DEATH OF THE SPY.--A REVELATION.
It was thirty-three years after the interview which we have just
related that an American army was once more arrayed against the troops
of England; but the scene was transferred from the banks of the Hudson
to those of the Niagara.[135]
[Footnote 135: name of river and falls between New York and
Canada.]
It was the evening of the 25th of July of that bloody year, when two
young officers were seen standing on the table-rock, contemplating the
great cataract with an interest that seemed to betray that they were
gazing for the first time at the wonder of the western world. A
profound silence was observed by each, until the companion of the
officer suddenly started, and pointing eagerly with his sword into the
abyss[136] beneath, exclaimed:
[Footnote 136: bottomless depth.]
"See, Wharton, there is a man crossing in the very eddies of the
cataract, and in a skiff no bigger than an egg-shell."
"He has a knapsack--it is probably a soldier," returned the other.
"Let us meet him at the ladder, Mason, and learn his tidings."
Some time was expended in reaching the spot where the adventurer was
intercepted. Contrary to the expectations of the young soldiers, he
proved to be a man far advanced in life, and evidently no follower of
the camp.
A few words of salutation, and, on the part of the young men, of
surprise that one so aged should venture so near the whirlpools of the
cataract, were exchanged, when the old man inquired, with a voice that
began to manifest the tremor of age, the news from the contending
armies.
"We whipped the red-coats here the other day, among the grass on the
Chippewa[137] plains," said the one who was called Mason.
[Footnote 137: a village in Canada, twenty-one miles
northwest of Buffalo.]
"Perhaps you have a son among the soldiers," said his companion, with
a milder demeanor,[138] and an air of kindness; "if so, tell me his
name and regiment, and I will take you to him."
[Footnote 138: manner.]
The old man shook his head, and answered:
"No; I am alone in the world!"
"You should have added, Captain Dunwoodie," cried his careless
comrade, "if you could find either; for nearly half our army has
marched down the road, and may be, by this time, under the walls of
Fort George,[139] for anything that we know to the contrary."
[Footnote 139: a fort on the Canada side of the Niagara
River, where it flows into Lake Ontario.]
The old man stopped suddenly, and looked earnestly from one of his
companions to the other; the action being observed by the soldiers,
they paused also.
"Did I hear right?" the stranger uttered, raising his hand to screen
his eyes from the rays of the setting sun. "What did he call you?"
"My name is Wharton Dunwoodie," replied the youth, smiling.
The stranger motioned silently for him to remove his hat, which the
youth did accordingly, and his fair hair blew aside like curls of
silk, and opened the whole of his ingenuous countenance to the
inspection of the other.
"'Tis like our native land!" exclaimed the old man with vehemence;
"improving with time. God has blessed both."
"Why do you stare thus, Lieutenant Mason?" cried Captain Dunwoodie,
laughing a little; "you show more astonishment than when you saw the
falls."
"Oh, the falls! they are a thing to be looked at on a moon-shiny
night, by your aunt Sarah and that gay old bachelor, Colonel
Singleton."
"Come, come, Tom, no jokes about my good aunt, I beg; she is kindness
itself; and I have heard it whispered that her youth was not
altogether happy."
"Why, as to rumor," said Mason, "there goes one in Accomac, that
Colonel Singleton offers himself to her regularly every Valentine's
Day; and there are some who add that your old great-aunt helps his
suit."
"Aunt Jeanette!" said Dunwoodie, laughing; "dear, good soul, she
thinks but little of marriage in any shape, I believe, since the death
of Dr. Sitgreaves."
"The last time I was at General Dunwoodie's plantation, that yellow,
sharp-nosed housekeeper of your mother's took me into the pantry, and
said that the colonel was no despicable match, as she called it."
"Quite likely," returned the captain; "Katy Haynes is no bad
calculator."
The old man listened to each word as it was uttered, with the most
intense interest; but, toward the conclusion of the dialogue, the
earnest attention of his countenance changed to a kind of inward
smile. Mason paid but little attention to the expression of his
features, and continued:
"To me she is selfishness embodied."
"Her selfishness does but little harm," returned Dunwoodie. "One of
her greatest difficulties is her aversion to the blacks. She says that
she never saw but one that she liked."
"And who was he?"
"His name was Caesar; he was a house-servant of my late grandfather
Wharton. My mother always speaks of him with great affection. Both
Caesar and Katy came to Virginia with my mother when she married. My
mother was----"
"An angel!" interrupted the old man, in a voice that startled the
young soldiers by its abruptness and energy.
"Did you know her?" cried the son, with a glow of pleasure on his
cheek.
The reply of the stranger was interrupted by sudden and heavy
explosions of artillery, which were immediately followed by continued
volleys of small-arms, and in a few minutes the air was filled with
the tumult of a warm and well-contested battle.
Everything in the American camp announced an approaching struggle. The
troops were in motion, and a movement made to support the division of
the army which was already engaged. Night had set in before the
reserve and irregulars reached the foot of Lundy's Lane,[140] a road
that diverged from the river and crossed a conical eminence at no
great distance from the Niagara highway. The summit of the hill was
crowned with the cannon of the British, and in the flat beneath was
the remnant of Scott's[141] gallant brigade, which for a long time
had held an unequal contest with distinguished bravery. A new line was
interposed, and one column of the Americans directed to charge the
hill, parallel to the road. This column took the English in flank, and
bayoneting their artillerists, gained possession of the cannon. They
were immediately joined by their comrades, and the enemy was swept
from the hill.
[Footnote 140: a road leading west from Niagara River, near
Niagara Falls.]
[Footnote 141: General Winfield Scott, commander of the
American forces.]
But large reenforcements were joining the English general momentarily,
and their troops were too brave to rest easy under defeat. Repeated
and bloody charges were made to recover the guns, but in all they were
repulsed with slaughter. During the last of these struggles, the ardor
of the youthful captain whom we have mentioned urged him to lead his
men some distance in advance, to scatter a daring party of the enemy.
He succeeded, but in returning to the line missed his lieutenant from
the station that he ought to have occupied. Soon after this repulse,
which was the last, orders were given to the shattered troops to
return to the camp. The British were nowhere to be seen, and
preparations were made to take in such of the wounded as could be
moved.
At this moment Wharton Dunwoodie, impelled by affection for his
friend, seized a lighted fusee,[142] and taking two of his men, went
himself in quest of his body, where he was supposed to have fallen.
[Footnote 142: torch.]
Mason was found on the side of the hill, seated with great composure,
but unable to walk from a fractured leg. Dunwoodie saw and flew to the
side of his comrade, exclaiming:
"Ah! dear Tom, I knew I should find you the nearest man to the enemy."
"Softly, softly; handle me tenderly," replied the lieutenant. "No;
there is a brave fellow still nearer than myself, and who he can be I
know not. He rushed out of our smoke, near my platoon, to make a
prisoner or some such thing, but, poor fellow, he never came back;
there he lies just over the hillock. I have spoken to him several
times, but I fancy he is past answering."
Dunwoodie went to the spot, and to his astonishment beheld the
stranger.
"It is the old man who knew my father and mother," cried the youth;
"for their sake he shall have honorable burial. Lift him, and let him
be carried in; his bones shall rest on native soil."
The men approached to obey. He was lying on his back, with his face
exposed to the glaring light of the fusee; his eyes were closed, as if
in slumber; his lips, sunken with years, were slightly moved from
their position, but it seemed more like a smile than a convulsion
which had caused the change. A soldier's musket lay near him; his
hands were pressed upon his breast, and one of them contained a
substance that glittered like silver. Dunwoodie stooped, and moving
the limbs, perceived the place where the bullet had found a passage to
his heart. The subject of his last care was a tin box, through which
the fatal lead had gone; and the dying moments of the old man must
have been passed in drawing it from his bosom. Dunwoodie opened it,
and found a paper in which, to his astonishment, he read the
following:
"Circumstances of political importance, which involve the
lives and fortunes of many, have hitherto kept secret what
this paper now reveals. Harvey Birch has for years been a
faithful and unrequited[143] servant of his country. Though
man does not, may God reward him for his conduct!
"GEO. WASHINGTON."
[Footnote 143: unrewarded.]
It was the SPY OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND, who died as he had lived,
devoted to his country, and a martyr to her liberties.
Standard Literature Series
Works of standard authors for supplementary reading in
schools--complete selections or abridgments--with introductions and
explanatory notes. Single numbers, 64 to 128 pages, stiff paper sides
12-1/2 cents, cloth 20 cents; double numbers, 160 to 224 pages, stiff
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CONTENTS OF THE FIRST TWENTY-FOUR (24) NUMBERS, ARRANGED BY COUNTRIES
AND AUTHORS
Starred numbers are DOUBLE. All the works are complete, or contain
complete selections, except those marked "abr."
American Authors
=COOPER--The Spy=, No. 1, single (abr.), 128 pp.; *=The Pilot=, No. 2
(abr.), 181 pp.; *=The Deerslayer=, No. 8 (abr.), 160 pp.
=DANA, R. H., Jr.--*Two Years Before the Mast=, No. 19 (abr.), 173 pp.
=HAWTHORNE--Twice-Told Tales=, No. 15, single, complete selections, 128
pp.: The Village Uncle; The Ambitious Guest; Mr. Higginbotham's
Catastrophe; A Rill from the Town Pump; The Great Carbuncle; David
Swan; Dr. Heidegger's Experiment; Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure; The
Threefold Destiny; Old Esther Dudley.
=A Wonder-Book=, for Girls and Boys, No. 16, single, complete
selections, 121 pp.: The Golden Touch; The Paradise of Children; The
Three Golden Apples; The Miraculous Pitcher.
=The Snow-Image= and other Twice-Told Tales, No. 20, single, complete
selections, 121 pp.: The Snow-Image; The Great Stone Face; Little
Daffydowndilly; The Vision of the Fountain; The Seven Vagabonds;
Little Annie's Ramble; The Prophetic Pictures.
=IRVING--The Alhambra=, No. 4, single, complete selections, 128 pp.:
Palace of the Alhambra; Alhamar, the Founder of the Alhambra; Yusef
Abul Hagig, the Finisher of the Alhambra; Panorama from the Tower of
Comares; Legend of the Moor's Legacy; Legend of the Rose of the
Alhambra; The Governor and the Notary; Governor Manco and the Soldier;
Legend of Two Discreet Statues; Legend of Don Munio Sancho de
Hinojosa; The Legend of the Enchanted Soldier.
=The Sketch-Book=, No. 17, single, complete selections, 121 pp.: The
Author's Account of Himself; The Broken Heart; The Spectre Bridegroom;
Rural Life in England; The Angler; John Bull; The Christmas Dinner;
Stratford-on-Avon.
=Knickerbocker Stories=, No. 23, single, complete selections, 140 pp.:
I. Broek, or the Dutch Paradise; II. From Knickerbocker's New York,
(a) New Amsterdam under Van Twiller, (b) How William the Testy
Defended the City, (c) Peter Stuyvesant's Voyage up the Hudson; III.
Wolfert's Roost; IV. The Storm Ship; V. Rip Van Winkle; VI. A Legend
of Sleepy Hollow.
=KENNEDY, J. P.--*Horse-Shoe Robinson,= a Tale of the Revolution, No. 10
(abr.), 192 pp.
=LONGFELLOW--Evangeline=, a Tale of Acadie, No. 21, single, complete,
102 pp.
English Authors
=BULWER-LYTTON--*Harold=, the Last of the Saxon Kings, No. 12 (abr.),
160 pp.
=BYRON--The Prisoner of Chillon= and Other Poems, No. 11, single,
complete selections, 128 pp.: The Prisoner of Chillon; Mazeppa; Childe
Harold.
=DICKENS--Christmas Stories=, No. 5, single (abr.), 142 pp.: A Christmas
Carol; The Cricket on the Hearth; The Child's Dream of a Star.
=Little Nell= (from Old Curiosity Shop), No. 22, single (abr.), 123 pp.
=Paul Dombey= (from Dombey and Son), No. 14, single (abr.), 128 pp.
=SCOTT--*Ivanhoe=, No. 24 (abr.), 180 pp. *Kenilworth, No. 7 (abr.), 164
pp.; *Lady of the Lake, No. 9, complete, 192 pp.; Rob Roy, No. 3,
single (abr.), 130 pp.
=SWIFT--Gulliver's Travels=, Voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag, No.
13, single (abr.), 128 pp.
=TENNYSON--Enoch Arden= and Other Poems, No. 6, single, complete
selections, 110 pp.: Enoch Arden; The Coming of Arthur; The Passing of
Arthur; Columbus; The May Queen; New Year's Eve; Conclusion; Dora; The
Charge of the Light Brigade; The Defence of Lucknow; Lady Clare;
Break, Break, Break; The Brook; Bugle Song; Widow and Child; The Days
That Are No More; I Envy Not; Oh, Yet We Trust; Ring Out, Wild Bells;
Crossing the Bar (Tennyson's last poem).
French Authors
=HUGO, VICTOR--*Ninety-Three=, No. 18 (abr.), 157 pp.
=Grading.=--=For History Classes=: Spy, Pilot, Deerslayer, Horse-Shoe
Robinson, Knickerbocker Stories, Harold, Kenilworth, Rob Roy, Ivanhoe,
Ninety-Three, Alhambra. =Geography=: Two Years Before the Mast. =English
Literature=: Evangeline, Lady of the Lake, Enoch Arden, Prisoner of
Chillon, Sketch-Book. =Lower Grammar Grades=: Christmas Stories, Little
Nell, Paul Dombey, Gulliver's Travels, Twice-Told Tales. =Primary
Grades=: Wonder-Book, Snow-Image.
Numbers 25 to 40
Each with Introduction and Notes. Starred numbers, double.
=25. ROBINSON CRUSOE. Defoe.= Illustrated. For Young Readers.
=*26. POEMS OF KNIGHTLY ADVENTURE.= =Tennyson=, =Arnold=, =Macaulay=,
=Lowell=. Four Complete Selections.
=*27. THE WATER WITCH. Cooper.= With Map.
=28. TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. Scott.= Complete Selections.
=*29. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Cooper.= With Map.
=30. THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. Bunyan.= For Young Readers.
=*31. BLACK BEAUTY. Sewell.= Complete.
=*32. THE YEMASSEE. Cooper.= With Map.
=*33. WESTWARD HO! Kingsley.= With Map.
=*34. 'ROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS.= Verne.
=35. SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. Wyss.= Illustrated.
=*36. THE CHILDHOOD OF DAVID COPPERFIELD. Dickens.=
=*37. THE SONG OF HIAWATHA. Longfellow.= Complete.
=*38. THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII. Bulwer-Lytton.=
=39. FAIRY TALES.= Second School Year. Selected Tales.
=*40. THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. Scott.= Complete.
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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
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