Commodore Barney's Young Spies

We lads talked of the pungy we would buy when the government paid us for the Avenger, and laid many a plan for the future when Jim, his two friends, Jerry, Darius and I would begin oystering again, in a craft capable of carrying three or four times the cargo we had been able to squeeze into the old boat which had been sacrificed at Pig Point.

Then, when it was near noon, we had come within sight of Fort Washington, and as we rounded the bend Captain Hanaford gave vent to an exclamation of surprise and fear, which was echoed by Bill Jepson.

At some considerable distance down the river it was possible to see the upper spars of seven vessels of war which were slowly approaching the fortification from the southward.

"It's the British fleet!" Captain Hanaford cried as he shoved the tiller hard down, thereby swinging the pungy's nose into the mud of the eastern bank. "We were bloomin' fools to think that the enemy had all run away!"

"It's the fleet under Captain Gordon, an' I can tell you just how strong it is," Bill Jepson said as he rubbed his head nervously. "There are two frigates of thirty-six an' thirty-eight guns; two rocket ships of eighteen guns each, two bomb vessels of eight guns each, an' one schooner carryin' two guns."

"The schooner would be enough to bring us up with a sharp turn, therefore I hold that it don't make any difference how many frigates are behind her," Darius cried. "The question is whether the fort can prevent their comin' up the river?"

No one aboard could say what might be done by those in the fortification, or how strongly it was garrisoned; but later I read the following in one of the newspapers, and will set it down here so that what happened while we were on the river may be the better understood.

"The only obstruction to the passage of the fleet on which the Americans might place the least reliance, was Fort Washington, on the Maryland side of the Potomac, about twelve miles below the national capital. It was a feeble fortress, but capable of being made strong. So early as May 1813, a deputation from Alexandria, Georgetown and Washington waited upon the Secretary of War, and represented the importance of strengthening the post.

"An engineer was sent to examine it. He reported in favor of additional works in the rear, while he believed that the armament of the fort, and its elevated situation, would enable a well-managed garrison to repulse any number of ships of war which might attempt to pass up the river. Nothing more was done.

"In July, 1814, when a British fleet and army were in the Chesapeake, the authorities of Alexandria again called the attention of the Secretary of War to the feeble condition of Fort Washington. The secretary did not believe the enemy would push for the capital, and nothing was done. The Alexandrians appealed to General Winder, who recommended the strengthening of the post. Three of the banks in Alexandria offered to loan the government fifty thousand dollars for the construction of more defences for the District. The money was accepted, but nothing was done to Fort Washington. When the battle of Bladensburg occurred, and the seat of government was left to the mercy of the invaders, Fort Washington was as feebly armed as ever, and its garrison consisted of only about eighty men, under Captain Samuel T. Dyson."

CHAPTER XX.

DODGING THE ENEMY

As I have said, Captain Hanaford shoved his tiller hard over, throwing the pungy around until her nose struck the mud, and it was a question of getting her off the bank in the shortest possible space of time, unless we were minded to lay there when the action began, for none of us doubted but that an engagement was close at hand.

"It's a case of runnin' back up the river," Bill Jepson said nervously, "An' the sooner we get about it the better."

Darius was not of the same opinion, as was shown when he said, after waiting a moment to learn if any other had an opinion to express:

"I'm willin' to agree that we're bound to put back a bit, so's to be out of the way when the iron begins to fly; but I don't hold that we should run very far off until findin' out how things are goin' to turn."

"You might settle that question after the pungy is afloat," my father said grimly. "Just at present we're in a bad place if there's to be any firing done, and when we're off the mud you'll have plenty of time in which to discuss the situation."

"That's about the size of it," Captain Hanaford added emphatically, and then he ordered us lads into the small boat that we might pull the pungy's bow around.

Any one who has ever run an oysterman such as we have in the Chesapeake, knows that when a craft of that build takes ground ever so lightly, it is not a simple matter to float her, especially when there's no cargo that can be shifted to bring the stern down and the bow up.

We lads worked our prettiest with the paddles after making fast to the vessel's nose, and, finding that we were making no headway, the three able-bodied men began pushing with poles which are kept aboard for such purpose, until she slid slowly into deeper water.

Then it was a case of clawing away from the fort, which was not easy, since the wind that had brought us down so finely, now blew directly in our teeth, and the pungy was a master-hand for sliding off when you tried to tack.

As a matter of course it was necessary to stand over toward the opposite shore, which was not a pleasant piece of business since it carried us within view of the enemy; but we had no choice in the matter.

"If we get back as far as Alexandria by sunset we'll be doin' mighty well, unless you bring her around an' try to slide up," Bill Jepson said grumblingly; but she did not make any better headway because of his being disgruntled.

"We'll have to take things as they are, matey," Darius said grimly. "If the old hooker won't carry us out of harm's way, we can take to the shore at any time, which is a bit of consolation you'd better keep pasted in your hat."

"This breeze will fine down within an hour," Captain Hanaford said as if speaking to himself, "an' then it'll be a case of anchorin', no matter where we – "

He did not finish the remark, for at that moment it was as if the earth and sky had come together with one deafening crash; then followed three or four reports like unto peals of thunder near at hand, and those of us who chanced to be looking astern, saw the fort actually leap into the air, while from the mass of earth and stone came a shower of fragments such as literally obscured the light of the sun for an instant, after which it fell upon us with a crash that caused the pungy to rock to and fro like an egg-shell.

While one might have counted fifty I stood dazed, unable to understand what had happened, and bleeding from a dozen scratches caused by the fall of fragments which absolutely covered the deck of the pungy to a depth of two or three inches. Then I understood that the fort had been blown up, Captain Dyson believing he could not hope, with the small force under his command, to withstand an assault from the fleet.

As we afterward came to know, his instructions from the War Department were to the effect that he should destroy the fortification rather than take the chances of its being captured by the enemy; but what seemed strange to me then, and does now, was the fact that he had not fired a single gun in defiance. Surely he might have discharged his pieces once, in the hope of doing a little damage, before setting a match to the magazine.

Of all our party in the pungy, not one escaped more or less severe bruises or scratches, and the wonder is that the vessel was not sent to the bottom off hand.

However, we were yet afloat, and the river was open for the passage of the Britishers, therefore it may be understood that we could not afford to spend many minutes in speculations upon what might or might not have been done.

Within three minutes from the time of the explosion, Darius and Bill Jepson were in the small boat making fast to the bow of the pungy, and when Captain Hanaford shouted to ask what they counted on doing, the old sailor replied:

"There's a creek half a mile further up stream, an' if you can get any headway on this apple-bowed lugger, we may be able to hide before the Britishers come in sight."

It was absolutely certain that we could not hope to escape by sailing, because any four-oared boat in the British fleet would have overtaken us in a twinkling, therefore, unless it might be possible to hide, we were in a bad scrape, from which I saw no relief save at the expense of abandoning the pungy.

How we worked to push the vessel through the water! Darius and Bill plied the paddles with every ounce of strength in their bodies, while we on deck trimmed the sails to a nicety, shifted everything movable to bring her into better trim for sailing, and even swung the two long sweeps outboard.

We five lads manned the enormous oars with which the pungy was provided to help her around, or when she drifted too near inshore, and I dare venture to say that we did quite as much toward forcing the craft ahead as the two old shell-backs did by towing.

Fortunately for us, the Britishers did not appear to think it necessary to move up the river swiftly, knowing full well that all the towns above were at their mercy whenever they arrived; but the fleet hove to off the ruins of the fortification while some of the officers landed to ascertain the amount of damage done. It was this last which gave us the opportunity of which we stood so sorely in need, otherwise we were taken prisoners beyond a peradventure.

By dint of pulling and paddling we contrived to get the pungy into the creek of which Darius had spoken, before the enemy came in sight again, and then it was a case of hauling her so far inland that she would be hidden from view by the foliage.

It can well be supposed that we did not waste any time at this last work; the perspiration was running down our faces in tiny streams when the craft was finally as far up the narrow water-way as she could be taken, and then all hands were so exhausted that we threw ourselves on the deck to regain breath and strength.

All the while that we had been in strenuous flight my father stood at the helm, thus giving Captain Hanaford the chance to aid us, otherwise the task would not have been accomplished so quickly.

But even when we were thus snug, unless, perchance, the Britishers took it into their heads to search the river banks, our work was by no means done.

It was now necessary that we should know if the enemy went up stream, and after we had rested no more than five minutes, when a full hour would have been hardly enough to put me in proper trim again, Darius said:

"Come, Amos, you an' I will stand the first watch. Bill an' Jerry can spell us in a couple of hours."

"What do you count on watching?" I asked curtly.

"The Britishers, of course. We'll paddle down to the river, an' lay there till the fleet goes one way or the other."

It would have been a long watch had we remained on duty until the entire fleet sailed in one direction; but as to that we were happily ignorant, and I took my place in the canoe believing the enemy would sail past our hiding place in a very short time.

We allowed the canoe to drift down the creek until we were come within a few yards of the river, and then, well hidden by the undergrowth, we made ourselves as comfortable as possible where we could command a full view of the channel.

"It doesn't appear to be as easy to get back home as we counted on," I said, by way of starting a conversation, and Darius replied confidently:

"This 'ere stop won't put us back very much, though it'll make a power of extra work, for I count to be slippin' down river within a couple of hours at the longest."

Then the old man fell silent, and I was not disposed to wag my tongue, because of looking ahead to the meeting with mother and the children, which now seemed so near at hand.

We had been on watch an hour or more when the enemy appeared. The schooner was leading the way slowly, being towed by boats, with the men taking soundings every fifteen or twenty yards in order to show the channel to the two frigates close astern, and another hour went by before the three vessels had passed our hiding-place.