Part 23 (2/2)

”I have heard that the French, if their success continues, mean to attack Albany,” said Robert, ”but we must stop them there, Dave. We can never let them invade such a region as this.”

”They'll invade it, nevertheless,” said the hunter, ”unless stout arms and brave hearts stop them. We can drive both French and Indians back, if we ever unite. There lies the trouble. We must get some sort of concentrated action.”

”And New York is the best place to see whether it will be done or not.”

”So it is.”

The wind remained favorable all that day, the next night there was a calm, but the following day they drew near to New York, Captain Van Zouten a.s.suring them he would make a landing before sunset.

He was well ahead of his promise, because the sun was high in the heavens when the sloop began to pa.s.s the high, wooded hills that lie at the upper end of Manhattan Island, and they drew in to their anchorage near the Battery. They did not see the stone government buildings that had marked Quebec, nor the numerous signs of a fortress city, but they beheld more s.h.i.+ps and more indications of a great industrial life.

”Every time I come here,” said Willet, ”it seems to me that the masts increase in number. Truly it is a good town, and an abundant life flows through it.”

”Where shall we stop, Dave?” asked Robert. ”Do you have a tavern in mind?”

”Not a tavern,” replied the hunter. ”My mind's on a private house, belonging to a friend of mine. You have not met him because he is at sea or in foreign parts most of the time. Yet we are a.s.sured of a welcome.”

An hour later they said farewell to Captain Van Zouten, carried their own light baggage, and entered the streets of the port.

CHAPTER X

THE PORT

The three walked toward the Battery, and, while Tayoga attracted more attention in New York than in Quebec, it was not undue. The city was used to Indians, especially the Iroquois, and although comments were made upon Tayoga's height and n.o.ble appearance there was nothing annoying.

Meanwhile the two youths were using their excellent eyes to the full. Although the vivid imagination of Robert had foreseen a great future for New York he did not dream how vast it would be. Yet all things are relative, and the city even then looked large to him and full of life, both size and activity having increased visibly since his last visit. Some of the streets were paved, or at least in part, and the houses, usually of red brick, often several stories in height, were comfortable and strong. Many of them had lawns and gardens as at Albany, and the best were planted with rows of trees which would afford a fine shade in warm weather. Above the mercantile houses and dwellings rose the lofty spire of St. George's Chapel in Na.s.sau Street, which had been completed less than three years before, and which secured Robert's admiration for its height and impressiveness.

The aspect of the whole town was a mixture of English and Dutch, but they saw many sailors who were of neither race. Some were brown men with rings in their ears, and they spoke languages that Robert did not understand. But he knew that they came from far southern seas and that they sailed among the tropic isles, looming large then in the world's fancy, bringing with them a whiff of romance and mystery.

The sidewalks in many places were covered with boxes and bales brought from all parts of the earth, and stalwart men were at work among them. The pulsing life and the air of prosperity pleased Robert. His nature responded to the town, as it had responded to the woods, and his imagination, leaping ahead, saw a city many times greater than the one before his eyes, though it still stopped far short of the gigantic reality that was to come to pa.s.s.

”It's not far now to Master Hardy's,” said Willet cheerfully. ”It's many a day since I've seen trusty old Ben, and right glad I'll be to feel the clasp of his hand again.”

On his way Willet bought from a small boy in the street a copy each of the _Weekly Post-Boy_ and of the _Weekly Gazette_ and _Mercury_, folding them carefully and putting them in an inside pocket of his coat.

”I am one to value the news sheets,” he said. ”They don't tell everything, but they tell something and 'tis better to know something than nothing. Just a bit farther, my lads, and we'll be at the steps of honest Master Hardy. There, you can see where fortunes are made and lost, though we're a bit too late to see the dealers!”

He pointed to the Royal Exchange, a building used by the merchants at the foot of Broad Street, a structure very unique in its plan. It consisted of an upper story resting upon arches, the lower part, therefore, being entirely open. Beneath these arches the merchants met and transacted business, and also in a room on the upper floor, where there were, too, a coffee house and a great room used for banquets, and the meetings of societies, the Royal Exchange being in truth the beginning of many exchanges that now mark the financial center of the New World.

”Perhaps we'll see the merchants there tomorrow,” said Willet. ”You'll note the difference between New York and Quebec. The French capital was all military. You saw soldiers everywhere, but this is a town of merchants. Now which, think you, will prevail, the soldiers or the merchants?”

”I think that in the end the merchants will win,” replied Robert.

”And so do I. Now we have come to the home of Master Hardy. See you the big brick house with high stone steps? Well, that is his, and I repeat that he is a good friend of mine, a good friend of old and of today. I heard that in Albany, which tells me we will find him here in his own place.”

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