Harper's Round Table, March 10, 1896

WHEREIN SOME THINGS ARE EXPLAINED.

Propped up by pillows in an easy-chair before a roaring fire in the great fireplace, George Frothingham was sitting, relating to a group of listeners the story of his adventures on the way from New York.

His sister Grace, seated on the arm of the chair, was softly stroking his hand.

Aunt Clarissa, who had discarded her tatting-frames, was busily clicking her needles at the toe of a woollen stocking.

"What I don't see," said George, "is where I got that little chopped-down horse that you say I rode upon. I do not know where he came from."

"But you are anticipating," said Aunt Clarissa; "you had only got as far in your story as sighting Lyons Farms."

"Oh, that's so!" said George. "Now comes the part that I hate most to tell. When I came down the hill, it was evident that something was wrong in the collection of little houses. No one was stirring about, and the ruins of a small building were smoking to the left of the road. What do you suppose had happened? The firing that I had heard two or three hours before had taken place here. There had been a skirmish. A body of English troops and a company of Hessians on a marauding excursion had been met at the cross-roads by a handful of militia. It makes my blood boil to tell the rest, but the Lord will punish them. All this had happened only a few hours before I arrived. They had shot Mr. Hinckley, and a brute of a Hessian had rested his gun on the window-sill, and killed his wife as she bent over her baby's cradle. Then, like redskins, they had hurried off. I found no one amongst the dwellings but some frightened children huddling in a cellar. The houses were robbed and empty."

Aunt Clarissa had dropped her stocking and rushed into the next room. "God forgive me!" she had exclaimed, when she was alone, and she had reached her long arms up above her head. "Curse them and their tyrants to the bottom of the sea! How could I have been so blind--so stubborn?"

When she had come back, however, she kissed her nephew on the forehead.

The remembrance of the scene, and the picture of it which was going through his mind, had caused George to pause and sink back silently among the cushions. "I think I will rest a little," he said.

No one disturbed him, and for some time there was silence.

In a few minutes a loud, hearty voice was heard ringing through the hallway.

George smiled. "Colonel Hewes," he said. "Do ask him in."

The Colonel greeted his young friend with a subdued effusion, and, with the gentleness of a woman, spread out George's fingers in his palm.

"Just back from headquarters!" he said. "Lad, lad, I have had you on my mind, and when I heard of your escape, I grew quite young again. The Commander-in-Chief himself rejoiced to hear of it, for the officer with despatches from the north brought the news of your arrival. But when his Excellency heard for what you had gone to New York he grew quite angry. He laid aside my request for active service, though. Too bad the plan fell through! It was my idea.--I wrote and proposed it to the printer."

George smiled to himself. Perhaps Mr. Hewes's next venture would be an attempt to capture the King of England.

"Did you come along by the Tumble Ridge Road?" inquired the Colonel. He did not catch Aunt Clarissa's warning glance.

George wrinkled his forehead. "Now let me think; yes--there's where it occurred," he said. "But wait; I have got to think how it all happened."

"Don't try, brother George," said Grace. "Wait until another day."

"No, I must tell it now. Where was I?"

"You were telling about Lyons Farms," said his sister.

"Oh yes! I found an old sledge in a shed much like the one that my good friend Wissinck had driven me in from Paulus Hook. Although old Molly was very tired, I harnessed her up and put the children--there were four of them--in a feather-bed, and drove across the hill. I stopped at the first house that I came across, and found two old women there. You should have heard their stories! The Hessians have been worse than Indians; you would hardly believe it.--But enough. I left the children there with the two old women, and pushed along as best I could three or four miles further. Here I came upon the remains of a camp-fire by the road-side, and was glad enough to find the remnants of a meal in the kettle that hung over the smouldering fire. It had been left hurriedly.

"That night I slept in a farm-house in the mountains. The poor old mare was so tired by this time that I determined to make the rest of the trip on foot, and left her in the care of the old farmer, who promised to return her. I shall never forget how I suffered all that day. If it had not been for two rough snow-shoes that I had made out of the staves of a molasses hogshead, I could not have gotten through the snow at all." He paused. "Now comes the part that leads up to my forgetting."

George had seemed to gather strength as he went on with the recital. He now sat up straighter, and the color came to his pale cheeks.

"I had almost feared I had lost my way when I saw the trunk of a shattered pine--the one that was struck by lightning, you remember--then I knew that I was only six miles from home. I was weak and faint, for I had had nothing to eat but a frozen potato all that day. I soon came to the cross-roads where the path winds across the ridge. It was a short-cut, and I took it. The bushes interfered with my rough snow-shoes, and I discarded them and plunged through the snow. When I came to the hollow by the old Camel rock, I smelt smoke quite distinctly.--It is here, you know, that the path joins the road again.--As I pushed through the short pines the smoke became stronger, and all at once I found myself face to face with a group of men seated about a fire. Two or three horses were tethered to the trees, and the men were all armed.

"'God save our country!' I exclaimed--for the idea that there were English so close about seemed impossible.

"'God save ourselves!' said one of the men, with a laugh.

"At that moment I recognized a man in the little circle who was slowly rising to his feet. It was that rascal Cloud, the man who had robbed Uncle Nathan unknown for so many years, you remember."

"Well," cried Colonel Hewes. "He's got his dues. I--" The Colonel stopped and dug his fingers into his palm.

George had not noticed the interruption. "I knew, of course," he went on, "that some mischief was afoot, for that wretch never had an honest thought. I backed away, and was going to make a break for the road near by, when I tripped and fell.

"'Seize him!' said Cloud, and in another moment I was bound hand and foot. They took my purse, which yet contained some gold pieces. They were as murdering a lot of pirates as you ever saw!"

"We know of them," the Colonel broke in, excitedly. "There's a price on all their heads, for they acknowledge no law or party. But go on."

"'What are you going to do with me?' I asked, after they had searched every pocket. No one paid the least attention.

"They had drawn apart and were whispering together, and I could see that Cloud was talking angrily. How long they conversed I do not know, but it was at some length. When Cloud had finished speaking, there was some dissent about what he said, and the rest--all but two--took their bundles, and, heading about, struck off through the woods. Cloud was left sitting opposite to me, his horse was tied to a tree a short distance off. I shall never forget the look in that man's eyes. It was the look of Satan himself."

"Go on," said Colonel Hewes, breathlessly.

Aunt Clarissa and Grace gathered closer.

"'Do you remember me?' asked Cloud.

"'I do for a thieving villain,' I replied.

"'Do you know that your uncle had me tied and thrashed like a low black nigger?' he exclaimed, his teeth coming over his under lip.

"'And well deserved,' said I. Perhaps it was foolish, but I so detest the man that I could reply naught else.