Colin seemed as lost as she was. He rubbed his hands down the thighs of his homespun breeches. “Thread me a needle, Kate,” he said. “I’m going to take a couple stitches so the wound will heal faster.”
While Kate threaded the curved needle, her mind raced. They could play it safe. They could pretend the man’s words meant nothing to them. But if he were the deserter and Colin and Kate didn’t help him, would he ever have another chance to get away?
The man held his wounded hand in the candlelight while Colin bent his head over the wound and made his stitches. When he was done, while their heads were still close together above the tin lantern, Kate heard her cousin whisper, “God bless the Liberty Boys.”
Liberty, who had been sleeping in a ball beneath the table, heard his name and sat up. He thudded his skinny tail against the floor and whined.
Kate giggled. “Not you, boy.” She explained to the soldier about Liberty’s name.
The soldier’s face lit up in a smile. He patted Liberty’s head. “Thought I’d made a mistake when you didn’t repeat the code.” He spoke in a whisper.
“Are you going to come back after the officers go to bed?” Colin asked.
The soldier shook his head. “I’m not leaving. When it’s discovered I’m missing, the officers will remember I was here. The officer saw my wound, so they’ll know I was hurt. I’m hoping they won’t think you or this place have anything to do with my escape.”
Colin led the soldier over to the waist-high wooden counter and opened two doors beneath the counter. Then he looked the soldier up and down. He wasn’t a tall man, and he wasn’t large or fat, either, but he had broad shoulders.
“I thought this would be the perfect place to hide you,” Colin whispered. “Some doctors’ apprentices sleep on shelves in doctors’ apothecaries. But I’m not sure you’ll fit.”
Kate had emptied the cupboard earlier. She’d even taken out the middle shelf to make more room.
The soldier squatted down and held the lantern by the tin handle at the top so it shone into the cupboard. “A bit of a tight squeeze, perhaps, but I think I can make it.” He stood, set the lantern down, and held out his good hand. “Thank you, Colin Lang.” He gave Kate a little bow. “I’ll never forget the chance you two are taking for me. My name is George Lambert. I hope we’ll meet again someday, when the redcoats have left Boston.”
George Lambert turned toward the cupboard. “Go open the door, Kate. Pretend I’m leaving, Colin.”
Kate did as she was told. She glanced up and down the street to see whether there was anyone that might see. She saw only a couple lantern flickers too far away for the people carrying them to tell whether anyone stood before the apothecary. In a loud voice, Colin wished Mr. Lambert Godspeed and told him to come back in a couple days to have the doctor look at his wound.
Then Colin hurried back to the counter. He pointed to a cloth bag in the cupboard. “Your new clothes are in there.”
“Daren’t change now. I’d better try out my new home before the officers come out here.” Lambert grinned.
Laughing voices outside the door startled them. Lambert scuttled into the cupboard, drawing his knees up beneath his chin. Colin closed the doors just as Lieutenant Rand and another officer entered.
Kate bit her bottom lip hard. If there was anyone they didn’t want to see, it was Lieutenant Rand! No one would rather catch a Lang with a deserter than that man.
Lieutenant Rand was carrying a tray with pewter mugs and a tall bottle. “We were hoping to have some hot punch. Make us some, lass.” He glanced at Colin as he set the tray down on the countertop. “Working late, lad?”
Colin nodded and continued to put away the various medicines he had used that day. Kate hurried to fetch from the kitchen a large silver bowl with oranges, lemons, and spices in it. She could have made the punch over the kitchen fire, but she decided to use the stove in the apothecary instead. She wanted to keep an eye on Lieutenant Rand.
As she came back into the shop, a movement across the room caught her attention. Liberty was playing with Mr. Lambert’s hat! Her feet seemed to freeze to the floor. She glanced at Colin, but he seemed not to have noticed. What if Rand saw that hat? He mustn’t!
Liberty and the hat were in the shadows. Rand might not recognize the hat if he didn’t get close to it. But what if Liberty dragged it closer? The best thing to do would be to go right over and pick up the hat, like nothing was wrong, she decided.
She almost had to pick up her feet with her hands to make them move, she was so scared. As she walked, she untied her white apron. When she reached Liberty, the dog thumped his tail, thinking Kate was going to play. Kate dropped her apron on top of the hat, then stooped and picked up both hat and apron together. Liberty caught one of the apron’s ties in his teeth and growled playfully. “No! Down!” Kate ordered.
Liberty tucked his head.
“You hurt his feelings,” Colin said as he put the last bottle away. “He just wants to play.”
“Stupid mutt.” Lieutenant Rand started toward the library. Liberty darted under a chair. The dog had learned that Lieutenant Rand’s boots had a way of kicking him if he wasn’t careful.
As Lieutenant Rand passed him, Kate bundled the apron closer around the hat. “Always cloths and aprons to wash out when you work in a doctor’s apothecary,” she complained.
Lieutenant Rand made a face and quickly left the room.
Kate breathed a sigh of relief. She’d never have gotten away with it if it had been daylight! At the counter, she opened the door, threw in the hat and apron, and slammed the door shut.
Colin looked at her as though she had lost her mind. “Lambert’s hat,” Kate said under her breath as she leaned close to her cousin. “It was on the floor.”
Colin turned pale as he realized the close call they had had. Silently, they worked together making the punch. Kate’s mouth watered at the wonderful smells of the oranges and lemons when she sliced them.
“Well, that’s one advantage of having the officers quartered with us,” Kate said. “They can get the best food. We can’t afford fruit like this anymore.”
Colin didn’t look as though he had heard her. “What are we going to do?” he whispered. “How are we going to get Lambert on his way without the officers seeing?”
Kate frowned. Then she remembered something she had just learned. She smiled. “I have an idea.”
CHAPTER 12
A Safely Delivered “Package”
Captain Ingles came into the shop. “Bring us more firewood, lad. We plan to be here awhile.”
Colin hurried to get the wood, while Kate watched him with her heart in her mouth. Every minute the soldiers spent in the library was another minute of danger for the deserting soldier—and for her and Colin! Would her idea work?
She scraped the hard brown nutmeg against the tin grater, then handed it to Colin when he came from the library. While he sprinkled the spice into the punch, she ground some of her father’s herbs in a mortar.
“What’s that?” Colin asked as she poured the crushed herbs into the punch.
Kate smiled. “Just something new.” She held up the herbs so he could see what she was using.
Colin’s eyes widened. “What if it makes the punch taste funny?”
Kate shook her head. “The officers will like it fine.” She knew the taste of the fruit and spices would be stronger than the herb’s. And the herb made people sleepy. They would have to use a lot of it in the punch to be sure it had the effect she wanted. She only hoped it would work and send the men to their beds early.
Kate and Colin carried the bowl and mugs into the library. Kate used a dipper to fill the mugs. Captain Ingles smacked his lips and reached for a poker heating in the fireplace. The poker sizzled when he stuck it in his mug to warm the spiced punch.
Lieutenant Rand picked up a mug. “At least there’s one family in Boston that knows how to give an Englishman good food.”
Kate clenched her teeth an
d shot a warning glance at Colin. She knew Lieutenant Rand was reminding them that Susanna wouldn’t serve him English tea.
Kate started rearranging books on a shelf near the library door. It was a good place to stand to try to overhear the officers, so she often pretended to be busy there.
Woof! Woof!
Kate whirled around at Liberty’s yelp. Liberty was usually too well behaved to bark inside!
Liberty was in front of the cupboard door. His nose was almost on the floor. His rear end, with its tail going a mile a minute, was stuck up in the air.
Something red on the floor in front of Liberty moved. A piece of Mr. Lambert’s uniform! Lambert was trying to pull it back inside without opening the door. Liberty jumped on the moving cloth with another yelp. He growled playfully, tugging the cloth back and forth.
“What’s all the noise?” Lieutenant Rand bellowed from the doorway. Kate’s heart leaped right into her throat at his unexpected voice.
“I’m sorry, sir. My dog must have seen a mouse!” Kate said loudly.
“Can’t you keep that mutt quiet?”
“We’re trying, sir,” Colin said. He knelt beside Liberty, hiding the piece of red cloth. If Lieutenant Rand saw the cloth, he’d be sure to know it was part of a redcoat’s uniform!
“Dogs don’t belong inside anyway,” Rand muttered, closing the library door.
It wasn’t easy to make Liberty let go of the cloth, but Colin finally did. “We’d better put Liberty outside.”
Kate scrunched up her face. “But it’s cold out! And what if those rough boys find him again?”
Colin glared at her. “He’s endangering a man’s life!” He scooped Liberty up in his arms and put him outside the door in the street.
Kate quickly opened the cupboard door and pushed the piece of uniform at Mr. Lambert. “Sorry,” the soldier mouthed.
Kate took the dirty apron she’d put away in there earlier and closed the door. Her heart still hadn’t slowed down! And now she could hear Liberty whimpering outside the apothecary door. She hated to have her dog shut out in the street—but she knew Colin was right. Without meaning to, Liberty could give them all away.
Suddenly, she was tired of the whole thing. She wished there was no deserter in the cupboard, no redcoats in the library, and that everything was the way it had always been. Being a spy no longer seemed exciting or brave.
When will all this be over? she wondered. Will things ever go back to normal?
Her mother stuck her head in the door of the apothecary, and both Kate and Colin jumped.
Mama laughed. “My, you two are as nervous as cats tonight.” She looked down at the dirty apron Kate still clutched in her arms. “Take care of that, Kate, and put on a clean apron so you can help me put the food on the table. Supper is almost ready, and the officers are eager for their meal.” Mama smiled at Colin. “You’ll stay and eat with us, won’t you, Colin?”
Colin hesitated. Kate was sure that he must be trying to keep his eyes from wandering toward the cupboard, just like she was. “Yes, ma’am,” he said finally, and Kate was grateful that he wasn’t going to leave her.
“Goodness,” Mama said, cocking her head at the door. “Why is that dog shut out in the street? Let him in, Kate, and come along.”
Mama disappeared again, and Kate looked at Colin. “You take care of Liberty,” she whispered. “I have to help Mama. Maybe I can find a bone in the kitchen. If I can, I’ll get it to you somehow. And then you can shut Liberty up in my room. He’ll be quiet if he has a bone to gnaw on.”
Smuggling a bone out from under Mama’s eyes did not prove to be easy, though. Meanwhile, Kate could hear Liberty woofing and whining as he tried to figure out why such an interesting and unusual scent was coming from the apothecary cupboard.
“What ails that dog?” Mama asked as she dished up the potatoes.
“Can’t you quiet that dog?” Lieutenant Rand bellowed from the library.
In desperation, Kate held up the old stew bone she had found in the larder. “Can’t I give this to Liberty, Mama? Then he’ll be quiet and won’t bother the officers.”
Mama pushed a wisp of hair out of her face. She looked tired and worried, Kate noticed. “That’s a good idea, Kate,” Mama said absently. Kate gave a sigh of relief and hurried to take the bone to Colin.
At least the herbs must have worked, she thought an hour later. The officers ended their evening far earlier than usual. Stretching and yawning, they said good night. Those who boarded elsewhere headed out into the dark streets, while the others climbed the stairs to their rooms.
“Everyone seems tired today,” Mama said with a long weary sigh. “I hope your father will be able to come home soon. He must be tired as well.”
“Let me clean up,” Kate said. “You go on up to bed.”
Her mother gave a small, surprised smile. “Why, thank you, Kate. If you don’t mind, I think perhaps I will retire early. If your father comes home before you go to bed, please tell him his supper is in the kettle over the fire.” She smiled at both children. “Good night, Colin. Good night, Kate.”
Kate and Colin looked at each other. At the same time, they both let out a long breath, as though they had each been trying not to breathe all evening. They stood for a moment listening to the silent house, then tiptoed into the apothecary. Now they had to get Mr. Lambert on his way before Father came home.
Colin shuttered the apothecary windows and barred the door so no one could surprise them. Then he opened the cupboard door. Kate turned her back so Mr. Lambert could slip quickly out of his uniform to change into his “new” clothes.
Colin chuckled. “Hope you don’t mind looking like a woman.”
Mr. Lambert grinned. “Not if it gets me out of Boston safely.”
Colin helped Mr. Lambert into an old dress and petticoat of his mother’s. A wig hid the man’s brown curls. A lace-edged mobcap topped it all off. Kate bit back her giggles as she stuffed the uniform into the cloth bag and hid it behind some pottery in another cupboard.
Mr. Lambert shaved carefully with Harry’s razor. He put on an old hooded cloak, slid a market basket Colin had brought over his arm, and slipped into the dark street.
Kate knew Mr. Lambert was to meet a Patriot farmer who would be driving a cart a few streets over on his way home. Would Mr. Lambert make it? Or would the redcoats stop the funny-looking woman?
The next day, Kate heard Captain Ingles ask Colin about Mr. Lambert. “Did Lambert say where he was going when he left the apothecary?”
Colin shrugged. “Maybe he went to one of the taverns that are so popular with soldiers.”
Kate grinned. At least she knew the man was still free! She was glad she’d buried the uniform in the herb garden early that morning.
Days later Harry said to Kate and Colin, “The post rider says the package you sent arrived safely.”
Colin frowned. “The package?”
Harrison grinned, nodded, and walked away.
“Oh!” Kate’s eyes met Colin’s and they both grinned. The package was Mr. Lambert. If he “arrived safely,” he must have made it out of Boston.
Kate wondered where he was living. Would he stay in another town in Massachusetts or on a farm, or would he live in another colony, far away from the redcoats that might recognize him? Would they ever see each other again?
CHAPTER 13
Fighting Friends and a Late-Night Secret
Colin and Kate spent fall days in the medical garden, removing plants before they were killed by early winter frosts. In the apothecary, they tied the plants together in bunches and hung them upside down from the ceiling to dry. Soon the ceiling was covered with fragrant purple, yellow, and white flowers.
One morning while Colin and Kate were tying up bunches of lavender thistle, the bell above the door jingled cheerfully, and Kate’s friend Sarah entered.
Kate’s face brightened. “Hello! I haven’t seen you in days!”
“I’ve been busy.” Sarah fumbled with t
he red-and-white-checked material covering the basket on her arm.
Kate nodded. “Me, too. We’ve been cleaning the garden. Tomorrow I’m delivering food baskets to some invalids and older ladies for the Gifts Committee. Will you help me?”
Sarah shook her head, her brown curls bouncing on the white linen scarf tied over the top of her blue dress. “I don’t think so.”
“But it would be fun! It would give us time to be together.” Sarah lifted her head with a jerk. Her blue eyes flashed. “I said no!”
Kate gasped and stepped back.
Sarah hurried to the counter and set down her basket. “I need some medicine. Mother’s teeth are hurting.” Her chin lifted and she glared at Colin. “We can’t pay for it right now, but Father says to tell the doctor he’ll pay for it as soon as the port opens again.”
Colin nodded, pretending it was normal for Sarah’s father to ask for credit. “Of course.”
“I’ll get the herbs.” Kate took down a white china jar from a shelf.
“Is that the right medicine?” Sarah asked Colin.
“Yes,” Colin assured her. “Kate’s learned a lot about herbs from her father. If women could be doctors, she’d make a good doctor one day.”
Kate spooned a bit of herb onto a piece of paper. Then she folded the paper so none of the herb could fall out and tied a bit of string about it. She handed the packet to Sarah. “Pour hot water over these herbs, the same as if you were making tea. Then have your mother put the wet leaves on her teeth.”
“Thank you,” Sarah mumbled, dropping the package into her basket. She hurried toward the door.
Kate shot Colin a worried glance. “Wait, Sarah, please.” Kate bit her bottom lip, not sure what she should say next. “I don’t know what I’ve done to make you mad,” she said finally, “but I’m sorry.”
Sarah started to walk around her without saying anything.
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