CHAPTER XIII
Tom and the Redcoats
The day after Tom Dare became a member of the company of Britishsoldiers, he went with a party of about twenty on a trip toward thesouthward, where it was said the patriots were thick, nearly all beingpatriots in fact.
Captain Kane instructed Lieutenant Wicks, who was to have charge of theparty, to plunder the patriot homes and take prisoners, where thepatriots showed signs of resistance or anger.
"Bring them here," he said, "and we will make them join our force andfight for the king."
"All right, Captain Kane," was the reply.
"I have heard," went on the captain, "that General Greene is on his wayto Ninety-Six, with a force of about one thousand men, and if he has asstrong a force as that, then we will need all the men we can get, for wehave only about six hundred."
Then the party set out, and made its way toward the south. For severalmiles their route was through a region where the majority of thesettlers were loyalists, and these were not bothered.
"There is a settlement about twenty miles from here, in among themountains," said the lieutenant to the soldiers nearest to him as theymade their way along, "and it is made up wholly of rebels. I have beenwanting to get a chance at them for a good while, and I am goingstraight there. We will help ourselves to any of their belongings thatwe care for, and will take the men prisoners and make them come back toNinety-Six and fight for the king when General Greene puts in anappearance."
"I know where that settlement is," said one of the soldiers. "They arestrong rebels, up there."
"Yes, but we'll make them wish they were loyal to the king before we getthrough with them," said the lieutenant.
Tom listened to the conversation of the lieutenant and the soldiers withinterest, and he began wondering if he could not manage to in somemanner get word to the settlers of their danger.
"I'll try to do so," he decided. "If any opportunity is offered to me, Iwill slip away and try to get to the settlement ahead of the redcoatsand warn the settlers."
The party of British soldiers did not hurry. They did not care to reachthe settlement until evening, anyway, and so they made their way alongat a moderate pace, and stopped an hour and a half at noon, and afterthey had eaten, they proceeded at the same moderate pace, and it wasgetting along toward evening when the lieutenant said they were withintwo miles of the settlement, which was in a high valley, up in among themountains.
At the point where they were when the lieutenant made this statement,they were making their way along a path that wound around the side of amountain, and at one side the mountain stretched up hundreds of feet inthe air, while to the other side there was almost a precipice. Thedescent for a hundred feet was quite steep, but not so steep but what aman might descend it, by using care. Tom Dare, who had been trying tothink of some manner of giving the party the slip and getting to thesettlement ahead of the redcoats, decided on a plan. It was dangerous,but he would try it anyhow, and his plan was to pretend to stumble andthen fall and go sliding down the declivity. He would then get to hisfeet, make his way to the settlement and warn the settlers.
He managed to work his way over till he was close to the edge of thedescent, and then suddenly he stumbled, gave a cry of seeming alarm,fell and went rolling over and over down the steep mountain-side.
The soldiers were greatly excited and yelled advice and encouragement tothe youth, but he was rolling so rapidly that their voices came to himonly in an inarticulate murmur. He did not understand their words, andcould not have acted on any of the suggestions had he done so.
"Stop," yelled one soldier.
"Grab hold of something," cried another.
"Whirl your body around and stick your heels in the earth," was thesuggestion from another.
On rolled Tom, and although he did his best to lessen his speed, hecould do little, and he went down the side of the mountain with terriblespeed. Fortunately, however, he was able to grasp a long trailing vineand this enabled him to twist himself into a more perpendicularposition. Presently, when about one hundred feet down, he shot over alittle precipice and went fifteen or twenty feet downward, directly intothe top of a stunted fir tree. On through the branches he went, beingbuffeted first one way and then the other, and finally fell to theground alighting upon the mossy bank of a little rivulet. Had he had inadvance the slightest conception of the danger of his undertaking, hecertainly would not have made the venture.
Luckily the branches of the tree had broken his fall considerably, andalthough he was somewhat stunned by the fall, and dazed by the swiftwhirling, he was not seriously injured, and in a few moments he wasenabled to sit up, and a little later he rose to his feet, shookhimself, and began figuring on getting to the settlement ahead of theredcoats.
Then to his hearing came the words, from the lieutenant: "Tom Dare! Areyou alive? Where are you?"
"They'll be looking for me in a few moments," thought Tom. "I must hurryaway from here."
He set out in the direction of the settlement, picking his way alongcarefully, and gradually he worked his way upward, and when he had goneabout a mile, he reached the path the soldiers had been following whenhe rolled down the mountain-side.
Tom looked back, but saw no signs of the British soldiers. He could seeonly about two hundred yards, however, as the path bent around the sideof the mountain.
Tom did not linger there, however, and after one swift glance back, heset out along the path on the run, and in about ten minutes emerged fromthe path into a high valley of perhaps three or four miles long and amile and a half in width. At a point near the center he saw a group oflog houses, and toward these he hastened.
It was now about supper time, and Tom decided that the settlers were allat their homes. This would be better than if the men were scatteredabout, in the fields, at work, for they could make preparations fordefense quickly.
Tom kept glancing back over his shoulder as he ran toward the houses,and each time he looked, he expected to see the British soldiers coming.He had gone about halfway to the houses, however, before he caught sightof the redcoats. They were just entering the valley, and they must havecaught sight of Tom and guessed what he was intending to do, for a yellwent up from their lips that came to his hearing.
"They have seen and recognized me," thought Tom. "Well, I have the startof them, and will reach the settlement in time to make it possible forthe men to get ready to show fight."
On ran the youth, and the redcoats could be seen to be running also, butthey were not so swift-footed as Tom, and he reached the settlementwhile the redcoats were still more than half a mile distant.
Tom stopped at the first house he came to, and opened the door withoutceremony and called out:
"A party of redcoats is coming to attack the settlement, sir. Get themen together quickly, if you want to make a fight."
A man came hastily to the door, and cried: "What's thet you say, youngman? Redcoats comin' here?"
"Yes, sir. You can see them, yonder, and--"
"Why, ye're one yourself!" exclaimed the man, noting Tom's Britishuniform.
"No, I'm a patriot that was forced to join their force. I was with thatparty, but got ahead of them, and came to warn you. Get the mentogether, quickly. How many are there in the settlement?"
"About twenty-five."
"There are only twenty of the redcoats. We can whip them. Get the othermen at once."
"All right. I'll go to part of the houses and give the alarm, you go tothe rest."
Then they hastened from house to house, warning the settlers, and in aless number of minutes than it takes to tell, the men were gathered atthe edge of the settlement, rifles in hand, ready for the redcoats.
The women and children were told to leave the houses and retire up themountain-side, in the shelter of the rocks, and they promptly did so.
"We'll protect ourselves by hiding behind the houses and fire at theredcoats, and hold them back
or drive them away," asserted one of thesettlers, who seemed to be looked upon as the leader. "If we can saveour houses and household goods, we will do so; but if they are toostrong for us, we can retreat up the mountainside."
"We can drive them away, I think, sir," said Tom.
"I hope so, young man." And then the settler added: "We thank you forbringing us warning of the approach of the British."
"You are welcome, sir. I am a patriot, and a member of the patriot armyunder General Greene, whose army is about sixty or seventy miles eastand north from here. I was captured by the British and made to jointheir force, but did so with the intention of making my escape at theearliest possible moment."
"Well, it is lucky for us that you brought us the news of the coming ofthe redcoats just when you did."
"They are almost within rifle-shot distance now," said one of thesettlers.
"All right," replied the leader. "Keep your eyes on them, and as soon asthey are within range, begin firing. Take aim, and make every shottell."
A few moments later, the British soldiers were close enough for thebullets from the rifles to reach them, and the settlers began firing.
Yells of anger went up from the lips of the redcoats.