CHAPTER XVII

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UNDER FIRE.

I was in the advance when we came upon the gallant little Swiftsure lying half concealed by the foliage as when we had been forced to abandon her, and had leaped aboard while my comrades were a dozen or more paces in the rear.

It required no more than ten seconds for me to make the discovery that the hatch was bolted on the inside, thus showing that the cuddy had occupants, and without stopping to question whether it might be prudent thus to raise my voice, I cried:

“There’s somebody aboard here! Hurry, lads, for perhaps we set a trap without knowin’ it, an’ have caught some game!”

Seth Hartley, realizing my folly, for if there were Britishers in the cuddy I was thus much the same as inviting an attack, came up at full speed believing we had lighted upon a hornet’s nest, and I had had time to grow more uneasy in mind when the hatch was pushed open.

Now I did indeed cry aloud in astonishment not unmixed with fear, for I fancied it was the face of Abraham Decker that looked out upon me, and yet I knew, or believed I did, that it could not be him in the flesh, for if the lad was alive and at liberty he would be in Peter Snyder’s hut.

“Well, have I changed so much in these few hours that you don’t know me?” the lad asked as he thrust his head and shoulders through the hatch, and, as I fancied, looked with surprise upon me. “Have you given up tryin’ to lend Abel Grant a hand?”

I was aroused from my stupor of surprise by hearing Sam cry in a joyful tone as he clambered over the rail:

“If this isn’t good fortune I never expect to have any! How does it happen that you are here, Abraham Decker?”

“First tell me why you have abandoned Abel?” the lad demanded, for by this time Seth Hartley had come aboard, and he could see that we three were alone.

“We haven’t abandoned him; but to tell why we have come without him would be too long a story until after you have made explanations,” Sam replied, and from his tone one would have said that because of this unexpected meeting with Abraham all his anxieties had been rolled away.

“My yarn is quickly spun. I went to Peter Snyder’s hut only to find it deserted. I reckon some of these miserable Tories hereabout have denounced the harmless old man as a Whig whom it would be dangerous to leave at liberty, an’ he has been carried off to prison, as was Abel Grant,” Abraham said bitterly. “Therefore it was I came here, thinkin’ to make a try at runnin’ the sloop alone, for I couldn’t hope to reach New York by way of the ferry.”

“An’ have you got that whelp with you?” I cried, now having my wits about me.

“Ay, that I have. Do you forget that I promised he should not give me the slip save at the expense of his life?” and Abe pushed the hatch open yet further that we might have a view of the cuddy interior.

Looking down, I could see Luther Stedman, securely lashed in one of the bunks, and with the gag yet in his mouth, whereupon I asked, believing Abraham had shown himself unnecessarily cruel:

“Have you kept his jaws open in that fashion all this while?”

“Not a bit of it, for I’m not minded he shall go out of this world too quickly,” Abe replied with a laugh. “On hearin’ you plungin’ through the bushes, I naturally believed an enemy was near at hand, an’ therefore took good care that it should not be within his power to give an alarm. Now tell me why you are here, an’ if Abel Grant’s rescue has been abandoned?”

“Come ashore,” Seth Hartley said, motioning with his thumb toward the cuddy that Abe might know we could not safely tell our story where Luther Stedman would hear it.

In a twinkling the four of us were ashore again, so far from the sloop that there would be no danger the Tory could play the eavesdropper, and then I recounted in the fewest possible words all that has been set down here.

It would be expressing it but feebly to say that Abraham was overjoyed. He was literally aquiver with excitement, and appeared to believe our comrade was already as good as at liberty, giving no heed whatsoever to the many chances that our plans might go awry at the cost of one or more lives.

“I thought fortune was playin’ me a scurvy trick when I found old Peter’s hut deserted; but now do I see that it was a piece of good luck, else would you three have all the credit of stealin’ a prisoner from the enemy!” he cried exultantly, and I did not have it in my heart to show him how slender was the thread on which we had hung our hopes; but Seth Hartley said gravely:

“It yet remains to be seen if we can get the sloop out of the creek without bein’ discovered by the enemy, an’ as the first step toward makin’ the attempt, I am goin’ to do a little spyin’ on my own account.”

“What would you do?” I asked in surprise when he turned as if to leave us.

“We must get some idea as to where the English ships are lyin’, an’ that can only be done in the daylight. I count on followin’ down the creek until it be possible to get a view of the fleet.”

“Let me go with you?” I said, for even as he announced his purpose my mind was filled with forebodings lest he come to grief at the very moment when his services were most needed.

“There is no good reason why two should go, since one may the better get through unseen if, peradventure, there be enemies close at hand; besides, it is necessary you should rest after the long tramp.”

“I am no more weary than you, an’ know the lay of the land better,” I replied, but yet the possibility of stretching myself out at full length in one of the bunks was most enticing.

“Stay where you are,” Seth replied curtly, and then he hurried away as if afraid to prolong the conversation lest I finally carry my point.

I watched the brave fellow until he was lost to view amid the foliage, and then said to Abraham:

“If we are careful not to speak of our plans regardin’ Abel Grant so that the Tory may hear, I see no reason why we should not go aboard, for we can do Seth no good by remainin’ here on the shore. I’m hankerin’ after some of the sloop’s stores, to say nothin’ of gettin’ the chance to lie down on a dry bed.”

Abe made reply by leading the way over the Swiftsure’s rail, and when we were on the deck heading for the cuddy, Sam checked us by asking:

“How has the Tory behaved? Did he make any show of tryin’ to give you the slip?”

“He was too wise for that, an’ must have been dull had he failed to understand that I would carry out the threat I made before settin’ off from Gravesend. Besides, he’s too nearly a cur to dare make a move in his own behalf when the odds are against him. A more thoroughly frightened scoundrel I have never seen. He has obeyed every order given, an’ been as meek as any lamb. Wait a bit till I take the gag out of his mouth, for I haven’t got the stomach to keep him in agony longer than is necessary.”

“Is your heart growin’ soft toward him?” Sam asked scornfully, and Abe replied with a laugh:

“Not a bit of it. I’m as eager as ever to see him punished for what has been done; but while he’s in such a funk of fright, it seems much like whippin’ a rabbit, to bear down very hard on him,” and as he spoke the lad went into the cuddy, where we could hear him say to the prisoner:

“Remember that at the lightest squeak from you I shall carry out the threat made when you an’ I were here alone!”

Then we could hear Luther reply indistinctly, as if it was difficult to speak after his jaws had been stiffened by the gag:

“You know very well that I’ll do just what you tell me! You won’t let the other fellows handle me roughly, for I’m tryin’ not to give you any trouble?”

This whining gave me a sensation as of nausea, and I turned away in a rage. The idea of such as he doing whatsoever he could to bring us to a prison, so long as all the odds were in his favor, and then fawning like a sick kitten when we had the upper hand! I can see something to admire in an enemy who stands up manfully, however many the chances against him; but when man or lad shows the white feather, I’ve nothing but the veriest contempt for him. Perhaps this comes from the fact of my having felt timorous so many times when everything looked dark; but I can say in all truth that however much of cowardice may have been in my heart, no one ever could say that he saw any signs of it.

When Abraham came on deck after having taken the gag from Luther’s mouth, Sam said, as if a happy thought had just come to him:

“If yonder Tory is in such a funk, now would be a good time to find out how it was he escaped from prison. That has been in my mind ever since the attack on the sloop at the ferry stairs, an’ I’d give much to have the mystery cleared.”

“I’ve got the story already,” Abe replied as a frown overspread his face. “The Tory an’ I have had little else to do than clear up such mysteries as that in which he was concerned, an’ among the first questions I put to him was regardin’ his escape.”

“An’ he told you?” I asked eagerly.

“He is much too frightened an’ cowardly to do other than I demanded. That cur would betray his warmest friend, if by so doin’ he might benefit himself.”

“How did he get free?” Sam cried impatiently.

“It isn’t a very pleasant story to hear,” Abraham said gravely, and by the expression on his face I understood that we were to learn of some treachery. “It seems that Master Dyker, Jethro’s father, he whom we have ever believed a good friend to the Cause, was the one who worked the trick, an’ since he did so it is proof that he has been playin’ us false all this while.”

Next to my own father, Master Dyker was the one whom I believed true to the Cause, and the fact that he had shown himself to be a traitor was well calculated to make a fellow distrustful of every one around. It seemed so incredible that, after I was somewhat recovered from the stupefaction which came upon me with the information, I asked Abraham if he was convinced the truth had been told, or if Luther Stedman might not be lying for some secret purpose.

“There can be no question about it,” the lad said sorrowfully. “I have questioned the Tory so sharply that if he had been lyin’ I must have tripped him up. Since the night when we were attacked by the gang that acted under his orders, I have been askin’ myself how it was they got hold of a sufficient number of boats in which to cross from New York to Brooklyn, when every craft had been secured for use of the army, an’ he has explained that Master Dyker outfitted the party. I have even seen the receipt for money paid by Luther on that date.”

It was information which would sadden every friend of the Cause, and I asked myself who among our acquaintances could be trusted when such as Master Dyker had proved false.

We were yet silent and thoughtful, sadly turning over in our minds that which Abraham had said, when Seth Hartley returned, and I fancied there was an expression of satisfaction on his face.

“I believe we can get out of here, when the time comes, with but little trouble,” he said as he came over the rail. “The English fleet have gone further up the harbor, an’ I question if we shall run across a single ship between here an’ where the Good Hope is anchored.”

“Then why shouldn’t we begin to warp out of the creek at once?” Sam asked eagerly. “It might make the biggest kind of a difference in case we could start at sunset, an’ if we don’t begin to move the sloop now, we won’t be on our course till near to midnight.”

I looked for Abe to make reply, believing he would take sides with Sam in the matter; but much to my surprise he said, before it was possible for any one else to speak:

“We can’t afford to take any chances, an’ there’s no knowin’ who might see us if we worked down to the mouth of the creek. With so much at stake we must exercise every caution, an’, as I look at the matter, we’d best stay where we are until night has come.”

“In that you are right,” Seth Hartley added emphatically. “We shall have no trouble in workin’ down between midnight an’ daylight, however light the wind. Perhaps it may be well if we don’t succeed in gettin’ there to-night, since the venture is not to be made until another day has passed.”

“You fellows who have been travelin’ so far had best turn in an’ get what rest you can so’s to be ready for a long spell of wakefulness,” Abraham interrupted. “I’ve been spendin’ the greater portion of my time in slumber, an’ will stand watch.”

This proposition was much to my liking, for I understood that by getting into the best possible bodily condition we would be the same as making preparations for the task before us, and I went below without further parley.

In order that we might get all the comfort to be had on the sloop, Abraham dragged his prisoner out on the floor, that one of us might have the use of his berth, and within half an hour we who had just come up from Gravesend were sleeping soundly, and, perhaps, noisily.

When Abe awakened us it yet lacked half an hour or more of sunset; but he had already prepared a supper that seemed, after our short commons of flinty biscuit, like a real feast, and explained that he believed we ought to have time to eat leisurely so we might put a substantial lining to our stomachs.

“I allow we can afford to make a move within an hour after sunset,” he said, putting the food before us; “but we’re not to have matters as easy as when we came down from New York. There isn’t a cloud in the sky; it will be very light, an’ we can’t hope to run past any craft unseen. Luckily the wind holds fairly strong, an’ I’m allowin’ it’ll be a bit fresher when the sun goes down. Have you fellows decided on where we shall stay till to-morrow night?”

I waited to give Seth or Sam a chance to speak, but since they held their peace, I said, having given the matter due thought:

“It strikes me we couldn’t do better than to run down the Jersey coast, strikin’ straight across on leavin’ the creek. There would be no great harm done if we kept on to Great Kills, where we shall find a good harbor, with no fear the Britishers will come that way, or, if it seems wiser to you, we can put out to sea.”

Abraham was in favor of the first proposition, and thus we settled the matter in short order.

We loitered over the meal in order to occupy as much time as possible, but it was yet light when we went on deck and examined every rope and bolt to make certain all was as it should be, although the Swiftsure had been tried out in good shape during the run down from New York.

Not until night had fully come did we make the first move toward warping out of the creek, and then went to work in good earnest, taking every care to keep within the lines of shadow as much as possible.

Seth Hartley and Abraham, in the skiff, pulled her stern around the sharpest bends, while Sam and I poled her along the reaches, and I allowed it was near to nine o’clock in the evening when she was in open water where the canvas could be spread.

The wind had not lessened in force, and was just about strong enough to suit the little sloop, for in too heavy weather she was prone to bury her nose to such an extent as to check her headway, and Abraham said to me as he came over the rail, leaving to Seth the duty of making the skiff fast astern:

“We couldn’t ask for a better night, save in the matter of light. So far as bein’ hidden from view of any craft we may come upon, it might as well be broad day. If only the clouds had gathered!”

“When we left Gravesend the chances of our bein’ able to get as far along in the scheme as this were so slim, that I’m not disposed to find fault now,” I said laughingly, and it seems strange to me even now that I, who had been so doubtful of success a few hours previous, should have felt light-hearted when we were setting out on a cruise where danger lurked on every hand.

“If you’ll take the helm I’ll keep lookout forward,” the lad replied, gloomily, as I thought, and in a twinkling we had all the canvas spread, the little craft having a bone in her teeth almost immediately afterward, for she was ever quick at starting.

As had been agreed upon, we headed straight across for the Jersey shore, and I dare venture to say that every pair of eyes on deck were strained to catch the first view of a possible enemy as soon as we had come out from the shelter of the land.

Save for the twinkling lights well up in the inner harbor, we saw no sign of any craft until having got well out into the bay, and then my heart came into my mouth when a small brig appeared, as if she had leaped up out of the water. That she had been well down on the other shore I understood at once, and her seemingly sudden appearance was due to the fact that she had hauled around, thus presenting her broadside, but I was none the less startled and alarmed.

“Can she be one of the Britishers?” I asked in a whisper of Seth, believing she was much too small for a war vessel, and he replied softly:

“There are three such craft in the fleet; small brigs carryin’ from four to six guns, an’ intended to do guard duty at a time like this when there’s a big stretch of water to be patrolled.”

“It looks much as if she had come around to have a look at us,” I suggested, putting no faith in my own statement, and therefore I started again when he said promptly:

“That’s exactly what she’s about, lad, an’ we shall be called upon to heave to for a visit, or get a fair idea of how skillful her gunners may be.”

“We might as well surrender at once, as to let them come aboard, for with a prisoner in the cuddy, an’ a British marine on deck, we can’t stand very close inspection,” I said, striving to hold my voice steady.

“Are you willin’ to take the chances of tryin’ to show your heels?” he asked almost in a whisper, as if my reply might be of the greatest importance to him, and Abraham, who had come aft to report the brig, replied sharply:

“Of course we are! There’s nothin’ else to be done. I’d rather take the chances of bein’ sent to the bottom than give over the plan to help Abel Grant. It would be death for him, if we were overhauled now, an’ so it would be for you, Seth Hartley,” he added as he suddenly came to realize what discovery would cost our marine.

“Ay, lad; but that isn’t to be reckoned against your safety--”

“Our safety!” Abe cried, his voice sounding loud and shrill on the night air. “What safety is to be found in a British prison? I’d rather go to the bottom with the sloop, than aboard the Good Hope as prisoner! Besides, to heave to now would insure the freein’ of Luther Stedman, an’ that shan’t come about while I’ve got breath enough left to protest.”

“What do you say, Sam?” I asked, minded that each member of our little party should have a voice in the matter.

“I believe as does Abe; we’ll go through accordin’ to the agreement made with Barney Nelson, or lose our lives in the tryin’. Besides,” he added in a hopeful tone, “I’m not so certain but that the sloop can do a little more than stand her own with yonder Britisher while the wind holds as now.”

As he spoke I hauled the Swiftsure a trifle more to the southward, so that the brig would have to change her course in order to come within musket-shot of us, reckoning at the time that our swinging around would not be noticed by the enemy; but I soon had good reason to know that we were being watched very closely.

The brig’s bow came around to meet the change in our course, and if the two craft continued on without change of helm, they would come together midway between the two shores.

“They’ve got their eyes on us mighty sharp,” Abe said grimly as he noted the movements of the brig. “We may as well be killed for a sheep as a lamb, so why not head due south, an’ take the chances? That’s what you’ll have to do precious soon if we count on leadin’ ’em a chase.”

I acted upon the suggestion at once, and now with the wind abeam, and the sheets hauled sharp in, our little craft was at her best. If we could not show the brig our heels on this stretch, it never could be done.

The Britishers were attending to their business sharply enough to please the veriest grumbler, for within twenty seconds after I had hauled around we saw the flash of a gun, and a solid shot skipped across our bow no more than fifty yards away.

“That means they’re bent on havin’ a closer look at us,” Abe said with never a tremor of the voice, and I would have given everything I owned to have been able to appear as unconcerned as he. It is not to be supposed I was showing myself a coward, for I afterward came to know from what my comrades said that they believed my heart was as stout as the bravest; but I myself knew that my mouth suddenly became parched, my heart forced itself into my throat at seeming risk of choking me, while my hands would have trembled but for the grip I had on the spokes of the wheel.

“Trim ship a bit, an’ lay low,” Seth Hartley said suddenly. “The sloop will do better if we get our stations an’ keep ’em. There’s no need of a lookout now, an’ I’m thinkin’ two of us had best go amidships.”

The benefit of the change of position on our part could be seen immediately the lads got settled down; but at that moment I did not have time to note it critically, for the brig let fly another shot, and when I heard the missile whistling above my head it seemed as if it came within a few inches of striking us.

“The oftener she fires the better will be our chances of givin’ them the slip,” Abe said as he raised his head to look at the enemy. “I’m ready to take your place at the helm, Eph, if you’ll feel any more safe lyin’ here.”

Even though I had known to a certainty that the next shot would hit me, I would not have exchanged places with him, for even though my heart was thumping loudly because of fear, my comrades should never know that being under fire disturbed me in the slightest, and I replied, calling up the most cheery tone at my command:

“I’ll stay where I am, lad, till you an’ the others insist that you can hold the course better than I’m doin’. As for safety, I reckon there’s precious little choice of stations.”

“Your upper lip is stiff,” Abe said approvingly, and I smiled ever so slightly because he was thus deceived.

The Britishers were not afraid of burning powder, for within the next half-minute another solid shot came hurtling across the water; but this time the gunner was wild--we neither saw nor heard it.

In order to keep her guns bearing on us, the brig had been forced to haul around on a course parallel with ours, and thus we understood that it was her purpose to sink us offhand, rather than spend time in chase.

“You are gainin’ on her a bit!” Seth Hartley cried, evidently thinking I needed heartening. “If her gunners will slip up on their aim with the next dozen shots, we’re like to come off scot free.”

He had no more than spoken when we saw another flash, and a second later the gallant little sloop heeled as if she had struck a reef, while the white splinters flew in a shower from her bow.

I believed she was wounded to the death, and can well fancy that there was a note of sadness in my voice as I cried sharply:

“Get forward there an’ see what mischief has been done. Sam, you’d best stand by the skiff in case we need it suddenly!”

Seth and Abraham obeyed the command even as I spoke, and at the same instant a wail of fear came up from the cuddy:

“Don’t leave me here to be killed! Don’t leave me. I’ll do whatsoever you say if you won’t leave me!”

“Don’t fret yourself about that,” Sam shouted much as if matters were moving exactly to his taste. “We’re not minded to lose you again, Luther; but if your very particular friends send their old iron around so carelessly, there’s a good show of our bein’ together for all time to come.”

“There’s nothin’ wrong here!” Abe cried from the bow, and it seemed as if only then did I begin to breathe. “We’ve lost the bitts, and some of the bow rail; but nothin’ to count!”

Another shot on the heels of the one that had come so near the target; but it buried itself in the water fifty feet astern, and Seth Hartley shouted as if he no longer had any fear as to the final result:

“Keep her to the course, lad. The Englishmen are growin’ nervous, an’ we need only hold out five minutes longer to be beyond range, for we’re gainin’ hand over hand.”

The matter of keeping her to the course did not worry me; but I questioned whether the little craft would hold together five minutes longer. It needed only that one shot should strike us fairly to put an end to the chase in short order, and it seemed to me absolutely impossible the gunners could send half a dozen more without hitting the mark.

I had not allowed myself to look at the enemy, but kept my eyes on the course that we might not lose a single inch; yet when Seth Hartley insisted that we were gaining I could not resist the temptation to glance over my shoulder, and that which I saw put new heart into me.

If the brig had been holding her own she should have been directly abreast of us, whereas, short though the time had been, her jib-boom was no more than on even terms with our stern. As I gazed she yawned again to fire another shot, and then I could see why we were showing our heels so handily, for she must have lost a good ten yards in order to send after us a missile that flew even wider than the others.

“Don’t leave me, lads! For Heaven’s sake, don’t leave me tied up in this fashion so that I can’t move so much as a finger!” came from the cuddy, and it was not needed one should look down at the prisoner in order to know that he was half dead with fear.

“Don’t fret yourself about our leavin’ anythin’ like you!” Sam cried. “We’ll take precious good care of your body, Luther Stedman, till we can put it in the custody of those who don’t change their coats with every turn of the tide; but we feel it our solemn duty to run away from your red-coated friends yonder in order to save ourselves from bein’ shocked by such woeful waste of powder an’ ball.”

“Don’t crow, Sam,” I said earnestly. “We’re not out of the woods yet, an’ the next shot may send us to the bottom!”

“They’ll have to get new spectacles for their gunners before anythin’ like that can happen,” the lad cried joyously as a shot passed high over our heads. “This little craft has run around the whole fleet, an’ it’ll be odd if she can’t get the best of a measly brig like that yonder!”

I hope I shan’t be accused of drawing the long bow when I say that the enemy sent no less than ten more missiles at us, and never once came near enough to make a fellow wink; but such is the truth, as can be testified to by more than one. The brig continued to fire as long as we were within range; but owing to the distance she lost in so doing, we were soon so far ahead that the shot struck astern, and in half an hour from the time we were first under fire the little Swiftsure was sending the spray over her bow as if she enjoyed the wetting, while the lumbering brig was no more than a dark smudge in our wake.

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