Peggy Owen Patriot Part 28

Peggy started suddenly as the deep bay of a hound came to them from the village of Bound Brook.

"Harriet," she whispered, "I am afraid. Let us wait until to-morrow."

"To-morrow will be too late," answered Harriet, and Peggy wondered to hear how hard her voice sounded. "Do you want me hung, Peggy? Beside, you promised that you would come. 'Tis the last time that I'll ever ask favor of you."

"Yes, I know," answered Peggy, in a low tone. "I will go, Harriet; but I wish now that I had not said that I would."

"Come," was Harriet's brief answer. And Peggy followed her into the darkness.

CHAPTER XXII-A HIGH-HANDED PROCEEDING

"Had your watch been good, This sudden mischief never could have fallen."

-First Part Henry VI.

Had Peggy been in the lead she would have headed at once for the "Great Raritan Road," a highway which ran down the valley of the river directly to the town of New Brunswick, which lay but a few miles west of Amboy.

Harriet, on the contrary, turned toward Bound Brook, and entered the dense wood which stood between that village and the hills.

"This is not the way to Amboy, Harriet," remonstrated Peggy.

"No," answered her cousin briefly. Then, after a moment: "'Tis the only way to get through the lines without the countersign. We must not talk."

"Hasn't thee the countersign?" asked Peggy, dismayed.

"No; don't talk, Peggy."

And Peggy, wondering much how with two horses they could pa.s.s the pickets unchallenged, relapsed into silence. But the lack of the pa.s.sword did not seem to daunt Harriet. She pushed ahead as rapidly as was consistent with rough ground, thickly growing trees and underbrush, and the gloom of the forest. At length as they entered a shallow ravine Harriet drew rein, and, as Peggy came up beside her, she spoke:

"Are you afraid, Peggy?"

"No," replied Peggy, "but the stillness is monstrously wearing. And 'tis so dark, Harriet."

"Which is to our benefit," returned Harriet. "As for the quiet, once we are clear of the lines we can chat, and so will not mind it. But come!"

Again she took the lead, and Peggy, following after, could not but marvel at the unerring precision with which her cousin chose her way.

Not once did she falter or hesitate, though to Peggy the darkness and gloom of the forest seemed impenetrable.

The melancholy of the forest encompa.s.sed them, infolding them like a mantle. It so wrought upon their senses that they reached out and touched each other frequently, seeking to find solace from its brooding sadness. It seemed as though hours elapsed before Harriet spoke in the merest whisper:

"I think we are without the lines, Peggy. 'Tis about time, and now we can seek the turnpike."

She had scarcely finished speaking when out of the darkness came the peremptory command:

"Halt! Who goes there?"

"Friends," answered Harriet, as the two obediently brought their horses to a standstill.

In the darkness the shadowy form of the sentinel was but dimly visible, but a feeble ray of the pale moonlight caught the gleam of his musket, and Peggy saw with a thrill of fear that it was pointed directly toward Harriet.

"Advance, and give the countersign," came the order.

How it came about Peggy could not tell, but as he gave the command, Fleetwood reared suddenly upon his hind feet, and, pawing the air with his forelegs and snorting viciously, advanced toward the guard threateningly. An ominous click of the firelock sounded. Wild with terror at the sight, and fearful of what might happen, Peggy cried shrilly:

"Look sharp!"

"Why didn't you say so before?" growled the sentry lowering his gun.

"What's the matter with that horse?"

"I think he must have stepped among some thorn bushes," replied Harriet sweetly. "I will soon quiet him, friend. The underbrush is thick hereabouts."

"Too thick to be straying around in at night," he answered with some roughness. "That horse is enough to scare the British. What are you doing in the woods? You are bound to lose your way."

"We have done that already," she told him with apparent frankness. She had succeeded by this time in quieting Fleetwood, who now resumed his normal position. By the merest chance they had stumbled upon the pa.s.sword, and she purposed making the most of it. "You see we were at a party in the camp, and coming back my cousin and I thought to make a short cut through the woods so as to get home quickly. We ought to have been there long ago, but 'twas a pretty little frisk, and we just couldn't make up our minds to leave. You know how it is."

"Yes," he rejoined laughing good naturedly. "I know how 'tis. I've gals of my own. Well, you just get over to that road as fast as you can. 'Tis a half mile straight to your right. And say! if another sentinel asks for the countersign speak right up. You're liable to get a ball if you don't."

"Thank you," she said. "We will remember. Come, my cousin."

"You blessed Peggy!" she exclaimed as they pa.s.sed beyond the hearing of the guard. "How did you chance upon that watchword?"

"I don't know," answered Peggy, who had not yet recovered her equanimity. "I meant to say, 'Look out!' I don't know how I came to say sharp. But what was the matter with Fleetwood? Was he among thorns?"

"Dear me, no! 'Tis a trick that I taught him. You do not know all his accomplishments. 'Twas well for that sentinel that he let us through.

Wasn't it, old fellow?" And her laugh as she patted the animal was not a pleasant one to hear.

Peggy shuddered. She would not like Star to be taught such tricks, she thought, giving the little mare a loving caress. She was beginning to doubt the wisdom of coming with Harriet. The girl appeared to know her way so well, to be so able to care for herself that there seemed no need for Peggy to be along. But let her see her safely to a place where she could reach her own people, and then Peggy resolved, with a quick tightening of the lips, nothing should ever induce her to put herself into such a plight again.

By this time the moon had gone down, and while the sky was not clouded there was a dim haze that rendered the light of the stars ineffectual in dispelling the darkness. On they rode. The time seemed interminable to Peggy; the blackness of the night unbearable. The sudden snapping of a dried twig under Star's feet caused her to start violently.

"Harriet," she cried, "naught is to be gained by keeping to the woods.

The lines are pa.s.sed. Let us get to the highway. We must make better progress if I am to get back before the reveille."

"That you will never do, Peggy," replied Harriet pointing to the sky.

"'Tis almost time for it now."

Peggy looked up in dismay. The gray twilight that precedes the dawn was stealing over the darkness. The soldier's day began when the sentry could see a thousand yards about him. Another hour would bring about just that condition. It was clearly impossible for her to return before the sounding of the reveille.

"Does thee know where we are?" she asked. "And where is the road?"

"There is just a narrow strip of the woods betwixt us and the turnpike, Peggy," Harriet a.s.sured her. "It hath been so since we left the guard.

We will get to it at once if it please you. As for where we are, we should be getting to Perth Amboy soon."

"But why hath it taken so long?" queried Peggy.

"Because the brigades of Baron Steuben and General Wayne lay south of the Raritan, and we had to go around them. I did not tell you, Peggy, that 'twould take so long because I feared that you would not come. It doth not matter, doth it, what way I took to safety?"