Peggy Owen and Liberty Part 15

"I clear forgot my manners. This is Mistress Margaret Owen, who went back with me to Williamsburgh when I was here last year. I have writ you anent her visit, as I make no doubt you remember. And this is her friend, Mistress Sarah Evans. She hath been ailing of late, and methought the change would be of benefit. We call them Peggy and Sally."

"You are both welcome," said the hostess warmly, "though I would the times were not so troublous. What with the pine robbers, the freebooters and the Tories we are in daily dread of attack."

"A plague take the rascals," cried Mr. Ashley excitedly. "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe these days. We are set upon in the fields, and upon the highways. Our dwellings are sacked and burned, and we are thankful if life is left. I tell ye," he cried bringing down his fist upon the table with so much vim that the dishes rattled, "I tell ye New Jersey hath stood the brunt of the war. She hath been, and is now, the battle-field of the new nation. Things have come to such a pa.s.s that some way, somehow, relief must be had from these internal enemies."

"But hath nothing been done to rid the state of them?" asked the youth.

"Done? Everything hath been done, nevvy. We have not only furnished our quota of men to the main army, but also formed companies of militia, both cavalry and infantry, to fight these pests. The Legislature is endeavoring to establish a strict patrol of the coast and the highways. In addition, we men who are too old for constant service have formed an a.s.sociation to retaliate upon our greatest enemies, the Tories, and to go out as necessity demands. Why, think of it! Up there in New York City are many of our friends and neighbors formed into a corps called The a.s.sociated Loyalists, under the leadership of our former governor, William Franklin. An unworthy son of a great father! At his command this corps hara.s.ses the state at will. Knowing the country 'tis easy for it to slip in where the greatest harm can be done, and out it goes before we know 'tis here.

Staten Island and Sandy Hook are handy refuges for such raiders. We might handle the robbers, could we be rid of these incursions. We hoped for peace after Yorktown, but the depredations are now worse than ever. Something must be done, for New Jersey's very existence is threatened."

"There seems to be a need of men," remarked the young man musingly.

"When am I to report for duty, Uncle Tom?"

Mr. Ashley turned toward him quickly.

"There is need of men," he said. "Your commission was to be with the regular army, if you wanted it so. Colonel Elias Dayton, who now commands the Jersey Brigade at Chatham, wants every man to report for duty this month. But----"

"But what, Uncle Tom?" asked Fairfax as the farmer paused abruptly.

"But I wish ye'd stay in Monmouth, nevvy. We need every man we can get to help us defend our homes. We have sent and sent to the main army until we are almost stripped of fighting men. General Washington may have to go against the English this summer, and then again he may have to lie inactive. It all depends upon the instructions which England will give to the new general who is to supersede Clinton. Of course, with a campaign there would be more chance for glory with the regular line. Such distinction as that must appeal to a lad of parts; but, boy, New Jersey needs you. Why, Washington depends on us for flour, and how can we raise the grain when we are shot down as we plow the fields? A man can do service, and great service, right here in the militia. There won't be much glory, nevvy, but there will be plenty of action. In Freehold there is a company now of twenty-five twelvemonth boys that needs a captain. The Legislature will gladly give you the commission. Now, nevvy, the choice is with you. What will you do?"

The youth let his head fall upon his breast in thought. The supper had long since been finished, and the other members of the group sat interested listeners to the conversation between uncle and nephew.

Peggy looked at the young fellow wonderingly. A captain's commission in the regular army was to be desired. She remembered how John Drayton had had to serve for years to obtain one. Such an office gave a rank that no militia could offer. Could any youth deliberately cast aside the distinction? A glance at Fairfax gave no clue to his mental att.i.tude. It seemed a long time that he sat there meditating, but presently he looked up and met the questioning gaze of Thomas Ashley with a smile.

"The greatest need seems to be right here," he said. "I think I'd like to help clear out the Tories, and to get a whack at those pine robbers. I have a reckoning to settle with them on my own account.

This field will suit me all right."

"Good for you, nevvy," cried his uncle in a shout. "I thought you'd do it. You are a lad after my own heart. Still, it is only fair that you should know that your task will be fraught with danger. The Tories single out for vengeance any man who fights with unction against them.

Let him proceed with too much ardor and he becomes a marked man."

"That is true in any part of the country, uncle, as well as in New Jersey," was the lad's rejoinder. "I am ready for whatever goes with the work."

But at this there came a cry from his mother:

"Tom Ashley, what are you getting my boy into?"

"Nothing that my own boys have not endured, Hannah. One fell in the great battle on yonder plain near the court-house, and lies now in Freehold burying-ground. The other, Charley, made the same choice as your boy, and is down at Tom's River helping to defend old Monmouth."

"But oh----" she began when Fairfax interrupted her:

"It's all right, mother. It means no more danger than I'd have to encounter with the regular army, or than I have already faced in the militia at home."

"It may be," she answered, but her eyes were troubled. "It may be."

"It waxes late," exclaimed Mrs. Ashley glancing at Sally whose eyelids were drooping in spite of herself. "These girls, at least, are ready for bed; and to bed they must go."

And without heeding their protests the good woman hurried them up to a little room under the eaves, nor would she depart until they were tucked warmly in the great feather-bed. Sally's drowsiness left her as soon as she found herself alone with Peggy.

"Peggy," she whispered, snuggling close to her friend, "what does thee think of it all?"

"'Tis like the Carolinas and Virginia were," returned Peggy soberly.

"Oh, Sally! is it not awful that men should so hunt and hound each other? The poor people of the states have stood so much that 'tis marvelous that any are left for resistance. Nurse Johnson whispered to me that she should not feel easy until we were back in Philadelphia."

"Would that we were," said Sally earnestly. "Peggy!"

"Yes, Sally."

"I was afraid this afternoon when the robbers attacked us. What if I were to be fearful all the time?"

"We must not be, Sally," spoke Peggy quickly. "'Twould wherrit these kind friends if we were to show fear. They will take excellent care of us, and take us home soon, I make no doubt."

"Isn't thee ever afraid, Peggy?"

"Why, yes; of course," answered Peggy. "Every one is, I think. But mother told me once never to antic.i.p.ate trouble, and so I try not to think about what might happen. We must be bright and cheerful whatever occurs. It should be easy for thee, Sally. Thee is always happy in the hospital."

"That is because I have something to do," responded Sally sagely. "If one is so busy that one has no time to think one can't be afraid."

"I make no doubt then thee will soon have plenty to occupy thee when Fairfax joins his company, Sally."

Sally laughed as Peggy had intended she should.

"I like Fairfax," she said with emphasis. "But didst notice, Peggy? He spoke not once to either of us after we entered the house. Truly, his diffidence doth envelop him like a mantle; yet, when those robbers were giving us chase, he had no difficulty in telling us just what to do. Indeed, he was then as much at ease in speaking to us as thy father or Robert would have been."

"Then he was doing 'man's duty,'" laughed Peggy. "'Tis marvelous how an emergency doth make him shed his shyness."

"I like him," repeated Sally. "In very truth, Peggy Owen, doth thee not consider him the very nicest lad that we know?"

"And yet," observed Peggy meditatively, addressing the darkness, "methinks there was a girl, not a hundred miles from this very bed, who told me that she agreed with my Cousin Harriet that Clifford excelled all other youths."

"I am going to sleep," announced Sally, turning over hastily. "Does thee not think it time? We had a wearisome journey."

Peggy giggled appreciatively.

"That was a well directed shot," she remarked, "since it hath reduced the ranks to silence."

CHAPTER XII

"THEY MUST GO HOME"

"It wounds, indeed, To bear affronts too great to be forgiven, And not have power to punish."

--_"Spanish Friar," Dryden._

"Let them sleep, Hannah. I make no doubt but that they are greatly fatigued."