ROWE’S SMITHY
When we were come to the highway Master Sawyer reined in his horse that
he might ride in the rear of the company, whereupon Gabriel, who was in
the lead, called to him:
“Why should you not ride with me, Master Sawyer, instead of tailing on
alone?”
“Because I am not going out as a member of your company, but simply as
one who has a fancy for a bit of adventure.”
I could understand, and so evidently did Gabriel, that he would not
take position in the line where it might seem as if he was sharing in
the leadership, or was eager to give advice, but we knew right well
that if we came to close quarters with an enemy, he would be in the
front without waiting for an invitation.
Gabriel insisted that it was a guest’s right to ride with the leader,
and Master Sawyer laughingly spurred his horse forward, saying as he
came up:
“When I am with lads who in the midst of victory can mourn because they
had no better opportunity to display their courage than by standing
fast in line as soldiers should, then am I careful not to do that which
might detract in any way from whatsoever of success may come to them.”
“But we are looking upon you in the light of an adviser,” I cried, and
it must be remembered that among us Minute Boys there was little of
that military discipline and strait-lacedness which the king’s officers
thought necessary to maintain.
“There is a question in my mind, lad, whether my advice would be any
better than Master Marion’s judgment, for I have both heard and seen
him prove himself well able to command even a much larger company.”
Then it was that Gabriel asked, speaking purposely loud so all in the
line might hear him:
“Is it in your mind, Master Sawyer, that we should ride boldly up the
road until arriving at Rowe’s smithy, or had we better reconnoitre, as
the general seemed to suggest?”
“First let me hear your opinion?” the gentleman said, as if speaking to
one whom he considered an equal.
“It appears to me,” Gabriel replied after a brief hesitation, “that we
would be in no more danger, if peradventure danger menaces, by riding
boldly on. In case that message be the bait of a trap, then would those
who are evilly disposed toward us be on their guard against whatsoever
reconnoitring we might do.”
“Yours is much my way of thinking, lad; but I would say that while we
go as if there was no suspicion in our minds, we be constantly prepared
for a surprise, and then if anything serious should come up, the
company would not be taken at any great disadvantage.”
There was little need for a suggestion like this. I dare venture to
say every member of the party felt much as I did, that at any moment
we might be confronted by a superior force, and instead of swinging
our muskets across our shoulders, as was the usual method while on the
march, we carried the weapons resting on one arm, thus having but a
single hand for the bridle-rein.
We rode at a moderate pace such as should have brought us to the smithy
in forty minutes or more, and I am minded to sound the praises of my
comrades by saying confidently, that if a stranger had seen us then he
would have had no grounds for believing we were expecting an attack.
Although not for any ordinary amount of wealth would I have allowed
myself to be left behind, it surely seemed as if we had no warrant for
taking the risks--as if the capture of Seth Hastings was hardly so
important that we should endanger our liberty, if not our lives, by
trying to make him prisoner again.
However, we were on the road to the smithy; the question had been
settled without my having raised a voice in protest, yet I felt as
fully committed to it as if to me alone had been left the decision.
Once during the short journey we halted that the horses might drink
from a brook which crossed the road, and then on again until we were
come to a forge, so small that when the smith would shoe a horse the
animal must perforce remain outside the building. Nearby, perhaps fifty
yards away, was a dwelling built of logs, with a long shed behind it
evidently intended as a stable for horses and cattle.
No person was to be seen; the door of the smithy, a rude affair made
of splints and hanging by one hinge, was nearly closed, and this in
itself, to us who were suspicious, seemed strange, for the day was
warm, and a man working at the forge would have been in need of all the
fresh air he could get. Some one near me said, in a tone half of doubt,
half of anger:
“The place is abandoned! How could Master Rowe have sent a messenger?”
Just then we heard the clinking sound of metal struck against metal,
and Gabriel would have dismounted to open the door had not Master
Sawyer clutched him by the arm, as he said quickly:
“Remain in your saddle, lad! It is the safer course, for he who
dismounts must turn his back upon the enemy to regain his footing in
the stirrups.” Then, raising his voice, he cried, “Ho, in the smithy!
We would speak with you, good Master Rowe!”
The hail was not answered immediately, and it seemed to me that Master
Sawyer was on the point of crying again, when the door was pulled
inward a few inches as the heavily bearded face of a man peered out.
Gabriel waited an instant, fancying Master Sawyer was minded to conduct
the conversation, but since the gentleman sat silent, our leader asked
in an unnecessarily loud voice:
“Is this Master Reuben Rowe?”
“Ay, and what may you be wanting of me? A shoe for a horse?”
“We call ourselves the Minute Boys of South Carolina,” Gabriel replied,
as if believing this would be the only information needed to announce
the purpose of our coming, and the man stared at him as if not
understanding.
Gabriel repeated the words, and after waiting while one might have
counted ten, the man asked, with a stupidity which I believed was
feigned:
“Is that all you have to tell me?”
“You sent one of your negroes to the Davis plantation with a message
for the Minute Boys,” Gabriel said, and I noted that he shifted his
musket ever so slightly so he might be able to raise it to his shoulder
on the instant.
“I sent no negro, and for the very good reason that I have none.”
“But Mistress Davis’s daughter told us it was your man who brought the
word.”
“Then Mistress Davis’s daughter will have to guess again,” the smith
replied in a mocking tone. “There has been an old negro whom nobody
seems to own, living near by here for the past year, and now and then I
have hired him to do some bit of work for me.”
“Then you did not send him to the Davis plantation to-day?” and now
Gabriel spoke sharply, whereupon the man replied in an equally curt
tone:
“I have not seen the old rascal for a week or more.”
We lads looked at each other in genuine alarm, for now did it seem
positive a trap had been set, and the wonder was that those who were
eager to do us a mischief did not begin their work.
It was when the silence had lasted a full minute, and none of us seemed
inclined to break it, that Master Sawyer took upon himself the task of
gathering information, if there was any to be had in that quarter.
“You are Master Reuben Rowe, and owner of this smithy?”
“I am, sir,” the man replied, speaking more deferentially now, for
mayhap he knew that the man addressing him was not one to be trifled
with.
“You say you sent no message, yet one was received which purported to
have come from here. Have you seen any person in this vicinity who
might have hired the negro to go to the Davis plantation?”
“With the exception of a neighbor who lives two miles farther up the
road, and who came here shortly after sunrise to have a hoe mended, I
have seen no one.”
“Where does this negro, of whom you speak, live? He must have a shack
of some kind in which to sleep.”
“Ay, that he has, and cultivates a bit of land, raising mayhap as much
as will keep him from one year’s end to another. His place is three
miles or more down on the edge of the swamp.”
“In what direction?”
“Yonder path leads to it.”
Now the smith came out of the building that he might point to a faint
trail running through a grove at right angles to the course we had been
pursuing.
Master Sawyer noted the direction, and said, as if thinking aloud:
“Then in order for the negro to go to the Davis plantation, he must
come by this forge?”
“Unless he took a short cut through the woods in order to save
considerable distance. Certain it is he can leave his shack without
coming this way, for I have known three or four weeks to go by without
his showing himself, but yet have heard of him at one place or another
along the road.”
It was evident he would gain no more information from Master Rowe. He
plainly showed he had told us all he could, or all he intended to, and
if he spoke the truth the riddle was to be read only by our following
the trail until we came upon the negro who had acted as messenger.
This, as it seemed to me, would be a most unwise thing to do, for it
required that we should ride amid the underbrush, where, if an ambush
had been laid, we could not well avoid it.
Gabriel made one more attempt at coming upon a solution of the puzzle,
by asking:
“Do you know a lad by the name of Seth Hastings?”
Master Rowe shook his head.
“Have you heard that there was a prisoner hereabout to be delivered to
those who are defending this State?”
“I have heard nothing whatsoever about prisoners or Tories, nor would
I listen if any were inclined to tell the tale. I am a man of peace,
and do not count on meddling with the affairs either of the king or the
rebels.”
The fact that he had used the word “rebels,” when speaking of us,
caused me to believe the fellow was inclined to be a Tory even though
he might not take open part with one side or the other, and straightway
was I more suspicious of him than ever.
“He who stands ’twixt two parties, trying to side with neither, is
either a fool or a knave,” Master Sawyer cried threateningly. “You
remain here, counting to be undisturbed because of not taking part in
the war, and yet are unwilling to raise a hand for or against the State
which gives you living room. Although I have no great love for Tories,
they are men as compared with those who strive to take a living from
the land without contributing in any way toward the general good.”
Master Rowe stepped back a pace, his hands clenched, and I thought
of a verity that he was about to make an attack upon our outspoken
companion, who shifted ever so slightly in the saddle as if to defend
himself against a blow.
The smith evidently thought better of his first intent, if indeed it
was what I suspected, and tried in vain to curb his anger as he replied:
“It has ever been given to the people of the Carolinas to believe as
they chose, and I choose to believe that he who stands aloof from both
sides at such a time is the better citizen. Nor does it become you,
Master Paul Sawyer, whose hand has been in every brawl since this
uprising against the king was first begun, to revile a man who strives
to live honestly.”
Now it was Master Sawyer’s turn to be angry, and mine to be surprised,
for until this moment I had no idea the smith recognized any member of
our company, and because he did so were my suspicions increased.
Master Sawyer remained silent a full half-minute, and then, leaning
over in the saddle as if to invite a blow, he said, speaking slowly and
distinctly:
“Hark ye, Master Smith, if you know me by name, you are also well aware
that I keep my word to the letter howsoever many brawls I may have a
hand in, and this I am telling you to the end that it may be guarded
against, if you feel so disposed. A messenger was sent to the Davis
plantation much the same as in your name, and in another four and
twenty hours I shall know whether you have just told us the truth or
not. If so be you are trying to deceive us in order that harm may be
worked to those who are fighting for the Cause, then as true as I am
Paul Sawyer, so true will I take your life as forfeit for treachery!”
Master Rowe quailed before these passionately uttered words, and I
fancied that on his cheeks came something very like a spot of red, but
whether of fear or of anger I would not attempt to guess. Then, without
a word, he turned abruptly and entered the forge, closing the door
behind him with no little violence.
“Well, what do you make of it, sir?” Gabriel asked a few seconds after
the man had disappeared.
“It is a trap which has been set for you, lad; of that there can be
no question. Now you have my answer, and I am asking what you propose
to do? Do not speak now; there is no reason why we should hold this
conversation where perchance an enemy stands ready to repeat it,”
Master Sawyer said quickly, as he laid his hand on Gabriel’s arm when
the latter was about to make reply.
Then he pulled his horse sharply around, riding back over the road we
had just come, all of us Minute Boys following his example.
When we were a quarter of a mile or more from the forge Master Sawyer
reined in his steed, and our company of Minute Boys came to a halt,
taking position in a circle so we might hear all that was said.
“Now I ask for your answer, lad. What are you minded to do?”
“It is for my comrades to have a voice in this matter, sir,” Gabriel
replied, “and the question shall be left to them. As for my part, I
am minded to learn where the trap is, that we may know who set it,
believing that when such information has been gained we will stand
mighty near Seth Hastings, for there can be no other around here who
knows how eager we are to come up with him.”
Although I was, as has already been said, opposed to this adventure, it
would have shamed me had Gabriel made other reply, and on the instant
I cried:
“I am with you, lad, wherever you choose to go!”
I had not yet spoken these words before all the members of our company
were demanding that they have an opportunity of learning what we were
eager to know.
“You are lads of spirit,” Master Sawyer said heartily. “I would I were
young again, if for no other reason than that I might ask to join this
force, because now is the time when much adventure may be had, and with
such a party, even though it be small, he who craves for a venturesome
life will not be mistaken.”
“You surely are one of us this afternoon, sir, and much better fitted
to say how we may ferret out the plot with the least danger to
ourselves.”
Before Master Sawyer could make reply, I interrupted, fearing lest we
forget the promise which had been much the same as made:
“Remember, Gabriel, that a messenger was to be sent back to the
general, if we could not return before midnight, and since this
matter may require some considerable time, I propose that he be made
acquainted with what little we have already learned.”
The dear lad agreed with me promptly, and then came the question of who
would act the part of messenger. None of the lads were like to turn
their backs willingly at such a time, therefore were several minutes
spent in drawing lots, and Jared Green was the one finally chosen. I
pitied him because of the disappointment written on his face, knowing
how I should have felt under the same circumstances, but was not
generous enough to offer an exchange of places with him.
“You may repeat all that which we have heard, and say it is our
intention to learn more regarding this thing before returning; but beg
of my brother that he do not send any of the troopers here because
of thinking the danger may be too great. This is a matter belonging
to the Minute Boys entirely, and we should be allowed to work it out
ourselves, with the aid of Master Sawyer.”
“You will be working it out entirely alone, lad, for I count myself
as one of the company, and under your command,” Master Sawyer said
quickly, and then Jared, with a glance of both sorrow and envy at our
little company, rode away.
“Now that we are ready for business, lad, I have a proposition to
make,” Master Sawyer said, speaking hurriedly as if believing that
time pressed. “The smith may not have told us all the truth to-day,
and I dare venture to say he did not, but still am allowing there was
somewhat in his talk which we may believe. He said the old negro could
leave his shack in the thicket without coming past the forge. Now if
that be the case, then shall we find the trail on this left-hand side
of the road. Therefore do I suggest that we ride slowly along, and when
we come to anything which looks like a path, follow it, to the end
that we may come upon those who are waiting for us in the rear, thus
gaining no slight advantage.”
There could have been no objection made to this proposition, for it
smacked of sound common sense, although some of our party doubted if
Master Rowe had mingled any truth in that tale of his--questioning
whether the messenger which went to the Davis plantation had not gone
directly from the forge; but Master Sawyer disputed that belief by
saying:
“If there had been enemies waiting in the vicinity of the forge, we
should have been fired upon when we turned as if to go back to the
plantation.”
Then we rode along at a foot-pace, watching narrowly the left side of
the road, and I confess to considerable surprise when, after having
travelled perhaps a mile, we came upon a trail which struck off from
the highway at an angle such as would apparently bring us to the
negro’s hut, if Master Rowe had given correct information regarding it.
“Are we to ride through here, sir, or walk?” Gabriel asked, and Master
Sawyer, after a moment’s thought replied:
“To my mind we had best remain in the saddle. Were I in command of this
company, I would dismount three lads, instructing them to tether their
horses at such distance from the road that the animals could not betray
their whereabouts in case the enemy passed near at hand. Then have them
go on as scouts considerably in advance of the force. If, as I believe
will be the case, they come upon signs of the enemy, the footmen are
to fall back to the rear, leaving us who are mounted to begin the
fight, for I’m counting that you intend to come to close quarters if
redcoat or Tory is found?”
“Ay, that we are, sir,” Archie Gordon said eagerly, and he added in a
lower tone to Gabriel, “If you love me, lad, do not put me among those
who are to dismount, lest I should miss the chance of coming upon the
traitorous cur before he be killed!”
Gabriel looked quickly around to see that none save I had heard this
request, and then he made what I believed a good selection of the
scouts by naming the two Marshall boys and Jacob Breen. We knew by
experience what the Marshall boys could do, and were safe in entrusting
them with a most important portion of the adventure, for in fact
everything depended upon those who went ahead.
We rode into the woods nearly a mile before the scouts dismounted, and
then halted that they might be able to gain an advance of perhaps a
hundred yards.
When it seemed probable they were that distance ahead of us, we moved
forward in single file, Gabriel leading, Master Sawyer and I following,
while the others trailed on behind.
The horses made little or no noise as we rode on at a foot-pace, for
the mosses and leaves deadened all sound, and if this trail led us to
where we believed it would, then those who had counted on giving us a
surprise would find that the tables had been turned.
It was a weird, ghostly march, for by this time the sun was near to
setting, and amid the foliage it was as if night had already come.
No lad dared to speak lest he might give an alarm to the enemy, and
I absolutely found myself at times trying to hold my breath that the
thumping of my heart might be stilled, for it beat like a trip-hammer,
as it seemed to me. To this nervous expectancy was added the fear that
we might be attacked at any instant.
The horses, jaded with much travelling, moved forward with hanging
heads at a snail’s pace; slowly the minutes went by until the darkness
enveloped us, and we were forced to trust to the instinct of the
animals for keeping the path. I was near to crying aloud in fear, thus
proving myself the veriest coward, when amid the blackness of the night
I saw a yet darker figure moving swiftly toward me. My horse’s bridle
was seized, and I drew a long breath of relief as a familiar voice
whispered:
“It is time to halt, for we have found our enemy.”
It was one of the Marshall lads, who had come through the foliage
almost at right angles with the course we were pursuing, and had failed
to reach the leader, therefore I whispered hoarsely to Master Sawyer
that the scouts were come in.
“There are ten or fifteen men at the negro’s shack, which is less
than half a mile to the left--you must have passed the trail which
leads to it,” Joseph Marshall whispered when we had gathered around
him as closely as the growth of trees would permit. “They have been
questioning among themselves as to whether we will come, for I crept so
near as to be able to hear a portion of the conversation.”
“What sort of men are they?” Master Sawyer asked. “Soldiers, Tories, or
lads?”
“There are three who wear red coats, much torn, and I fancy they were
among those who were in such haste to get away from us in the last
action. Such of the others as I could see had the look of Tories; and
all are supplied with weapons.”
“And Seth Hastings?” Archie asked eagerly.
“Ay, he is there, and on such good terms with the three redcoats that I
can well believe he was their companion in the flight.”
It now seemed a simple thing for us to get possession of that
villainous cur. He had most like been with the enemy we last met, and
fled with his present companions to this place in the thicket, which it
was reasonable to suppose they had come upon by chance. It was easy to
guess that the old negro knew of our being at the Davis plantation, and
had given the information, whereupon Seth Hastings contrived the plan;
a mighty poor one, as he would soon learn.
Not until the other two scouts had come in and brought up their horses
did we venture to make any move other than raise the question as to
whether we had best not leave the animals where they were; but to this
Master Sawyer dissented, giving as his reason:
“I have always found that the more quickly you can come upon your
enemy, and the better equipped you are for chasing him, the more
chances there are of making a capture. Therefore if the trail be broad
enough, let us ride.”
I shall always regret our having followed Master Sawyer’s advice on
that occasion, for had we dismounted and crept up as would have been
possible, then was Seth Hastings made prisoner beyond a peradventure,
and thus one precious life would have been saved to the Carolinas and
to the Minute Boys.
No good can come of harking back into the past; when once the thing
has been done the matter should be ended, and yet I never think of
this night without being assailed by a great grief because we were
such simples as to hold to the horses while making an attack upon an
unmounted foe.
It was decided that we would ride as near the negro’s shack as the
scouts might deem safe, and then pass to the right and the left in
order that the place might be surrounded before the game began. Then we
started.
In less than ten minutes we were come to the point where it was
possible to see the faint glimmer of a flame through the foliage, and
Gabriel and Master Sawyer halted while the remainder of us rode to the
right and the left in order to encircle the shack. This we might have
done without giving an alarm, but for the mishap which befell Henry
Moulton.
I was the leader of that wing which went toward the right, and Henry
rode close behind me. We had gone hardly more than thirty paces from
the trail when his horse must have stepped into a hole, for he fell
forward with a loud snort of pain, making such a noise among the bushes
as could have been heard full two hundred yards away.
On the instant came words spoken sharply and quickly, telling that the
Tories were on the alert, and then Gabriel’s voice crying:
“Ride them down, lads, ride them down! There is no time to be lost!”
We were still floundering among the bushes, striving to the best of our
ability, but none might see where his horse was going or what obstacle
stood in the way. While I was trying to push ahead through a clump
of thorn-bushes till the sharp needles pierced my flesh, the crack
of muskets was heard, and perhaps a dozen shots were fired before I
succeeded in getting around the impediment in my path.
Then all was silent, save for the crashing here and there which told
that a rider was trying to advance, and when I came up to the fire
which had been built directly in front of the shack, no person was to
be seen.
We had bungled the job as beautifully as any of the redcoats could
have done, and to this day a flush of shame comes to my cheek as
I remember that we who should have been--really were--versed in
woodcraft, blundered ahead on horses amid the thick underbrush and in
the darkness, expecting to catch an enemy who was awaiting our arrival.
Now it was that we had placed ourselves in a position of gravest
danger, for there we set our horses in the full glare of the fire,
looking at each other like simples, while all those whom Joseph
Marshall had seen were hiding, mayhap, in the thicket just beyond,
where they could shoot us down without risk of receiving a shot in
return.