Part 24 (2/2)

”Good! I like that kind of talk. Meanwhile we'll get the kinks out of our legs marching to Morristown.”

”So you are an Injun fighter,” remarked Zeb to Rodney, as they fell into line side by side.

”Scarcely that,” replied Rodney, flus.h.i.+ng with pleasure as he thought of the introduction by his colonel. ”I've been made prisoner by them, lived with them for a time and ran away from 'em, doing a little fighting by the way.”

”Anyhow, the colonel appears to like ye, an' that's a recommendation not to be sneezed at.”

”I hope I can keep his good will. I never saw a man whose men were more loyal.”

”He's a lion in a fight, asks no man to go whar he won't go himself.

And he knows what the boys are thinkin' about, an' just how to manage 'em.”

”I was told that on the march to the Scioto one of his men disobeyed orders, in fact had been disgruntled for some time, and that Morgan walked up to him and said, 'Come with me a minute.' They went into the woods together and, when they came back, the man had a black eye and looked as though he'd stolen a sheep; but ever after he didn't have to be told twice to do a thing.”

Zeb laughed, saying, ”That sort of treatment was what that kind of man could understand. But Morgan never allowed one of his men to be flogged.”

”He was terribly flogged once himself.”

”Yes, but he was too much of a man for that to break him, though the ordinary man who's been whipped seems to lose his self respect and his courage, an' Morgan won't allow it in his command.”

By the time Morgan's men arrived at Morristown, Zeb and Rodney were the best of friends, and the latter had heard the story of the expedition to Quebec,[2] of Donald Lovell and what a fine lad he was, until he hoped that Zeb's wish, that they meet him, might be granted.

It was a very small army which Morgan found at Morristown. Of the sixteen regiments Congress had requested the colonies to furnish (Congress could do little but request), not over six hundred men had arrived. The next two months were pa.s.sed in recruiting the army and getting it into condition, a very trying time to the many impatient spirits in Morgan's command, and doubtless very trying also to their commander, who always chafed under any sort of inaction. What with target practice and drilling, all were kept out of mischief, however, and Rodney found that as a marksman he could ”hold his own” with the best.

Zeb, who had become his daily companion, received in May a letter from his old friend, Donald Lovell, who wrote that he had fully recovered from a wound he had received in the battle on Long Island the year before, and hoped soon to get back into the service.

A corps, called Morgan's Rangers, was made up of men picked from the various regiments, five hundred in all. There were, among them, Virginians, Pennsylvania ”Dutchmen,” men from the Carolinas, men from the frontier and Yankees. Skill in the use of the rifle was a necessary qualification for members.h.i.+p. They were a fine lot of men for the perilous duties to which they were to be a.s.signed.

The corps was divided into eight companies, the captains of which were: Cobel, Posey, Knox, Long, Swearingen, Parr, Boone, and Henderson, all men selected by Morgan.

The organization of this corps was completed on June 13th, on which day it was ordered by Was.h.i.+ngton to watch for the approach of British scouting parties, for it was learned that Howe was to begin active operations. The American headquarters had now been changed to Middlebrook. That very day two divisions of the British forces, one under Cornwallis and the other under DeHeister, set out from New Brunswick for the purpose of engaging Was.h.i.+ngton, confident that, with a little more fighting, they would crush the revolution.

The Rangers had their first glimpse of the British under Cornwallis when the latter reached Somerset Court House, and, for several days, there was sharp skirmis.h.i.+ng with scouting parties.

Rodney and Zeb were stationed one afternoon on one of the roads as pickets, when a company of the British were discovered approaching.

The pickets' orders were to fire and fall back on the main body, unless it should be thought possible, in case of a small number of the enemy, to report their presence and secure force enough to cut them off. This was the view taken both by Zeb and his companion, so they ran back to report.

A squad of the Rangers was hurried forward to meet the enemy, with instructions to get between them and their main army, and make them prisoners. Before this could be accomplished the British came upon them. The enemy outnumbered the Rangers two to one, yet the latter would have charged them but for orders to halt and fire. So quickly was the order obeyed that the crack of their rifles rang out together with the British officer's command to fire. The British fired blindly into the smoke, whereas the riflemen had taken quick, accurate aim.

But one among the Rangers was. .h.i.t, and that was Rodney, he receiving a slight flesh wound in the left arm.

”I thought a bee had stung me,” he said, later, when Zeb discovered the blood on his friend's sleeve.

The enemy, being uncertain as to the number of the Rangers, fell back in good order, carrying their dead with them. They were pursued by the Rangers until a larger body met them, when the Americans retreated.

Skirmishes like this were of daily occurrence, and Cornwallis, finding that Was.h.i.+ngton was not disposed to accommodate him by rashly engaging in battle under disadvantageous conditions, retreated to New Brunswick, with the Rangers d.o.g.g.i.ng his flanks.

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