CHAPTER XVII.
MISSING.
I am minded to set down here what I afterward saw printed, concerningthe doings in other portions of Washington, the particulars of whichwe were ignorant at the time.
"While the public buildings in Washington were in flames, the nationalshipping, stores, and other property were blazing at the navy yard;also the great bridge over the Potomac, from Washington city to theVirginia shore.
"Commodore Thomas Tingey was in command of the navy yard, and, beforethe battle, had received orders to set fire to the public propertythere in event of the British gaining a victory, so as to prevent itsfalling into the hands of the invaders. Tingey delayed the executionof the order for four hours after the contingency had occurred.
"When, at half-past eight in the evening, he was informed that theenemy was encamped within the city limits, near the Capitol, heapplied the torch, and property valued at about a million of dollarswas destroyed.
"The schooner Lynx was saved, and most of the metallic work at thenavy yard remained but little injured. The fine naval monument wassomewhat mutilated, but whether accidentally at the time of theconflagration, or wantonly by the British, who went there the next dayto complete the destructive work, is an unsettled question.
"At the same time, the Long bridge over the Potomac was fired at bothends. The Americans on the Virginia side thought a large body ofBritish troops were about to pass over, and fired that end to foilthem, while the British on the city side, perceiving, as they thought,a large body of Americans about to cross over from the Virginia side,fired the Maryland end of the bridge. The value of the entire amountof property destroyed at Washington by the British and Americans wasestimated at about two million dollars."
While we awaited the coming of Darius Thorpe, and believing that thecity of Washington would be totally destroyed before the Britishershad gratified their desire for vengeance, Jerry started a subjectwhich caused me to be more uncomfortable in mind than I had beenconcerning the absence of the old sailor.
"The enemy are bent on burnin' all the government buildin's in thecity, even if they do no more, an' what about the jails?"
I was at a loss to fully understand the question; but my fatherreplied:
"They won't go so far as to burn the prisoners, lad. All that crowd ofevil-doers will be set at liberty, and I reckon they'll be the onlyAmericans who can rejoice because of the English victory atBladensburg.
"Then in that case," Jerry said grimly, "we can set it down as a factthat Elias Macomber is paradin' the streets with his good friends theBritish, boastin' of his suffering at the hand of the Americans."
I started up in very unpleasant surprise. Until this moment I hadgiven no heed to the cur whom we had captured twice, since we left theburning fleet at Pig Point; but now I realized that my partner wasright. There could be no question but that Elias Macomber was a freeman once more, and all our efforts to bring him to justice had onlyresulted in giving him an opportunity to pose as a martyr!
"Well, he's got a chance to pay off old scores now, if he only knewit," Jim Freeman suggested. "How happy the villain would be if he knewwhere he could find us in hidin'!"
"Don't talk about him," I said petulantly. "It makes me heartsick tothink that after all our work he is in fine feather, strutting aroundthe city as one of the best friends the British had in this section.Speak of something else. What of Bill Jepson? Does any one know if hecame out of the battle alive?"
"I saw him not more than five minutes before the order was given toretreat," my father said. "He had been sent back to the wagons forammunition, and appeared to be having a royal time."
"We'll hope he got away at the last, for if he's taken they'll hanghim as a deserter," I said, and then, finding it impossible to preventmy thoughts from straying to our missing comrade, I added, "Dariuswouldn't have stayed away so long unless something serious hadhappened. We ought to go in search of him."
"Where would you look first?" Jerry asked. "If the Britishers gottheir hands on him we stand little chance of seein' the poor fellow,for they'll keep him a close prisoner."
"It doesn't seem possible that we can accomplish very much," I saidwith a long drawn sigh; "but we must do as he would if one of us wasmissing."
"And what would that be?" my father asked.
"I wish I knew, sir. He surely would search for us, as we must forhim; but I am all at sea as to how the work should be begun."
Every member of the party was eager to be doing something, but so faras having any plan in mind, they were all like me, and we sat therestaring at each other like a lot of frightened rabbits until I couldremain idle no longer.
"I'm going out somewhere!" I cried. "Almost anything is better thansitting here in suspense, when it may be that he has simply falleninto difficulties from which we might extricate him."
"But what of the British?" my father asked, and I replied recklessly:
"We must take our chances as to them, sir. It does not seem probablethat two or three lads would be looked upon by them with suspicion,for there must be many wandering around the city this night."
"Who will go with you?"
"That's for me to do," Jerry said promptly. "The other fellows willstay here with you, sir, and the door must not be opened without goodreason. Keep under cover while we are gone," he added to Jim, "an'don't let one of the boys so much as stick his nose outside. Come on,Amos, the longer we stand here talkin' about it the greater will thedanger appear."
Then he stepped outside quickly, and I followed his example, closingthe door behind me lest father should attempt to say something in thenature of a farewell, which I knew would unnerve me, because Ibelieved it was exceedingly dangerous for any of our party to movearound the city.
When we were alone in the night, where the shadows were distorted bythe dancing glow of the live embers on every hand, Jerry said grimly:
"It was foolish to make any talk about what we would do toward findin'Darius, while we were in the smoke-house, because we might have arguedtill mornin' without comin' to any conclusion; but now that we'vestarted out I'd like to know how we're goin' to work?"
I could make no satisfactory reply to this question, and plainly toldhim so. We had nothing to guide us on the search. The old man hadgiven us no idea of where he might go, and all we knew was that hedisappeared beyond the burning tavern.
"He wouldn't have followed the Britishers," I said after a long pause,"therefore it seems foolish to look for him at the other end of thecity. If we only knew what he went after!"
"I reckon the first thing in his mind was to get food, and he mighthave thought that could be done where the shops were bein' robbed."
"And then would come to his mind the question as to how we might getdown the river while father is unable to walk," I added, believingthat by thus trying to make out what Darius was most likely to do wecould hit upon a plan for the search.
"The only way we'd be able to leave this city by water, if we wantedto get home, would be on the Potomac river, an' he'd need a stoutcanoe for such a voyage."
We were not coming to any understanding by this line of thought,therefore I harked back to the belief that he might have followed theBritishers to the upper end of the city, and proposed, knowing of nobetter course, to walk in that direction.
The day was beginning to dawn. No soldiers were to be seen on thestreets, and I began to believe that the invaders, wearied with theirwork of destruction, had returned to the encampment near theburying-ground.
We came upon the ruins of the President's mansion; the fire had eatenout the interior of the building, but the walls were yet standing, andnear about, apparently having neither purpose nor business there, werean hundred people or more, all gazing at the evidences of the mostapproved method of making war by the British standard.
We mingled with these idlers to make certain Darius was not amongthem, and then went toward the other ruins on a like errand, but withno success.
It was sunrise, perhaps a lit
tle later, when we stood near the ruinsof the barracks, where a number of negroes were digging amid theglowing embers with the hope of finding weapons which might berestored to a condition of usefulness after being subjected to suchgreat heat.
One of these searchers for useless treasure straightened up as weapproached, and I saw that he was an old man, who looked as if hemight have been a gentleman's servant.
"Do you live here in Washington, uncle?" I asked, and the old darkeyreplied:
"I'se ain't noways conditioned fur to answer dat question, sah, kase Idunno whar massa am ter be foun' dese yere queer days wha' we'sehabin'."
"Who is your master?"
"Massa Clayton, sah. He's foolin' 'roun' wid some ob dem militiousmen; but I ain't foun' out wedder he whipped de Britishers, or ef deydone gone got de bes' ob him."
"I reckon you can say that he has got the worst of it up to thepresent time, for your 'militious' men didn't make any great showing,"I said with a laugh, and then there came into my mind the memory ofElias Macomber. "Tell me, uncle, where did the American soldiers keeptheir prisoners?"
"Right hyar, sah; I'se done seed de barracks jail many a time."
"Were you around here when the building was fired?"
"Yes sah, I stood right hyar when de ossifers rode up."
"Did they set the prisoners free?"
"Sure enuf, honey, more'n twenty ob dem, an' I'se tellin' you dat demwhite men was mighty glad fo' to get clear so easy like."
"Come on, Amos," Jerry said impatiently. "You can do no good talkin'with the old darkey, for he doesn't know anything concerning ourbusiness."
I recognized that fact fully, and yet I lingered to ask one morequestion, never fancying of how much importance the answer might be tous.
"Where do the British keep their prisoners? Surely they must havebrought in some since the battle, and these barracks would have been aprime place for anything of the kind."
"Dey is pilin' de 'Mericans inter dat stone house back ob whar dearsenal uster was 'fore it got set on fire las' night."
"Where is that, uncle?" Jerry cried excitedly, and the old darkeyreplied as he pointed out the direction:
"Ober yander, sah, des whar you'se kin see de red roof."
Now it was that I understood what was in Jerry's mind, and only withdifficulty could I restrain myself from running forward at full speed.
If Darius had been captured, then it was in the "stone house" he mustbe confined, and I believed our search would be at an end if we couldlook into every portion of that building.
There were many loungers near about, and no one might say how manywere British spies or sympathizers, therefore we remained looking atthe men who were digging amid the ruins until feeling certain ourdeparture would not attract undue attention.
There were many lads of about our age idling on the streets, watchingsimply from curiosity the movements of the enemy, and I said to myselfthat if we were careful to do nothing which might cause suspicion, wecould walk wheresoever we pleased without fear of being taken for ladswho, under Commodore Barney, had given the invaders such good battlefor the possession of the hill at Bladensburg.
"Now we know where Darius is!" Jerry exclaimed when we were wherethere was little danger our words would be overheard.
"How can you be so certain of that? He might have come to grief inmany another way than that of being gobbled up by the enemy."
"In any other case I'll warrant he'd have contrived to send some wordto us. I'm convinced he's in the 'stone house.'"
"In which event I'm afraid we can't be of much assistance to the poorfellow. The Britishers will take good care that their prisoners don'tescape."
"I'm not so certain about that," Jerry replied stoutly. "In case wehave time enough, it should be possible to do somethin'. If we couldlet him know that we're near at hand I'll go bail he'd cook up somekind of a plan."
While thus talking we had been walking at a reasonably rapid pacetoward the ruins of the arsenal, and were now arrived so near that itwas possible to see the red-coated sentries pacing to and fro in frontof the building. At one side a number of soldiers were bivouacked,probably that they might be on hand in case the prisoners attempted torise against the keepers, and here, there, everywhere were curiousones--perhaps some interested as were we--gazing at the small buildingwhere were so many brave fellows, most likely penned up like cattle.
"The greater number of those idlers must be townspeople, and sincethey are allowed to loiter around the buildin' there's no good reasonwhy we shouldn't do the same," Jerry said as I came to a halt, and hehad hardly more than spoken before he stepped back very suddenly,pulling me with him.
"What's the matter?" I asked in alarm, for at such a time one's fearsrise rapidly.
"Look at that fellow who is standin' on his tiptoes to look in at thewindow!" my partner whispered, and obeying, I saw that miserable curwhom we had twice captured, and who had contrived to escape us thesame number of times.
"Elias Macomber!" I cried involuntarily.
"Ay," Jerry replied, "an' now I can read you the whole riddle. Dariuscame around this way when the prisoners were set free; Macomber sawhim, and gave information to the enemy, thus causin' the old man'sarrest. Now the villain is tryin' to get a glimpse of the sailor inorder to crow over him!"
I had no doubt but that the lad had come very near the truth in hisguessing; but I did not speculate upon it very long, for the questionin my mind was whether we could be of any service to the old man whohad served us so truly and faithfully.
"What's to be done?" Jerry asked as we stepped behind a clump ofbushes in a nearby garden where we might not be seen by the fellow whowould have rejoiced if he could have put us in the same place withDarius.
At the moment Jerry spoke I had never an idea as to what might bedone; but I replied as if the plan was plainly mapped out in my mind:
"You shall go back to the smoke-house and tell father and the ladswhat we have learned. Say that we may not be back until dark; but theyare to stay under cover no matter what happens, short of beingdiscovered by the British. I'll watch here till Macomber goes away,for he isn't likely to play at that game all day, and you should beback within an hour."
Jerry started off without stopping to argue the question, and I wasleft alone to keep in view the man who could do us so much mischief ifhe had an inkling that we were in the vicinity.
Twice he spoke with the sentinel, as if asking some favor, and eachtime the man shook his head decidedly, therefore I concluded that thecur had tried to enter the building that he might jeer such of theprisoners as had been friends of his in the past.
Then he peered in at the window again, never making an effort to lookthrough any other, and I concluded that from such position he couldsee the prisoner he had most reason to hate, which, of course, must beDarius.
I did not dare remain in one position all the while, lest some one seethat I was spying upon the prison and grow suspicious as to mymotives, while Macomber was so intent upon gazing at his enemies thatI might have brushed past him without attracting attention.
Therefore it was that I paced to and fro, never taking my eyes fromthe cur, however, and making certain there was a place of concealmentnear at hand into which I could dart at a moment's warning.
Not until fully half an hour had passed did he abandon his fruitlessefforts, and then he walked in the direction of the British encampmentas if with some fixed purpose in his mind, which, I had no doubt, wasto ask for a permit to visit the prisoners.
Had he gone toward any other quarter of the city it would have pleasedme to see him go; but now I was sorely distressed in mind, for hisway led the same course Jerry must pursue when returning from thesmoke-house, and it would be the irony of fate if the two should comeface to face.
However, that was an evil which I could not mend, and, therefore, Iput the matter from my mind so far as possible, while I set aboutdoing the only thing which seemed to promise a chance to have speechwith our comrade.
; I proposed to take Macomber's place at the window, and if it waspossible to see Darius inside, there was no question in my mind butthat I could contrive to attract his attention.
There was no little danger in making the attempt, because I might thusarouse suspicion in the mind of the sentry, or be seen by an officerwho would insist on knowing why I was there; but it was the only wayby which I could have speech with Darius, if indeed he was a prisoner,and I determined to take the chances.
I lounged across the street as if having no particular purpose inview; walked past the end of the building twice, peering about me likea simple, and then stepped up to the window.
One glance inside and I saw the man for whom I had been searching. Hewas lying at full length on the floor, chewing tobacco mostindustriously, and seated tailor-fashion beside him was Bill Jepson.
There were very many militiamen in the room; but these two oldshell-backs seemed to hold themselves aloof from the others, and Icould well understand that this exclusiveness was because of thecowardice shown by many of the toy soldiers the day previous.
Neither Darius nor Bill seemed to be paying any attention to what wasgoing on around them, and I began to realize that it might not be assimple a matter to attract their attention as I had supposed.
I did not dare do anything which would cause the sentry to be curious,or be noticed particularly by those who were passing in eitherdirection, therefore the most I ventured was to drum idly on the glasswith the tips of my fingers, which was not a difficult task since theiron bars were so far apart that I could thrust my entire arm betweenthem and the window-sash.
Darius was not as heedless to the surroundings as he appeared. Nosooner had I begun to tap ever so gently than he looked up, and afterone quick, meaning glance, rose leisurely to his feet, speaking softlymeanwhile to Bill.
The latter never so much as looked toward me; but the two moved hereor there as if weary with remaining long in one position, and all thewhile they were approaching the window.
Then Darius leaned against the sash, with Bill facing the middle ofthe room, as he talked with many gesticulations to his companion.
I noticed that the old man bent over as if weary, until his face wasvery near the glass, and while Bill waved his arms as if in the midstof a heated argument, I saw Darius' lips move.
"On the roof--to-night--bring rope--ten o'clock."
No less than three times were these words repeated, I reading themfrom the motion of his lips, for as a matter of course he did not dareto speak so loud that I could hear him.
Then I went through the same motions with _my_ lips, in order to makecertain there could be no mistake, and Darius nodded his head in tokenthat I had the words correctly.
Now it was my business to get away from the prison as soon aspossible, for Elias Macomber might return at any moment, and I backedinto the street while gazing at the top of the building, looking, mostlikely, the greenest lad that ever visited a city.
While thus acting the simple I was making ready for whatsoever planDarius wanted to carry into effect, for I studied the outside of thejail until I could tell within a foot of how much rope would beneeded.
The "stone house" was three stories in height, with an ordinarypitched roof from which projected four chimneys--two at each end. Fromthe eaves to the ground I judged it was not less than thirty feet, andfrom the eaves to the nearest chimney, measuring at whichsoevercorner you chose, was ten feet. To that length add three feet for aturn around the chimney and two half-hitches, and one had the lengthof rope Darius wanted--say forty-three or four feet.
I noticed that on the side of the roof nearest the street was atrap-door or scuttle very nearly in the middle, well up toward theridge-pole, and it must be that our comrades would come through that,since I saw no other way by which they could get outside.
Without doubt those two old shell-backs had made a careful survey ofthe place within ten minutes after being imprisoned, and had a planfor escape mapped out ready to be carried into execution, providingany aid could be had from the outside.
By the time I had backed entirely across the street I had a picture ofthe jail in my mind which could be recalled at any moment, and as Iturned to saunter away I came face to face with Jerry.
"Have you been over there?" he asked, motioning toward the "stonehouse."
"Yes, and have the same as talked with Darius and Bill Jepson. Let usget out of sight where we shan't be watched. I was afraid you wouldrun into Macomber; he started off some time ago, and I got it into myhead that he was going to the British encampment."
"I reckon that's where he was bound for. I kept my eyes open mightywide both goin' an' comin', therefore saw the cur while he was a longdistance away, otherwise we might have run into each other as you an'I did."
"All right at the smoke-house?"
"Snug as bugs, an' your father is as chipper as a sparrow."
Then I led the way up what appeared to be a lane in the rear of somedwelling, until we were where we could talk without danger of beingseen or heard.