“It does indeed, Betty. The odor is delectable enough to whet the appetite to as keen an edge as the wind hath. Robert, ’tis some time since I have seen thee.”
“I am on my first leave in three years, Mr. Owen. Are you on a furlough too, sir?”
“Nay, lad; I took one just after Yorktown, when I brought Peggy home from Virginia. General Washington, who, as thee doubtless knows, is still here in Philadelphia perfecting plans with Congress for next summer’s campaign, hath sent for me to confer with him regarding the best means of putting down this illicit trade which hath sprung up of late. I do not know how long the conference will last, but it comes very pleasantly just now, as it enables me to have the comforts of home during this severe weather.”
“When did you leave the Highlands, sir?”
“Four days since. The army had begun to hope that winter was over, as the ice was beginning to come down the Hudson. This storm hath dashed our hopes of an early spring.”
“And must thee return there, David?” asked Mistress Owen.
“No; I am to go to Lancaster. This trade seems to be flourishing among the British prisoners stationed there. Congress had granted permission to England to keep them in supplies, and it seems that advantage is taken of this fact to include a great many contraband goods. These the prisoners, or their wives, are selling to the citizens of Lancaster and surrounding country. To such an extent hath the trade grown that it threatens to ruin the merchants of the place, who cannot compete with the prices asked. I am to look into the matter, and to stop the importation of such goods, if possible.”
“’Tis openly talked that England will defer coming to terms of peace because she hopes to conquer us by this same trade,” observed Robert Dale gravely.
“And is like to succeed if it cannot be put down,” commented David Owen shaking his head. “All along the coast the British cruisers patrol to capture our merchantmen, and to obstruct our commerce. The Delaware is watched, our coasts are watched that we may not get goods elsewhere, or have any market for our produce. Unable to get what they want, our own people buy where they can without realizing the harm. ’Tis estimated from forty to fifty thousand pounds have been drawn by this means into New York in the past few months. If this continues the enemy will soon be possessed of all the hard money that hath come into the country through the French, and without money we can do naught. Our resources and industries have been ruined by the long war, and this latest scheme of England bids fair to undo what hath been accomplished by force of arms.”
“And after Yorktown every one thought that of course peace was just a matter of a few months. That it would be declared at once,” sighed Sally. “Oh, dear! It makes me sad to think the war is not over yet!”