The Minute Boys of Boston

Then after a few more friendly, and, as I believed, false words, Master Lord ascended the ladder; the trap-door was shut and bolted, and while this was being done Hiram clambered upon the table softly that he might approach his ear to the aperture made in the floor, motioning me to take my former station, while Archie clambered up on a stool to hear what he might from the other crevice.

Between us all we contrived to make out with reasonably certainty when our host, having moved about the room a few minutes as if searching for something, left the building, locking the door behind him, and after mayhap five minutes had passed in silence, Hiram said in a low tone as he came down from his perch:

"I'm allowing the worthy Master Lord will remain abroad, striving earnestly to aid the Cause, for at least an hour, and during such time, if you lads are so disposed, we will see what may be done with that rubbish hole, which, as I believe, points out to us the fairest road we could have for the thwarting of treacherous schemes."

You can fancy with what eagerness I set about removing the casks, believing we might speedily effect our purpose; but it was not in Hiram's mind that we should be rash.

"Fair and softly, lad, else by too much haste you spoil the whole broth. That which chokes the passage must be disposed of if we would count on opening it, and where do you reckon we may put what is taken out, so that when our host visits us again he shall see no signs of our labor?"

I had shown myself thick-headed many a time before; but never so dull as now when I would have begun pulling out the rubbish without means of hiding it, and I stepped back in despair, not understanding how we might at the same time remove and keep it hidden from view.

It seems that Hiram had already been making plans to such end, for he at once began taking out some of the larger stones, and stowing them in two of the casks from which the heads had been removed.

"We can get rid of considerable in this way, and after that much has been done it may be possible to pack the earth down so closely that we can drive a tunnel through," he said, working energetically, and we three lads, understanding what was in his mind, lost no time in bearing a hand.

CHAPTER XIV

THE SECRET PASSAGE

Fortunately for us all the casks save two were unheaded, and these we filled in short order, for it can well be supposed that every one worked with utmost speed, not knowing how soon Job Lord might take it into his head to return.

Once filled, they were placed in front of the rubbish hole very nearly in the same position, save in so far that a narrow passage was left behind them, through which we might, with some difficulty, force ourselves.

On top of these, especially in order to prevent our host from seeing what had been done, the two unheaded casks were placed, and then Job Lord must have been keen-eyed indeed to have observed any change at that portion of the room.

It was Hiram who had remained inside the passage, passing out rocks or clods of earth, and when we had come thus far in our labor he decided it would be safer to cease work a short time, lest he who was apparently holding us prisoners should succeed in returning secretly.

"How far have you got toward the outside?" I asked as Hiram came from behind the casks, brushing his clothing carefully, and washing his hands that no token of the labor could be seen when next our host visited us.

"I am of the belief that we have made what you might call a tunnel straight through, and within a dozen inches of the surface," he replied. "I had no means of guessing as to the distance, except by taking the flooring of the building as being well on the level, and from that I feel positive I had made my way upward to a point equal in height to the last rung of the ladder. The question that bothers me is, how we can break through the crust of earth without leaving behind token of what has been done?"

"Why should we care whether any person saw how we escaped?" Archie asked in bewilderment. "Once Job Lord fails to find us he will know we have gone, and it matters little how soon he discovers the tunnel."

"Aye, if so be we counted on taking to our heels at once; but there is in my mind an idea that we may play this double-faced Master Lord a reasonably neat trick. It is agreed that we want to stay in Boston until it is possible to aid Silas, or we have come to know that nothing can be done, and where could we find a better hiding-place than this?"

"But surely we can't count on going in and out at our pleasure, for the chances would be against us. Master Lord might come at any time, and when we attempted to return the jig would be up."

"As to that I am not certain," Hiram said as, having removed all traces of the work from his person, he seated himself at the table evidently ready to enter into an argument should any of us dispute his proposition. "While working in the tunnel the idea came to me that if we carried the digging through successfully, one of us might be on the outside, and Master Lord fail to discover the fact even if he paid us a visit."

"How do you make that out?" Harvey asked incredulously.

"Suppose, for instance, Luke ventured outside through the passageway, if so be we can hit upon a plan of preventing the end of the tunnel from being seen on the surface. Now then, it should not be a very difficult job for us to rig up a dummy which would have somewhat the appearance of a lad lying on the bed as if asleep. Then we will say that you, Harvey, lie down beside the figure, pretending to be asleep. Master Lord comes; finds Archie and me sitting here at the table; glances at the bed, sees Harvey's face, and also what appears to be Luke's head. Think you he would have any suspicion that matters were wrong?"

"But suppose he did?" I insisted, determined to understand all the possibilities of Hiram's scheme; but not allowing that it might be put through successfully.

"Well, we will suppose his suspicions are aroused, and he goes over to the bed to make certain Luke is there. How much worse off are we in case he discovers the trick? We know him to be our enemy, regardless of the confidence which our people may put in him, and it is also a fact that we are bound to keep our eyes open for the first move he shall make, because the end of this matter, from his point of view, is our capture by the Britishers when the time comes that all his purposes are served."

"Well, what then?" I demanded impatiently. "Once he has made the discovery that I am outside, can you prevent him raising an alarm, and thus bringing the lobster backs upon those who are inside?"

"Aye, that seems to me a very simple matter," Hiram replied. "The moment our double-faced friend went toward the dummy to make certain he had been tricked, our plan would be to fall upon him, and I'll eat my head if the three of us can't truss him up like a fowl ready for the roasting, however much of a fight he may make."

"Well, and if we have him prisoner, what then?"

"We'll simply hold him here until we get ready to leave town, and I'm thinking that won't be any difficult matter," Hiram said laughingly. "With him bound hand and foot, and one of us ready to plump a gag in his mouth if he makes too much noise in the way of calling for assistance, it seems to me he would be about as harmless as a kitten in a cage. As a matter of fact, it is very nearly what we must do finally, for I am not counting to take to my heels through yonder passage, leaving him behind free to give word to the lobster backs that we are somewhere in the town, or striving to get out of it. We are in such a box, lads, that it would be worse than useless to hesitate at anything which promises, however slightly, to aid us," and now Hiram spoke in a grave tone, as does one who speculates upon some hazardous venture. "We shall not be able to leave this place without having a tussle with Master Lord, and no one can say how soon that may be necessary, therefore I hold to it we are warranted in taking many chances, if so be we are working toward the end that we set ourselves when leaving Cambridge. Even though we may not hold this place as a refuge eight and forty hours before the trick is discovered, then have we gained just so much time."

I could think of no argument against this plan of Hiram's, ponder over it as I might. We were in desperate straits, and all of us knew full well that the danger would not be so great when Master Lord had discovered that we had a means of escape, providing we could hold him prisoner, than if he remained in ignorance of our purpose and at liberty to set the lobster backs on us whenever he chose.

"The only thing against your plan, Hiram, is that which you yourself have confessed," Archie said thoughtfully. "The difficulty of concealing the mouth of the tunnel after one of us has made his way through it."

"Aye, there's the rub, lad; but it strikes me that 'twixt the four of us, seeing's how we have all got some share of common-sense, we ought to be able to overcome that trouble in course of time. I cannot say just now what way it may be done; but we will hit upon an idea lads, we'll hit upon an idea."

It may seem that this slight change in the situation was not so favorable to our enterprise as to warrant very much in the way of rejoicing, and yet I felt more nearly light-hearted after Hiram was at an end of explaining what he had done, and how the tunnel might be made to serve us, than at any time since I left Cambridge, although I am bound to confess we were no nearer accomplishing our purpose because of this secret passage, than before. In fact, we had simply succeeded in entering the town, and then plunged ourselves into greater difficulties than ever, therefore it is possible the means of escape was simply a step toward righting the mistake that had been made.

Then it was that Harvey asked suddenly, as if it was a matter of great moment:

"Who knows whether it yet be day, or has the night come?"

As a matter of course we had lost all knowledge of time, shut up in that cellar where no ray of light penetrated, sleeping and eating as our desires prompted, and now the question had been raised I grew keen to know whether another night had come, or if we had been there as prisoners less than four and twenty hours.

"It was nearabout midnight when we came into this place," Hiram replied to Harvey's question, as if still working out a problem in his mind. "We spent much time with Master Lord; let us say until daybreak. Then we slept, and the chances are it must have been near to another night fall when we were awakened by a racket overhead. I'm allowing it was the next night after our arrival, perhaps late in the evening, when our double-faced host brought us the provisions, and that we most-like have spent one entire night eating and working on the tunnel. Therefore to my mind it is some time in the second day after our arrival. Surely it cannot be very late in the night, else would Master Lord have returned."

All this seemed good reasoning, and yet now that we had seemingly settled the matter, of what did it avail us? What mattered whether the sun was shining, or the earth shrouded in darkness, so that we dared not venture out in either case?

Hiram speedily settled this matter, as in fact he did every one we discussed, by asking:

"What say you to my making our first venture through the secret passage after that scoundrel who professes to be working in our interests, visits us the next time?"

"Meaning that you would go out whether it was night or day?" Archie asked.

"Surely not, lad; but I am allowing we can so far trust him as to take for granted what he tells us as to the time. Now if I am guessing rightly, he will come back in the evening, and there is no good reason why he should not say what is o'clock when we put the question. It ought to be possible for us to learn whether he goes to bed, or ventures out again, and if it so chances that he turns in, I will try the secret passage."

"When you made the holes in the floor for the purpose of hearing what might be going on in the room above, did you realize that they would serve to let him know what we are doing?" Harvey asked, and Hiram's reply was a cheery one:

"Aye, that I did, lad; but I'm not minded he shall get any advantage because of them, since it won't be a great exertion to plug the holes with rags."

It was evident that Hiram had given more thought to the situation, and to the possibility of turning it to our advantage, than had any of us. From that moment I was well content to do as he suggested, save in one particular, and that was as to which of us should make the first venture, therefore I demanded to know why he claimed the right.

"Because in the first place, so far as the lobster backs know, I haven't been mixed up in the doings of the Minute Boys as have the rest of you."

"How do you make that out?" Archie cried sharply. "Seth Jepson has told the Britishers all he knows, and your name has been put down with the others."

"Seeing's how I am the least known in this town of Boston, it strikes me there is nobody who can go out with less danger than myself," Hiram declared, and straightway I put an end to his pretensions by saying:

"You would not be able to effect one half as much as any of us three, because of being unacquainted with the town and the people. Besides, you would be missed more quickly by Master Lord; the chances are if he should come, and you were asleep, he would insist upon awakening you, for you have acted as spokesman all the way through this business. Now I am the one who has the right to go, and I can be of more service than any other."

As a matter of course all hands insisted on knowing upon what I based my claims, and I put the matter plainly, perhaps with some show of arrogance:

"In the first place because I was chosen captain of the Minute Boys, which gives me the right to say what shall or shall not be done; then again I am as well acquainted with the people in this town as any other, knowing who may be trusted and whom we need fear."