THE BUCKET OF YEAST.
"Say," whispered Caleb, as soon as they were out of hearing of the
store, "that Ledyard Barrow is a Tory."
"That is just what I have been thinking myself," replied Enoch, who was
so surprised that he hardly knew what he said. "We have got to be awful
careful about this thing or it will get out on us in spite of all we can
do. I did not say anything wrong while I was talking to him, did I?"
"No, indeed, you did not. The first thing you know we will have Tories
all around us, and the next thing will be for that vessel to trip her
anchor and go farther off down the bay. Say, Enoch, I shall have to
borrow a little of that powder of you until I can have--"
"You may have it," interrupted Enoch. "There is more here than I want.
But to think that we have unearthed another Tory. That is what gets to
me."
"It looks to me as though every neighbor was going to have to fight the
man who lives next to him," said Caleb, taking off his hat and
scratching his head furiously.
"Well, I would rather they would make themselves known so that we may
know just what we have to expect. I wish Zeke would happen along here
just now. I would like to know what he thinks about it."
But Zeke had business to attend to where he was, and the boys did not
get a chance to speak to him that night. When they came to Caleb's
house, Enoch turned in with him to give him what he thought he should
want of the powder, and found Caleb's mother engaged in knitting with
her Bible open on her knee before her. The boys looked for success in
the size of their crowd to enable them to overcome the schooner's crew,
while Mrs. Young, like Enoch's mother, looked for it to a source from
which it was sure to come if she asked for it in the right spirit. Enoch
hastily took off his hat when he entered the house. The presence of that
open Book upon her lap called for all the reverence he was capable of.
"Well, Enoch, are you one of the few who have agreed to take the
Margaretta?" said Mrs. Young, greeting him with a smile. "I hope you
have got your gun cleaned up, for Caleb thinks there is bound to be a
fight."
"I don't _think_ so mother," answered Caleb. "I _know_ so. Machias is
all right now, that is, there is not any mourning here, but you will see
some when we get that schooner."
"When it does come we shall have the satisfying knowledge that we tried
to do our duty," said Enoch.
"You forget that there is a penalty for piracy," said Mrs. Young.
"No, I don't," said Enoch, promptly. "They will have to capture every
provincial in town before they can begin hanging us. When they try that,
you will see a fuss here in Machias."
"That is right, my boy," said the mother, reaching up with the endeavor
to pat Enoch on the head. "If you undertake this thing, I hope you will
come out safely."
Caleb had by this time produced his powder-horn, and Enoch proceeded to
give him half the quantity he had purchased. When he had filled it half
full Caleb put in the stopper and slapped the horn into his open palm,
giving Enoch a mysterious wink as he did so. Enoch had no trouble at all
in interpreting that wink. By it Caleb said that when he was face to
face with the schooner's crew he would get at least one shot, if he did
not get any more; and Enoch knew what he meant by that. He was almost
sure of the redcoat he pulled on, and there would be one less for them
to encounter when the order was given to board her and clear her deck.
"But, Caleb, we don't know who our captain is," said Enoch, giving
utterance to the thought that had been uppermost in his mind ever since
the capture of the schooner was proposed.
"I don't care for that," said Caleb. "When we get to work everybody will
be captain. We all want the schooner, and the one that does the most is
the best man."
Enoch was obliged to be satisfied with this, and as there was nothing
further to detain him he made his best bow and went out. The boys now
had nothing to do but various little jobs around the house until the
sun rose the next morning. Enoch did carpenter work, fitting some
chinking into the walls where the winter's cold came in during severe
weather, and Caleb cut some wood and brought it into the house for fear
that to-morrow night he might not be there to attend to it.
"There is nobody except me that knows we are going to have a fight
before we can claim that schooner," said he, as he paused with his ax
raised in the air and glanced toward the place where the Margaretta was
lying at her anchorage. "Because we have always been friendly with those
boys it is no reason why they will not fight us when they see us coming.
I know what I should do if I was there."
With this thought Caleb drove the ax into the log with all his force as
if he felt that there was some enemy in there and he wanted to get rid
of him, and then his mother called him to supper. He looked up and saw
that it was getting dark. He put his ax away in the woodshed and went
into the house, and when he was through with his meal his mother said to
him--
"Caleb, I wish you would take that little tin bucket from the third nail
behind the door in the buttery and go over to Mrs. Crosby's, and ask her
if she can spare me some yeast for to-night. I want to bake some bread
early on Monday morning, and I should thank her for a little."
Caleb at once put on his hat, took the bucket from the third nail in the
pantry, bid his mother good-by, and went out. What a difference there
was between him and the boys who flourish in our time! Boys in our day
would say "yes, ma'am," and loaf around and wait until they got a good
ready to start; but to Caleb, his mother's command had to be obeyed
right away. He struck up a whistle when he went out, one of those
old-fashioned songs that boys do not know in our day, telling himself in
the meantime that it was about as dark as he ever saw it. But Caleb knew
the way, and he went on his road without a misstep. He arrived at Mrs.
Crosby's house, made known his errand and came away again, not
forgetting to exchange ideas with his friend Enoch about the cheer that
was to sound on the morrow.
"I have not heard anything like a cheer since I have been out of the
house," said Caleb. "If I had heard it, you would not have seen me here.
The fun will begin to-morrow when we follow them into the church. I hope
we shall not do anything wrong by arresting them in their seats."
"Mother has not said a word about it, so I guess it is all right," said
Enoch. "It will show them that we are in earnest."
Caleb struck up another whistle and went on his way, and he had almost
reached his home when something startling occurred to him. A man
suddenly appeared before him and barred his way. Caleb stopped and
waited for him to make known his object, but seeing that the man did not
speak, he turned out to go by him when the man suddenly reached out his
arm and brought him to another standstill.
"Don't be in too big a hurry, my lad," said he, and it shot through
Caleb's mind on the instant that he must be a seafaring man, for the
tone of his voice indicated it.
"You don't know where Caleb Young lives about here, do you?"
"Well, if I do, that is my own business," replied Caleb, once more
making an effort to leave the man behind. "Why don't you go to some
house and inquire?"
"Because I think you are the man we want to see," was the reply. "Come
on, boys. Keep still now, or it will be worse for you."
In an instant three other men appeared as if they had risen from the
ground, and Caleb became aware that he was in the hands of the Tories.
It was too dark to see whether or not the men were armed, but something
that stuck out by their sides made him think that each of them had a
cutlass strapped to him.
"Look here," said he, backing off a pace or two. "Do you mean to arrest
me?"
"We will tell you about that when we get you aboard the vessel," said
the man who stood in front of him. "You rebels--Head him off, lads.
Knock him down."
The words "rebels" seemed to quicken Caleb's ideas. He saw it all now.
He was to be arrested and taken on board the Margaretta and be taken off
somewhere so that the magistrate could collect the fine he had imposed
upon him. To think with him was to go to work. As quick as thought he
ducked his head, not forgetting to throw his bucket loaded with yeast
full into the face of the officer, for such Caleb took him to be, and
dodging the grasp the man made at him he ran furiously toward his own
gate. But he had to deal with men who were as cunning as he was. A
fourth man, who stood a little distance behind the officer, clasped him
in his strong arms before he had made a dozen steps and threw him to the
ground.
"Help!" shouted Caleb, with all the power of his lungs.
"Stop that noise; quick!" exclaimed the officer. "Choke him down."
Caleb did not have time to say all he meant to say when he lifted up his
voice in shouting for help, for at that moment the man who had thrown
him down changed his grasp from his arms to his throat, and the boy was
rendered powerless. It was but the work of a few seconds to tie his
hands, and scarcely more to jerk him to his feet and start him down the
road toward the harbor. Caleb went because he could not help himself.
Two Tories followed close behind him. Each one had hold of his collar,
which was drawn so tight that he could not utter a sound. A boat that
was drawn up on the beach was ready waiting for them, and Caleb was
thrown into it and dragged aft until he was brought up by the
stern-sheets. The man whom he took to be an officer turned out to be one
sure enough, for he took his seat beside Caleb and went on brushing his
coat with his handkerchief to wipe off the yeast.
"I will get even with you, my lad, before we get to New York to pay you
for throwing that stuff at me," said he, with something that sounded
like an oath. "What was it, you rebel?"
"It is something that won't hurt you any," replied the prisoner,
striving to get his throat in order so that he could speak plainly.
"What was it, I ask you!" said the officer, kicking Caleb with his foot.
"Do you hear?"
"It is nothing but yeast," said Caleb. "I hope it will _raise_ you up so
that it will put a little sense into your head."
It was evident that the rough treatment to which he had been subjected
had not taken all the pluck out of Caleb Young. The officer was
astonished and gave him three or four kicks in the ribs to show that he
did not admire such talk; but the position in which he lay, together
with the narrow limits of the boat, rendered the kicks comparatively
harmless.
"Shove off," commanded the officer. "Give-away strong and let us get rid
of this rebel as soon as we can."
In a few minutes the boat was alongside the schooner, where they found
Captain Moore and the other officers waiting for them. A lantern held
over the side showed them that the officer had not come back
empty-handed.
"You got him, did you?" said the captain, and his voice sounded very
unlike the polite tones in which he was accustomed to greet the
villagers who came there to see him. He did not live in Machias, but he
had been there so often that he was pretty well known to all the
towns-people.
"Yes, sir, I have got him," said the officer, touching his hat. "And the
rebel threw a bucket of yeast on me when I took him."
"Well, you will pay him for that when we get him to New York," said the
captain. "Hoist him up here."
This was the worst part of the treatment to which Caleb had thus far
been subjected since his capture. Two of the boat's crew seized him, one
at the head and the other at the feet, trying to take him by the clothes
but not being particular if they caught up flesh with them, and raised
him over their heads, from which position he was received by two more
aboard the schooner, who hauled him over the rail and deposited him on
the deck as if he had been a log of wood.
"You have got his hands tied, have you not?" said the captain. "Well,
release them, and bo'son bring up a set of bracelets and put them on
him."
"Do you treat all your prisoners this way, captain?" asked Caleb.
"We treat all rebels this way," was the answer. "The next time you do
anything to bring you a fine, be sure you can pay it."
"But, captain--" began Caleb.
"That's enough," said the captain, fiercely. "I know what you have done
and so do you. If you talk any more to me I will put a gag in your
mouth."
Caleb did not know what a "gag" was, but he came to the conclusion that
it was something to add to his punishment, and so he did not say
anything more.