Isaac Baldwin frowned. Then his face cleared and he waved a nonchalant hand. “Likely there’ll be a cookfire in the galley,” he said. “She ain’t been abandoned long. Likely you’ll find a tinderbox there—or somewhere else aboard. Her crew must ha’ had some means to light a fire.”
“Maybe,” said Tom. He stood thoughtfully for a moment, wondering how much time he would have before Ike Baldwin ordered them into the water. It would take a few minutes, the thing he wanted to do.
Luck was with him, for Baldwin bent over just then to speak with Cal and ’Lisha who were tightening the cradle ropes about the keg. He looked up the hill in the direction he had come, then back at the creek again. Out beyond the stranded Diana, the guns of the sloop were still firing harmlessly away. After a moment of indecision, he turned and ran up the hill.
He found the man he had been talking to a short time before, seated now on a tuft of marsh grass, his gun beside him. He was just in the act of filling a pipe, as Tom had gambled he would be. The New Hampshire man loped up and accosted him.
“You with that pipe there!”
The man did not look up. His fingers moved leisurely with flints and tinder. He lit the pipe, drew on it deeply, then took it from his mouth and asked, “Was you speaking to me?”
“Yes. General Putnam gave out the word there was to be no smoking amongst the men. He sent me to collect every pipe I found lighted. Like this.”
Tom’s hand reached forth lightning quick and snatched the pipe from its owner’s startled jaws. Then he sprinted off, down the Neck.
“Hey! Give me back my pipe!” yelled the man, scrambling to his feet, his arms flailing the air. “Them orders against pipes was night orders only. It’s safe enough, now day’s come.”
“Tell it to General Putnam,” called Tom over his shoulder. He did not slow his pace until he reached the beach. Cal and ’Lisha had waded out waist-deep, floating the keg between them. The others plunged in now, and began swimming toward the schooner. Their officer laid his musket down and shed his clothes, obviously intending to follow them, like a shepherd after his sheep.