Books: Janice Meredith

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"And indeed, sir, there is no need of apology," responded
Mrs. Meredith, warmly, "save for us, for robbing you of the
little comfort you possess."

"'T is a pleasure amid all the strife we live in to be able to
do a service," replied the officer, gallantly, as he bowed low
over Mrs. Meredith's hand and then kissed it. He turned to
the girl and did the same. "May you rest well," he added,
and left the room.

"Oh, mommy!" exclaimed Janice, "didst ever see a more
distinguished or finer-shaped man? And his dress and manners
are--"

"Janice Meredith! Wilt never give thy thoughts to something
else than men?"

"Well, Brereton," asked Tilghman as the aide joined his
fellow-soldiers, "how did his Excellency take your boldness?"

"As punishment he sent me to examine Gibbs' Venus."

"Devil take your luck!" swore Gibbs. "I'll be bound
ye made it none too short. Gaze at the smug look on the
dandy's face."

Brereton laughed gleefully as he stripped off his coat and
rolled it up into a pillow. "I've just kissed mamma's hand,"
he remarked.

"I can't say much for thy taste!"

"In order," coolly went on Brereton, as he stretched himself
flat on the floor, "that I might then kiss that of Venus--
and over hers I did not hurry, lads. Therefore, gentlemen,
my present taste is, despite Gibbs' slur, most excellent, and I
expect sweet dreams till his Excellency wants me. Silence in
the ranks."

XXIV
THE VALUE OF A FRIEND

As the sun rose on the following morning, Brereton
came cantering up to headquarters.
"Is his Excellency gone?" he demanded of the
sentry, and received reply that Washington had
ridden away toward the south ten minutes before. Leaving
his horse with the man, the aide ran into the house and returned
in a moment with a great hunk of corn bread and two
sausages in his hand. Springing into the saddle, he set off at
a rapid trot, munching voraciously as he rode.

"Steady, dear lass," he remarked to the mare. "If you
make me lose any of this cake, I'll never forgive you, Janice."

Fifteen minutes served to bring the officer to a group of
horsemen busy with field-glasses. Riding into their midst, he
saluted, and said: "The Maryland regiments are in position,
your Excellency." Then falling a little back, he looked out
over the plain stretched before them. Barely had he taken
in the two Continental regiments lying "at ease" half-way
down the heights on which he was, and the line of their
pickets on the level ground, when three companies of red-coated
light infantry debouched from the woods that covered
the corresponding heights to the southward. As the skirmishers
fell back on their supports, the British winded their bugles
triumphantly, sounding, not a military order, but the fox-hunting
"stole away,"--a blare intended to show their utter
contempt for the Americans.

Washington's cheeks flushed as the derisive notes came
floating up the hills, and he pressed his lips together in an
attempt to hide the mortification the insult cost him. "They
do not intend we shall forget yesterday," he said.

"We'll pay them dear for the insult yet," cried Brereton,
hotly.

"'T is a point gained that they think us beneath contempt,"
muttered Grayson; "for that is half-way to beating them."

"Colonel Reed, order three battalions of Weedon's and
Knowlton's rangers to move along under cover of the woods,
and endeavour to get in the rear of their main party," directed
the commander-in-chief after a moment's discussion with
Generals Greene and Putnam. "As you know the ground,
guide them yourself."

"Plague take his luck!" growled Brereton.

"Ha, ha!" laughed Tilghman, jeeringly. "Some of us
have hands to kiss and some regiments to fight. Harkee,
macaroni. The general thinks 't would be a pity to spot those
modish buskins and gloves. So much for thy dandyism."

"Colonel Brereton," said the general, "order the two Maryland
regiments to move up in support of Knowlton."

Brereton saluted, and, as he wheeled, touched his thumb to
his nose at Tilghman. "You are dished," he whispered.
"The general dresses too well himself to misjudge a man
because he tries to keep neat and a la mode."

A quarter of an hour later, as battalions of Griffiths' and
Richards' regiments advanced under guidance of Brereton,
the sharpness of the volleys in their front showed that the
fighting was begun; and in response to his order, they broke
into double-quick time. Once out of the timber, it was
to find the Connecticut rangers scattered in small groups
wherever cover was to be had, but pouring in a hot fire at
the enemy, who had been reinforced materially.

"Damn them!" cried Brereton. "Will they never fight
except under cover?" Louder he shouted: "Forward!
Charge them, boys!" The order given, he rode toward the
rangers. "Where's your colonel?" he shouted.

"Dead," cried one, "and there 's no one to tell us what
to do."

"Do?" roared the aide. "Get out from behind that
cover, and be damned to you. Show that Connecticut
does n't always skulk. Come on!"

A cheer broke out, and, without even stopping to form,
the men went forward, driving the enemy into the woods for
shelter, and then forcing them through it. The fire of the
British slackened as they fell back, and when new Continental
troops appeared on their right flank as well, the retreat
became almost a rout.

"We'll drive them the length of the island," yelled Brereton,
frantic with excitement, as the men went clambering up
the rocks after the flying enemy.

"Colonel Brereton, his Excellency directs you to call in the
regiments to their former position," shouted Grayson, cantering
up.

Brereton swore forcibly before he galloped among the men,
and even after they, in obedience to his orders, had fallen back
slowly and taken up their original position, he growled to the
aide as they began the ascent, "I'm sick of this over-caution,
Grayson! What in--"

"The general was right," asserted Grayson. "Look there."
He pointed over the treetops that they had now risen above to
where columns of Royal Highlanders and Hessian Yagers
were hastening forward at double-quick. "You would have
had a sharp skimper-scamper hadst been allowed to go another
half-mile."

"'T is too bad, though," sighed the young officer, "that
when the men will fight they have to be checked."

"Be thankful you did your double-quick in the cool of the
morning, and are done with it. Lord! it makes me sweat
just to see the way they are hurrying those poor Yagers. 'T is
evident we've given them a real scare."

Upon reaching the top of the height Brereton rode forward
to where Washington still stood. "I tried to have the'stole
away' sounded, your Excellency," he said exultingly, "but
those who knew it were so out of breath chasing them that
there was not a man to wind it."

Washington's eyes lighted up as he smiled at the enthusiasm
of the young fellow. "At least you may be sure that they
had less wind than you, for they ran farther. They've had
the best reply to their insult we could give them."

"Thet there fox they wuz gwine tu hunt did a bit of huntin'
hisself," chuckled Putnam.

"They are still falling back on their supports," remarked
Greene. "Evidently there is to be no more fighting to-day."

"They've had their bellyful, I guess," surmised Putnam.

"Then they 're better off than I am," groaned Brereton.
"I could eat an ox."

When the fact became obvious that the British had no intention
of renewing their intended attack, a general move was
made toward quarters, and as they rode Brereton pushed up
beside Washington and talked with him for a moment.

The commander ended the interview by nodding his head.
"Colonel Tilghman," he ordered, as Brereton dropped behind,
"ride on to announce our coming; also present my
compliments to Mr. Meredith and bespeak his company and
that of his ladies to dinner."

Mrs. Meredith and Janice, not having gone to bed till after
one the previous night, slept until they were wakened by the
firing; and when they had dressed and descended it was to
find headquarters practically deserted, save for the squire and
a corporal 's guard. At the suggestion of the servant who gave
them breakfast, they climbed to the cupola of the house, but
all they could see of the skirmish were the little clouds of
smoke that rose above the trees and the distant advance of
the British reinforcements. Presently even these ceased or
passed from view, and then succeeded what Janice thought a
very "mopish" two hours, terminated at last by the arrival of
the aide with his invitation, which sent her to her room for a
little extra prinking.

"If I had only worn my lutestring," she sighed. Her toilet
finished,--and the process had been lengthened by the trembling
of her hands,--Janice descended falteringly to go through
the hall to the veranda. In the doorway she paused, really
taken aback by the number of men grouped about on the grass;
and she stood there, with fifty eyes turned upon her, the
picture of embarrassment, hesitating whether to run away
and hide.

"Come hither, child," called her mother; and Janice, with
a burning face and down-turned eyes, sped to her side.
"This is my daughter Janice, your Excellency," she told the
tall man with whom she had been speaking.

"Indeed, madam," said Washington, bowing politely over
the girl 's hand, and then looking her in the face with
pleasure. "My staff has had quite danger enough this morning
without my subjecting them to this new menace. However,
being lads of spirit, they will only blame me if I seek
to spare them. Look at the eagerness of the blades for the
engagement," he added with a laugh, as he turned to where
the youngsters were idling about within call.

"Oh, your Excellency!" gasped Janice, "I--I--please
may n't I talk to you?"

"Janice!" reproved her mother.

"Oh! I did n't mean that, of course," faltered the girl.
"'T was monstrous bold, and I only wanted--"

"Nay, my child," corrected the general. "Let an old man
think it was intended. Mrs. Meredith, if you'll forgive the
pas, I'll glad General Greene with the privilege of your hand
to the table, while the young lady honours me with hers.
Never fear for me, Miss Janice," he added, smiling; "the
young rascals will be in a killing mood, but they dare not
challenge their commander. There, I'll spare your blushes
by joking you no more. I hope you were not greatly discomforted
in your accommodation?" he asked, as they took their
seats at the long table under the tent on the lawn.

"No, indeed, your Excellency. One of thy staff--I know
not his name, but the one who questioned dadda--was vastly
polite, and gave his room to us."

"That was Colonel Brereton,--the beau of my family.
Look at him there! Wouldst think the coxcomb was in
the charge this morning?"

Janice, for the first time, found courage to raise her eyes
and glance along what to her seemed a sea of men's faces, till
they settled on the person Washington indicated. Then she
gave so loud an exclamation of surprise that every one looked
at her. Conscious of this, she was once more seized with
stage fright, and longed to slip from her chair and hide herself
under the table.

"What startled thee, my child?" asked the general.

"Oh--he--nothing--" she gasped. "Who--what didst
thou say was his name?"

"John Brereton."

"Oh!" was all Janice replied, as she drew a long breath.

"'T will ne'er do to let him know you've honoured him by
particular notice," remarked the commander; "for both at
Boston and New York the ladies have pulled caps for him to
such an extent that 't is like he'll grow so fat with vanity that
he'll soon be unable to sit his horse."

"Is--is he a Virginian, your Excellency?"

"No. 'T is thought he's English."

Janice longed to ask more questions, but did not dare, and
as the bottle passed, the conversation became general, permitting
her to become a listener. When the moment came for the
ladies to withdraw, she followed her mother.

"Oh, mommy!" she said the instant she could, "didst
recognise Charles?"

"Charles! What Charles?"

"Charles Fownes--our bond-servant--Colonel Brereton."

"Nonsense, child! What maggot idea hast thee got now?"

"'T is he truly--and I never thought he could be handsome.
But his being clean-shaven and wearing a wig--"

"No more of thy silly clack!" ordered her mother. "A
runaway bond-servant on his Excellency's staff, quotha!
Though he does head the rebels, General Washington is a
man of breeding and would never allow that."

Before the men rose from the table the ladies were joined
by Washington and Mr. Meredith.

"I have already expressed my regrets to your husband, Mrs.
Meredith," said the general, "that a suspicion against him
should have put you all to such material discomfort, and I desire
to repeat them to you. Yet however greatly I mourn the
error for your sake, for my own it is somewhat balanced by the
pleasure you have afforded me by your company. Indeed, 't is
with a certain regret that I received Colonel Brereton's report,
which, by completely exonerating Mr. Meredith, is like to
deprive us of your presence."

"Your Excellency is over-kind," replied Mrs. Meredith,
with an ease that excited the envy of her daughter.

"The general has ordered his barge for us, my dear," said
the squire, "and 't is best that we get across the river while
there 's daylight, if we hope to be back at Greenwood by
to-morrow evening."

Farewells were promptly made, and, under the escort of
Major Gibbs, they set out for the river. Once in the boat,
Janice launched into an ecstatic eulogium on the commander-in-chief.

"Ay," assented Mr. Meredith; "the general 's a fine man in
bad company. 'T is a mortal shame to think he's like to come
to the gallows."

"Dadda! No!"

"Yes. They put a bold face on 't, but after yesterday's defeat
they can't hold the island another week; and when they
lose it the rebellion is split, and that 's an end to 't. 'T will be
all over in a month, mark me."

Janice pulled a very serious face for a moment, and then
asked: "Didst notice Colonel Brereton, dadda?"

"Ay. And a polite man he is. He not merely had us released,
but I have in my pocket a protection from the general
he got for me."

"Didst not recognise him?"

"Recognise? Who? What?"

"Oh, nothing," replied Janice.

XXV
FREEDOM IN RETROGRADE

The departure of the Merediths for headquarters
under arrest had set Brunswick agog, and all
sorts of surmises as to their probable guilt and fate
had given the gossips much to talk of; their return,
three days later, not merely unpunished, but with a protection
from the commander-in-chief, set the village clacks still more
industriously at work.

Events were moving so rapidly, however, that local affairs
were quickly submerged. News of Washington's abandonment
of the island of New York and retreat into Westchester,
pursued by Howe's army, of the capture of Fort Washington
and its garrison, of the evacuation of Fort Lee, of the steady
dwindling of the Continental Army by the expiration of the
terms of enlistment, and still more by wholesale desertions,
reached the little community in various forms. But interesting
though all this was for discussion at the tavern of an
evening, or to fill in the vacant hour between the double
service on a Sunday, it was still too distant to seem quite
real, and so the stay-at-home farmers peacefully completed
the getting in of their harvests, while the housewives baked
and spun as of yore, both conscious of the conflict more
through the gaps in the village society, caused by the
absences of their more belligerently inclined neighbours,
than from the actual clash of war.

The absent ones, it is needless to say, were the doughty
warriors of the "Invincibles," who had been called into service
along with the rest of the New Jersey militia when Howe's
fleet had anchored in the bay of New York three months
before, and who had since formed part of the troops defending
the towns of Amboy and Elizabethport, but a few miles
away, from the possible descent of the British forces lying on
Staten Island. This arrangement not only spared them from
all active service, thus saving the parents and wives of Brunswick
from serious anxiety, but also permitted frequent home
visits, with or without furlough, thus supplying the town with
its chief means of news.

An end came, however, to this period of quiet. Early in
November vague rumours, growing presently to specific statements,
told the villagers that their day was approaching. The
British troops on Staten Island were steadily reinforced; the
small boats of the line-of-battle ships and frigates were gathered
opposite Amboy and Paulus Hook; large supplies of
forage and cattle were massed at various points. Everything
betokened an intended descent of the royal army into New
Jersey; that the new-made State was to be baptised with
blood.

The successive defeats of the Continental army wonderfully
cooled many of the townspeople who but a few months before
had vigorously applauded and saluted the glowing lines of the
Declaration of Independence, when it had been read aloud to
them by the Rev. Mr. McClave. One of the first evidences
of this alteration of outward manner, if not of inward faith,
was shown in the sudden change adopted by the community
toward the household of Greenwood. When the squire had
departed in custody he apparently possessed not one friend in
Brunswick, but within a month of his return the villagers, the
parson excepted, were making bows to him, in the growing
obsequiousness of which might be inferred the growing desperation
of the Continental cause. Yet another indication
was the appearance of certain of the," Invincibles," who came
straggling sheepishly into town one by one--"Just ter see how
all the folks wuz"--and who, for reasons they kept more
private, failed to rejoin their company after having satisfied
their curiosity. Most incriminating of all, however, was the
return of Bagby from the session of the Legislature then being
held in Princeton, and his failure to go to Amboy to take
command of his once gloried-in company.

"'T would n't be right to take the ordering away from
Zerubbabel just when there 's a chance for fighting, after he's
done the work all summer," was the captain's explanation of
his conduct; and though his townsmen may have suspected
another motive, they were all too bent on staying at home
themselves, and were too busy taking in sail on the possibility
of having to go about on another tack, to question his
reasons.

If the mountain would not go, Mahomet would come; and
one evening late in November, while the wind whistled and
the rain beat outside the "Continental Tavern," as it was now
termed, the occupants of the public room suddenly ceased
from the plying of glasses and pipes, upon the hurried entrance
of a man.

"The British is comin'!" he bellowed, bringing every man
to his feet by the words.

"How does yer know?" demanded Squire Hennion.

"I wuz down ter the river ter see if my boat wuz tied fast
enuf ter stand the blow an' I hearn the tramp of snogers
comin' across the bridge."

"The bridge!" shouted Bagby. "Then they must be--
Swamp it! there is n't more than time enough to run."

Clearly he spoke truly, for even as he ended his sentence
the still unclosed door was filled by armed men. A cry of
terror broke from the tavern frequenters, but in another
moment this was exchanged for others of relief and welcome,
when man after man entered and proved himself to be none
other than an invincible.

"How, now, Leftenant Buntling?" demanded Bagby, in
an attempt to regain his dignity. "What is the meaning of
this return without orders?"

"The British landed a swipe o' men at Amboy this mornin',
makin' us fall back mighty quick ter Bonumtown, an' there,
arter the orficers confabulated, it wuz decided thet as the
bloody-backs wuz too strong ter fight, the militia and the
flyin' camp thereabouts hed better go home an' look ter their
families. An' so we uns come off with the rest."

"You mean to say," asked Joe, "that you did n't strike
one blow for freedom; did n't fire one shot at the tools of the
tyrant?"

"Oh, cut it, Joe," growled one of the privates. "Thet 'ere
talk duz fer the tavern and fer election times, but 't ain't
worth a darn when ye've marched twenty miles on an empty
stomick. Set the drinks up fer us, or keep quiet."

"That I will for you all," responded Bagby, "and what 's
more, the whole room shall tipple at my expense."

No more drinks were ordered, however; for a second time
the occupants of the room were startled by the door being
thrown open quickly to give entrance to a man wrapped in a
riding cloak, but whose hat and boots both bespoke the officer.

"Put your house in readiness for General Washington and
his staff, landlord," the new-comer ordered sharply. "They
will be here shortly, and will want supper and lodgings." He
turned in the doorway and called: "Get firewood from where
you can, Colonel Hand, and kindle beacon fires at both ends
of the bridge, to light the waggons and the rest of the forces;
throw out patrols on the river road both to north and south,
and quarter your regiment in the village barns." Then he
added in a lower voice to a soldier who stood holding a horse
at the door: "Put Janice in the church shed, Spalding; rub
her down, and see to it that she gets a measure of oats and
a bunch of fodder." He turned and strode to the fire, his
boots squelching as he walked, as if in complaint at their besoaked
condition. Hanging his hat upon the candle hook on
one side of the chimney breast and his cloak on the other,
he stood revealed a well-dressed officer, in the uniform of a
Continental colonel.

It had taken the roomful a moment to recover their equipoise
after the fright, but now Squire Hennion spoke up:

"So yer retreatin' some more, hey?"

The officer, who had been facing the fire in an evident
attempt to dry and warm himself, faced about sharply:
"Retreat!" he answered bitterly. "Can you do anything
else with troops who won't fight; who in the most critical
moment desert by fifties, by hundreds, ay, by whole regiments?
Six thousand men have left us since we crossed into Jersey.
A brigade of your own troops--of the State we had come to
fight for--left us yesterday morning, when news came that
Cornwallis was advancing upon our position at Newark.
What can we do but retreat?"

"Well, may I be dummed!" ejaculated Bagby, "if it is n't
Squire Meredith's runaway bondsman, and dressed as fine
as a fivepence!"

The officer laughed scornfully. "Ay," he assented. "'T is
the fashion of the land to run away, so 't is only a la mode
that bondsmen and slaves should imitate their betters."

"Yer need n't mount us Americans so hard, seem' as yer
took mortal good care ter git in the front ranks of them as
wuz retreatin'," asserted an Invincible.

I undertook to guide the retreat, because I knew the
roads of the region," retorted the officer, hotly, evidently
stung by the remark; then he laughed savagely and continued:
"And how comes it, gentlemen all, that you are not gloriously
serving your country? Cornwallis, with nine thousand picked
infantry, is but a twenty miles to the northward; Knyphausen
and six thousand Hessians landed at Perth Amboy this morning,
and would have got between us and Philadelphia but for
our rapid retreat. Canst sit and booze yourself with flip and
swizzle when there are such opportunities for valour? Hast
forgotten the chorus you were for ever singing?" Brereton
sang out with spirit:--

"'In Freedom we're born, and, like Sons of the Brave,
We'll never surrender,
But swear to defend her,
And scorn to survive, if unable to save.'"

"'T ain't no good fighting when we hav n't a general,"
snarled Bagby.

"Now damn you for a pack of dirty, low-minded curs!"
swore the officer, his face blazing with anger. "Here you've
a general who is risking life, and fortune, and station; and
then you blame him because he cannot with a handful of raw
troops defeat thirty thousand regulars. There's not a general
in Europe--not the great Frederick himself--who'd so
much as have tried to make head against such odds, much
less have done so much with so little. After a whole summer
campaign what have the British to show? They've gained
the territory within gunshot of their fleet; but at White Plains,
though they were four to one, they dared not attack us,
and valiantly turned tail about, preferring to overrun undefended
country to assaulting our position. I tell you General
Washington is the honestest, bravest, most unselfish man in
the world, and you are a pack of--"

"Are my quarters ready, Colonel Brereton?" asked a tall
man, standing in the doorway.

"This way, yer Excellency," obsequiously cried the landlord,
catching up a candle and coming out from behind the
bar. "I've set apart our settin'-room and our bestest room
--thet 'ere with the tester bed--for yer honourable Excellency."

"Come with me, Colonel Brereton," ordered the general, as
he followed the publican.

Motioning the tavern-keeper out of the room, Washington
threw aside his wet cloak and hat, and taking from a pocket
what looked like a piece of canvas, he unfolded and spread
it out on the table, revealing a large folio map of New Jersey.