"As I said, my name is John Brereton. Nothing else about me will ever be known from me."
Washington scrutinised the man with an intent surprise.
"You cannot expect us to trust you on such information."
"An hour ago it would have been possible for me to have sneaked by stealth into the British lines with this letter," said the man, taking from his pocket a sheet of paper and handing it to the general. "What think you would Sir William Howe have given me for news, over the signature of General Washington, that the Continental Army had less than ten rounds of powder per man?"
Washington studied the face of the young fellow steadily for twenty seconds. "Are you good at penmanship?" he asked.
"I am a deft hand at all smouting work," replied Brereton.
"Then, sir," said Washington, smiling slightly, "as I wish to keep an eye on you until you have proved yourself, I shall for the present find employment for you in my own family."
Thus a twelve-month pa.s.sed without Philemon Hennion, John Evatt, Charles Fownes, Parson McClave, or any other lover so much as once darkening the doors of Greenwood.
"Janice," remarked her mother at the end of the year, "dost realise that in less than a twelve-month thou "lt be a girl of eighteen and without a lover, much less a husband? I was wed before I was seventeen, and so are all respectably behaved females. See what elopements come to. "T is evident thou "rt to die an old maid."
XXII THE OLIVE BRANCH
If this year was bare of courtships, of affairs of interest it was far otherwise. Scarcely was 1776 ushered in than news came that the raw and ill-equipped force, which for nine months had held the British beleaguered in Boston, had at last obtained sufficient guns and powder to a.s.sume the offensive, and had, by seizing Dorchester Heights, compelled the evacuation of the city. Howe"s army and the fleet sailed away without molestation to Halifax, leaving behind them a rumour, however, that great reinforcements were coming from Great Britain, and that upon their arrival, New York would be reduced and held as a strategic base from which all the middle colonies would be overrun and reduced to submission.
This probability turned military operations southward. General Lee, who early in the new year had been given command of the district around Manhattan Island, set about a system of fortifications, even while he protested that the water approaches made the city impossible to hold against such a naval force as Britain was certain to employ. At the same time that this protection was begun against an outward enemy, a second was put in train against the inward one, and this involved the household of Meredith.
One morning, while the squire stood superintending two of his laborers, as they were seeding a field, a rider stopped his horse at the wall dividing it from the road and hailed him loudly. Mr. Meredith, in response to the call, walked toward the man; but the moment he was near enough to recognise Captain Bagby, he came to a halt, indecisive as to what course to pursue toward his enemy.
"Can"t do no talking at this distance, squire," sang out Bagby, calmly; "and as I"ve got something important to say, and my nag prevents me from coming to you, I reckon you"ll have to do the travelling."
After a moment"s hesitation, the master of Greenwood came to the stone wall. But it was with a bottled-up manner which served to indicate his inward feelings that he demanded crustily, "What want ye with me?"
"It"s this way," explained Joe. "If what"s said is true, Howe is coming to York with a bigger army than we can raise, to fight us, if we fights, but with power to offer us all we wants, if we won"t. Now there "s a big party in Congress as is mortal afraid that there"ll be a reconciliation, and so they is battling tooth and nail to get independence declared before Howe can get here, so that there sha"n"t be no possibility of making up."
"The vile Jesuits!" exclaimed the squire, wrathfully, "and but a three-month gone they were tricking their const.i.tuents with loud-voiced cries that the charge that they desired independence was one trumped up by the ministry to injure the American cause, and that they held the very thought in abhorrence."
""T is n"t possible to always think the same way in politics straight along," remarked the politician, "and that "s just what I come over to see you about. Now, if there "s going to be war, I guess I"ll be of some consequence, and if there "s going to be a peace, like as not you"ll be on top; and I"ll be concerned if I can tell which it is like to be."
"I can tell ye," announced Mr. Meredith. ""T is--"
"Perhaps you can, squire," broke in Bagby, "but your opinions have n"t proved right so far, so just let me finish what I have to say first. Have you heard that the Committee of Safety has arrested the Governor?"
"No. Though "t is quite of a piece with your other lawless proceedings."
"Some of his letters was intercepted, and they was so tory-ish that "t was decided he should be put under guard. And at the same time it was voted to take precautionary proceedings against all the other enemies of the country."
"Then why are n"t ye under arrest?" snapped the squire.
""Cause there "s too many of us, and too few of you," explained Bagby, equably. "Now the Committee has sent orders to each county committee to make out a list of those we think ought to be arrested, and a meeting "s to be held this afternoon to act on it. Old Hennion he came to me last night and said he wanted your name put on, and he"d vote to recommend that you be taken to Connecticut and held in prison there along with the Governor."
"Pox the old villain!" fumed Mr. Meredith. "For a six-months I"ve sat quiet, as ye know, and "t is merely his way of paying the debts he owes me. A fine state ye"ve brought the land to, when a man can settle private scores in such a manner."
"There is n"t no denying that you "re no friend to the cause, and if any one "s to be took up hereabouts, it should be you. Still, I"m a fair-play fellow, and so I thought, before I let him have his way, I"d come over and have a talk with you, to see if we could n"t fix things."
"How?"
"If the king "s come to his senses and intends to deal fair with us," remarked Bagby, with a preliminary glance around and a precautionary dropping of his voice, "that "s all I ask, and so I don"t see no reason for attacking his friends until we are more certain of what "s coming. At the same time, if Hennion wants to jail you, I think you"ll own I have n"t much reason to take your part. You"ve always been as stuck up and abusive to me as you well could be. So "t is only natural I should n"t stand up for you."
The lord of Greenwood swallowed before he said, "Perhaps I"ve not been neighbourly, but what sort of revenge is it to force me from my home, and distress my wife and daughter?"
"That"s it," a.s.sented the Committeeman. "And so I came over to see what could be done. We have n"t been the best of friends down to now, but that is n"t saying that we could n"t have been, if you "d been as far-seeing as me, and known who to side in with. It seemed to me that if I stood by you in this sc.r.a.pe we might fix it up to act together. I take it that my brains and your money could run Middles.e.x County about as we pleased, if we quit fighting, and work together. Squire Hennion would have to take a back seat in politics, I guess."
The squire could not wholly keep the pleasure the thought gave him from his face. ""T would be a G.o.d-send to the county," he cried. "Ye know that as well as I."
"As to that, I"ll say nothing," answered Joe. "But of course, if I"m going to throw my influence with you, I expect something in return."
"And what "s that?" asked Mr. Meredith, still dwelling on his revenge.
"I need n"t tell you, squire, that I"m a rising man, and I"m going to go on rising. "T won"t be long before I"m about what I please, especially if we make a deal. Now, though there has n"t been much intercourse between us, yet I"ve had my eye on your daughter for a long spell, and if you"ll give your consent to my keeping company with her, I"ll be your friend through thick and thin."
For a moment Mr. Meredith stood with wide-open mouth, then he roared: "d.a.m.n your impudence! ye--ye--have my la.s.s, ye--be off with ye--ye--" There all articulate speech ended, the speaker only sputtering in his wrath, but his two fists, shaken across the wall, spoke eloquently the words that choked him.
"I thought you "d play the fool, as usual," retorted the suitor, as he pulled his horse"s head around. "You"ll live to regret this day, see if you don"t." And with this vague threat he trotted away toward Brunswick.
Whether Bagby had purposely magnified the danger with the object of frightening the squire into yielding to his wishes, or whether he and Hennion were outvoted by Parson McClave and the other members of the Committee, Mr. Meredith never learned. Of what was resolved he was not left long in doubt, for the morning following, the whole Committee, with a contingent of the Invincibles, invaded the privacy of Greenwood, and required of him that he surrender to them such arms as he was possessed of, and sign a parol that he would in no way give aid or comfort to the invaders. To these two requirements the squire yielded, at heart not a little comforted that the proceedings against him were no worse, though vocally he protested at such "robbery and coercion."
"Ye lord it high-handedly now," he told the party, "but ye"ll sing another song ere long."
"Yer"ve been predictin" thet fer some time," chuckled Hennion, aggravatingly.
""T will come all the surer that it comes tardily. "Slow and sure doth make secure," as ye"ll dearly learn. We"ll soon see how debtors who won"t pay either princ.i.p.al or interest like the law!"
Hennion chuckled again. "Yer see, squire," he said, "it don"t seem ter me ter be my interest ter pay princ.i.p.al, nor my principle ter pay interest. Ef I wuz yer, I would n"t het myself over them mogiges; I ain"t sweatin"."
"I"ll sweat ye yet, ye old rascal," predicted the creditor.
"When"ll thet be?" asked Hennion.
"When we are no longer tyrannised over by a pack of debtors, scoundrels, and Scotch Presbyterians," with which remark the squire stamped away.
It must be confessed, however, that bad as the master of Greenwood deemed the political situation, he gave far more thought to his private affairs. Every day conditions were becoming more unsettled. His overseer had left his employ to enlist, throwing all care of the farm on the squire"s shoulders; a second bondsman, emboldened by Charles" successful levanting, had done the same, making labourers short-handed; while those who remained were more eager to find excuses taking them to Brunswick, that they might hear the latest news, and talk it over, than they were to give their undivided attention to reaping and hoeing. Finally, more and more tenants failed to appear at Greenwood on rent day, and so the landlord was called upon to ride the county over, dunning, none too successfully, the delinquent.
Engrossing as all this might be, Mr. Meredith was still too much concerned in public events not to occasionally find an excuse for riding into Brunswick and learning of their progress; and one evening as he approached the village, his eyes and ears both informed him that something unusual was in hand, for muskets were being discharged, great fires were blazing on the green, and camped upon it was a regiment of troops.
Riding up to the tavern, where a rushing business was being done, the squire halted the publican as he was hurrying past with a handful of mugs, by asking, "What does all this mean?"
"Living jingo, but things is on the bounce," cried the landlord, excitedly. "Here "s news come that the British fleet of mor"n a hundred sail is arrived inside o" Sandy Hook, an" all the Jersey militia hez been ordered out, an" here "s a whole regiment o" Pennsylvania "Sociators on theer way tew Amboy tew help us fight "em, an" more comin"; an" as if everythin" was tew happen all tew once, here "s Congress gone an" took John Bull by the horns in real arnest." The cupbearer-to-man thrust a broadside, which he pulled from his pocket, into the squire"s hand, and hastened away cellar-ward.
The squire unrumpled the sheet, which was headed in bold-faced type:--
In Congress, July 4, 1776, A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress a.s.sembled.