commanded Washington.
In a moment the order to advance was issued, and the column debouched upon the post road leading toward Princeton. The first sign of life was a man in a front yard, engaged in cutting wood; the commander-in-chief, who was leading the advance, called to him:--
"Which way is the Hessian picket?"
"Find out for yourself," retorted the chopper.
"Speak out, man," roared Webb, hotly, "this is General Washington."
"G.o.d bless and prosper you, sir!" shouted the man. "Follow me, and I"ll show you," he added, starting down the road at a run. As he came to the house, without a pause, he swung his axe and burst open the door with a single blow. "Come on," he shrieked, and darted in, followed by some of the riflemen.
Leaving them to secure the picket, the regiments went forward, just as a desultory firing from the front showed that the alarm had been given by Sullivan"s attack. Pushing on, a sight of the enemy was gained,--a confused ma.s.s of men some three hundred yards away, but in front of them two guns were already being wheeled into position by artillerists, with the obvious purpose of checking the advance till the regiments had time to form.
"Capture the battery!" came the stern voice of the commander.
"Forward, double quick!" shouted Colonel Hand.
Brereton, putting spurs to his horse, joined in the rush of men as the regiment broke into a run. "Look Out, Hand!"
he yelled. "They"ll be ready to fire before we can get there, and in this narrow road we"ll be cut to pieces. Give them a dose of Watts."
"Halt!" roared Hand, and then in quick succession came the orders, "Deploy! Take aim! Fire!"
"Hurrah for the Hymns!" cheered Brereton, as a number of the gunners and matross men dropped, and the remainder, deserting the cannon, fell back on the infantry. "Come on!" he roared, as the Virginia light horse, taking advantage of the open order, raced the riflemen to the guns. Barely were they reached, when a mounted officer rode up to the Hessian regiments and cried: "Forwarts!" waving his sword toward the cannon.
"We can"t hold the guns against them!" yelled Brereton.
"Over with them, men!"
In an instant the soldiers with rifles and the cavalry with the rammers that had been dropped were cl.u.s.tered about the cannon, some prying, some lifting, some pulling, and before the foe could reach them the two pieces of artillery were tipped over and rolled into the side ditches, the Americans scattering the moment the guns were made useless to the British.
This gave the Continental infantry in the rear their opportunity, and they poured in a scathing volley, quickly followed by the roar of Colonel Forrest"s battery, which unlimbered and opened fire. A wild confusion followed, the enemy advancing, until the American regiments charged them in face of their volleys.
Upon this they broke, and falling back in disorder, endeavoured to escape to the east road through an orchard. Checking the charge, Washington threw Stevens" brigade and Hand"s riflemen, now re-formed, out through the fields, heading them off. Flight in this direction made impossible, the enemy retreated toward the town, but the column under Sullivan now blocked this outlet. Forrest"s fieldpieces were pushed forward, Washington riding with them, utterly unheeding of both the enemy"s fire, though the bullets were burying themselves in the snow all about him, and of the expostulations of his staff.
Indicating the new position for the guns, he ordered them loaded with canister.
Colonel Forrest himself stooped to sight one of the 12-pounders, then cried: "Sir, they have struck."
"Struck!" exclaimed Washington.
"Yes," averred Forrest, exultingly. "Their colours are down, and they have grounded their arms."
Washington cantered toward the enemy.
"Your Excellency," shouted Baylor, who with the infantry had been well forward, "the Hessians have surrendered. Here is Colonel Rahl."
Washington rode to where, supported by two sergeants, the officer stood, his brilliant uniform already darkened by the blood flowing from two wounds, and took from his hand the sword the Hessian commander, with bowed head, due to both shame and faintness, held out to him.
"Let his wounds receive instant attention," the general ordered.
Wheeling his horse, he looked at the three regiments of Hessians. ""T is a glorious day for our country, Baylor!"
he said, the personal triumph already forgotten in the greater one.
x.x.xIV HOLIDAY WEEK AT TRENTON
The Christmas revel of the Hessians had held far into morning hours; and though the ladies so prudently retired, it was not to sleep, as it proved, for the uproar put that out of the question. At last, however, the merry-making ceased by degrees, as man after man staggered off to his quarters, or succ.u.mbing to drink, merely took a horizontal position in the room of the festivity, and quiet, quickly succeeded by slumber, descended upon the household.
To the women it seemed as if the turmoil had but just ended, ere it began anew. The first alarm was a thundering on the front door, so violent that the intent seemed to be to break it down rather than to gain admission from the inside.
Then came a rush of heavy boots pounding upstairs, followed by a renewal of the ponderous blows on every door, accompanied now by the stentorian shouting of hasty sentences in German.
As if the din were not sufficient, Miss Drinker, in her fright at the a.s.sault directed against the barrier to which she had pinned her own reliance of safety, promptly gave vent to a series of shrieks, intermixed, when breath failed, with gasping predictions to the girls as to the fate that awaited them, scaring the maidens most direfully. Their terror was not lessened by the growing volume of shouts outside the house, and by the rub-a-dub-dub of the drums, and the tantara of the bugles, as the "To arms" was sounded along the village street. Barely had they heard Rahl and the other officers go plunging downstairs, when the scattering crack of muskets began to be heard, swelling quickly into volleys and then into the unmistakable platoon firing, which bespoke an attack in force. Finally, and as a last touch to their alarm, came the roar of artillery, as Forrest"s and Knox"s batteries opened fire.
The whole conflict took not over thirty-five minutes, but to the three bedfellows it seemed to last for hours. The silence that then fell so suddenly proved even more awful, however, and became quickly so insupportable that Janice was for getting out of bed to learn its cause, a project that Miss Drinker prohibited.
"I know not what is transpiring," she avowed, "but whatever the disturbance, our danger is yet to come."
The event verified her opinion, for presently heavy and hurried footsteps of many men sounded below stairs, terminating the brief silence. With little delay the tramp of boots came upstairs, and a loud rap on the door drew a stifled cry from the spinster as she buried her head under the bedclothes, and made the two girls clutch each other with fright.
"Open!" called a commanding voice. "Open, I say!" it repeated, as no answer came. "Batter it in, then!" and at the order the stocks of two muskets shattered the door panels; the bureau was tipped over on its face with a crash, and Brereton, sword in hand, jumped through the breach.
It was an apparently empty room into which the aide entered, but a mound under the bedclothes told a different tale.
"Here are other Hessian pigs who"ve drunk more than they"ve bled," he sneered, as he tossed back the counterpane and blankets with his sword-point, thus uncovering three becapped heads, from each of which issued a scream, while three pairs of hands wildly clutched the covering.
The nightcaps so effectually disguised the faces that not a one did the officer recognise in his first hasty glance.
"Ho!" he jeered. "Small wonder the fellow lay abed.
Come, up with you, my Don Juan," he added, prodding Miss Drinker through the bedclothes with his sword. ""T is no time for bearded men to lie abed."
"Help, help!" shrieked Janice, and ""T is my aunt!"
cried Tabitha, in unison, but the spinster"s fear was quite forgot in the insulting allusion to the somewhat noticeable hirsute adornment on her face; sitting up in bed, she pointed at the door, and sternly ordered, "Cease from insulting gentlewomen, brute, and leave this chamber!"
"Zounds!" burst out Jack, in his amazement; then he turned and roared to the gaping and snickering soldiers, "Get out of here, every doodle of you, and be--to you!" Keeping his back to the bed, he said, "I pray your pardon, ma"am, for disturbing you; our spies a.s.sured us that only Hessian officers slept here."
"Go!" commanded the offended and unrelenting old maid.
The officer took a step toward the door, halted, and remarked savagely, "Our positions are somewhat reversed, Miss Meredith. "T is poetic justice, indeed, which threatens you a taste of the captivity you schemed in my behalf; "he cries best who cries last.""
"I had naught to do with thy captivation!" protested Janice, indignantly, "though thou wouldst not believe me; and but for me thou"dst still be a prisoner."
"A well-dressed-up tale, but told too late to gain credence,"
sneered the officer. "You made a cully of me once. I defy you to ever again."
"A man who thinks such vile thoughts is welcome to them,"
retorted the girl, proudly.
"Dost intend to put a finish to thy intrusion upon the privacy of females?" objurgated Miss Drinker; and at the question Brereton flung out of the room without more words.
The ladies made a hasty toilet, and descended to the kitchen, to find the maids deep in the preparation of breakfast, while standing near the fire was a coloured man in a brown livery who ducked low to Janice as he grinned a recognition.
"Oh!" exclaimed the girl, and then, "How"s Blueskin?"
"Lor" bless de chile, she doan forget ole Willium nor dat horse," chuckled the darkey. "Dat steed, miss, hardly git a good feed now once a week, but he knows dat he carries his Excellency, an" dat de army "s watchin" him, an" he make believe he chock full of oats all de time. He jus" went offen his head when Ku"nel Forrest"s guns wuz a-bustin" de Hessians all to pieces dis mornin", an" de way he dun arch his neck an" swish his tail when Gin"l Howe give up his sword made de enemy stare."