CHAPTER XVI.
IN HIDING.
I question if my companions were any less uneasy in mind regarding ourseeking a refuge in the city about to be occupied by the British, thanwas I; but no one ventured to say exactly what he thought lest itserve to check our courage, and of a verity we needed that inabundance if we were to make a success of Jerry's scheme.
Darius and I walked either side of the mule on which my father rode,where we might be ready to give the wounded man assistance in case hisstrength failed him suddenly; but neither of us dared discuss thepossibilities of the future.
When we were come nearly to the city my father asked me if we had anymoney with which to purchase food, and I replied by showing him thetwo silver coins remaining of the amount paid by the Britishers foroysters.
Darius had the same number of pieces in copper, and Jim Freeman wasthe capitalist among us, he having no less than two shillings.
We had funds in plenty for the purchase of such food as would satisfyour hunger during two or three days, and the only matter which gave usany uneasiness was regarding a shelter, which had now becomeabsolutely necessary since father joined us, for it went withoutsaying that he must not be seen.
When Jerry conceived the scheme we were attempting to carry intoexecution, he believed, as did I, that Washington would be almostwholly abandoned by the citizens, and, in fact, it was reasonable tosuppose that when the news of the defeat was brought to the citynearly every one would seek safety in flight, therefore we counted onbeing able to take shelter in any building which took our fancy.
While yet in the outskirts of the town, however, we understood that wewere mistaken. So far as I could see, the inhabitants remained withintheir homes, probably under the belief that the enemy would behavelike civilized people rather than as barbarians, and our chances forfinding a hiding-place seemed small.
Having no acquaintance with the city, we walked on at haphazard untilhaving come within a short distance of a tavern near the Capitol, hardby a large building which looked not unlike a rope walk.
It was in my mind that we could do no better than stop at the tavern,trusting that our small store of money would suffice to pay for oneroom in which all of us might gather; but to this Darius made mostdecided objection.
"It is the last place for us to choose," he said decidedly. "Even ifthe house is not taken as quarters by some of the officers, it will bevisited by the rank and file, and we might as well be in the open air.Yonder smoke-house would suit our purpose better."
It seemed to me that in a city said to contain nine hundred buildingswe could do better than hide in a smoke-house, and so I said, claimingthat we would be in no more danger by making ourselves as comfortableas possible under the circumstances, than if we huddled into somecorner.
Jim Freeman and Jerry seemed to be in my way of thinking; but Dariusdeclared that unless we could content ourselves with such ahiding-place as was not likely to attract the attention of the enemy,we might count him out of the scheme.
"But what can be done with the mule, if we take to the smoke-house?" Icried, believing I thus had an argument which he could not wellanswer.
"Turn him loose, of course. He is government property, and would givestronger proof of our havin' been with the army than your father'swound. Besides, should the soldiers hear him, an' you can't reckon onkeepin' that kind of a beast quiet, they'd be bound to have him out,if only for the sake of sport."
Then Darius went toward his chosen place of refuge, leaving us tofollow or not as best pleased us, and the result can well be imagined.
We would not cut loose from the old sailor who, because of hisexperience in such circumstances, was best calculated to advise andaid, therefore we followed him meekly, but with many a mentalcomplaint.
When we were come to the rough building, which was hardly larger thanthe cabin of the Scorpion, Darius lifted my father from the animal'sback as if he had been no more than a child, and carried him into theplace that was less inviting than the hold of the Avenger after we hadtaken out a cargo of oysters.
Placing him in one corner where he might sit with his back against theboards, the old sailor went outside and drove the mule in thedirection of the tavern, himself following until he was lost to view,much to our surprise and disquietude.
"Now what is he about?" Jerry asked petulantly. "I thought we were tostay here?"
"It seems that we are," I replied with a mirthless laugh; "but itappears that Master Thorpe counts on being better lodged."
"Do you suppose he allows to stop at the tavern while we're to stay inthis smoke-house?" Jim Freeman asked in a tone of dismay, and I, soreat heart because my advice had not been followed, replied bitterly,thereby setting myself down for at least the twentieth time as asimple:
"We can be certain he'll look after himself, no matter how we mayfare."
Then we stood waiting in silence until it should be certain thatDarius had really abandoned us, when my father said, striving tosuppress any evidence of the pain which he suffered:
"You lads are making a big mistake if you think Darius Thorpe wouldleave you at such a time as this. He has ever had the name of holdingto a comrade, and he'll not steer another course while we're in somuch danger."
Five minutes later I was covered with shame because of my unkindwords, when we saw the old man returning with as much hay as he couldstagger under.
"Here's what will make our cripple a bit more comfortable," he saidcheerily as he thrust his burden through the narrow door. "Pile itwell up under him, an' I'll go back for the rest of the supplies."
None of us lads made any comment when Darius returned toward thetavern; but that all hands were conscious of the same sense of shameas had come over me, I understood by the expression on their faces.
When the old man joined us the second time he had in his arms thelarger part of a ham, some strips of cotton cloth, and a jug of water.
"How did you get all that stuff?" Jerry asked in surprise.
"Traded the mule. When I was drivin' the beast off it struck me thathe might be made to serve us a bit, so I drove a bargain."
"Did you give the people to understand that he was yours?"
"Not a bit of it, lad; I ain't tryin' that kind of business even whenI'm hungry. I told the truth; but claimed that the beast was under myprotection, an' I'd be willin' to leave him for the few things wemight need. It ain't certain but I'd got what I asked for without themule, though it was better to have a reg'lar trade made. Pitch intothe ham, and later, it may be we can get some bread."
We did not wait for the second invitation; but began chipping off bitsof the meat, eating greedily regardless of the fact that it wasuncooked, when I saw that Darius was making no effort toward gettinghis share.
"Why don't you eat?" I asked as I gave my father a small handful ofthe uninviting food.
"I'm the surgeon now, an' till this job is finished I reckon I cancontrive to get along without more in my mouth than a piece ofterbacco. It's mighty lucky I laid in a good supply before we left PigPoint."
The true-hearted old sailor had provided us lads with a meal, and nowproposed to dress my father's wound before attending to his own wants,which must have been greater than ours because he had performed morework.
I resolved then and there, that however much against him might beappearances, I would never believe him guilty of any mean act towardhis comrades, and in the future he should have the full half ofanything which might come into my possession.
Darius washed and bandaged father's wound; raised the bed of hay thathe might recline more comfortably; fastened the door in such a mannerthat there would be no token on the outside of our occupancy, and notuntil all this had been done did he give heed to his own necessities.
"We're not so bad off here as we might be," the old man said in a toneof content as he whittled away at the small remnant of ham, while welads were stretched at full length on the hay. "I'm allowin' thatwhatever happens, the Britishers won't look in a smoke-house forA
merican soldiers or sailors, an' we can stay here snug as bugs in arug, barrin' bein a little hungry, till Amos' father is in bettercondition to travel."
"But it will be a long while before that wound is healed!" Jim Freemanexclaimed in dismay.
"Yes, I reckon it'll be quite a spell, pervidin' the Britishers stayin the city; but if they go it won't be a hard job to find a boatthat'll take us to the Patuxent. But there's little call to make muchtalk about movin', for we can't leave one of the crowd, no matter whathappens to the rest of us."
By the time all this had been done it was sunset. The retreat fromBladensburg had been begun about four o'clock in the afternoon, and wewere not so badly off to be in Washington and housed so soon after thedefeat.
The one distressing question was whether the enemy would make searchin the city for such as we?
After he had eaten all the scraps of ham remaining on the bone, Dariusset about making a more thorough examination of our refuge, beginningwith the small shutter at the top of the building which was used when,the meat having been cured, it was desired to clear the place ofsmoke.
"What are you doing up there?" my father asked when the old sailorclambered on the logs to get at the shutter.
"Makin' sure we can keep a lookout in case things get too hot," Dariusreplied with a laugh. "I'm allowin' this shutter can be swung open acrack without its bein' noticed from the outside."
He had no more than opened the window when an exclamation burst fromhis lips, and without delay I clambered up beside him.
From this point of vantage we had a fairly good view of what was goingon near about the Capitol building, and my heart beat fast andfuriously with fear as I saw the enemy advancing.
"There seems to be the biggest part of the British army," Darius said,pointing in the direction of the burying-ground, where I could see thesoldiers bivouacking for the night; but nearer at hand were twoofficers, evidently high in command--General Ross and AdmiralCockburn, as I afterward learned--, with an escort of three or fourhundred men, riding directly toward us.
Within full view of our hiding-place was a dwelling standing near thegovernment building, and as we gazed I saw the flash of a musket comefrom this house, when the horse on which the general was riding felldead, carrying the officer to the ground with him in what looked to bean ugly fall.
"That's a fool trick!" Darius cried angrily when no other sign ofattack could be seen or heard. "A crazy man must have fired that shot,which can do no other good than to make the enemy hot to inflict somepunishment!"
We saw a score or more of the escort rush to the assistance of theofficer, while the remainder of the soldiers were wheeled about toface the dwelling.
I was confident that they would fire a volley into the house, and,indeed, I could well have excused such a course, considering theprovocation; but instead of this a squad of men were told off to enterthe building, as we saw when the force ran forward on the double-quickwith fixed bayonets.
By this time, as may well be imagined, all our party, with theexception of my father, were clinging to the timbers of the buildingthat a view might be had of what was going on outside, and Darius,ever mindful of others, took it upon himself to keep our invalidinformed of what was being done.
"They've sent a squad of men to clean out the house, I reckon," theold sailor said for father's benefit. "The officer ain't hurt so butthat he can mount a spare horse which a colonel has just brought him.Now the two in command are pointin' out the different buildin's; looksas if they were pickin' out their quarters. There's one thing certain,fine birds like them won't want to sleep in a smoke-house, so we ain'tlikely to be turned out right away."
I interrupted the report by exclaiming aloud in my excitement, for Isaw smoke issuing from the dwelling, which I afterward learned was thehome of Mr. Robert Sewall, and then it was I understood for whatpurpose the squad had been sent.
"They've fired the house," Darius continued to my father, "an' withoutgivin' them who may be livin' there a chance to carry anythin' out.Soldiers are stationed to prevent the people from tryin' to fight theflames, an' it wouldn't surprise me if we saw a pretty hot time inthis town."
At this moment a squad of men was sent to the rope-walk, another tothe tavern hard by our place of refuge, and a third to the nextbuilding, which from the sign on its front I knew to be the NationalIntelligencer newspaper.
After what we had seen it was not difficult to guess the purpose ofthese soldiers, and Darius said to my father:
"They're firin' the rope-walk now, an' it looks as if the whole citymight go."
"Surely the British wouldn't do so barbarous a deed!" my fatherexclaimed. "War isn't carried on in that way these days."
"It seems to be goin' so now. There comes the smoke from the tavern,an' men are stationed to prevent the people from savin' anything. Howabout it, lads? If we had spent our last cent hirin' a room there, thesmoke would be forcin' us out by this time, an' we'd soon findourselves prisoners in the hands of such as stand ready to burn a citywhere are mostly women an' children!"
"It's not certain but that we'll be forced out as it is!" I exclaimed."When the tavern barns get afire this smoke-house stands a goodchance of burning."
"It may be, lad; but the wind draws in on the other side, an' I'mallowin' that this shanty, small as it is, won't come to harm, thoughif it does go, we'll try to keep our upper lips stiff so thevillainous red-coats shan't have a chance to crow over us very much."
We saw the men comprising the escort now break ranks, each going,apparently, where he pleased, and Darius cried in anger:
"It is to be a reg'lar sack of the city, such as we're told they hadin the old times, when men were reckoned as bein' little better thanbrutes! Work like this will count big for the Britishers before theother nations of the world! There goes a crowd of soldiers into thelittle shop beyond the tavern; they're plunderin' it in piraticalstyle! See 'em throw the goods out into the street! The red-coats fromthe encampment, scentin' booty, are comin' up by the hundreds!"
From where we were perched it was possible to see three shops, and bythe time the tavern was well afire no less than five hundred men hadrobbed these, tramping into the dirt such goods as they did not wantto carry away, and then the buildings were set on fire.
Verily it was a barbarous sack of the city!
Then it was, when the flames from the buildings of which I have spokenwere mounting high in the sky, that I observed the commander order upa full company of soldiers. It was possible to see, for although nighthad come the fire lighted up surrounding objects as at noonday, thathe gave them orders at great length, after which they started offtoward the Capitol at full speed.
"They're goin' to burn the government buildin's!" Darius cried for myfather's benefit. "A hundred or more have been detailed to do thework, an' the commanders are watchin' proceedin's like that chap, Iforget his name, who played on the fiddle while Rome was burnin'. An'all this is bein' done by the high an' lofty Britishers, who count onsettin' the pace for the whole world!"
Jim Freeman and Dody Wardwell, who could not find perches near thewindow that they might look out, now opened the door regardless ofconsequences, and stood gazing at as cruel a scene as can well beimagined.
Women and children, driven back by the red-coats, stood tearfullywatching the destruction of their homes, forced to see every cherishedarticle destroyed, and, more than that! I saw a soldier tear from thehands of an old lady a small box which he opened, took some thingstherefrom which I judged were pieces of jewelry, and threw theremainder into the flames.
The smoke-house was as hot a place as I care to remain in very longat a time, and as well filled with smoke as when put to the use forwhich it was originally intended. Even Darius had doubts about thesmall buildings escaping the flames, and said to my father:
"Keep watch for the first show of fire, Master Grout, an' we'll seethat you're posted as to what is bein' done outside. If we have toleave here, it'll be a good idee to draw off toward the rope-walk;there's
no one near by that place, an' we may contrive to steer clearof the enemy."
Now it was that long tongues of fire curled above the governmentbuilding, swaying this way and that in the wind like fiery serpents,until the inflammable portion of the nation's Capitol was ablaze.
It seemed as if our smoke-house was completely surrounded by burningbuildings. Had the Britishers given any attention to such aninsignificant structure as we were concealed in, Jim and Dody musthave been discovered, for they gave no heed to hiding themselves asthey stood literally transfixed with horror at the terrible scenes.
Not until all the buildings were so enveloped in flames that therecould be no possibility of saving them, did the two officers rideaway, and then it was to go in the direction of their encampment.
I gave no further heed to the barbarians; but watched with a sort offascination the destroying element until Darius cried:
"There's more mischief afoot! See, a full regiment are under marchin'orders!"
"What can they do now?" I asked helplessly. "Everything around here isin flames; the entire city is ruined!"
"There's the President's house, an' a good many fine dwellin's at theother end of the town," the old sailor replied. "Unless I'm way out ofmy reckonin', you'll see more fire before there's less."
The barns of the tavern were now burning; but the wind drew in withgreater force, a draft having been formed by the flames, I suppose,and while our refuge was as hot as it well could be, the more intenseheat was carried in the opposite direction.
"I reckon this 'ere smoke-house will stand while many a betterbuildin' goes down," Darius announced. "We're gettin' the biggest partof the heat from the stables now, an' I don't see any signs of fire onthese logs. You lads stay here with our invalid, an' I'll sneak 'roundoutside a bit. There may be a chance to get somethin' in the way ofrations if the men break into more shops, as is likely."
Then the old man slipped down from his uncomfortable perch, stopped atthe door to warn Jim and Dody that they must not stray far away, anddisappeared behind the ruins of the tavern.
It gave me a certain sensation of loneliness to have Darius go at thattime. Although it was late in the day to make such a discovery, I hadcome to understand of how much assistance he was to us lads, and howhelpless we would be without him; but, as a matter of course, I couldnot presume to dictate as to his movements.
The one singular thing to me in this wanton work of destruction, wasthe fact that not all the buildings in this portion of the city hadbeen given over to the flames. It seemed as if the British commanderhad singled out certain dwellings to be burned, while the others wereunmolested, save in two cases where I saw soldiers bringing outplunder which was valueless to them, and had been taken only in aspirit of cruelty.
Perhaps an hour was spent by the enemy in our immediate vicinity, andthen that quarter of the city was deserted by all save the homelessones, or those who mourned over the loss of property.
The conflagration was still sufficient to light up the streets andfields near by, therefore we could not venture out save at the risk ofbeing seen; but I question if any especial attention would have beengiven us, except in the case of my father, had we gone boldly forth.
Had he not been with us I should have proposed that the moment wascome when we might be able to slip down the river unobserved, for whowould give heed to a party of lads when the capital city of the UnitedStates was in flames? With my father, however, we were forced toremain in hiding, for his wound was sufficient evidence that he hadtaken part in the battle of Bladensburg, and this would insure hisbeing seized as a prisoner of war.
Jim and Dody, however, went across to where two shops were in flames,and returned a few moments later with a piece of bacon which had beentrampled upon in the street, a bag of dirty flour, and, what wasbetter than all, three loaves of bread, the whole of which had beenthrown aside by the Britishers when they plundered the buildings.
It was quite a store for our empty larder, unsavory though the breadand flour looked; but hungry lads, and particularly those who arefugitives, cannot afford to be squeamish in regard to their food.
In less than half an hour after the regiment marched from theencampment toward the upper end of the city, we saw the flames risingin great volume, telling that there was no idea in the minds of thevictors to spare anything which could readily be destroyed.
As a matter of course, we did not then know what was being done; butlater we learned that the President's mansion, the Treasury buildings,the Arsenal, and the barracks, where three thousand troops could bequartered, were all laid in ashes under the orders of General Ross andAdmiral Cockburn.
Before midnight the conflagration in the portion of the city where wehad sought refuge, had so far subsided, because there was nothing leftfor the flames to feed upon, that only glowing embers, and theblackened walls of the Capitol could be seen; but the night was turnedinto day because of the fires at the other end of the town.
We lads were weary with watching the wicked work; Jim and Dody hadtoasted a large piece of bacon over the embers of the tavern; we hadpartaken of a second meal rather because the food was at hand thanowing to hunger, and now all hands felt the need of sleep, even thoughwe were literally surrounded by enemies.
But Darius had not returned, and we could not give ourselves up toslumber while he remained absent.
At first I fancied that he was watching the work of the Britishers;but when my father began to show signs of alarm because the old sailordid not return, my anxiety was great.
If any of the red-coats came upon him, they would suspect that he hadbeen among that company of seamen and marines who had inflicted somuch injury upon them during the day just passed, and it was notdifficult to understand that he would speedily be made a prisoner.