I beg to report that several of the British vessels of war now lying at anchor in the harbor of Pensacola, have just returned from a brief voyage, the object and nature of which I have endeavored to discover. I have succeeded in finding a deserter from the British marine corps, from whom, under promise of protection, I have drawn such information as he possesses. He accompanied the late expedition, and tells me that it went to the Island of Barrataria, to seek the assistanceof Jean Lafitte, the pirate, and his gang of outlaws, against the United States. Whether the negotiations to that end were successful or not, he does not know, but he supposes, from the temper in which the officers returned, that they were.From this deserter I learn, also, that preparations are making for a hostile movement, which the British marines and soldiers believe, from the remarks made by officers in their presence, is to be directed against Mobile by way of Mobile Point, which I take to be the point of land which guards the entrance to Mobile bay, where Fort Bowyer stands.I send the deserter with the messenger who takes this to you, partly because I have promised to secure him against recapture, and partly because you may desire to question him further.There are no present appearances of the immediate sailing of this expedition, but from what the deserter tells me, I presume that it will sail within a few days. I shall remain here still, to get what information I can, and will report to you promptly whatever I learn. I cannot say how long I shall be able to stay, as a British officer visited my camp yesterday, and questioned my boys, as I thought, rather suspiciously. I shall be on the alert, and take no unnecessary risk of capture.All of which is respectfully submitted.
I beg to report that several of the British vessels of war now lying at anchor in the harbor of Pensacola, have just returned from a brief voyage, the object and nature of which I have endeavored to discover. I have succeeded in finding a deserter from the British marine corps, from whom, under promise of protection, I have drawn such information as he possesses. He accompanied the late expedition, and tells me that it went to the Island of Barrataria, to seek the assistanceof Jean Lafitte, the pirate, and his gang of outlaws, against the United States. Whether the negotiations to that end were successful or not, he does not know, but he supposes, from the temper in which the officers returned, that they were.
From this deserter I learn, also, that preparations are making for a hostile movement, which the British marines and soldiers believe, from the remarks made by officers in their presence, is to be directed against Mobile by way of Mobile Point, which I take to be the point of land which guards the entrance to Mobile bay, where Fort Bowyer stands.
I send the deserter with the messenger who takes this to you, partly because I have promised to secure him against recapture, and partly because you may desire to question him further.
There are no present appearances of the immediate sailing of this expedition, but from what the deserter tells me, I presume that it will sail within a few days. I shall remain here still, to get what information I can, and will report to you promptly whatever I learn. I cannot say how long I shall be able to stay, as a British officer visited my camp yesterday, and questioned my boys, as I thought, rather suspiciously. I shall be on the alert, and take no unnecessary risk of capture.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
SAMUEL HARDWICKE,
Commanding Scouting Party.
Drop Cap
hen Sam had finished his despatch he quietly aroused Bob Sharp and Sidney Russell, and entered into conversation with them.
"Sid," he said, "I have a prisoner and a despatch of very great importance to send to General Jackson. You must take the despatch and leave as soon as possible, with the prisoner, who is a deserter and who must be got away from here before daylight. Bob, I want you to give Sid as good directions as you can, as you've been over the route twice."
"Yes an' I've sort o' blazed it too, and picked out all sorts o' land-marks to steer by, but I don't knows I can make any body else understand 'em. Are you in a big hurry with the despatch?"
"Yes, the biggest kind. It's of the utmost importance, and time is every thing. A single hour lost may lose Mobile or a battle."
"Then maybe Sid an' me'd both better go,—Sid to do the fast running an' me to show him the way."
"There's no use of both of you going," replied Sam, "but if you had had a couple of days rest I would send you instead of Sid, because you know the way, and I don't believe anybody can make the distance any quicker than you have done it."
"I know a feller that kin," replied Bob.
"Who is it?" asked Sam.
"Me."
"You? How do you mean?"
"I mean that I kin go to Mobile most a day quicker 'n I dun it before. I got into a lot o' tangles before that I know how to keep out of now."
"Yes, but you can't start back again without at least a day's rest."
"Can't I though? I'm as fresh as an Irish potato without salt, an' if you just say the word,I'll be off the minute you git your papers ready. The boys have got somethin' cooked I reckon."
Sam complimented Bob upon his vigor and readiness, and accepted his offer. Ten minutes sufficed for all necessary preparations, and Bob was about starting with his prisoner, when Sid Russell spoke.
"I say, Sam, did you say this 'ere feller's a deserter?"
"Yes. What of it?"
"Nothing only there's a camp o' British an' Injuns back there a little ways, an' if Bob don't look out he'll run right into it."
"A camp? Where?" asked Sam.
"Right in rear of us, not three hundred yards away."
"When was it established there?"
"To-night, just after you went away in the boat."
"All right," replied Sam. "Jump into the boat, Bob, and we'll sail down below and you can start from there."
It was easy enough to carry Bob and the deserter down to a point below the camp, butSam was not at all pleased to find the British so near him. He feared already that he was suspected, and he was not sure that this placing of troops near him was not a preparation for something else. At all events, it was very embarrassing, for the reason that it would prevent him from withdrawing his party suddenly to the woods on their retreat, if anything should happen, and this made Sam uneasy. He returned to camp, after parting with Bob and the deserter, and sat for an hour revolving matters in his mind.
At first he was disposed to wake the boys and quietly withdraw by water to a point lower down, but upon reflection he was convinced that his removal by night immediately after the troops had been stationed near him, would only tend to excite suspicion. He thought, too, that he must have been wrong in supposing that the camp had been established in rear of him with any reference to him or his party.
"If they suspected us in the least, they would arrest us without waiting to make sure of their suspicions," he thought; nevertheless, it was awkward to be shut in and cut off from the easy retreat which he had planned, as a means of escape, in the event of necessity, and he determined to seek an excuse for removing within a day or two from his present camping place to one which would leave him freer in his movements. He was so troubled that he could not sleep, and the flickering blaze of the dying camp fire annoyed him. He got up, therefore, from his seat on a log and went to the boat and sat down in the stern sheets to think.
He had no fear of danger for himself, or rather, he was prepared to encounter, without flinching, any danger into which his duty might lead him; but I have not succeeded very well in making my readers acquainted with Sam Hardwicke's character, if they do not know that he was a thoroughly conscientious boy, and from the beginning of this expedition until now, he had never once forgotten that his authority, as its commander, involved with it a heavy responsibility.
"These boys," he frequently said to himself, "are subject to my command. They must go where I lead them, and have no chance to use their own judgments. I decide where they shallgo and what they shall do, and I am responsible for the consequences to them."
Feeling his responsibility thus deeply, he was troubled now lest any mistake of his should lead them into unnecessary danger. He carefully weighed every circumstance which could possibly affect his decision, and his judgment was that his duty required him to remain yet a day or two in the neighborhood of Pensacola, and that it would only tend to awaken suspicion if he should remove his camp to any other point on the shores of the bay. He must stay where he was, and risk the consequences. If ill should befall the boys it would be an unavoidable ill, incurred in the discharge of duty, and he would have no reason, he thought, to reproach himself.
Just as he reached this conclusion, Thlucco came from somewhere out of the darkness, and stepping into the boat took a seat just in front of Sam, facing him.
"Why, Thlucco," exclaimed Sam, "where did you come from?"
"Sh—sh—," said Thlucco. "Injun know. Injun no fool. Injun want Sam."
"What do you want with Sam?"
"Sam git caught! Injun no fool. Injun see."
"What do you mean, Thlucco? Speak out. If there is any danger, I want to know it."
"Ugh! Injun know Jake Elliott!"
"What about Jake?" asked Sam.
"Um, Jake Elliottdevil. Jake hate Sam. Jake hate General Jackson. Injun no fool. Injun see."
Sam was interested now, but it was not easy to draw anything like detailed information out of Thlucco.
"What makes you think that, Thlucco? What have you seen or heard?"
"Um. Injun see. Injun know. Injun no fool. Jake cuss Sam. Jake cuss Jackson. Injun hear."
"When did you hear him curse me or General Jackson, Thlucco?" asked Sam.
"Um. To-day! 'Nother day, too! 'Nother day 'fore that."
"What did he say?"
"Um. Jakecuss. Um. Jake gone."
"What!" exclaimed Sam. "Gone! where?"
"Um. Injun don't know. Injun know Jake gone."
"When did he leave camp?"
"Um. When Sam go 'way Jake go too! Injun follow Jake. Jake cuss Injun. Injun come back."
"Is that all you know, Thlucco?"
"Um. That's all. That's 'nough. Jake gone 'way."
Sam jumped out of the boat and waked the boys.
"Where did Jake Elliott go to-night?" he asked.
None of the boys knew.
"Did any one of you see him leave camp?"
"Yes," answered Billy Bowlegs, "but we didn't pay much attention to him. He's been so glum lately that we've been glad to have him out of sight."
"Has he ever gone away before?" asked Sam.
"No, only he never stays right in camp. He sleeps over there by them trees," said Billy Bowlegs, pointing to a clump of trees about forty orfifty yards away, "an' I guess he's only gone over there. He never stays with us when you're not here."
Sam strode over to the trees indicated, and searched carefully, but could find no trace of Jake there. Returning to the camp he asked:—
"Did any of you observe which way he went when he went away?"
"Yes," answered Sid Russell, "he went toward his trees."
"That is toward the town," answered Sam.
"Yes, so it is."
"Have you observed anything peculiar about his conduct lately?"
"No," replied Billy Bowlegs, "only that he's been a gettin' glummer an' glummer. I'll tell you what it is, Captain Sam, I'll bet a big button he's deserted an' gone home. He's a coward and he's been scared ever since he found out that you wa'n't foolin' about this bein' a genu-ine, dangerous piece of work, an' I'll bet he's cut his lucky, an' gone home, an' if ever I get back there I'll pull his nose for a sneak, you just see if I don't."
"Very well," said Sam, "go to sleep again,then. If he has gone home it is a good riddance of very bad rubbish."
Sam was not by any means satisfied that Jake had gone home, however. Indeed he was pretty well convinced that he had done nothing of the sort, and he wished for a chance to think, so that he might determine what was best to be done. He believed Jake would not dare to go home as a deserter, knowing very well what reputation he would have to bear ever afterward, in a community in which personal courage was held to be the first of the virtues, and the lack of it the worst possible vice. Where had he gone, then, and for what? Sam did not know, but he had an opinion on the subject which grew stronger and stronger the more he revolved the matter in his mind.
Jake Elliott, he knew, had a personal grudge against him, and no very kindly feeling for the other boys. He was confessedly afraid to continue in the service in which he was engaged, and it was not easy for him to quit it. There was just one safe way out of it; and that offered, not safety only, but revenge of precisely the kind that Jake Elliott was likely to take. Sam knew very wellthat, notwithstanding his magnanimity, Jake still bitterly hated him, and still cherished the design of wreaking his vengeance upon him at the first opportunity.
"What is more probable, then," he asked himself, "than that Jake is trying to betray us into the hands of the enemy to die as spies? He is abundantly capable of the treachery and the meanness, and his desertion of the camp to-night strongly confirms the suspicion."
This much being decided, it was necessary for Sam to determine what should be done in the circumstances. If there had been no camp in his rear, he would have withdrawn his command through the woods at once. As it was, he must find some other way. It was clearly his duty to escape with his boys, if he could, and to lose no time in attempting it. The danger was now too near at hand, and too positive to be ignored, and there was really very little more for him to do here. He must escape at once.
But could he escape?
That was a question which the event would have to answer, as Sam could not do it.Unluckily, it was already beginning to grow light, and he would not have the shelter of darkness.
He aroused the boys again, before they had had time to get to sleep, and quietly began his preparations.
"Make no noise," he said, "but put what provisions you have, and all your things into the boat.Don't forget the guns and the ammunition.Sid! take our little water keg and run and fill it with fresh water."
The boys set about their preparations hurriedly, although they but dimly guessed the meaning of Sam's singular orders.
At that moment Jake Elliott shuffled into the camp.
Drop Cap
s it is impossible to tell at one time the story of the doings of two different sets of persons in two different places, it follows that, if both are to be told, one must be told first and the other afterward.
For precisely this reason, I must leave Sam and his party for a time now, while I tell where Jake Elliott had been, and what he had been about.
When Sam let him off as easily as he could at the time of the compass affair, and even went out of his way to prevent the boys from referring to that transaction, he did so with the distinct purpose of giving Jake an opportunity and a motive to redeem his reputation; and he sincerely hoped that Jake would avail himself of the chance.
It is not easy for a man or boy of right impulses to imagine the feelings, or to comprehend the acts of a person whose impulses are all wrong, and so it was that Sam fell into the error of supposing that his badly behaved follower would repent of his misconduct and do better in future. This was what all the boys thought that Jake ought to do, and what Sam thought he would do; but in truth he was disposed to do nothing of the sort, and Sam was not very long in discovering the fact. Instead of feeling grateful to Sam for shielding him against the taunts of his companions, he hated Sam more cordially than ever, when he found how completely he had failed in his attempt to embarrass the expedition. He nursed his malice and brooded over it, determined to seize the first opportunity of "getting even," as he expressed it, and from that hour his thoughts were all of revenge, complete, successful, merciless. He was willing enough, too, to include the other boys in this wreaking of vengeance, as he included them now in his malice.
His first attempt to accomplish his purpose, as we know already, was an effort to wreck the boatin a drift pile, and that affair served to open Sam's eyes to the true character of the boy with whom he had to deal. He trusted him no more, and managed him thereafter only by appeals to his fears.
When the camp was formed near Pensacola, Sam carefully canvassed the possibilities of Jake's misconduct, and concluded that the worst he could do would be to injure the boat or her tackle, and he sufficiently guarded against that by always sleeping near the little craft.
Jake was more desperately bent upon revenge than Sam supposed, and from the hour of going into camp he diligently worked over his plan for accomplishing his purpose. He had learned by previous failures, to dread Sam's quickness of perception, of which, indeed, he stood almost superstitiously in awe. He would not venture to take a single step toward the accomplishment of the end he had set himself, until his plans should be mature. For many days, therefore, he only meditated revenge not daring, as yet, to attempt it by any active measures. At last, however, he was satisfied that his plans were beyond Sam's powerto penetrate, and he was ready to put them into execution. On the night of Bob Sharp's return, which was the night last described in previous chapters, Sam went to the town, as we know, accompanied by Tom, who sailed the boat. As soon as he was fairly out of sight Jake walked away toward Pensacola. The distance was considerable, and the way a very difficult one, as the tide was too high for walking on the beach, so that it was nearly midnight when Jake knocked at a house on a side street.
"Who is there?" asked a night-capped personage from an upper window.
"A friend," answered Jake.
"What do you want?" said the night-capped head, rather gruffly.
"I want to see the Leftenant."
"What do you want with me?"
"I want to talk with you."
"Oh, go to the mischief! I'm in bed."
"But I must see you to-night," said Jake.
"On business?"
"Yes, sir."
"Important?"
"Yes."
"Won't it keep till morning?"
"No, sir; I'm afraid not."
"Very well. I suppose I must see you then. Push the door open and find your way up the stairs."
Jake did as he was told to do, and presently found himself in the room where Lieutenant Coxetter had been sleeping. That distinguished servant of His Majesty, King George, had meantime drawn on his trowsers, and he now lighted a little oil lamp, which threw a wretched apology for light a few feet into the surrounding darkness.
"Now then," said the officer, in no very pleasant tones, "What do you want with me at this time o' night? Who are you, and where do you come from?"
Jake was so nervous that he found it impossible to find a place at which to begin his story, and the impatient Lieutenant spurred him with direct questions.
"What's your name?" he asked. "You can tell that, can't you?"
"Yes, sir," faltered Jake.
"SPEAK, MAN! OR I CHOKE YOU.""SPEAK, MAN! OR I CHOKE YOU."
"Well, tell it then, and be quick about it."
"My name is Jacob Elliott," said that worthy, fairly gasping for breath in his embarrassment.
"Oh! you do know your name, then," said the officer. "Now, then, where do you come from?"
"From Alabama," answered Jake.
"From Alabama! the mischief you do! You're an American then? What the mischief are you doing here?"
"Oh, sir, that's just what I want to tell you about, if you'll let me."
"If I'llletyou? Ain't I doing my very best tomakeyou? Havn't I been worming your facts out of you with a corkscrew? But you'd better be quick about giving an account of yourself. If you don't give a pretty satisfactory one, too, I'll arrest you as aspy,—aspy, my good fellow, do you understand?A spy, and we hang that sort o' people. Come, be quick."
"Spies! that's just it, Lieutenant. I came here to-night to tell you about spies."
"Then why the mischief don't you do it? You'll drive me mad with your halting tongue. Speak man, or I'll choke you!" and with that theofficer stood up and bent forward over Jake, to that young man's serious discomfiture.
"They's some spies here—" Jake began. "Where?" asked the impatient officer interrupting him.
"Down there, in a camp," said Jake, talking as rapidly as he could, lest the officer should interrupt him again; "Down there in a camp by the bay, an' they've got a boat an' guns, an' they're boys, an' they pretend to be a fishin' party."
"Ah!" said the Lieutenant, "I thought I'd make you find your tongue. Now listen to me, and answer my questions, and mind you don't lie to me, sir; mind you don't lie."
"I won't. I pledge you my honor—," began Jake.
"Never mind pledging that; it isn't worth pledging. You see you're a sneak, else you wouldn't be here telling tales on your fellow countrymen. But never mind. It's my business to make use of you. I'm provost-marshal."
This was not at all the sort of treatment Jake had expected to receive at the hands of British officers. He had supposed that the value of hisservices in betraying his fellows, would be recognized and rewarded, and he had even dreamed of receiving marked attentions and a good, comfortable, safe place in the British service in recompense. It had never occurred to him that while all military men must get what information they can from deserters, and traitors, they do not respect the sneaking fellows in the least, but on the contrary hold them in profoundest contempt, almost spurning them with their boots. Jake had gone too far to retreat, however, and must now tell his whole story. He told where the boys were, and how they had come there, and for what purpose, lying only enough to make it appear that he himself had never willingly joined them, but had been deceived at first, and forced afterward into the service.
The Lieutenant listened to the story and then asked:—
"Have you anything to show for all this?"
"How do you mean?" asked Jake.
"Why, you wretched coward, don't you understand? How am I to know how much of your story is true, and how much of it false? Ofcourse it isn't all true. You couldn't talk so long without telling some lies. What I want to know is, what can you show for all this story? If I arrest these boys, what can be proved on them?"
"Well, the Captain's got a despatch from General Jackson; that'll prove something."
"When did he get it?"
"To-night."
"Very well. That's something. Now you just sit still till I tell you to do something else."
So saying the Lieutenant summoned a courier or two, and sent them off with notes.
"These boys have a boat, you say?"
"Yes."
"Do they know how to sail it?"
"A little; the Captain handles it better'n the rest."
"Has he ever been to sea?"
"No, sir."
"What sort of a boat is it?"
"A dug-out; we made it ourselves."
"Oh, did you? Why didn't you tell me that first? Never mind, it's all right. They'll never try to put to sea in a dug-out, but they may try toescape to some point lower down the bay in it, so my message to the fort won't be amiss."
The Lieutenant had sent a message to the fort that at daylight he should arrest the party, and that if they should take the alarm and try to escape by water, a boat must be sent from the fort to overhaul them.
He now dressed himself, first sending for a file of soldiers under a sergeant, with instructions to parade at his door immediately.
When all was ready he said to Jake.
"Now then, young man, come with me, and guide me to the camp of these lads."
Jake led the way, and when a little after daylight they approached the camp the Lieutenant said to him:—
"I don't want to make any mistake in this business. You go ahead to the camp and see if the lads are there. That'll throw 'em off their guard, and I'll come up in five minutes."
"But Lieu—" began Jake, remonstratingly.
"Hold your tongue, and do as I tell you, or I'll string you up to a tree, you rascal."
Thus admonished, Jake walked on in fear andtrembling to the camp. As he approached it he observed the unusual stir which was going on, and wondered what it meant, but he did not for a moment imagine that Sam had guessed the truth.
Drop Cap
hen Jake entered the camp it was fairly light, and as Sam looked at him he caught a glimpse of the file of soldiers in the thicket, three or four hundred yards away.
He knew what it meant.
"We're about to leave this place, Jake," said Sam, as the boys stowed the last of their things in the boat, "we're about to leave this place, and you're just in time. Get in."
"Well, but where—" began the culprit.
"Get in," interrupted Sam, who stood with one of the rifles in his hands.
Jake hesitated, and was indeed upon the point of running away, when Sam, placing the muzzle of his gun almost against Jake's breast, said:—
"Get into the boat instantly, or I'll let daylight through you, sir."
There was no help for it, and Jake obeyed.
Sam quickly cast the boat loose, and as he did so, the Lieutenant discovered his purpose, and started his men at a full run toward the camp.
Sam pushed the boat off and, taking his place in the stern, took the helm.
"Hoist the sail, quick!" he said; and the sail went up in a moment. A strong breeze was blowing and the sail quickly bellied in the wind.
"Lie down, every man of you," cried Sam, but without setting the example. A moment later a shower of bullets whistled around his ears. He had seen that the soldiers were about to fire upon him, and had ordered his companions to lie down, confident that the thick solid sides of the boat would pretty effectually protect them.
As for himself, he must take the chances and navigate his boat. The soldiers were not move than fifty yards from him when they fired but luckily they failed to hit him.
"Now for a run!" he exclaimed. "Before they can load again, I'll be out of range, or pretty nearly."
The breeze was very fresh, almost high, andas the boat got out from under the lee of the shore timber, she heeled over upon one side, and sped rapidly through the water. The Lieutenant made his men fire again, but the distance was now so great that their bullets flew wide of the mark.
"We're off boys at last. Look out for Jake Elliott and don't let him jump overboard, or he'll swim ashore. He is a prisoner."
"Is he? what for?" asked Billy Bowlegs.
"For betraying us to the British."
At this moment a boat pushed out from the dock at the fort, and Sid Russell, who was Sam's most efficient lieutenant, and was scanning the whole bay for indications of pursuit, cried:
"There goes a row boat out from the fort, Sam, an' they's soldiers on board 'n her. I see their guns."
"Arm yourselves, boys," was Sam's reply. "I want to say a word first. Jake Elliott has betrayed us to these people, and they are trying to arrest us. If they catch us, we shall be treated as spies; that is to say, we shall be hanged to the most convenient tree. I believe we're all the sonsof brave men, and ready to die, if we must, but I, for one, don't mean to die like a dog, and for that reason I'll never be taken alive."
"Nor me," "nor me," "nor me," answered the boys, neglectful of grammar, but very much in earnest.
"Very well, then," replied Sam. "It is understood that we're not going to surrender, whatever happens."
"It's agreed," answered every boy there except the wretched prisoner, who was no longer counted one of them.
"That boat has no sail," said Sam, "and she's got half a mile to row through rough water before she crosses our track half a mile ahead. I think I can give her the slip. If I can't we'll fight it out, right here in the boat. Now, then, one cheer for the American flag!" and as he said it, Sam drew forth a little flag which he had carried in all his wanderings, for use if he should need it, and ran it up to his mast head by a rude halyard which he had arranged in anticipation of some such adventure as this.
The boys gave the cheer from the bottom oftheir broad chests, and every one took the place which Sam assigned him, with gun in hand. Meantime Sam tacked the boat in such a way as to throw the point of meeting between her and the British boat as far from the fort as possible. It was very doubtful whether he could pass that point before the row boat, propelled by six oars in the hands of skilled oarsmen, should reach it. If not, there remained only the alternative of "fighting it out."
"Reserve your fire, boys, till I tell you to shoot. There are only six armed men in that boat. If they shoot, lie down behind the gunwale. You mustn't shoot till we come to close quarters. Then take good aim, and make your fire tell. A single wasted bullet may cost us our lives. Above all, keep perfectly cool. We've work to do that needs coolness as well as determination."
The boats drew rapidly nearer and nearer the point of meeting, and Sam saw that he would succeed in passing it first, but narrowly, he thought.
"We'll beat them, boys," he said. "The seais rough, and they can't do much at long range, and they won't get more than one shot close to us." At that moment the men in the British boat fired a volley, after the manner which was in vogue with British troops at that day. The two boats were not a hundred yards apart, but the roughness of the water, on which the row boat bobbed about like a cork, rendered the volley ineffective.
"They're good soldiers with an idiot commanding them," said Sam.
"Why?" asked Tom, who was very coolly studying the situation.
"Because he made them fire too soon," replied Sam, "and we can slip by now while they're loading. Don't shoot, Joe!" he exclaimed to the black boy who was manifestly on the point of doing so. "Don't shoot, we've got the best of them now; we are past them and making the distance greater every second. Give them a cheer to take home with them. Hurrah!"
It was raining now, and the wind was blowing a gale, so that Sam's boat was running at a speed which made pursuit utterly hopeless. The Britishsoldiers fired three or four scattering shots, and then cheered in their turn, in recognition of the admirable skill and courage with which their young adversary had eluded them.
Sam's escape was not made yet, however. A war ship lay below, and her commander seeing the chase, and the firing in the bay, manned a light boat with marines, and sent her out to intercept Sam's craft, without very clearly understanding the situation or its meaning.
Sam saw this boat put off from the ship, and knew in an instant what it meant. He saw, too, that he had no chance to slip by it as he had done by the other, as it was already very near to him, and almost in his track.
"Now, boys," he said very calmly, "we've got to fight. There's no chance to slip by that boat, and we've got to whip her in a fair fight, or get whipped. Keep your wits about you, and listen for orders. Cover your gun pans to keep your priming dry. Here, Tom, take the tiller. I must go to the bow."
Tom took the helm, and as he did so Sam said to him:—
"Keep straight ahead till I give you orders to change your course, and then do it instantly, no matter what happens. I've an idea that I know how to manage this affair now. You have only to listen for orders, and obey them promptly."
"I'll do what you order, no matter what it is," said Tom, and Sam went at once to the bow of his boat.
His boys were crouching down on their knees to keep themselves as steady as they could, and their guns, which they were protecting from the rain, were not visible to the men in the other boat, who were astonished to find that they had, as they supposed, only to arrest a boat's crew of unarmed boys.
The boats were now within a stone's throw of each other, the English boat lying a little to the left of Sam's track, but the officer in command of it, supposing that the party would surrender at the word of command, ordered his men not to open fire.
"They's a mighty heap on 'em for sich a little boat," whispered Sid Russell.
"So much the better," said Sam. "They're badly crowded."
Then, turning to his companions, he said:—
"Lie down, quick, they'll fire in a moment."
The boys could see no indication of any such purpose on the part of the British marines, but Sam knew what he was about and he knew that his next order to his boys would draw a volley upon them.
Turning to Tom, and straightening himself up to his full height, while the British officer was loudly calling to him to lie to and surrender, Sam cried out:
"Jam your helm down to larboard, Tom, quick and hard, and ram her into 'em!"
Tom was on the point of hesitating, but remembering Sam's previous injunction and his own promise, he did as he was ordered, suddenly changing the boat's course and running her directly toward the British row boat, which was now not a dozen yards away. The speed at which she was going was fearful. The British, seeing the manœuvre, fired, but wildly, and the next moment Sam's great solid hulk of a boat struck the British craft amidships, crushed in her sides, cut her in two, and literally ran over her.
"Now, bring her back to the wind," cried Sam, "and hold your course."
The boat swung around and was flying before the wind again in a second. Boats were rapidly lowered from the war ship to rescue the struggling marines from the water into which Sam had so unceremoniously thrown them.
"Three cheers for our naval victory, and three more for our commodore!" called out Billy Bowlegs, and the response came quickly.
"It's too soon to cheer," said Sam. "We're not out of the scrape yet."
The next moment a puff of smoke showed itself on the side of the war ship and a shower of grape shot whizzed angrily around the boat. A second and a third discharge followed, and then came solid shot, sixty-four pounders, howling like demons over the boys' heads, and plowing the water all around them. Their speed quickly took them out of range, however, and the firing ceased.
They now had time to look about them and estimate damages. None of the solid shot had taken effect, but three of the grape shot had struck the boat, greatly marring her beauty, but doing her no serious damage.
"Are any of you hurt?" asked Sam. All the boys reported themselves well.
"Then make a place for me in the middle of the boat, where I can lie down," replied Sam, "I'm wounded."
"Where?"
"How?"
"Not badly, I hope, Sam?" the boys answered quickly.
"I'm hurt in two places. They shot me as we ran over that boat," said Sam, "but not very badly, I think. I'm faint, however," and as he lay down in the boat he lost consciousness.
Drop Cap
he boys were now badly frightened, and the more so because they did not know what to do for their chief, who lay dying, as they supposed. His left hand and shoulder were bleeding profusely, and Tom, remembering some instructions that Sam had once given him[3]with respect to the stopping of a flow of blood, at once examined the wounds, to discover their nature. Two fingers of Sam's left hand had been carried away, and a deep flesh wound showed itself in his shoulder. By the use of a handkerchief or two Tom soon succeeded in staunching the flow of blood, while one of the other boys sailed the boat. After a little while the dashing rain revived the wounded boy, and while he was still very weak,he was able, within an hour, to take the direction of affairs into his own hands again.
[3]See "The Big Brother" Chapter 3.
[3]See "The Big Brother" Chapter 3.
[3]See "The Big Brother" Chapter 3.
But what mischief maybe done in an hour! The boys had never once thought of anything but Sam, during all that time, and they had been sailing for an hour straight out into the Gulf of Mexico, at a furious rate of speed! It was pouring down rain, and land was nowhere visible!
When Sam's questions drew out these facts, the boys were disposed to be very much frightened.
"There's no cause for alarm, I think," said Sam, reassuringly. "I think I know how to manage it, and perhaps it is better so."
"Of course you know how to manage," said Sid Russell, admiringly. "I'm prepared to bet my hat an' boots on that, now or any other time. You always do know how to manage, whatever turns up. That long head o' your'n's got more'n a little in it."
Sam smiled rather feebly and replied:—
"Wait till I get you out of the scrape we're in, Sid, before you praise me."
"Well, I'll take it on trust," said Sid, "an' back my judgment on it, too."
"Let me have your compass, Tom," he said; and taking the instrument which he had confided to Tom's hands at starting on the voyage, he opened his map just enough to catch a glimpse of the coast lines marked on it, having one of the boys hold a hat over it, to protect it from the rain as he did so. After a little while he said:—
"Take the helm, Tom, and hold the boat due west. There, that will do. Now let her go, and keep her at that. The wind is north-east, and she'll make good time in this direction."
"Where are you aiming for, Sam?" asked Tom.
"The mouth of Mobile Bay."
"Does it lie west?"
"Not exactly, but a little north of west. We can sail faster due west, however, and after awhile we'll tack to the north till we see land. It's about forty miles from the mouth of Pensacola Bay to the mouth of Mobile bay, and we're going, I think, about six or seven miles an hour."
"But, how'll you find the mouth of the bay?"
"I don't know that I can, but I can find landeasily enough, as it stretches in a bow all along to the north of us. But I want to strike as near the mouth of the bay as I can, so as to have as little marching to do as possible. If I can get into the bay, I can sail clear up to Mobile."
"But, Sam?"
"Well."
"What if it storms? It looks like it was going to."
"Well, I think we can weather it. This boat can't spring a leak, and if she fills full of water she won't sink, for she's only a log hollowed out."
"That's so, but won't she turn over like a log?"
"I think not. She's heaviest at the bottom, and I made her keel very heavy on purpose."
"Why, did you expect to go to sea in her?"
"No, but I thought I might have to do it, to get away from Pensacola."
"Did you think of that when you planned her, up there in the woods?"
"Yes."
"Yes," said Sid, "of course he did! Don't he always think of every thing before it comes?"
It was rapidly coming on to storm. The rain was falling very slightly now, and the wind was shifting to the east and rapidly rising. Sam directed the boys to shorten sail, and showed them how to do it. The wind grew stronger and stronger, suddenly shifting to the south. The sail was still further shortened. The sea now began coming up, and Sam saw that their chief danger was that of getting washed overboard. He cautioned the boys against this, and changed the boat's course, so as to keep her as nearly as possible where she was. A heavy sea broke over her, and carried away their only water keg, which was a dire calamity. After a little while their store of food went, and they were at sea, in a storm, without food or water!
"I say, Sam," said Tom.
"What is it?"
"Is there land all to the north of us?"
"Yes."
"How far is it?"
"Twenty miles, perhaps,—possibly less."
"Why can't we head the boat about, and run for it?"
"Because the wind is blowing on shore, and there's a heavy surf running."
"What of that?"
"Why, simply this, that if we run ashore on a long, flat beach, the boat will be beaten to splinters a mile or more from land."
"How?"
"By the waves; they would lift her up, and receding let her drop suddenly on the sands, splitting her to pieces in no time, and the very next wave would do the same thing for us. We must stay out here till the storm's over. There's nothing else for it."
The storm lasted long enough to make a furious sea, and the boys could do nothing but hold on to the boat's gunwales. As night came on the wind ceased, very suddenly, as it frequently does in Southern seas, but the waves still rolled mountain high.
"When the sea goes down we'll try to make land, won't we, Sam?" asked Tom.
"Yes, but before the surf is safe for us, we cansail several hours toward Mobile, and gain that much. Indeed, I think we can get that far west before it will be tolerably safe to run ashore. We're hungry and thirsty, of course, but we must endure it. There's no other way."
The boat was presently headed to the west, and the sail unfurled again, but as the night advanced the wind fell to a mere breeze, and then died altogether. It began to grow hazy. The haze deepened into a dense fog. The sea went down, and the boat rocked idly on a ground swell.
"Now, let's run ashore," said Billy Bowlegs.
"What will we run with? There isn't a cap full of wind on the Gulf of Mexico, and there won't be while this fog lasts."
"What shall we do, then?"
"Nothing, for there is literally nothing to be done," answered Sam.
"Mas' Sam," said Joe, "I'll tell you what."
"Well, Joe, what is it?"
"Ef we jist had a couple o' paddles."
"But we just haven't a couple of paddles," answered Sam. "No, what we need now is courage and endurance. We must wait for a wind, andkeep our courage up. We are suffering already with hunger and thirst, and will suffer more, but it can't be helped. We must keep our courage up, and endure that which we cannot do anything to cure. It is harder to endure suffering than to encounter danger, but a brave man, or a brave boy, can do both without murmuring."
Sam's words encouraged his companions, and they managed to get some sleep. After awhile day dawned, and the fog was still thick around them, while not a zephyr was astir. Nearly an hour later, a sudden booming startled them. It was a cannon, and was very near.
"What is that?" asked the boys in a breath.
"A sunrise gun, I think," said Sam, "and it's on a ship or a fort. Now then all together with a shout."
They shouted in concert. No answer came. They shouted again and again, and finally their shout was answered. A little later a row boat came out into the fog, and the first man Sam saw in it was Tandy Walker.
It is not necessary to repeat the greetings andthe explanations that were given. Sam learned that the gun had been fired from Fort Bowyer, the guardian fortress, which, standing on Mobile Point, commanded the entrance to the bay. The fort had been garrisoned only the day before, and Tandy was one of the garrison. Sam's boat had drifted further west than he had supposed, and he found himself now precisely at the point he had tried to reach.
As Sam was too weak to walk, and there was no wind with which to sail up to the town, a messenger was sent by land from the fort, bearing to General Jackson a detailed account of Sam's wanderings and adventures in the shape of a written report. When the wind served, the little band of weary wanderers sailed up to Mobile, and when Sam reached the hospital to which he had been assigned for the treatment of his wounds, he found there an official despatch from General Jackson, from which the following is an extract:—
"The commanding General begs to express his high sense of the services rendered by Samuel Hardwicke and his band, and his appreciation of the rare courage, discretion and fortitude displayed by the youthful leader of the Pensacola scouting party. A few blank commissions in the volunteer forces having been placed in the commanding General's hands for bestowal upon deserving men, he is greatly pleased to issue the first of them to Mr. Hardwicke, in recognition of his gallant conduct, creating him a captain of volunteers, to date from the day of his departure on his recent mission."
"So, you're really 'Captain Sam' after all," said Sid Russell, when the document was read in his presence, and the formal commission had been inspected reverently by all the boys.
"Yes, an' he's been a real 'Captain Sam' all the time," said Billy Bowlegs.
What became of Jake Elliott?
If he had been an enlisted soldier he would have been tried by court martial. As it was, the boys formally drummed him out of their company, and he disappeared from Mobile. He did not go homeas the boys learned a few months later, when, after the battle of New Orleans, peace was proclaimed throughout the land, and they were led back by their favorite hero, Captain Sam.
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