CHAPTER XVI.

HELP WELL TIMED.

But to return to the party at the Four Corners. The veteran got his men mounted, when firing was heard.

"Hark! What is that?" said Hollister, pricking up his ears. "I'll swear that was a human pistol, and one from our regiment. Rear rank, close to the front!" A volley of musketry now rattled in the night wind, and the sergeant exclaimed:

"March!--Quick time!"

The next instant the trampling of a horse was heard coming up the road at a rate that announced a matter of life or death.

"Stand! Who goes there?" shouted Hollister.

"Ha! Hollister, is that you?" cried Lawton; "ever ready and at your post; but where is the guard?"

"At hand, sir, and ready to follow you through thick and thin."

"'Tis well!" said the trooper, riding up to his men; then, speaking a few words of encouragement, he led them down the valley at a rate but little less rapid than his approach.

On arriving near the gates of the Locusts, the trooper halted his party and made his arrangements for the assault. Dismounting, he ordered eight men to follow his example, and, turning to Hollister, said:

"Stand you here and guard the horses; if any attempt to pass, stop it, or cut it down, and--" The flames at this moment burst through the dormer-windows[96] and cedar roof of the cottage, and a bright light glared on the darkness of the night. "On!" shouted the trooper, "on! Give quarter when justice is done!"

[Footnote 96: upright windows built on a sloping roof.]

There was a startling fierceness in the voice of the trooper that reached to the heart, even amid the horrors of the cottage. The leader dropped his plunder and for a moment he stood in nerveless dread; then, rushing to the window, he threw up the sash. At this instant Lawton entered, sabre in hand, into the apartment.

"Die, miscreant!" cried the trooper, cleaving a marauder to the jaw; but the leader sprang into the lawn and escaped his vengeance.

The shrieks of the females restored Lawton to his presence of mind, and the earnest entreaty of the divine induced him to attend to the safety of the family. One more of the gang fell in with the dragoons and met his death, but the remainder had taken the alarm in season.

A loud crash in the upper apartments was succeeded by a bright light that glared through the open door, and made objects as distinct as day. Another dreadful crash shook the building to its centre. It was the falling of the roof, and the flames threw their light abroad so as to make objects visible around the cottage through the windows of the room. Frances, who was with Sarah, flew to one of them and saw the confused group that was collected on the lawn. Among them was her aunt, pointing with distraction to the fiery edifice, and apparently urging the dragoon to enter it. For the first time she comprehended their danger, and, uttering a wild shriek, she flew through the passage without consideration or object.

A dense and suffocating smoke opposed her progress. She paused to breathe, when a man caught her in his arms and bore her, in a state of insensibility, through the falling embers and darkness to the open air. The instant that Frances recovered her recollection she perceived that she owed her life to Lawton, and, throwing herself on her knees, she cried:

"Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Save my sister, and may the blessing of God await you!"

Her strength failed, and she sank on the grass in insensibility.

By this time the flames had dispersed much of the suffocating vapor, so that the trooper was able to find the door, and in its very entrance he was met by a man supporting the insensible form of Sarah. There was but barely time to reach the lawn again before the fire broke through the windows and wrapped the whole building in a sheet of flame.

"God be praised!" ejaculated[97] the preserver of Sarah; "it would have been a dreadful death to die."

[Footnote 97: exclaimed.]

The trooper turned from gazing at the edifice to the speaker, and, to his astonishment, he beheld the peddler.

"Captain Lawton," said Birch, leaning in momentary exhaustion against the fence to which they had retired from the heat, "I am again in your power, for I can neither flee nor resist."

"The cause of America is as dear to me as life," said the trooper; "but she cannot require her children to forget gratitude and honor. Fly, unhappy man, while yet you are unseen, or it will exceed my power to save you."

"May God prosper you, and make you victorious over your enemies!" said Birch, grasping the hand of the dragoon with iron strength that his meagre figure did not indicate.

"Hold!" said Lawton; "but a word--are you what you seem?--can you--are you?----"

"A royal spy," interrupted Birch, averting his face, and endeavoring to release his hand.

"Then go, miserable wretch," said the trooper, relinquishing his grasp; "either avarice or delusion has led a noble heart astray!"

The bright light from the flames reached a great distance around the ruins, but the words were hardly past the lips of Lawton, before the gaunt form of the peddler had glided over the visible space, and had plunged into the darkness beyond.

The walls of the cottage were all that was left of the building; and these, blackened by smoke, and stripped of their piazzas and ornaments, were but dreary memorials of the content and security that had so lately reigned within. The roof, together with the rest of the wood-work, had tumbled into the cellars, and pale and flitting light, ascending from their embers, shone faintly through the windows. The early flight of the Skinners left the dragoons at liberty to exert themselves in saving much of the furniture which lay scattered in heaps on the lawn, giving the finishing touch of desolation to the scene.

"Come," said the surgeon, "the night air can do no service to these ladies, and it is incumbent on us to remove them where they can find surgical attendance and refreshment."

To this rational proposition no objection could be raised, and the necessary orders were issued by Lawton to remove the whole party to the Four Corners.

The brief arrangements of the dragoons had prepared two apartments for the reception of the ladies, the one being intended as a sleeping-room, and situated within the other.

While leaning in the doorway, Lawton's ear caught the sound of a horse, and the next instant a dragoon of his own troop appeared dashing up the road, as if on business of vast importance. The steed was foaming, and the rider had the appearance of having done a day's service. Without speaking, he placed a letter in the hand of Lawton, and led his charger to the stable. The trooper knew the hand of the major, and ran his eye over the following:

"I rejoice it is the order of Washington, that the family of the Locusts are to be removed above the Highlands. They are to be admitted to the society of Captain Wharton, who waits only for their testimony to be tried. You will communicate this order, and with proper delicacy I do not doubt. The English are moving up the river; and the moment you see the Whartons in safety, break up and join your troop. There will be good service to be done when we meet, as Sir Henry[98] is reported to have sent out a real soldier in command. Reports must be made to the commandant at Peekskill, for Colonel Singleton is withdrawn to headquarters, to preside over the inquiry upon poor Wharton. Fresh orders have been sent to hang the peddler if we can take him, but they are not from the commander-in-chief. Detail a small guard with the ladies, and get into the saddle as soon as possible.

"Yours sincerely,

"PEYTON DUNWOODIE."

[Footnote 98: Sir Henry Clinton, commander of the English forces.]

This communication changed the whole arrangement. A new stimulus was given to the Whartons by the intelligence conveyed in the letter of Dunwoodie; and Cæsar, with his horses, was once more put in requisition.

The word to march was given; and Lawton, throwing a look of sullen ferocity at the place of the Skinners' concealment, led the way, accompanied by the surgeon in a brown study; while Sergeant Hollister and Betty brought up the rear. The day's march was performed chiefly in silence, and the party found shelter for the night in different farm-houses.