CHAPTER IX.
THE UNWELCOME VISITORS.
The house of Birch had been watched at different times by theAmericans with a view to his arrest, but never with success, thereputed spy possessing a secret means of intelligence that invariablydefeated their schemes. Once, when a strong body of the Continentalarmy held the Four Corners for a whole summer, orders had beenreceived from Washington himself never to leave the door of HarveyBirch unwatched. The command was rigidly obeyed, and during this longperiod the peddler was unseen; the detachment was withdrawn, and thefollowing night Birch reentered his dwelling.
The father of Harvey had kept his dying situation a secret from theneighborhood, in the hope that he might still have the company of hischild in his last moments. The confusion of the day, and hisincreasing dread that Harvey might be too late, helped to hasten theevent he would fain arrest for a little while. As night set in hisillness increased to such a degree that the dismayed housekeeper senta truant boy, who had shut up himself with them during the combat, tothe Locusts in quest[65] of a companion to cheer her solitude. Caesaralone could be spared, and, loaded with eatables and cordials by thekind-hearted Miss Peyton, the black had been despatched on his duty.The dying man was past the use of medicines, and his chief anxietyseemed to centre in a meeting with his child.
[Footnote 65: search.]
The old man had closed his eyes, and his attendants believed him to beasleep. The house contained two large rooms and many small ones. Oneof the former served as kitchen and sitting-room; in the other lay thefather of Birch; of the latter one was the sanctuary of the vestal,and the other contained the stock of provisions. A huge chimney ofstone rose in the centre, serving of itself for a partition betweenthe large rooms; and fireplaces of corresponding dimensions were ineach apartment. A bright flame was burning in that of the common room,and within the very jambs of its monstrous jaws sat Caesar and Katy.The African was impressing his caution on the housekeeper, andcommenting on the general danger of indulging an idle curiosity, whenhis roving eyes suddenly became fixed, and his teeth chattered withaffright. Katy, turning her face, saw the peddler himself standingwithin the door of the room.
"Is he alive?" asked Birch, tremulously, and seemingly afraid toreceive the answer.
"Surely," said Katy, rising hastily, and officiously offering herchair; "he must live till day, or till the tide is down."
Disregarding all but the fact that his father still lived, the peddlerstole gently into the room of his dying parent. The tie which boundfather and son was of no ordinary kind. In the wide world they wereall to each other. Approaching the bedside, Harvey leaned his bodyforward, and, in a voice nearly choked by his feelings, he whisperednear the ear of the sick:
"Father, do you know me?" A noise in the adjoining room interruptedthe dying man, and the impatient peddler hastened to learn the cause.The first glance of his eye on the figure in the doorway told thetrader but too well his errand, and the fate that probably awaitedhimself. The intruder was a man still young in years, but hislineaments[66] bespoke a mind long agitated by evil passions. Hisdress was of the meanest materials, and so ragged and unseemly as togive him the air of studied poverty. His hair was prematurelywhitened, and his sunken, lowering eye avoided the bold, forward lookof innocence. There was a restlessness in his movements and anagitation in his manner that proceeded from the workings of the foulspirit within him. This man was a well-known leader of one of thosegangs of marauders[67] who infested the country with a semblance ofpatriotism, and who were guilty of every grade of offence, from simpletheft up to murder. Behind him stood several other figures, clad in asimilar manner, but whose countenances expressed nothing more than theindifference of brutal insensibility. They were well armed withmuskets and bayonets, and provided with the usual implements offoot-soldiers. Harvey knew resistance was in vain, and quietlysubmitted to their directions. In the twinkling of an eye both he andCaesar were stripped of their decent garments, and made to exchangeclothes with two of the filthiest of the band. They were then placedin separate corners of the room, and, under the muzzles of themuskets, required faithfully to answer such interrogatories[68] aswere put to them.
[Footnote 66: lines of the face.]
[Footnote 67: They were known as "Skinners."]
[Footnote 68: questions.]
"Where is your pack?" was the first question to the peddler.
"Hear me," said Birch, trembling with agitation; "in the next room ismy father, now in the agonies of death; let me go to him, receive hisblessing, and close his eyes, and you shall have all--aye, all."
"Answer me as I put the questions, or this musket shall send you tokeep the old driveller[69] company; where is your pack?"
[Footnote 69: fool.]
"I will tell you nothing, unless you let me go to my father," said thepeddler resolutely.
His persecutor raised his arm with a malicious sneer and was about toexecute his threat when one of his companions checked him.
"What would you do?" he said; "you surely forget the reward. Tell uswhere are your goods, and you shall go to your father."
Birch complied instantly, and a man was despatched in quest of thebooty; he soon returned, throwing the bundle on the floor, swearing itwas as light as a feather.
"Aye," cried the leader, "there must be gold somewhere for what it didcontain. Give us your gold, Mr. Birch; we know you have it; you willnot take continental,[70] not you."
[Footnote 70: notes issued by the Continental Congress, worth but little.]
"You break your faith," said Harvey.
"Give us your gold," exclaimed the leader furiously, pricking thepeddler with his bayonet until the blood followed his pushes instreams. At this instant a slight movement was heard in the adjoiningroom, and Harvey cried, imploringly:
"Let me--let me go to my father, and you shall have all of it."
"I swear you shall go then," said the Skinner.
"Here, take the trash," cried Birch, as he threw aside the purse,which he had contrived to conceal, notwithstanding the change in hisgarments.
The robber raised it from the floor with a fiendish laugh.
"Aye, but it shall be to your father in heaven."
"Monster! have you no feeling, no faith, no honesty?"
"To hear him, one would think there was not a rope around his neckalready," said the other laughing. "There is no necessity for yourbeing uneasy, Mr. Birch; if the old man gets a few hours the start ofyou in the journey, you will be sure to follow him before noonto-morrow."
This unfeeling communication had no effect on the peddler, wholistened with gasping breath to every sound from the room of hisparent, until he heard his own name spoken in the hollow, sepulchraltones of death. Birch could endure no more, but shrieking out:
"Father! hush--father! I come--I come!" he darted by his keeper, andwas the next moment pinned to the wall by the bayonet of another ofthe band. Fortunately, his quick motion had caused him to escape athrust aimed at his life, and it was by his clothes only that he wasconfined.
"No, Mr. Birch," said the Skinner, "we know you too well for aslippery rascal, to trust you out of sight--your gold, your gold!"
"You have it," said the peddler, writhing in agony.
"Aye, we have the purse, but you have more purses. King George[71] isa prompt paymaster, and you have done him many a piece of goodservice. Where is your hoard? Without it you will never see yourfather."
[Footnote 71: George III., King of England.]
"Remove the stone underneath the woman," cried the peddler, eagerly;"remove the stone."
"He raves! He raves!" said Katy, instinctively moving her position toa different stone from the one on which she had been standing. In amoment it was torn from its bed, and nothing but earth was seenunderneath.
"He raves! you have driven him from his right mind," continued thetrembling spinster; "would any man in his senses keep gold under ahearth?"
"Peace, babbling fool!" cried
Harvey. "Lift the corner stone, and youwill find that which will make you rich, and me a beggar."
"And then you will be despisable," said the housekeeper bitterly. "Apeddler without goods and without money is sure to be despisable."
"There will be enough left to pay for his halter," cried the Skinner,who was not slow to follow the instructions of Harvey, soon lightingupon a store of English guineas. The money was quickly transferred toa bag, notwithstanding the declarations of the spinster that her dueswere unsatisfied, and that, of right, ten of the guineas were herproperty.
Delighted with a prize that greatly exceeded their expectations, theband prepared to depart, intending to take the peddler with them, inorder to give him up to the American troops above, and to claim thereward offered for his apprehension. Everything was ready, and theywere about to lift Birch in their arms--for he resolutely refused tomove an inch--when a form appeared in their midst, which appalled thestoutest heart among them. The father had risen from his bed, and hetottered forth at the cries of his son. Around his body was thrown thesheet of the bed, and his fixed eye and haggard face gave him theappearance of a being from another world. Even Katy and Caesar thoughtit was the spirit of the elder Birch, and they fled the house,followed by the alarmed Skinners in a body.
The excitement, which had given the sick man strength, soon vanished;and the peddler, lifting him in his arms, reconveyed him to his bed.The reaction of the system hastened to close the scene. The glazed eyeof the father was fixed upon the son; his lips moved, but his voicewas unheard. Harvey bent down, and, with the parting breath of hisparent, received the parting benediction.
The Skinners had fled precipitately to the wood, which was near thehouse of Birch, and once safely sheltered within its shades, theyhalted, and mustered their panic-stricken forces.