"Not at all!" cried Dick, pistols in hand and barring the passage of the
three men. "Stop where you are! Hallo, boys!"
"All right, Captain, here we are!" shouted Sam and Harry.
"Sure we'll be with ye in a minyute, Captain dear!" answered the Irish
Liberty Boy.
"Off dere was some fighding been we was dere already pooty quick, I bet
me!" laughed Carl.
"Who is in a trap now?" asked Dick, with a laugh.
Then the five Liberty Boys suddenly dashed up and leaped upon the
smugglers or Tories, whichever they were. In a moment they were
disarmed, Dick putting his pistol to his prisoners head and saying
sternly:
"Now perhaps you will tell me what I want to know. You men are thieves,
smugglers, Tories, aren't you?"
"We make our money with as little trouble as possible," the man replied.
"And you have helped spies of the enemy to get information?"
"For pay, yes. Hughson would have paid us well if we could have
delivered you to him."
"Take these fellows to Putnam's quarters, boys," said Dick. "He will
know how to deal with them. Patsy, get me a torch or a lantern."
"Sure there do be wan just beyant, Captain. Wan o' thim rapscallions
dhropped it. Oi'll have it for ye in a minyute."
Sam and the others marched the prisoners away, and then Patsy came with
the lantern as Bob arrived, having taken Sarah Watrous part of the way
to the camp, where she would join Alice and Edith.
"Hallo! You have a prisoner, eh?" said Bob.
"Yes, and he is going to show us all over this place."
The fellow had no means of escape now, and Dick's pistol at his head
made him do what he would not have done under other circumstances. The
place had been a warehouse, but was supposed to be closed, the gang of
thieves and smugglers having used it for some months free from
discovery, bringing and taking things from it at night and evading
discovery all that time.
There were other warehouses and storehouses along the river, and a few
houses, but the men had worked so quietly, most of the time entering by
way of the river that no one knew of their being around. There was
considerable plunder in the house at this time, and Dick meant to find
owners for it if possible, and if not, to offer it at public sale and
use the money thus obtained to further the cause of independence. Pike
was greatly chagrined at being forced to show Dick about, and said
gruffly:
"Well, you rebels have got the best of us, but you won't enjoy it long.
When Howe gets hold of your city, as he will before many days, you will
have to leave."
"But by that time you will have been hanged as a spy and a thief and
will know nothing about it," replied Dick.
"H'm! Hughson got away and so will I," boastfully.
"I shall see to it that you do not," shortly.
Having finished the examination of the stone house, Dick took Pike to
the general's headquarters and turned him over, the man being put under
guard at once and some men sent to watch the place. Hughson had escaped
through the negligence of a fresh recruit, who had not understood the
importance of his prisoner, and had supposed him to be simply a man who
had been locked up for insubordination and was sorry for it, Hughson
carrying the thing through cleverly.
"The man will be more careful the next time, having been so close to
punishment," thought Dick, "and knowing that we are in earnest and will
show him no mercy."
Dick went one way and Bob another, both in disguise, for the very sight
of a Continental uniform would frighten the man now and put him on his
guard. Dick made his way along the wharves on both rivers, keeping a
lookout for the man, but without success, seeing many suspicious
characters, but none whom he knew to be spies. Having settled the
business, he went to the camp, where he found the girls and Sarah
Watrous being entertained by the Liberty Boys.
After dinner the girls returned alone, Dick being busy looking for signs
of the enemy along shore, and going around the city in disguise
searching for the spy, who he believed would try to learn more about the
disposition of the troops on the island, the forts, the amount of
supplies, the roads and other matters of importance. It was getting on
toward evening, and Dick was over on the East River side of the city,
when he saw a boy of about fourteen being abused by an evil-looking man.
"What are you striking that boy for?" he asked, stepping up and putting
the boy behind him.
"I got a right to abuse him, he's mine!" snarled the other. "The
ungrateful hound won't do things for his own dad."
"Is this man your father?" Dick asked.
"Yes, he is, but I don't want to give him the money I earn to buy drink
with, for then he abuses mother and the little children and---"
"Haven't I got a right to the money he makes?" growled the man.
"Not to misuse," retorted Dick quickly. "The boy is right in protecting
his mother, and if he can do it by withholding money to be used in
buying strong drink which takes away your reason, he has a right to do
so. Why don't you go to work?"
"You better mind your own business!" with a snarl. "I am a gentleman and
wasn't brought up to work."
"The greater misfortune!" shortly. "If you had known the dignity of
labor, you would not be the wretched man you are now. Go to work and
stop making a beast of yourself, or you may end your days on the gallows
or in a prison."
"If he don't give it to me now, I'll get it out of him another time,"
the man growled. "I've a right to the money, and I'll flay him alive if
I don't get it!"
"If I hear of your harming the boy I'll have you sent to jail," said
Dick decidedly. "Run home, boy, and give the money to your mother. If
this man troubles you or your mother, go and tell General Putnam, and we
will see that the offence is not repeated."
"We'll see whether you will or not!" hissed the man, suddenly flying at
Dick as if to annihilate him.
In a moment Dick was on the defensive, and, then, taking the offensive,
sent the man rolling into the gutter.
"There! Perhaps you think I can do as I say now!" he said. "Keep on with
your abuse of your wife and family and you will catch it still worse. A
word to the wise is sufficient."
The boy ran away, quickly disappearing down a narrow street, while the
man, getting on his feet, glared at Dick and said:
"You're a rebel, that's what you are, and all the rebels will be driven
out'n this town, and then we gentlemen can do as we like."
"You gentlemen may be in jail or hanged by that time, and so know
nothing about it," dryly. "You are a pretty sort of gentlemen! I'd
rather not be one if you are a good specimen."
"I'll keep you in mind, my fine fellow," with a snarl. "You don't strike
me for nothing, let me tell you that!"
"I did not I struck you for a good reason, and whenever the occasion
rises again I will do the same, and you may remember that!" and then
Dick turned on his heel and walked away, having caught sight of a man
whom he had seen on the other side of the city, and whom he suspected to
be one of Hughson's cronies, having seen him in the tavern near the
Bowling Green. He followed the man carelessly so as to avoid suspicion,
and presently saw him go into a low groggery down the street. The boy's
father stood watching Dick for a time and then went off, Dick following
the man he had seen and paying no attention to the other. He found the
fellow sitting on a bench with others, but kept out of sight as much as
possible, not knowing if he would be recognized.
"Been drove out of our place over on t'other side of the city, hain't
you, Jeb?" asked one.
"Yes, by a lot of confounded rebels, too, and just as we was getting
ready to sell off a lot of the stuff," snarled the other. "I'd like to
get hold of the fellows!"
"Maybe when the redcoats come in you will, unless they get scared and
get out before that."
"Yes, maybe. Seen Hughson over this way? He had a narrow shave of it.
Come 'most to stretching a rope for old Put. Them same young rebels
caught him."
"No, I ain't seen him, but I heard he was looking around to find all he
could about the rebels so as to give the general a better show for
getting in. Light up here, Jim, it's getting dark."
A hulking-looking man in a corner now arose to get lights, as it was
growing dark in the place, and at the same moment some one entered and
said:
"They've got Pike hard and fast, and Wendell was hanged this morning.
I'd like to get hold of Slater and some of his---hello!"
The big man came along with a lantern, and Hughson, for it was the spy
himself, suddenly caught sight of Dick and recognized him.
"What's the matter?" tried several of the men in the place, leaping to
their feet.
"There's the rebel now--Slater himself!" cried Hughson. "Don't let him
get away! The boy in the brown homespun suit!"
In an instant a rush was made for Dick.