THE DEFIANCE OF THE TORY
A few weeks later I was up and out, fast gaining strength and courage
for the long ride to the northward to join the gallant fellows of the
Maryland Line, who had taken up their line of march soon after the
accident befell me. And though I was eager to be off, the surgeon
would not let me go, and so, until I could gather strength for the
long journey, I served as best I could my country and the commands of
the Committee of Public Safety sitting at the Head of Elk. Thus it was
I rode one day by the side of Edward Veasey, High Sheriff of the
county of Cecil, carrying the writ and command of the Committee of
Public Safety to Charles Gordon of the Braes, now a suspected Tory
and a malcontent. And as I rode by the side of the High Sheriff on
this most unpleasant task, I longed to turn back and let the Sheriff
ride on alone; but duty held me as a point of honour. For as it was, I
was carrying I knew not what ruin and destruction to the roof of the
very house that once had received me as a guest and that sheltered the
fairest eyes that had ever gazed in mine. And now I was to appear
before that house as the bearer of ill-tidings. Ah, duty often wears a
gruesome countenance; yet it is a sign of courage to face this duty
down, and I sat more firmly in my saddle and rode nearer to the High
Sheriff. He was a stern and determined man; he was short of stature,
stout of frame, and sat his powerful horse like the fox-hunter that he
was. But, though it was the height of summer, and the hills and the
forests were green, the air laden with the odour of flowers, and the
streams full and rushing, there was anything but a smile on the High
Sheriff's face. For though he was no friend to Gordon of the Braes, he
liked not the errand on which he rode, and would gladly have turned
his horse's head with me.
"If they want to fight," said he to me, "why don't they join the
Maryland Line and leave men alone who are disposed to be quiet? They
will have enough to do in repulsing the redcoats, and should not stir
up opposition in the rear of our armies, which this persecution of
private individuals will certainly do. I wish some other carried this
writ, and I was with the lads fighting in the North."
"Aye, so do I, but it is the order of the committee," said I grimly.
"True, and as such must be obeyed."
We had come to where the ferry crosses the Elk, and hailing it we
were soon on the south bank and taking up again the road that leads to
the Braes. Over the hills and dales of Cecil, the forest, streams, and
rivers, the soft warm sunlight played, and nature blessed with lavish
hand the harvest of the year. Seldom had she been more pleasing, the
earth bursting with flowers and the very trees welcoming with
outstretched arms the soft breezes wafted from the bay. And then,
after some hours' travelling, we came to the Braes and I saw again the
long rambling house amid the trees. I took a firmer grip upon my sense
of duty and rode on. The clatter of our horses' hoofs as we rode up to
the door announced us. A moment later Charles Gordon came through the
open doorway on to the porch. Though I had seen him before, it seemed
to me, as I saw him standing there, with the memory of the old tale
in my mind, that I saw not the Tory, but one of those figures of
romance that stepped out from the mystery and the haze of the North,
when Prince Charles raised his standard in the Highlands, one of those
heroic men who drew swords with Wallace and with Bruce, rallied with
Montrose, and went to death with a cheer behind Bonnie Dundee at
Killiecrankie, of such gallant bearing and bold and open countenance
was he.
"What brings you here, Mr. Sheriff, riding so fast?"
"I come, Charles Gordon of the Braes," replied the Sheriff, "to serve
on you the writ and summons of the Committee of Public Safety." And
here he unfolded the summons and read aloud, sitting on his horse as
he was:
"_Whereas_, Great complaints have this day been made against
Charles Gordon of the Braes, for that he has infamously
reflected on the membership of this Committee and the
deputies of this county who lately attended the Provincial
Convention,
"These are therefore requiring the said Charles Gordon of
the Braes that he appear before this Committee, at the house
of Thomas Savin at the Head of Elk, to-morrow at two o'clock
P.M., to answer unto said complaints.
"Hereto fail not on your peril.
"JAMES RODOLPH, Chairman.
"To CHARLES GORDON of the Braes."
Then spoke Charles Gordon:
"Go tell those who sent you, Mr. Sheriff, that if they wish to see
Charles Gordon they will have to come to the Braes to do so; that I
will give them a right warm welcome, as my plantation is large enough
to hold them all; but that if any of their rascally crew dare to
approach the house, there will be lives lost; for I say to you, Mr.
Sheriff, as I have said before and will say again, that James Rodolph
and his committee are a set of infamous scoundrels, who have usurped
such power and authority in troublous times as the King himself would
not dare to claim. Tell them that I am at their defiance, that I do
not recognise their authority, and that I have as much contempt for
them as I have for their dogs."
The old gentleman, for he must have been nearly sixty, looked splendid
in his wrath, as he denounced the Committee of Public Safety. The ring
in his voice told that the ire of the Scot was rising.
For an instant the High Sheriff hesitated, as if he would turn and go,
but then he said:
"Charles Gordon, I spoke to you a moment ago as an officer of the law.
I speak to you now as one who does not wish you an injury. Obey the
order of the committee, and I will see that you have fair speech
before it. Refuse and you will be declared a traitor and an outlaw,
and the edict will go forth through all the province that no man shall
buy of you, that no man shall sell to you, and he that shows you
kindness will become an outlaw like yourself."
Charles Gordon laughed.
"Do you think I care a snap of a finger for their edict? There has not
been a generation of my family that has not been at the Horn at
Edinburgh for high treason. Do you think that I care when my neck has
been on the block for the part I took at Preston Pans and Culloden? Go
frighten the children with their edicts, but not an old Scot who has
seen the claymores flash and led the charge for the King who is over
the sea."
"If you fought against the father, why not against the son?"
"A fair question deserves a fair answer. When my head was on the
block my life was saved by the intercession of the Duchess of Gordon,
but upon conditions, and those conditions are these: That I should
nevermore bear arms against the King, that I should leave the realm of
Scotland, sail across the sea to the province of Maryland, there
remain and never return. So, though I love not the King nor his race,
I will not draw sword against him, for never yet has a Gordon broken
faith with friend or foe. Yet for all that I will not take up arms for
the King's cause unless I am forced to do so by such rascals as
compose your Committee of Public Safety."
"So be it, then, but I wish it were otherwise," said the Sheriff; and,
turning, we rode away, leaving him standing there. As I entered the
woods I looked back again, my eyes searching every window in the old
house, but never a sign of the Tory maid did I see.