He also extended himself and placed two horses at our disposal. He stated his willingness to conduct the escort himself and took one, I the other, and Elizabeth was boosted up behind me. It could hardly have been comfortable for her, but she held tightly onto my waist and made no complaint.
Nash had a man march before us with a lantern, which seemed foolish to me since I could see so well and might have led the way. I held my peace on the subject, though. Any display of my new abilities would needlessly stir them up.
The stars provided me with more than sufficient illumination and now that I had a moment of leisure to consider them, 1 fell a fresh awakening of awe at their beauty. They were like tiny suns, but unlike the sun itself, could be looked at directly. There also seemed to be many more than I was accustomed to seeing. Thousands of them crowded the sky like clouds of glowing dust motes. The light they shed upon the land was quite even and diffuse so that there was a singular lack of deep shadows in the surrounding countryside. Only beneath the thickest clusters of trees did I spy anything approaching real darkness.
Nash spoke up. "Miss Barrett?"
"Yes?"
"On the road you told my sergeant that you were on the king's business in regard to a message."
"What? Oh. Yes. Our father is a friend of Colonel DeQuincey, who was the one sending it. I fear that I cannot divulge the contents to you, for we are both under oath."
Nash was disappointed, but willing to persist. "I do find it odd that such duties must require a lady to be out so late."
"You are not alone in that opinion, Lieutenant," she said agreeably.
"Also that none of my men reported any messengers upon
the road."
Then she took a chance, stepping out on the framework of lies she had formed and that I had placed in his mind. "My brother was the messenger. He is well acquainted with the geography hereabouts, so it is not surprising that he was able to avoid any encounters."
He turned his attention upon me. "You must have prodigious knowledge, indeed, sir. One can scarce throw a stone into the woods without it striking one of my men."
"True enough. I did not have an easy time keeping out of their way."
"But if you were on the king's business, then surely you would have had no need to avoid them."
"Being delayed was what I wished to avoid, Lieutenant Nash," I said stiffly. "My limited knowledge of German combined with the misfortune of falling from and losing my horse and papers all served to turn me into a most suspicious character in the eyes of Sergeant Lauder. After hearing Hulton's story, I can see why you sent your men out, but I keenly regret the loss of time." He started to reply, but I continued. "However, your speedy assistance in correcting the matter will not go unmarked or unrewarded."
He clearly understood my meaning and managed a slight bow from his saddle. "Your servant, Mr. Barrett." He was an officer in the king's army, which made him a nominal gentleman, but the pay was meager enough to keep him open to compromise on some points. With the prospect of a bribe coming in the near future we could count on him to contain his curiosity for the moment-longer, should it become necessary for me to influence him again.
The night was getting on and despite-or perhaps because of-all the excitements, Elizabeth was growing sleepy. Her
head nodded against my shoulder, matching the rhythm of our plodding horse. But for my change, I should have been in the same state. Though I'd experienced a certain mental lethargy after dealing with Nash and was suffering a great heaviness of spirit from the consequences of my change, I was yet energetic in body. Perversely, I found it to be annoying. I should have felt sleepy as well. I missed it. Our country custom of rising and retiring with the sun was, I thought, ingrained in my very bones. No more. That whole part of my life was now completely reversed. The nights that lay ahead did not bear thinking about, for they looked to be rather lonely. I could not expect anyone else to reverse themselves just to keep me company.
Noticing that her hands were coming loose, I roused Elizabeth. She jerked awake with a gasp.
"Just a little farther," I promised her. "We've already passed the turning to our home."
She murmured an inarticulate acknowledgment and endeavored to stretch a little. "I hope Mrs. Montagu has some tea. I should very much like a cup or two."
"I'm sure she will, but I suggest you go first and make the request before they see me. There's bound to be an uproar once I walk through the door."
Now she did come alert. "Heavens, yes. How are we going to do this? If I burst in on them in the dead of night with this news they'll think I'm as mad as Mother. And if you come in with me it could be worse."
"Actually, I did have the idea that you should precede me. Of course you don't want to burst in. Just knock on the door and take Father off for a quiet chat to get him prepared. Tell him whatever you need to about Nora and-"
"Jonathan, my dear little brother, there is no way in the world that I could possibly provide him adequate preparatioo for this."
"I'm under no illusions on that point, but I hope you will try."
"I shall, but no matter what I say, he's going to have a terrible shock when he sees you."
Alas, yes.
The man walking ahead with the lantern had paused, waiting for the rest of our parade to catch him up. Nash leaned down to confer with him, then straightened to squint ineffectually into what for him was true darkness.
"What's the matter?" I asked. I'd also looked around and saw nothing.
"Lauder's other men aren't at their stations," he rumbled.
Several reasons for that came to mind: they'd fallen asleep or were detained out of sight while attending to bodily needs or they'd somehow lost their way from the road. I did not give voice to them, for they sounded foolish enough as thoughts.
"Stay here a moment while we scout ahead," he told us and kicked his horse forward. The half dozen Hessians that had been marching at our heels followed on his barked order. I reigned my animal to keep it in place and watched them go. Elizabeth and I were silent the whole time until one man finally trotted back for us.
Nash and the rest were gathered about the narrow road that broke off from the main one to lead to Mrs. Montagu's house. They were watchful, but not nervous.
"Where are they?" I demanded.
"Hereabouts," he replied with false conviction. Considering the fiasco yesterday that had cost me a normal life, I was irritated at once again seeing evidence of Nash's incompetence.
I stood in my stirrups for another look. Nothing but trees, fields, and empty, dusty road before and behind. Not quite empty. There was something lying across the ruts a little ahead, close enough to notice, but too far to identify.
"They must be very good at woodcraft," I commented. "I see no sign of them at all."
"It's a thick night," he said. "No moon. None of us can see much."
The damned idiot. Men gone missing and him thinking I wouldn't mind. We could be surrounded by rebels and he'd prefer to get shot than admit something was wrong. "I think we should go on to our destination, Lieutenant."
"Certainly."
"Herr Oberleutnant!" The man with the lantern had pushed ahead and stumbled over whatever it was on the road. His strident tone brought us all to attention. Nash moved toward him. I trailed along with them, having the idea of there being safety in numbers. Elizabeth tightened her hold around my waist.
They were all bending over it and the alteration of their manner was such as to make me stop short. I signed to Elizabeth that I was getting down and swung a leg over the horse's neck
and slipped off. She dropped next to me.
I pushed into the middle of them and recoiled at once. At our feet lay the body of a young Hessian. His head was thrown back so his mouth was wide open as though for a scream. In contrast, his eyes were calm and quite dull. Limbs flung every which way, his chest was cracked open like an eggshell. The bloodsmel struck at my senses like a harsh slap. The stuff covered him and had soaked
into the earth.
"Oh, my God," whispered Elizabeth.
My first instinct was to turn and drag her away from the awful sight. She made no protest. Her feet tangled one against the other; I lifted her up by the elbows until we were well distanced and set her down with a jolt. She swayed against me, gasping for air.
"My God, it was just how you looked," she said, freely shuddering.
Her words cut right through me, gouged into my vitals, and tore out again leaving behind chaos and a kind of blank agony.
Too much had happened. The rest and retreat I so desperately needed had forced themselves upon me. For a few minutes I simply could not think. It's a truly terrible thing to go through, when nothing-absolutely nothing-fills the mind. You don't really forget anything, not names or facts or memories, you just can't get to them. I was a sudden simpleton, unable to move or speak, unaware of time or events until Elizabeth's voice, insistently calling my name, finally brought me back.
"I'm all right," I replied to whatever question she'd asked.
"Are you?"
I breathed in a great draft of fresh night air and decided my legs would hold me after all. "Yes. What of yourself?"
She was unwell, but not the sort to faint, and told me as much.
"Stay here," I said. An unnecessary request. She wasn't about to budge from her spot. I returned for another view of the calamity. It was bad enough, but worsened for me when I recognized him.
It was Hausmann, the young man who had wanted land, a family, a new life. His life taken, his dreams dead, the children to come never born, he was so horrible and yet so pathetic. The two balanced each other to promote equal amounts of revulsion and pity. Was this what had happened to me? Was that the sigh
that had made my father cry out so?
Yes and yes.
Then inevitably, came the rage. It washed over me like a scarlet tide, fiery hot, frighteningly strong.
Who had done this?
Nash had dismounted and was regarding his man with a sad, hard face. During his life he had probably seen much of death, but he did not appear to be overly callous. He looked at me and something flinched in his face. I ignored it.
"Nash, I want to get the bastard that did this."
"We will, Mr. Barrett," he said, sounding nettled, perhaps, that I was presuming too much upon his goodwill.
To the devil with it. "Nash, listen to me..."
He flinched again, his eyelids fluttering as if against a strong wind.
"Tonight we are going to hunt down whoever did this and take him. Do you understand?"
He struggled for breath. Not all of the men knew my words, but they read my intent well enough. Those closest to us fell back.
"Do you understand?"
He was unable to speak and only just managed to nod. He'd gone very white and, when I released him, staggered a little. One of his men muttered and made a surreptitious gesture with his hand. I'd seen something similar while visiting one of the Dutch towns on the west end of the Island. It had been explained to me as being a sign to ward off the evil eye. I ignored that, too. Let them think what they liked as long as they obeyed Nash's orders and Nash obeyed mine.
I gave instructions, then grabbed up my horse's forgotten reins and stalked back to Elizabeth. "Nash has picked out two trustworthy men. They're to escort you safely to Father-"
"What?"
"I'm going stay and help him settle things."
"You're what?" She had heard me, but wasn't ready to accept
it.
"I have to do this."
"You have to see Father."
"Later."
"Jonathan-"
"No. Listen to me. The bastard that killed me may have killed that poor soul as well. I can't let another hour pass without doing something about it."
She looked over at the men standing by the corpse. "Bui Father-"
"Will understand."
"Are you so sure?"
I was and I wasn't and could form no answer for her, only frame another question. "Do you understand?"
Again she looked past me, then right at me. Her hand touched my chest where the musket ball had shattered every aspect of our lives, then fell away. "I'm afraid I do."
Relief, elation, love. "Thank you, sister."
"Thank me later, when I'm in a better mind to take it."
I lifted her up onto the saddle and gave her the reins. "If I'm not back before dawn don't worry. It only means that I had to find shelter for the day. Whatever happens, you'll be able to meet me at the old barn tomorrow after sunset. I'd come to the house, but..."
She leaned down and her fingers dug into my shoulder. Ha voice was shaking. "As long as you do come back, because! couldn't possibly stand losing you twice."
Nash and I made a thorough inspection of the area and drew a few conclusions. Hausmann had been shot at fairly close range and died where he'd fallen. His gun, powder horn, bayonet, and other gear were gone, along with whatever coin he might have possessed. Nash took the stripping of the body in stride and even seemed to approve.
"It'll make it that much easier to identify the rascals and hang 'em," he said.
There'd been at least two, perhaps more. The footprints were too muddled for us to make much sense of them. Our own tracks added to the confusion, but I was able to find where the rebels had crossed the road to head over the fields.
"They may be trying to get back to Suffolk County," I grumbled. "They'll find no lack of help there. The whole place stinks of sedition."
"Oh, yes, the 'Sons of Liberty,' " he added. "More like the sons of bitches. But if they're going to Suffolk, I should think it would be faster to stay on the road."
"Not if they know the land. The road curves farther along and would take them too much out of their way."
"We can't hope to follow them at night, not through all that with only a lantern." He motioned at the fields.
"Then have your man put out the light so our eyes can get used to the dark."
"Mr. Barrett, this is most impractical!"
"Or leave it by that poor boy's body. At least then no one will fall over him."
He had no objections to that suggestion. Someone had placed Hausmann in order, straightening his limbs and covering his face with a handkerchief. With the lantern sitting incongruously in the dust close by his head, he looked more macabre than when we'd first found him. My anger welled up again, for him, for me, for the grief that had happened, and that which was to come,
Nash sent one man back to Glenbriar on my horse to fetch more troops. He might have been content to wait for their arrival, but I was very conscious that the night was swiftly passing.
"If we tarry here the rebels will either bury themselves in Suffolk or have found a boat to take them across the Sound. We must set out now and let the others catch us up as they can."
"Their orders are to look for the men who were here to start with," Nash clarified.
"My guess is that if that lot are still alive, they'll be in pursuit of the rebels as well."
"My God, in this murk we could end up shooting each other."
"Lieutenant, I can see excellently in the dark and thus will be able to prevent such an occurrence, let us cease wasting time and proceed."
My voice had taken on an edge that he recognized and was not ready to contest. He gave some brief orders and indicated that I should lead the way. We left the road in single file, eaci man within sight of the one before him, the last one in line leading Nash's horse. Though it was obvious they were taking pains to be quiet, the whole parade seemed preposterously noisy to me. I winced with every careless footstep and snapped twig and fervently hoped that the darkness would provide us the same cover as it gave those we hunted.
Free of such limitations, I remained alert to the movement and place of each leaf and branch. It served. Some dozen yards along our rustic path I spied additional tracks heading away from the road. I did not point them out to Nash, as it was unlikely he'd be able to see well
enough, but they did confirm my guess thai our destination would be somewhere in Suffolk County.
Unless we hurried.
I urged Nash to greater speed and damn the noise-which was a decided error in judgment.
With Elizabeth gone a great portion of my mind that was unoccupied with more immediate concerns had been giving in
to the temptation to think of the events of the last two nights as being a ghastly nightmare from which I might hopefully awaken. I did know in my heart that this was nonsense, but as if to confound the facts and confirm the wish came a near repetition of what had set everything off. Someone raised himself out of cover and fired his gun at us.
P N Elrod - Barrett 1 - Red Death Page 28
