this. I dare venture to say every member of the party felt much as I did, that at any moment we might be confronted by a superior force, and instead of swinging our muskets across our shoulders, as was the usual method while on the march, we carried the weapons resting on one arm, thus having but a single hand for the bridle-rein.

We rode at a moderate pace such as should have brought us to the smithy in forty minutes or more, and I am minded to sound the praises of my comrades by saying confidently, that if a stranger had seen us then he would have had no grounds for believing we were expecting an attack. Although not for any ordinary amount of wealth would I have allowed myself to be left behind, it surely seemed as if we had no warrant for taking the risks--as if the capture of Seth Hastings was hardly so important that we should endanger our liberty, if not our lives, by trying to make him prisoner again.

However, we were on the road to the smithy; the question had been settled without my having raised a voice in protest, yet I felt as fully committed to it as if to me alone had been left the decision.

Once during the short journey we halted that the horses might drink from a brook which crossed the road, and then on again until we were come to a forge, so small that when the smith would shoe a horse the animal must perforce remain outside the building. Nearby, perhaps fifty yards away, was a dwelling built of logs, with a long shed behind it evidently intended as a stable for horses and cattle.

No person was to be seen; the door of the smithy, a rude affair made of splints and hanging by one hinge, was nearly closed, and this in itself, to us who were suspicious, seemed strange, for the day was warm, and a man working at the forge would have been in need of all the fresh air he could get. Some one near me said, in a tone half of doubt, half of anger:

“The place is abandoned! How could Master Rowe have sent a messenger?”

Just then we heard the clinking sound of metal struck against metal, and Gabriel would have dismounted to open the door had not Master Sawyer clutched him by the arm, as he said quickly:

“Remain in your saddle, lad! It is the safer course, for he who dismounts must turn his back upon the enemy to regain his footing in the stirrups.” Then, raising his voice, he cried, “Ho, in the smithy! We would speak with you, good Master Rowe!”

The hail was not answered immediately, and it seemed to me that Master Sawyer was on the point of crying again, when the door was pulled inward a few inches as the heavily bearded face of a man peered out.

Gabriel waited an instant, fancying Master Sawyer was minded to conduct the conversation, but since the gentleman sat silent, our leader asked in an unnecessarily loud voice:

“Is this Master Reuben Rowe?”

“Ay, and what may you be wanting of me? A shoe for a horse?”

“We call ourselves the Minute Boys of South Carolina,” Gabriel replied, as if believing this would be the only information needed to announce the purpose of our coming, and the man stared at him as if not understanding.

Gabriel repeated the words, and after waiting while one might have counted ten, the man asked, with a stupidity which I believed was feigned:

“Is that all you have to tell me?”

“You sent one of your negroes to the Davis plantation with a message for the Minute Boys,” Gabriel said, and I noted that he shifted his musket ever so slightly so he might be able to raise it to his shoulder on the instant.

“I sent no negro, and for the very good reason that I have none.”

“But Mistress Davis’s daughter told us it was your man who brought the word.”

“Then Mistress Davis’s daughter will have to guess again,” the smith replied in a mocking tone. “There has been an old negro whom nobody seems to own, living near by here for the past year, and now and then I have hired him to do some bit of work for me.”

“Then you did not send him to the Davis plantation to-day?” and now Gabriel spoke sharply, whereupon the man replied in an equally curt tone:

“I have not seen the old rascal for a week or more.”

We lads looked at each other in genuine alarm, for now did it seem positive a trap had been set, and the wonder was that those who were eager to do us a mischief did not begin their work.

It was when the silence had lasted a full minute, and none of us seemed inclined to break it, that Master Sawyer took upon himself the task of gathering information, if there was any to be had in that quarter.

“You are Master Reuben Rowe, and owner of this smithy?”

“I am, sir,” the man replied, speaking more deferentially now, for mayhap he knew that the man addressing him was not one to be trifled with.

“You say you sent no message, yet one was received which purported to have come from here. Have you seen any person in this vicinity who might have hired the negro to go to the Davis plantation?”

“With the exception of a neighbor who lives two miles farther up the road, and who came here shortly after sunrise to have a hoe mended, I have seen no one.”

“Where does this negro, of whom you speak, live? He must have a shack of some kind in which to sleep.”

“Ay, that he has, and cultivates a bit of land, raising mayhap as much as will keep him from one year’s end to another. His place is three miles or more down on the edge of the swamp.”

“In what direction?”

“Yonder path leads to it.”

Now the smith came out of the building that he might point to a faint trail running through a grove at right angles to the course we had been pursuing.

Master Sawyer noted the direction, and said, as if thinking aloud:

“Then in order for the negro to go to the Davis plantation, he must come by this forge?”

“Unless he took a short cut through the woods in order to save considerable distance. Certain it is he can leave his shack without coming this way, for I have known three or four weeks to go by without his showing himself, but yet have heard of him at one place or another along the road.”

It was evident he would gain no more information from Master Rowe. He plainly showed he had told us all he could, or all he intended to, and if he spoke the truth the riddle was to be read only by our following the trail until we came upon the negro who had acted as messenger. This, as it seemed to me, would be a most unwise thing to do, for it required that we should ride amid the underbrush, where, if an ambush had been laid, we could not well avoid it.

Gabriel made one more attempt at coming upon a solution of the puzzle, by asking:

“Do you know a lad by the name of Seth Hastings?”

Master Rowe shook his head.

“Have you heard that there was a prisoner hereabout to be delivered to those who are defending this State?”

“I have heard nothing whatsoever about prisoners or Tories, nor would I listen if any were inclined to tell the tale. I am a man of peace, and do not count on meddling with the affairs either of the king or the rebels.”

The fact that he had used the word “rebels,” when speaking of us, caused me to believe the fellow was inclined to be a Tory even though he might not take open part with one side or the other, and straightway was I more suspicious of him than ever.

“He who stands ’twixt two parties, trying to side with neither, is either a fool or a knave,” Master Sawyer cried threateningly. “You remain here, counting to be undisturbed because of not taking part in the war, and yet are unwilling to raise a hand for or against the State which gives you living room. Although I have no great love for Tories, they are men as compared with those who strive to take a living from the land without contributing in any way toward the general good.”

Master Rowe stepped back a pace, his hands clenched, and I thought of a verity that he was about to make an attack upon our outspoken companion, who shifted ever so slightly in the saddle as if to defend himself against a blow.

The smith evidently thought better of his first intent, if indeed it was what I suspected, and tried in vain to curb his anger as he replied:

“It has ever been given to the people of the Carolinas to believe as they chose, and I choose to believe that he who stands aloof from both sides at such a time is the better citizen. Nor does it become you, Master Paul Sawyer, whose hand has been in every brawl since this uprising against the king was first begun, to revile a man who strives to live honestly.”

Now it was Master Sawyer’s turn to be angry, and mine to be surprised, for until this moment I had no idea the smith recognized any member of our company, and because he did so were my suspicions increased.

Master Sawyer remained silent a full half-minute, and then, leaning over in the saddle as if to invite a blow, he said, speaking slowly and distinctly:

“Hark ye, Master Smith, if you know me by name, you are also well aware that I keep my word to the letter howsoever many brawls I may have a hand in, and this I am telling you to the end that it may be guarded against, if you feel so disposed. A messenger was sent to the Davis plantation much the same as in your name, and in another four and twenty hours I shall know whether you have just told us the truth or not. If so be you are trying to deceive us in order that harm may be worked to those who are fighting for the Cause, then as true as I am Paul Sawyer, so true will I take your life as forfeit for treachery!”

Master Rowe quailed before these passionately uttered words, and I fancied that on his cheeks came something very like a spot of red, but whether of fear or of anger I would not attempt to guess. Then, without a word, he turned abruptly and entered the forge, closing the door behind him with no little violence.

“Well, what do you make of it, sir?” Gabriel asked a few seconds after the man had disappeared.

“It is a trap which has been set for you, lad; of that there can be no question. Now you have my answer, and I am asking what you propose to do? Do not speak now; there is no reason why we should hold this conversation where perchance an enemy stands ready to repeat it,” Master Sawyer said quickly, as he laid his hand on Gabriel’s arm when the latter was about to make reply.

Then he pulled his horse sharply around, riding back over the road we had just come, all of us Minute Boys following his example.

When we were a quarter of a mile or more from the forge Master Sawyer reined in his steed, and our company of Minute Boys came to a halt, taking position in a circle so we might hear all that was said.

“Now I ask for your answer, lad. What are you minded to do?”

“It is for my comrades to have a voice in this matter, sir,” Gabriel replied, “and the question shall be left to them. As for my part, I am minded to learn where the trap is, that we may know who set it, believing that when such information has been gained we will stand mighty near Seth Hastings, for there can be no other around here who knows how eager we are to come up with him.”

Although I was, as has already been said, opposed to this adventure, it would have shamed me had Gabriel made other reply, and on the instant I cried:

“I am with you, lad, wherever you choose to go!”

I had not yet spoken these words before all the members of our company were demanding that they have an opportunity of learning what we were eager to know.

“You are lads of spirit,” Master Sawyer said heartily. “I would I were young again, if for no other reason than that I might ask to join this force, because now is the time when much adventure may be had, and with such a party, even though it be small, he who craves for a venturesome life will not be mistaken.”

“You surely are one of us this afternoon, sir, and much better fitted to say how we may ferret out the plot with the least danger to ourselves.”

Before Master Sawyer could make reply, I interrupted, fearing lest we forget the promise which had been much the same as made:

“Remember, Gabriel, that a messenger was to be sent back to the general, if we could not return before midnight, and since this matter may require some considerable time, I propose that he be made acquainted with what little we have already learned.”

The dear lad agreed with me promptly, and then came the question of who would act the part of messenger. None of the lads were like to turn their backs willingly at such a time, therefore were several minutes spent in drawing lots, and Jared Green was the one finally chosen. I pitied him because of the disappointment written on his face, knowing how I should have felt under the same circumstances, but was not generous enough to offer an exchange of places with him.

“You may repeat all that which we have heard, and say it is our intention to learn more regarding this thing before returning; but beg of my brother that he do not send any of the troopers here because of thinking the danger may be too great. This is a matter belonging to the Minute Boys entirely, and we should be allowed to work it out ourselves, with the aid of Master Sawyer.”

“You will be working it out entirely alone, lad, for I count myself as one of the company, and under your command,” Master Sawyer said quickly, and then Jared, with a glance of both sorrow and envy at our little company, rode away.

“Now that we are ready for business, lad, I have a proposition to make,” Master Sawyer said, speaking hurriedly as if believing that time pressed. “The smith may not have told us all the truth to-day, and I dare venture to say he did not, but still am allowing there was somewhat in his talk which we may believe. He said the old negro could leave his shack in the thicket without coming past the forge. Now if that be the case, then shall we find the trail on this left-hand side of the road. Therefore do I suggest that we ride slowly along, and when we come to anything which looks like a path, follow it, to the end that we may come upon those who are waiting for us in the rear, thus gaining no slight advantage.”

There could have been no objection made to this proposition, for it smacked of sound common sense, although some of our party doubted if Master Rowe had mingled any truth in that tale of his--questioning whether the messenger which went to the Davis plantation had not gone directly from the forge; but Master Sawyer disputed that belief by saying:

“If there had been enemies waiting in the vicinity of the forge, we should have been fired upon when we turned as if to go back to the plantation.”

Then we rode along at a foot-pace, watching narrowly the left side of the road, and I confess to considerable surprise when, after having travelled perhaps a mile, we came upon a trail which struck off from the highway at an angle such as would apparently bring us to the negro’s hut, if Master Rowe had given correct information regarding it.

“Are we to ride through here, sir, or walk?” Gabriel asked, and Master Sawyer, after a moment’s thought replied:

“To my mind we had best remain in the saddle. Were I in command of this company, I would dismount three lads, instructing them to tether their horses at such distance from the road that the animals could not betray their whereabouts in case the enemy passed near at hand. Then have them go on as scouts considerably in advance of the force. If, as I believe will be the case, they come upon signs of the enemy, the footmen are to fall back to the rear, leaving us who are mounted to begin the fight, for I’m counting that you intend to come to close quarters if redcoat or Tory is found?”

“Ay, that we are, sir,” Archie Gordon said eagerly, and he added in a lower tone to Gabriel, “If you love me, lad, do not put me among those who are to dismount, lest I should miss the chance of coming upon the traitorous cur before he be killed!”

Gabriel looked quickly around to see that none save I had heard this request, and then he made what I believed a good selection of the scouts by naming the two Marshall boys and Jacob Breen. We knew by experience what the Marshall boys could do, and were safe in entrusting them with a most important portion of the adventure, for in fact everything depended upon those who went ahead.

We rode into the woods nearly a mile before the scouts dismounted, and then halted that they might be able to gain an advance of perhaps a hundred yards.

When it seemed probable they were that distance ahead of us, we moved forward in single file, Gabriel leading, Master Sawyer and I following, while the others trailed on behind.

The horses made little or no noise as we rode on at a foot-pace, for the mosses and leaves deadened all sound, and if this trail led us to where we believed it would, then those who had counted on giving us a surprise would find that the tables had been turned.

It was a weird, ghostly march, for by this time the sun was near to setting, and amid the foliage it was as if night had already come. No lad dared to speak lest he might give an alarm to the enemy, and I absolutely found myself at times trying to hold my breath that the thumping of my heart might be stilled, for it beat like a trip-hammer, as it seemed to me. To this nervous expectancy was added the fear that we might be attacked at any instant.

The horses, jaded with much travelling, moved forward with hanging heads at a snail’s pace; slowly the minutes went by until the darkness enveloped us, and we were forced to trust to the instinct of the animals for keeping the path. I was near to crying aloud in fear, thus proving myself the veriest coward, when amid the blackness of the night I saw a yet darker figure moving swiftly toward me. My horse’s bridle was seized, and I drew a long breath of relief as a familiar voice whispered:

“It is time to halt, for we have found our enemy.”

It was one of the Marshall lads, who had come through the foliage almost at right angles with the course we were pursuing, and had failed to reach the leader, therefore I whispered hoarsely to Master Sawyer that the scouts were come in.

“There are ten or fifteen men at the negro’s shack, which is less than half a mile to the left--you must have passed the trail which leads to it,” Joseph Marshall whispered when we had gathered around him as closely as the growth of trees would permit. “They have been questioning among themselves as to whether we will come, for I crept so near as to be able to hear a portion of the conversation.”

“What sort of men are they?” Master Sawyer asked. “Soldiers, Tories, or lads?”

“There are three who wear red coats, much torn, and I fancy they were among those who were in such haste to get away from us in the last action. Such of the others as I could see had the look of Tories; and all are supplied with weapons.”

“And Seth Hastings?” Archie asked eagerly.

“Ay, he is there, and on such good terms with the three redcoats that I can well believe he was their companion in the flight.”

It now seemed a simple thing for us to get possession of that villainous cur. He had most like been with the enemy we last met, and fled with his present companions to this place in the thicket, which it was reasonable to suppose they had come upon by chance. It was easy to guess that the old negro knew of our being at the Davis plantation, and had given the information, whereupon Seth Hastings contrived the plan; a mighty poor one, as he would soon learn.

Not until the other two scouts had come in and brought up their horses did we venture to make any move other than raise the question as to whether we had best not leave the animals where they were; but to this Master Sawyer dissented, giving as his reason:

“I have always found that the more quickly you can come upon your enemy, and the better equipped you are for chasing him, the more chances there are of making a capture. Therefore if the trail be broad enough, let us ride.”

I shall always regret our having followed Master Sawyer’s advice on that occasion, for had we dismounted and crept up as would have been possible, then was Seth Hastings made prisoner beyond a peradventure, and thus one precious life would have been saved to the Carolinas and to the Minute Boys.

No good can come of harking back into the past; when once the thing has been done the matter should be ended, and yet I never think of this night without being assailed by a great grief because we were such simples as to hold to the horses while making an attack upon an unmounted foe.

It was decided that we would ride as near the negro’s shack as the scouts might deem safe, and then pass to the right and the left in order that the place might be surrounded before the game began. Then we started.

In less than ten minutes we were come to the point where it was possible to see the faint glimmer of a flame through the foliage, and Gabriel and Master Sawyer halted while the remainder of us rode to the right and the left in order to encircle the shack. This we might have done without giving an alarm, but for the mishap which befell Henry Moulton.

I was the leader of that wing which went toward the right, and Henry rode close behind me. We had gone hardly more than thirty paces from the trail when his horse must have stepped into a hole, for he fell forward with a loud snort of pain, making such a noise among the bushes as could have been heard full two hundred yards away.

On the instant came words spoken sharply and quickly, telling that the Tories were on the alert, and then Gabriel’s voice crying:

“Ride them down, lads, ride them down! There is no time to be lost!”

We were still floundering among the bushes, striving to the best of our ability, but none might see where his horse was going or what obstacle stood in the way. While I was trying to push ahead through a clump of thorn-bushes till the sharp needles pierced my flesh, the crack of muskets was heard, and perhaps a dozen shots were fired before I succeeded in getting around the impediment in my path.

Then all was silent, save for the crashing here and there which told that a rider was trying to advance, and when I came up to the fire which had been built directly in front of the shack, no person was to be seen.

We had bungled the job as beautifully as any of the redcoats could have done, and to this day a flush of shame comes to my cheek as I remember that we who should have been--really were--versed in woodcraft, blundered ahead on horses amid the thick underbrush and in the darkness, expecting to catch an enemy who was awaiting our arrival.

Now it was that we had placed ourselves in a position of gravest danger, for there we set our horses in the full glare of the fire, looking at each other like simples, while all those whom Joseph Marshall had seen were hiding, mayhap, in the thicket just beyond, where they could shoot us down without risk of receiving a shot in return.