Part 18 (2/2)
”But what has done all these things you mention? May I ask that?” said I, both amused and curious.
”Was.h.i.+ngton!” was her reply. ”Remove him, and this rebellion will burst like a soap-bubble! And that's the last of my speechmaking. Our project is to remove Was.h.i.+ngton--nay, there's no a.s.sa.s.sination in it.
We'll do better--capture him and send him to England. Once he is in the Tower awaiting trial, how long do you think the rebellion will last? And what rewards do you think there'll be for those that sent him there?”
”Why,” said Tom, ”is that a new project? Hasn't the British army been trying to wipe out Was.h.i.+ngton's army and take him prisoner these four years?”
”But not in the way that we have planned it,” replied Margaret, ”and that Captain Falconer shall execute it. Tell them, captain.”
”'Tis very simple, gentlemen,” said the English officer. ”If the honour of the execution is to be mine, and the men's whom I shall lead, the honour of the design, and of securing the necessary collusion in the rebel camp, is Mrs. Winwood's. My part hitherto has been, with Sir Henry Clinton's approval, to make up a chosen body of men from all branches of the army; and my part finally shall be to lead this select troop on horseback one dark night, by a devious route, to that part of the rebel lines nearest Was.h.i.+ngton's quarters; then, with the cooperation that this lady has obtained among the rebels, to make a swift dash upon those quarters, seize Was.h.i.+ngton while our presence is scarce yet known, and carry him back to New York by outriding all pursuit. Boats will be waiting to bring us across the river. I allow such projects have been tried before, but they have been defeated through rebel sentries giving the alarm in time. They lacked one advantage we possess--collusion in the rebel camp--”
”And 'twas you obtained that collusion?” Tom broke in, turning to Margaret. ”Hang me if I see how you in New York--oh, but I do, though!
Through brother Ned!”
”You're a marvel at a guess,” quoth she.
”Ay, ay! But how did you carry on your correspondence with him? 'Twas he, then, originated this scheme?”
”Oh, no; 'twas no such thing! The credit is all mine, if you please. I make no doubt, he _would_ have originated it, if he had thought of it.
But a sister's wits are sometimes as good as a brother's--remember that, Tom. For I had the wit not only to devise this project, but to know from the first that Ned's reason for joining the rebels was, that he might profit by betraying them.”
”Ay, we might have known as much, Bert,” said Tom. ”But we give you all credit for beating us there, sister.”
”Thank you! But the rascal never saw the way to his ends, I fancy; for he's still in good repute in the rebel army. And when I began to think of a way to gain--to gain the honour of aiding the king's cause, you know, I saw at once that Ned might help me. Much as we disliked each other, he would work with me in this, for the money 'twould bring him.
And I had 'lighted upon something else, too--quite by chance. A certain old person I know of has been serving to carry news from a particular Whig of my acquaintance (and neither of 'em must ever come to harm, Captain Falconer has sworn) to General Was.h.i.+ngton.” (As was afterward made sure, 'twas old Bill Meadows, who carried secret word and money from Mr. Faringfield and other friends of the rebellion.) ”This old person is very much my friend, and will keep my secrets as well as those of other people. So each time he has gone to the rebel camp, of late--and how he gets there and back into New York uncaught, heaven only knows--he has carried a message to brother Ned; and brought back a reply. Thus while he knowingly serves the rebel cause, he ignorantly serves ours too, for he has no notion of what my brother and I correspond about. And so 'tis all arranged. Through Ned we have learned that the rebel light horse troop under Harry Lee has gone off upon some long business or other, and, as far as the army knows, may return to the camp at any time. All that our company under Captain Falconer has to do, then, is to ride upon a dark night to a place outside the rebel pickets, where Ned will meet them. How Ned shall come there unsuspected, is his own affair--he swears 'tis easy. He will place himself at the head of our troop, and knowing the rebel pa.s.swords for the night, as well as how to speak like one of Major Lee's officers, he can lead our men past the sentries without alarm.
Our troop will have on the blue greatcoats and the caps the rebel cavalry wear--General Grey's men took a number of these last year, and now they come into use. And besides our having all these means of pa.s.sing the rebel lines without hindrance, Ned has won over a number of the rebels themselves, by promising 'em a share of the great reward the parliament is sure to vote for this business. He has secured some of the men about headquarters to our interest.”
”What a traitor!” quoth Tom, in a tone of disgust.
”Why, sure, we can make use of his treason, without being proud of him as one of the family,” said Margaret. ”The matter now is, that Captain Falconer offers you two gentlemen places in the troop he has chosen.”
”The offer comes a little late, sir,” said Tom, turning to the captain.
”Why, sir,” replied Falconer, ”I protest I often thought of you two.
But the risk, gentlemen, and your youth, and my dislike of imperilling my friends--however, take it as you will, I now see I had done better to enlist you at the first. The point is, to enlist you now. You shall have your commander's permission; General Clinton gives me my choice of men. 'Twill be a very small company, gentlemen; the need of silence and dash requires that. And you two shall come in for honour and pay, next to myself--that I engage. 'Twill make rich men of us three, at least, and of your brother, sir; while this lady will find herself the world's talk, the heroine of the age, the saviour of America, the glory of England. I can see her hailed in London for this, if it succeed; praised by princes, toasted by n.o.blemen, envied by the ladies of fas.h.i.+on and the Court, huzza'd by the people in the streets and parks when she rides out--”
”Nay, captain, you see too far ahead,” she interrupted, seeming ill at ease that these things should be said before Tom and me.
”A strange role, sure, for Captain Winwood's wife,” said Tom; ”that of plotter against his commander.”
”Nay,” she cried, quickly, ”Captain Winwood plays a strange role for Margaret Faringfield's husband--that of rebel against her king. For look ye, I had a king before he had a commander. Isn't that what you might call logic, Tom?”
”'Tis an unanswerable answer, at least,” said Captain Falconer, smiling gallantly. ”But come, gentlemen, shall we have your aid in this fine adventure?”
It was a fine adventure, and that was the truth. The underhand work, the plotting and the treason involved, were none of ours. 'Twas against Philip Winwood's cause, but our cause was as much to us as his was to him. The prospect of pay and honour did not much allure us; but the vision of that silent night ride, that perilous entrance into the enemy's camp, that swift dash for the person of our greatest foe, that gallop homeward with a roused rebel cavalry, desperate with consternation, at our heels, quite supplanted all feelings of slight in not having been invited earlier. Such an enterprise, for young fellows like us, there was no staying out of.
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