Books: Janice Meredith

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[Illustration: "Thou art my soldier."]

Dismounting, the two aides walked to the dock and delivered
their letters to the commander. Taking the papers, Washington
gave a final exhortation to the sappers and miners: "Look
alive there, men. Every minute now is worth an hour to-morrow,"
and, followed by Brereton, walked to the ferry-house
that he might find light with which to read the despatches. By
the aid of the besmoked hall lantern, he glanced hastily through
the two letters. "General Gates leaves to us all the honour to
be gained to-night. Colonel Cadwallader declares it impossible
to get his guns across," he told his aide, without a trace of
emotion in his voice, as he refolded the despatches and handed
them to him. Then his eye flashed with a sudden exultation
as he continued: "It seems there are some in our own force,
as well as the enemy, who need a lesson in winter campaigning."

"Then your Excellency intends to attempt a crossing?"
deprecated Brereton.

"We shall attack Trenton before daybreak, Brereton; and
as we are like to have a cold and wet march, stay you within
doors and warm yourself after your ride. You are not needed,
and there is a good fire in the kitchen."

Brereton, with a disapproving shake of his head, stepped from
the hallway into the kitchen. Only one man was in the room,
and he, seated at the table, was occupied in rolling cartridges.

"Ho, parson, this is new work for you," greeted Brereton,
giving him a hearty slap on the shoulder. "You are putting
your sulphur and brimstone in concrete form."

"Ay," assented McClave, "and, as befits my calling, properly
combining them with religion."

"How so?" demanded Brereton, taking his position before
the fire.

"You see, man," explained the presbyter, "it occurred to me
that, on so wet a night, 't would be almost impossible for the
troops to keep their cartridges dry, since scarce a one in ten
has a proper cartouch-box; so I set to making some new ones,
and, having no paper, I'm e'en using the leaves of my own
copy of Watts' Hymns."

"A good thought," said Brereton; "and if you will give them
to me I will see to it that they be kept dry and ready for use.
Not that they will need much care; there is small danger that
Watts will ever be anything but dry."

"Tut, tut, man," reproved the clergyman. "Dry or not dry,
he has done God's work in the past, and, with the aid of
Heaven, he'll do it again to-night."

The rumble of artillery at this point warned the aide that the
embarkation was actually beginning, and, hastily catching up
the cartridges already made, he unbuttoned the flannel shirt he
wore and stuffed them in. Throwing his cloak about him, he
hurried out.

The ice had finally been removed, and a hay barge dragged
up to the pier. Without delay two 12-pounders were rolled
upon it, with their complement of men and horses; and, leaving
further superintendence of the embarkation to Greene and
Knox, Washington and his staff took their places between the
guns. Two row galleys having been made fast to the front, the
men in them bent to their oars, and the barge moved slowly
from the shore, its start being the signal to all the other craft to
put off.

The instant the shelter of the land was lost, the struggle with
the elements began. The wind, blowing savagely from the
northeast, swept upon them, and, churning the river into foam,
drove the bitterly cold spray against man and beast. Masses
of ice, impelled by the current and blast, were only kept from
colliding with the boat by the artillerymen, who, with the rammers
and sponges of the guns, thrust them back, while the
bowsmen in the tractive boats had much ado to keep a space
clear for the oars to swing. To make the stress the greater,
before a fifty yards had been compassed the air was filled with
snow, sweeping now one way and now another, quite shutting
out all sight of the shores, and making the rushing current of
the black, sullen river the sole means by which direction could
be judged.

"Damn this weather!" swore Brereton, as an especially
biting sweep of wind and water made him crouch the lower
behind his shivering horse.

"Nothing short of that would serve to put warmth into it,"
asserted Colonel Webb. "You 're not like to obtain your wish,
Jack, though your cursing may put you where you'll long for a
touch of it."

"Thou canst not fright me with threat of hell-fire damnation
on such a night as this, Sam," retorted Brereton.

"Gentlemen," interposed Washington, drily, "let me call
your attention to the General Order of last August, relative to
profane language."

"Can your Excellency suggest any more moderate terms to
apply to such a night?" asked Brereton, with a laugh.

"Be thankful you've something between you and the river,
my boy. Twenty-four years ago this very week I was returning
from a mission to the Ohio, and to cross a river we made a raft
of logs. The ice surged against us so forcibly that I set out my
pole to prevent our being swept down the stream; but the
rapidity of the current threw the raft with so much violence
against the pole that it jerked me out into ten feet of water, and
I was like to have drowned. This wind and sleet seem warm
when I remember that; and had Gates and Cadwallader been
there, the storm and ice of to-night would not have seemed to
them such obstacles. 'T was my first public service," he added
after a slight pause. "Who knows that to-night may not be my
last?"

"'T is ever a possibility," spoke up Webb, "since your Excellency
is so reckless in exposing yourself to the enemy's fire."

Washington shrugged his shoulders. "I am in more danger
from the rear than from the enemy," he said equably.

"Ay," agreed Jack, "but we fight both to-night. Give us
victory at Trenton, and we need not spend thought on Baltimore."

"Congress is too frightened itself--" began Baylor, but a
touch on his arm from the commander-in-chief checked the
indiscreet speech.

Departure had been taken from the Pennsylvania shore before
ten; but ice, wind, and current made the crossing so laborious
and slow that a landing of the first detachment was not effected
till nearly twelve. Then the boats were sent back for their
second load, the advance meanwhile huddling together wherever
there was the slightest shelter from the blast and the hail that
was now cutting mercilessly. Not till three o'clock did the
second division land, and another hour was lost in the formation
of the column. At last, however, the order to march could be
given, and the twenty-four hundred weary, besoaked, and wellnigh
frozen men set off through the blinding storm on the nine-mile
march to Trenton.

At Yardley's Ferry the force divided, Sullivan's division
keeping to the river turnpike, intending to enter Trenton from
the south, while the main division took the cross-road, so as to
come out to the north of the town, the plan being to place the
enemy thus betwixt two fires.

Owing to the delay in crossing the river, it was daylight when
the outskirts of the town were reached, but the falling snow
veiled the advance, and here the column was halted temporarily
to permit of a reconnoissance. While the troops stood at ease
an aide from Sullivan's detachment reported that it had arrived
on the other side of the village, and was ready for the attack,
save that their cartridges were too damp to use.

"Very well, sir," ordered Washington. "Return and tell
General Sullivan he must rely on the bayonet."

"Your Excellency," said Colonel Hand, stepping up, "my
regiment is in the same plight, and our rifles carry no bayonets."

"We kin club both them and the Hessians all the same,"
spoke up a voice from the ranks.

"Here are some dry cartridges," broke in Brereton.

"Let your men draw their charges and reload, Colonel Hand,"
commanded Washington.

In a moment the order to advance was issued, and the column
debouched upon the post road leading toward Princeton. The
first sign of life was a man in a front yard, engaged in cutting
wood; the commander-in-chief, who was leading the advance,
called to him:--

"Which way is the Hessian picket?"

"Find out for yourself," retorted the chopper.

"Speak out, man," roared Webb, hotly, "this is General
Washington."

"God bless and prosper you, sir!" shouted the man. "Follow
me, and I'll show you," he added, starting down the road
at a run. As he came to the house, without a pause, he swung
his axe and burst open the door with a single blow. "Come
on," he shrieked, and darted in, followed by some of the
riflemen.

Leaving them to secure the picket, the regiments went forward,
just as a desultory firing from the front showed that
the alarm had been given by Sullivan's attack. Pushing on,
a sight of the enemy was gained,--a confused mass of men
some three hundred yards away, but in front of them two guns
were already being wheeled into position by artillerists, with
the obvious purpose of checking the advance till the regiments
had time to form.

"Capture the battery!" came the stern voice of the
commander.

"Forward, double quick!" shouted Colonel Hand.

Brereton, putting spurs to his horse, joined in the rush of
men as the regiment broke into a run. "Look Out, Hand!"
he yelled. "They'll be ready to fire before we can get there,
and in this narrow road we'll be cut to pieces. Give them a
dose of Watts."

"Halt!" roared Hand, and then in quick succession came
the orders, "Deploy! Take aim! Fire!"

"Hurrah for the Hymns!" cheered Brereton, as a number of
the gunners and matross men dropped, and the remainder, deserting
the cannon, fell back on the infantry. "Come on!" he
roared, as the Virginia light horse, taking advantage of the
open order, raced the riflemen to the guns. Barely were
they reached, when a mounted officer rode up to the Hessian
regiments and cried: "Forwarts!" waving his sword toward
the cannon.

"We can't hold the guns against them!" yelled Brereton.
"Over with them, men!"

In an instant the soldiers with rifles and the cavalry with
the rammers that had been dropped were clustered about the
cannon, some prying, some lifting, some pulling, and before
the foe could reach them the two pieces of artillery were tipped
over and rolled into the side ditches, the Americans scattering
the moment the guns were made useless to the British.

This gave the Continental infantry in the rear their opportunity,
and they poured in a scathing volley, quickly followed by the
roar of Colonel Forrest's battery, which unlimbered and opened
fire. A wild confusion followed, the enemy advancing, until
the American regiments charged them in face of their volleys.
Upon this they broke, and falling back in disorder, endeavoured
to escape to the east road through an orchard. Checking the
charge, Washington threw Stevens' brigade and Hand's riflemen,
now re-formed, out through the fields, heading them
off. Flight in this direction made impossible, the enemy retreated
toward the town, but the column under Sullivan now
blocked this outlet. Forrest's fieldpieces were pushed forward,
Washington riding with them, utterly unheeding of both the
enemy's fire, though the bullets were burying themselves in
the snow all about him, and of the expostulations of his staff.
Indicating the new position for the guns, he ordered them
loaded with canister.

Colonel Forrest himself stooped to sight one of the 12-pounders,
then cried: "Sir, they have struck."

"Struck!" exclaimed Washington.

"Yes," averred Forrest, exultingly. "Their colours are
down, and they have grounded their arms."

Washington cantered toward the enemy.

"Your Excellency," shouted Baylor, who with the infantry
had been well forward, "the Hessians have surrendered. Here
is Colonel Rahl."

Washington rode to where, supported by two sergeants, the
officer stood, his brilliant uniform already darkened by the
blood flowing from two wounds, and took from his hand the
sword the Hessian commander, with bowed head, due to both
shame and faintness, held out to him.

"Let his wounds receive instant attention," the general ordered.
Wheeling his horse, he looked at the three regiments
of Hessians. "'T is a glorious day for our country, Baylor!"
he said, the personal triumph already forgotten in the greater
one.

XXXIV
HOLIDAY WEEK AT TRENTON

The Christmas revel of the Hessians had held far
into morning hours; and though the ladies so
prudently retired, it was not to sleep, as it proved,
for the uproar put that out of the question. At
last, however, the merry-making ceased by degrees, as man
after man staggered off to his quarters, or succumbing to
drink, merely took a horizontal position in the room of the
festivity, and quiet, quickly succeeded by slumber, descended
upon the household.

To the women it seemed as if the turmoil had but just
ended, ere it began anew. The first alarm was a thundering
on the front door, so violent that the intent seemed to be to
break it down rather than to gain admission from the inside.
Then came a rush of heavy boots pounding upstairs, followed
by a renewal of the ponderous blows on every door, accompanied
now by the stentorian shouting of hasty sentences in
German.

As if the din were not sufficient, Miss Drinker, in her fright
at the assault directed against the barrier to which she had
pinned her own reliance of safety, promptly gave vent to a
series of shrieks, intermixed, when breath failed, with gasping
predictions to the girls as to the fate that awaited them,
scaring the maidens most direfully. Their terror was not
lessened by the growing volume of shouts outside the house,
and by the rub-a-dub-dub of the drums, and the tantara of
the bugles, as the "To arms" was sounded along the village
street. Barely had they heard Rahl and the other officers go
plunging downstairs, when the scattering crack of muskets
began to be heard, swelling quickly into volleys and then into
the unmistakable platoon firing, which bespoke an attack in
force. Finally, and as a last touch to their alarm, came the
roar of artillery, as Forrest's and Knox's batteries opened fire.

The whole conflict took not over thirty-five minutes, but to
the three bedfellows it seemed to last for hours. The silence
that then fell so suddenly proved even more awful, however, and
became quickly so insupportable that Janice was for getting
out of bed to learn its cause, a project that Miss Drinker prohibited.
"I know not what is transpiring," she avowed, "but
whatever the disturbance, our danger is yet to come."

The event verified her opinion, for presently heavy and hurried
footsteps of many men sounded below stairs, terminating
the brief silence. With little delay the tramp of boots came
upstairs, and a loud rap on the door drew a stifled cry from
the spinster as she buried her head under the bedclothes, and
made the two girls clutch each other with fright.

"Open!" called a commanding voice. "Open, I say!" it
repeated, as no answer came. "Batter it in, then!" and at
the order the stocks of two muskets shattered the door panels;
the bureau was tipped over on its face with a crash, and
Brereton, sword in hand, jumped through the breach.

It was an apparently empty room into which the aide
entered, but a mound under the bedclothes told a different tale.

"Here are other Hessian pigs who've drunk more than
they've bled," he sneered, as he tossed back the counterpane
and blankets with his sword-point, thus uncovering
three becapped heads, from each of which issued a scream,
while three pairs of hands wildly clutched the covering.

The nightcaps so effectually disguised the faces that not a
one did the officer recognise in his first hasty glance.

"Ho!" he jeered. "Small wonder the fellow lay abed.
Come, up with you, my Don Juan," he added, prodding Miss
Drinker through the bedclothes with his sword. "'T is no
time for bearded men to lie abed."

"Help, help!" shrieked Janice, and "'T is my aunt!"
cried Tabitha, in unison, but the spinster's fear was quite
forgot in the insulting allusion to the somewhat noticeable
hirsute adornment on her face; sitting up in bed, she pointed
at the door, and sternly ordered, "Cease from insulting gentlewomen,
brute, and leave this chamber!"

"Zounds!" burst out Jack, in his amazement; then he
turned and roared to the gaping and snickering soldiers,
"Get out of here, every doodle of you, and be--to
you!" Keeping his back to the bed, he said, "I pray your
pardon, ma'am, for disturbing you; our spies assured us that
only Hessian officers slept here."

"Go!" commanded the offended and unrelenting old
maid.

The officer took a step toward the door, halted, and remarked
savagely, "Our positions are somewhat reversed,
Miss Meredith. 'T is poetic justice, indeed, which threatens
you a taste of the captivity you schemed in my behalf; 'he
cries best who cries last.'"

"I had naught to do with thy captivation!" protested
Janice, indignantly, "though thou wouldst not believe me;
and but for me thou'dst still be a prisoner."

"A well-dressed-up tale, but told too late to gain credence,"
sneered the officer. "You made a cully of me once. I defy
you to ever again."

"A man who thinks such vile thoughts is welcome to them,"
retorted the girl, proudly.

"Dost intend to put a finish to thy intrusion upon the privacy
of females?" objurgated Miss Drinker; and at the question
Brereton flung out of the room without more words.

The ladies made a hasty toilet, and descended to the
kitchen, to find the maids deep in the preparation of breakfast,
while standing near the fire was a coloured man in a
brown livery who ducked low to Janice as he grinned a
recognition.

"Oh!" exclaimed the girl, and then, "How's Blueskin?"

"Lor' bless de chile, she doan forget ole Willium nor dat
horse," chuckled the darkey. "Dat steed, miss, hardly git a
good feed now once a week, but he knows dat he carries his
Excellency, an' dat de army 's watchin' him, an' he make
believe he chock full of oats all de time. He jus' went offen
his head when Ku'nel Forrest's guns wuz a-bustin' de Hessians
all to pieces dis mornin', an' de way he dun arch his neck
an' swish his tail when Gin'l Howe give up his sword made de
enemy stare."

"You'll purvey my compliments to his Highness, Mr. Lee,"
requested the cook, "an' 'spress to him de mortification we
'speriences at being necessitated to tender him his tea outen
de elegantest ob best Japan. 'Splain to him dat we 'se a real
quality family, an' regularly accustomed to de finest ob plate,
till de Hessians depredated it."

"Is this for General Washington?" questioned Janice, with
sudden interest in the tray upon which the cook had placed a
china tea-service, some hot corn bread, and a rasher of bacon.

"Yes, miss," explained William. "His Excellency 's in de
parlour, a-lookin' over de papers of de dead gin'l, an' he say
see if I kian't git him some breakfast."

"Oh," begged the girl, eagerly, "may n't I take it to
him?"

"Dat yo' may, honey," acceded the black, yielding to the
spell of the lass. "Massa allus radder see a pooty face dan
black ole Billy's. Jus' yo' run along with it, chile, an' s'prise
him."

Catching up the waiter, the maiden carried it to the parlour,
which she entered after knocking, in response to Washington's
behest. The general looked up from the paper he was conning
and instantly smiled a recognition to the girl.

"You are not rid of us yet, you see, Miss Janice," he
said.

"Nor wish to be, your Excellency," vouched the girl, as she
set the tray on the table.

"I remember thy wish for our cause when last we met,"
went on the commander, "and who knows but it has served
us in good stead this very morning? I had the vanity that
day to think thy interest was for the general, but I have just
unravelled it to its true source."

"Indeed," protested Janice, sorely puzzled by his words,
"'t was only thy--"

"Nay, nay, my dear," chided Washington, smiling pleasantly;
"'t is nothing to be ashamed of, and I ought to have
suspected that thy interest was due to some newer and brighter
blade than an old one like myself. He is a lucky fellow to
have won so charming a maid, and one brave enough to take
such risk for him."

"La, your Excellency," stammered the girl, completely
mystified, "I know not what you mean!"

Still smiling, Washington set down the tea he was now
drinking and selected a paper from a pile on the table. "I
have just been perusing Colonel Harcourt's report to General
Grant, in reference to the traitorous conduct of one Janice
Meredith, spinster, and it has informed me of much that
Colonel Brereton chose to withhold, though he pretended to
make me a full narration. The sly beau said 't was the cook
cut him loose, Miss Janice."

"Oh, prithee, General Washington," beseeched a very
blushing young lady, "wilt please favour me by letting Colonel
Brereton--who is less than nothing to me--read the
report?"

"Thou takest strange ways to prove thy lack of interest,"
rejoined the general, his eyes merry at the seeming contradiction.

"'T is indeed not as thou surmisest," protested Janice,
redder than ever; "but Colonel Brereton thought I was concerned
in his captivation, and would not believe a message I
sent to him, and but just since he has cruelly insulted me, and
so I want him to learn how shamefully he has misjudged me,
so that he shall feel properly mean and low."

"That he shall," Washington assented, "and every man
should be made to feel the same who lacks faith in your face,
Miss Janice. The rascal distinguished himself in this morning's
affair, so I let him bear my despatches and the Hessian
standard to Congress; however, as soon as he returns he shall
smart for his sins, be assured. But, my dear," and here the
eyes of the speaker twinkled, "when due punishment has
been meted out, remember that forgiveness is one of your
sex's greatest excellences." Washington took the hand of
the girl and bent over it. "Now leave me, for we have
much to attend to before we can set to getting our prisoners
across the river, out of the reach of their friends."

Twenty-four hours later the village which had been so over-burdened
with soldiers was stripped as clear of them as if
there were not one in the land. It took a day to get the
thousand prisoners safely beyond the Delaware, and three
more were spent in giving the Continentals a much-needed
rest from the terrible exposure and fatigue they had under-gone;
but this done, Washington once more crossed the river
and reoccupied Trenton, induced to take the risk by the word
brought to him that the militia of New Jersey, driven to desperation
by the British occupation, and heartened by the success
of Trenton, were ready to rise if they had but a fighting
point about which to rally.

The expectation proved erroneous, for the presence of the
little force at Trenton was more than offset by the prompt
mobilisation of all the British troops in the State at Princeton,
and the hurrying of Cornwallis, with reinforcements, from
New York, to resume the command. As Washington's army
mustered less than five thousand, one-third of whom were raw
Pennsylvania militia, while that of the British general when
concentrated exceeded eight thousand, the prudent elected to
stay safely within doors and await the result of the coming
conflict before deciding whether they should forget their recently
signed oaths of allegiance and cast in their lot with the
Continental cause.

Yet another difficulty, too, beset the commander-in-chief.
The terms of the New England regiments expired on the last
day of the year, and though the approach of the enemy made
a speedy action certain, the men refused to re-enlist, or even
to serve for a fortnight longer. Such was the desperate plight
of the general that he finally offered them a bounty if they
would but remain for six weeks, and, after much persuasion,
more than half of them consented to stay the brief time. The
army chest being wholly without funds, Washington pledged
his personal fortune to the payment of the bounty, though in
private he spoke scornfully of the regiments' "noble example"
and "extraordinary attachment to their country," the fighting
spirit too strong within him to enable him to understand
desertion of the cause at such an hour. Quite a number,
even, who took the bounty, deserted the moment the money
was received.

Cornwallis lost not a moment, once his troops were gathered,
in seeking vengeance for Trenton; and on January 2 spies
brought word to Washington that the British were approaching
in force by the Princeton post-road. A detachment was
at once thrown forward to meet their advance, and for several
hours every inch of ground was hotly contested. Then, the
main body of the enemy having come up, the Americans fell
back on their reserves, and the whole Continental army retreated
through the village and across the bridge over Assanpink
Creek,--a tributary stream emptying into the Delaware
just east of Trenton. Here the troops were ranged along the
steep banks to renew the contest, the batteries being massed
at the bridge and at the two fords, and some desultory firing
occurred. But it was now dark, and Cornwallis's troops having
marched fifteen miles, the commander postponed the attack
till the morrow, and the two armies bivouacked for the night
on opposite sides of the brook, within a hundred and fifty
yards of each other.