The Minute Boys of Boston

"Put a stopper on that fellow's jaw! It makes me sick to hear his howling. I have some respect for a lad or man who can take as well as give; but when it comes to working all the harm he may, and then showing the white feather so completely, my patience is soon gone."

Seth shut his mouth like a clam. I believe the coward would have tried to stand on his head, had Hiram given any such command, so eager was he to show his willingness to obey, and I said to myself that of the two, Job Lord, who had meditated worse treachery against the Cause than Seth could ever have hoped to work, was the better.

In due time Hiram had as appetizing a meal as could be prepared from all the stores to be found in the building, for once he had set about the work of a cook he did not scruple at overhauling the provisions in the room above, finding there many a toothsome dainty which had been supplied this miserable double-faced spy by his British friends.

We ate heartily, and with greater relish than at any time since this venture in aid of Silas had been proposed, for now was the greater portion of the burden removed from our hearts, and we could see our way out, where before all had been darkness with a British prison at the end.

When the meal was ready I would have put the gag back into Job Lord's mouth; but before it was possible to do so he said with the air of one who speaks the truth:

"I'm not minded to take so much of punishment as that involves, if it can in any way be avoided, therefore it is I give you my solemn word not to raise my voice above a whisper from now till sunset."

I looked at Hiram to see what he thought of the proposition, for there was in my mind a suspicion that Master Lord might have some scheme in his head to do us harm; but our comrade said decidedly:

"As a rule I wouldn't take the word of such as he for the value of a button; but since he knows full well that we could fall upon him before he had time to let out more than one yell, and also understands that that one yell would be his last, I'm thinking it is safe enough to let him have the use of his jaws."

Therefore it was that while we feasted Master Lord asked in what you might call a manly fashion, if, when the meal was come to an end, we would give him so much of food as might serve to satisfy his hunger, claiming that he had not broken fast that day.

"Neither have I," whined Seth, "and I'm nearly dead with having been mauled about so much."

"It wouldn't do a little bit of harm if you were wholly dead; but we're not counting on starving either of you, so depend upon it that your stomachs shall be filled, for when we once set out, having Silas Brownrigg in our company, you will be called on to step mighty lively."

I looked at Hiram questioningly, asking, so far as was possible with my eyes, whether he was wild enough to think of hampering us with these prisoners, and he nodded in a way to show that he was not minded to have any argument regarding it.

"Aye, lad, if I read your face aright, that's exactly what I do count on doing. There is no better place for hatching a scheme than over a cook-stove when you have plenty with which to work, as I had this afternoon, and I've got an idea that it won't be such a terrible hard matter to land these fellows in Cambridge. If so be everything goes to my liking, you will soon understand that it is as easy to take the prisoners, as to go alone."

I knew that Hiram did not care to discuss whatsoever plan he might have in mind while the prisoners might hear him, and therefore held my peace; but when we were done with feasting because it was impossible to eat any more, I beckoned him to follow me into the room above, where I asked what mad scheme he had hit upon.

"It may come to naught, lad, therefore we won't discuss it; but I'm going out around the town a bit, and you can bar the door after me. I'll knock twice on the window shutter when I come back."

"Going out in the daytime?" I cried sharply. "Show yourself in this town where you are like to be taken into custody? Don't, Hiram, don't take foolish risks now when, by being careful, we have plain sailing before us!"

"I'm not taking chances," he replied doggedly. "You must remember that my face is not known here as yours is, and with what I have in my pocket who will dare put aught of hindrance in my way?"

"The first officer you come across may know Job Lord well, and, finding you in possession of a document which belongs to him, will come here without delay."

"Since when have officers taken a hand in such matters, save after a man was already in the custody of the watch or the patrol?" Hiram asked scornfully. "You know, lad, that all I have to fear is the possibility of coming in contact with a squad of lobster backs in charge of a corporal or a sergeant, and if I can't shut their eyes it is high time I was taken to the Bridewell."

It was useless for me to argue against his purpose, whatever that might be, for the fellow was determined, and even though I had gone down on my knees to him he would have done that which he said.

He was not sparing of strength when he thrust me back from him as he began to unbar the door and I would have hindered him; but said as I staggered against the wall almost overthrown:

"Have no fear for me, lad. I know what I'm about, and take my word for it that I'm not running into the least little bit of danger. Listen for two raps on the shutter when I come back, which will be within an hour."

He was gone even as he spoke, and all I could do toward repairing what I believed to be serious mischief, was to lock and bar the door after him, saying to myself that if he failed to come back as he had promised, and aught suspicious was heard, I would insist that Archie and Harvey join me in flight, for then would Master Lord's house be the one place in Boston town where lurked the greatest danger for us.

"Where is Hiram?" Archie asked when I descended the ladder alone.

"Gone out of doors," was my sulky reply.

"Out of doors!" both lads cried as with one voice. "In the daytime?"

"Aye, that he has, and verily it seems as if good fortune has turned his head."

"If he depends upon that pass in my name as a safeguard while he wanders the streets, I'll answer for it the tables will be turned before you have time to choose among the prisoners at the Bridewell," Job Lord said vindictively, and his words were not needed to make my heart heavy, for already had I come to believe that after all the good work he had done, our imprisonment, perhaps our death, could be laid directly at his door.

CHAPTER XVII

HIRAM'S VENTURE

The other lads were equally disturbed in mind regarding what seemed to be a foolish venturing forth on the part of Hiram. After matters had come about so mysteriously in our favor when we had given up all hope of being able to succeed in the undertaking, it seemed much like flying in the face of Providence to take any risks that were not absolutely necessary.

We would be bound to incur so much of danger in order to make an attempt at releasing Silas, that to put all this on the hazard, simply to satisfy what I believed only a whim, was to my mind little less than criminal folly.

You can fancy we were not heartened after Job Lord had spoken so decidedly regarding the certainty that Hiram would speedily come to grief, because the pass he believed to be of so much value could avail nothing when he was come upon by the patrol.

I fancied it was possible to see on that double-faced villain's countenance joy because of what was being done, and there could be no question but that he firmly believed Hiram had, as people say, overturned his dish of porridge.

It may be simply because I was in such a wretched frame of mind that I imagined it; but for the time it was to me a fact that Seth had regained a goodly portion of his courage on seeing Master Lord so well pleased, and even found his tongue once more, saying vindictively, even as had the man who hoped to have betrayed us, that we were about come to the end of our rope, when he would have his turn.

That Archie was nearly as disturbed in mind as I, and had quite as many fears regarding the future, I knew when he said angrily, leaning over the bed as if to strike the Tory lad:

"It is not well for you to crow yet a while, Seth Jepson. Up to this moment you have been so cowardly as hardly to know what was going on, and therefore it is we will have no words from you."

"It can do you no more harm to hear me speak, than when Master Lord talks," he muttered, and Archie replied with no slight show of temper:

"Job Lord has not shown himself to be the white-livered cur you have. One may take from him who gives proof of some little courage, more than would be listened to from a veritable coward."

Seth glanced toward Master Lord as if thinking he would bear him out in his insolence; but however traitorous the elder prisoner was, he had neither love nor sympathy for such as Seth Jepson had shown himself to be, therefore remained silent, and the Tory lad did not venture to speak again.

We could not talk of our plans for the future without being overheard by Job Lord, and this would have been, so I argued, in the highest degree dangerous, for there was yet the possibility he might succeed in making his escape before we could leave the town, in which case he would have us at a disadvantage.

Neither were we minded to speak of trifling matters. The situation was all too full of peril, and there were so many chances we would come to grief, that it was well nigh impossible for us to do other than sit there in gloomy silence, watching the prisoners even while we feared each instant to hear an outcry at the door, which would tell that the lobster backs had come to learn we from Cambridge were hiding there.

As the moments passed, so slowly that it seemed as if each was near an hour in length, I came to believe beyond a question that Hiram would be, if he had not already been, taken into custody, and strove to form some plan of action, saying to myself that we would wait no longer than until the setting of the sun before taking to our heels, leaving the prisoners to be set free by whomsoever should visit the house.

Now and again at short intervals I ascended the ladder, peering through the crevices of the shutters to learn how near to setting the sun might be, and thus succeeded in so working myself into a fever of anxiety and fear as to be like one who has lost his senses.

It so chanced that I was in the upper room trying to gain some idea of the time, when there came two sharp raps on the shutter through which I was peering, and so nervous had I become that I cried aloud in fear, darting back to the trap-door, positive that none other than a lobster back or a Tory could be thus striving to attract our attention.

While one might have counted ten I entirely forgot what had been agreed upon between Hiram Griffin and me, and my feet were already upon the rungs of the ladder to descend, when the cob-webs seemed suddenly to have been blown from my brain, allowing me to realize that despite all the dangers Hiram had succeeded in gratifying his whim without loss of liberty.

You may well fancy that I opened the door in a twinkling, for it was dangerous to have him standing there in the broad light of day, and when he was come into the room, having closed and barred the door behind him, I flung my arms around his neck, clinging to him as if he was one lately returned from the very verge of the grave, as indeed I believe to this day was the case.

"Why, lad, what has come over you?" he asked in astonishment. "You are shaking like an old woman with the palsy, and your face is as white as I have heard it said ghosts' faces are."

"I had brought myself to believe you were taken into custody, Hiram! Job Lord was so certain the pass would not avail you, that it was almost the same as if I had seen you in the clutches of the lobster backs. You were cruel to leave us at such a time, simply to show that you could roam about the city at will, when the slightest mistake would have caused our chances for escaping with Silas to fall to the ground."

"Is it in your mind, lad, that I went out simply on a whim? That I am so light-headed as to take chances in this Tory town for the purpose of showing that it could be done?" he asked in a tone that was really one of reproof.