CHAPTER VIII.
CONTRABAND GOODS.
It was greatly to the advantage of the swift _Noank_ that her largerand even swifter enemy was having a battle of its own. The burlycommander of the _Clyde_ was compelled to surrender, for the time, tothe imperious demands of the polar gale. If it would have been at allsafe to have thrown open any of his ports, nothing worth while couldhave been done with his guns. All that was left for him to do,therefore, was to follow on as best he could in the wake of hisAmerican prize. This could be done fairly well, for a while, althoughhe was not gaining upon her. Then, however, another of her naturalallies interfered, for darkness came over the sea, and his best hopefor catching the _Noank_ went out like an extinguished lantern.
Meantime, the captain had to listen, with undisguised vexation, to hissteward's dolorous account of the damage done to the delicacies in thestoreroom.
Far away, northerly, that very evening, a patriotic company ofAmericans had gathered in a large and pretty well-lighted room.Adjoining this were several other rooms, large and small, which wereoccupied in very much the same manner. The house was the old Ledyardmansion at New London, and all these women and girls had gatheredthere, with one accord, for work, and not for fun. The brave owner ofthe homestead, Colonel William Ledyard, was absent upon an errand toBoston, and there were hardly any grown-up men in the assembly. Therewere boys, indeed, brimming with patriotism, and these were evidentlyfeeling more than ordinarily warlike as they helped their grandmothers,and mothers, and sisters, and aunts at the peculiar industry which hadbrought them together.
It was neither a sewing society, nor a quilting bee, nor an appleparing. There could not, however, have been more activity orcheerfulness, even at a corn husking, and yet the cause of all thisenthusiasm and energy was serious indeed. All the busy fingers inthese rooms were putting up ball cartridges with the powder and leadcaptured by Lyme Avery in the _Windsor_.
"What a pity it is that we cannot send them to Washington," said one ofthe workers. "He will need them all pretty soon."
"I hope we'll never need them here," responded another, "but I supposethe forts must be provided. The British may come. They have goodreasons for hating New London."
"It hath many bad people in it," came sarcastically from beyond thetable in the middle of the room. "I fear there is very little lovehere for our good king. We think too little of all that he is tryingto do for us."
"Rachel Tarns," exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, near her, "there's more newsfrom New York just in. Your good king is stirring up the Six Nationsagain. There will be more trouble on that frontier."
"Not right away, I think," replied the Quakeress. "I have much faiththat the peaceful red men will remain in their wigwams during suchweather as this is. Should they not do so, I fear lest some of themmight be hurt by the frontiersmen, even if they are not frost-bitten."
"That's what I'm afraid of," said one of the larger boys. "Old Putought to be there. Washington used to be an Indian fighter. Killedlots of 'em. I guess there won't any of 'em trouble us folks inConnecticut."
"Thee is only a boy," laughed Rachel. "Thy Old Put could tell thee oftroubles with the red men not so very far away from this place. Thyown house is upon land that once belonged to them. What would thee doif they should come to take it away from thee?"
"I'd fight!" said the youngster. "My father's with Washington and mybrother's with Putnam. Mother and I are ready to shoot if any of 'emcome near our house."
"Rachel," said Mrs. Ten Eyck, "how is thy conscience this evening? Howis it that a Quaker can make cartridges?"
"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "I have it upon my mind that the morecartridges we make, if they are used well, also, the sooner will thiswicked war be brought to an end. Thou knowest that the testimony ofthe Friends is given for peace. Therefore do I rely much upon thatgood friend, George Washington. He gave a strengthening testimony atTrenton and Princeton."
Everybody had become accustomed to the dry and often bitter sayings ofthe old Quakeress, and now a white-haired woman across the roomsuddenly exclaimed:--
"Hear that wind! O dear! I wasn't thinking of redskins. So many ofour boys are at sea. Mine are with Lyme Avery. What wouldn't I giveto know just how they're doing!"
"Why, they are sailing south," replied Mrs. Avery. "If this stormreaches 'em, it'll send 'em along. Lyme is used to rough weather."
Brave was she, and very brave were they all, and the "cartridge bee,"as they called it, was a good illustration of the stubborn spirit offreedom which made it impossible to conquer the colonies.
"The forts'll be safer," they said, as they packed up their dangerouswork and prepared to scatter to their homes through the icy storm. "Wemust come and roll cartridges two evenings every week. Some of theboys are putting in all their time to moulding bullets."
All of those boys were growing, too, and some who were only fit to meltlead and run bullets at fourteen or fifteen would be in the ranksbefore the end of the war. They would be Continental soldiers, forinstance, at such fights as that at Yorktown. Any country becomessafer while its boys are eager to grow up for its defence, and are allthe while taking lessons that will prepare them for efficiency.
The next morning dawned quietly upon both land and sea. The northerhad blown itself out, and it had brought no great amount of snow withit anywhere. It had been severe while it lasted, and then it haddeparted, like any other unwelcome guest.
The streets of New London were cold and snowy, but they were not by anymeans dreary or deserted that morning.
One more ocean prize had been brought in, and the report of it had goneout in all directions. The sleighing was good over the country roads,and the number of teams hitched along the sides of the lower streetstestified to the general hunger for news as well as for trade. Thesociability of all these arriving sleighing parties was tremendous, andthey seemed to be all of one mind concerning the events of the day.That is, the one-mindedness here was exactly like, and yet exactlyopposed, to the one-mindedness which ruled upon Manhattan Island, notso far away. Whigs here, Tories there, were equally earnest,determined, and hopeful.
In New York as in New London, it was currently reported that a numberof the more active business men were actually making fortunes by thewar. Not a great many rebel vessels had been brought into New Yorkharbor as prizes, but all that did come in, and that were condemned andsold, offered opportunities for speculation. The best of the towntrade came from the army and navy, but there were still a few smalldriblets coming in from the interior. It was worthy of note, perhaps,that furs, for instance, should sometimes reach New York from thenorth, from regions beyond Albany. These were smuggled down the HudsonRiver, nobody knew how. It had been suggested, of course, by sharppeople, that American commanders might be willing to shut their eyeswhile a fur trader went in, provided they were to have a talk with himon his return.
In like manner, it was said, the British generals had no objectionswhatever to the arrival of fellows who were certified to them as"well-known Tories," who could give them abundant informationconcerning the ragged, starving, worthless condition of the rebelforces in and above the Hudson highlands.
No doubt, too, it was encouraging to the military and other servants ofthe king to hear, from honest and loyal fur traders, how the rebels ofthe Mohawk Valley were dispirited by the defeats of Washington's army,and how they were preparing to turn against the Continental Congress.Best of all, perhaps, was the assurance thus brought that all the SixNations and the Hurons of the woods were ready to take the war-path inthe spring as the allies of England.
If there were sailors ashore on leave that morning, from many of theother ships in the harbor, there were none from the _Termagant_, forshe was under orders to sail. Captain Luke Watts himself had a call ofceremony to make, at an early hour, relating to those very orders, forhe was to give in his last report of the condition of his ship andcrew. The "port captain," to whom his report was to be made, was t
hecommander of a lordly seventy-four. In the absence of any admiral hewas the "commodore" of all the naval forces in and about the harbor.
Captain Watts was kept on deck in waiting for a few minutes only, andwhen he was summoned to the cabin he found the commodore by no meansalone. The mere skipper of a transport was not asked to take a seat insuch a presence, and Luke stood, hat in hand, respectfully, while hispresented papers were read and approved.
"Now, Watts," said the commodore, "what course do you take, homewardbound?"
"As far no'th as I can get, sir," replied Luke, "for good reasons."
"Give your reasons."
"Well, sir, from what I heard at New London, the rebel pirates areaimin' at our West Injy trade. They'll hang 'round the reg'lar course,too, the southern track. I jest mean to steer out o' their way."
"Good!" said the commodore. "What else did you hear among the Yankees?"
"Well, sir," replied the Tory sailor, "they said, and they seemed toknow, that our cruisers off the Havana are mostly heavy craft thatcan't chase 'em through the channels and over the shoals and 'mong thelagoons. What we need, sir, is a lot o' light draft vessels there, andwell armed, too."
"Make a note of all this, lieutenant," exclaimed the commodore. "Thisman Watts has brought in good advice before this. Whatever he bringsis said to be of practical value. Go on, man! What next?"
"Well, sir," said Watts, "before I left Liverpool the last time, Iheard a p'int. I must look sharp after I get over and want to run in.I must say it, sir, the Irish and English coast is only half guarded.We haven't half enough ships on duty there. Next we know, we'll hearof Yankee pirates in St. George's Channel."
"Note it! note it!" exclaimed the commodore, loudly. "It's just so!What with so many of our best cruisers ordered to America and theAntilles and the Mediterranean, and to the China seas, our own homecoasts are left to be defended by old hulks and mere revenue cutters.The Yankees can run away from the heavy tubs, and they can smash allthe smuggler catchers. We shall hear bad news, next. Watts, take yourown course. Get in how you can. You're a man we can rely on. Go,now, sir."
"My ship'll get in, sir," said Luke, almost too sturdily. "I wish Iwas as sure 'bout some others. I'm afraid they're going to crack ourtraders 'mong the islands."
"That'll do! Go!" he was told, and he went out, leaving behind him avery capable naval officer in a decidedly uncomfortable state of mind.
"Gentlemen," he said to his officers, "all that he says is only tootrue. I am sorry it is, but I am intending to embody it in my reportto the Admiralty. The unpleasant thing for us is, however, that wecan't spare anything or send anything, from this fleet and station, toprevent the mischief that's threatened among the Antilles."
They all agreed with him. All of them considered, also, that the manLuke Watts had given valuable information and suggestions. He had doneso, doubtless, but he had not thereby done anything to hinder thefuture operations of any Yankee privateer.
He was rowed back to the _Termagant_, and when he arrived somebody waswaiting for him on her deck.
"Feller named Allen," he was told by a sailor at the rail. "He's akind o' fur pedler, I'd say, with a permit from one o' the generals, Idon't know who."
"All right," said Watts. "Fetch him below, packs and all. I'll see ifhis papers are reg'lar. We don't make any loose work on this ship."
"Ay, ay, sir," said the sailor.
Sharp as was his examination of them a moment later, he seemed to beentirely satisfied with the documents presented to him by the man namedAllen. He had obtained the customary authority, as a loyal merchant ofthe port of New York, to ship by the _Termagant_ to his agent inLondon, a properly scheduled assortment of valuable furs. All had beenofficially inspected and approved.
"Come down below," said Captain Watts. "All your packages are down.I'll give these things another overhauling in my cabin."
"Certainly, Captain Watts," replied Mr. Allen. "Whatever you wish."
He was even willing to help carry down the furs, and one of the smallerparcels of them was in his hand when they reached the cabin. He stillheld it after the door was shut and bolted, leaving him and the captainalone together. Then his entire manner changed somewhat suddenly, andhe threw his parcel down upon the table.
"Captain Luke Watts," he said, "that's it. You'd best take out thepapers, now, and stow 'em away somewhere. You ain't sure there won'tbe another look taken at the furs 'fore you git away. I wouldn't riskit. They're getting suspicious, all 'round."
Open came the parcel, as he spoke, and in the very middle of it lay abundle of such materials as would ordinarily have been sent through apost-office.
"It's about all the cargo I'll have, of any consequence," remarkedLuke, staring down at the unexpected mail.
"General Schuyler told me to say," replied Allen, "that all these areof great importance. Some are from him to his friends in England.You'll know how to have 'em delivered. Some are to go to Holland andsome to Paris. That last is all the way from the Congress atPhiladelphia. It got to me by way of Morristown and one of our JerseyTories, you know. That's old Ben Franklin's own handwriting."
"I'll see that they go straight through," said Luke, quietly. "I'llput 'em safe away, now, first thing."
"You'll swing at a yard-arm inside o' one day, if you're ketched with'em," said Allen. "I've been up among the Six Nations, all the waythrough to Niagara, for my brother's concern on Pearl Street. I wentto buy furs for them, you see, and did first-rate. I fetched alongpacks o' news, too, for the British commanders. It was risky business,working my way through Putnam's lines, though. I came pretty nigh tobeing shot or hung by the rebels, you know."
"Ye-es, I know," responded Luke. "They came jest about as nigh as thatto hangin' me, they did. The bloodthirsty pirates! Get ashore, now,Allen. I'll land your furs for ye. I hope your concern'll make a goodthing out of 'em."
"Finest furs you ever saw," laughed Allen. "Look out for spies andsearchers. Here's good success to good King George--Washington, andmay the glorious flag of England float victoriously--till we pull itdown! Luke Watts, I'm the poisonest kind of Tory, I am!"
"Jest like me," said Watts. "I've done all I can to put down this 'erewicked rebellion."
"I've heard so," said Allen. "We got the news all the way fromConnecticut. You delivered a whole ship's cargo of heavy guns andmuskets and ammunition to the loyal-hearted Tories of New London. Iwas born there once, myself. I know just how faithfully they lovetheir king and his blessed Parliament. Good-by, Luke! A successfulvoyage to you. Keep out o' the way of pirates."
"I must, this time," said Watts. "If I don't, I'll never get anothership to carry furs and things in."
Up on deck they went, and the last words uttered by Allen did not haveto be whispered.
"Take good care of your neck, Captain," he called out, from his boat."If you're caught, this time, you'll never see New York again, orMarblehead, either."
"I guess he's about right," said Mate Brackett, gazing after the boat."I'd say you seem to be a man that the rebels have set a mark on."
"Never you mind," said Watts. "We won't be ketched by 'em, that's all.The commodore says we may sail our own course. We'll git there."
"All right, sir," said Brackett. "We've a queer lot o' chaps with usthis trip, but we'll work 'em."
What he meant by that was that all the prime seamen were needed by thewar-ships, and that almost anything on two feet had been deemed goodenough for an old transport ship going home in ballast.
"We'll have to travel under light canvas, I take it," remarkedBrackett, as he looked at his crew. "It'd be all night and part o'next day for them to shorten sail in a hurry."
The boat which carried Mr. Allen, the loyal fur trader, reached theshore. On getting out of it, he walked until he came to a dwelling ashort distance easterly from what the fire had left of old PearlStreet. He entered without knocking and passed through the house tothe kitchen in the rear,
where a comely, middle-aged woman stood beforean open fireplace, watching a pot which was hanging on the crane.
"Sally Allen," he said, in a somewhat low and guarded tone, "thecaptain took the furs. It's all right."
"It is if they don't find him out," she said, gloomily. "I think youare running awful risks, Tom. The sooner you are back again in theMohawk Valley, the better for you."
"I shall get there," he told her; "that is, if I'm not shot before Ipass the Dunderberg. I mustn't stay here, though. I must be in acanoe at Spuyten Duyvil Creek before morning."
"They make short work of spies, Tom," she said. "Think of what theydid to Nathan Hale. I used to know him, years ago, in New London."
"Sally," he said, "I want you to mark just one thing. He isn'tforgotten! One o' these days there'll be some first-rate Britishofficer captured, a good deal as Hale was, with papers on him, playingspy. Whenever that happens, our side won't show any mercy. The spy'llhave to swing!"
"That's all wrong!" she exclaimed. "I hate to think of it. Allrevenge is wicked. It's awful to think of killing one man becausesomebody somewhere else killed another."
"Now, Sally, that isn't it exactly," replied Tom. "What we mean isthat all the spy hanging isn't to be done on one side o' this war.What's right for them is right for us."
"No!" she said. "It isn't so! It's like so many red savages to talkin that way. We don't take scalps, just because they do, nor killwomen and children. I'm a true American woman, and I believe inrighting, but I don't want any stain left on our side."
"There won't be any," said Tom. "I'm going ahead, if they do hang me.I'm running Nathan Hale's risk, all the while."
"God protect you!" she said. "Do you feel sure you can creep through?"
"I've done it before," he replied. "What I'm thinking of, the worstthing for me, is the new line of pickets along the river bank. I shallbe fired at, pretty sure, before I can paddle on into the HudsonNarrows. There'll be some risk from our own pickets above Anthony'sNose. I guess they'll all miss me. I've one package, though; that'sall weighted, ready to drop into the water if I'm exhausted. I'd makeout to sink it, if I was dying. Now, give me some supper."
"Oh, Tom!" she said, "God keep us!"