“I think you dared most nobly,” cried Clotilde, her eyes bright with eagerness to hear the rest of the story, “and oh, what fun it must have been to go through the streets crying turnips and cabbages!”
“Ay, it was for a time,” said the boy, “and my first mark of stupidity was that I delayed my errand merely to enjoy myself and loitered about far too long, watching the swaggering, red-coated soldiers and the Hessians drilling on the Common. Presently, however, there passed a man in a Captain’s uniform who looked at me so long and keenly that I whipped up my horses, turned the nearest corner and drove rattling down the street to Cousin Betsey’s house.
“The two women were so overjoyed and so astonished at seeing me that, for a space, I thought they would never let themselves be rescued, so busy were they weeping for gladness that I had come and for terror lest I should not get safely away again. But at last, when it began to grow dark, we made the sick woman comfortable on a mattress in the wagon, packed in as much of their household stuff as we dared carry, and set off.
“We had not yet passed the edge of the town, however, when Cousin Betsey set up a great wailing that her bead purse, that had belonged to, I know not how many grandmothers, and that contained five gold pieces, had, in the hurry of departure, been left behind for British soldiers to make way with, a thought far too terrible to endure. So, in my growing folly, I must needs give the reins into Cousin Eliza’s hands and tell her to drive on slowly while I slipped back to fetch the purse. Of course I knew well that the risk to our safety was greater than the worth of the money, but, to tell you the honest truth, I had begun to feel that Cousin Betsey’s tireless tongue was a travelling companion hard to bear with, and was glad of any excuse to be away from it for a little. Besides, great oaf that I was, I began to feel that my unaided wit was a match for the whole British Army.”
Stephen chuckled and then laughed aloud.
“Go on quickly with the tale,” he said, as Miles paused, perhaps spent with such unaccustomed flow of speech. “I am anxious to know what occurred next. It must have been a grievous happening, to make you shower yourself with such hard names.”
“I reached the house safely enough,” went on the unhappy story-teller, “and found the purse upon the table. I opened it to see if the contents were safe and discovered at the bottom, besides the gold, a tiny embroidered copy of General Washington’s new flag, with its union jack in the corner and its thirteen stripes of red and white. Cousin Betsey, loyal soul, had heard of our new banner and had made this one to carry always with her. As I stood with it in my hand, I remembered passing a building used for soldiers’ barracks where there was no guard outside and where there was a great sound of revelling and roistering coming from within. So I thought, like a clever lad, how excellent it would be to pin this flag on the outside of the door and write beneath, ‘With the compliments of General Washington’s Army.’ I turned Cousin Betsey’s workbox upside down to find a piece of chalk and set off in high glee.”
“Ah,” exclaimed Clotilde, “how I should like to have seen the faces of the soldiers when they found it!”
“The face to see was mine,” said Miles ruefully, “when, just as I was scrawling my impertinent message, a hand fell upon my arm and a voice said:
“‘Put that flaunting banner in your pocket, man, and come with me.’