Altsheler, Joseph - [Novel 05]

by A Herald Of The West (lit)

  82 A HERALD OF THE WEST.

  cipal markets Hanover, Marsh, and Fell's Point and what I admired about them most were the great heaps of fish of a hundred varieties, the oysters and the crabs and the lobsters and the wild ducks from the Chesapeake.

  A little later I cashed my drafts and then strayed back to the Marsh Market, where I was watching a great pile of fish, whose scales glistened in the sun, mingled white and silver, when some one put his hand lightly upon my arm and said:

  " And you, too, are on your travels, kinsman ? "

  I looked around, and there was Major ISTorthcote, calm, dignified, and, as usual, dressed with European care.

  " Yes, I travel, but from choice," I could not refrain from saying.

  " I am fairly hit," he said, showing no anger, " but I am in the enemy's country; I must expect it."

  He began to tell me about the great European cities, and, unwholesome as I believed such company to be for me, I listened a while as we walked on together. It seemed strange that I should find his society agreeable after our misadventures, and reflecting upon it I decided that I ought to leave him. I bade him good day as politely as I could, and he replied in like manner, saying we might become fellow-travellers, and if chance so willed it he would be pleased.

  I returned to my tavern, and the next morning started for Philadelphia, having no intention to linger in Baltimore, whose state of mind could not be mistaken by our Government, owing to its nearness to Washing ton. When I climbed upon the stagecoach my kinsman, Major Northcote, bade me a cheery good morning from his seat just behind me, and, as was fit, I replied in like manner.

  The other passengers were looking at the Tory in a rather curious and by no means friendly manner, their hostility being invited by the British cut of his clothes

  A JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. 83

  and beard, matters about which he was always very par ticular. But he received their glances with supreme in difference, and I felt sure that he preferred their disap proval. I thought it best to avoid further conversation with him at present, and not indicate to the other pas sengers that we were kinsmen and old acquaintances. This policy seemed to be his own also, and I settled my self for the journey.

  We drove along very merrily at the good rate of three miles an hour, and were blessed with another beautiful day, the signs of spring increasing. I could almost see the buds opening. The green hues of field and forest deepened as the wind from the south blew upon them. The brooks shimmered among the trees, and the little ponds in the fields were made of molten silver.

  We were in the fields now, and the green tint of com ing spring rose above the brown of departing winter. The road cut through the meadows like a long white sword blade and entered the woods. The flush of spring, not the spring that was here, but the spring that was coming, touched everything. The sun had not been up long, and its rays still burned in red and gold on the eastern hills. Beads of dew twinkled on the grass. Fields and foliage were fresh from their night bath. In a pasture beside the road two colts leaped and romped with physical joy. But I was not alone in feeling the influence of a beautiful sunny morning. Its effect was visible on all, even Major Northcote. Some of the men whistled, one woman hummed a song in a very low voice, and the Tory looked about with the air of a man who could enjoy a crisp day and peaceful rural scenery.

  " It's a fine day, Philip," he said presently to me.

  " Yes, Major Northcote," I said, " as fine as you could find even in your perfect England."

  I said it with a little malice, for his slurs upon us still rankled.

  " We will not argue that point," he said lightly.

  84 A HERALD OP THE WEST.

  The others looked at him with more interest and at tention, and with increasing hostility. Englishmen were not popular with us, and such Major Northcote considered and styled himself, though a born American.

  " He called you Major Northcote, and spoke of you as an Englishman; are you a major in the British army?" asked one Luttrell, a Pennsylvania stock trader, a rough- looking man, but of open and honest face.

  " In the Canadian militia, my friend, which is the same thing," returned Major Northcote politely.

  " Then this is not the country for you," said Lut trell. " We don't love Englishmen, and still less the renegades in Canada who call themselves Englishmen."

  " The men in Canada whom you call renegades," said Major Northcote smoothly, " are not renegades. They are exiles; exiles because they were true to what they think was right."

  It may have been an unwise speech to make, time and place considered, but Major Northcote was a man of un surpassed courage. At that moment the driver pulled up at a blacksmith's shop beside the road, and announced that he would have the horses' shoes examined there, suggesting that we improve the opportunity by getting out and stretching our legs. We were all glad to do so. Major Northcote climbed down from his seat with the rest of us, and strolled back and forth by the roadside.

  The blacksmith examined carefully the feet of every horse. He was far in years, and his was a little shanty almost hid by the encroaching woods. He seemed to me to be too old and feeble for such work.

  " Why don't you have somebody to help you? " I asked, as he put down one horse's foot and prepared to pick up another.

  " I haven't the money to pay for it," he said.

  " Haven't you any sons to help you? "

  " No; I have one son, but he is not a blacksmith."

  "What is he?"

  A JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. 85

  " A sailor."

  " Perhaps that's a better trade than blacksmithing."

  " I guess not," he said, shaking his head sadly, " at least not the way he's practising it."

  "Why?"

  " He's on a British man-of-war somewhere off the north coast of Europe, blockading the French; impressed out of the schooner Sally Jones in the Chesapeake years ago and forced to fight for the English. I guess he'll never come back again, an' there's plenty more like him. An' our Government hasn't done a thing. I say, damn a government that doesn't protect its own citizens! "

  He bent down his old face, and went on stolidly with his horseshoeing. Several of the passengers had heard him. Among them was Luttrell.

  " Here, you infernal renegade," he called out to Major Northcote, " do you hear what this man says about his son? It's all you and your dirty English are good for, man stealing."

  Major Northcote turned flaming eyes upon the man when he heard the epithet applied to him, and his lips moved as if he would say something, but he checked the reply and continued his measured tread back and forth.

  I did not feel called upon to interfere.

  " Here you, you Tory! " said Luttrell, who seemed suddenly to have conceived of himself as some sort of retributive justice. " Come here, and answer to this man for his son! The one for the other, I say."

  " I know nothing about the man's son," said Major Northcote. " I never heard of him before in my life, but if he's serving in the British navy, I've no doubt it's a good thing for him." He seemed to think that the time had come for plain words, though I believed that he did not estimate rightly the man who was talking to him.

  " Do you think so? " said Luttrell; " then I say again the one for the other. Since this man's son has been kidnapped to serve in the British navy, why not put

  80 A HERALD OF THE WEST.

  Major Northcote, of the British arm} 7 , or the Canadian militia, which is the same thing, at work in the black smith shop in his place. Come now, Major Korthcote, you have a strong arm, pull the bellows for a while. What do you say to the swap, lads? "

  The other men in the party welcomed the suggestion as a happy thought. Perhaps some of them had a rela tive or a friend who had been kidnapped by a British war ship. It was very likely.

  " Try the forge, Major," said one; " you'll like it."

  A deep flush spread over Major Northcote's face. The threat of personal indignity reached the quick, but he, said nothing, merely continuin
g his military stride up and down. I did not know what to do, and not knowing waited.

  " Since you won't hear, we'll have to make you hear," said Luttrell, striding up to him and laying his hand upon his arm.

  The major clinched his fist and struck Luttrell in the face with such force that he fell to the earth. Then he faced the crowd, red with anger, and defiant.

  "You dogs!" he said. There was nothing assumed about him now. The real man was showing.

  Then a new and alarming cry was raised.

  "Bemember the Chesapeake!" shouted some one. " Don't forget her men who were murdered by the Brit ish! A life for theirs! "

  The others took it up, and the forge and the black- smithing were forgotten. All had the fate of the Chesa- peake's men in their minds, and his striking the first blow roused the spirit of revenge. " Hang him! " they shouted; " he's a British spy anyway, and it will be one for our own men who have been killed! "

  Luttrell was up again, bleeding in the face, and he seized Major Northcote by the shoulder. Some one ran to the blacksmith's for a rope. The major struck at Luttrell again, but his arm was warded off, and he re-

  A JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. 87

  ceived in return a heavy blow in the face which drew blood. The red drops fell on his mustache, and spat tered thence on his white stock. But only that glimpse of his face was permitted to me, for the next moment the crowd was upon him, and a wild struggle followed.

  In the beginning of the affair I had not known how to interfere, and the cry to hang Major Northcote had come so suddenly, and had been followed by action so quickly, that time to do anything had been lacking hitherto. Now I rushed forward, and seizing Luttrell, threw him back with such violence that he turned head over heels. I served another in like manner, and pushed a third back with my hand. Then I was able to get at the major, and I jerked him out of their hands.

  " Are you gone crazy, men? " I shouted. " Do you know what a crime you are trying to commit?"

  " They've killed our people. Why shouldn't we put one of theirs out of the way? " said one of them in a voice that sullen and still threatening.

  It is curious how the blood-lust rises, and what a strong hold it sometimes takes of men who are peaceful and amiable in their ordinary lives.

  " That's true," I said in reply to him, " but we will have ample revenge for it all some day. A crime by us does not avenge crimes committed by them."

  Several crowded up, as if they would carry out their sudden violent impulse anyhow.

  " This man is my kinsman," I said, " and even if he is a Tory, I am as good an American as any of you, and you shall not put your hands upon him again."

  I was growing angry, and fortunately my size was im posing. By good luck, Luttrell, who had received the blow, came to my assistance.

  " He is right, boys," he said; " leave the man alone, and we'll pay 'em back in a better way some day."

  That was sufficient, and they dropped their project

  88 A HERALD OF THE WEST.

  as suddenly as they had conceived it, turning away and leaving Major Northcote to do as he pleased.

  I was standing beside the major, with my hand upon his arm, for I had determined to protect him to the best of my ability. I felt sincerely sorry for him, as to such a man blows and the loss of his dignity were a grievous insult. His hat had been knocked off, his gray hair was awry, and his face was red, except where it was blue around the bruise that he had received; the blood was still dripping upon his mustache and his collar and shoul ders, and his coat was torn.

  " There is a brook back of the smithy," I said to him; " come and wash your face, and I will help you straighten out your clothing." I felt a little ashamed, for, perhaps, I had been partly the cause of the misadventure.

  " What well-bred gentlemen your countrymen are! " he said with bitter irony.

  I protested that he had merely reaped some of the seed which his Government had sown, and that chance and chance only had made him a victim.

  " Perhaps you are right," he said, and assumed his wonted air of indifference, though I was sure it was only assumption.

  He walked to the little brook, and taking up the water in his hands cleansed his face and smoothed his hair and mustache with his fingers. Then he adjusted his disarranged clothing carefully, and while he was oc cupied so I strolled back to the smithy, and found that the driver was ready to resume the journey. I told him and Luttrell and one or two others that Major Northcote was an official of the British Government, and any further violence toward him might cause us all a lot of trouble. They promised to molest him no more, and I had full confidence in their promise, as their wrath was exhausted, and, moreover, they had handled him pretty roughly as it was.

  We climbed into our seats, and the driver called out,

  A JOURNEY IN THE WORLD. 89

  " All ready! " The major walked up slowly from the brook. His personal appearance was restored, and his bearing was easy. He resumed his place in silence.

  About sunset of the second day from Baltimore we reached Philadelphia, and my anticipations were high as we approached that famous town. Just about that year, or perhaps a year or two earlier, New York began to pass Philadelphia and take first place among the cities of our country; but Philadelphia was still the finer and the more interesting, the historic town, the town in which the great Declaration had been made, the ancient capital, the town which had been the chief scene of action for so many great and famous men, some yet living, some gone. I had fixed already in my mind the points of in terest which I wished first to see, and it is almost needless to say that they were Independence and Carpenters' Halls. Our driver had recommended me to a good tav ern, and when I parted with my company of the journey, some of whom had come all the way with me from Balti more, I felt as if they had become old acquaintances, just as one learns to look upon his comrades in a long sea voyage. Major Northcote also was preparing to go to his tavern, or to whatever place at which he intended to pass the night, and bade' me adieu, trusting that I would continue to enjoy my journey. Then he went his way, which was not mine, and I hoped that I would not meet him again.

  CHAPTER IX.

  ON A FBENCH DECK.

  THOUGH I had letters to people of station and con sequence in Philadelphia, I did not intend to use more than one or two of them during my stop there on my brief northward journey, saving the majority for the re turn trip. The two or three days now awaiting me I wished to spend among the people on the streets, in the taverns, the markets, and the drinking shops, discover ing their state of mind with regard to war or p eace by ob servation and by actual talk with them. I found Phila delphia to be a much larger and finer city than Baltimore, exceeding anything that I had expected, and I visited all the famous places. I went to Independence Hall, where the immortal Declaration was made, Carpenters' Hall, where the first Continental Congress met; visited the old Swede Church and the other famous churches, and then strolled down the banks of the Schuylkill and Dela ware, among the sailors. These sailors seemed to be mostly a turbulent and not much of a God-fearing set, addicted to strong oaths and stronger liquors. As at Baltimore, there were low groggeries, in which they loved to congregate and spend the money they had earned.

  As I went farther down the river I beheld a sloop of war. I could see no flag upon her, but two or three sailors at work upon her deck had the look of -French men. It seemed strange to me that a French war ship 90

  ON A FRENCH DECK. 91

  should be anchored at Philadelphia, a river port, with British squadrons all along our coast, but walking far ther down I read the name upon her La Eochelle and beyond a doubt that was certainly French, though she might prove to be a prize which the English had adapted to their own service without changing her name.

  But she was still under the French flag. I found a sailor at last who could tell me her tale.

  " That's La Eochelle, a twenty-two-gun sloop, one of Bonaparte's ships," he said. " She was cruising off the Capes in search of prizes amon
g the British merchant vessels when she was sighted by two British frigates, which gave chase. Her path out to sea was blocked, but she escaped up the Delaware, and here she is at Philadelphia blockaded. She'll go down the river the first dark night, and try to slip out again."

  My sympathies were with the Frenchman. I had seen enough of the French at Washington to know that they cared as little as the English about the right, but I could not forget that they had given us great help in the Revolution.

  The dusk was coming on, and behind me the lights in the city began to twinklo. One of the French sailors sat on the rail of the ship, and let his feet dangle over. Though the twilight was deepening, I could see his face, and perhaps it was the soft gray of the dusk, and again perhaps it was my own imagination, but it was the face of a young man who mused or dreamed of some one left behind him. I thought I could see the smile or tender light in his eyes as he looked, without seeing, at the blue and white points of light in the city, or the blue and gray and rippling surface of the river. The flowing water, the tide, or the current murmured softly around the side of the ship, and the young sailor ' began to sing a ballad in the mellow tongue of the south of France:

  92 A HERALD OP THE WEST.

  * Quand le marin revient de guerre,

  Tout doux, Quand le marin revient de guerre,

  Tout doux,

  Tout mal chausse, tout mal vetu, Pauvre marin d'oii revieus tu ?

  Tout doux.

  The words were strange to me then, but the tone told of care and pathos. It made me think of the land from, which it came, that fair land of France, with its sunny wheat fields and its vineyards black with the heavy clus ters of grapes.

  He began a second verse of the song, slow, soft, and wailing. There was a strange silence on the river, mere ly the distant dip of an oar now and then in the water, and some one far away calling. The hum in the city was dying, the darkness was coming down over both town and river, and the water shone through it with a faint and silvery gleam.