CHAPTER VII.
Captured.
By this time the ports and harbors of the Chesapeake were declared in a state of blockade, and after her visit in Washington was over, Lettice returned to Baltimore to hear that little fleets of British ships were appearing off the coast.
“You are much safer here than at home,” Mrs. Tom Hopkins said; “for if the British should come up the bay, there is no knowing what will happen. Think how they have burned and plundered lower Virginia. We may yet see our homes in the country burned over our heads.”
“Do you really think so, Aunt Martha?” Lettice asked apprehensively.
“One cannot tell,” Mrs. Hopkins returned, shaking her head. “Alas, this foolish war! It has taken my husband from me and may rob me of my home.”
“Why don’t you go to Boston when Mr. Kendalland Rhoda go?” Lettice asked demurely.
“Because my duty is here,” her aunt replied, a little sharply. “I shall not neglect that for the sake of my own comfort and convenience. I was not brought up that way.”
“Isn’t it a pity that all the Massachusetts people don’t feel so?” Lettice said slyly.
“Why, child, what do you mean?”
“I mean that they don’t want the war to go on because it interferes with their comfort and convenience, and yet it is their duty to stand by their country’s rights.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about,” replied her aunt. “A chit of a girl like you doesn’t know anything about politics.”
“I’ve been to Washington, and I heard, oh, so much talk about it there! I know all about war matters,” Lettice returned triumphantly. “You ought to have heard Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun! And even Mr. Randolph, I believe, would think we ought to defend ourselves if the enemy invades the country.”
Mrs. Hopkins went back to her first grievance. “And they will invade it. Nothing but discouraging news from your uncle, and no news at all from Joseph. We are not strong enough to resist thisinvading foe.”
“But just look at the victories at sea!”
“A few, to be sure; but as soon as the British are roused to a sense of the real situation, our little navy will be wiped out. I am told that they have said they will chastise us into submission.”
“They will, will they? I’d just like to see them!” Lettice’s eyes flamed, and she stamped her foot in rage.
“Why, Lettice, what a temper you display!” said Mrs. Hopkins, viewing Lettice’s angry tears with disapproval. “You never see Rhoda fairly cry with temper.”
Lettice’s remembrance of Rhoda’s reserved manner and her quiet self-control served to calm her. “I don’t care,” she said. “I know she boils inside, whether she shows it or not.” Then she sat very still for a time. A picture of Rhoda’s tranquil face with its small features, her smooth light hair, her neat slim figure, rose before her. She wondered if at that moment she and Robert Clinton were walking the streets of old Georgetown. From this her thoughts wandered to the old graveyard, and she jumped up with a suddenness that startled her aunt. “Do you suppose, Aunt Martha,” she said, “that Brother Tom wasn’t drownedafter all?”
Mrs. Hopkins put down her work and looked at her niece in surprise. “What in the world gave you that notion, Lettice?”
“I don’t know. Often when I’ve been down in the graveyard at home I’ve thought of it.”
“His body was never recovered, it is true,” Mrs. Hopkins returned thoughtfully. “It is possible, but not probable, and I’d put any such notion out of my head, if I were you. He was not only a trial to your parents, but he was not a benefit to society.”
“No, he wasn’t, and yet, at his best, he was a dear fellow. No one was so thoughtful of mother, and no one ever loved me so much as Brother Tom. Nothing was too much trouble for him to do for others, and if he had let those wild fellows alone, he would have been all right.” Lettice’s eyes were full of tears again, but this time they were not tears of anger.
Her aunt viewed her with a puzzled smile. “How you do fly from one thing to another, child. One minute you are in a rage, and the next you are melted to tears of sorrow. Come, give that fantasy no more thought. Run down and tell Mrs. Flynn that she must not let that barrel of oysters go to waste, even if we havethem three times a day. We have such a little family now that it is hard to dispose of things, but with prices so high, there is need of economy.” She sighed as she spoke, and Lettice, who had been planning an excuse to get back to the country, felt conscience-smitten, and would not suggest such a thing, now that she realized how utterly alone her aunt would be.
It was very dull for her in the quiet house, and Mrs. Hopkins would not allow her to have even Lutie. She endured Danny, to be sure, because his master had a fondness for the little fellow, and, moreover, he made himself useful in many ways. But Lettice spent a tedious winter, and though she tried to be patient, and did enjoy a few frolics, she was glad to see the first signs of spring.
All through the winter had come cheering reports of naval victories of more or less importance. Many prizes had been brought in by the Baltimore privateers and letters-of-marque, for this city took the lead in sending out such vessels. From the port of New York came the news that Joseph had been successful in capturing more than one English vessel, and had taken them into the Northern ports. Thirteen merchant vesselswere captured off the coast of Spain by one Baltimore ship alone, and this record was equalled by more than one gallant cruiser. Not a day passed but news arrived of some valiant sea-fight. In February Bainbridge took theJava. In March theHornetworsted thePeacock, and the names of Hull and Decatur, Bainbridge and Jones, were on every one’s lips. Throughout all this naval warfare Baltimore was foremost in energetically showing fight, and against the state of Maryland, in consequence, the strongest enmity of the foe seemed to be directed.
It was in April that Rhoda and her father announced that they would return to Baltimore, and then Lettice saw that her desire to go home could be granted, and she wrote to her brother James to come for her. James, nothing loath, responded at once, so that he arrived in time to welcome Rhoda. Under her father’s watchful eye Rhoda was not very demonstrative in her greetings, and Mr. Clinton, following close in her wake, was not received with much enthusiasm by Lettice—a fact he was not slow to notice and to comment upon.
“I am coming down to Sylvia’s Ramble again,” he whispered to Lettice.
“When Rhoda comes, I suppose,” Lettice returned in chilling tones.
“Don’t be jealous,” Mr. Clinton begged.
Lettice turned upon him with scornful eyes. “Jealous! I jealous? You are vastly mistaken, sir!” and not another word did she vouchsafe him the remainder of the day.
The next morning early she and James started down the bay on one of the packets running from Baltimore to Queenstown. It did not seem possible to those whose plantations lay along the inland creeks that the enemy could have any object in penetrating into their part of the country; yet at that very time the British were ravaging the southern shores of the Chesapeake, plundering plantations, and carrying off not only slaves and household valuables, but even robbing women and children of their clothing. In spite of their straits but little protection was given them by the government—this partly because it was not able—and the unfortunate inhabitants had to protect themselves as best they could.
On the morning that Lettice and her brother departed there were lively preparations going on in the city of Baltimore. Lookout boats were established far down the river; troops were stationedalong the shores, for the news had come that the enemy was approaching, and that Baltimore was to be the object of attack.
Mrs. Hopkins and the newly arrived visitors absolutely refused to venture down the bay. “We will escape in another direction, if need be,” they said.
“You mean you will stay to welcome your friends, the British,” Lettice said saucily. “That’s not what I will do. If we are to meet them, let it be in our own home.”
“Pray, Miss Lettice,” Mr. Clinton said, “remain with us. We will have the means to protect you and your brother—a means which may be lacking when you pass beyond our influence.”
Lettice shot him a withering glance. “Your protection, indeed! I’d rather die than be indebted to your complaisance for my safety!” And those ever ready and passionate tears began to gather in her eyes.
Rhoda made a slight movement toward her, but her father laid his hand on her arm and she passed, pressing her lips tightly together. Lettice gave a toss of her head, and said, “Come, Brother James, it is time we were off; the packet will be starting withoutus.”
“I most devoutly wish it would!” Mr. Clinton exclaimed.
“Well, it won’t!” Lettice retorted, moving toward the door. “Come, James, cut short your adieux. Good-by, all of you. I leave you to the tender mercies of Admiral Cockburn.” And without a turn of her head she hastened down the street.
James followed and overtook her at the corner. “You are a spoiled little minx, Letty,” he said. “Why do you speak so disrespectfully to your elders?”
“Do you perchance mean Robert Clinton? Am I to have such an inordinate amount of consideration for him because of his advantage of a few years?”
“Oh, Robert Clinton, was it? But you included Mr. Kendall and Aunt Martha in your remarks.”
“Well, if I did, I am glad; I’d not have had the temerity to attack them but that I was so hot against that weathercock.”
“Weathercock, is it? Humph!” James was silent a moment, and then he added, “Weathercocks seem to be a product of New England.”
“Are they then male and female?” Lettice asked mischievously. Then seeing her brother’s face looked really grave and troubled, she linked her armin his and said coaxingly: “Never mind, Jamie, there are as good fish in the sea as ever yet were caught, and one doesn’t need to go so far from home for them. Let’s whistle these weather-vanes off, and let them whirl to the tune their north wind blows. Is that thePatapsco? I’m glad to be aboard her once more. There seems to be a fair number of passengers in spite of the alarms. We will have a right merry time, I reckon. There is Becky Lowe, as I live! and Tyler Baldwin, and—Come, Jamie, help me up.” And in a few minutes a jolly little party was established in one corner of the boat, Lettice and her brother being welcomed heartily.
“I’m scared to death!” Becky cried. “Jamie, I was so relieved to see you come aboard; it guarantees one more protector if we are attacked by the British. You will fight for me, won’t you?” And she turned a coquettish glance upon him, moving a little aside that he might take a seat next her.
Lettice, leaning over the rail, watched the water as the boat moved out of her dock and started down the Basin, moving slowly between the shores now showing their first suggestion of spring.
“Are you scared, Miss Lettice?” asked Tyler Baldwin by her side.
“No, are you?” she asked, without raising her eyes.
“Yes, for you.”
Lettice looked up, startled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I wish to heaven that all the ladies were safe inland, miles from the coast. I’ve no confidence in our being safe, although the captain says so.”
“What would they do to us if they were to take us?” asked Lettice, looking sober.
“They’d not treat you ill, I hope, but they might scare you to death. Miss Lettice, I have not seen you since your visit to Washington. Did you enjoy the naval ball?”
“You are changing the subject. Do I look pale with fright?”
“No, you do not; but it is not a pleasant thing to anticipate, and I should not have spoken of it. Why harrow ourselves with what may not happen at all?”
“Why, indeed. Yes, I was at the ball. How did you know?”
“I didn’t know, positively; I promised to find out. I judged from the description given me by one who saw you that it might be you whom my cousin, Ellicott Baldwin, met.”
“Is he a naval officer? A young man? Yes, I see, it is you of whom he reminded me. Did he tell you—Oh, Tyler, I hope he didn’t think me a forward piece. I spoke to him in a moment of excitement, not realizing that he was a stranger. How came he to mention it?”
“He was most desirous of discovering who you were. He could not learn your name, and the best he could do was to find out the names of your companions. When he told me who they were, and described you, I was able to tell him that I was almost certain that the lady of his fancy was none other than Miss Lettice Hopkins, of Queen Anne’s County. Do not trouble yourself over having met him in so chance a way; he has only admiration for you, and spoke of you in a most respectful manner. He told me of your meeting, and some day—Heavens! what is that?”
They both started up, for the boat was now opposite North Point, and they saw bearing down upon them several small vessels belonging to the enemy’s squadron which lay just within the mouth of the river. Soon followed a scene of confusion. Becky Lowe fell fainting into James’s arms. Lettice, with pale face and imploringeyes, clung close to Tyler Baldwin. “What will they do?” she whispered. “Shall you have to fight?”
“It would do little good, and so I think the captain will conclude. In such a case discretion is the better part of valor. The captain, for the sake of all concerned, will probably submit with the best grace he can summon. We are not prepared for a battle.” And the event proved the truth of his words.
“We are prisoners,” said Tyler, after returning to her from a tour of investigation. “All we have to do is to make the best of it. They are preparing to put us under guard, and are helping themselves to whatever they can find.”
Becky had recovered sufficiently to sit sobbing by James’s side. He was trying to comfort her, and looked pleadingly at his sister, that she might understand that her assistance would be appreciated.
“Come, Becky,” said Lettice, in quiet tones, “there is no use fussing over the matter. We may be thankful that we are not hurt, and that there is not going to be any fighting. I think we should submit with dignity, and show themwhat stuff American girls are made of.” But Becky was not to be comforted at once and continued weeping hysterically.
“Law, Becky,” Lettice said, at last out of patience, “you fairly provoke me. What is the use of your snivelling and sniffling? There is nothing to be gained by it, and you only draw attention to yourself; that is what you want, I shall believe, if you don’t stop. Look at Sally Weeks, she is as still as a mouse.” Nevertheless, in spite of any effort to make light of the situation, it was a hard ordeal for them all; for instead of reaching their homes that evening, as they had expected, they were all night under guard, and the next morning saw a wan and weary company.
“How much longer shall we be kept here?” Lettice asked her brother, wistfully. But the answer came with the order to remove the prisoners to an old boat. “You are allowed a permit from the admiral to proceed to Queenstown,” they were told, and they did not dare to resent the impertinence of the message.
It was a long and uncomfortable trip which was before them; for with scarcely any food, and with no water at all, after their night of detention, and upon a miserable hulk of a boat, which made but slow progress, it was as forlorn a company as onemight wish to see, which at last landed at Queenstown in Chester River. But the effect of this was that not one of the party but felt that when the moment came, he or she would do the utmost to work revenge.