The next morning Tom came into camp, the boys giving him a hearty cheer
as soon as they knew who he was, and asked to see Dick.
"He has not come back all night," he said, and Dick knew that he
referred to his father. "I do not think he will return. He is afraid to
come back. I shall be very glad to leave the city because I think I
shall get more work outside and mother and the children will do much
better."
"I think it will be better for you all," Dick returned. "If the enemy
gets hold of the city there will be much suffering, I am afraid. If you
leave you will avoid this. I can find you a place where there will be
work enough for all, and where you will not be troubled by your father
when he is in his cups."
"He is always in them of late years and has greatly changed toward
mother and all of us. The little children are afraid of him and will not
go near him, but I must protect my mother."
"That is right, Tom. Always do it. Perhaps if your father stopped his
bad habits he would be better again, but it is best for you to go away
from him entirely and live apart until you see what changes time may
bring about."
"Yes, I think so, and I shall go as far away as I can and start for
myself. You know some good place?"
"Yes, and I can put your mother and the little ones, with good people
where they will be taken care of until you are established, and they can
look out for themselves. We live in Westchester, about twenty miles
away, which will be far enough to keep your father from finding you and
not too far away to get plenty of work."
"I shall be very glad to go there," simply.
"My mother and sister and the lieutenant's parents and sister live
there, besides many of the boys' families, and it will be no difficult
matter to get you all the work you can do, and work for your mother as
well. It will be a better place to live than the city, and you will be
in no danger from your father."
"I would like a place like that," said Tom. "It would be better for all
of us!"
"Then I will make arrangements for your mother and the children to go up
there at once and you can follow shortly. The enemy will eventually get
possession of the city, and you will be better off out of it than in it.
"I will get ready as soon as you say, Captain," shortly.
"Then I think you had better not delay, for I believe that it is a
matter of a few days only, perhaps not more than one, when the enemy
will be in possession."
The boy then went away, and in half an hour Alice and Edith came to the
camp, and Dick told them about Tom and his mother.
"I think you had better return shortly, Alice," he added, "and take the
boy's mother and the little children with you. Tom will very soon
establish himself when he gets there and will be much better off than in
New York."
The girls were ready to go very shortly, for the evidences of the
enemy's preparations to seize the city were more and more visible. One
or two ships had gone up the East River the previous night, and the
ships were all much nearer to the city than they had been the day
before. After Alice and Edith had gone, Dick and Bob went down to the
lower end of the city to investigate, and found one or two ships at
Governor's Island, just opposite, the people in the lower sections being
in a state of considerable anxiety.
"That looks as if there might be something going on in a short time,"
muttered Bob.
"I think so myself, and I am glad that I suggested to the girls that
they had better leave. The British are getting ready to invade the city,
and we don't know how soon they may attack us on all sides."
"Then we will all have to get out or else be obliged to run the
blockade."
"Exactly, and we must learn all we can of Howe's moves."
During the afternoon Tom came to the camp with his mother and the little
children, reporting that his father had not been seen since the night
before, and that he thought the man feared arrest and had fled or was in
hiding in some of the lower quarters of the city. Dick obtained a horse
and chaise to take the mother and children, Tom driving, being more or
less used to horses. The two girls came in just as these preparations
had been completed, and it was shortly after dinner that they all
started on their way to White Plains.
They were all glad to get away, and Tom was particularly pleased at the
prospect of getting his mother out of the city, where her health and
that of the children would be greatly improved, and where they would all
be free from the fear of the father. When they all set out, the boys
gave them a hearty cheer, and Dick and Bob went away with them,
intending to ride a few miles and take a look at the river on the way.
The boys left him at the Greenwich village and then came back by the
river road, in order to see whatever might be going on. They were
something below the old village, when, nearing a tavern by the roadside,
Dick reined in and said excitedly:
"There is that rascal now! I hope he has not seen us."
"Which rascal do you mean, Dick?" asked Bob, halting just behind Dick
and looking around.
"Hughson, the spy. I did not see his face, but I know his figure. He is
dressed as a drover and will probably go into the city, thinking that we
do not know him."
"Was he at the inn, Dick?"
"Yes, drinking home-brew and smoking a long pipe, taking his comfort,
evidently. As I saw his back only, it is not likely that he saw me."
"We ought to catch him, Dick."
"Yes, and this is a good place, as there are no Tories in the village,
and the people of the inn will help us. Take the rear, Bob, and I will
go to the front of the house."
The boys separated, Dick riding at once to the front door of the inn and
dismounting. He saw the man at one of the windows and was sure of him.
In a moment the fellow turned, saw Dick and started for the rear. As he
was going out, he suddenly saw Bob, who said quickly:
"Good morning, Mr. Hughson. I trust you had a comfortable night after
your adventures on the river."
"I don't know you, my lad," returned the man, with a broad accent, "and
my name is not Hughson. I'm in a bit of a hurry, and---"
"Your name may not be Hughson, fast enough, but you are a British spy
and we want you. You do know me, but I will refresh your memory a bit. I
am Lieutenant Bob Estabrook of the Liberty Boys, and you were captured
by us a night or two ago in the city."
"Never saw you in my life, and I am not a spy, but as good a rebel as
yourself," and the man hurried to the barn at the rear of the house.
"You are not a patriot," said Bob, following. "We do not call ourselves
rebels."
Then Bob imitated the crowing of a cock, and in a moment Dick came out
and hurried forward. Hughson turned at the sound, saw Dick almost upon
him, and whipped out a pistol. In an instant, however, Bob was upon him
with a pistol at his head and his other hand on the spy's wrist.
Then Hughson suddenly found himself covered by a pistol in Dick's hand,
the young captain saying:
"Take his weapon, Bob, and see if he has any others. Mr. Hughson, you
are wanted in the city. Do you prefer going there dead or would you
rather go alive?"
The man blanched, for he knew that he was in desperate straits and that
his chances of escape were slight. He made a sudden dash, wrenching his
hand free and attempted to fire at Dick, but Bob, by a quick thrusting
out of his left foot, sent him upon his face on the grass. A man and a
boy came running from the barn, and two housemaids appeared at the rear
door shortly, followed by the landlord. Dick and Bob sprang forward and
seized the man as he arose, holding him firmly.
"What is the trouble, Captain?" asked, the landlord, recognizing Dick,
whom he had met before.
"We have caught a British spy, Boniface. He is a troublesome fellow and
has already made his escape once."
"Bless my heart! A British spy, say you? Why, he told me he was a drover
going into the city to get orders for cattle."
"And he told me he was a rebel," laughed Bob, "thus arousing my
suspicions at once. We are not rebels and we do not recognize any."
"We call you rebels!" snarled the spy.
"But we do not," echoed Dick, "and if you were a better observer and
consequently a better spy, you would have known it."
The others now came up and regarded the man with decided curiosity.
"The fellow had a horse, didn't he, Boniface?" asked Dick.
"Yes, he had, and a very good one."
"Will you have it brought out? We will lose no time in going back to the
city."
"Yes, I will have it brought at once. Jenkins, get the drover's horse
immediately."
"You will let me finish my pipe and pot, won't you?" asked the spy. "You
took me rather by surprise."
"If you are not long over them," answered Dick.
Bob meanwhile, had deftly searched the man for concealed weapons and had
taken them all away, so that Hughson might not cheat them by killing
himself. He drank a pot of homebrew and puffed at his pipe under the
trees, and then the groom announced that his horse was ready and he was
quickly in the saddle. He said nothing as he rode away between the two
boys, but seemed to be thinking deeply.
"You rebels don't have very much money," he said at last. "What would
you consider a fair amount to allow me to escape?"
"You have made two serious errors," replied Dick coolly. "First, we are
not rebels, as I have frequently told you, and second we are not for
sale. Do you think we are as mean as yourself, who associate with
thieves and murderers to gain your ends? There is not money enough in
the world to induce us to violate our oaths."
"But why should you deliver me up to death, when I have never done you
harm?"
"You forget last night," tersely. "Who tied me in a sack and threw me
into the river?"
"Well, but I gave you a knife to---"
"You did not. That was Tom Fletcher. You had nothing to do with it. You
came out upon the river in a boat afterward to look for me, fearing that
I would escape. Don't add lying to your other faults."
The man rode on in silence for ten or fifteen minutes, and then suddenly
said:
"You will be no better off if you do deliver me up to your rebel
general, for Howe will be in possession of your wretched little city by
tomorrow and the lot of you may be shot."
"If it is such a wretched little city, why does General Howe bother
himself about it?" laughed Bob, Dick saying nothing.
"If you will let me go I will find a way for you to escape, and---"
"If you say another word on that subject I will gag you!" interrupted
Dick sternly. "We are not to be bought, I tell you!"
Hughson flushed and remained silent after that, and at length the boys
met some American soldiers and turned the spy over to them.
"That disposes of him," said Dick shortly.
"Yes, but he has been a very troublesome fellow, and would have been if
we had not caught him. That was a very fortunate meeting."
"Except for him!" grimly.
"Very true, but, as Patsy says, we don't consider the enemy's feelings
in such matters."
Returning to the camp, the boys heard from Mark that there had been
considerable activity among the ships of the enemy during the afternoon,
and that there were more at Governor's Island and one or two much nearer
the mouth of the Hudson than during the morning.
"It is all very threatening," declared Dick, "and I think that the spy
was right when he said that Howe will try to be in possession of the
city by to-morrow. At the latest, it cannot be more than a day or two
and then we must look out for ourselves."
"As we generally have to do!" laughed Bob.