The Boy Spies with the Regulators

"And yet you make every effort to give him the opportunity?" I cried in dismay.

"Aye, lad. We accepted the mission, and having done so it became our bounden duty to perform it whatever might be the result. Before the people of the Carolinas can force the representatives of the king to treat us fairly and honestly, many a good gentleman must come to grief, and it is not for us to hold back."

There was no reply to be made to such a remark as this, and I would have held my peace but that the gentlemen insisted on being told why we had worked to rescue them, instead of pushing on toward Maddock's Mill.

"All the credit belongs to Sidney," I replied, determined that my comrade should have the praise. He argued that we would be wasting but little time by trying to effect a rescue, and in case of failure we could have carried out your orders within six hours from the moment they were given.

Sidney claimed that he could not have made the attempt unless I had been willing to remain with him, and regarding this we fell into quite a discussion, which lasted until we heard once more the trampling of horses in the distance.

It was high time we continued the race, and, the horses having had quite a breathing spell, we sent them ahead once more at their best pace.

After this we stopped twice to give the animals water, and once to breathe them, before the gray light told that a new day was upon us.

Then it was that Master Howell proposed we take to the thicket, and after we were screened by the trees we led the horses a mile or more parallel with the road. Then we crossed over to the other side, taking good care to cover such hoof-prints as had been left on the highway.

After these precautions it seemed as if we might consider ourselves reasonably well hidden from those who came in pursuit, and surely I was not sorry of an opportunity for rest.

We had been in the saddle not less than eighteen hours, and during six or seven hours more were so strung up by excitement that it was as if we had been two days without repose.

Fortunately the deputies had not been despoiled of their haversacks when taken prisoners, therefore we had food sufficient to provide us with one hearty meal, and this we ate immediately after the horses were picketed where was grass in abundance.

Not until we were eating did Sidney ask Masters Howell and Hunter anything concerning their adventure, and soon we were in possession of all the facts.

The deputies, finding themselves opposed by six horsemen, surrendered immediately after Sidney and I rode away. They were asked no questions, nor was there an attempt to search them. The royalist led the prisoners to the lean-to, tied their hands and feet, and left them in charge of the negro, giving orders for him to shoot with intent to kill if either made any effort to cry out for help in case travelers passed that way.

Neither Master Howell nor Master Hunter had any definite idea as to what the scoundrels intended to do with them; but both believed that but for the rescue they would have been taken to Hillsborough and there lodged in jail on a charge of sedition or treason.

"Yes, I recognized one of them," Master Howell said in reply to my question. "He who appeared to be the leader I have seen in Fanning's office, therefore there was no question in my mind but that the party set out from Hillsborough in advance of us. Some one at Maddock's Mill played the traitor."

"Why did they wish to prevent you from presenting the petition to Governor Tryon?" I asked in amazement.

"I do not believe that was their purpose. It could make but little difference if Tryon heard of our wrongs; but it might create a sentiment in our favor among the honest people of Brunswick if we told there what has occurred at Hillsborough. The scheme unquestionably was to prevent information of the outrages being carried into the lower Carolina."

"Do you think we are in danger from others?" I asked.

"Probably not, yet we will travel by night from this out in order to guard against a possible attack. If those fellows sent word ahead that we were on the road and must be stopped, then will there be men ready to detain us; but I am disposed to think that they believed it was in their power to bring our journey to a close, and we shall meet with no serious impediment between here and Brunswick."

"The governor may close our mouths by sending us to prison as traitors to the king," Sidney suggested.

"We shall take good care, my lad, to talk with many citizens of Brunswick before presenting ourselves before him. If it is known generally that we are in town as deputies from the Regulation, who have come in consequence of certain promises made by the governor's secretary, I do not believe even William Tryon will dare cause our arrest without first showing some proof that we are plotting against the king. He will commit deeds in Hillsborough which he would be afraid to commit in Brunswick or Newbern."

"In other words," Master Hunter added with a laugh, "we are thrusting our heads in the lion's mouth because we believe he dare not make a meal of us until after we have gone back into upper Carolina."

With this the conversation came to a close. Master Howell insisted that we must get all the sleep possible before nightfall, and to such end he proposed that we draw lots to decide who should first go on guard, after which the others were to lie down.

No one questioned the necessity of standing watch. In the first place the horses were to be prevented from straying, and then again it was of the highest importance we should know if a party of horsemen rode past our camping place toward Brunswick, otherwise we might find ourselves following the enemy, instead of being followed.

It was decided by lot that I take the first watch, and at the end of two hours Master Howell was to be aroused.

Those who had the privilege of sleeping soon stretched themselves out in the most comfortable positions that were possible, and ten minutes later I was the only member of the party awake.

CHAPTER V

AT BRUNSWICK

During my time of standing sentinel I neither saw nor heard anything to cause alarm or suspicion; but I never had a harder task than that of keeping my eyes open while the others were sleeping. It was as if until my companions lost themselves in slumber I had no sense of weariness, and then, suddenly, I was overcome to such an extent that it seemed almost impossible I could perform the duties of sentry.

I walked to and fro briskly; repeated to myself this hymn or that verse, and now and then groomed the horses in the hope of arousing myself; but all to no purpose. My eyelids drooped as if weighted with lead, and not until I had switched my face sharply with a bit of brush, striking my bare eyeball inadvertently, was I awakened. Then the pain kept me awake until I judged that the time of my vigil had come to an end.

Master Howell arose reluctantly when I shook him vigorously, and asked as he stretched his limbs and yawned prodigiously, whether I had heard anything which might concern us.

Sixty seconds later I was sleeping soundly, and not until late in the afternoon was I sensible that the life yet remained within my tired body.

Then I was surprised by seeing meat cooking before a fire; but soon learned that Master Hunter had been out in search of game, and, fortunately for us, had come across a deer within half a mile of our camping place.

After partaking of a hearty meal the difficulties and dangers of our way seemed to have lessened, and I looked forward to the night's work as a task which might have within it somewhat of pleasure.

Because we had not heard horsemen passing our resting-place, it was believed that our enemies had abandoned the chase, and immediately the late dinner was eaten we set forth, taking less precautions than before, for now it seemed as if we must have outrun danger.

In order that I may not make too many words of what is of little consequence, no further record of the journey shall be made, save to say that on a certain day, near about noon, we rode into Brunswick despite the efforts of Master Edwards and Attorney Fanning to check us.

At the inn, the landlord of which was an acquaintance of Master Howell's, it was given out with considerable emphasis, as if there was something in our official position of which to be proud, that we had come as deputies from the Regulation to petition the governor, and I venture to say that before nightfall every citizen of Brunswick was well aware of what had been done in upper Carolina to preserve the rights of the people.

It was only natural the Brunswickers should be curious to know all that this association so lately sprung into existence was doing, and even we lads were questioned eagerly by those who, because of press of numbers around the deputies, could not otherwise learn of the organized resistance against unjust taxation.

Thus it came about as Master Howell and Hunter desired, that the citizens were well informed as to the reason of our coming before we had asked for an audience with the representative of his majesty in the Carolinas.

Not until the following morning did we present ourselves at the governor's residence, and then we were admitted after being allowed to cool our heels in the guard-room for an hour or more.

Sidney and I had not supposed that we would accompany our companions on this visit of state; but it served the purpose of our gentlemen to introduce us as deputies of equal importance with themselves, with the view, most likely, of giving us lads that fancied protection which would be thrown around the messengers of a reasonably powerful association.

There could be no doubt but that the governor knew by this time why we had visited Brunswick, and, while not daring, perhaps, to refuse us an audience, satisfied his narrow mind and tyrannical disposition by making us wait in the room occupied by the guard for a certain length of time.

When finally we were admitted to his presence we saw a cruel-faced man, clad carelessly in a dressing-gown, seated at a table in that room which served him as a library, and ranged around the apartment were six soldiers fully armed, fitting protectors for such as he.

As if with the view of proving that we were of but little consequence in comparison with his greatness, he did not so much as glance at us when we first entered; but remained as if engrossed with certain papers that were spread out on the table, until ten minutes or more had elapsed, when he looked up, surveying us with a scornful expression.

Certain it is that he did not frighten either of the party by his lordly manner, and such fact must have been apparent on our faces, for he finally asked in a loud voice, perhaps hoping to cause alarm by his roar, why we had presented ourselves.

Master Howell acted as spokesman, and he advanced a pace as he said boldly:

"May it please your excellency, we, the deputies of a certain association well known in upper Carolina as the Regulation, have ventured to present ourselves with a petition from the Regulators, on the strength of a recommendation from your excellency's secretary, Master David Edwards."

"Your association may be well known in the backwoods; but we have yet to learn of it here," the governor cried angrily.

"That you may do by a perusal of this petition, your excellency," Master Howell said quietly as he laid a folded paper on the table in front of Tryon. "Two of our people have been imprisoned without due warrant, and when four hundred or more gentlemen of upper Carolina presented themselves at Hillsborough for the purpose of restoring our friends to liberty, Master Edwards urged us to the present procedure, promising faithfully in your name that this matter, together with others of an unlawful nature, should receive your prompt attention."

At this speech, which savored little of fear, the governor took up the petition, glancing at it carelessly, and then throwing it contemptuously on the table, cried in a voice which quivered with passion: