The Minute Boys of Boston

Then Hiram began searching once more among the papers, this time doing it in a methodical manner, and I, who feared each instant lest there should come a summons at the door, or we hear tokens of trouble from the room below, had half-turned to go toward the trap-door when Hiram caused me to wheel about suddenly as he leaped to his feet, waving above his head a slip of paper as if having taken leave of his senses.

"I'm allowing there's still a chance left for us to lend Silas Brownrigg a hand!" he cried, speaking so loudly that I leaped upon him, covering his mouth with my hand lest peradventure some one from the outside might hear and be so inquisitive as to make an attempt at entering.

"Read this, lad! Read this!" Hiram cried as soon as he could free his mouth from my hand, and at the same time he laid upon the desk, where the flickering light of the tallow dip might fall upon it, the paper which had caused him so much of excitement.

During a full minute I stood gazing at the document, not daring to believe the evidence of my own eyes, and saying to myself over and over again that it must be impossible such an order could have come into our hands.

This is what I read, and you may see whether a lad in my situation would not have doubted even the written words:

"The bearer, Job Lord, is hereby authorized to take from the Bridewell any one of the prisoners captured at Charlestown, which he may select. The officer on duty will follow the bearer's instructions in every particular, and retain this order as receipt for the prisoner."

It was signed by the governor's aide-de-camp as secretary, and bore the king's seal. In other words, it was a direct command from General Gage to the officer at the Bridewell to deliver over any one of the prisoners taken at Breed's hill which Job Lord might point out, and, what is more, was dated the very day before we made a prisoner of this double-dyed villain!

"If we had a key to all the plots in that scoundrel's head, then would you find that this permit to take away a prisoner is part and parcel of some scheme concerning us," Hiram said emphatically, and I was quite of the same mind, being convinced thereto because the document had been so lately written.

In some way, and I hoped it might be made clear before many days had passed, the delivery of a prisoner to Job Lord was, together with the holding of us, a trap for more important ends; but what those ends might be my mind failed totally in the grasping.

Hiram, like me, no longer had any interest in Master Lord's belongings. We had found sufficient to brand him the vilest of traitors, and, what was more to our purpose, had obtained at the very moment when we despaired of being able to aid our comrade in any way, that which would effect his release, unless it so chanced that the worthy Master Lord was particularly well known at the Bridewell. This last thought came into my mind, darkening all hope, at the moment Hiram turned to go into the cellar that he might acquaint the other lads with our good fortune, and, clutching him nervously by the arm, I reminded him of the disagreeable fact that whosoever presented himself with that order from Governor Gage, might speedily find himself a prisoner with the tables turned completely in favor of Job Lord.

"Aye, lad, I have already reckoned on that, yet at the same time when night has come it is my purpose to go to the Bridewell as boldly as that double-faced villain would have done, trusting I can get my nose out of the scrape if so be the officer on duty chances to know the scoundrel we have got tied up below."

"It is a desperate chance," I said with an inward tremor that was much like faint-heartedness, and he replied laughingly:

"Tell me, Luke Wright, how much more desperate is it to go out armed with a safeguard from the king's governor, and due authority to take charge of a prisoner, than was your act in capturing Seth Jepson at the very time when we ourselves were captives?"

"I did that because there was nothing else to be done," I cried.

"And so shall I go to the Bridewell, because there is nothing else to be done if we would aid Silas Brownrigg."

It was not my intention to say aught which might discourage him from taking advantage of the document so strangely come into our possession. As a matter of course I burned to have him do it; but I could not for the life of me refrain from considering all the chances against us.

Snuffing out the tallow dip, we two went into the cellar, Hiram holding 'twixt his thumb and finger the precious order from Governor Gage, and when we were come to where Job Lord lay, Griffin took up the lantern that the scoundrel might see what we had found.

There was no change of expression on his face. The villain knew full well that we would come upon evidence against him after ever so careless a search of his belongings, and therefore counted on our having this paper through which he hoped to work some wild scheme.

"What is it? What are you showing him?" Archie asked eagerly, and Hiram, disappointed because the prisoner had failed to show any signs of surprise or distress, held it up for the lad to read.

"But that cannot be!" Archie cried in amazement. "Governor Gage would never issue any such order!"

"But he has done so, else another must have stolen the king's seal," and Hiram pointed triumphantly to the impression in wax which was fastened to a short length of blue ribbon.

"But how could it be that Job Lord would be allowed to choose a prisoner from among those taken at Breed's hill?" Archie continued in bewilderment, and I cried, eyeing the prisoner sharply all the while:

"He got it for some purpose which General Gage understood and approved, and that purpose was all of a piece with our being held here! Some day we shall learn the secret, and then I hope most earnestly that this same Master Lord, who has claimed to be devoted body and soul to the Cause, may be given over to my mercy even as he is at this moment."

They were high sounding words, perhaps, for a lad like me to use, and yet Master Lord shrank under them as if in fear, which was the first exhibition of feeling he had given since we came from the room above.

It can well be understood that after Archie and Harvey had recovered from the amazement caused by reading the order from Governor Gage, our tongues were loosened, and during a certain time we gave ourselves over to rejoicing, as if already the task we had set ourselves was accomplished. But even while we indulged in words of triumph, there was in my heart a certain undefined fear because all this had come about in such a mysterious way, having really been gained by that blunder of mine in making a prisoner of Seth Jepson, when it had seemed as if such an act on my part would lead to direst results.

Hiram still held to it that when nightfall was come he would present himself at the Bridewell, and with that as a starting point we set about laying plans for the future.

They were simple enough, if so be everything worked as we would have it, because once with Silas in our company we could, thanks to the pass in Hiram's stocking, march out over Boston Neck as bold as lions. The stumbling block was, a possibility that the officer at the Bridewell might be sufficiently well acquainted with Master Lord to take into custody whoever presented the governor's order, and the greater part of our discussion had to do with that chance.

Hiram claimed that we should allow no more than an hour to elapse from the time he set off for the Bridewell, before taking to our heels if so be he failed to return, because, as he said, within that time he would either be returned to Cow lane with Silas by his side, or lie in one of the cells of the jail.

"You shall take this pass, Luke Wright," he said, pulling the paper from his stocking, "and see to it that if I'm held in custody you make all speed out of the town, leaving me to my fate."

"Indeed I will do nothing of the kind," was my reply, and I refused to take the paper from his hand. "If you are held at the Bridewell, all the more reason why we three should strain every nerve to do whatsoever may be in our power to aid you."

"The only thing within your power, lad, will be to save your own skins, for once this trick of ours is discovered, you may rest assured the Britishers will pay a visit to Job Lord's house in order to learn what has become of him, and if peradventure you delay after there is reason to believe I am a prisoner, you will have effected nothing save a loss to the Cause of three stout-hearted lads."

Well, we chewed over this question as to whether it would not be cowardly to desert Hiram if he was taken, until a full two hours had passed, when Archie very wisely said:

"If no move is to be made until nightfall, will some one tell me what prevents our breaking fast? My stomach cries out for food, and if peradventure all goes this night as we would have it, then is it necessary we put our bodies in fair condition, for there are many miles to be traveled before we again see the encampment at Cambridge."

Hiram immediately acted upon this suggestion, insisting that he was better fitted to play the part of cook than any other, and as he set about the task I saw Job Lord writhing in pain, which caused me to realize how much of bodily suffering must be his, therefore said to my comrades:

"Don't let it be thought that there is any softness in my heart for such as him; but it does not become us to cause another unnecessary suffering, therefore it is I propose we take the gag out of Master Lord's mouth for a time, since he must be in great pain."

"I never saw any good come of favoring a snake," Hiram grumbled; but yet he did not make any protest against my proposition, and I pulled the gag from the mouth of the man who had worked us so much injury, saying at the same time as I seated myself near the bed, holding the knife which had been taken from its sheath:

"You can well understand that we would not stick at doing you harm, and it may be our fingers itch to pay you for your treachery, therefore should any one approach this building and you attempt to make an outcry, I shall consider that I have done the Cause a service by taking your life."

It was nearly a minute before the man could speak, so cramped were his jaws, and then, with a look which had in it, if such a thing can be possible, a mingling of gratitude and hatred, he said softly:

"I'm not such an idiot as to kick when I'm fairly downed; but you need fear no visitors before sunset."

"We'll keep our ears open for them just the same, seeing's how it don't stand to reason we can put overly much faith in your words," Hiram cried, and added to me, "Have your knife ready, lad, and don't hesitate to use it at the first show of a disturbance. He may speak you fairly now; but once there was a decent chance of taking your life without losing his, you'd be in the next world in a twinkling."

"All of which is true," Master Lord replied quietly, and I could not but give him credit for such show of courage under the circumstances. "If I held you at the same disadvantage, would you hesitate to strike on the first opportunity?"

"Faith, no," Hiram replied laughingly. "And now you are talking like a decent man, although far from being one. Once we get you in Cambridge, where there's no fear your friends may come, I shall breathe freely; but until then I'm watching every move you make."

"Surely you are not so foolish as to think you can take me to Cambridge?" the man cried quickly, and Hiram asked as he continued his task of cooking:

"Why not? We've got your pass, and I'm allowing that you and Seth Jepson can be counted as among our friends during such time as we are under the eyes of the lobster backs."

"That pass does not allow of your taking two prisoners out," Master Lord said with a snarl which was much like that of an angry cat's.

"Why not? If you were leading a party of friends, and had just made selection of one of the prisoners taken at Breed's hill, how would you account for him?"

Master Lord refused to answer, and I asked myself if Hiram could be so venturesome as to think it possible we might carry these two Tories out of the town. If so, then our wondrous fortune must have turned his head, for verily none but a madman would, after having gotten out of such a tangle as we had been in, take yet more desperate chances.

Now for the first time did Seth Jepson come out from the fever of terror which had assailed him since I thrust him into the tunnel, and began to plead most earnestly, like the coward that he was, for us to show him what he called mercy. Having heard our conversation with Master Lord, and understanding that we were in fair position to work our will, he realized, perhaps better than ever before, how wholly he was in our power.

Had the lad shown the slightest token of courage I might have had some sympathy for him, for surely it was hard to thus suddenly find himself at the mercy of those whom he had wronged, at the very moment he must have believed everything was going his way; but the fellow was such a veritable coward that even the softest-hearted could not feel aught save contempt for him.

He whined and whimpered, declaring it had never been in his mind to do us wrong, and swearing to that which we knew was absolutely false, until Hiram cried angrily: