The Minute Boys of York Town. Otis James
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been there, whereupon the old negro put his hand upon my lips in token that I should speak with more of caution, whispering at the same time he aroused Pierre:
"I des come up, honey, an' can't 'ford to lose any mo' time. Yere po' ole uncle des hobbles 'roun' like er toad, an' it takes him a mighty long while to get ober much ob de groun'. I'se pow'ful sorry to 'sturb you chillun; but allow it's time for me to be toddlin' erlong, ef I counts on gettin' whar de Britishers are before sunrise. I'll be needin' dese yere blankets, and it sure am a pity to turn two likely babies out in de cold."
"Don't fret yourself about us, Uncle 'Rasmus," I said quickly, leaping to my feet, followed by Pierre.
Then we two lads rolled the blankets into as small a compass as possible, putting inside them the package of food, and fastening the whole upon the old man's shoulders according to his directions, in such a manner that it would not impede him in his movements.
"I'se surely gwine to 'spect you chillun 'fore anudder night-fall," the old man said after we had explained to him why Saul was not with us. "I clean forgot to tell ole Missey dat I was 'bleeged to go erway, an' am countin' on your doin' it, honey," he added, turning to me.
Before I could make reply the old man was striding off in the direction of the village, walking as spritely, so it seemed to me, as I myself might have done.
"Be careful, uncle! Don't run your woolly pate into danger when there's no necessity for it!" I cried after him, and back to me on the night air came the quavering voice:
"De ole fox allers looks arter hisself when de houn's are 'roun'; but it's de cubs what are mos' likely fo' to get inter trubble."
Then little Frenchie and I were alone. Standing within the shelter of the foliage at the foot of the dead cottonwood, and placing my hands on his shoulders, for just then I literally ached to come into close touch with a friend, I said, striving to hold my voice steady:
"It may be, Pierre, that Saul and I had no right to drag you into this mad scheme of ours, for even since Uncle 'Rasmus has set off does it come to me that it is reckless for us to risk our lives in the hope of getting back the horses. I have little faith that we shall be able to accomplish anything as Minute Boys, therefore we must set it down in all honesty to ourselves that we are pressing forward simply to recover that which has been stolen, and we have no right to lead you into danger."
"Do not think I am boasting, Fitz Hamilton," and Pierre shrugged his shoulders in a way that caused me to laugh despite the heaviness of my heart; "but yet there comes in upon me the thought that mayhap it is I, the French lad from New Orleans, who is dragging you and Saul, rather than that you are dragging him."
CHAPTER IV
THE TOWN OF YORK
I had not counted that it would be possible for us to indulge in slumber after Uncle 'Rasmus had carried off the blankets; but yet before he was well on his way toward the village both of us were wrapped in sleep as profound as even when our bed was softer.
Neither the thought of poor Silver Heels in the hands of a brutal British officer, nor the possibility that we might come to grief when, on the morrow, we ventured into the town of York, prevented me from gaining all the rest a lad needs, as may be judged by the fact that not until the sun was an hour high in the heavens, and Saul was shaking me into consciousness, did I have knowledge of my surroundings.
Then it was, with a feeling of shame, that I started to my feet, none the worse for having been stretched out so long on the bare ground; but deep down in my heart was a painful sense of having shown myself a child, by thus indulging in repose when others stood ready to aid in the task which should have been all my own.
"Have you lads given over going into the village this morning, that you sleep so late and so soundly?" Saul asked with a note of scorn in his tones, and I replied quickly, as if making apology for having been such a laggard:
"Even though we had risen as early as did you, it would not have been wise for us to go forward, yet I am free to admit that it might have been more seemly had we opened our eyes before sunrise."
"It is to my mind that we were wise to get all the sleep possible," little Frenchie said with a shrug of the shoulders. "A good soldier should be able to sleep anywhere and at any time, and it is his duty to take advantage of every opportunity to rest, in order that he may be the better able to undergo fatigue when it becomes necessary."
"But you are not a soldier," Saul said sharply, as if offended by the words; but Pierre, nothing daunted, replied cheerily:
"Yet am I in a fair way to be one, having enrolled myself as a Minute Boy. I am much the same as an apprentice, according to my way of thinking, and, being so, should copy after my elders – "
"Meaning that you ought to sleep like a laggard until the sun is high in the heavens?" Saul cried and I, growing irritated because he persisted in harping upon our indolence, said, speaking quite as sharply as had he:
"We have done no harm by being laggards. I would like for you to explain how we might have been advantaged by awakening at daybreak and sitting here waiting for you to come? It seems to me just as well that we should sleep, as sit around twiddling our thumbs."
"I was astir a full hour before daybreak, attending to the work set me, else I would not be here thus early, ready to make the venture as agreed upon."
One might have fancied Saul was eager to be praised for his early rising, and I might have said something calculated to irritate him, but that Pierre cried with a laugh:
"So you were, my brave Minute Boy; but remember that most like you crawled into bed a good two hours before Fitz and I did, and it is also reasonable to suppose you were not awakened at midnight to give up your blankets."
This remark seemed to anger Saul instead of soothing him, and, fearing we might have then and there a wordy battle between the excitable little French boy and my quick tempered cousin, I broke in by saying:
"Look you here, lads, there is no reason why you should squabble as to who turned out of bed first this morning. That is over and done with, and it strikes me we had best look forward rather than backward. Did you speak with my mother, Saul?"
"Ay, that I did."
"And was she opposed to our going into York?"
"I would not be willing to say quite as much as that; but certain it is her heart was troubled sorely when I told her what we counted on doing. I believe of a verity if Uncle 'Rasmus had not already left the plantation, she would have set her face against it. As it is, knowing that now most like the old negro is housed up in the cabin, unless the Britishers, suspecting intended mischief, have given the poor fellow lodgings in a guard-house, she realizes that we can do no less than continue as we have begun, although her command is that we do not run our heads into danger unnecessarily. She says it is foolish for us to venture our liberty, and perhaps our lives, in the effort to reclaim two horses, when it is possible to buy others that would serve us equally well."
"We could never find a colt that would be as dear to me as is Silver Heels," I interrupted hotly, all the grief which had come upon me the evening previous returning to my heart, and setting my pulse beating so loudly that it seemed as if the lads might hear the blood leaping through my veins.
"What did you bring in the way of provisions?" Frenchie asked, and his question reminded me that we had gone supperless to bed.
"Enough to keep us all from hunger a full week, I believe," Saul replied with an air of pride, as if he alone should have the credit, not only for bringing, but for providing, the supplies.
Then it was he opened the sack he carried, and displayed an ample store of cold boiled ham, corn-bread, fried hominy and fried ham, saying as he did so:
"If so be we are allowed to remain with Uncle 'Rasmus, some of us should be able to catch fish enough to add to this store until it will serve as a week's rations."
Pierre and I at once set about making a hearty meal, giving no heed to the possibility that we might come to short rations later, and even sulky Saul was not averse to joining us.
Before we had satisfied our hunger my cousin was in a more pleasant frame of mind