The Minute Boys of Boston

"And why should I not?" he cried boldly. "Would you have me advertise the fact that I am a member of this company by refusing to speak with a neighbor? For some reason, I know not what, Amos was taken into the prison, most like to work for the soldiers on duty there, and he saw Archie Hemming, or heard that the lad was locked up in the small room. It was no more than natural he should tell me the news, and I did not shut my ears to his words, believing it would be to the advantage of all here if I learned as much as he knew."

The lad spoke fairly, although, as I fancied, with too much of boldness, and just a spice of anger in his tones.

I could find no fault, for of a verity he had learned that which might be of importance to us, and yet all the old suspicions that had been in my heart came back with redoubled force, the stronger, perhaps, because I had put myself and my comrades so wholly in his power.

The mischief was worked now, however, and the only course was for me to do what I might toward keeping, or having kept, a close watch on Seth Jepson, in the future holding my tongue in his presence as to what we would do.

To this end, and in the hope that it might be possible to take advantage of the information he had given, I proposed that a certain number of lads should loiter about the town to learn if there was anything new going on among the Britishers; afterward whispering to Silas that he send with Seth one whom he could trust thoroughly well, in order to make certain the lad held no communication with Amos Nelson.

"I will do it," Silas replied; "but to what purpose? You have suspected him from the first, and yet allowed that he should hear what our people want us to do."

"And in talking so freely I showed myself a fool. Now I would, if possible, do what I can to remedy the evil."

"All of which will be very little, because we cannot keep a spy at Seth's heels every hour, and when he has gone home for the night what will prevent him from having speech with Amos Nelson?"

Then, as if not considering the matter of so much importance as I would make it, Silas moved about among the company, suggesting that this couple go here and the other there, until he had sent away all save two, and these were lads whom he and I knew might not with truth be accused of being other than loyal to the Cause.

"Have you aught to say?" I asked when they made as if to draw near to where Hiram and I were standing, and Silas said quickly:

"It has been in my mind that we might send some of the company down near the prison to loiter there in the hope of gaining speech with Archie, if so be Seth Jepson's words are true."

"I know where the room is, in which Amos Nelson declared he was held a prisoner," Harvey Pearson said. "If all that has been told us be true, I warrant you I can get word with him after the night has come, in case he may be made to know that we are nearby for that purpose."

"Then do you two lads attend to that matter. Silas shall look after whatsoever he thinks best, while Hiram Griffin and I set off to make certain there will be no difficulty in getting skiffs."

"I am thinking it will be well if I search for the boat you left on the shore near Fox hill," Silas suggested. "It may be I can bring her around to this place, and surely that would be of advantage, because we have no craft of any kind, unless you succeed in getting one before nightfall."

To this I agreed, and soon Silas had set off, when Hiram and I were left alone.

"Well?" he said questioningly. "If you are satisfied with what has been done this morning, and believe the Cause can be advantaged much by the Minute Boys, suppose we get our heads together to decide how I may be able to leave this town?"

"Are you going away at once?" I asked in surprise, for although he had not so much as hinted he might stay a while with us, such a thought had found lodgment in my mind.

"To what end should I stay?" he asked. "Surely a stranger like me can do nothing in the way of playing the spy in a strange town, and I am of the mind that there may be work for me in Cambridge."

"I had hoped you would wait on some chance of being able to help us set Archie free," I said after a moment's hesitation.

"An' that were true, I would loiter here till the month's end, giving no heed to what those in the encampment might think of my absence," he replied heartily.

"Then stay!" I cried. "Greater things than freeing a lad who is shut up in the cell of a prison, has been done by poorer tools than can be found among us Minute Boys. You shall lodge at my home, going and coming as best pleases you."

"I'll stay, lad," Hiram said promptly, "and am all the more willing to do so because it strikes me you need a deal of watching."

I fancied it was possible to read in his face the thought which he had in mind, and my cheeks were flaming red as I said in the tone of one who admits his error:

"You believe I made a blunder in telling the lads all that the Committee of Safety would have us do?"

"It was more than a blunder, lad, unless you could answer for all of your comrades as you can for yourself. No harm would have come if you had held your peace, simply telling them it was necessary you should know all that was going on in order the better to guard against evil."

"Instead of which I laid myself bare," I cried bitterly, "and at the same time was suspicious of that lad, Seth Jepson. Not until he admitted getting information concerning Archie from Amos Nelson, did I realize my mistake."

"Well," Hiram said soothingly, "no good ever came of crying over spilt milk. You must try to conjure up some plan for holding Seth Jepson in such fashion that he will be harmless, or, if so much cannot be done, see to it he is kept ignorant as to what you would do."

There was no reason why we should linger under the old wharf, and I was eager to be alone despite the fact that I craved Hiram's companionship, for it seemed as if I must work out some scheme by which it would be possible to prevent Seth Jepson from playing us false.

Therefore it was I led the way to my house, and said when we were come to the door:

"You are free here to do as you will; but I'm thinking it may be wiser if we two are not seen together overly much. I am counting on going across the Common with the idea of helping Silas, if he believes it safe to bring the boat around."

"Never fear but what I'll look after myself," he said cheerily as he entered the house, and I went my way alone.

Now it is not needed that I set down too many words in striving to tell that which is of little importance. It will be as well if I pass over four and twenty hours, and come to the afternoon of the day following my woeful blunder.

During that time many things had happened, and instead of our sending information to Cambridge, great news had come from there to us in Boston who were loyal to the Cause.

It was reported by one who had succeeded on entering the town by way of the Neck, despite all the vigilance of the guards there, that so many men had arrived from all quarters to aid in opposing the king's troops, that no less than twenty thousand were then in the encampment, and General Ward had taken command of what was really an army. Israel Putnam had led thither a large number of volunteers from Connecticut; Colonel John Stark, of New Hampshire, was come with a great following, and the only trouble was lack of discipline and housing for so many people.

General Ward had held a council of war with all the officers who had been previously appointed by Congress, and it was decided that Boston be besieged. Fancy! we of the colonies called "rebels" were making preparations, to the extent of having raised a large army, to take from the Britishers the town they had seized!

It must have been that General Gage received the same news as had come to us, for on the hour orders were issued that no person should be allowed to leave the town without a pass, and everyone caught while attempting to depart would be imprisoned.

The Tories themselves had begun to understand that our people might be a power in the land, for straightway two hundred of them were enrolled as a military company, with that arch traitor, Timothy Ruggles, as their captain.

"It seems that the Minute Boys have nothing to do," I said bitterly to Hiram Griffin when he and I came together at my home on the evening after the Tory company had paraded on the Common. "It is from Cambridge that the important news is being sent, and we who are shut up here have no word of news to tell."

"It strikes me, lad, that you have already got quite a budget of information which our people in Cambridge should hear. Mayhap it is already known in the encampment that no one can leave Boston town without a permit, and it's also possible they know of the arming of the Tories; but you who were assigned to the duty of gathering news should not set yourselves down idly and say that it has already been made public."

"Meaning that we should go our way carrying stale information at the risk of being arrested, and repeating what no one cares to hear?"

"Ay, lad, that is exactly what I mean. You were not asked to seek this or that; but to carry to Cambridge information of what was going on in town. It is for General Ward to say whether that which you bring him is of importance or no."

"But it seems that we have other work on hand which should come first," I said, having kept back a bit of news which I knew would startle him. "Harvey Pearson succeeded this afternoon in seeing Archie – "

"How did he get into the prison?"

"There's no such good word as that. What I mean is that he attracted his attention from the outside, and by dint of gestures, with a word here and there, made him understand that at midnight, after the guard has been changed, he will attempt to have speech with him."

Hiram looked at me in surprise, as if not crediting all I told him, and then, much as if dismissing the matter from his mind, he said:

"If I were the captain of the Minute Boys of Boston, I should strive to send a messenger to Cambridge this night. I myself have picked up such bits of news as I believe General Ward would be pleased to hear."

"But how can I go, when there is a chance of having word with Archie to-night?"

"I fail to see any reason why you should in every case act as messenger 'twixt here and Cambridge. Send some other of your company. It is true we lost the boat in which you and I came, because of having left her where any blundering lobster back might stumble upon the craft; but you said this morning that it would be possible for us to get two small skiffs at any time." Then he asked abruptly, "How high from the street is the window of the room where your comrade is held prisoner?"

"Not more than five or six feet," I replied, failing to understand; but, making no explanation, he rose quickly to his feet, clapping his hat on his head as he said:

"I'm off for a stroll. There are many things in this town I haven't seen as yet, and it would be a pity if I was suddenly called to Cambridge without having learned all that may be come at."

He went out before I could stop him, and but for the fact that Silas came in immediately afterward, I might have followed to learn what Hiram was about.

As a matter of course, my comrade was all afire with the possibility that we might soon have speech with Archie, and would have explained exactly how Harvey counted on bringing the matter about, had I not told him Hiram's opinion as to what should be done in the way of sending information to the American encampment.

Much to my surprise he pressed eagerly for permission to go as messenger, saying that above all else he desired to see the encampment so he might compare our troops with those under the command of General Gage, and, knowing he could make the journey as well or even better than I, there was no reason in my mind why he should not undertake the venture.

I must set down here the fact that from the time of our first meeting as Minute Boys, which is the same as saying during the past four and twenty hours, more than one of us had kept constant watch over Seth Jepson without seeing aught to blame in him. It was possible, as a matter of course, that he might have had speech with Amos Nelson; but we could not believe he had told the Tory cur all I had so foolishly divulged else, as Silas and I reasoned, we would have been brought before General Gage on some such serious charge as that of treason, unless perchance he could make of our movements a more serious offence.

Therefore it was that after we had decided Silas should go to the encampment with the information already gathered, I cautioned him against letting Seth have any suspicions of his intention, and he replied confidently:

"Leave the matter to me, Luke. I'll guarantee to get away without any one's seeing me, and what is more, come back with a whole skin. I'm not such a simple as to give myself away to Seth, or any other lad, and therefore it is I propose that at such time as best suits me, and in whatsoever manner I please, to set off for the American camp 'twixt now and midnight, keeping secret even from my mother how and when I count on going."

It surprised me somewhat that he should be willing to go away at the very time when we believed it possible to hold some communication with Archie; but, as I afterward learned, he had little faith we could get speech with the lad, and was not without fear that one or more of us might be taken into custody for loitering around the prison. To his credit I must say, however, that the desire to see the encampment was so great as to shut out all else from his mind.

I went over with him all I believed it necessary to say to whosoever he should come upon in Cambridge, understanding that if I neglected anything of importance those whom he met would question him so closely as to bring from his lips all he had heard and seen.

"I have been keeping my eye on Seth Jepson since yesterday, whenever it could be done handily, and advise you to do the same," he said as he went out of the house, refusing to divulge anything whatsoever concerning his plans for the night.

With his words in mind I also went out into the street, counting on going to Dock square, thence past the prison and near the governor's house, with my ears open to catch any word which might be let drop by the lobster backs, and my eyes strained to get a glimpse of the lad I suspected.

Before having come to Union street, however, I fell afoul of Hiram Griffin, who looked so well content with himself that I could not refrain from asking what good fortune had befallen him, as if there could be anything good for us who loved the Cause and yet remained in Boston town.

"I have been taking a squint at the prison where I'm told your comrade is held, and am come to believe that unless these 'ere Britishers are much like weasels, it won't be such a hard thing to get him out of that scrape."

"What?" I cried in amaze and delight.

"There, there, lad, I allow I'm a good deal like you were yesterday, letting my tongue run away with me. What I counted on saying was something much after this fashion: If we could have a cloudy night, or, better still, a stormy one, and if so be he understood to what end we might be working; and in case we could get across the town after having pulled him out, without being overhauled by lobster back or patrol, why then there would be a chance, and such an one as would tempt me to make a try for it, you lads helping, as a matter of course."

"And shall it be done to-night?" I cried eagerly, thinking Hiram was minded to go about the task at once.

"If everything had happened as I've laid out, then we might start at once; but according to the looks of things this night is likely to be a fair one, while we are needing darkness. Pulling your comrade out from the clutches of the Britishers isn't such an easy task that you can begin it whenever you are feeling so disposed. Let him know what's in our minds, and be ready to help himself when the time comes to suit us. What about sending word to Cambridge?"

I told him all my conversation with Silas, and it appeared to please him greatly that the lad was not willing to explain how he counted on going.

"He'll turn the trick all right? When you find a boy who can be cautious to the extent of holding his tongue even among friends, it may be set down as a fact that he won't come to grief, unless meeting with the direst kind of an accident. Which reminds me that it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to overlook the doings of that same Seth Jepson."

"What of him?" I cried in dismay, fearing to hear ill news.

"Nothing that I can be certain of, lad, save that I saw him chumming with a couple of lobster backs down at the dock, and it strikes me they were amazingly friendly with a lad of his size, for he's not one a man would take to naturally – an honest man I mean."

"I will go after him at once; but there is little chance of learning anything, for if he is minded to play the traitor he'll keep a still tongue in his head when I overhaul him."

"Go your way, lad," Hiram said as if he pitied me because I fancied it would be possible to convict a traitor out of his own mouth. "I am minded to have speech with Silas Brownrigg before he sets off for Cambridge, and am allowing there is a chance of finding him at home now while it is yet day."

Then Hiram Griffin left me suddenly, as if it was dangerous to be seen speaking with me on the street, and I walked slowly toward Dock square, asking myself how I might so trap Seth Jepson as to prove that he was playing us foul, while at the same time I questioned whether there was a possibility we could free the dear lad who lay eating his heart out in prison.

CHAPTER VI

A CLOUDY NIGHT

It was not needed that I should walk very far in order to find Seth Jepson. He was on the westerly side of the dock when I came into the square, talking to two or three lads whom I had good reason to believe were of Tory leanings.

Instead of appearing disconcerted because of my finding him in such company, he acted much as if it gave him pleasure that I was come, and straightway leaving his companions, advanced eagerly to meet me.

"Have you been up to the prison in the hope of having speech with Archie Hemming?" he asked as soon as we were within speaking distance, and I, suspicious of the lad, believed he thus counted on learning what we might have in mind to do, therefore replied with somewhat of sourness in my tone:

"It is too dangerous a matter to be seen loitering about that place, especially for a lad like me, whose father is known to be a Son of Liberty."

"I have seen Harvey Pearson there more than once, and thought most like you had sent him."

By this time it was clear to me that Seth was striving to learn if we had any plan on foot to release Archie, and striving to appear indifferent, as if to my mind the matter was so fraught with difficulties that it would be useless to make any attempt, I said:

"If Harvey chooses to loiter where there is great danger of being taken into custody, it is no affair of mine. On first learning that Archie had been imprisoned, I was so foolish as to say, without really believing it could be done, that we would form some plan for his rescue; but came to see right soon that it would be a piece of folly to raise our hands in such direction."

"And you will let him stay there?" Seth asked as if in surprise.

"Let him?" I repeated laughingly. "It's a question of his being obliged to stay there, and has nothing to do with us. General Gage is the one who is allowing him to remain there."

Seth appeared perplexed by my seeming indifference, and while one might have counted twenty he stood silent as if considering some matter, after which, his face brightening a bit, he led me a short distance toward Union street, where we might stand in the open with no fear any eavesdroppers could come upon us unawares, and whispered:

"Believing it would be possible for me to get more information, such as you say is needed in Cambridge, at the houses of the Tories than anywhere else, I dropped in at Amos Nelson's home, and while there heard his father talking with Master Landers, saying that a town meeting is to be held to-morrow evening. General Gage has decided that, if the selectmen will agree, the people who wish to go out of Boston may do so with their household belongings, provided they leave all weapons of whatsoever kind in Faneuil Hall, the same to be returned to them at some suitable time. Now it seems that the Tories, according to what Amos's father said, are opposed to such an arrangement, claiming that once the rebels have departed they will not scruple to burn the place, and such men as Master Nelson and Master Landers have decided to urge that General Gage hold the women and children in the town, instead of allowing them to leave with their husbands and fathers."

Now this was information of value, particularly the latter part of it, and, therefore, much of my suspicions regarding Seth's loyalty vanished. I counted it in his favor that he had given us such a bit of news, and then came the thought that Silas should add this to the budget he was carrying to Cambridge, yet I did not believe myself warranted in going to his home, for Hiram was probably there by this time, and if too many called at the house the enemy might grow curious.

In order that Seth should not believe I was eager to leave him, I loitered in the vicinity a full half hour talking of this and that which was of no particular importance, except that all the while I strove to trap the lad into betraying his traitorous desire, if so be he had one, by some hasty word.

He spoke me fairly, even going back to that which I had said to him under the old wharf, regarding his keeping company with lads who were known to favor Toryism, and declared that it would be possible for him to learn more from them than in any other way, speaking with such an air of innocence and earnestness that I almost came to reproach myself for having suspected him.

"So long as I am on friendly terms with Amos Nelson, it is a simple matter for me to go into many places where the Britishers congregate, which would otherwise be closed in my face. Amos's father, as you well know, is a particular friend of Timothy Ruggles, and thus it is possible for the lad to be present when the enemies of the Cause meet for deliberation, as you may understand from what I have told you already in regard to their purpose of holding the women and children in Boston town as hostages. When I joined your company of Minute Boys it was with the understanding I do whatsoever I might in behalf of the colony; but if you believe I should shut off all intercourse with Tory lads, then shall it be done."

What else could I say than advise him to keep on the same path he was traveling? At the time I was impressed by his words; but later, after having had an opportunity to turn them over in my mind, I came to ask myself why he should at that moment have so strongly defended himself when I had charged him with no evil.

The result of this interview was that I not only urged the lad to continue as he had been doing; but came to have more faith in him than ever before, yet was I sufficiently prudent to hold my tongue concerning our doings, and he got nothing from me that he could turn to the advantage of his Tory friends.

With the exception of Silas, Harvey, and Hiram, none of our company knew there was any hope or intention of striving to release Archie, and I was determined the matter should remain a profound secret if any word or act of mine could compass that end.

Although burning to speak with Silas, when I left Seth it was to saunter in the direction of Queen street as if I walked aimlessly, rather than with a purpose, and fortune so favored me that on turning into Corn hill I came upon Harvey Pearson.

"Is it well for you to remain near to the prison after having warned Archie?" I asked sharply, and the lad replied with a laugh:

"Don't fear that I'll make such a simple of myself as to do anything of the kind. I haven't been on Queen street since I warned the lad that we would be there this night."

"Have you met any others of the company?"

"Yes, mayhap four or five, all of whom are loitering about with their ears and eyes wide open; but I fancy they haven't caught much that would be of value to our people at Cambridge."