Books: Janice Meredith

P >> Paul Leicester Ford >> Janice Meredith

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41

"Pox the old villain!" fumed Mr. Meredith. "For a six-months
I've sat quiet, as ye know, and 't is merely his way of
paying the debts he owes me. A fine state ye've brought the
land to, when a man can settle private scores in such a
manner."

"There is n't no denying that you 're no friend to the
cause, and if any one 's to be took up hereabouts, it should be
you. Still, I'm a fair-play fellow, and so I thought, before I
let him have his way, I'd come over and have a talk with you,
to see if we could n't fix things."

"How?"

"If the king 's come to his senses and intends to deal fair
with us," remarked Bagby, with a preliminary glance around
and a precautionary dropping of his voice, "that 's all I ask,
and so I don't see no reason for attacking his friends until we
are more certain of what 's coming. At the same time, if
Hennion wants to jail you, I think you'll own I have n't much
reason to take your part. You've always been as stuck up
and abusive to me as you well could be. So 't is only natural
I should n't stand up for you."

The lord of Greenwood swallowed before he said, "Perhaps
I've not been neighbourly, but what sort of revenge is
it to force me from my home, and distress my wife and
daughter?"

"That's it," assented the Committeeman. "And so I
came over to see what could be done. We have n't been the
best of friends down to now, but that is n't saying that we
could n't have been, if you 'd been as far-seeing as me, and
known who to side in with. It seemed to me that if I stood
by you in this scrape we might fix it up to act together. I
take it that my brains and your money could run Middlesex
County about as we pleased, if we quit fighting, and work
together. Squire Hennion would have to take a back seat in
politics, I guess."

The squire could not wholly keep the pleasure the thought
gave him from his face. "'T would be a god-send to the
county," he cried. "Ye know that as well as I."

"As to that, I'll say nothing," answered Joe. "But of
course, if I'm going to throw my influence with you, I expect
something in return."

"And what 's that?" asked Mr. Meredith, still dwelling on
his revenge.

"I need n't tell you, squire, that I'm a rising man, and I'm
going to go on rising. 'T won't be long before I'm about
what I please, especially if we make a deal. Now, though
there has n't been much intercourse between us, yet I've had
my eye on your daughter for a long spell, and if you'll give
your consent to my keeping company with her, I'll be your
friend through thick and thin."

For a moment Mr. Meredith stood with wide-open mouth,
then he roared: "Damn your impudence! ye--ye--have
my lass, ye--be off with ye--ye--" There all articulate
speech ended, the speaker only sputtering in his wrath, but his
two fists, shaken across the wall, spoke eloquently the words
that choked him.

"I thought you 'd play the fool, as usual," retorted the
suitor, as he pulled his horse's head around. "You'll live to
regret this day, see if you don't." And with this vague threat
he trotted away toward Brunswick.

Whether Bagby had purposely magnified the danger with
the object of frightening the squire into yielding to his wishes,
or whether he and Hennion were outvoted by Parson McClave
and the other members of the Committee, Mr. Meredith never
learned. Of what was resolved he was not left long in doubt,
for the morning following, the whole Committee, with a contingent
of the Invincibles, invaded the privacy of Greenwood,
and required of him that he surrender to them such arms as
he was possessed of, and sign a parol that he would in no way
give aid or comfort to the invaders. To these two requirements
the squire yielded, at heart not a little comforted that
the proceedings against him were no worse, though vocally he
protested at such "robbery and coercion."

"Ye lord it high-handedly now," he told the party, "but
ye'll sing another song ere long."

"Yer've been predictin' thet fer some time," chuckled
Hennion, aggravatingly.

"'T will come all the surer that it comes tardily. 'Slow and
sure doth make secure,' as ye'll dearly learn. We'll soon see
how debtors who won't pay either principal or interest like
the law!"

Hennion chuckled again. "Yer see, squire," he said, "it
don't seem ter me ter be my interest ter pay principal, nor
my principle ter pay interest. Ef I wuz yer, I would n't het
myself over them mogiges; I ain't sweatin'."

"I'll sweat ye yet, ye old rascal," predicted the creditor.

"When'll thet be?" asked Hennion.

"When we are no longer tyrannised over by a pack of
debtors, scoundrels, and Scotch Presbyterians," with which
remark the squire stamped away.

It must be confessed, however, that bad as the master of
Greenwood deemed the political situation, he gave far more
thought to his private affairs. Every day conditions were becoming
more unsettled. His overseer had left his employ to
enlist, throwing all care of the farm on the squire's shoulders;
a second bondsman, emboldened by Charles' successful levanting,
had done the same, making labourers short-handed; while
those who remained were more eager to find excuses taking
them to Brunswick, that they might hear the latest news, and
talk it over, than they were to give their undivided attention to
reaping and hoeing. Finally, more and more tenants failed to
appear at Greenwood on rent day, and so the landlord was
called upon to ride the county over, dunning, none too successfully,
the delinquent.

Engrossing as all this might be, Mr. Meredith was still too
much concerned in public events not to occasionally find an
excuse for riding into Brunswick and learning of their progress;
and one evening as he approached the village, his eyes and
ears both informed him that something unusual was in hand,
for muskets were being discharged, great fires were blazing
on the green, and camped upon it was a regiment of troops.

Riding up to the tavern, where a rushing business was being
done, the squire halted the publican as he was hurrying
past with a handful of mugs, by asking, "What does all this
mean?"

"Living jingo, but things is on the bounce," cried the landlord,
excitedly. "Here 's news come that the British fleet of
mor'n a hundred sail is arrived inside o' Sandy Hook, an' all
the Jersey militia hez been ordered out, an' here 's a whole
regiment o' Pennsylvania 'Sociators on theer way tew Amboy
tew help us fight 'em, an' more comin'; an' as if everythin' was
tew happen all tew once, here 's Congress gone an' took John
Bull by the horns in real arnest." The cupbearer-to-man
thrust a broadside, which he pulled from his pocket, into the
squire's hand, and hastened away cellar-ward.

The squire unrumpled the sheet, which was headed in bold-faced
type:--

In Congress, July 4, 1776,
A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States
of America in General Congress assembled.

Ere he had more than seen the words, he was interrupted by
Joe, who, glass in hand, left the bench and came to the rider,
where, in a low voice, he said:--

"You see, squire, the independents has outsharped the
other party, and got the thing passed before Howe got here.
It was a durned smart trick, and don't leave either side nothing
but to fight. I guess 't won't be long before you'll be sorry
enough you did n't take up with my offer."

Mr. Meredith, who had divided his attention between what
his interlocutor was saying and the sentence, "When, in the
course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bands which have connected them
with another," concluded that human events could wait, and
ceasing to read, he gave his attention to the speaker.

"If ye think to frighten or grieve me, ye are mightily out,"
he trumpeted loudly. "Hitherto Britain has dealt gently
with ye, but now ye'll feel the full force of her wrath. A six
weeks will serve to bring the whole pack of ye to your knees,
whining for pardon."

The prediction was greeted with a chorus of gibes and protests,
and on the instant the squire was the centre of a struggling
mass of militiamen and villagers, who roughly pulled him
from his horse. But before they could do more, the colonel
of the troops and the parson interfered, loudly commanding
the mob to desist from all violence; and with ill grace and with
muttered threats and angry noddings of heads, the crowd, one
by one, went back to their glasses. That the interference was
none too prompt was shown by the condition of the squire, for
his hat, peruke, and ruffles were all lying on the ground in
tatters, his coat was ripped down the back, and one sleeve
hung by a mere shred.

"You do wrong to anger the people unnecessarily, sir,"
said Mr. McClave, sternly. "Dost court ducking or other violence?
Common prudence should teach you to be wiser."

The squire hastily climbed into the saddle. From that
vantage point he replied, "Ye need not think Lambert Meredith
is to be frightened into dumbness. But there are some who
will talk smaller ere long." Then, acting more prudently than
he spoke, he shook his reins and started Joggles homeward.

It was little grief, as can be imagined, that the events of the
next few weeks brought to Greenwood; and the day the news
came that Washington's force had been outflanked and successfully
driven from its position on the hills of Brooklyn, with a loss
of two of its best brigades, the squire was so jubilant that nothing
would do but to have up a bottle of his best Madeira,--
a wine hitherto never served except to guests of distinction.

"Give a knave rope enough and he'll hang himself" he
said gloatingly. "Because the land favoured them at Boston,
they got the idea they were invincible, and Congress would
have it that New York must be defended, though a hundred
thousand troops could not have done it against the fleet, let
alone Howe's army. Ho! By this time the rogues have
learned what fifteen thousand butchers and bakers and candlestick-makers
can do 'gainst thirty thousand veterans. And
they've had but the first mouthful of the dose they'll have to
swallow."

The jubilation of the prophet was short-lived, for even as
he spoke, and with decanter but half emptied, the tramp of
feet sounded in the hallway, and the door was flung open to
admit four men, armed with muskets.

"In the name of the Continental Congress, and by orders
of General Washington, I arrests yer, Lambert Meredith,"
announced the spokesman.

"For what?" cried Janice.

"For treason."

XXIII
HEADQUARTERS IN 1776

On September 15, a group of horsemen, occupying a
slight eminence of ground on the island of Manhattan,
were gazing eastward. Below and nearer
the water were spread lines of' soldiers behind intrenchments,
while from three men-of-war lying in the river
came a heavy cannonade that swept the shore line and spread
over the water a pall of smoke which, as it drifted to leeward,
obscured the Long Island shore from view.

"'T is evidently a feint, your Excellency," presently asserted
one of the observers, "to cover a genuine attack elsewhere
--most likely above the Haarlem."

The person addressed--a man with an anxious, careworn
face that made him look fifty at least--lowered his glass, but
did not reply for some moments. "You may be right, sir,"
he remarked, "though to me it has the air of an intended
attack. What think you, Reed?"

"I agree with Mifflin. The attack will be higher up.
Hah! Look there!"

A rift had come in the smoke, and a column of boats, moving
with well-timed oars, could for a moment be seen as it
came forward.

"They intend a landing at Kip's Bay, as I surmised," exclaimed
the general. "Gentlemen, we shall be needed below."
He turned to Reed and gave him an order concerning
reinforcements, then wheeled and, followed by the rest, trotted
over the ploughed field. Once on the highway, he spurred
his horse, putting him to a sharp canter.

"What troops hold the works on the bay, Muffin?" asked
one of the riders.

[Illustration: "I'm the prisoner!"]

"Fellows' and Parsons' brigades, Brereton."

"If they are as good at fighting as at thieving, they'll distinguish
themselves."

"Ay," laughed Muffin. "If the red coats were but chickens
or cattle, the New England militia would have had them
all captured ere now."

"They'll be hearn from to-day," said a third officer.
"They've earthworks to git behind, and they'll give the
British anuther Bunker Hill."

"Then you ought to be quick, General Putnam," said
Brereton, "for that 's the fighting you like."

The road lay in the hollow of the land, and not till the
party reached a slight rise were they able once more to get a
glimpse of the shores of the bay. Then it was to find the
flotilla well in toward its intended landing-place, and the
American troops retreating in great disorder from their breastworks.

Exclamations of surprise and dismay sprang from the lips
of the riders, and their leader, turning his horse, jumped the
fence and galloped across the fields to intercept the fugitives.
Five minutes brought them up to the runaways, who, out of
breath with the sharpness of their pace, had come to a halt,
and were being formed by their officers into a little less
disorder.

"General Fellows, what was the reason for this shameful
retreat?" demanded the general, when within speaking
distance.

"The men were seized with a panic on the approach of the
boats, your Excellency, and could not be held in the lines."

Washington faced the regiments, his face blazing with scorn.
"You ran before a shot had been fired! Before you lost a
man, you deserted works that have taken weeks to build, and
which could be held against any such force." He paused for
a moment, and then, drawing his sword, he called with spirit:
"Who's for recovering them?"

A faint cheer passed down the lines; but almost as it
sounded, the red coats of fifty or sixty light infantry came into
view on the road, a skirmishing party thrown forward from
the landing to reconnoitre. Had they been Howe's whole
army, however, they could not have proved more effective, for
instantly the two brigades broke and dissolved once more into
squads of flying men.

At such cowardice, Washington lost all control of himself,
and, dashing in among the fugitives, he passionately struck
right and left with the flat of his sword, thundering curses at
them; while Putnam and Muffin, as well as the aides, followed
his example. It was hopeless, however, to stay the rush; the
men took the blows and the curses unheeding, while throwing
away their guns and scattering in every direction.

Made frantic by such conduct, Washington wheeled his
horse. "Charge!" he cried, and rode toward the enemy,
waving his sword.

If the commander-in-chief had hoped to put some of his
own courage into the troops by his example, he failed. Not
a man of the runaways ceased fleeing. None the less, as if
regardless of consequences in his desperation, Washington
rode on, until one of the aides dashed his spurs into his horse
and came up beside his general at a mad gallop.

"Your Excellency!" he cried, "'t is but hopeless and will
but end in--" Then, as his superior did not heed him, he
seized the left rein of his horse's bridle and, pulling on it,
swung him about in a large circle, letting go his hold only
when they were riding away from the enemy.

Washington offered no resistance, and rode the hundred
yards to where the rest of his staff were standing, with bowed
head. Nothing was said as he rejoined the group, and Blueskin,
disappointed in the charge for which he had shown as
much eagerness as his rider, let his mind recur to thoughts of
oats; finding no control in the hand that held his bridle, he
set out at an easy trot toward headquarters.

They had not ridden many yards ere Washington lifted his
head, the expression of hopelessness, which had taken the
place of that of animation, in turn succeeded by one of stern
repose. He issued three orders to as many of the riders,
showing that his mind had not been dwelling idly on the
disaster, slipped his sword into its scabbard, and gathered up
his reins again.

"There!" thought Blueskin, as a new direction was indicated
by his bit, "I'm going to have another spell of it
riding all ways of a Sunday, just as we did last night. And
it 's coming on to rain."

Rain it did very quickly; but from post to post the horsemen
passed, the sternly silent commander speaking only when
giving the necessary orders to remedy so far as possible the
disaster of the afternoon. Not till eleven, and then in a
thoroughly drenched condition, did they reach the Morris
House on Haarlem Heights. It was to no rest, however,
that the general arrived; for, as he dismounted, Major Gibbs
of his life guards informed him that the council of war he had
called was gathered and only awaited his attendance.

"Get you some supper, gentlemen," he ordered, to such of
his aides as were still of the party, "for 't is likely that you
will have more riding when the council have deliberated."

"'T is advice he might take himself to proper advantage,"
said one of the juniors, while they were stripping off their wet
coverings in a side room.

"Ay," asserted Brereton. "The general uses us hard,
Tilghman, but he uses himself harder." Then aloud he
called, "Billy!"

"Yis, sah!"

"Make a glass of rum punch and take it in to his
Excellency."

"Foh de Lord, sah, I doan dar go in, an' yar know marse
neber drink no spirits till de day's work dun."

"Make a dish of tea, then, you old coward, and I'll take
it to him so soon as I get these slops off me. 'Fore George!
How small-clothes stick when they 're wet!"

"You mean when a man 's so foppish that he will have
them made tight enough to display the goodness of his thighs,"
rejoined Gibbs, who, being dry, was enjoying the plight of the
rest. "Make yourselves smart, gentlemen, there are ladies at
quarters to-night."

"You don't puff that take-in on us, sirrah," retorted
Tilghman.

"'Pon honour. They arrived a six hours ago, and have
been waiting to see the general."

"You may be bound they are old and plain," prophesied
Brereton, "or Gibbs would be squiring them, 'stead of wasting
time on us."

"There you 're cast," rejoined the major, "I caught but a
glimpse, yet 't was enough to prove to me that all astronomers
lie."

"How so?"

"In saying that but twice in a century is there a transit of
Venus."

"Then why bide you here, man?"

"That's the disgustful rub. They were with a man under
suspicion, and orders were that none should hold converse
with him before the general examined into it. A plague
on't!"

Discussion of Venus was here broken by the announcement
of supper, and the make-shift meal was still unfinished when
the general's body-servant appeared with the tea. Taking it,
Brereton marched boldly to the council door, and, giving a
knock, he went in without awaiting a reply.

The group of anxious-faced men about the table looked up,
and Washington, with a frown, demanded, "For what do you
interrupt us, sir?"

The young officer put the tea down on the map lying in
front of the general. "Billy didn't dare take this to your
Excellency, so I made bold to e'en bring it myself."

"This is no time for tea, Colonel Brereton."

"'T is no time for the army to lose their general," replied
the aide. "I pray you drink it, sir, for our sake if you won't
for your own."

A kindly look supplanted the sternness of the previous
moment on the general's face. "I thank you for your
thoughtfulness, Brereton," he said, raising the cup and pouring
some of the steaming drink into the saucer. Then as the
officer started to go, he added, "Hold!" Picking up a
small bundle of papers which lay on the table, he continued:
"Harrison tells me that there is a prisoner under guard for
my examination. I shall scarce be able to attend to it this
evening, and to-morrow is like to be a busy day. Take
charge of the matter, and report to me the moment the
council breaks up. Here are the papers."

Standing in the dim light of the hallway, the aide opened
the papers and read them hastily. Either the strain on the
eyes, or some emotion, put a frown on his face, and it was
still there as he walked to the door before which stood a
sentry, and passed into a badly lighted room.

"Powerful proud ter meet yer Excellency," was his greeting
from a man in civilian shorts and a military coat, who held
out his hand. "Captain Bagby desired his compliments ter
yer, an' ter say that legislative dooties pervented his attindin'
ter the matter hisself."

Paying no heed to either outstretched hand or words, the
officer looked first at a man standing beside the fireplace and
then at the two women, who had risen as he entered. He
waited a moment, glancing from one to the other, as if expecting
each of them to speak; but when they did not, he asked
gruffly of the guard, though still with his eyes on the prisoners:
"And for what were the ladies brought?"

"Becuz they wud n't be left behind on no accaount. Yer
see, yer Excellency, things hez been kinder onsettled in
Middlesex Caounty, an' it hain't been a joyful time to them
as wuz Tories; so when orders cum ter bring old Meredith ter
York Island, his wife an' gal wuz so scar't nothin' would do
but they must come along."

"Ay," spoke up the man by the fireplace, bitterly. "A
nice pass ye've brought things to, that women dare not tarry
in their own homes for fear of insult."

"You may go," said the officer to the captor, pointing at
the door.

"Ain't I ter hear the 'zamination, yer Excellency?" demanded
the man, regretfully. "The hull caounty is sot on
known' ther fac's." But as the hand still pointed to the
entrance, the man passed reluctantly through it.

Taking a seat shadowed from the dim light of the solitary
candle, the officer asked: "You are aware, Mr. Meredith, on
what charge you are in military custody?"

"Not I," growled the master of Greenwood. "For more
than a year gone I've taken no part in affairs, but 't is all
of a piece with ye Whigs that--to trump up a charge
against--"

"This is no trumpery accusation," interrupted the officer.
"I hold here a letter to Sir William Howe, found after our
army took possession of Boston, signed by one Clowes, and
conveying vastly important information as to our lack of
powder, which he states he obtained through you."

"Now a pox on the villain!" cried the squire. "Has he
not tried to do me enough harm in other ways, but he must
add this to it? Janice, see the evil ye've wrought."

"Oh, dadda," cried the girl, desperately, "I know I was--
was a wicked creature, but I've been sorry, and suffered for
it, and I don't think 't is fair to blame me for this. 'T was not
I who brought him--"

"Silence, miss!" interrupted her mother. "Wouldst sauce
thy father in his trouble?"

"I presume you obtained the knowledge Clowes transmitted
from your daughter?" surmised the officer.

"My daughter? Not I! How could a chit of a girl know
aught of such things? Clowes got it from young Hennion,
and devil a thing had I really to do with it, write what he
pleases."

"Pray take chairs, ladies," suggested the aide, with more
politeness. "Now, sir, unravel this matter, so far as 't is
known to you."

When the squire's brief tale of how the information was
obtained and forwarded to Boston was told, the officer was
silent for some moments. Then he asked: "Hast had word
of Clowes since then?"

"Not sight or word since the night the--"

"Oh, dadda," moaned Janice, "please don't!"

"Since he attempted to steal my girl from me. And if
e'er I meet him I trust I'll have my horsewhip handy."

"Is Hennion where we can lay hold upon him?"

"Not he. 'T was impossible for him to get out of Boston,
try his best, and the last word we had of him--wrote to his
rascally father--was that he'd 'listed in Ruggles' loyalists."

"Then the only man we can bring to heel is this bond-servant
of thine."

"Not even he. The scamp took French leave, and if ye
want him ye must search your own army.

"Canst aid us to find him?"

"I know naught of him, or his doings, save that last June
I received the price I paid for his bond, through Parson
McClave, who perhaps can give ye word of him."

The officer rose, saying: "Mr. Meredith, I shall report on
your case to the general, so soon as he is free, and have small
doubt that you will be acquitted of blame and released. I
fear me you will find headquarters' hospitality somewhat wanting
in comfort, for we're o'ercrowded, and you arrive in times
of difficulty. But I'll try to see that the ladies get a room,
and, whatever comes, 't will be better than the guard-house."
He went to the hall door and called, "Grayson!"

"Well?" shouted back some one.

"There are two ladies to be lodged here for the night.
May I offer them our room?"

"Ay. And my compliments to them, and say they may
have my company along with it, if they be youngish."

"Tut, man," answered Brereton, reprovingly. "None of
your Virginian freeness, for they can hear you." He turned and
said: "You must be content with a deal feather-bed on the
floor here, Mr. Meredith, but if the ladies will follow me I
will see that they are bestowed in more comfortable quarters;"
and he led the way upstairs, where, lighting a candle, he
showed them to a small room, very much cluttered by military
clothes and weapons, thrown about in every direction. "I
apologise, ladies," he remarked; "but for days it 's been ride
and fight, till when sleeping hours came 't was bad enough to
get one's clothes off, let alone put them tidy."