CHAPTER IX

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TURNING THE TABLES.

I was literally trembling with joy when the moment came that I had gnawed half-way through the rope, and just when it seemed as if success must attend my efforts, the sound of footsteps told that some one was approaching.

Only with difficulty did I repress a cry of disappointment and rage, believing Ezra Billings had come back, and Sam rolled hastily over on his back that it might not be seen we two had been in communication.

Hope sprang up an instant later, however, when only Luther’s evil face looked in at us to make certain we were as he left us. I fancy we had remained so nearly silent that he thought it possible we might have rigged up some plan for escape, and it was well for us that he did not know how near such a supposition was to the truth.

“This is the last time I shall have a chance of seein’ you Whigs, except through the bars of the frigate’s prison, an’ I don’t want to waste any chances,” he said with an evil leer.

It was difficult to hold my peace, so strongly was I tempted to give him a tongue lashing; but I remembered that the longer we held him in converse, even though the subject might be a bitter one, the longer would we be deprived of an opportunity to continue the work so well begun, and some such thought must have been in Sam’s mind, for he remained silent when I knew full well he was actually aching to speak out that which was in his heart.

“So you’ve come to understand that we’ve got you fast, eh?” Luther continued after waiting an instant without receiving any reply. “Don’t forget that I’ve got friends aboard the fleet, an’ they’ll give me every opportunity of lookin’ in to see that you’re stayin’ where you belong. If you two Whigs don’t have a hot time from this out, it won’t be fault of mine!”

We remained silent, and evidently despairing of arousing us to wrath he wheeled about, returning to his former post of duty. Then, in a twinkling, Sam was lying on his face in front of me once more.

Nervous and excited as I was, it seemed as if the Tory cur had occupied a full half-hour of our precious time, though I now question if he stood over us more than two or three minutes, and I went to work with my teeth in a fever of energy.

Then, when it seemed to me as if the work was well nigh done, I heard the sound of footsteps in the distance, and immediately afterward heard Luther shouting Ezra’s name.

“It’s too late now!” Sam cried despairingly, and I set my teeth hard, grinding them together in desperation at the same instant that he exerted all his strength to give one mighty tug.

Then it was that I was near to crying aloud in triumph and exultation, for the partially severed rope was broken asunder, and at almost the same instant Sam was at work on the bonds which held my arms behind me.

“Have you found the boat?” we heard Luther cry, and from a distance came the reply:

“Ay, but you’ll have to help launch her, for the tide is down, an’ she’s high up on the beach. We can take your Whigs there, an’ let ’em enjoy seein’ us makin’ ready to carry them where they belong.”

My arms were free by this time, and I whispered excitedly:

“Can you see anythin’ that will serve as a weapon?”

“We’re not needin’ any,” was the grim reply. “I’m so eager to get even with those scoundrelly Tories for what they’ve made me suffer, that I can handle twice my weight, in anythin’ like a fair fight,” and Sam crept toward the fringe of bushes, in order, as I understood, to be ready to receive Luther when next he came.

And he had not long to wait. I crouched low that the cur might not suspect anything and remain at a distance until Ezra came up, and by so doing showed more wisdom than at any time since having called myself the leader of the Minute Boys, for Luther, eager to set us in motion, came running through the screen of foliage as he shouted:

“You’re to move lively, now, you miserable Whigs, an’ if either of you tries to hang back in the harness, he’ll get a dose that won’t quickly be forgotten.”

Luther set us in motion all right; but we were not the ones who got the dose just then. When the Tory came through the bushes, Sam, who was bending low behind the screen, caught him by the legs, and the fellow went headlong to the ground, I clapping my hand with no gentle force over his mouth even as he fell.

“Get that belt which was buckled on my arms!” I whispered. “Work lively, an’ I’ll keep his tongue still so Ezra won’t suspect anythin’.”

It was impossible for Luther to put up much of a fight while one of my hands was over his mouth and the other on the top of his head pressing it down among the pine needles, and Sam was by no means a laggard in obeying the command I had given.

He had the belt buckled around Luther’s arms almost before I was done speaking, and then ripped off a goodly piece of the Tory’s shirt, with which he made a gag. When this last was in place, and held by the rope that had so lately fettered Sam, we were ready to give Master Billings the reception of his life, and there is no question in my mind but that he got it.

“Have the Whigs nestled ’round much since I left?” he asked with a laugh as he stepped within the line of bushes, and on the instant I dealt him a blow on the chin that seemingly knocked the life out of him, for he fell like a log, and Sam asked nervously:

“Have you killed him, Eph?”

“I reckon there’s life enough left in him to do considerable mischief to the Cause if so be he has the chance. He was needin’ that same dose for the squarin’ of accounts between us, an’ I reckon he got it full an’ plenty. I wouldn’t trust these sneakin’ Tories even when they look harmless, so while I make certain he don’t find himself sufficiently to raise an outcry, do you see what can be used with which to put him in somethin’ the same shape we were a few minutes ago.”

By the time we had bound our prisoners securely, each with a gag in his mouth, Sam and I had sacrificed the greater portion of our shirts; but this waste of good clothing we did not mourn over, and would willingly have given up all we wore rather than take any chances of their giving us the slip.

“That’s what I call turnin’ the tables in good shape,” Sam said in a tone of deepest content as he wiped the perspiration from his face, for the night was warm and we had had considerable vigorous exercise. “The question now is, what we’ll do with the sneaks?”

“Take ’em to New York!” I replied emphatically, for while gnawing at the rope which bound Sam’s arms I had decided what we should do in case we succeeded in changing places with the Tories.

“New York!” Sam cried as if in dismay. “It can’t be done!”

“Why not?”

“We’d never get from here to Wallabout with ’em, an’ that’s the fact.”

“I can’t see why it shouldn’t be done. With those gags to prevent them from makin’ any outcry, an’ the points of our pocket-knives for spurs, I fail to see why the trick can’t be turned, if we set out at once.”

“But what about our work here?”

“It won’t suffer durin’ the hours of darkness, an’ at least one of us can be back here before the sun rises.”

“There’s nothin’ will please me more than to send ’em as a present to General Putnam, an’ if you say it can be done, I’m ready for the venture; but we’ll be in a box in case of runnin’ across two or three Tories,” Sam said grimly, and I replied with a laugh of relief, for it was mighty enlivening to be free once more:

“Lads who have been as near a British prison as you an’ I, can afford to take some chances for the sake of servin’ out properly such sneaks as these, an’ if by any bad luck we should come across a lot of Tories, we’ll leave our mark on some of ’em before takin’ to our heels.”

I was not such a fool that I failed of understanding how precious time was to us just then. If by daylight we had not arrived at Wallabout bay, then the chances were decidedly against our ever getting there with the prisoners, for as soon as the sun rose the Tories would be out in full force, the presence of the British fleet having stirred them into activity as the sun does half-frozen flies.

Even while talking with Sam I had asked myself what could be done if we arrived before the sloop had returned from the trip to New York with Abe, for I was not minded to bring down the wrath of our neighbors upon my father and mother by making of their house a prison. However, so I told myself, it would be time enough to consider what should be done after we had come to the bay, and thus I put all forebodings as to the future from my mind.

Sam was eager to be off, as indeed was I, and he said to the Tories who were looking woefully down at the mouth, as well they might:

“You fellows are goin’ to take a little trip over to Wallabout in our company. We’re not afraid you’ll try to give an alarm in case we come near anybody, for the gags you’re wearin’ ain’t likely to slip out of place; but we’ve got to take some precautions against your laggin’ on the way, because we’re bound to make quick time, so look at the point of this blade,” and Sam opened his pocket-knife. “We don’t allow to treat you in any way harsh; but if so be you fail of stepping out as lively as we’re needin’ to move, I shall put a quarter-inch of this steel into whatever part of your body happens to be most convenient. That much you’d better not forget, for it ain’t likely we shall speak of it again. Now get on your feet.”

The prisoners evidently understood by the tone of Sam’s voice that he would carry out his threat to the letter, for they scrambled up more quickly than I had supposed was possible for fellows whose arms were tied behind their backs.

There was no good reason for further delay, and we set off, driving the Tories like sheep before us, they striving in good shape not to deserve the pricking of the knife which Sam held conspicuously in his hand.

I had no good idea as to the time; but believed it was yet early in the night when we started, and, if no accident befell us we should be able, even while forced to strike across country, to arrive at Wallabout before the sun showed himself.

Under ordinary conditions I would have been too weary to walk at any very swift pace; but the thought of what we had so narrowly escaped caused me to forget all else, and on I pressed as if having come from a long time of rest.

Luther and Ezra had probably walked a number of miles before having come upon us; but they showed no signs of lagging, and when we struck the trail which showed that Wallabout was less than five miles away, I believed we had ample time in which to conclude the journey.

“We’ve got over the worst of it,” I said to Sam, speaking for the first time since we set out, it having been agreed that we would not indulge in conversation lest the sound of our voices betray us, and he replied grimly:

“I’d rather not do any crowin’, though I’m beginnin’ to believe that we’ll work the trick all right. If Luther an’ Ezra hadn’t been quite so sure things were all goin’ their way, we shouldn’t be drivin’ ’em along in this fashion.”

I felt reproved, for the lad had hit the nail on the head. It would be more becoming in me to save my breath for the task before us, instead of crowing over what was not yet finished.

We pushed forward without slackening speed save once when crossing a brook, and I would have slaked my raging thirst, when I realized that our prisoners, with the cruel gags in their mouths, must be suffering more severely for water than we, and at once said to Sam:

“We won’t show ourselves brutes, even though they were inclined to do so when everythin’ was in their favor. Stand by to prod ’em with your knife in case they make any noise when I take out the gags.”

Luther was the first who had the opportunity of wading into the brook and quenching his thirst. He said never a word until having drank his fill, and then how the cur did beg that I would not replace the gag!

“It seems as if I should choke to death with that rag in my mouth,” he cried appealingly. “I’ll agree not to make the least little noise, no matter how many may come along, if you’ll only let me have a fair chance to breathe!”

While he was speaking I unfastened the ropes of cloth which bound Ezra’s gag in place; but he said never a word until after literally flinging himself into the brook to drink his fill, and we could well understand how great must have been his sufferings.

“What do you say, Sam?” I asked, and the lad replied:

“I wouldn’t take the oath of a Tory, if anythin’ depended on it, an’ believe Luther would give an alarm if he saw any show to escape, even though he’d sworn himself blue in the face. However, we know full well how tough it must be to travel at a good pace on this hot night, with one’s mouth tied up, an’ if you’re willin’ I’ll take the chances.”

“I’ll remember the favor, Sam Garratt,” Ezra said feelingly as he arose refreshed from the brook, “an’ if it ever comes my way to do you a good turn in payment, no matter what happens, I’ll do it.”

Not until this had been agreed upon did Sam and I slake our thirst, he watching the prisoners closely while I drank, after which I did a like turn for him.

Now was I more keenly on the alert for any sign of danger. The prisoners were in condition to bring down upon us those who would rejoice to send us aboard the British frigate, if so be we came near to any Tory habitation, and I was resolved that the gags should be replaced at the first indication that they were like to break the promises made.

We traveled a bit more rapidly after the Tories could breathe freely, and were come, as nearly as I could judge in the darkness, within two miles of Wallabout, when suddenly I heard sounds as of footsteps on the trail ahead of us.

I had been leading the way, with the prisoners between me and Sam, who brought up the rear, and it can well be supposed that I came to a halt in short order, gripping Luther Stedman by the throat as I did so. Sam did not need to be told that something had given cause for alarm, and he seized Ezra by the arm, leading him cautiously to one side of the trail as he displayed his knife ostentatiously.

Within a dozen paces of the path I halted again, trusting that the gloom of the night would shut us out from view of whoever might be approaching, and crept back near the trail, leaving Sam to insure silence on the part of the prisoners, as I knew he could do, otherwise blood would be spilled.

Nearer and nearer sounded the footsteps, and while I was racking my brain to guess who might be traveling toward the Narrows at that time of night, the cause of the alarm came within view.

Just at the point where I crouched behind a friendly bush the foliage of the trees was sparse, and I could see against the lighter sky a form that caused me to cry aloud in joy and surprise.

It was none other than Abraham Decker who had sent us amid the bushes trembling with fear, and the exclamation which escaped me caused him to wheel about suddenly in alarm.

“Hold on, lad, don’t run away like a coward!” I cried with a laugh which betokened relief of mind rather than mirth, and he, recognizing my voice, cried in a tone of anxiety as he came forward once more:

“What has happened that you are here? Where is Sam?”

“Yonder, hidin’ from you. We have a couple of prisoners which we are takin’ to the sloop, but didn’t count on havin’ such good luck as to find you.”

By this time Sam came from the bushes driving the Tories before him, and now it was Abe’s turn to cry aloud in astonishment as he recognized the prisoners.

“Luther Stedman an’ Ezra Billings! How did it happen that you picked up sich cattle as these?”

The story of the night’s adventures was not overly long as I told it, and Abe was doubled up with mirth before I came to the end; but so impatient was he to understand how our comrade chanced to be returning to his post of duty so soon, that Sam cut short the laughter by asking:

“Didn’t you go to New York?”

“No; there’s no more wind at Wallabout than can be found here, which ain’t enough to float a feather. Because there was little show of movin’ the sloop, Abel Grant proposed to row across in the skiff an’ make the report in my stead, seein’ that I didn’t bring anythin’ of great importance.”

“Why didn’t you go with him?” I asked, just a trifle impatiently, for at the instant it appeared to me as if General Putnam might think we were slighting our duty by thus sending a substitute with the report, even though it did not appear of great value in our eyes.

“You know full well, Ephraim Lyttle, that to cross in the skiff to Master Dyker’s dock, than walk down to Bowlin’ Green, an’ return in the same way, would mean the spendin’ of twenty hours, an’ if I had done so one of you must have been left on the shore alone when the next messenger set out.”

The lad spoke truly, and I understood that his had been the wisest course, but that which puzzled me for the moment was what we should do. Even though we had taken two prisoners, we were not warranted in leaving our post of duty to carry them to New York, and, besides, there was considerable doubt coming up in my mind as to how General Putnam might view our capturing the Tories.

It was Abraham who settled the matter, by saying:

“I reckon you two had better keep on to the sloop, an’ wait there till Abel gets back. I’ll toddle along the way I started, an’ you should join me by noon, though it’ll come a bit hard on the legs; but that you can forget in view of what you’ve escaped. When you get to the Narrows I’ll be in trim with whatever of importance I’ve scooped in.”

By pursuing the course he suggested we would still be following, to a certain degree, the orders given by General Putnam, and at least one of us could be overlooking the doings of the Britishers during all the hours of daylight.

Sam agreed this was the wisest course that could be pursued, and without further delay Abe went on his way, after stipulating that we set out to join him immediately upon Abel Grant’s return from New York.

We pushed on toward Wallabout with somewhat lighter hearts because of knowing that there would be one of our number on duty when the sun rose; but I began to grow uncomfortably nervous regarding this capture of Tories when we had been sent out for no other purpose than to spy upon the enemy’s fleet.

Very shortly afterward, as it seemed to me, my mind being so engrossed with the question as to whether we were doing right in taking Luther and Ezra to New York that time passed rapidly, we came to the shore of Wallabout bay.

It yet lacked a full hour to daybreak; but, and this was a possibility I had not counted on, there was no skiff near at hand by which we could board the sloop. Abel Grant had taken the one owned by my father, and there was none other save at Sam’s home.

“I reckon I shall have to go for her, though my legs ache after so much walkin’,” Sam said grimly. “The sloop can’t get in here, no matter how long we wait, an’ an hour from now there will be more Tories around than will be pleasin’ to the sight.”

He hurried away without loss of time, and I sat down on the sand with the prisoners, relieved at having got them thus near New York; but anything rather than comfortable in mind regarding the reception we might meet with from General Putnam.

Sam came back with his father’s skiff, and we boarded the sloop without having been seen, as I believed, by any enemy from the time our journey was begun.

Seth Hartley did not need to be told that the Tories were prisoners, after seeing that their hands were tied; but he asked no questions.

“I’ll have breakfast ready in short order,” he said, at once setting about the work, “an’ I’m guessin’ you can get solid comfort by stretchin’ out in the bunks, for you must have traveled far an’ fast. Did you meet Abraham?”

I told him of our running across the lad on the trail, and explained in fewest words possible why we had the Tories with us, asking his advice by saying:

“Sam an’ I are tired, an’ about that there’s no mistake, but we don’t know how to arrange for a rest without first makin’ the prisoners fast in some way.”

“Why not give them all the cabin? You can sleep as well on deck in this weather, an’ we’ll carry the stove into the cockpit. By makin’ the cuddy hatch fast, you’ll have the lads secure enough.”

As he proposed so we did, he having first carried on deck all the provisions that might be needed, and then Sam and I stretched ourselves out on the locker in the cockpit, enjoying the chance to rest our limbs as we had never enjoyed anything of the kind before.

That Seth appeared to take especial care not to ask any question the answer of which would give information as to what we had seen or heard, I set down to a desire that he might not be suspected of betraying secrets, therefore took good heed to avoid speaking of what had been done, save in a general manner; but my mind was so full of anxiety regarding our right to take prisoners that I could not but give words to the thought.

“I don’t understand how you could have done different than bring the lads here,” the marine said thoughtfully. “Settin’ them free would only have been to offer another chance for workin’ mischief.”

I did not expect he could set all my doubts at rest, therefore this answer satisfied me, and I put the matter from my mind in order the better to enjoy that which was at hand.

Verily the food was delicious on that morning, and we ate of it--Sam and I, like lads who had been fasting eight and forty hours. Then, after suggesting that it be done, Seth carried into the cuddy a plentiful breakfast, with cold water in abundance, and after closing the hatch again and fastening it with the iron bolt made for that purpose, he said:

“You lads may sleep now, trustin’ that your prisoners won’t be tampered with by me. I have never had any love for Tories, believin’ the people of a colony should hang together at a time like this, for men that will work harm to neighbors in favor of a king they’ve never seen an’ who doesn’t give a rap whether they live or die, are poor cattle.”

“We’re not a little bit afraid you’ll do anythin’ that ain’t straight an’ above-board,” Sam said sleepily, and then, rolling himself into a more comfortable position on the locker, the lad’s eyes closed in slumber.

Within a couple of minutes I followed his example, and when next I was conscious of my surroundings, Abel Grant stood looking down into the cuddy as if in there was to be seen some strange animal.

It goes without saying that I was called upon to relate the whole story immediately he saw my eyes were open; but I refused to begin until after he had told us of his trip to New York, and Seth aroused Sam that he might hear the conversation.

“There’s nothin’ to be told, lad,” Abel Grant said irritably, for he was in a hurry to hear how we had got hold of Luther and Ezra. “I repeated all that Abraham told me, an’ explained to the general why one of you Minute Boys hadn’t made the report. He allowed it was jest as well for me to come, an’ much the same as said he was expectin’ the Britishers would begin landin’ men on the Long Island shore mighty soon. It’s the early news of anythin’ like that he wants, an’ I’m told to say you’re to count the minutes precious till he’s been told. I didn’t stay above five minutes at headquarters, so that’s all there is to my yarn. Now let me have yours.”

I wasn’t chary of going into the details when I told of how Sam and I had been captured, and the way in which we had turned the tables. The story was a long one, and when finally I was come to the end Abel asked like a simple:

“Wa’al, now what’er you goin’ to do with ’em?”

“Deliver them over to General Putnam.”

“Do you know that he wants ’em?”

“I reckon that can soon be learned. At all events, if we’re to be of any service spyin’ upon the fleet, they can’t be left at liberty, otherwise the Minute Boys will wind up their career in prison aboard one of the king’s ships.”

“You’re right in that, lad, an’ I was a fool for askin’ the question. I’m allowin’ you’ll start for the Narrows agin’ ’long ’bout sundown?”

I explained that Abraham would leave his post of duty when the night was so far come that it would not be possible to see anything on the opposite shore, and we would be there to take his place at sunrise.

“Then it’ll be him who’ll deliver the prisoners to the general. We’re goin’ to have quite a stiff little breeze to-night, ’cordin’ to all the signs, an’ I can set him across in short order after he comes aboard.”

Abel appeared to think there was nothing further to be said about the prisoners, and we talked of what the American troops were doing in the way of making ready for an attack upon the town, until Seth had another hearty meal ready for our eating.

When due attention had been given to this, Sam and I were set ashore in the skiff by Seth, and our return journey was begun.

It would have pleased both of us to visit our parents; but because of having brought in the prisoners it seemed like too much of a risk, owing to the fact that if any of our Tory neighbors became aware of our stopping at home for ever so short a time, it might be set down as proof that Master Garratt and father had had some hand in the capture of Luther and Ezra.

“We can’t afford to take the chances,” Sam said as he looked longingly in the direction of home, and then set his face resolutely toward the trail, I following in his footsteps.

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