IN HIDING.
It is impossible for me to describe of my own knowledge all that took
place during five minutes or more after I grappled with the Britisher.
There had been no thought in my mind, when I leaped upon the enemy, of
gaining a victory; I was conscious only of the fact that if we were
taken prisoners again our lives would pay the forfeit, because it must
be apparent to all that we were spies, else why had we ventured there
the second time; and I acted upon the impulse of the moment.
Had my companions been told in advance of what I proposed to do, they
could not have followed my example more promptly.
It seemed as if almost at the very second that I seized the redcoat’s
musket, they made an attack, each upon the man nearest him, and so
unexpected was the onslaught that the Britishers gave no outcry.
I remember that during what seemed to me like many moments I struck
out, or parried blows, giving no heed to the weapon I had first
seized, and that we fought desperately in silence until my opponent
suddenly fell when I was some distance from him.
Then I realized dimly that he had been stricken down from behind, and
an instant later Alec whispered hoarsely, as he grasped me by the
hand:--
“Come, now! In ten seconds more it will be too late!”
I failed to understand all his meaning; but, fortunately, had
sufficient sense to obey the strain upon my arm, and immediately we
were in full flight, plunging through the underbrush without any idea,
on my part at least, of where the course might lead.
Then as we ran I became conscious of the fact that Leon was leading the
way, and for the first time since we stumbled upon the soldiers I had
hopes that we might finally escape.
We ran at full speed, stumbling here over fallen trees, or floundering
there through bogs and swamps, holding the pace until it became
impossible for Alec to advance another yard.
“I am done up!” he panted, sinking down at the foot of a huge pine
tree. “Do not stop; but leave me here to take my chances!”
“Can you go no further?” I asked stupidly, for it was plain to be seen
that the lad’s strength was entirely spent.
“Not a step; but neither you nor Leon can afford to loiter. You two
should be able to give them the slip.”
“I have no idea of leaving a comrade,” I said, flinging myself down by
Alec’s side to show the dear lad that I was not minded to desert him,
and Leon followed my example, saying as he did so:--
“The English may as well have three prisoners as one, and I will remain
with those who rescued me from the lake.”
“But you are to do nothing of the kind!” I cried in alarm, thinking of
the lad’s mother, whose only support he was. “You can contrive to gain
home secretly, knowing the country as you do, and in the morning no one
will be able to say you were with us. Go, Leon! You must not sacrifice
yourself!”
“That is what I should be doing if I deserted a friend. We will remain
here, and it may be the soldiers will fail to find us.”
It was possible they might pass us by in the darkness, unless we
betrayed our whereabouts by thus wrangling as to who should go or
stay, and I fell silent at once, understanding at the same time that
words were of no avail in the effort to persuade the French lad into
deserting us.
We three remained motionless as statues, and quite as silent, save for
our heavy breathing, which could not at once be stilled, until, as the
moments passed, we understood that the pursuit was either abandoned, or
the soldiers had gone in the wrong direction.
We had escaped, for the time being at least, and my surprise was very
nearly akin to fear as I realized this, for it seemed little short of
miraculous that such good fortune could come to us.
“They must be hiding near by, ready to leap upon us the instant we
leave this thicket,” I said half to myself, and then I knew that Alec
was laughing heartily, although silently.
“Do you suppose the Britishers would be willing to sit down and wait
patiently until we were rested?” he asked, pressing my hand warmly. “We
have given them the slip, Dicky Dobbins, and you shall have the full
credit of it, because save for your bravery it might never have been
brought about. I should have been clapped into that same pen where we
nearly froze to death, before having the courage to engage half a dozen
soldiers in a hand-to-hand fight!”
“Nor would I have shown so much bravery had there been time in which to
think of the danger. The fit came upon me quite by accident, and even
at this moment I cannot tell what took place.”
“Well, I can,” Alec replied, still laughing silently. “You leaped like
a tiger upon one of the men, wresting his musket from him, and Leon and
I could do no less than follow the example. The soldier was twice your
size, and yet you floored him with a single blow--”
“One of you did that, striking the fellow from behind,” I interrupted.
“But for your assistance I should speedily have been worsted.”
“It was your third opponent that Leon felled with a blow from the butt
end of a musket. You had tumbled two over, and was engaged with the
third when I had an opportunity of seeing what was being done. I always
believed you a courageous lad, Dicky Dobbins, but never have I supposed
it was in your power to handle your fists with such skill.”
Now although it may appear like boasting to repeat what I did all
unconsciously on that night, it seems necessary to set down what Alec
and Leon claim were my acts while in a frenzy of fear.
There were six soldiers in the squad we had run upon so unwittingly,
and two of those I bowled over much as a skilful pugilist would have
done, tackling the third just as my companions came to the rescue.
Leon had seized the musket I wrested from the first redcoat, and with
it felled one man unaided; then he knocked over the fellow who was
trying to best Alec, and afterward aided me as I have said.
Even then, as we sat in the forest listening in vain for sounds of
pursuit, it seemed incredible that we had won the day so easily, and
during a full half hour we gloated over the victory.
Then, when it seemed certain the Britishers had not succeeded in
keeping upon our trail, we began to realize that the danger, instead of
having passed, was hardly more than begun.
We were on that long, narrow neck of land known as the North Foreland,
and, as Leon said, the enemy had a line of sentinels stretched across
the narrowest portion, nearest the main shore, to prevent desertions
and keep the curious at a proper distance.
In other words, we were penned up with no means of escape save by
water, and the lad upon whom we depended as a guide had entirely lost
his bearings in the darkness.
“It is only a question of time before we will be captured,” I said
gloomily, when coming fully to understand the situation, “and we cannot
live in the thicket many days without food!”
To this dispiriting remark Alec made no reply, and I believed the lad
was disheartened until he said cheerily, and in much the same tone he
might have used when discussing some excursion for pleasure:--
“We are captured to a certainty if we make up our minds to such a
fact; but I have the idea that by a show of half as much pluck as you
displayed when we were confronted by the soldiers, we can leave this
point of land in due season.”
“Perhaps you already see your way clear to get out of the snarl,” I
said, with a fine tinge of sarcasm in my tones.
“Ay, that I do,” he replied, giving no heed to my ill temper. “In case
you two are minded to follow my instructions, it will go hard indeed if
we fail of setting sail in our boat between now and sunset to-morrow.”
He spoke so confidently that I pricked up my ears at once, a new hope
coming into my heart, and Leon said quietly, much as if he was safe
from all harm, and we the only ones who had anything to fear from the
Britishers:--
“I stand ready to do whatever you shall say.”
“Then set about finding your home, leaving us here--”
“I cannot play so cowardly a part,” he interrupted. “Anything else, and
you have only to command me.”
“It was not a part of my plan that you should desert us, my bold
Frenchman; but in order that we get off you must be free to act.
Suppose you succeed in reaching your home before daylight, what will be
more easy than to provide us with food in case we are forced to remain
some time in hiding? Then, again, should our boat be seized, you could
do something toward procuring another. My only hope of escaping depends
upon your being at liberty to go and come.”
Now it was that I, as well as Leon, began to understand what Alec had
in mind, and both of us caught eagerly at the chance, slight though it
was.
“I could find my way even in the night if we stood on either shore of
the point,” the French lad said, half to himself, and Oliver Perry’s
brother made answer, as if it was a simple thing to walk out of the
thicket:--
“Tell me in which direction you wish to go, and I will lay out the
course.”
I should have made no reply to such a remark, believing my comrade was
in jest; but Leon, whose faith in Alec seemed perfect, said quietly:--
“If we could gain the northern shore of the Foreland it would not be
far to my home.”
Alec stepped out from the thicket where he might gain a view of
the sky, and after searching with his eyes as if hunting for some
particular star, said in the tone of one who defies contradiction:--
“In that direction is the north; but, unfortunately, I cannot tell you
how far we may be from the shore.”
“It makes little difference; even though we were on the very southern
edge I could gain my home before daylight. That which troubles me now
is, where I am to find you again.”
“We can easily settle the question. Dicky Dobbins and I will follow
till we are come near to your mother’s home, and then hide at some
convenient place for a time.”
“Why should you not enter my home?”
“For many good reasons, my friend. In the first place there is no
question whatsoever but that the Britishers will make careful search
for us as soon as sunrise, if not before, and most likely your home
will be visited. In such a case there is little fear of your getting
into serious trouble, because in the darkness I guarantee those
soldiers did not see who made the attack upon them, and thus you will
be free to wait upon us.”
Now I began to understand more of what Alec would do, and straightway,
after an unfortunate habit of mine, I at once believed it would be
possible to better the plan.
“If we can make our way so far as Leon’s home, what prevents us from
going directly on board our boat? I have no desire to linger on
the North Foreland, and surely there is nothing more to be learned
regarding the movements of the enemy.”
“Nothing would please me better than to set sail within the hour; but
according to my thinking we had best keep away from the shore during
this night at least, for if the Britishers have sentinels near to the
mainland to prevent any one from coming upon the point, they know
beyond a question we arrived in a boat of some kind, and most likely
men are searching for our craft, if they have not already found her.
After sunrise Leon can easily learn the condition of affairs, and thus
we shall avoid running unnecessarily into danger.”
I was not thoroughly convinced that this would be the wisest course,
for it seemed to me better that we take some chances with the hope of
getting away speedily, than to linger where there was so much of danger.
However, I said nothing, luckily, else would I have been put to shame
two or three hours later, when we were come near to where Leon lived.
Alec gave the lad the proper course, as I have said, and held him to it
so truly by observing the stars from time to time, that considerably
before midnight we were standing where we could distinguish the
outlines of the coast at a point, as the French lad declared, within
three miles of his home, and so far from the encampment that there was
little fear of coming upon the redcoats, unless, peradventure, squads
of them were out in search of us.
From this point our advance was a reasonably rapid one, the guide
striking a path through the thicket which he knew full well, and when
we had come within five hundred yards, as he declared, of the dwelling,
Alec said, coming to a halt:--
“We two will stop hereabout, and do you go ahead, Leon, to learn if the
soldiers have visited the house.”
All this seemed to me like an excess of precaution, for there was
nothing to be heard save the ordinary noises of the night in the
forest, and I could see no reason why we should not make ourselves as
comfortable as possible, at least until daybreak.
Leon, having every faith in Alec’s judgment, did not delay; but went
on swiftly, leaving us alone, and there we remained until it seemed
positive to me the French lad had abandoned us.
More than once I would have spoken with my comrade, urging some such
possibility, but that he, pressing his hand over my mouth whenever I
made the attempt, thus ensured silence, and the darkness of night was
beginning to give way slightly to the coming day when Leon finally
returned.
He had in his arms a bulky package, and when I sprang up to meet him
intimated by gestures that I should remain quiet.
Then cautiously, and in the most careful whispers, he told what proved
to me once more that I was in no wise fit to direct the movements of
even myself while in an enemy’s country.
The soldiers came to his home within half an hour after he arrived,
while his mother was making ready the provisions for us which he had
just brought.
They demanded to know why the household was astir at such an
unseasonable hour, and she, without absolutely telling an untruth, gave
them to understand it was because her son, who had been forcibly taken
from her the night previous, had but just returned.
Then Leon was forced to submit to the most searching questioning as
to how he had escaped from the bateau, and who had brought him to the
North Foreland.
He told only the truth in replying to these questions, but did not tell
it all.
Two young men, he said, had found him at the mercy of the wind and
waves, and yielding to his earnest entreaties, set him ashore near the
easternmost end of the point.
When the men asked concerning the two strangers, Leon professed to know
nothing, believing it was right to speak an untruth rather than give up
to their enemies those who had befriended him.
From what was said during the three hours this searching party remained
in Leon’s home, the lad and his mother understood that every effort
would be made to prevent those who had assaulted the soldiers from
leaving the point, and to that end sentinels were stationed along the
shore.
It was believed by the Britishers that those who had brought Leon home
were spies, and threats were freely indulged in as to what fate would
overtake them once they were captured.
Whether our boat had as yet been discovered we had no means of knowing;
but it did not seem probable that those who visited Mrs. Marchand’s
home had found the craft, otherwise some mention would have been made
of the fact.
Now it was that I realized how wise Alec had been in preventing me from
going directly to the farmhouse, and what would have been our fate had
I carried out my purpose of attempting to embark without first making
certain where the Britishers might be.
Taking it all in all our position was as disagreeable as it well could
be.
From what Leon had heard we knew that the North Foreland would be
rigorously searched next morning, and also that there was little
opportunity of our being able to take to a boat, at least within the
next four-and-twenty hours, while the chances were decidedly against
our having a craft which we could call our own after the sun had risen.
The French lad, repeating again and again that he was ready to do
whatsoever we might desire of him, said that his mother advised he
should not linger with us many moments, lest the Britishers, suspecting
him of knowing more than he admitted, might have sent some one on his
trail.
Therefore it was that he seemed eager to be gone, and when he had led
us to a sort of cave, and yet which was hardly more than an excavation
under an overhanging rock, Alec said to him:--
“It is well that you leave us; and remember, Leon, we don’t expect
to see you again until the danger is well-nigh past. With such an
amount of food as you have brought, and the possibility of getting
water during the hours of darkness, there is little likelihood of our
suffering while we remain in hiding. Therefore go back; stay around
home as you would under ordinary circumstances, and keep your eye out
now and then to see if the enemy discover our boat.”
“I will return at midnight to-morrow,” Leon said, moving slowly away;
and I understood that had the lad consulted his own inclination he
would not have left us.
“Do not come unless it seems certain the redcoats believe we two have
given them the slip. No good can be effected by your visiting us more
often than is absolutely necessary.”
“But the time will drag heavily on your hands,” he suggested; and Alec
replied, with a laugh:--
“It will pass a deal more swiftly than if we were confined in such a
prison as the Britishers have on this point of land, and that both
Dicky and I know by painful experience. Go now; keep your ears open
for any information which may be of importance to our purpose. After
what you have suffered, the king’s soldiers can be no friends of yours.
Then, when your mother believes it is safe to venture out, come with
what will be cheerful tidings.”
Leon clasped each of us by the hand, and then, as if fearing to trust
himself to further speech, walked rapidly away, and we were alone in
hiding; with no friends on all the North Foreland save the French lad
and his mother.
By this time we were needing both food and sleep, therefore we did not
at first realize how tedious might be the confinement in our narrow
hiding-place.
It was, as I have said, little more than an excavation under an
overhanging rock; but the opening was so small that it had the
appearance of being a veritable cave, and was partially screened from
view of those who might pass, by a few small shrubs. The interior was
hardly more than large enough to admit of our lying at full length, and
in no place could we stand upright.
All these things were noted in a general way, and it was not until
after many hours had passed that we realized to the full how cramped a
prison it might prove.
The shore of the lake--that is to say, such portion of the Foreland as
was washed by the narrow strip of water which lay between the point and
the main--was not above three hundred yards distant, and Alec proposed
that we hurry down and drink our fill while it was yet dark, for after
the day dawned it would not be safe to venture forth.
This we did, and having returned, made a hearty meal from the
provisions Leon brought.
Before the repast was come to a close the shadows of night had been
dispelled by the rising sun, and we were prisoners until darkness
should screen us once more.
I proposed that, having plenty of time at our disposal, we both indulge
in slumber, but to this my comrade would not listen.
It was necessary, he believed, that one of us keep constant watch, lest
the enemy should come while we were unconscious, and the sound of our
heavy breathing might betray the secret of the hiding-place.
He insisted that it should be his duty to stand guard, as he termed it,
during the early part of the day, and held to this point so stoutly
that I could do no less than take my first turn at sleeping.
Now, although we knew full well how great was the danger, and realized
that at any moment we might find ourselves in the hands of the enemy,
who would surely put us to death as spies, fatigue bore so heavily upon
me that my eyes were no more than closed before sleep came, and during
a certain time I rested as sweetly and profoundly as if safe in my
father’s house at Presque Isle.
When I awakened the sun was riding high in the heavens, and Alec,
sitting near the opening of the cave just behind the clump of bushes,
was keeping careful watch.
“Do not reproach yourself for having slept while there was an
opportunity,” he said, when I would have made excuses for taking my
ease so long, leaving to him all the labor. “When the moment comes that
we make a dash for liberty, it may be necessary to keep our eyes open
many hours on a stretch, and by dividing the watches, if it so be we
have the inclination, one or the other can sleep all the time.”
It was good proof that the dear lad needed rest when, having once
stretched out at full length, his eyes closed almost immediately in
slumber, and during at least an hour I do not believe he so much as
moved hand or foot.
At the end of that time I ceased to watch my sleeping comrade, for the
tramp of footsteps and the hum of voices could be heard just outside
the cave, and I knew beyond a peradventure that the Britishers were
searching for us.
Unless they were doing their work most carelessly, it did not seem
possible they could pass the aperture without discovering it, for of a
verity, if I had been searching for a fugitive, I would have taken good
care to know what might be under such an overhanging rock as marked the
entrance to our place of refuge.
For an instant there came into my mind the thought that it was
necessary Alec be awakened in case the men came upon us, and I
stretched forth my hand to touch him; but drew it back immediately when
the sound of voices told that they had halted directly in front of
where I sat, not more than ten paces away.
[Illustration: “I STRETCHED FORTH MY HAND TO TOUCH HIM.”]