The Boy Spies At the Siege of Detroit

Chapter I.

Captain Sam.

IT was near to the 1st of June in the year 1812 when Ezra, Captain Sam and I went down to Dayton, from our hut in the clearing, to lay in such a store of provisions as might be needed during the journey to Sackett's Harbor, for the old man had decided it was high time we set out to join my uncle.

Not since the spring came had we been to the town, although it was but little more than seven miles, and once arrived there our astonishment was great at learning that near at hand were more than three regiments of soldiers, under the command of Brigadier-General William Hull, who had enlisted for the relief of Detroit.

Here was news for us indeed!

We had had no idea any relief was needed by the people of Detroit, but by dint of much questioning on Captain Sam's part, we soon learned that the British had been stirring up the Indians against us of the United States, and it was feared that the same chief of the Wyandots who had led the attack when Ezra's parents were murdered, was preparing for war against the settlers.

Therefore it was that the people had assembled, and, even as we asked concerning them, were making ready for a march of two hundred miles through the wilderness and across the terrible swamps.

It was but natural that Ezra and I, who had never seen a body of soldiers, should desire to visit the camp, and Captain Sam was more than ready to bear us company.

We had but hardly arrived at the encampment, and were staring around like stupids—I now mean Ezra and myself—when Captain Sam was hailed, in a cheery tone by an officer, who seemed highly pleased at meeting the old sailor.

The two remained in converse for some time, while Ezra and I were held silent and motionless by surprise that our friend should be received with so much courtesy by one of the commanders of the forces, until he called us to him, saying when we had obeyed the summons:

"These are the lads, Colonel McArthur, an' I'm in duty bound to carry them to Sackett's Harbor agreeably to orders given by Colonel Bellinger, else I might take the offer."

"They look fit to bear a musket, an' I'll warrant already know something concerning warfare with the savages," the officer said as he laid his hand on my shoulder.

"They've had cruel experience, Colonel," Captain Sam replied, and then, speaking in a lower tone, as it to prevent us from overhearing the words, he told of the sorrow which had come to us through the foray of the Wyandot, Walk-in-the-Water.

"It's a sad story," Colonel McArthur said in a kindly tone when the old sailor had finished, "but one which is all too common here on the frontier, and will be until the Britishers are forced to stop stirring the red beasts to such deeds. I still maintain that Colonel Chris. Bellinger would not be averse to their joining the forces were he here to give an opinion, and you had better think over my offer."

Saying this the officer walked away with a friendly bend of the head, as if to say he would see us soon again, and, as was but natural, Ezra and I were impatient to learn what offer had been made to Captain Sam.

"You might guess it, lads, so it seems to me. What would a colonel want of three like us when his regiment is not yet full'? "

"Would he make soldiers of us who are not yet of age?" Ezra asked in surprise

"Ay, lads, you can stop a bullet as well now as if you were as old as I, and I'll warrant there are many here who'd not be as sharp at guard duty as either of you who have been brought up in the forest, trained to depend upon your red to defend your own lives."

"I'm free to admit that all you say be true, an' yet I have my orders, which are to take you straight to Sackett's Harbor."

"Those orders are eight months old by this time, and it can make but little difference if we delay a few weeks longer," Ezra replied stoutly.

"If it might be only a few weeks I'd not say

you nay; but now we're free to go or come as we please, and once let us sign the muster rolls, there's a different tune to be sung. Then we have a master over us, and no one can say how many months might pass before we would be able to turn our faces toward Sackett's Harbor."

"But surely we need stay with the troops no longer than it pleases us," Ezra cried, and then for the first time we learned what is really meant by enlisting.

Even with the knowledge that we should be bound, to serve in the ranks for twelve months as the shortest term, both Ezra and I were eager to be members of the command in order to have an opportunity of striking a blow at that murdering savage who had done us so deep an injury; but the old sailor was firm in the stand he had taken.

"I am responsible to Colonel Christopher Bellinger for the safety of you lads, and do not intend to leave you in this camp."

"But why should we not follow the soldiers for a time on our own account?" Ezra cried as a sudden thought came to his mind. "Surely we could do full duty, even though not being enlisted, and then, the savages having been given a lesson, we might continue on to Sackett's Harbor as we pleased."

"That wouldn't be 'cordin' to the rules of the army," and Captain Sam shook his head as if the idea was not to be considered for a moment.

Minded to do as Ezra suggested, but desiring the free consent of the old man, I asked:

"How is it, that Colonel McArthur greeted you like an old friend?"

"Because that's what we should be but for his rank. He an' I met in Boston nigh on to two years ago, an' it was my good fortune to be able to do him a friendly turn."

"Such as what?" Ezra asked carelessly, probably having no great desire to receive an answer.

"If it should so chance, lad, that you could, befriend an acquaintance, it would be worse than refusing to do it if you boasted of the action afterward. What we do in the way of a favor is what ought to be kept a secret; it's a case of not lettin' the right hand know what the left does, or somethin' to that effect."

That Captain Sam was irritated because such a question had been asked there could be no doubt, and I hastened to change the current of his thoughts by saying:

"Since you and the colonel are friends, I see no reason why it should not be permitted us to accompany the troops for so long a time as pleases us, even though our names are not on the muster-rolls. We might have a chance at striking Walk-in-the-Water a blow without any great delay so far as the journey to Sackett's Harbor is concerned, for the troops will travel in that direction."

Captain Sam looked at me intently an instant without speaking, and I had begun to fear I also might have said something to displease him, when he cried heartily:

"You have a great brain, lad, an' that very idee proves it. There is no reason why we shouldn't take in a little of this march, an if the troops move too slow we can push on ahead."

Almost before he ceased speaking the old man had left us to find Colonel McArthur, as I believed, and when we were thus alone Ezra said irritably:

"It doesn't improve his temper to meet with friends. One would have thought I had committed sin in asking what favor he did for the colonel."

"Surely you will not lay to heart anything he may have said in a heat! He only intended to reprove you."

"And he did it in great shape," Ezra replied, his face clearing as he spoke, for my comrade was not one who could hold anger long, however good a cause he may have had.

"Would you be better pleased to enlist?" I asked, hoping to take his mind from Captain Sam's hasty words.

"Ay that I should, for it seems as if we two of all others ought to join those who go out to fight against the savages. I am free to admit that we must abide by what Colonel Bellinger says, for since he is your uncle it is as if he were mine also; but I warrant you he will not be displeased when we tell him of our desire to become soldiers."

"That is as may be. All which concerns us now is, whether Colonel McArthur will allow us to go with his forces unless we bind ourselves in some way."

There was little need for us to speculate upon this question, for before Ezra could reply to my remark Captain Sam was with us again, and from the look on his face I knew the matter had been settled as we wished.

"Colonel McArthur is pleased to have us with him, so he says, and, as I know him, he's too much of a gentleman to tell what ain't straight up and down true; but we' re not to play the part of-soldiers, 'cordin' to the way I understand it." "Not play the part of soldiers!" I repeated, deeply disappointed. "Why. then, should we follow the forces?"

"I don't make out that we will follow 'em. He's allowin' that you lads should have had experience enough to be fairly good scouts, an' I'm to play second fiddle to you both."

Ezra looked at me as if to ask if it was possible such news could be true.

To act as scouts for the column was the work of all others we would have chosen, and there was no great doubt in our minds but that we could perform the task satisfactorily.

The only experience we had had was while out hunting with Ezra's father; but he had the reputation of being the best woodsman on the frontier, and although our lessons in the craft had been comparatively few they were thorough.

"When are we to start?" Ezra asked, impatient to begin the march.

"That's what isn't known as yet; but the colonel allows we shan't be kept waiting very long. General Hull hasn't been in command but four days, an' it stands to reason he wants to find out what kind of timber he's got to work with before try in' to do very much. We' ll lay a straight course for our cabin, an' be back here by to-morrow mornin' ready for business."

Until this moment we had forgotten that it would be necessary to return to the poor shelter we called home before leaving it perhaps forever, and now we were reminded of the duty, both of us were impatient to set out.

During the journey home but little was said by either of us, because of the stirring thoughts in the minds of each; but after we had arrived, packed up the few belongings we could call our own, and sat down before the camp-fire as was our custom before going to bed, I understood that, Captain Sam was in a most peculiar mood.

Usually he had plenty to talk about, and hardly let an evening pass without spinning some yarn which we found difficulty in believing to be true; but on this night he was strangely silent, as if in trouble.

After waiting half an hour or more in the hope he would tell us what weighed so heavily on his mind, I made bold to say:

"You're not very cheerful to-night, Captain Sam."

"I'm afraid I ain't, land, an' that's a fact."

"Does it distress you because we wanted to go with the soldiers?"

"Not a bit of it, my boy. I don't blame you, nor couldn't justly if I wanted to, because I felt the same way myself, an' me an old sailor what hasn't any right to think about traipsing' hither an' yon on dry land."

"Are you willing to tell us what troubles you?" I made bold to ask after another long time of silence.

"It's none of my own concerns—I mean nothin' private 'twixt myself an' me, David; but some words Colonel McArthur let drop, which has set me to thinkin' on what may be my duty."

Having said this much I knew the old man would continue, even though he ceased speaking and sat smoking his pipe until our patience was well nigh exhausted.

Then suddenly, as if just reminded that we were yet waiting for an explanation, he said:

"It's the belief of Colonel McArthur that we'll be at war with England before this 'ere march to Detroit is ended, an' I'm askin' myself what Colonel Christopher Bellinger would say if he knew you lads were to do your part with General Hull's scouts at such a time."

"At war with England!" Ezra repeated, giving very little heed to uncle Christopher's views regarding us. "Why should we fight the Britishers again, Captain Sam?"

"You'd best ask why we haven't done so many a year before!" the old sailor cried in an angry tone. "Since our independence was declared, an' admitted, the Britishers have claimed the right to overhaul any American vessel on the plea of tm-in' from her men who'd deserted from the British navy; an' when a man-of-war has been short-handed, her commander has never hesitated about yankin' native-born Americans out their own craft, makin them serve the king or be flogged till there wasn't anything left to flog. Look ye, lads, I' ve heard it said that there is now on record over six thousand cases where our people have been impressed in that fashion, an' more'n as likely as not that ain't the half of them as have been dragged away from home. I could tell you of what I've seen with my own eyes, till you'd be wild because our folks haven't declared war long before this. It stands us in hand to fight the Britishers, Ezra, because we claim our flag shall protect them that are under it. Here's a piece I cut out of a paper jest before I left Sackett's Harbor. It's part of a report from them as calls theirselves the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States, though I ain't clear as to what that means; but the man who wrote it had his eye-teeth cut, an' this tells why we should go to war with England!"

Captain Sam took the empty pipe from his mouth, laid it on a rock beside him, and smoothed out a much-soiled bit of paper for some time before reading in a halting, awkward way which would have been comical but for his earnestness and the subject itself, the following, which I copy from the identical fragment:

"To sum up in a word, the great cause of complaint against Great Britain, your committee need only say that the United States, as a sovereign and independent power, claim the right to use the ocean, which is the common and acknowledged highway of nations, for the purpose of transporting, in their own vessels, the products of their own soils and the acquisitions of their own industry to a market in the port of friendly nations, and to bring home, in return, such articles as their necessities or convenience may require, always regarding the rights of belligerents as defined by the established laws of nations. Great Britain, in defiance of this incontestable right, captures every American vessel bound to or returning from a port where her commerce is not favored; enslaves our seamen, and, in spite of our remon­strances, perseveres in these aggressions. To wrongs so daring in character and so disgraceful in their execution, it is impossible that the people of the United. States should remain indifferent. We must now tamely and quietly submit, or we must resist by those means which God has placed within our reach."

Having finished reading, Captain Sam reformed the bit of paper, put it carefully in his pocket, and, after filling and lighting his pipe, said emphatically:

"An what that 'ere committee says is solid truth!"

"How long has this been going on?" Ezra asked, for the subject was new to him as it was to me.

"Since our independence was declared, an' we've kept on submittin' to it! How was it when the Chesapeake was fired into by the Leopard while we was supposed to be at peace with England? Three of our own men were hauled over the rail, because our vessel wasn't prepared for action, while the Britisher's crew were at quarters when he hailed. Twenty-one round shot struck the hull of the Chesa­peake, an' all this Government had to say about it was that the thing oughtn't been done! Hark ye, lads, it's only last year since one of our vessels bound for France was captured by the king's ships within thirty miles of New York Harbor, an' Captain Ludlow was sent in the forty-four gun President to straighten things out. He was a sailor what knew his duty, an' because he overhauled one of the king's vessels a bit rough, these very United States laid him by the heels on account of it, fearing we'd hurt Johnny Bull's feelin's! Wasn't it proved in 1809 that the Governor of Canada kept a spy by the name of John Henry in Boston, promising' him a thousand pounds a year for doin' all he could to destroy the Union?P There's been enough, leavin' aside the impressin' of our sailors, to bring on a war, an' if it comes I'll be glad of it! I ain't so old but I can manage to do my share afloat. What we want is men like Commodore Preble, who tackled the Bashaw of Tripoli till the old monster trembled in his boots, if he had any on! Now turn in an' get some sleep, for we' ll make an early start to-morrow."

The old sailor laid himself down on the boughs which formed our bed, and we knew by experience that, having finished with the subject for the time being, it would be useless trying to make him continue the conversation.

But Ezra and I were not minded to go to sleep while there was so much in our minds to excite us, and we sat by the fire discussing what it might be possible for us to do in case there should be a war, until the morning was hardly more than an hour away.

Then we laid down by the side of Captain Sam, and when he called us to share the breakfast he had cooked, it seemed to me as if my eyes had not been closed in sleep more than ten minutes.

Now the old sailor was ready to talk as long as was our wish regarding the startling information imparted by Colonel McArthur, and, after giving us his views as to what it might be possible for our people to do in the way of teaching the king that he must keep his hands off American vessels, he told for at least the tenth time the story of what he had seen and done at Tripoli.

But that the purpose of my setting down these lines is to relate our adventures during this war of 1812, now so happily ended, I would clearly love to repeat all our old friend told us regarding the strange sights he saw while off the Barbary coast.

We were at the encampment before the day was more than well begun, and within a few moments after our arrival word was brought that Colonel McArthur would speak with us at his headquarters. "Now we shall be asked, again to enlist," Ezra whispered to me, "and if you are minded to do so without waiting for your Uncle Christopher's permission, I will set my name down right willingly."

What I would have done had the matter been pressed it is impossible to say, nor does it matter much at this late date, but I verily believe, knowing as I did that war might soon be declared, I should have had no thought of my uncle had Colonel McArthur laid the muster rolls before us.

But we misjudged his purpose in sending for us.

Not one word was said regarding our enlisting, when we were before him; he simply questioned us to learn what we knew of the country thereabouts, and after we had replied to the best of our ability he said, much as though it were a plain business transaction we were to embark in:

"On the day after to-morrow the command will move, marching, with no more delay than may be necessary, to Urbana, from which point it will be necessary to enter the forest. In view of the fact that my regiment has been selected as the one to lead the column, and that upon us will devolve the labor of cutting roads for the forces, it is strictly within my right to send you in advance, although I might not be willing to do so without the commander's permission were you regularly enlisted men. You will travel on the course I have marked.

out, for thirty miles, and then return."

"You count on our trudging' out an' back again, eh?" Captain Sam said in surprise.

"That is the idea," the colonel replied with a laugh; "but I am not suggesting this simply for the purpose of providing you with exercise. You are to bring me a report of the country. That the Indians are prowling around there we know full well; small bands, or hunting parties would give us but little trouble in view of our numbers. But it is necessary we should know if there is any concerted action among them, and I depend upon you three for a truthful report of what we shall find in our path as we advance."

Captain Sam did not look overly well pleased at the idea of starting out on such a mission, and had he known as much about that section of the country as we did, there would have been even better cause for black looks.

Twenty-four hours after leaving Urbana the savages would be close at hand, ready to do murder, and he who kept the scalp on his head must ever have his wits about him.

Colonel McArthur said he had no fear of small bands, or hunting parties; but we three would have good cause to hold them in wholesome dread, even though we came across no more than four, and the warlike spirit which had animated me an hour previous now oozed rapidly away, leaving me as timorous as any girl.

I understood that thoughts similar to mine were in Ezra's mind, but we took good care to prevent the fear from being read on our faces, and replied with a great show of valor when the colonel asked if we were still of the mind to act as his scouts.

"What do you need in the way of an outfit?" he asked, when Ezra had declared we were ready to do as he proposed, and I made answer:

"Nothing more than we already have, save it may be powder. We should travel light on such a mission, and there is no need of taking food when it can be had in the forest for the shooting."

"You at least know how to set about the work," he said, in what I fancied was a tone of approval. "The quartermaster will supply you with ammunition, and here is the course I have marked out as the most direct to Detroit."

As he spoke he handed Ezra a piece of bark on which was marked the watercourses and the swamps he would pass on this side or that, until one could read his purpose plainly.

Seeing that we understood it, he spoke at some length regarding the work we were to do, reminding us of the dangers, which was needless, and repeating that by such work faithfully performed we would be rendering a far greater service than could have been done by us in the ranks, all of which I realized fully.

Then he took leave of us, making no mention of the time when we should set out, which, according to my way of thinking, was to let us know we might, go when we would.

I was minded to start at once, for it was not such a task as one cares to think about very long lest his courage fail him entirely, and when we three were alone I found that Ezra was of my way of looking at the matter.

Captain Sam had no idea of hiding his fears, but began questioning us closely as to what dangers might lay in our path, and when we had, answered him, making light of many things which gave us much uneasiness, he said flatly:

"Look ye, lads, I'm not at home on dry land, an' this playin' the scout in a forest filled with painted savages is not to my likin'. We'll say to Colonel McArthur that he's very kind in lettin us sail thirty miles ahead of him; but we found it wasn't the kind of berth we were after."

"Surely you wouldn't show the white feather, Captain Sam, and that before we've gotten where the danger is to be found?" Ezra cried, fearing lest even now we might be deprived of this chance to serve the troops.

"I'd better do it this minute than wait till I'm where I can't show any kind of a feather," the old sailor replied in a tone so mournful that we laughed heartily, even though not in the mood for mirth.

And he would in good truth have refused to go ahead but that we urged him by every argument we could bring to bear not to make us the laughing-stock of the camp, as indeed we would have been if, after having asked permission to be of some service, we backed down because of the danger.

"I'll go, lads," he finally said with what was very like a groan; "but at the same time I want it plainly understood that my better judgment is opposed to any foolhardiness of the kind. There are plenty of men here better fitted for the job than me, who wouldn't be of much more account than a prattlin' infant if we got into a nest of painted savages."

"If we should get so far in as that I'm thinking none of us would be of any very great service," Ezra said with a feeble smile. "It shall be the care of David and me that you are not put in such a position, for we have as great an affection for our hair as you or any other sailor can have."

Even then I believe the old man would have found some excuse for preventing us from making the venture had we given him the opportunity; but we took good care not to leave him alone.

But for the fact that we would have been jeered by the soldiers as cowards, I would have been well pleased to do as Captain Sam desired, for the work was so fraught with danger as to be anything rather than pleasant; but once having proposed to do it, neither Ezra nor I were minded to show the white feather, and in less than half an hour after having taken leave of Colonel McArthur, we were on the road to Urbana.