Commodore Barney's Young Spies

"We can run up to Nottingham, as well as the commodore, and once there I reckon it will be possible to make our trade."

"But if the fleet is forced to remain there, all hands will be idle, and the commodore won't care to hire us while several hundred men are loafing around the decks," I suggested, and Jerry's jaw fell.

But Jim had not exhausted his budget of news, although it was impossible for him to give us anything more very startling.

"The commodore had only got eight pungies an' five barges of the fleet – "

"Where are the other boats?" Darius demanded sharply.

"Somewhere on the Delaware side; they went off on a cruise before the Britishers hove in sight. He has taken on the schooner Scorpion, which was here at anchor, an' I heard one of the officers say that there was about five hundred men in this part of the fleet."

"I'm goin' ashore," Darius said abruptly. "It ain't no ways certain to me that Jim has heard this thing right, an' I count on gettin' down to facts."

Jerry and I were eager to land, and, without even stopping to thank Jim for the news he brought, we went over the rail into our canoe, pulling in hot haste for the shore.

Never waiting to speak with such few loungers as were to be seen near the water front, I went directly to my own home, and there found more tidings of war.

My father had joined Commodore Barney, as had nearly all the able-bodied men of Benedict, agreeing to remain in service while our section of the country was menaced by the enemy, and mother seemed to have the idea that I would follow his example.

Jerry's father had gone with the fleet, and, as she said, only those who had been opposed to the war with England, remained at home. After greeting me, and telling what little she knew of the situation, mother set about getting together the few things I owned which might be needed on a long cruise, and I was ashamed to say that as yet I had had no idea of going to fight the Britishers.

Don't let it be understood I believed the United States could have done other than declare war in 1812, or that I had any secret liking for the Britishers. I simply believed that I did not have the backbone of a fighter, and preferred to stand at a distance while the more eager went ahead; but yet I was not really a coward, as I think was afterward proved.

However, just then it made me feel rather uncomfortable to have mother gathering up my few belongings, and telling me what to do in event of receiving such or such a wound, and, with my brain all in a whirl, I went out of doors under the pretense that it was necessary I should have a talk with Darius and Jerry.

Once alone by myself, behind the corn-crib where no one would be likely to see me, I tried to sum up the situation so far as I was immediately concerned, and it did not look cheering. We had sailed the Avenger down the bay and up the river never sighting a single craft, although it appeared that the British were swarming near about our very course. It was not probable we could run to the southward without coming across some of their vessels, especially if they were reckoning on pursuing Commodore Barney, and even though we did get to the mouth of the river in safety, where could we go? The big fleets were at the entrance of the bay, and had not come there for nothing; the enemy was counting on attacking Washington or Baltimore, it seemed certain, and by going to the northward we would likely find ourselves out of the frying-pan into the fire.

It seemed very much to me as if we had lost the Avenger, whichever way we turned, and my heart grew heavy, for once she was gone Jerry and I were badly off.

Hardly knowing what I did, I went toward my friend's home, and met him coming my way, a look of excitement and eagerness on his face.

"Well, it seems as if we were in for it!" he cried when we were come within hailing distance, and I asked irritably:

"In for what?"

"A bit of fightin', of course. You wouldn't be willin' to stay here with the cowards Commodore Barney left behind, would you?"

"There are a good many things I had rather do than poke my nose into a hornet's nest," I replied, feeling as if Jerry was in some way my enemy because he appeared to be so delighted with the situation.

"What did your mother say?" he asked, giving no heed to my grumpiness.

"Nothing much; she is getting things ready for me to go away, and without so much as asking if I counted on leaving."

"She knows, as I do, that you wouldn't remain behind," the lad cried, showing as much joy as if we were thinking of visiting a peepshow. "Come on; Darius is waitin' for us. We must try to get a supply of provisions, for it's likely they haven't any too large a store in the fleet."

Then was the moment when I should have declared bluntly that I had no idea of putting myself in a position to be shot at if it could be avoided; but I hadn't the courage to tell him that I would not leave Benedict immediately, although I was fully determined not to go up the river.

Jim Freeman and a couple of other boys strolled along, having been in search of us. They also took it for granted that the Avenger would join Commodore Barney's fleet, and were come to ask that the three be allowed to go with us.

"It won't do, Jim," Jerry said, taking it upon himself to act as spokesman, although I figured as captain of the pungy. "We can't feed ourselves, the way things look now, an' it don't stand to reason we should add to the crew."

"But I'll bring enough to eat," Jim persisted, and turned to me as he said, "I've done you many a good turn, Amos, an' you won't lose anything by givin' me lift now."

"Do you call it a lift to be put where the Britishers can kill you?" I asked angrily, for if these lads were so eager to have a hand in the fighting as to beg for a chance, it would be all the harder for me to declare that I wouldn't join the fleet.

"We might carry you as far as Nottingham, if you'd agree to ship on some other craft after we got there," Jerry said without stopping to ask my permission.

"That we'll do, an' be glad of the chance," Jim replied, acting as if really overjoyed by the permission to run his nose into danger. "We'll be on board in half an hour; you can't get under way before then?"

"No; we shall likely be here an hour or more," Jerry said as if he was the sole owner of the Avenger, and when the foolish boys ran away at full speed, he began to figure as to where we could get a small store of food.

I held my peace, angry and timorous, until we were come to the water front, where we found Darius awaiting us, and he, as could be seen at a glance, was of the same mind as Jerry.

"I've found two hams an' a side of bacon!" he cried triumphantly, pointing to the articles which were in the canoe. "If you fellows can scare up some meal, we'll be fixed for a spell. Did you see Jim Freeman an' his crowd?"

"Yes; they're goin' to Nottingham with us," Jerry replied, and the old man asked me:

"How soon can we get under way?"

I hesitated; it was on the tip of my tongue to say that I would not stir a hand in the matter, nor should the Avenger leave her moorings; but, fortunately, I remembered that we couldn't hold the pungy there to be destroyed when the enemy came up the river, and, to tell the absolute truth, I was ashamed to declare bluntly that I had no idea of casting in my lot with such a firebrand as Commodore Barney.

"We ought to leave here in an hour," Jerry said, making answer because he thought I was trying to figure how long it would take us to make ready. "Amos won't need more than ten minutes to get what stuff his mother is puttin' up for him, an' I'm goin' round by the mill to see if they will trust us for half a bushel of meal."

He was off like an arrow as he spoke, and Darius had no idea that I was hesitating as to the course to pursue, for an old fighter like him supposed it would be a pleasure for me to voluntarily go into the worst kind of a row.

It was fortunate indeed for me that the old man never suspected what was in my heart, otherwise I would have been shamed in my home to such an extent that I could never go there again; but all that came to mind later. Just then I felt as if I was being cruelly wronged by those who should have stood my friends.

Darius would have told me yet further of what Commodore Barney had done in the past; but I cut him short by saying like a spoiled child:

"I don't care to hear anything more about him; just now it strikes me that we'd better be thinking of ourselves."

The old man looked really distressed, and but for the fact that my heart was sore, I could have laughed because of the mistake he made. Darius really believed that I was grieving over being thus obliged to leave my mother and the children, and he said soothingly:

"I come somewhere near knowin' how it is, lad. At such a time as this the least home talk that's made, the better, for it kind'er unstrings a fellow. You wait here, an' I'll go after what dunnage your mother is gettin' together; she'll understand that a short partin' is the best."

I could not have stopped him, for he was off before I had time to so much as open my mouth, and there I stood leaning against the canoe, giving the people of Benedict to believe I was eager to be fighting for my country.

Jim Freeman and his companions came along a few moments after Darius left, and in order to have some occupation, rather than from a desire to serve them, I offered to put the three aboard the Avenger.

They talked of nothing but what they would do once the enemy gave them an opportunity, until I asked petulantly:

"Is everybody in Benedict as eager to shed blood as are you?"

"Not much," Jim cried with a laugh. "There's Elias Macomber, for example – he's an Englishman, you know, an' hasn't been in this country more'n four years. He's makin' a lot of wild talk 'bout what he'll do to us folks when the Britishers come up the river."

"What reason has he to make any fuss?" I asked, rather for the sake of saying something, than because I desired information.

"Well, I suppose all hands have roughed into him pretty bad, on account of things he's said, an' now he counts on showin' what his countrymen can do."