THE UNEXPECTED.
There is little need for me to set it down that we neither slackened
pace nor halted until we were in the cuddy of the pungy.
Not a member of our party spoke until we descended the companion-way
stairs, and faced the lads and my father, who had lighted a candle as
a sort of welcome, and then Darius exclaimed:
"Well I'm blowed if you don't look kind'er cozy here! Who'd think this
crowd had been hob-nobbin' with the Britishers for the last two or
three days? Bob Hanaford, where did the lads run afoul of you, an' why
didn't you get your pungy down river before the enemy's fleet came
up?"
There was a deal of handshaking and congratulations before we settled
down to anything like rational talk, and then Jerry and I told how we
found the captain, and what had happened since Darius left the
smoke-house.
Then it was the old man's turn to give an account of his
misadventures, and this he did after refreshing himself with an
enormous piece of tobacco.
"I went out, leavin' you people in hidin', with the idee that if many
shops were to be robbed by the soldiers I might get somethin' to eat
out'er the general wreck. First off nothin' came my way, an' then I
ran square across a basket of ship's bread. Thinks I, this is good
enough for one trip, an' I gathered the stuff under my arm, puttin'
for the smoke-house under full sail without bein' noticed by the
red-coats, who were havin' too lively a time to give me much
attention. As luck would have it, the thought never came into my mind
that I had need to look for anybody but Britishers, an' before I was
halfway to port I struck up agin that sneak, Elias Macomber.
"Then it was I understood that the red-coats wasn't the only snags in
the road, an' I gave him one clip on the jaw that I counted would
knock him down an' out; but my calkerlations was wrong. Instead of
topplin' over as a decent man would have done after gettin' the full
weight of my fist, he began to screech an' yell fit to raise the dead.
My legs moved mighty lively jest then, for a blind man could have seen
what might happen; but the Britishers had me foul before I'd more'n
got well started. No less than six grappled me, an' I hauled down my
flag, 'cause there wasn't any sense in makin' a bad matter worse.
"Them soldiers must have had orders in advance to lug any prisoners
they might take, to the shanty back of the arsenal, for they steered a
straight course for the place without stoppin' to ask any man's
advice, an' what chafed me more'n everythin' else was that rat of a
Macomber, close at my heels, as he told what he would do now that his
friends had taken possession of the country. I contrived to give him
one kick on the shins which I'll guarantee he remembers this minute,
an' then he kept well back in the rear. That's the end of the yarn,
lads."
"But where did you meet Bill?" I asked.
"In the jail. He was brought up with a sharp turn durin' the retreat,
bein' so stuffy that he kept well in the rear, instead of pushin'
ahead as he might have done."
"Did Macomber succeed in getting into the prison?"
"He wasn't inside, an' that's a fact; but he stood at the window, an'
kept shoutin' all kinds of threats till one of the sentries drove him
away, havin' had too much of his yip."
"You saw me quickly enough."
"Well, you see, lad, I had my eye on the window, countin' to throw my
shoe through the glass when he showed his ugly face again, hopin' that
he'd get cut a bit, an', besides, I somehow had it in my head that you
an' Jerry would flash up sooner or later."
"But how did you contrive to come at the scuttle?" Captain Hanaford
asked.
"That was plain sailin'. Bill was one of the first put into the place,
an' knowin' he'd take a trip to the yard-arm when the Britishers found
out who he was, he naturally took advantage of the chance to snoop
'round a bit. We had the run of the whole buildin', seein's there
wasn't many of us, an' when he went in the prisoners didn't number
more'n twenty. He found a key in the door that led up to the attic,
which seemed to be a sort of store-room, an', thinkin' it might come
in handy if the others didn't know the lay of the land, he locked the
bloomin' place, havin' done so without bein' seen. When I came he
didn't know anythin' about the scuttle; but we figgered that if there
wasn't one, we could get up stairs an' pull bricks enough out of the
chimney to give us a hole. There wasn't any need of doin' that,
however, 'cause we found the hatch bolted on the inside, an' the rest
was easy. The only thing about the whole business which bothers me is,
why the Britishers didn't have a good look around before turnin' the
buildin' into a jail."
"The drubbin' they got at Bladensburg, even though they did win the
battle, confused them," my father said with a chuckle of satisfaction.
"It strikes me that we'd better get the pungy under way mighty soon,"
Captain Hanaford interrupted. "It can't be a great while before some
of the crowd sees the rope we left danglin' from the chimney, an' then
you may set it down as a fact that this city will be searched in a way
that won't be comfortable for us."
"But where'll you go, Bob?" Bill Jepson asked. "The British fleet is
in the river, an' to sail up stream strikes me as bein' dangerous, for
they can send light boats after us, an' this draft won't make much
fist of runnin' away from them in such a breeze as you've got now."
"I had an idee the wind was gettin' up," the oysterman said as he
opened the hatch a few inches, and at that instant a gust swept into
the cuddy bringing with it a full pail of water.
"A good, nice little thunder squall," the captain said in a tone of
content, "an' if it comes from the right quarter, we're in luck."
Darius was on deck in a twinkling, and I followed him, hoping that we
might be able to leave our mooring, for at such a time it would not be
a very difficult matter to get so far up stream as to baffle pursuit.
At the moment, however, it seemed as if our good fortune had deserted
us. The wind was drawing down the river with a force that shut off all
hope of sending the pungy against it, and the rain came in such
torrents that the deck was awash in short order.
"It's a case of stayin' where we are, or takin' the chances of runnin'
down river when you couldn't see a nigger under your nose," Darius
said as he and I re-entered the cabin wet to the skin, although we had
not been exposed to the fury of the tempest above two minutes. "I'm
willin' to run a good many risks; but puttin' this pungy under sail,
with half a dozen frigates somewhere on the course, is a little too
steep for me."
Captain Hanaford was exceeding anxious to be under way; but he
understood that nothing could be done while the storm raged with such
fury, and we sat in the darkness, discussing what might be done when
the morning came.
It was finally decided that we would take all the risk of going down
stream as soon as the tempest abated, for there were many creeks along
the shore where we might run under cover to avoid the fleet, or, if
the worst came, we could go on shore, abandoning the pungy.
In order that Captain Hanaford might be willing to take the chances of
losing his vessel, I showed him the guarantee we had received from
Commodore Barney, and promised that when we got the money from the
government he should share equally with us.
"I'm ready to do whatsoever is agreed upon without askin' you lads to
pay for my pungy in case I lose her," he said stoutly. "There ain't
any certainty I'd been able to keep her if you hadn't come aboard, for
if the Britishers will burn nigh on to a whole city, they won't stop
at a few oyster-boats, if there's any fun to be had in settin' 'em
afire. I don't jest hanker, though, to fool around with a lot of
frigates, an' that's a fact."
"We won't fool with 'em," Darius said decidedly. "It stands to reason
they must be below Fort Washington, else we'd heard the firin' when
they tried to come past. Now 'twixt here an' there we should find a
creek where a pungy like this could be hidden."
"I know of a place about eight miles from here," the captain said
thoughtfully, and Bill Jepson cried cheerfully:
"Then that settles the whole business. We'll get under way when this
'ere squall is over, and before daylight be where we can keep out of
sight till the fleet comes up. Once they're this side of us we shall
be in clear water."
But Bill was not calculating on the force of the "squall." I have seen
a good many summer storms; but never one to equal that on the night of
August twenty-fifth, in the year of grace 1814.
We could hear now and then ashore, even amid the howling of the wind
and the crashing thunder the rending of wood as houses were unroofed,
and from the terrible uproar which came later we believed the trees
growing near where we lay were being torn up by the roots, as was
really found to be the case when morning dawned.
The pungy rocked to and fro as if in the open bay, straining at her
hawsers until it became necessary to pass extra ones, otherwise she
would have been swept from her moorings.
Those of us who went on deck to do this work were wetted in an instant
as if we had jumped overboard, and at times it became necessary to
hold fast by the rail, otherwise we would have been literally blown
into the river.
There was no possibility of getting under way that night, and all
hands kept watch in the cuddy until day broke, when, and not until
then, did the storm abate.
The wind had aided the Britishers in working havoc. From the deck of
the pungy I saw no less than four houses, the roofs of which had been
torn off, and one negro shanty was in ruins. As far as we could see
the trees were uprooted, and the river ran so full of wreckage that I
wondered we had not been swamped off hand.
"We'll stay here a few hours longer, I reckon," Darius said to me as
he pointed toward the fragments of buildings and trees with which the
river seemed literally to be choked. "If this pungy struck fair on
somethin' like that yonder, she'd founder for a fact."
The veriest landsman who ever lived would have understood that it was
folly to think of getting under way just then, and my heart grew heavy
as lead in my breast, for I firmly believed that before another hour
had passed the enemy would be out searching for the prisoners who had
escaped, in which case all hands of us stood a good chance of seeing
the interior of that "stone house."
As we stood on deck, regardless of the possibility that some of the
enemy might come that way, a man ran down the street toward the
water's edge, waving his arms about and otherwise acting as if nearly
beside himself with joy or grief.
"What is the matter, friend?" Captain Hanaford cried at the full
strength of his lungs, and the man made quite a lengthy reply; but all
we could hear of it was this one exclamation:
"The British!"
"Are they comin' this way?" the captain demanded, screaming until his
face was crimson, and Bill Jepson suddenly dropped out of sight
through the companion-way.
"They've gone!" the man replied, and we could now hear his words more
distinctly because he was coming nearer each instant.
"Gone where?" Captain Hanaford cried impatiently. "Can't you tell us
what has happened?"
"The British have cleared out bag an' baggage--went durin' the storm!"
"What?" Darius screamed, and we looked at each other incredulously,
for surely it could not be possible that the enemy had evacuated the
city so soon.
"Come on board an' tell us what you know!" Captain Hanaford cried. "It
is of the greatest importance for us to learn exactly the situation of
affairs."
The stranger did not accept the invitation to come on board; but he
halted within easy speaking distance and thus told the story, which
seemed incredible:
"Last night the people livin' near the encampment were warned, on pain
of death, to remain within doors from sunset till sunrise. Those who
were curious enough to look out of the windows saw that the camp fires
had been increased, an' supposed reinforcements were comin' in; but
this mornin' neither hide nor hair is to be seen of the red-coats, an'
a planter comin' in from nearabout Long Old Fields, reports that the
soldiers are marchin' in the direction of Nottingham. An' that ain't
all, for the troops that stayed at Bladensburg after the battle, are
on the way to Upper Marlboro, 'cordin to the report of an old darkey
who came into town not half an hour ago."
Having thus unfolded his budget of news, the man hurried on to spread
the glad tidings, leaving us who were aboard the pungy in a state of
mingled bewilderment and joy.
"I can't understand it," Darius said after a brief pause, during
which we had looked at each other questioningly. "I'm goin' to take
the chances of findin' out for myself."
The old man went over the rail as he spoke, and I would have followed,
but that he said sharply:
"Stay where you are, lad. We ain't dead certain 'bout that yarn, an'
if it's a case of gettin' into trouble, it better be one than two who
pays for nosin' 'round a British camp."
Captain Hanaford felt certain the news must be correct, for our
informant had the appearance of being an honest man, and nothing could
have been gained by spreading such a story.
"We'll cook the best breakfast to be had, by way of rejoicin'," he
said, "an' after that's been done all hands shall come into a council
of war, to decide if we're to make the venture down the river."
"If the enemy has really evacuated the city, it is reasonable to
suppose that the fleet will go back down the bay," I said, thinking
myself very wise in such matters. "It strikes me that the way home
lies open before us."
My companions were of the same opinion, and a very merry party we were
on the oyster pungy that morning as we tried in vain to guess why the
enemy had left so suddenly, when there seemed to be nothing to prevent
him from taking possession of all the country round about.
Before the feast was ready to be eaten Darius returned, and a single
glance at his face was sufficient to show that the good news was true.
"They've gone, an' there's no mistake about it," he announced, as he
sprang over the rail lightly as any boy. "I went to the place where
the troops were encamped, before bein' willin' to believe they'd
turned tail so suddenly. Now I'd like to know if that very friendly
gentleman Elias Macomber, has been left behind, or if he followed the
force? If he's in this city I could make it mighty interestin' for
him."
"Never mind the sneak, Darius!" my father cried. "There is no need for
you to punish him, because if the British go away he'll find it very
uncomfortable around here, and that's enough to serve the cur out for
all he has done."
Darius did not appear to think that Macomber's misdeeds could be
atoned so easily; but he kept his opinion to himself, and joined us in
what was at the same time a feast of rejoicing and thanksgiving.
Not until the meal was come to an end did we begin the discussion as
to how we should get home, and then Captain Hanaford opened the
question by asking:
"Now, lads, are we to run up stream into the mud, or take our chances
of findin' the British fleet 'twixt here an' the bay?"
Darius immediately proposed that we strike out for the Chesapeake,
using the same argument I had, that since the retreat of the soldiers
there was little chance the vessels would make any effort at running
past Fort Washington.
Bill Jepson, who could not be blamed for feeling a bit nervous at
going any nearer a British vessel of war than was absolutely
necessary, believed that it would be safer for us to go back to
Benedict by land, keeping at a respectful distance in the rear of the
enemy; but his plan was not considered, because it would be impossible
for my father to travel on foot, and I, at least, was not disposed to
part company with him.
We spent a full hour discussing the situation, and then it had been
decided that we would run boldly down the river, nearly all of us
feeling confident that there were no longer any British vessels to
block our way.
There was nothing to delay us in making the start as soon as the river
should be clear of the tokens sent by the storm, except Darius' desire
to make systematic search for Elias Macomber; but to this all of us
objected so strongly that, much against his will, he was forced to
give over the idea.
For my part I had seen enough of the British-lover; we had captured
him twice, which was our full share of such business, and if we did
spend time hunting him down, providing he yet remained in the city,
what could we do with the villain? He had forfeited all rights of
citizenship in our section of the country, and I had no doubt that
wherever he went his sins would find him out. It was better we leave
him alone, from whatever standpoint I viewed it.
Captain Hanaford decided that the river would be clear of drift by
morning, therefore we were agreed to set sail then, and, as a means of
passing the time pleasantly, we lads went over to the "stone house" to
see how the old shell-backs managed to escape so readily.
We found the building open and abandoned. The enemy had taken the
prisoners away, and we were not hindered in going over it thoroughly.
When that inspection was ended, we viewed the ruins in the different
parts of the city, paid a visit to the smoke-house, and returned to
the pungy late in the afternoon, well satisfied to bring our visit to
the capital to the earliest possible close.
On that evening Captain Hanaford brought aboard a surgeon, who cared
for my father's wound, and, what was better, declared that he saw no
reason why it should not heal speedily, leaving him none the worse for
having received it.
We were eager to be under way, as may be supposed, and as soon as the
day dawned on the 27th of August, we cast off from the dock, feeling
that the good God had been very kind in permitting us to return to our
homes when so many had been left at Bladensburg to fill soldiers'
graves.
It was as if everything favored us at the start of the homeward
journey. The river was free from the drift of all kinds which had
covered its surface; the wind was blowing gently from the north, and
the day gave promise of being clear.
The pungy slipped along as if conscious that she, like ourselves, had
escaped from great dangers, and was longing for another cargo of
oysters in her hold.
Bill Jepson acted as if he had suddenly lost his senses. He sang the
wildest kind of songs, danced two or three hornpipes, and then
insisted on Darius joining him, while Jim Freeman furnished the music
by whistling fast and furiously. As a matter of fact, all of us, even
including my father, were disposed to be exceeding jolly now that we
were homeward bound with the belief that the enemy was no longer in a
position to annoy us.
We lads talked of the pungy we would buy when the government paid us
for the Avenger, and laid many a plan for the future when Jim, his two
friends, Jerry, Darius and I would begin oystering again, in a craft
capable of carrying three or four times the cargo we had been able to
squeeze into the old boat which had been sacrificed at Pig Point.
Then, when it was near noon, we had come within sight of Fort
Washington, and as we rounded the bend Captain Hanaford gave vent to
an exclamation of surprise and fear, which was echoed by Bill Jepson.
At some considerable distance down the river it was possible to see
the upper spars of seven vessels of war which were slowly approaching
the fortification from the southward.
"It's the British fleet!" Captain Hanaford cried as he shoved the
tiller hard down, thereby swinging the pungy's nose into the mud of
the eastern bank. "We were bloomin' fools to think that the enemy had
all run away!"
"It's the fleet under Captain Gordon, an' I can tell you just how
strong it is," Bill Jepson said as he rubbed his head nervously.
"There are two frigates of thirty-six an' thirty-eight guns; two
rocket ships of eighteen guns each, two bomb vessels of eight guns
each, an' one schooner carryin' two guns."
"The schooner would be enough to bring us up with a sharp turn,
therefore I hold that it don't make any difference how many frigates
are behind her," Darius cried. "The question is whether the fort can
prevent their comin' up the river?"
No one aboard could say what might be done by those in the
fortification, or how strongly it was garrisoned; but later I read the
following in one of the newspapers, and will set it down here so that
what happened while we were on the river may be the better understood.
"The only obstruction to the passage of the fleet on which the
Americans might place the least reliance, was Fort Washington, on the
Maryland side of the Potomac, about twelve miles below the national
capital. It was a feeble fortress, but capable of being made strong.
So early as May 1813, a deputation from Alexandria, Georgetown and
Washington waited upon the Secretary of War, and represented the
importance of strengthening the post.
"An engineer was sent to examine it. He reported in favor of
additional works in the rear, while he believed that the armament of
the fort, and its elevated situation, would enable a well-managed
garrison to repulse any number of ships of war which might attempt to
pass up the river. Nothing more was done.
"In July, 1814, when a British fleet and army were in the Chesapeake,
the authorities of Alexandria again called the attention of the
Secretary of War to the feeble condition of Fort Washington. The
secretary did not believe the enemy would push for the capital, and
nothing was done. The Alexandrians appealed to General Winder, who
recommended the strengthening of the post. Three of the banks in
Alexandria offered to loan the government fifty thousand dollars for
the construction of more defences for the District. The money was
accepted, but nothing was done to Fort Washington. When the battle of
Bladensburg occurred, and the seat of government was left to the mercy
of the invaders, Fort Washington was as feebly armed as ever, and its
garrison consisted of only about eighty men, under Captain Samuel T.
Dyson."