III
A moment after the runaway boys had heard the sound of horses in the snow, a dozen troopers of the Continental army were around them and a young officer rode up, while Harry whimpered and said, “Now we’ll be killed.�
“Great George!� cried the officer, “but here’s a queer capture. Who the deuce are you?�
“I am Tom Markham, sir. My father is Colonel Markham, and these are my brothers.�
When Allan McLane saw the two-headed bear he rocked with laughter as he sat in his saddle.
“And how did you get here?�
“We ran away with the horses of Colonel Grimstone and Captain Verney, and, sir, this was why we ran away.� As he spoke he pulled out Montresor’s map and the sketch.
McLane opened the paper. “By George, it’s Montresor’s own map. How did you get it?�
“They left it in the sleigh while they went to look at something this side of Chestnut Hill. Is it any use, sir?� added Tom anxiously.
“Any use, man! If General Washington doesn’t make you a Colonel for this there is no use in man or boy trying to serve an ungrateful country.�
Then the twins, feeling neglected, said, “We helped, too.�
“I licked the horses,� cried Bill
“Aren’t you cold, boys?�
“Yes, sir, but we never told Tom.�
“By George, but you are a plucky lad. Take this two-headed animal, Sergeant. Mount one of them, coat and all, in front of you, and be quick, or we shall have them frozen.�
“The other may have my coat,� said Tom.
“Good,� said the Captain. “You shall wear my own cloak, my lad.�
Seeing Harry’s look of fright and the ready tears, he said: “It’s all right, youngsters. Don’t you be afraid. We are all your friends and I know your father well.�
Turning to Tom, he said: “This way, my lad. Now, then, give him a knee, Sergeant; so, a foot in my stirrup and up you go behind me. Now, then, right about by twos, march.�
He went off at a sharp trot with Tom’s arms around his waist.
“Hold on to the belt,� he said.
“May I some day have a boy like you! I enlist you in my troop. You are one of Allan McLane’s rangers. Hold hard. The road is better. I am going to gallop.�
If ever there was a proud boy it was Tom Markham, for who did not know Allan McLane, the terror of outlying pickets, the hero of a dozen gallant adventures?
“How are you, Gemini?� cried Tom, looking back.
“Oh, we’re fine!� roared Bill, his teeth chattering with cold.
At the river they were stopped a minute. McLane gave the password, “Washington,� and at dusk they tramped over the bridge and were at once among General Varney’s brigades.
Bill had ceased to ask questions. Harry, again uneasy at the sight of soldiers, wept unseen, and even Tom felt a certain awe at thus facing the unknown. He was more at ease as he saw hundreds of ill-clad men making merry in a wild snowball fight, shouting and laughing.
They rode in the gloom through dimly seen rows of log huts, and at one of them McLane dismounted.
“Take your men in,� he said to a lieutenant. “Report at headquarters and say I shall be there in an hour.� He lifted the twins from their perches and bade the three enter his hut. “This is my home, boys. Come in.�
It was a tiny log cabin with a stone-built chimney and a big fire; wood alone was to be had—in plenty. The twins felt better after he gave them in turn a teaspoonful or two of whiskey in water, laughed at their wry faces as they drank, set Harry on his knee, patted him on the back, and bade them make free of his stale biscuit and the potatoes he roasted in the hot ashes.
The twins, as they got warm in this pleasant company, talked of their adventures. Tom sat in silence.
“What’s the matter?� asked McLane, getting only “Yes� and “no� to his queries.
“I am thinking, sir, of my mother. Oh, but she will be troubled. I never thought of that when——�
“Be easy, my lad. To-morrow I am going into the city. I shall see her. When you can get back, I do not know, but you will see the camp and the troops and get your share of a trooper’s fare. When you are warm I want you to come with me, Tom.�
“Yes, sir. I am ready now.�
With a word to the twins he followed the Captain through the darkness.
The men were huddled around campfires and were cooking their scanty rations of pork and potatoes. Presently McLane paused at the door of a small stone house, the only one in the lines. A sentry walked to and fro before it.
McLane went in and said to an officer: “Mr. Tilghman, ask the General to see me. It is important.�
In a few minutes the officer returned. “This way,� he said.
Tom saw seated before the fire a large man in buff-and-blue uniform. He rose, saying, “What news have you, Captain?�
“This lad, sir, brought from the town at some peril this map and sketch. It seems to be some one’s notion of an attack.�
The tall officer put the sketch aside, but as he considered the map he said, looking up: “This is Major Montresor’s own map and is invaluable. What is your name, my boy?�
“I’m a son of Colonel Markham, sir.�
“A most gallant officer. And how, my lad, did you happen to get this map?�
Tom was a little disturbed by this authoritative gentleman. Being a boy, he had, of course, been left standing, while McLane and the tall man were seated. He understood that he must stand until requested to sit, but it did add a little to a certain embarrassment, rare for Tom.
“Tell your story, Tom,� said McLane.
“Well, sir, the horses ran away, and the map was in the sleigh.� Tom stopped. Action, not speech, was his gift, then and later.
“It is not very clear, but the lad is tired.�
“Yes, sir,� said Tom, without the least boy desire to describe what was a bold and dangerous adventure.
“Never mind your story now. Captain McLane will tell me later. You are a brave lad, and if God had given me one like you I should have been glad.�
Tom felt somehow that he was well rewarded.
“But,� added the tall man, setting kind, blue eyes on the lad, “this will make a great stir, and you will, I fear, suffer for it when you reach home.�
“Yes, sir,� said Tom. “And the twins?�
“Twins? What’s this, McLane?�
“There were three in the business,� said the Captain.
“Indeed. I wish there were as much spirit in the army.�
“After all, sir,� said McLane, “what can they do to a mere boy whose horses ran away?�
“But how are they to get to the city?�
“I will see to that, sir, and let Mrs. Markham know.�
“Yes, yes, quite right. Now I must be excused.� He rose and shook hands with Tom, and bowed to the officer.
“Come, Tom,� said McLane.
Tom made his best bow and they went out into the cold December night. Then Tom asked: “Who was that general?�
“Good gracious, my boy, I thought you knew. That was General Washington. He might have thanked you more. But that’s his way.�
“I think he said enough, sir.�
McLane looked at the young face, now elate and smiling and then quiet in thought.
The Lieutenant was waiting in the hut when Tom and the Captain returned.
McLane said: “I shall be away for a day or more. Their mother must hear news of these lads. I leave them in your care, Lieutenant.�
“Yes, sir.�
The Captain said good-bye and was gone for two days.
Meanwhile the story was told by the troopers and soon repeated at the campfires, where the men amused themselves mightily with the twins and their narratives.
Tom held his tongue, and wandering saw the earthworks, and the ragged soldiers making shoes out of old blankets and plaited straw, or cooking frozen potatoes and decayed pickled herring, and growling over their diet.
He saw the army wagons come in with wood, the worn-out traces replaced by grapevines. He saw men on guard relieved every hour for fear of frozen feet, which were shoeless, and more than once a sentry standing on his hat for relief, with feet double wrapped in bits of blanket. He ate of horse beef at their fires or rode proudly at the head of McLane troops down the hill and into the lines of General Greene’s brigades.
The twins, too, kept him busy. They climbed with him the slope of Mount Misery and saw the bridge over the Schuylkill, and on the posts which supported it burned in the names of favorite generals—Washington, Putnam, Greene, and Lafayette. Once Harry, in delicious fear, was allowed to touch off the evening gun.
At dusk on December twenty-eighth the lads found McLane again in his hut.
“Hurrah, boys,� he cried, “I have a bag of flour, four sausages, and an aged hen. Let’s make slapjacks. After we have fed I have a story.�
They had been better fed than their soldier hosts, for, if it was not much at a time, there was something to be had at every hut or campfire, and by this accumulation of forage they kept themselves fairly supplied. But sausage and slapjacks and fried chicken! The boys had their fill for the first time since they left home. Then they lay on the floor before the fire. The twins looked expectant.
“You promised us a story,� said Bill, “when you came back.�
“I shall be as good as my word.�
“I don’t want it to begin with ‘Once on a time,’� said Harry, now quite at home. “They always begin that way. The Count told us a story on Christmas Eve about an angel and it turned out that it wasn’t a real one after all.�
“That was terrible,� said the Captain. “My story is true. Now and then I go into Philadelphia to see the troops and where they are.�
“But isn’t that dangerous?� asked Tom, who knew well what was the fate of a spy.
“Well, rather. I should be hanged if I were caught, but you see they don’t catch me. Two days ago I rode with a trooper to a deserted barn, and there I put on a Quaker bonnet, and old woman’s clothes and shoes and horn spectacles and with a crutch and a basket of eggs I got of a farmer, I walked down Lancaster Pike and hobbled over the floating bridge.
“Any one with provisions can get in and have a pass to get out and I have been in town several times and am pretty well known as Mrs. Price. I sold my eggs, some of them to Sir William Howe’s cook. Then I went to your house.�
“Oh, and you saw mother?� cried Harry.
“Shut up,� said Bill; “I want to hear.�
“When I came to your house, I went to the back gate and was let in by a black cook——�
“That’s Nancy,� said Bill.
“I said I had eggs for sale. Then she took me to the hall and I sat down. There I saw that red-nosed Colonel come in. I was knitting a stocking and was pretty busy, with my spectacles on. Your mother asked the price of my eggs and where I lived. When the Colonel heard I lived near Valley Forge and had had a lift on a farmer’s cart to get to town, he asked about the troops here. I told him some fine yarns, and with this he went away. I should like to catch him and swap him off for your father.�
“Did you see Captain Verney?� asked Tom.
“Yes. I am a bit afraid of him. When he came through the hall I had to turn my back because my garter was coming down.
“Your mother and I bargained for my eggs and at last the maid took them. Then I whispered, ‘Could I see thee alone?’ She said ‘Yes’ and took me into the parlor.
“I said: ‘Mrs. Markham, thou hast no need to be troubled. The boys are safe at Valley Forge. The horses ran away.’
“When I said this she cried, and just sat down and said: ‘I have been so distressed, but—I knew—Tom—was to be trusted.’�
“Oh!� exclaimed Tom, “did my mother say that?�
“Yes, she said that. I think the less you fellows say at home of the runaway the better for you and your friend, Captain Verney. You see, the lost map will make a heap of trouble for him—and for you, too, if you are not careful.
“Then your mother began to ask questions, but I said I was in a hurry, and that on New Year’s Eve she must get a pass for a chaise and man to meet you on the west side of the middle ferry about nine at night. I said, too, ‘Thy boys may have difficulty about a map. Best to see them alone before Brimstone can question them. It was very foolish for them to run away with that map.’
“When I spoke of the map she laughed and said: ‘Was that why the horses ran away? Oh, Tom, Tom!’
“Then I said: ‘They can’t do anything to your boys.’
“‘No, but Mr. Verney and the Colonel were much blamed and are very cross. However, that night I can see the boys alone. The officers—I mean the Colonel and Captain Verney—are to take supper with Mr. Penn at his house over the river.’
“I asked if it was the place in the woods above the Schuylkill, the place he calls The Solitude. I wanted to be sure. Your mother said: ‘Yes. It is there, I believe.’ It set me to thinking.
“Of a sudden she turned on me and said: ‘You are no Quaker.’
“I laughed and said: ‘No, madam, I am Captain Allan McLane, at your service.’
“This did scare her for the risk I ran, but I said there was none. She sent you her love. That’s all my story. We found the horses, Tom. I shall take one and my Lieutenant the other.�
“I don’t like that,� said Tom.
“Spoils of war, sir; and now get to bed.�
“And the fur coats?� asked Tom, anxiously honest.
“We shall return the Count’s. I shall keep the Colonel’s. Now to bed, boys.�
“Thank you, sir,� said Tom.
“That was a fine story,� said Bill. “I like real true stories.�
“And it ends just right,� said Harry.
“Oh, that is not the end,� laughed McLane.
Then the boys were curious and questioned their friend, but he would tell them no more.
“To bed,� he cried, and rolled them up in blankets on the cabin floor.