"What comwe obtain too cheaply, we esteem too
lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its
value. . . ."
Philip Kent was to learn that the cost of freedom was
to be the highest price he'd ever paid. At his wife
Anne's insistent urging, he became deeply
embroiled in the struggle for independence-and history
would record that those valiant men and women who fought
so bravely, sacrificed beyond human endurance for a
cause that would change the course of the world.
Inspired by leaders of awesome commitment, yet
plagued by human frailty, Philip Kent etched
his destiny against the stunning drama of the rebellion that
carved out
"The Free and Independent States of America"
The miracle of an untrained, ill-equipped
renegade army winning decisive battles against
England's finest soldiers ... the birth of
Philip Kent's heir on the eve of the birth of a
nation . . . the nerve shattering horror of the
battlefield ... the intellectual turmoil of a
congress drafting its most daring declaration ... and the
sustaining love of a woman devoted equally to her
husband and the nation's new cause presents a rich
panorama of the people and events that are a part of the
American Experience.
THE REBELS . . . SECOND IN THE
EXCITING SERIES OF AMERICAN
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valor, shining spirit and abiding faith.
Here is the story of our nation-and an amazing family
living in the turbulent spirit of frontier adventure
that began the American Experience.
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JOHN JAKES
THE AMERICAN BICENTENNIAL SERIES
Volume II
A
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For my daughter Andrea.
"You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I
am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood,
and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this
declaration, and support and defend these States.
Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of
ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is
more than worth all the means, and that prosperity will
triumph in that day's transaction, even although we
should rue it, which I trust in God we shall
not."
John Adams,
writing to his wife Abigail
from Philadelphia.
July 2,1776:
Contents
Book One
Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred
Honor
Chapter IA Taste of Steel15
Chapter IIS-ERMON Hill35
Chapter IIIB-IRTH67
Chapter IVT-HE Uprising94
Chapter VT-HE Guns of Winter124
Chapter VI8The Seedtime of
Continental Union"153
Chapter VIIT-HE Thirteen Clocks186
Book Two
The Times That Try Men's Souls
Chapter IT-HE Privateers219
Chapter IVR-ETREAT at Brandywine294
Chapter V8I Mean to March to
Hostile Ground"318
Chapter VIT-HE Drillmaster349
Chapter VII Rackhamblechb
Book Three
Death and Resurrection
Chapter IT-HE Wolvesbledaa
Chapter IIT-HE Guns of Summerbledcj
Chapter IIIT-HE Shawnee Spybledfc
Chapter IVT-HE Price of Heavenbledhh
Chapter VT-HE Woman From Virginia505
EpilogueThe World Turned Upside
The Rebels
Book One
Our
lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor
A Taste
of Steel
A
BRITISH DRUM STARTED a slow march cadence.
Others joined in. The thudding spread across a broad
front at the southeast end of the Charles-town
peninsula.
For a moment the drums sounded abnormally loud in the
hot summer air. There was a temporary lull in the
crashing of the cannon from the Copp's Hill battery
in Boston across the Charles, and from the ships that had
ringed the peninsula in" order to rake it from all
sides.
On Philip Kent's left, a skinny black
man with a squirrel gun grinned uneasily.
"Guess Tommy finished his dinner, all right."
"Guess he did," Philip said. Speaking was
difficult. His throat was so parched he could barely
whisper.
He twisted the ramrod twice more to seat the paper
wad on top of the powder and the ball in the muzzle of
his precious British-issue Brown Bess
musket. He wished to God he could find a drink
of water.
His stomach growled. Actually hurt from lack of
food. All the rations he'd packed when they mustered
in Cambridge at sunset last night were gone.
Besides that, he ached. My God, how he ached.
All night long he'd labored with the other
colonial soldiers on top of Breed's Hill,
digging a redoubt after the officers settled their
argument about the exact wording of the orders. were the men
to fortify Breed's Hill, or Bunker's, which lay
northwest toward the isthmus
con
necting the Charlestown peninsula with land more easily
defensible?
Finally, an engineering officer named
Gridley settled it. Breed's. Concealed
by darkness, the Americans dug their square
fortification, almost a hundred and forty feet on a
side, with an arrow-shaped redan jutting from its south
side to overlook the sloping meadow that ran down to the
Charles River.
The black man next to Philip in the redoubt had
said his name was Salem Prince. Philip had no
idea where he'd come from. But then, he didn't know a
fraction of the several hundred soldiers jammed down
inside the dusty pit in the earth, where the
temperature this blazing June afternoon had to be well
above a hundred.
It was doubtful that the black man belonged to the
Massachusetts regiments. Or the Connecticut
forces under the old Indian fighter, Putnam, who
were digging in behind them on a knoll on farmer
Bunker's property. The black man had simply
appeared one moment when Philip was crouched down,
head covered, as a cannon ball screamed over.
The ball had blasted a crater into the hillside
leading down to the Mystic River on the left of the
redoubt. When Philip looked up, the black
man stood at his left, running his hand up and down
the muzzle of his antique squirrel gun
and smiling shyly. Though the American army was a
ragged one, the black was even more ragged. Probably
he was a free man of color who had slipped out
to the peninsula on his own accord. The army, such as it
was, didn't mind volunteers one bit.
Now Philip and Prince exchanged anxious
glances. Both heard the drums. Both tried
to shrug and grin cynically as if the sound didn't
matter. Both knew otherwise.
Philip was nearly as dark as Salem Prince
by now. Dirt stained his skin, his knee breeches and
patched hose and loose, sweat-sodden shirt. In the
confusion of men running in and out of the redoubt, there was
no way
of telling to which unit a man belonged. Few wore
uniforms.
But the ebb and flow was constant. New volunteers
arrived. Other men sneaked away, using the moment when
a cannon ball exploded and heads were covered
to escape the hot, filthy fortification that somehow
reminded Philip of a large, freshly dug
grave.
The man on Philip's right craned up on
tiptoes, peered over the earthwork. Another cannon
ball struck, and another. Closer.
Clods of dirt showered down on Philip, who had
shut his eyes.
But he couldn't shut his ears. He heard the drum
cadence growing louder.
A terrifying image swam in his thoughts. Bodies
lying unidentified in this dirty, foul-odored pit.
Christ, what if one of them should be his-his
Philip Kent, born near the village of
Chavaniac, France, 1753. Died on a
beautiful Saturday, the seventeenth of June, in
the year 1775
-
Anne
- he thought, anguished. Somehow, he would come through.
The drums thudded. Another cannon-crash shook the
ground. At least they were getting accustomed to the roar
of those iron monsters.
The American fortification had been dug by stealth,
during the dark hours early on the seventeenth. The
activity had been discovered by some sharp-eyed fellow
aboard His Majesty's Ship
Lively.
The first round thundered from the ship at about four in the
morning.
Some of the green troops screamed in outright
terror. Not long after, another ball blew off the
head of a man named Pollard working outside the
redoubt. The corpse tumbled into the damp grass in
the first faint light of morning.
Pollard's blood-gouting stump of a neck was a
vivid warning-if one were really needed-
prophesying
what the day might bring to every man on Breed's
Hill.
As the hot morning wore on, the realization dawned
that the British guns in the river and over in Boston
weren't angled properly to do much damage. Yet
their incessant thunder had a power to rip the nerves and
clutch the bowels with a universal message that could be
seen on most every sweaty face:
Today I may die for daring to take up arms against His
Majesty, King George III.
Now the cannonading increased again. Philip wanted
to peek over the earthwork, see what he and his fellow
soldiers would be confronting. For a moment he lacked
the nerve. A shout brought
him
pivoting around:
"Oh, goddamn them shitting British-they've
fired Charlestown."
Even before Philip raised up to risk a look,
he saw the smoke and flames. Under an intensified
bombardment of red-hot ball mixed with carcasses that
shattered on impact, releasing their oiled
combustibles, fires were already burning on rooftops in
the little waterside town of two or three hundred
houses. The town's frightened residents had already
fled.
"The reinforcements have beached," someone said.
"Royal Marines," someone else added.
Another voice, shaky, put in, "The regulars
have started up. Look-was
"Keep quiet so you can hear the command to fire!"
That hard, cracking voice belonged to the field
commander, tall and graying Colonel Prescott of
Pepperell. Through the tangle of men in the redoubt,
Philip saw Prescott collapse a
spyglass and head for the fortification's single rear
entrance. Just one means of escape for all these
hundreds. What if the redoubt were overcome? He
felt more and more like a man already interred.
Suddenly, he caught an excited murmur:
"Warren-it's Dr. Warren-was
An exceedingly handsome and fair-haired man with
musket and sword had just stalked into the
redoubt. Dr.
Joseph Warren, a Boston physician, was one
of the prime movers of the patriot cause in
Massachusetts. Philip had come to know Warren
while working at the Edes and GUI printing house.
"Your servant, sir," the unsmiling Warren said
to Prescott.
Prescott seemed taken aback for a moment.
Recovering, he spoke over the drumming and the
cannon-fire:
"General Warren." He saluted. "You're
entitled to take command."
"No, Colonel, I'm here as a volunteer.
My commission still exists only on paper, waiting
to be signed. I'll take my place with the others."
Men nearby raised a brief cheer as the
physician, a figure of supreme if sweaty
elegance in his gold-fringed coat, walked through the
dust to a position at the dugout earth wall.
Prescott vanished at the redoubt's narrow
opening, to take charge at the breastwork which ran down the
side or the hill on the left.
The drumming grew louder. I
should look at the enemy,
Philip thought.
Just then, Warren spotted him. The physician
hurried over, managing a smile:
"Kent?" He extended his hand.
"Yes, Dr. Warren, good afternoon."
"I hardly recognized you."
"The work in here has been a mite dirty."
"But well done, that's plain. So you're serving-was
"We all must, I guess."
"I hear you've a new wife. Lawyer Ware's
daughter."
"Yes, sir, we were married a month ago.
Anne's living in rented rooms in Watertown.
Her father, too."
"Well," said Warren, "if we give Tommy a
sharp fight, you'll get back to see her soon."
With a wave, the doctor returned to his place at
the wall. His presence still produced gapes and
admiring stares. Warren was one of the most important
leaders of
le rebel cause. In concert with John
Hancock, Adams cousins, Samuel and John,
the silversmith Paul Revere and others, he had
been instrumental in pushing the Americans of
Massachusetts to armed confrontation with the British.
That a man of such prestige and position would
come to this potential death trap to fight like an
ordinary soldier seemed to have a heartening effect on
those in the redoubt. It certainly did on Philip
Kent.
What time was it? About three o'clock, he guessed from the
angle of the sun. Despite the almost incessant
pounding of the cannon, he stood up on tiptoe
to look out toward Morton's Hill and see the
challenge facing them this afternoon.
He gasped when he saw the red lines advancing
across virtually the entire peninsula. His hand closed
around the muzzle of his Brown Bess. His palm
sweated, cold.
Scarlet. Everywhere, scarlet. A thousand or two
thousand British soldiers at least. And the
American forces must have shrunk to half that number
by now.
The British advanced in orderly fashion,
climbing stone walls, slipping past trees,
maintaining perfect marching order. Their flags
snapped in the sultry summer wind.
It was a parade march. Slow; steady. A march to the
drumbeats that thudded between cannon bursts.
The soldiers formed long scarlet lines stretching to the
Mystic River.
Company flanking company, they were marching against the
redoubt; against the breastwork; and, further down, against
the hastily erected rail fence where straw had been
piled to stop musket balls. Still further down, more
companies were advancing against the stone wall erected
hastily between the fence and the river's edge. Behind the
various fortifications, shabbily dressed colonials
waited.
Philip turned in another direction, surveying the
entire scene. Across the Charles River in Boston
town, thousands of people watched from windows and
rooftops as white blooms puffed from, the muzzles
of the Copp's Hill battery.
Almost hypnotically, Philip's eye was drawn
back to the lines advancing up the hillside.
Someone had said the troops were personally commanded
by Major General Sir William Howe, one of the
three officers of like rank who'd arrived in
mid-May to bolster the command of General Thomas
Gage.
"No firing," an officer shouted from the redoubt's
far side. "Hold fire until you hear the
signal. Let the bastards get close enough so your
muskets can reach "em."
It would take forever,
Philip thought.
He counted ten companies across the broad British
front. And ten more immediately behind. Hundreds and
hundreds of red-coated men laboring in slow step.
A scarlet wall.
Coming on
-
Sweat rivered
down his
chest under his soggy shirt, so he knew what the
British must be feeling, stifled in their red wool and
burdened with packs containing full rations,
blankets-a staggering weight. Yet they continued
to march steadily, breaking cadence only to climb over
or go around obstacles. Philip began to discern
features. A large scar on a man's chin.
Bushy, copper-colored brows. Sweat-bright
cheeks.
"Hold fire," came the order again. "Prescott
will give the word."
Swallowing, Philip rested his Brown Bess on
the lip of the earthwork. The black man, Salem
Prince, and the others took up similar positions.
Down on the left, Philip glimpsed
Prescott in the blowing cannon smoke.
The colonel was striding back and forth behind the
breastwork, ducking only when a ball whizzed over and
crashed.
The drums throbbed. Philip recognized the
uniforms of the crack troops marching up to crush the
Americans who had been unwise enough to fortify one
of the two
areas overlooking Boston. In addition to regular
infantry, the British barges had brought over the
pride of their fighting forces-the light infantry and
grenadier companies of various regiments. From behind the
marching assault troops, small fieldpieces
banged occasionally.
What terrified Philip Kent most was the
determined, ceaseless forward flow of the soldiers. And,
on the ends of their muskets, glittering steel-
The steel of bayonets.
Hardly an American on Breed's or
Bunker's Hill had that kind of deadly instrument
affixed to the end of his weapon. The colonials held
the bayonet in contempt. Philip wondered now
whether that attitude wasn't foolish-
After the first outbreak of fighting at Lexington and
Concord in April, Philip had been among the
hundreds of militiamen who had harried the
shattered, astonished British expeditionary force
all the way back to Boston, pinking at the
lobsterbacks from behind stone walls, watching them drop
one by one, the ranks decimated by a disorganized but
deadly attack to which the British were not accustomed.
Afterward, the Americans had been jubilant;
supremely confident. Who needed precise formations
and steel when a colonial's sharp eye aimed a
musket?
Today it might be different. Up the hill came the
world's finest military organization. Orderly.
Fully armed and moving steadily, steadily higher
toward the redoubt, and across swampy lower ground
toward the rail fence, the stone wall-
"If
we have to go against those bayonets,
Philip thought,
we're done.
"Godamighty, when they gonna let us shoot?"
raged
Salem Prince. Philip wondered the same thing.
But again the order was passed by the officers:
"Colonel Prescott says no firing until you
can look them in the eye and see the white."
Slowly, inexorably, the grenadiers and
light infantry climbed through the long grass.
Philip wiped his forehead. For a moment he felt
faint.
He hadn't slept all the long night. He was
exhausted; starved. This whole confrontation seemed
futile. That the colonies he'd adopted as his
homeland would dare to challenge the armed might of the
greatest empire the world had known since Rome
was-madness. No other word would fit.
He looked out again. Faces took on even greater
detail. Fat and thin; sallow or ruddy; young men
and old. Clearly now, he could see the whites of
nervous eyes- Down behind the breastwork on the left,
muskets erupted in a sheet of
oily
smoke and fire. All along the British front,
men began to fall.
"Fire!"
someone yelled in the redoubt. Philip pointed his
Brown Bess-the musket was too inaccurate for
precise aiming-and pulled the trigger. A moment
later, he watched a light infantryman in his
twenties-no older than Philip himself-drop in the
grass, writhing.
Like some great leaden scythe, the American
fire cut down the lines of the attacking British.
But they kept marching. Kept climbing-
Now entire ranks were down, men thrashing and screaming
while their comrades from behind marched past them, stepping
over them-
on
them when necessary. The men still on their feet fired their
muskets and re-loaded as they marched.
Philip heard the British musket balls go
hissing through the air over his head and smack the rear
earth wall. In the redoubt too, men cried out-b very
few compared to the numbers of red-clad grenadiers and
light infantrymen dropping all across the peninsula.
The Americans re-loaded as fast as possible, with
speed, great speed, and continued firing. Philip had
no time to think of anything save the repetitive
routine of powder and ball and paper.
Load faster,
the officers kept urging.
Fire, goddamn it! Quickly, quickly
-"
"Look at that, mister! Looky!" Salem
Prince shouted. Philip glanced up.
The British companies had halted their climb.
Front lines turned on command, broke,
retreated. Went streaming back toward Morton's
Hill where they had eaten a leisurely lunch and
smoked their pipes before beginning the assault.
In the redoubt, men started cheering. Philip
didn't join in. He licked his palm, scorched
by the hot metal of his musket, then leaned on the
inner wall, panting for air.
Again he wished for a drink of water. There was none.
Overhead, visible through the smoke that had thickened
considerably, the sun broiled. With numbed fingers
Philip checked his powder horn.
He'd loaded and fired so often, it was half
empty. Others around him were grumbling over a
similar lack.
"Hold your places," came the command. "They
won't give up so easily."
Philip closed his eyes, tried to rest. He
didn't want to die any more than the others did.
Near him, a Rhode Islander groveled in the
dirt, gut-shot by a chance ball. A
Massachusetts man was methodically relieving the
wounded man of his musket, powder horn and crude
wooden cartouche containing the precious wadding and
ball.
The drumming had receded. But for how long?
The British would certainly try a new strategy
next time, he felt. Advancing in perfect
order, with perfect discipline, had given them command
of the world's battlefields. Today, that method of
fighting had proved disastrous.
But whatever their strategy, if they ever reached the
American lines with those bayonets- Philip
tried not to think about it.
After Concord, Philip Kent had experienced an
almost euphoric joy that lasted several weeks.
The British had run-
run
comback to Boston. And an American
army-ragtag, poorly organized, but still an
army-had encircled the city where hostile attitudes
between Crown and colony had built to the breaking point
over a period of some ten years.
Once the siege lines were in place, the small
local militia companies of the kind in which Philip
had served in Concord were re-organized into larger
state regiments. Similar home or state guard
units from other colonies arrived, the whole being
commanded somewhat haphazardly by old General
Artemas Ward. Ward was lying abed in
Cambridge this June afternoon, trying
to manage the military force while the agony of a
stone burned in his flabby body. The
Massachusetts men on Breed's Hill had
volunteered to serve in the new regiments until the
end of the year. The eight-month army, the officers
called it. Not exactly with humor.
Other colonies sent reinforcements to Boston.
Rhode Island and New Hampshire and
Connecticut-Old Put, the Indian fighter, had
brought in three thousand Connecticut men plus a
herd of sheep for food. Meantime, matters
political were directed from the temporary
provincial capitol, Watertown. Cambridge
served as army headquarters.
But control resided in Watertown. From there came the
orders that sent Colonel Benedict Arnold of
Connecticut westward in late April, to raise
a new levy of Massachusetts men and joi
n
forces in early May with Ethan Allen, a
rough-hewn fighting man from the
Hampshire Grants. Allen led a contingent whose
members styled themselves the Green Mountain Boys.
Continually wrangling over who had command of the
expedition, Allen and Arnold still managed
to surprise and force the surrender of the small
garrison at Fort Ticonderoga on Lake
Champlain. Not much of a victory in military
terms, the officers around Boston admitted.
Hardly more than forty Britishers captured. The
value of Ticonderoga lay in its supply of
military stores, the most important being
cannon.
No one knew for sure how many cannon. But the
prospect of even a few pieces in patriot
hands was considered a blessing.
To the accomplishment of routing royal troops at
Lexington and Concord-or the crime, depending on
a man's political position-the colonials could
now add the seizure of a royal fort and a quantity
of royal artillery "in the name of Jehovah and the
Continental Congress," as Allen put it when
presenting the surrender demand. It was doubtful that the
second Continental Congress, commencing to sit in
Philadelphia in May, was aware that
Ticonderoga's capture had been made in its
name until one of the express riders pounding between the
north and the Quaker City bore the surprising
news. A rider making the return trip reported
that the Congress intended to appoint a
supreme commander to take charge of the Massachusetts
siege.
But something far more important than military
developments had contributed to Philip's
happiness that spring. Philip and the girl he'd
courted, Anne Ware of Boston, had been married
in late April, in a small Congregational church
in Watertown. Anne's father, a pop-eyed little
lawyer who had written numerous essays
supporting the patriot cause, gave the couple his
grudging blessing. After all, Anne was already five
months pregnant with Philip's child.
Like so many young husbands and wives, Philip and
Anne faced a cloudy future. Philip's
dream of establishing himself in the printing trade would have
to wait until the armed struggle was resolved. It
might end soon, in a truce; reconciliation
along with redress of colonial grievances.
Overtures in that direction were being considered by the
Congress, Philip had heard.
But if firebrands like Samuel Adams had their
way, the war could go on and on-a titanic struggle
whose goal would be Adams" own: complete
independency for the thirteen colonies.
Re-loading his Brown Bess now,
Philip could hardly believe that this
corpse-littered battleground was the same
pastoral peninsula where, back in September of
'73, he had clumsily tried to seduce Anne.
It seemed unreal, all that long past with its
beginnings in the French province of Auvergne, the
trouble in England with the high-born Amberly family,
Philip's emigration to America and his work for the
patriot printer, Ben Edes. Philip had come a
long way in the rebel cause, from indifference
to confusion to firm belief.
Still, a cause was one thing, reality another. He
glanced up at the scorching sun behind the smoke,
wiped his sticky forehead. He wanted to live. He
wanted to see Anne again; see their child born whole
and sound-
But he and Anne had agreed that he had to serve. In
truth, Philip had been the first to raise the
issue-at the same time he announced his decision.
He was committed to the cause. Anne had fired him
with her own zeal. So when he told her he would
henceforth be living in the military barracks hastily
converted from buildings at Harvard College, she
had nodded and kissed
him
gently, holding back her tears-
Last night, around six, Reverend Langdon, the
president of the college, had prayed for the men who
mustered in Harvard Yard, bound for the Charlestown
peninsula. The move was designed to counteract a
British attempt to fortify the Dorchester
Heights, rumored to have been scheduled for Sunday,
June eighteenth.
With blankets, one day's provisions and entrenching
tools, the Americans-no more than a thousand,
Philip guessed-had marched into the darkness, leaving
General Ward groaning in bed, and Reverend
Langdon seeing to the loading of wagons that would
carry the precious volumes of the Harvard library
to safety in
Andover
. If the British ever stopped hesitating and moved
out of Boston in massive numbers, those books could
be burned-destroyed-just like Charlestown this afternoon -
On Breed's Hill, Philip felt none of the
exuberant confidence he'd enjoyed in the days
following the skirmish at Concord.
Wounded men moaned in the redoubt. Philip looked
around as Salem Prince said quietly, "They coming
again."
Philip closed his eyes and drew a deep breath
of the fetid air. Prince was right.
He heard the drums.
iv
The second attack was much like the first. Stupid on
the part of the British, Philip thought. He and the
others fired and fired and fired again. The withering flame
that leaped outward from the American muskets
devastated the steadily advancing soldiers a
second time. Sent the survivors into retreat a
second time. Now the colonials had real cause
for cheering-
But it was short-lived:
"I've only powder for two or three more shots,"
Philip said to the black man after the second charge
had fallen back. The smoke in the redoubt was
thicker than ever.
"You better off "n I am," the black said,
upending his empty powder horn. "Ball almost gone,
too."
A passing officer spun on them. "If you have
powder, fire anything you can find. Rocks-or this."
He snatched up a bent nail left over from the
erection of the redoubt's timberwork. He disappeared
in the smoke, leaving Philip to stare in
dismay at the nail.
How late was it? Four-thirty? Five? Philip
peered over the earthwork, saw hundreds of fallen
grenadiers and light infantrymen, flowers of
scarlet wool and blood strewing the hillside.
He squinted through the acrid, choking clouds,
hastily grabbed the black's arm, pointed.
"General Howe, he finally got some brains," the
black observed. But his eyes were fearful.
The re-forming British ranks looked different. The
soldiers were stripping themselves of their cumbersome packs
and field gear. They tossed aside their mitre-like
hats or bearskin caps.
k
Threw off their white crossbelts, red uniform
jackets-
Down the line, Dr. Warren was likewise discarding
his fine coat. "I think they mean to break through this
time," he said. "Howe has all the powder he
needs. He must know we're running short."
"Why the hell doesn't someone send for more?" a man
complained.
"Someone did," Warren told him.
"Then where the hell is it?"
Warren shook his head. "I don't know.
Perhaps the message was intercepted." His mouth
twisted. "Or the messenger ran away. I've
noticed that's not unusual this afternoon-was
The drumbeats resumed. Philip swallowed,
reloading.
The British marched up the hillside and across the
swampy patches in front of the rail fence and stone
wall. This time, they looked much grimmer. They
stepped
over their fallen comrades without glancing down, but the
rage on their faces was obvious.
The soldiers kept coming, gaiters splashed with
blood from the previous engagements. Up and down the
line, the Americans began firing. For a few
moments, it seemed as if the pattern of the first two
assaults would be repeated. The front ranks
faltered. Men stumbled, pitched over, shrieking-
The smoke in the redoubt was suffocating. It
settled over Philip and the others like a pall. He
was frightened out of his wits when he used his last powder
to shoot the bent nail. The Brown Bess might
explode-
It didn't. But he couldn't see whether he'd hit
anyone. Bayonets shining dully in the smoke, the
British were halfway up the side of
Breed's Hill. Suddenly Philip heard a
change in the level of sound-
Fewer and fewer American muskets were shooting.
"Fire!" Colonel Prescott screamed, somewhere
out of sight down on the left. Hoarse voices
answered: "Powder's gone!"
Then Philip's heart nearly stopped. The loud
gulp of Salem Prince was audible too. They and the
others still on their feet in the redoubt heard a
dreadful new sound, almost like a mass chant on the
other side of the earthwork. The British soldiers were
calling encouragement to one another:
"Push on. Push on. Push on-was Philip
peered over the lip and knew what was coming: a direct
breach of the redoubt. There was no longer enough firepower
to repel the advance.
All at once a few British soldiers began
to run toward the hill's summit. Then more. Soon
the whole front rank was charging, bayonets thrust
out ahead. Salem Prince leaned his elbows on the
little ledge to steady them, fired his last ball with powder
he had borrowed from Philip. The ball drilled a
round red hole in a portly sergeant's forehead.
But they kept coming, on the run:
"Push on. Push on. Push on
-" .
In the last terrible seconds of waiting, Philip
raised his Brown Bess like a club, grimly
aware of its limitations as a weapon against
bayonets. British discipline, instilled as a
tradition not to be violated, had paid off after all.
In the wake of two disastrous charges, they intended
to make the third succeed:
"PUSH ON! PUSH ON!"
A bayonet flashed above Philip's head.
Musket clutched in both hands, he fended the
downward thrust of the British light infantryman
towering at the edge of the redoubt. Philip smashed the
musket against the soldier's left leg. The man
pitched forward into the redoubt. His bayonet gored
Salem Prince through the chest.
The black fell screaming. The British soldier
floundered on top of him, struggling to rise. A
bayonet raked Philip's left shoulder from behind.
He dodged away, raised his musket by the
muzzle, struck the fallen soldier's head once,
twice, three times, panting as he hit. The
soldier's skull caved in. He collapsed across
the dead black man.
But there were hundreds more of the soldiers jumping
into the redoubt now, those murderous bayonets slashing
and stabbing. In the smoke it was almost impossible
to tell friend from foe. Philip heard an officer's
cry:
"Retreat! Retreat to Bunker's! Abandon the
redoubt-to "
Hysteria then. Pandemonium.
Royal Marines who had reinforced the infantry
regiments leaped into the redoubt, firing at close
range. Philip kicked and clubbed his way toward
the narrow entrance packed with frantic men. His chest
hurt from breathing smoke. He coughed. His eyes
streamed tears.
Another bayonet wielded by some phantom came
tearing at his cheek. Philip kicked the unseen
soldier, hit
his calf, heard him curse. The bayonet slid
by Philip's shoulder and into the eye of a Rhode
Islander behind him in the stampede. Blood gushed over
Philip's filthy neck, hot, ripe-smelling.
He wanted to scream but he didn't.
He saw Dr. Warren in the crush, brandishing a
musket. Random sunlight made Warren's face
gleam like a medal for a moment. A bayonet speared
Warren's ribs. Then the doctor went
rigid, as if a musket ball had hit him.
Horrified, Philip watched the patriot leader
disappear in the smoky carnage.
He fought ahead. Saw sunlight gleaming-the outer
end of the entrance passage. He raised his Brown
Bess horizontally, ducked and battered through, his
only goal that patch of brilliant light beyond the
earth walls.
His chest on fire from the smoke he'd inhaled, he
broke out and began to run down through the orchard on the
northwest slope of Breed's Hill. From the
redoubt he still heard screaming, muskets
exploding, and the howls of the redcoats taking vengeance.
The sun was dropping behind the smoke. It had to be
almost six o'clock, Philip thought as he scrambled
toward the top of Bunker's Hill. There, Old
Put's men had dug another fortification-
Empty now.
Everywhere, the colonials were fleeing. Rushing toward
the all-too-narrow strip of land that was the only
escape route from the peninsula jutting into Boston
harbor. Philip headed that way, running for his
life because that was the order he heard yelled from all
sides:
"Retreat,
retreat!"
The Charlestown Neck proved almost impassable.
Men shoulder to shoulder beat and clawed one another
to gain a yard's forward passage. Off in the
Mystic River, the guns of
Glasgow
erupted. Cannon balls tore the Neck
to pieces, shot up huge gouts of earth, blasted
men to the ground. Philip felt something sticky
strike him in the face. He glanced down, gagged.
A hand blown from a body-
He wiped some of the blood away and struggled ahead,
trying not to be sick.
Near him, a weary Rhode Islander shouted with
false jubilation:
"I hear Tommy lost a thousand more, and us but a
hundred!"
It might be so,
Philip thought, gouging and shoving his way over the
perilously narrow piece of land. It might be so, but
it was no American victory. Even if the
British had paid with fifty tunes the number of
dead, how could anyone call it a victory? Though
the king's troops had died by the score in the first two
charges, they had broken through on the third-with
those invincible bayonets that still blazed in Philip's
imagination -
All at once he felt totally discouraged,
disheartened. Even more disheartened than he'd been
during what was perhaps the lowest point in his life: the
grim sea voyage on which his mother, Marie
Charboneau, had died, and he had taken a new name
before stepping foot on the shore of his adopted land.
Years from now, Breed's Hill might or might not
be deemed a victory of sorts. But he saw it as
a clear defeat.
As he ran on in the smoky sunset, glimpsing
safe ground ahead at last, he knew that he and his
wife and their unborn baby confronted a future that
had become utterly bleak in a single afternoon's
two-hour engagement.
The thirteen colonies faced exactly the same
future. At last, the might of Great Britain
had asserted itself.
Very likely the king would spare nothing to bring the
Americans to their knees with fire and steel; that
terrible steel-
The struggle of the patriots could be very long.
And doomed.
Sherman Hill
"JUD DARLIN"?"
He reached across her naked hip for the jug of rum
they'd shared. The cabin was warm this June evening,
accentuating the woman's smell: a faintly gamy
combination of sweat and farm dirt that never failed
to excite him. When he'd consumed sufficient rum.
"Jud?" she said again.
"What?"
"That all for tonight?"
"Not by a damn sight, my girl."
He drank; emptied the jug. Dropped it and
heard it thud on the dirt floor. He rolled
toward her, stroking a moon-dappled patch of thigh.
She guided his hand up her hard belly to one of her
breasts. She laughed; a coarse, harlot's laugh:
"Good. The old fool, he won't be back till
the cock crows, I bet. Means to show the gentry
he's doin' his duty, ridin," patrol with the best.
If he only knowed he could meet some of the gentry
right in his own bed-1" She giggled.
"Lottie, stop talking so goddamned much." He
gave her a fierce kiss that was half passion,
half punishment.
She complained that it hurt, shoved his exploring fingers
away. The straw crunched as she shifted out
of his grasp:
"You're not treatin" me proper this evening, Jud
Fletcher. Like to took my head off with that kiss."
"Sorry."
He reached for the rum, remembered it was gone, swore
softly. A ravening thirst still burned in him. But
then, when didn't it?
"That all you can say?
Sorry?"
"What else should I say, Lottie? Conversation's
not one of your better skills, so let's get down
to the one in which you excel, shall we?"
Once more he reached out to touch her nakedness. His hand
was moonlit for a moment. It was a strong young man's
hand with fine golden hairs downing the tanned back.
But he'd angered her:
"No, sir, I want to know where your head's at
tonight, Mr. Judson Fletcher."
His laugh aped the crude guffaws heard at
taverns, or around the gamecock ring. Like downing
rum, that sort of laugh somehow came easy. He
said:
"I'll show you where it ought to be, honeylove-was
He bent his bare back, his mouth seeking. Again she
struggled away. She was beginning to irritate
him
considerably.
Pettish, she said, "Listen, you yelled out
somebody's name last time."
"Oh hell no I didn't."
"Yes you did, I heard it, right there at the end."
"All right, I got plumb excited and yelled your
name."
"No, sir, Judson Fletcher, it wasn't
Mrs. Lottie Shaw you was yellin' about-was
Another laugh; vicious. "You were givin' somebody
else a hard ridin' and I don't take kindly
to it."
Furious, he wrenched away. He stood up,
naked in the moonlight falling through the curtainless,
glassless window of the crude little farm cabin. "For
Christ's sake, woman, you got what you want from
me. What that old wreck your papa married you off
to can't deliver-was
"Le)o!" She writhed. "I heard it clear.
"Peggy!"
Think I don't know which Peggy that is?" She was
growing shrill, matching his anger. "Think the whole
damn county don't know whose head you wisht you could
put horns on-?"
He found the rum jug and hurled it at her
half-seen form. She yelped, dodged away.
Outside, her husband's yellow hound began to bark.
Judson grabbed up his clothes, practically
yanked them on. By then, Lottie Shaw had
realized her error. She leaped naked through the patch
of moon, doubled over in exaggerated penitence,
pressed her cheek against his ribs as she clasped his
waist. While stuffing his fine lace-fronted shirt
into his pants, Judson gave her an elbow in the
nose, not entirely by accident.
Lottie hung on. Judson's blue eyes and
fair, clubbed hair looked all afire in the
light from the window. Lottie began to cry in
earnest:
"Don't get mad, darlin'. I spoke too
sharp. Come on back and love me again-was
Judson leaned down toward her in the patch of
moonlight, a tall, elegantly handsome young man
with a long, sharp nose and just a slight softness at the
edges of his mouth. His fingers closed on her muscled
forearm. He looked like some avenging angel of
scripture as he said quietly:
"You ever speak her name again in my presence-or if
I ever hear of you speaking it to anyone,
Lottie, I'll come here and kill you. Now think
about that."
Pulling loose, he yanked on his boots of
costly Russian leather, picked up his rich coat
of dark green velvet and stalked out of the cabin.
He shied a stone at the yellow hound to drive Mm
away, then pulled himself up on the beautiful roan
he'd tethered to a low branch of a scrawny apple
tree the farmer was trying to grow in his dooryard. Still
shaking with anger, he galloped out the lane and turned
into the road leading toward the Rappahannock, and
home.
It was a fine, balmy evening in late June. He
reached behind him, pried up the flap of his saddlebag,
wiggled his fingers down inside, let out an oath.
He was half drunk and wanted to be completely so.
And he was out of rum.
Lottie Shaw was another kind of medicine he
took on the sly. Tonight, by catching him when he'd
accidentally cried
her
name, Lottie had gone dry on him too.
He cropped the roan without mercy, thundering down the
dirt road in the sweet-smelling night because fleeing
from the pain of having uttered Peggy's name
without thinking had plunged him into this star-hung dark and
pain of a different sort, equally hurtful.

Riding the roads of Caroline County, Virginia,
always reminded him of his one best friend of boyhood.
George dark, the second of farmer John
Clark's six sons.
The bond between George and Judson had been a
powerful one in the years when they were growing up together,
even though George's father was relatively poor,
while Judson Fletcher's was rich. Maybe the
reason was simply that any human being of any age
liked to find another who would act as pupil-and
George Clark, though two years younger than his
friend, had discovered early that Judson was something besides
a typical tobacco planter's son. In fact,
Judson loathed Sermon Hill. He much
preferred studying what George, a boy who had
roamed the Virginia woodlands since he
could toddle, taught so eagerly.
The geography of the heavens, for instance. Even
swaying in the saddle, Judson could pick out the
pole star, and the Cross.
In their days and nights of wandering the fields and forests
together, George Clark had taught him many
things. How to discover a fly-up-the-creek, the little
green heron that hid for protection on river
banks. How to find hives full of wild honey,
and to tell which plants and berries were edible. How
to look to the horizon and identify objects and
details of terrain at twenty miles-or spot a
nighthawk at dusk just on the other side of a
meadow. Far sight, was George's name for it. He
developed it with practice. He would need it where
he was going, he always said.
They'd traveled to fairs in Richmond, too.
Spoken with rough, buckskin-clad men who carried
long squirrel guns and claimed to have tramped the
wild country west of the shimmering barrier of the Blue
Ridge Mountains comthe Blue Wall,
Virginians called it. Out there, the long hunters
remarked while spitting tobacco in a delightfully
ill-
mannered
way, was a sea of forest and grass, sky and cloud.
Enough animals to last a man a lifetime, whether he
trapped and sold their pelts, or ate their flesh
to survive, or both.
Three years ago, in 1772, Judson's friend and
mentor had disappeared out that way; crossed the
Blue Wall. He seemed to have a courage
Judson lacked.
Also, George Clark was not in love with a woman
he couldn't possibly win.
Twice in the intervening time, George had
reappeared for brief visits at his parents'
home. On those occasions, Judson had been
invited to share an evening meal-and George's
wondrous tales.
He described how he'd reached a raw frontier
settlement that had grown up near Fort Pitt at the
fork where two rivers flowed into one much larger one-the
beautiful water, the red Indians called it.
O-hi-o. La Belle Riviere,
according to the French fur trappers.
George Clark had gone down this immense river.
Taken to the poplar, as the companions with whom he
traveled termed it. He'd journeyed a long way
down the Ohio, through a vast, hushed wilderness,
paddling in that sixty-foot hollowed poplar log
marked with bloodstains and the grease of pelts.
On his second trip he'd traveled the river
again. And wintered with a tribe of Indians called
Mingos. He'd learned their tongue. He spoke
glowingly of the gentle wisdom and forest
skills of then old tribal leader, Logan.
It was difficult for Judson to absorb all the
amazing detail of these narratives. But it wasn't
hard at all to be entranced; to have his imagination
lifted, until his mind's eye built an immense
wooded kingdom where dark-skinned savages slipped
silently along the game trails. A kingdom where
a man could claim land if he wished it. Or
simply find room to do as he pleased. To be what
he was, not what someone else expected
him
to be.
The western forest was the only part of the continent for him,
George Clark averred on those all-too-brief
evenings before he vanished again, sterner-looking than
he'd been in youth. Toughened now. Lean. He
came and went across the Blue Wall like some
red-haired ghost, and each short visit somehow freed
Judson of the confinements of his own life-if only
for a few hours.
The visits saddened him, too. Perhaps he belonged in
the
western forest. A great many bold, enterprising
fellows were drifting that way, George said. Some
families as well. More and more land companies
were being formed to explore-and exploit-the vast
wilderness. On occasion Judson thought that maybe
he was a fool not to pack and follow his friend-
There was just one problem. Judson had
inadvertently brought it up tonight, when he should have been
murmuring Lottie Shaw's name instead.
Judson saw George Clark's face in his mind
as he thundered the Virginia roads under soughing
trees. The eyes of his friend never seemed at rest.
They always seemed to be searching past a man's
shoulder-
For what? he wondered. Freedom? The constantly
retreating horizon-his
"It's that goddamned red hair," Judson
exclaimed thickly, just before a branch nearly took
his head off. He straightened up again, reflecting that
red hair was one painless way he rationalized
George's boldness. In the dark family, it was
said that red hair marked a man. Set him apart.
Destined
him
for remarkable deeds. Of John Clark's six
sons, two had red hair. George Rogers,
gone now three years, and the tad, William, still at
the farm, only five.
Why in hell wasn't I born with red hair? he
thought fuzzily as he rode. It was certainly a
convenient excuse to relieve misery of the sort
he'd encountered in Lottie Shaw's cabin. And the
different kind of misery he found along the dark,
earth-smelling roads. Roads alive with
memories of the friend who possessed some intangible
quality of which he, Judson Fletcher of Caroline
County, Virginia, had been unjustly deprived.

Judson had ridden the roan so hard, the animal's
flanks were lathering. A measure of sobriety
returned when he noticed it. He reined in,
dismounted at the roadside. He wandered aimlessly
while the roan blew and stamped.
Judson belched, scratched his crotch under his fine
gray trousers. Be just his luck to catch the pox from
Lottie.
Suddenly he stumbled across something propped against the
rail fence. He crouched, uttered a surprised
oath, fingered a crude dummy of white rags and
straw stuffing. A fragment of slate lay in the
dummy's lap.
He carried the slate out from under the tree branches.
Turned it this way and that. He finally made
out the word scrawled on the slate. His spine grew
cold. "Buckra," he said. And again:
"Buckra"
The West African word for white man. He
dragged the dummy into the road. By the light of the moon
and a thousand summer stars, he saw what he'd missed
before. A wooden stake driven into the dummy's chest.
The hole was smeared with something dark.
Judson knelt, fingered the smeared cloth and
whittled stake. Little sweaty places formed on his
neck and behind his ears. He tried to still his alarm
by talking aloud:
"Has to be chicken's blood. Or pig's-where'n
hell you suppose it came from?"
Abruptly, he heard hoofbeats down the road.
He whipped his hand to his right boot, where a discreet
scabbard in the Russian leather accepted a slim
dagger. A gentleman's protection. He
retreated to the shoulder, unpleasantly sober-and
cautious.
He saw lanterns bobbing around a bend. Half a
dozen riders. He stepped into the road, hailed
them: "It's Judson Fletcher-was
The horses reined in. It was the patrol that kept
constant watch on the roads for runaway
slaves, rotating its personnel nightly. Mounted
on a fine sorrel at the head of the patrol was
slender, gentle-looking Seth McLean. Behind him,
shabbily dressed, a gray failure, Tom Shaw
slumped on a sore-ridden nag. Tom Shaw
spoke first, pathetically polite: "Evenin', Mr.
Fletcher."
Judson's profile, lantern-limned, was
sculptured arrogance. "Evening, Shaw." The
reply was so brusque, Shaw looked visibly
hurt. Judson accented the social
difference by greeting the others more cordially: "Mr.
Wells-Mr. Squire-Seth."
"Taking the air again, Judson?" Seth asked, his
smile innocent.
"That's right." Ah, this was rich! The man he
cuckolded regularly, and the one he wanted
to cuckold above all, and never would. "I found something
down here you gentlemen should see."
He led them to the stabbed dummy and the slate. Concern
was instantaneous.
"I knew them niggers was up to somethin'," Tom
Shaw exclaimed. "My Lottie, she sweared she
heard a drum two, three nights ago. That way.
From the
river-was
"Impossible," Seth McLean said. "You know
there's not a planter in the district who allows his
nigras ownership of a drum. Too easy to signal
with them. M
y hands get nothing but dried b
eef bones-those, they can rattle all they please."
He addressed the others: "Gentlemen, would you
continue the patrol without me? I'd like to speak
privately with my friend Judson. He may be able
to assist us."
In what way, Judson couldn't imagine. But the
others seemed to understand, and readily agreed.
Judson fetched his roan, mounted up, and was soon
jogging beside Seth back along the road by which the
horsemen had arrived. The patrol's lanterns
vanished in the other direction.
"I didn't want to admit it to Tom Shaw,"
Seth remarked finally, "but there may be nothing wrong
with his wife's hearing."
"I can't say. I never listen for drums at
night."
Seth laughed. "I know. Only for the rustle of the
skirts of married women."
Judson went rigid in the saddle. Seth
slapped him on the shoulder and Judson relaxed.
Apparently there was nothing personal in the joke. His
friends in the district
had treated him to variations of it on more occasions than
he could remember.
"There have been rumblings about possible trouble," Seth
said, serious now.
"You mean with the nigras?"
Seth nodded gravely.
"At your place?"
"Possibly."
Judson was surprised. Seth McLean was
reasonably humane in his treatment of his
three-hundred-odd field bucks and wenches.
"I don't see what it has to do with me,"
Judson shrugged.
"I'll explain over a glass of port, if you
don't mind." Seth spurred ahead toward the
lights of his elegant house near the shore of the
Rappahannock. Judson studied the illuminated
windows on the second floor. One was Peggy's
room. He knew the location by heart.
He followed Seth McLean down a lane between
dark, rustling tobacco fields. The green leaves
were ripening toward the end-of-summer harvest.
Seth's lean silhouette stood out momentarily against
the lamps at his front door. Reining in a
second later, Judson felt criminal. Seth
was decent.
At the same time, Judson was amused in a
perverse way. It's sort of like the fly inviting the
spider home with him, he thought.
iv
A huge London-made clock ticked in the
library; a quarter past midnight. The library
doors were open to the candlelight in a cool, airy
foyer two floors high.
Seth poured wine for himself. Judson begged off,
helped himself to Rhode Island rum instead. Then he
settled his long frame in a chair, trying not
to appear
nervous or reveal his guilt-he was getting pretty
good at that by now. He'd crawled into bed with his first
married woman when he was fifteen.
Judson heard footsteps. His heartbeat picked
up until he realized the steps were too heavy for a
woman's. A
grizzled
black man in livery glanced in the doorway.
Seth McLean looked at the black, his
piece of property, said:
"Nothing further tonight, Andrew. I'll serve our
guest."
With a polite murmur that might have been Judson's
name-a servile acknowledgement of his presence-the
slave withdrew. Seth McLean rolled his wine
glass between his palms.
"Have you heard nothing about discontent among the
nigras, Judson?"
"You know me, my friend. The skirts swish too
temptingly. The dice lack, the horses run, the
cocks scream-and my father, the old bastard, swears
a good bit, too. At me." Judson's mouth
wrenched. "There's altogether too much noise for me to hear
anything significant. It's different with you, I
gather."
"Well, as I said, there have been signs. Insolence
out of the ordinary. My overseer has been forced to the
whip three times this week."
"Ours is never forced," Judson said, the sour
smile remaining in place. "He looks for
opportunities."
"Shaw," McLean reflected. "Old Tom's
younger brother."
Judson nodded. "Cruel, illiterate
bastard. Not like your Williams."
"But even Williams is being pushed hard. These
things go in cycles, Judson. I'm uneasy-I
just fear the wheel's almost around again. I've questioned
Andrew and his wife-they're very loyal. They don't
know much about what's happening. But they do admit
there's wide
unrest. It has-spread."
Judson knocked back the rum, felt it scald
his belly. Not with relief this time, but with an
upsetting fire. The clock ticked loudly. The
room's shadows became ominous somehow. Clotting in
the corners; blurring the gold
stampings on the couple of
hundred books on the high shelves.
"Spread from here?"
"From Sermon Hill. Andrew has heard that a
nigra named Larned is at the center of it."
"Lamed-was Judson's mind saw a slab-muscled
figure with blue-black skin. "Big buck
nigger. Damn near gigantic. Just two years off
the Richmond block. Came from the West
Africas in a Boston ship. My father says he
never made a better investment."
"Breeding stock?"
"Yes. And Larned's smart with the natural kind of
smartness some of 'em have. That may be his trouble."
Seth McLean cocked a dark eyebrow that contrasted
with his pale, almost ascetic face. "Or ours."
"You mean Larned may be fomenting rebellion?"
Judson ambled to the sideboard for a refill of
rum. "Possible. He took a mighty handsome
wife. Young yellow girl named-let me
see-Dicey. Up till three days ago, she was
this big-was One hand sketched pregnancy in the air.
"She produced twin boys for Larned. I heard
Shaw brag last Christmas time that he was fucking
her, too."
"Well, that's certainly cause enough for trouble."
"I don't suppose Larned found out. Those wenches
are always too scared to tell their men."
"But Larned could have heard it round about. Anything
else?"
Judson pondered. "Shaw laid eight strokes
on Dicey two weeks before her term was up. Some
trivial excuse."
"But not trivial to a particularly intelligent and
resentful nigra."
nodded. 'TO WHOM Shaw probably wanted
to exercise overseer's rights and take
Dicey with a full belly. If she refused,
he'd find reason to whip her."
"Another grievance for Lamed."
Judson had no comment.
Seth McLean sighed. "Regardless of causes, the
figure you found
is
pretty definite proof something's in the wind-was
Judson nodded again, uneasily. "And you think it's
centered at Sermon Hill."
"I do. If it should break out as a full-fledged
revolt-was
Seth's unfinished sentence conjured chaos. Judson
glanced at the curtains blowing; the darkness outside.
He didn't care for the responsibility being pushed
onto him:
"Seth, I understands all you're saying. But Lord,
man, what can I do?"
"I've spoken to your father several times in hopes of
getting him to moderate his treatment of his nigras.
I've had no luck."
Judson guffawed. "You think mine will be any
better? Christ, Seth, you know he hates me."
"No," Seth returned quietly, "I don't
believe that's true."
"Bullshit. I'm the second son.
Automatically second best."
"But you and Donald are both his flesh."
"And we're both traitors because Donald went to the
Raleigh Tavern last year, and I went along.
Spiritually, anyway," Judson added with a wry
smile.
He was referring to the gathering of members of the House
of Burgesses who had assembled in the
Williamsburg tavern at the urging of Patrick
Henry, gentleman lawyer of Hanover County.
Henry, a natural leader, was the chief
spokesman in the Burgesses for the back-country
people. Over the last ten years, that segment of
Virginia's population had found itself almost constantly
opposed to the more conservative tidewater planters.
Henry had stirred Virginia with his hot oratory
against Crown infringements of colonial rights. And when
the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, had
temporarily dissolved the legislature in May
of the preceding year, Henry immediately led most of the
Burgesses to a rump session at the Raleigh.
There they appointed a delegation to the first Continental
Congress. Along with Judson's older brother and
several other Virginians, Henry was
presently away at the second Congress, where his
stock stood high because of an inflammatory speech
given in March of this year. In the speech, Henry
had taken an inflexible stand against Great Britain.
The alternatives for him, he'd declared, were liberty
or death-no middle ground. Governor Dunmore
promptly issued a proclamation branding Henry an
outlaw, which only enhanced his status further among
Virginia's patriot faction.
Judson continued to Seth, "I think my father would have
horsewhipped Donald if Donald would have allowed
it. At the moment there are a great many people on my
father's list of political enemies. Donald,
myself, Henry-even Colonel Washington of
Fairfax County, because he went up
to Philadelphia too. On top of that-was
Judson sloshed another slug of rum into his
glass. He was growing tipsy again:
"The lord of Sermon Hill happens to consider me a
drunken wastrel. A prodigal on whom he
squandered a deal of money for an education at
William and Mary. He's commented that the sterling
notes would have served a better purpose if they'd
been used for wiping asses in the outhouse."
Judson toasted an unseen
presence. "So saith Angus Fletcher, in one of
his less biblical moods."
"Still, can't you talk to him?"
"Well," Judson said, drawling out the word, "we
do speak every month or so."
"Suggest he say something to Shaw, then. Try to get
the man to moderate his behavior until we
isolate the cause of the problem, or it calms
down."
Glum, Judson shook his head. "Seth, I
repeat-I exert no influence whatsoever at
Sermon Hill. I sometimes wonder why I'm even
allowed to live there."
"Because you're Angus Fletcher's son!
Judson-for friendship's sake-and the tranquility of this
district -
try"
Judson poured more rum. "All right. I'll say
something. A remark or two. I'd be rash
to promise more."
"It's a start." Seth pumped his hand. "Thank
you-was
"I must go." Judsonv finished his drink quickly,
asking himself why he had given in to Seth. He knew
the answer. It was a cheap way to purchase
temporary absolution of guilt-
The shadow across the floor at the library entrance
made him glance up sharply.
She
stood there; slender, dark-haired, fair-skinned and
lovely in a peach-colored night robe whose high
collar and decorous lines still set off her figure
to advantage. She was all grace and gentility; a
perfect lady he had loved since he was
seventeen.
But she had been Peggy Ashford, respectable,
while he had been-still was-Judson Fletcher;
something less.
Their two-year relationship before her marriage had
scarred them both. In those tempestuous times,
Judson had never touched her other than to kiss her,
though it had been obvious they both desired much more
than that. Perhaps that restraint was what compounded the
agony now.
Seth knew very well that the two had courted.
Meeting at cross-country hunts. Attending
balls together at wealthy houses up and down the
river. All with the growing disapproval of the Ashfords,
as Judson's nature asserted itself in frequent
public drunkenness and brawling.
Finally, the Ashfords forced Peggy to stop seeing him.
It was heartbreaking for her. But she was a dutiful
daughter. Presently Seth stepped in. When the
marriage was arranged and solemnized, Seth
expected his friend Judson to behave like a
gentleman. Which Judson did, in atypical
fashion, because, above all, he did not want to bring
Peggy any further hurt or scandal.
Now Seth simply assumed that while Judson,
being a man, might harbor certain lingering impulses
that could lead to adultery, he would never permit those
impulses to become deeds. Seth also considered
Peggy above reproach-
And those stories about Judson's affairs with other
men's wives-well, it was doubtful whether Seth
fully believed them. Judson knew his friend failed
to understand how deeply his feelings ran-or how close
he'd come to making advances to Peggy on several
occasions. In business affairs, Seth was
reasonably worldly. In human ones, no-
Still, Judson managed to keep his distance. To him,
Peggy Ashford McLean was something of a shrine.
Unsullied, as few things in his life were any
longer. He had never been able to explain why he
loved her. She was sweet, intelligent,
attractive; but many women along the tidewaters were
that. What was it in her special combination of dark-eyed
glances, smiles and small feminine gestures that
had continued to torment
him
after he lost her? Perhaps part of his passion sprang from
a realization even during their courting that she would
probably never be allowed to marry him. For a man like
Judson
"Melissa told me we had a guest," Peggy
said. "Good evening, Judson."
"Good evening." He managed a bow. "I'm just on
my way-was
He hardly dared glance at her for fear he'd
reveal his feelings. He had seen her often since the
marriage, of course. At holiday fetes, or the
Richmond fair. On such occasions, he could never
read her expression. He suspected that whatever
she'd felt once was completely gone. Speaking
marriage vows would have begun to destroy it
automatically. Her code of behavior said that was
only decent and proper-
Peggy turned to her husband. "You're home early
Seth." His
"To speak with Judson. I'm seeking his
help in regard to the unrest."
"I warned him he might as well ask for help from
a woodpecker," Judson said with a merry laugh,
walking quickly past the woman, still unwilling to face
those well-remembered eyes. He went straight to the
imposing main doors and out, with a hail:
"I'll be in touch if I've any results
to brag about, Seth. Which I doubt."
Into the saddle, he tore down to the Rappahannock
rippling silver under the stars. He never once
glanced over his shoulder at Seth McLean's
large, colonnaded white house with its rows of
slave cabins at the rear, near the curing barns.
But all the way to Sermon Hill, Peggy rode with
him. The starlight that put highlights on the river
glimmered on the tracks of angry tears on his
cheeks.
Sermon Hill, five thousand acres of prime
tobacco land worked by five hundred male and female
slaves,

Fletcher, permanent frustration had its twisted
charms-
fronted the river as McLean's did. But Sermon
Hill boasted its own wharf, where the huge
tobacco canoes tied up in the autumn to load the
casks that carried eight hundred pounds of cured
brown leaf.
That is, the canoes had anchored there every autumn for
as far back as Judson Fletcher could remember,
then floated downriver with the casks lashed across their
gunwales. Trading ships anchored in the navigable
waters of the estuary took the casks to market
overseas. Whether they would so do this year in view of the
worsening trouble with England was a question no one could
answer. News of exchanges of fire between royal
troops and colonial militia in April,
someplace up in the Massachusetts Bay area,
had cast doubt on all commercial ventures
involving overseas trade-and on the placid quality
of life itself.
But Judson wasn't thinking of that two mornings
later. By way of fulfilling Seth's request, he
rose earlier than usual-at sunrise, for
God's sake!-to take a stroll around to the
slave quarters.
The slaves lived in two long rows of whitewashed
cottages that faced each other across an expanse of
dirt. At the head of the avenue sat the small
house belonging to the overseer. Outside this
house, Judson spied a crowd of field bucks
and wenches gathered in the orange light of early
morning.
Moving closer, he heard the cracking of a whip.
Because of the crowd, he couldn't see the victim.
He ran. Past the windowless cottages where
barefoot black children wandered in the tiny okra
patches, or squatted, dropping excrement from their
bottoms, or simply sat in the doorways,
picking at their hair and examining the creatures they
discovered. In terms of sanitation and living standards for
slaves, Sermon Hill was no different-no
better and no worse-than most major tobacco
plantations along the river-
Except in the matter of Reuven Shaw, general
overseer.
Judson dashed up to the slaves at the rear of the
crowd. They recognized him, quickly stepped
aside. He spoke to one strong-looking buck:
"Who's being punished?"
"Dicey. Shaw, he say she fit to work.
Dicey, she say
no."
"Jesus-to " Judson exploded. "Where's her
husband?"
"Field already," was the reply.
For a moment Judson stared into brown eyes that seemed
to add silently,
Good thing for Mist' Shaw.
Or was that only his imagination?
He shoved through the crowd, saw the skinny,
ill-clad Shaw, younger brother of Lottie's
husband, raise his long blacksnake to make
another mark on Dicey's yellow-brown back.
Shaw looked up, threat in his eyes. It simmered
less hotly when he recognized the man in
boots, hose, trousers, shirt-one of the owner's
sons.
Judson gestured at the wench, who had been forced
to discard her ragged dress-Shaw liked to punish the
wenches naked-and kneel in the dirt with her head bowed
over her knees. Dicey's back bore three
bleeding stripes.
"Want to lay on a few, Mr. Judson?"
Shaw asked. It was said with thinly concealed contempt.
Judson and the overseer had long disliked each other.
"You ignorant son of a bitch, I'll take the
whip to you instead. That wench birthed twin boys only
five days ago." Judson held up one hand,
fingers spread. "Five!"
"Three's the most I "low 'fore they go back
to work," Shaw grumbled.
"Dicey, put your dress on and go back to your
cabin," Judson ordered. was 'Till next
Monday morning."
"Listen here! I'm in charge of-was Shaw began.
Judson leaped forward, seized the whip and looped it
around Shaw's neck. He yanked both ends:
"What'd you say?"
"n-nothing, Mr. Judson," Shaw gasped,
pop-eyed.
God, how he stank. Judson shoved him. "Get
their black asses to work and quit causing unnecessary
trouble." With that, Judson let go of the whip and
turned to walk away.
"The snake is all that's keepin" us from having
trouble-to "
Again Judson whirled, staring into the warped, resentful
face of the sunburned white man.
"Did
you have another comment, Shaw?" he inquired, almost
whispering.
Shaw swallowed, watched Dicey gather her dress
and flee barefoot. "No," he mumbled. "No,
I dint." But Judson didn't miss the
hate in Shaw's eyes-
Nor, for that matter, in the eyes of the bucks and
wenches who stood aside to let him pass back
toward the rambling, two-story, twenty-three-room
house where he intended to have his breakfast.
Strange, he thought as he walked, his fair hair
shining in the morning sun, very strange indeed. Striding
by all those silent blacks, he'd had the uncanny
feeling that their hatred was directed as much at
him
as at Reuven Shaw. Perhaps just being white did it,
he thought wearily. Just as being black got you bought,
whipped or fucked at the pleasure of your owners.
Somehow, moving up the cabin avenue and hearing the
chatter of the group breaking into field gangs, he
didn't care to look back.
At Shaw
or
the slaves.
vi
The silver service gleamed, then suddenly distorted,
reflecting a wizened face, white hair, enraged
eyes.
Lounging on the veranda, Judson glanced from the
reflection in the bulge of the pot to the
creator of the image: his father, a tiny-boned man with a
pointed chin and skin like old leather.
Angus Fletcher never tried to look prosperous,
not even on social occasions. This morning his hose
drooped, there was a rip in the knee of his breeches,
and his shirt was wet with sweat. He came into the
veranda's shade, shot his head forward like a turkey,
confronting his son:
"I just had a report from Mr. Shaw. Apparently
you interfered with him while I was down seeing to the
repairs on the dock."
"And I just had a letter from Donald." Judson used
a smile to conceal his uneasiness as he lifted the
document in question. "A hired courier brought it from
Richmond not ten minutes ago."
"Wondered who that trespasser was," Angus
Fletcher garrumphed. He sat down in one of the
large basket chairs. "You may keep the letter
to yourself. I've no interest in tidings from that nest of
traitors up north. That my own son should allow
himself to be influenced by those perfidious wise men of the
East-was
Judson laughed at his father's use of the term that
Tories, and even some rebels, applied to the
influential patriot leaders of
Massachusetts. "Father, you'll have to put
Colonel Washington even more firmly among the
traitors now. Donald says that he and the other
Congressional delegates appointed the colonel
to lead the Continental armies. It happened just the
middle of this month. Washington will have the rank of
general and will go to Boston to take command."
He consulted the letter quickly, enjoying his father's fuming.
"And there's been more fighting. Some place called
Breed's Hill. The British won the day, but our
side acquitted itself well-was
"Your side, not mine!" Angus Fletcher leaped
for the letter, flung it away. "Those fools will bring
down ruin on all of us. We should be suing for peace
before matters get worse." Again he shot his head
forward. was "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called-"
was "comthe children of God," was Judson finished
wearily. Of all his father's annoying personal
characteristics, the old man's fondness for scripture
offended Judson the most. Angus was especially
partial to St. Matthew. So taken was he with the
message and language of the Sermon on the Mount,
he had re-named his own father's plantation on its low
hill above the Rappahannock in honor of
it.
"Shall we move to another text?" Judson asked.
"Blessed are the merciful-" his
"I want to hear what in damnation angered Shaw!"
Judson stared at his father. Despite his age-he was
nearly sixty-Angus Fletcher's slight frame
suggested great strength. He worked diligently at the
business affairs of Sermon Hill every day of the
week except Sunday, when he attended church in
the morning, prayed in the privacy of his bedchamber
all afternoon, and forbade anything that smacked of light
amusement on his property throughout the entire
Sabbath. The old man did have a certain
biblical majesty, Judson reflected as he
studied the seated figure outlined against the river and the
rolling, heat-hazed hills beyond.
But he could never remember a time when there had been
tenderness or even kindness between father and son. Even in
Judson's earliest recollections, it seemed that
his father had treated him sternly; as a full-grown
man. Wanting-demanding-more than a boy could give.
Judson had resigned in defeat by the time he was
ten. He could never be as clever, as strong, as pious
as Angus expected him to be. Perhaps that was part of the
trouble.
Of course, being the second son was another part.
He
could not inherit, hence was less important than
Donald. Even so, the same kind of relationship
existed between the old man and Donald, ten years
Judson's senior.
Donald was gout-ridden at thirty-five. He
downed great quantities of port and claret when
Angus wasn't watching. Further, he never
shrank from proclaiming how proud he was to be a
member of the Burgesses chosen to represent
Virginia at the Congress.
Of their mother Judson could remember next to nothing.
She had died when he was four. Donald recalled
her as a kindly, religious woman who slipped
silently through the house attending to her duties,
totally in awe of her husband.
Resentful of Angus" outburst about Shaw,
Judson said, "The text I had in mind will bring us
to that subject. Remember, Father-the merciful "shall
obtain mercy." Shaw's doing his best to see you
get just the opposite."
Angus made a face, rang a handbell. In a
moment, one of the liveried house blacks-they were a
caste above the field hands-glided to the old
man's elbow with a goblet of cold spring water.
Angus Fletcher extended his hand. The goblet was
placed into it. He did not look around. He
expected the drink to be where it was supposed to be, and
it was.
He sipped, then said, "Be more explicit, I have
work to do."
"Shaw was whipping Dicey. I stopped him."
"You
stopped
him? You don't run Sermon Hill! And unless you
change your whoring ways and your politics to boot,
you won't even receive so much as one shilling when I
pass on."
"I've heard that threat before," Judson returned.
He was cool, but it took effort. "I think you're
facing a more immediate one-was
Briefly, he described his conversation with Seth
McLean, as well as the stabbed figure and slate
he'd
found by the roadside. The description seemed
to unnerve Angus Fletcher slightly. At least,
the wrinkled hand and the water goblet shook for a moment.
Solely to antagonize the old man, Judson
crossed his boots, stretched and yawned. It
worked:
"Go on, go on!" Angus exclaimed.
Judson still took his tune before resuming:
"Seth heard a rumor that our buck Larned may be
responsible for stirring up some of the discontent.
Since Dicey is Larned's woman, I stopped
Shaw in the hope of preventing real trouble. I also
stopped
him
because what he was doing was wrong."
"Spare me your false piety, please!"
"Why, Father, I thought you thrived on piety."
Angus colored.
"All right," Judson shrugged, "we needn't
debate on moral grounds. I thought I was doing you
a good service. Isn't a little restraint preferable
to an outbreak? To seeing Sermon Hill set
afire, for instance? Rebellions have happened before."
"Never here. And they won't. I'll chain up every one
of those unwashed sons of Ham before-was He blinked
twice as Judson raised a languid hand.
"What, what?" he roared.
"Your biblical scholarship is faulty, I'm
afraid," Judson informed him. "The name Ham
means swarthy, not black. If Noah's
son had any real descendants-other than
fairy-story ones, that is-was Again Angus' cheeks
darkened. "comthey were doubtless the Egyptians, or those
people called Berbers, not the poor bastards the
blackbirders bring from the West Africas to do your
hard work."
"When did you become a biblical expert, may
I ask?" Angus sneered.
Judson smiled with great charm. "Why, at
college. You paid for the lessons."
"You're not only disloyal to His Majesty, you're
a
disgrace to the very flesh that bore you! To think I wasted
hard money so your head could be filled with godless
rot-was
"Any rot, as you call it, was probably
acquired at Sermon Hill."
Angus Fletcher flung the cold water in his
son's face.
Judson jumped up. He almost went for the old
man's throat. But he checked, big veins standing out
in his strong hands as he sat down again and gripped the
arms of his chair.
Angus Fletcher set the glass on a wicker
stand, rose and walked toward his son.
Despite his small stature he looked commanding,
looming there in the shadows of the veranda. His voice
shook:
"Month after month, I've prayed to God to make
you realize what you have been born to, Judson
Fletcher. On my knees I have begged God
to help you understand how much struggle and toil has gone
into building this estate-was
"Black struggle and black toil, you mean. And
black blood."
"Your grandfather labored and died to-was
"Oh, for Christ's sake, stop it."
"Blasphemer! You take disthe Lord's name in-was
"Yes! Because I've heard that whitewashing till
Fm sick of it!" Judson thundered. "I've known
the real story for a long time-others in this district are
more accurate reporters. Your father was a catchpenny
redemptioner from Glasgow-a criminal, most
likely, since he never signed his real name to his
indenture papers-and didn't even honor his
contract. Two days after they landed him in
Philadelphia, he ran away from the soul-driver
trying to unload
him
for transportation plus profit! Years
later, he bragged about it! He turned up here in
Virginia and got a farmer's girl pregnant and
had to marry her, and then the farmer died suddenly of a
fall from a horse while just he and my grandfather were
riding in the
woods. Believe me, I know all about how the first
land for this whited sepulcher was acquired! It's going
to come down unless you stop thinking you're the anointed of
God, ruling the impious. Those black bucks and
wenches are human beings! Dumb, dirty-but people
nonetheless. Seth McLean understands that."
"Seth McLean is a weakling and a fool. He
owns a tenth of the land I do because he's a tenth as
canny."
"A tenth as brutal!" Judson shouted. "A tenth
as immoral!"
Angus Fletcher tried to strike his son. J@u
u
dson caught the thin wrist, easily pushed it down.
The old man was breathing heavily. For a moment
Judson was worried. But he quickly recognized the
raspy breathing as a sign of rage, not seizure:
"I've raised a liar, a drunkard, a lecher-was
"Who wishes to Christ-was
"You will not blaspheme in my presence!"
"comhe'd never set eyes on this place."
"Twenty-five years old and look at you!
Dissolute comidle-your head full of sin and
poisonous idolatries! Well, go chase after your
painted whores in Richmond. Go follow your
crazy friend George Clark who's probably dead
in the diswilderness by now.
Or go join your damned brother and the traitors in
Philadelphia!"
Judson Fletcher was so full of fury, he was
afraid he might hit his father and injure him. And the
father would not be able to stay the son's hand. To protect
himself from launching an attack which he knew he'd
ultimately regret, Judson fought for control,
tried the Bible again, with a forced smile:
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art
in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge-" his
"Hold your filthy tongue! You have no right to quote
our Savior!"
"If you understood your Savior, old man, you'd
do something about Reuven Shaw."
"I will. I'll order
him
to enforce even stricter discipline. To search the
cabins for a drum-and to give a hundred strokes
to any nigger hiding one."
Red-faced, Judson started away. "I'll inform
Seth McLean of your decision."
"I'm sure you will," the old man jeered. "So as
to get another opportunity for lewd concourse with his
wife."
Judson stopped as if he'd been bludgeoned.
For the first time, Angus Fletcher looked amused;
master of the situation. He actually laughed as he
resumed his seat:
"If I have secrets which are public, so do you. Do
you think I don't remember how you felt about the
McLean woman? How you still ride by her house
night after night? One more reason I brand your friend
McLean a fool. If you came on my property
feeling about my wife as you feel about his.
I'd put
a ball in your head."
With grudging admiration, Judson said, "You old
bastard. Sometimes I forget how foxy you are.
Figured me out, have you?"
"Aye, long ago. But I constantly find new
examples of your sinfulness-to my everlasting disgust.
It came as no surprise to me when the
Ashfords finally refused to permit their daughter to see
you."
"Your faith in me is constantly overwhelming-to "
Angus ignored that; pointed a wrathful finger:
"What decent folk would want you as a
son-in-law? For any woman you'd marry, there'd
be naught to look forward to save anguish over your
debauchery. And if she bore you a child, she'd go
to her grave in despair because of the taint you'd lay
on the babe-was
Thunderstruck, Judson gaped at the old man.
"What taint?
Your
taint-if any!"
Angus Fletcher shook his head in dogmatic
denial. "Something in yourself has ruined you, Judson.
Better to shoot any child you'd father than let him
live his life
with your devil's blood poisoning him and all his
generations after hi-was
"Be damned to you, you sanctimonious
hypocrite!" Judson fairly screamed. "If
I've devil's blood, you've only to look in a
glass to see who's the source!"
If the words affected Angus, he concealed
it. His features hardened into that expression of smug
piety Judson hated with such passion.
"You're carrying on like a raving fool," Angus
declared, "because you know this for a fact-Peggy McLean
should thank heaven she was prevented from marrying you."
"It-was Judson could barely speak. "comx must give
you great pride and satisfaction to say that about your own
flesh."
"It gives me great sadness."
"You vile, lying old-was
Unable to continue, he wheeled and rushed away down the
veranda. Angus shouted after him:
"At least you can have the decency to keep yourself from her
presence. She knows your wicked purpose for calling
at McLean's! 'allye have heard that it was said by them of
old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery -" his
Scarlet again, Judson stalked straight ahead,
fearful that if he turned back, there would be blows
struck-or worse. It required an act of
total will for him to continue toward the main door of the
house as Angus' voice grew more and more shrill:
his
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a
woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her
already in his heart-" his
Judson slammed the door, stormed past the startled
house blacks who saw his thunderous look and glanced
away.
He raced up to his room, tore off his sweated
shirt in exchange for a new one. He hated his father.
Yet surely
some of the guilt for these dreadful confrontations was his.
He took pleasure in tormenting the old man, in
revenge for the old man tormenting him.
What in the name of God was wrong with him?
Even Donald's faults were mild in comparison.
In their father's eyes, Donald's chief sin was his
conviction that the oppressive taxes and restrictive
policies of Britain could no longer be borne.
To that iniquity Jud
s
on added a score more, from adulterer to defender of
slaves-
Ten minutes later, he was galloping one of the dirt
lanes that crisscrossed the plantation. His
saddlebags bulged with two unopened jugs of rum.
Judson saw black heads turn in the fields.
One slate-blue face burned bright: the buck
Lamed, bare-shouldered, risen like some demonic
figure from his weeding among the ear-shaped
leaves of the tobacco plants.
Lamed watched
'hm
ride on, and it seemed to Judson that his back was
afire from the slave's venomous glare. Judson was
a white man, and Angus Fletcher's son. No
matter what he'd done for the wench Dicey, Lamed
would surely twist it so that it acquired a
practical-a despicable-motivation: to preserve the
wench for further work, perhaps. Or sex with Judson
himself. What the hell was the use of trying to intervene
if it generated so much hate from all of them?
That Judson understood how the whole slave problem
had gotten so thoroughly out of hand in a hundred and
fifty years didn't mitigate his sense of
outrage-or his sad conviction that the system would
produce continuing friction and violence unless it was
abolished.
The agricultural economy in which he'd grown up
was based on grueling physical labor. So he
really couldn't fault the people of the southern colonies for
buying black workers in preference to white ones when the
latter were far less desirable.
Men such as Ms grandfather, for example, could be counted
on to work for their buyers only until the
expiration of their indenture contracts. Of course his
grandfather hadn't been willing to wait even that long!
The problem of finding a stable work force had grown still more
difficult early in the century, when some combination of
geniuses in the mother country had conceived the idea of
clearing Britain of many of its
undesirables-thieves, pickpockets, whores-whose
crimes weren't quite serious enough to earn them
hang-ropes. The answer was to transport them across
the ocean at three to five pounds a head, to be
purchased on arrival for negotiated periods of
servitude. But just exactly like the man who
voluntarily indentured himself, transport`ees
eventually were eligible for freedom comearned legally
or, sooner, by flight.
What planter who prided himself on efficiency-and
ledgers that showed a profit-wouldn't prefer to purchase
a cowed, completely unlred black from Africa?
A black whose legal status, from the beginning, was
vague? And whose fatally distinctive coloration made
him easier to detect if he fled his bondage?
Even the meanest petty criminal from the London
stews at least had a white skin to keep him
relatively invisible if he succeeded in escaping.
But what had begun as a natural tendency
to seek the most stable and permanent kind of
agricultural labor force had degenerated
into outright ownership of one human being by another.
It was a source of sardonic amusement for Judson
to recall that the very first blacks on the continent
comtwenty-were put ashore and sold at the
Jamestown colony by the largely British crew
of a Dutch privateer. The date was 1619-one
year before the arrival of the
Mayflower
at Plymouth, carrying forty-one stiff-necked
Puritan families whose children and grandchildren prided
themselves on being descended from
"founding fathers." What a pity there were no
genealogical tables to permit the offspring of the
Jamestown twenty to dispute that claim!
In the early years of the colonial blackbird
trade, the word
slave
had seldom if ever been spoken. Gradually,
though, it came into common use as the more unscrupulous
members of the landed class realized that New England
shipowners were quite willing to supply a constant stream of
African bucks and wenches, and that a combination of
evolving custom and clever writing of new
statutes could transform purchased black workers
into permanent chattels with no hope of ever earning
freedom-a condition the redemptioners and
transported prison inmates never faced.
Now the institution had grown so entrenched comproducing
fear and repression on one side, submission and
hatred on the other-that Judson could only foresee
an eventual confrontation between those who listened to then:
consciences and those who heard nothing but the jingling voice
of the pound.
By mid-morning, his reflections had put him in
thoroughly miserable spirits. He lay in a grove at
the edge of the plantation, glooming over the explosive
potential of the situation with the local blacks, then
experiencing even deeper depression over his own
behavior.
Why in God's name was he driven to such excesses
of word and deed, both in his father's presence and
elsewhere? Gazing out across the tobacco fields where
heat-devils rippled the air, he saw the white
walls of Sermon Hill rising on the crest of the
low rise above the Rappahannock and wished he were
anywhere but here.
He wished he were out beyond the Blue Wall with his friend,
for instance. In empty country. No laws,
no Bible-spouting hypocrites, no incipient
rebellions, no pea-headed overseers, no- No
Peggy to haunt him.
His father's words came back to
him,
with tormenting clarity.
Taint.
Poisoned.
Devil's blood
-
Try as he might, he couldn't scoff away the
uneasy suspicion that Angus had struck a vein
of truth. One from which Judson turned in terror and
loathing. The only way to blunt the fear was with rum.
Slowly drinking himself insensible, he was able to convince
himself that he only needed to escape Virginia
to escape his demons.
He fell into a stupor that brought bizarre dreams.
He saw flame-haired George Rogers Clark
stalking through the wilderness, standing as tall as the trees
themselves. He saw Peggy naked, beckoning him with
lewd gestures, a slut's teasing smile. He
saw his father, fierce as Moses, hand raised
to deliver a blow while lightning flashed in a sky
of churning storm-
He awoke suddenly. Lying on his back in the
grass, he felt chilly. Nearby, his roan
stood head down, a statue against the first faint stars.
In the west, red stained the horizon.
Judson licked the inside of his furred mouth. He
heard a sound so faint that the slightest change in the
direction of the breeze silenced it for a moment. But
he recognized the sound.
The hollow boom of a hand drum.
The moment he identified the sound, it stopped
completely. But he could have sworn the eerie thudding
had drifted from the direction of Sermon Hill.
Birth
RAGGED AND louse-ridden, Philip Kent
trudged through the mud of what passed for a street in the
camp of the American army.
He was physically exhausted. Not from working at digging
and fortifying new earthworks; not from trenching out new
vaults when the old ones overflowed with human
waste. From boredom. The endless, uncertain
waiting-
Constant worry
about
his wife Anne only added to the strain. He got
to see her once or twice a week if he
was lucky. Regulations were haphazard in the
American siege
li
nes surrounding Boston. Sometimes he could obtain
permission to slip away to Watertown of an evening,
sometimes not. He seldom knew in advance. Tonight
he'd been fortunate, and gotten leave to go.
A drizzling mid-September rain fell,
worsening conditions in the already wretched camp that had
sprung up and spread as various volunteer
regiments from all over the colonies arrived during
the summer and settled in beside one another,
helter-skelter. Since taking charge in early
July, the new commanding general of the Continental
Army, George Washington of Virginia, had
been trying to bring some organization to the chaos. He
hadn't made much progress, even though new
orders relating to camp discipline or procedures
came streaming out of Wadsworth House in
Cambridge almost every day.
Philip Kent, a short, wide-shouldered young man
with
dark eyes and hair tied up in a queue,
scarcely looked
like a soldier as he slogged along in boots
worn perilously thin on the bottoms. But then,
few of the volunteers resembled soldiers.
There were some exceptions, of course. The Rhode
Islanders with their neat tents, each equipped with its
own front awning. Their encampment looked almost
British. The same held true for the Twenty-first
Massachusetts, men from Mar8,4 who had given
up their occupations as shipwrights and fishermen but not their
seafaring heritage. The Mar8,4ers were outfitted in
trim blue seacloth jackets and loose white
sailor's trousers. But apart from a handful of such
regiments, the Americans dressed and often acted like
rabble. Their living places matched.
Most of the men, Philip included, lived in
shelters made of whatever materials they had
purchased, brought from home, or stolen. Philip's
Twenty-ninth Massachusetts infantry regiment,
camped between Cambridge and the earthworks at the center
of the American
line
overlooking the Charles River, made do in
shanties knocked together from warped boards. But as he
walked, Philip saw many other types of
structures, from sailcloth tents sagging under the
drizzle to crude shelters of fieldstone
chinked up with turf. Some units simply lived on
the ground between constantly soggy blankets.
To add to the confusion, it was often impossible to tell
officers from enlisted men. General Washington had
tried to outfit the volunteer soldiers in some
semblance of a uniform. Amid the flurry of
organizational orders and new commissions issuing from
the house formerly hunting shirts. No action had
been taken on the request to the Continental Congress
for ten thousand smock-like hunting shirts. No action
had been taken on the request before the assembly
adjourned early in August. Washington had meantime
authorized officers to adopt
scarves, cockades, second-hand
epaulets-whatever they could find to identify themselves.
Not that it made much difference to the men who served under
them.
The army encamped at Boston consisted mostly of
farmers and artisans, all waiting to see whether a
full-scale war would break out, or would be defused
by moves toward reconciliation already taken by the
Congress that represented every colony except
Georgia. The men who made up the army didn't
understand military discipline and in fact resented it.
Philip recalled hearing a prediction that
this attitude might prevail, and prove disastrous.
The prediction had been made by his friend Henry
Knox, the fat Boston bookseller who was somewhere
in the lines acting as a sort of supervising engineer
in charge of artillery. Philip had not seen Knox
all summer, though.
No one knew how many volunteers had arrived in
Massachusetts since the outbreak of
hostilities. Philip had heard figures
ranging from twelve to twenty thousand.
The reaction of these summer soldiers to the
commander-in-chief's various orders forbidding such
activities as gambling and "profane cursing," and
demanding attendance at "divine services" twice
daily, ranged from indifference to outright defiance.
A few shrewd commanders recognized the problem and
tried to deal with it. One such was Iz Putnam of
Connecticut, the old Indian fighter who had
defended the long's interests during the American
phase of the Seven Years" War. Putnam
invented schemes to sharpen his men for combat and keep them
diverted at the same time.
Since the terrifying shelling of Breed's and
Bunker's Hills in June, most of the
Continentals had learned they had little to fear from
the barrages of the British batteries in Boston.
But the artillery fire was almost constant in clear
weather. So Putnam sent his men
darting out of their earthworks to recover spent cannon
shot, in short supply on the American side.
The prize for each round was a tot of rum. An
explosive shell earned two tots-provided it
didn't blow up the man who went after it. Philip
wished that the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts had that
kind of imaginative commander.
Now, as he slogged along in the mud, his mind began
to veer from camp life to the other world he lived in
whenever he could. The world of Watertown-and Anne.
He paid less and less attention to the men idly
attempting to wipe their muskets dry inside
lantern-lit hovels. He dodged the bones of an
evening fish ration flung into his path. Unseeing,
he passed two volunteers urinating in the open-the
accepted custom. He went by tents and lean-tos
noisy with quarreling, drinking and forbidden dicing. In
some of the temporary dwellings, feminine giggling could
be heard, indicating that "immoral
practices"-likewise prohibited-were in full
swing. Head down, hands in the pockets of his sodden
coat, he thought only about his wife.
She was near her term; immense of belly. She'd
been extremely weak the past month or so, abed
most of the time in the rented rooms Lawyer Ware had
taken in Watertown.
But even more disturbing, the Connecticut surgeon
whom Philip had located with such difficulty in
midsummer, and hired to take over Anne's care
on a once-weekly basis, had been shot and
killed the preceding week after an argument about cards.
Philip had paid the cheerfully greedy doctor with
money saved from his earnings at the Edes and Gill
print shop. He'd gotten the money from Ben Edes
personally. Edes, who had set up his patriot
press in
Watertown
, had been keeping the funds for Philip. Now the
money was of no use. The doctor was permanently
unavailable.
In the past few days Philip had searched
frantically
for someone to replace the doctor. The quest so far
had been fruitless.
Wiping rain from his cheeks, he turned a corner
past another hovel. He glanced up suddenly at
the sound of a brawl in progress between a
double row of tents a few steps further down.
Damnation! He should have watched his route more
carefully. Avoided this most contentious section of the
American center. Now he was caught.
He walked rapidly, determined to pass the
twelve or fifteen men punching, kicking and yelling
in the middle of the muddy street. He kept close
to the line of the tents, eyed the combatants.
Virginians to a man.
The Virginians had become the marvel of the camps
when the first contingent reached Boston in July, boasting
a march of six or seven hundred miles in three
weeks, with no one ill, no deserters. They were
tall, peculiar, violent men with skins the color
of browned autumn leaves. Their clothing-especially
their voluminous white hunting shirts and their
headgear: round, broad-brimmed hats or caps with
dangling fur tails-excited comment wherever they
walked.
The Virginians automatically pushed aside all
men smaller than themselves, and many who weren't
smaller. Their height and tough bearing gave them the
authority. So did their strange weapons: guns
much longer and narrower through the barrel than the familiar
smoothbore muskets.
The backwoodsmen from Virginia called their
weapons Kentucky rifles, though they claimed the
pieces were manufactured in Pennsylvania.
Using the rifles, they challenged all comers to shooting
contests-and always won-shattering bottle targets at
impossible ranges of two or three hundred
yards. Philip's Brown Bess could barely
fire half that distance before spending its ball.
Though the rifles took longer to load than
muskets,
and could not be fitted with bayonets, they were deadly
accurate. So were the eyes that aimed them. Eyes that
had supposedly gazed on distant country where blue
mountains climbed toward a sea of cloud, and
tribes of the red-skinned, savage Indians
roamed.
This evening, the Virginians were having at each other
again. That too was a familiar occurrence. Men
gleefully booted the groins of their opponents,
stepped on faces, bit ankles or wrists.
Half the fighters were on their knees or backs or
bellies, covered with gummy mud. But they kept
slugging and thrashing and getting up again. And-to
Philip's astonishment-for the most part, they were
laughing.
He moved faster, determined to get clear of the
brawl post haste.
He skirted the churning mass of men while other
Virginians lounging near the tents eyed him with
arrogant curiosity. Further down the camp
street, a phaeton turned the corner, heading
away from the brawlers. Suddenly one of the
phaeton's three cloaked occupants lurched
to his feet. He grabbed his driver's shoulder. In
a moment, the team was charging back toward the fight, which
continued without letup.
One side of the battle abruptly grew like a
living organism, rolling outward until Philip
was virtually on the edge. He had to jump aside
to avoid a whizzing fist. Someone shoved the small of
his back:
"Hey, Zech, if you need somebody to punch, here's
one of them wise men!"
Philip had been pushed by a spectator. Off
balance, he cursed and fisted his hands. He got
angry when men from other colonies taunted the
Massachusetts soldiers with the epithet applied to the
Boston radicals. But before he could swing on the
man who'd shoved him, he inadvertently stumbled
into the melee. A huge, hard hand blasted
into his stomach, doubled him over-
He dropped to his knees, madder than ever. But the
burly Virginian who'd punched him had already
turned
his attention to one of his own-a tall, skinny,
mud-slimed man with a mouthful of crooked teeth and
one eye that pointed off at the oblique.
Positively the ugliest specimen Philip had
ever seen.
Philip's attacker kicked the tall fellow in the
groin. The man grimaced as he lost his footing,
toppled into the mud. He floundered on hands and
knees. His burly opponent bellowed a laugh,
laced his fingers together, intending to chop them down in a
murderous blow to the other man's exposed neck.
Philip could have avoided further involvement
by sneaking away. But he was tired, and thus not hard
to provoke. Finding steady footing at last, he
grabbed the burly man's shoulder, pulled hard.
The man wheeled, aborting his vicious blow at the
tall fellow's neck. The burly man took one
look at Philip, smiled an oafish,
infuriating smile and resorted to his favorite
tactic-a lightning kick between the legs. Philip
clenched his teeth to keep from screaming in
pain.
"Dunno who the hell you are, little boy," the burly
man growled. Philip realized the man was ugly
drunk. "But this here's Virginny territory. You
go play someplace else "fore I spank you good."
Shaking, Philip said, "Come on and try."
The tall, ugly fellow darted up from behind and bashed
his opponent in one ear. The burly man didn't
appear to feel it. Only his eyes showed a
reaction. He stabbed his hand down past a tangle of
thrashing, mud-covered arms and legs. Instantly,
Philip saw what he was after-
A spade someone had used as a weapon.
The man seized the spade's handle-but Philip
wasn't the target. The burly man swung the
spade toward the tall fellow, howling:
His
I'll
take yer head off, Eph Tait!"
Philip made another two-handed lunge at the
burly
man's forearm. The Virginian with the cocked ducked
and the spade hissed on through the air. Except for
Philip's restraining grip, it would have completed its
arc-
To smash into the face of the officer who had climbed from
the phaeton.
The spirit seemed to drain from the burly man in a
second. His mud-daubed face lost color.
All he could breathe out was a raspy, "Oh,
heavenly Christ-was
Philip was equally alarmed, to put it mildly.
No man in the American
lines
could fail to recognize the towering officer. His
thrown-back cloak revealed a dark blue coat with
buff facings, a buff waistcoat and, above the
white breeches, his purple sash of rank.
He had somehow lost his hat. Rain glistened in his
clubbed reddish-brown hair. He was in his early
forties, with huge hands, equally large feet whose
size was emphasized by his big boots. In fact
the man looked almost ponderous. But he moved with
startling speed as he seized the spade and hurled it
to the ground. Philip noticed a light pitting of
pox scars on pale cheeks that bore traces of
sunburn-or the flush of anger. The man's
gray-blue eyes raked the brawlers:
"I expect better than this from Virginians! Where
is the commanding officer?"
The fighting had all but stopped. One of the
mud-covered men shouted:
"Dead drunk-as usual."
"To your quarters, every damn one of you. And think about this
while you wait for the orders for punishment I intend
to issue before this night's over. I have made a
pretty good slam since I came to this camp. I
broke one colonel and two captains for cowardice
at Bunker's Hill. I've caused to be placed
under arrest for trial one colonel, one major, one
captain and six subalterns-in short, I spare
no one, particularly men of my own colony, and you
will find that reflected in the redress of this
disgrace.
Dismissed!"
he shouted, suddenly pointing at Philip. "All
except you."
Philip stood frozen, swallowing hard. The
officer's temper had moderated. His speech took
on a softer quality; the genteel, almost drawling
quality of his native Fairfax County:
"You don't belong to this regiment, do you, soldier?"
"No, sir."
"What's your name?"
"Philip Kent, General."
"Your unit?"
"Twenty-ninth Massachusetts." "Why aren't you
with your unit?" "I have my commander's permission
to visit
Watertown
, sir. My wife's there-she's expecting a baby
and not doing well-was
"I can vouch for this man's identity, General
Washington."
The new arrival stumping up on fat legs brought
Philip momentary relief from the absolute terror
he felt under the blue-gray stare of the chief of the
American forces. The new arrival was a
pie-faced young man with a white silk scarf wrapped
around his crippled left hand. He weighed close
to three hundred pounds and wore civilian clothes.
Shooting a quick glance at Philip-a warning for him
to stand fast-he continued:
"He served with me in the Boston Grenadier
Company before the trouble broke out. If he says his
wife's in Watertown, and that he's been given
leave to see her, it's undoubtedly the truth."
"I'll take your word, Knox," Washington said.
He smiled faintly. "Especially since this
soldier's hand on that fool's arm-was He
pointed at the burly drunk being lugged away by two
companions. "comsaved me from a broken skull. My
thanks, Kent."
Washington whirled on the goggling laggards:
"Inside, the rest of you. Smartly-
smartly!"
The Virginians ran, including the toothy,
cockeyed fellow who seemed to be trying to grin some
sort of appreciation at Philip. Washington
pulled his rain-drenched cloak down across his
blue-and-buff uniform and turned to stride back
to his phaeton. Henry Knox lingered, his round young
face beaming:
"I'd heard you were out here, Philip."
"But not in officer's territory."
"Oh, I'm not there myself. Only on the border.
Neither fish nor fowl, it seems. Still, I'm
happy to serve where I can be useful."
"Your name's been widely circulated, Henry.
I understand General Washington's impressed with your
knowledge of artillery."
"I trust he will increase his reliance on what little
I've learned," Knox said, no longer smiling.
"Only cannon can defeat the British garrison
in Boston."
"I've also heard you may be commissioned a
colonel."
Knox made no comment. But he couldn't hide a
prideful look. Before he'd shuttered his Boston
bookshop to
join
the American army, Henry Knox had
deliberately turned the shop into a haven for
British officers of the occupying force. He had a
purpose: to draw out the enemy's best thinking on the
subject that fascinated him-the proper use of
artillery. "Lucky you had a good reason for your
presence," Knox observed finally. "The general's
determined to birth an army out of this dismaying
collection of ruffians. He was correct when he
said he spares no one-least of all himself."
"Well, that may be true, but-was Philip
hesitated.
"Go on with what you were about to say."
"Maybe I'd better not. It concerned the general."
"You can be candid. God knows everyone else in this
camp is!"
Still Philip held back. Knox smiled
wearily:
"Did you intend to tell me that most of your
patriots have doubts about the general's ability?"
Embarrassed, Philip nodded. Knox waved:
"Don't worry, I've heard that ten times over-from
high and low. I've heard it all. That he was nothing
more than a militia colonel before. And that while
fighting the French and Indians, he lost several
engagements. But I tell you this, Philip.
Judge him by what he does now, not by his past."
"I suppose that's the fair way," Philip
agreed. It was pointless to go into all the widely
expressed reasons many soldiers considered
Washington a poor choice for his high post.
Aware of the general watching impatiently from the
phaeton, Knox himself changed the subject:
"So you're on your way to see your wife, are you?"
"That's right."
"I do believe I heard you'd married Mistress
Ware-was
"Back in April."
"And she's with child. You're to be congratulated."
Philip didn't smile. "As I said, she's
been sickly-was
"Knox!"
Washington's shout from the phaeton hurried the fat
young man's departure:
"I hope that condition reverses itself promptly.
Give Anne and her father my
compliments
. I'm glad to find you again," he added as he
waddled off. "I might have need for a couple of
quick-witted men for a scheme I'm hatching-was
With a wave of the silk-wrapped hand, he was into the
phaeton, a cloaked mountain hulking beside the general
and the other officer as the carriage vanished in the
murk.
Philip turned and hurried away from the Virginia
encampment. He had only a few hours-and he was
already late.
"Anne?"
Kneeling beside the bed, Philip kept his voice to a
whisper:
"Annie? It's me-was
Slowly, Anne Kent's eyes opened. Her head
moved slightly on the sweat-dampened bolster. The
brown eyes reflected the flame of a candle by the
bedside. Rain pattered the roof of the cramped
upstairs bedroom in the house on a shabby side
street in Watertown.
His mouth dry, Philip closed his hand around his
wife's, felt its heat. Her chestnut
hair glistened with sweat just above the forehead. The
light dusting of freckles on either side of her
nose-prominent when her skin was wholesomely tanned
by sunshine-had almost faded into invisibility.
Suddenly Anne rolled onto her side, gasping
while her hand sought and touched the great mound of her
stomach beneath the comforter.
Fearful, Philip bent closer. He smelled the
staleness of her breath. "I'll find you a doctor,
Annie. I'm trying hard as I can-was
Her glazed eyes showed no sign that she heard. The
hand on the comforter knotted convulsively.
Gradually the pain passed. She relaxed again.
Philip's voice sounded hoarser than ever:
"Annie, look at me. Don't you know me?"
The brown eyes closed. Her breathing became more
regular.
Despairing, Philip stumbled to his feet. In the
shadows behind him, a sneeze exploded.
"I've caught a plagued disease myself! Guess
I shouldn't be in here-was
Sneez
ing into a kerchief a second tim
e, Abraham Ware stumped back into the lamplit
parlor crowded with large and small
trunks: the belongings of a prosperous Boston
lawyer who had been forced to flee
his home, and his livelihood, because of his patriot
convictions. Philip heard his father-in-law walk
into the other bedroom.
Gently, he stroked Anne's forehead. He wished
she could speak to him. Wished she could listen to a
pledge that he would desert the damned army, if necessary,
to locate a physician. But she neither saw nor
heard.
Just looking at her pale, drawn face was agony
for him. Despite her youth, she bore little
resemblance to the pretty, quick-witted and independent
girl he'd first encountered in Henry Knox's
London Book-Store. She seemed frail and
altogether vulnerable as she muttered in her sleep.
dose to tears, Philip remembered the joyous
moments of their courting. And the times when he had questioned his
own feelings for her, tempted as he was by the daughter
of the Earl of Parkhurst, who had almost lured
him
away from Anne in Philadelphia-
Then the past receded Only the present counted. He
loved his wife with every fiber of his soul. That love
made his helplessness all the worse.
He uttered a frustrated curse, blew out the
candle, tiptoed out leaving the door ajar. Abraham
Ware, disheveled in an expensive suit that showed
hard use, had returned from the bedroom with a fresh
kerchief and was helping himself to what amounted to little more
than a thimbleful of precious claret. With overseas
trade at a standstill because of the hostilities,
everything was in short supply-including money to buy
life's necessities. Ware was spending his savings
to shelter himself, his daughter and her near-penniless
husband during these days when no man could accurately
predict what would happen next.
Philip sat down wearily on the battered
travel trunk in which Anne had carefully stored the
sum of his worldly possessions-three items. The first
was a small, worn leather casket with brass
corners. It contained letters
from James Amberly, Duke of Kentland, to the
French actress from Auvergne whom he'd loved and
reluctantly left in Paris. The Duke, still
alive in England, was Philip's father.
Just the preceding spring, after fruitless and near-fatal
attempts to claim the portion of Amberly's
fortune which he'd been promised, Philip had
finally burned one particular document from the
casket. That document was a letter declaring Amberly's
intention to share his riches with his illegitimate son.
Philip had decided he wanted no part of
Amberly's world, in which the rich and the powerful
exploited others. Destroying the letter, he'd become
an American in spirit as well as in fact.
Also in the trunk was a memento of his boyhood in the
French provinces: a splendid sword. The
grenadier's briquet had been presented to
him
by a young nobleman he'd helped out of a difficult
situation. The nobleman's title was the Marquis de
Lafayette. But Philip would always think of
him
by one of his given names-Gil. One day, he'd hang
Gil's sword in a place of honor above the
mantel in his house. Provided he lived long enough
to build a house!
The last of the three items was a small bottle of
green glass filled with flakes of dried English
tea. He'd found the tea in his shoes on the
December night in 1773 when he'd joined
Samuel Adams' band of bogus Indians and
helped destroy three shiploads of tea chests in
Boston harbor, as a protest against one
of the king's repressive taxes. The souvenir of that
evening had another, much more memorable meaning as well.
That same night, in his cheap cellar room at the
Edes and Grill printing house in Dassett
Alley, he had first made love to the young woman
he'd married-
The young woman whose condition now tormented
him
with anxiety.
"How long has she been feverish?" Philip
asked his father-in-law.
"Since last evening." Ware's protuberant eyes
were doleful. The man had lost weight. Appeared
bent; shriveled. He extended the decanter.
"You'd better down some of this yourself, lad. You look
like you bathed in mud, and your teeth are knocking like a
bride's knees."
Philip didn't move. From the hem of his soaked
coat, a drop of water plopped to the shabby
carpet. The rain beat on the roof.
"Damn it, there's got to be a doctor
someplace!" he exclaimed suddenly.
"Not one. I've asked everywhere."
"But we've got to do something! I don't know how
to tend a pregnant woman. Annie's
liable to die from plain neglect!"
Ware drank, and shivered. "Do you think the
possibility hasn't occurred to me? I am as
worried as you."
"You're sure there are no doctors here in
Watertown
?"
"None. They've all gone off to the lines."
"A midwife, then."
"I located one. But she's taken to her bed, out of
her wits with grief. Her son was bayoneted to death
in the Breed's Hill redoubt. There's no telling
whether she'll recover in time for Annie's
delivery-and I'd hate to trust my daughter to a
woman in such a precarious mental state
anyway."
"God, I wish the whole abominable mess were over,
so we could go back to living bite human beings!"
Ware tried to smile. "Annie would scold you if
she heard that, Philip. No, more than scold.
Tongue-lash you-and make you like it, as only she knows
how-was
His son-in-law didn't answer. Ware's forced
smile faded.
Philip jumped up, began pacing.
To take his mind off the seemingly insoluble problem of
Anne, he asked,
"Has there been any more word on the petition?" He
referred to the so-
called
Olive Branch resolution drafted in
Philadelphia before the Congress adjourned. A
direct appeal to George III, the petition
pleaded for the king to effect a reconciliation before
further conflict developed.
Ware shook his head: was 'Twas only dispatched in
July. With six to ten weeks of sea travel
involved each way, we won't have the answer for a
long while, I expect. Besides, you know what that
answer will be. It's the king as much as his puppet
ministers pushing this break to the limit. Too many
fail to understand that fact."
What the lawyer said was true, Philip knew.
He'd heard similar views expressed by everyone
from Samuel Adams to Dr. Benjamin Franklin,
the eminent scientist and diplomat whom he'd known
in London and met again in Philadelphia just this
past April. No, there wasn't any realistic
basis for hoping the fighting would end before his enlistment
ran out-
A moment ago, he'd decided not to drink any
claret. Now he changed his mind, and poured half a
glass. The wine warmed his belly but not his mood.
Ware stifled another sneeze. "I don't doubt
that when and if His Majesty replies to the petition,
it will be with a "damned to you, sirs!" I encountered
Hancock the other morning. Before the Congress
closed its session, there were already rumors afloat that
His Majesty has dispatched confidential agents
into Europe. To Brunswick, Anspach,
HesseHanau-was
Philip shook his head, not understanding.
"Those are principalities in Germany. There, the
house of Hanover would find receptive ears."
"Receptive to what?"
"A plea for troops, perhaps. Troops to crush the
rebellion."
"Would the Germans ally themselves with Britain?"
"For money they might. If that should ever happen,
there would be no turning back."
"Well, all I care about is Anne.
I've
got to find
s
omeone
-"
"I will continue my inquiries. I don't hold out
great hope. I-was Abruptly, Ware was seized
with a long, wheezing cough that drained every last bit of
color from his sunken cheeks.
"Perhaps you ought to be in bed too, sir," Philip
said.
Ware rejected the suggestion emphatically: "I
know you must return to the lines soon. I'll watch
Annie after you've gone. Don't think you need stay
here and chatter with me, Philip. Go where you want
to be-in there with her."
Philip thanked him and left the room.
He sat at the bedside for almost an hour, holding
hi
s wife's hand and listening to her stertorous breathing.
She cried out whenever pains in her belly twisted her
from side to side. Philip's own hands were chill and
stiff by the time he heard
k
the small parlor clock chime eleven. He'd be
almost an hour late returning to the encampment -
"Annie.
Annie."
He felt so helpless, no other words would
come.
She didn't answer. He crept out.
Lawyer Ware had fallen into-a drowse, his mouth
hanging open. Philip bundled himself into his damp
coat and let himself out, sick with fright as he half
walked, half ran through the rainy September
darkness.

Two days later, the sky cleared and the British
batteries started rumbling again.
In the mellow twilight, Philip sat on the
ground outside his quarters, trying to bite through the
petrified leather that passed for the day's ration of
corned beef. Even washing the stuff down with the
locally brewed spruce beer that was regular issue
failed to make it more
palatable. At least the royal troops in Boston
were faring no better. The American soldiers had
guffawed over a story about a prominent officer, the
Earl of Percy. The Earl had given an
elaborate dinner at which, by necessity, the main
dish was roast colt.
On the ground next to Philip lay a scrawled
note from. Abraham Ware. The note had arrived
earlier in the day. It reported that
Anne's fever had broken but she remained weak, and
was asking for him. It would be two more nights before
Philip could get leave to return to Watertown-
An elongated shadow fell across his legs. He
glanced up and started, spilling his mug of beer. An
immense, gangly figure silhouetted against the
sinking sun warned him of danger-
Until he recognized the face, and saw it bore
no signs of malice.
A vast display of crooked teeth partially masked a
certain shyness as the Virginian with the cocked eye and
unmercifully ugly countenance scratched at his
scrotum and shifted from foot to foot. In one hand the
man carried his Kentucky rifle. At last he
said:
"Hello."
Philip's nod was cautious. "Hello."
A long silence. Then:
"Got sent to Cambridge with a dispatch. Got lost
on the way back. Seen you sittin" there.
Figured I should stop and say thanks for keepin'
me from gettin' kilt the other night."
Philip waved. "I doubt that drunk would have done
much damage."
"Listen, he could of busted my neck, coming
at me like he did. I'm obliged to you."
"Did you boys get punished pretty severely?"
"Damn if we didn't," said the other, in slow,
soft speech that contrasted with Philip's somewhat more
nasal New England tone. "We're down to half
rations
and confined to quarters "cept while we're on dut
'ficial business. Next time any of us bust out,
Squire Washington says he's gonna put the
cat on our backs. And when that man promises,
he don't forget." The tall frontiersman spat
once, eloquent emphasis.
"Gather you think he's a pretty good soldier."
"They don't make 'em no damn better. The
difference 'tween the colonel-I mean the general-and
some o" them peacocks on his staff like that Charlie
Lee is this. When Washington takes the wrong fork
once, he don't ever do it again. He ain't
perfect, but he's got balls, and he knows woods
fightin', too. That may count for more than all the
fancy-daucy soldierin' that's been done by Lee and
his crowd. By the way-was The ugly man extended a
callused hand. "Been jawing and jawing and ain't even
said hello proper. I'm Experience Tait of
Also-bemarle County. Most call me
Eph."
They shook. "Kent's my name. Philip Kent."
"Well, you're a
little
rooster, but you fight pretty good-was Tait grinned.
"For a wise man."
"Thanks. From a Virginian, that's a real
compliment."
"Well-was Tait spat again. "Guess I better
haul shanks. "Ficial business, y'know. And
soon's I get back, I'm 'sposed to sew up
a lieutenant's hand. Fuckin" fool can't handle
his own sword proper-be seem' you, mebe-was
Philip ran after the backwoodsman. "Wait a
minute, Mr. Tait."
"Eph, I said it's Eph."
"You also said something about sewing up a hand. You-you're
not any kind of doctor?"
"Only the back country kind," Tait shrugged.
"I do smithing, barbering, mix up tonics to cure
boils and minor complaints of the bowels, minister
to expectant heifers an' women, includin' my
wife-little of everything, guess you could say. In the
Blue Ridge, a man's
got to know a smatter of this and a smarter of that
just to stay alive."
A lump had formed in Philip's throat. He was
almost afraid to speak for fear he'd be refused. But
the hesitation didn't last:
"Eph, would you have a minute to share a drink of
spruce beer?"
Tait reflected. "Well-no more'n a
minute. But I drink fast," he grinned. "Fast
as I shoot with this thing-was
He lifted the long, beautiful muzzle loader with
its grooved barrel: the rifling that imparted such
speed, distance and accuracy to the balls it discharged.
Philip gestured. "Come on, then-was
Experience Tait cocked his one good eye at the
entrance to Philip's shanty. "There's some of your
friends inside, ain't they? Will we have a set-to?
Much as I wouldn't mind one, I cain't afford
"nother fight."
"I'll fetch the beer and we'll drink it out here.
I've a favor to ask, Eph-if you're really
serious about thanking me."
"Shit, I ain't goin" to pay or nothin', if
that's what you mean," Eph Tait returned with a
grin abruptly tempered by suspicion.
"No, it's something else. And you're the
man to do it."
"Don't sound good," Tait commented as Philip
ducked inside. "They warned us to stay away from
twisty wise men. Trick the buttons right off a
man's pants, you Massachusetts fellas.
Least that's what we got told-was
But he leaned on his Kentucky rifle in the
sunset light, and waited for the beer anyway.
iv
Philip walked up and down, up and down-just as
he'd been doing for half an hour.
At first, between sneezes and swallows of the dwindling
claret, Lawyer Ware had expressed annoyance.
But when Philip showed no signs of calming down,
the little man drained the rest of the decanter and went
to sleep after a final tense glance at the closed
door.
Philip had been alternately walking and sitting
for about three hours. His eyes itched. His clothing
stank. His stomach hurt. He hadn't eaten since
early morning. The clock ticked loud as the
strokes of judgment sounding -
Quit thinking such morbid thoughts!
Philip chastised himself. But he couldn't help it.
All he loved or cared about in the world lay
hidden from his sight behind the bedroom door. Occasionally
he heard a small sound. Water sloshing. A
stifled cry from Anne. The murmur of another
voice. His mind built monstrous imaginings-
Death.
Deformity.
An outcome so devastating, she would never want to have
another-
A squall rooted Philip to the carpet. His
scalp crawled. White-faced, he stared at the
closed door.
The squalling gurgled away to silence.
Philip wiped his stubbled cheek, crossed the room
to where his father-in-law was on the point of sliding out of
his chair. Philip shook him.
Ware grumbled, smacked his lips. Philip shook
him
again, still staring in hypnotic fascination at that door.
Why was there no more sound?
Suddenly Lawyer Ware bolted up. "My God,
what's happened? Is Annie-?"
Before he could finish, the door was open. Experience
Tait said:
"What's happened is, everybody done a good
job-me and your wife and the Almighty and the
youngster too. He come out kickin' and I'm thirsty as
hell. If you ain't got any
likker
in this place, somebody go fetch some because I figure
I deserve some kind o' reward for my first-class
work." As he spoke, the tall Virginian wiped
his hands and forearms on the large piece of rag tied
around his waist. The lean hands and big-boned arms
left bright blood on the rag. The long hilt of a
skinning knife stuck up from his belt.
"Well, go on, go on!" Eph Tait waved
to Philip, exasperated. "Don't you want to see
your own child? An' you, you runt," he added to Ware,
"go find me that drink!"
Ware licked his lips, bulging eyes on the
doorway. "Is-is she-?"
"Fine, fine! But she wants to see
him,
not you. God!" he sighed to a still-stunned Philip.
"You're some husband-get a move on!"
Philip looked swiftly at the clock. A
quarter past twelve. At a quarter past twelve
on the morning of September 29, 1775, in
Watertown, Massachusetts, his son had been
born
comyes, Experience Tait had distinctly said
he-
Philip pushed past the bloodied, craze-eyed
woodsman lounging against the jamb. From the bedroom's
dimness he heard the miraculous sound of an infant
making moist sucking sounds.
"Annie?"
he bellowed.
"Jesus blue lightning, don't jump all over
her!" Tait shouted behind him. Philip paid no
attention. For the second time in his adult life,
loudly and without shame, he was crying.
Anne Ware Kent was awake, propped up on the
bolster and several rolled blankets. Philip
knelt beside two basins of pink-tinged water. In one
of them floated something that resembled a short piece
of bloody rope.
Anne looked sleepy and pale. Yet there was a
radiance to her face. In the crook of one arm she
cradle small, rag-wrapped bundle from which
protruded a reddish gnome's head almost as
sinfully ugly as Eph Tait.
Philip couldn't find words. He reached one
trembling hand toward a miniature fist whose longest
ringer was shorter than his thumb from knuckle
to nail.
"You can touch him," Anne said softly, smiling.
"He's yours, after all."
Marveling, Philip stroked the clutching little fist.
The child whose head was capped with dark fuzz promptly
screwed up its face and shrieked.
Comforting the baby with wordless murmurs, Anne gazed
lovingly at her husband. "We must name him,
Philip. Have you thought-?"
"Some. I'd like
him
to be called Abraham, if that's all right."
"Papa would be pleased."
"Did-did you hurt a lot?"
"Oh, enough." Again "the drowsy smile. "But Mr.
Tait is a gentle man. His hands look so big
but his fingers are as supple as a woman's. Where ever
did you find him?"
"In the mud."
"What?"
"I'll tell you another tune. He's a
Virginian, just like General Washington."
"So he told me-I think. I don't remember
everything."
"What's this?" Philip said, picking up
a length of fresh-whittled wood from the floor. The
wood bore teeth marks.
Anne focused on the wood with difficulty. "I
had to bite on that when the pains were strongest. Mr.
Tait doesn't believe in giving wine or beer
during deliveries. But he must have quite a thirst himself.
All he could speak of was hurrying matters along so
he could swallow his pay. Philip-was Anne began
to rock the infant gently. The fuzzed head all but
disappeared under
folds of rag. "How is it with you?"
"Bearable. Lonesome without you. The days just drag and
drag-was
"No action on either side?"
"Shelling from the British, that's all. Washington
sent an expedition against Canada earlier this month.
I'm not sure whether it'll accomplish anything-or
is supposed to. But all the men in
camp-fifteen, twenty thousand by now-they're getting
restive. Either the British will break out of Boston,
or we'll overwhelm them and drive them out. It has
to be one or the other, unless there's a settlement."
"A few days ago Papa said he thought any such
hope was foolish."
"I think so too. But my eight months will
be up at the end of the year, and it won't matter after
that. I'll be with you all the time."
Her voice surprisingly clear, Anne said
quietly, "What do you mean?"'

"I mean when my enlistment's finished, so am I.
The colonies can't win a war against Great
Britain."
"I agree-not with men who go home." Her brown
eyes sparked; the Anne he remembered.
"Annie, for God's sake-to " he disprotested.
"I'm a father now. With responsibilities-was
"I doubt you're the only father in the colonial
army."
"But we've the future to think about!"
"Exactly what do you propose to do, Philip?
Turn Tory?"
"Annie-to "
"I mean it. What are your plans?" She was
challenging him, and he knew what it must be costing her
in terms of discomfort. Her body shifted
frequently beneath the covers Eph Tait had tucked
neatly back into place. "Do you want to creep
back to Boston and set up a press to print
pamphlets supporting the king? I'd
hate to tell our son that, wouldn't you?"
Annie, you know as well as I do-this rebellion
has no support at all! Everyone says less
than a third of the people in the colonies are in favor
of it-was
"Does that make it wrong?"
"Of course not, but-was
"Does that give you leave to quit?"
"Dear God, you're stubborn!"
"Yes, because when you came back from Philadelphia
this spring, you made a decision. You chose your
side. Will you forget that so quickly when things grow
difficult? The man I thought I married wouldn't
forget it."
Stung, he colored. There was a moment of strained
silence. Then Philip let out a long sigh, and
nodded:
"I guess you're right. I'm sorry."
With one of those tart yet loving smiles he knew so
well, she said, "You're forgiven. I don't
blame you for wavering. Papa's told me about the
wretched conditions and poor discipline in the army-was
"The
army
doesn't even deserve the name. It seems
all you can think about in camp is the next minute,
then the next one after that. You eat, sleep, dig,
dodge cannon shot-you lose track of what it's
all about."
Still smiling, she touched his face. "That's why you need
a wife, my darling."
He laughed, the tension broken. Just as during their
sometimes-stormy courtship, it was Anne who put his
frequently muddled and imperfect thinking into proper
order and focus. That was just one of the many reasons he
loved her so much.
She saw he was still troubled, though:
"Don't worry, we won't lose track of what
we've planned for Abraham. A good house for our
family- your own printing establishment-Kent and
Son. How does that sound?"
"Grander than anything in this world." He hugged her.
The baby began to squall again.
Humming a little, Anne soothed the newborn in
back to sleep. Awestruck, Philip stared at the
lumpy bundle that represented his flesh and hers.
He knew he was only one man among
multitudes who had experienced the same supreme
moment of joy and wonder down through the centuries.
Yet he couldn't help feeling moved, as
if he were biblical Adam gazing on creation's
first-born son-
"By God," he breathed at last, "he is a big
boy, isn't he?"
"Seven or eight pounds, Mr. Tait said. But
I wish you wouldn't look at him quite so much."
Philip's eyebrows shot up. "Why not?"
Warm and loving, she caressed his face again.
"Because I'd like for you to kiss me."
Which
aut
I
When Philip and Experience Tait walked back
toward the American
Lines
at dawn, Philip told his new friend that he'd
changed his mind. If the war should last beyond
December, he would reenlist.
Tait's crazed eye seemed to glow like a small
moon in the first flush of eastern light. "Damn
fool," was his reply. "That's how fine young girls
like your wife turn into widders. Guess I'll do the
same thing, though."
"You said you had a wife didn't you, Eph?"
"Yep. And fourteen youngsters back in
Albemarle County."
"Fourteen! My Lord, you don't look that old."
"Started when I was fourteen years old. Besides, it
ain't how old, it's how stiff." He gave
Philip a lewd nudge in the ribs, and belched.
Presently, noticing Philip's dour look, he
asked:
"What the hell's got you down now?"
"Oh, just that I really thought about quitting-until
Annie helped me see things straight again."
"Heck, don't feel bad. I'd sooner be
back home hunt-in", far as that goes. The
Blue Ridge is mighty pretty this time of year.
And it's too dang cold up in these parts. But I
guess I'd rather have my kin remember me as a
fella who died free an' sassy, instead of
kissin' that old Dutchman's royal ass just to stay
alive."
"That's about how Anne put it," Philip told
him.
"Oh hell no she didn't!" Eph said. "She's
a lady. Ladies don't cuss half as
colorful as us Virginians."
"You're right about that," Philip said with a tired
smile. Far away, he heard the ominous
thump of the Boston batteries beginning the day's
bombardment. The sound erased the smile as if it had
never existed.
The Uprising
DONALD FLETCHER'S hired coach brought the
weary delegate back to Sermon Hill in
mid-August. The father's greeting of his elder son
was brief and perfunctory. What few meals the
three family members took together in the long,
airy dining room of the main house were strained and
virtually devoid of conversation.
Donald, a steady-minded but phlegmatic man,
took to spending most of his holiday in his younger
brother's company. Whenever possible, the two
snatched meals in the great kitchen, away from
Angus. The company of the black housewomen who
tended the huge iron stove and brick hearth was far
more relaxing.
In Judson's opinion Donald didn't look
well. He'd gained weight. His normally soft
face was puffier than ever. His eyes were perpetually
reddened with fatigue, and he could neither mount nor
dismount without the assistance of a slave at the stirrup.
From mid-calf downward, his left leg was swathed in
heavy bandages. Yet he persisted in
drinking the wine the physicians claimed only
worsened his gout.
Donald had married late, at age thirty. His
wife, the daughter of a prosperous tobacco factor
with headquarters in Richmond, had gone to her
childbed thirteen months later-and both she and her
infant daughter had died there. After that, Donald's
only pleasure or release seemed to lie in his
involvement in the political affairs of
the colony. This in itself guaranteed continual strain
at Sermon Hill.
Angus Fletcher refused to discuss either politics
or the management of the property with his older son,
even though Sermon Hill, at least, should have been a
subject of frequent conversation. Theoretically
Donald would inherit when the old man died. In
private, Donald told Judson that he
suspected Angus had already entertained thoughts about
altering his will. In fact, he believed Angus
might well have Sermon Hill sold off after his
death, the proceeds to be distributed among an
assortment of distant relatives still living in
Scotland. Their names and whereabouts were carefully
recorded in the family Bible Angus kept at his
bedside, Donald said. Angus had shown
him
the list of relatives several times. Perhaps as a
threat.
Donald seemed resigned to whatever happened.
Besides, he was interested in more significant
matters. These came up for discussion one muggy day
in early September.
The brothers were taking a turn around the countryside
on their horses. Near noon, they ended the ride
at the wharf beside the river. Three plantation wagons
were being unloaded by blacks under the supervision of
Reuven Shaw's drivers-specially appointed
slaves who served as his assistants. As the
brothers rode down the pier, Judson noticed many
a black face turned in their direction. He also
saw not a few resentful stares.
"Lord, you can almost smell the anger," Donald said,
his voice heavy with the wheeze he'd developed in
Philadelphia.
"Yes, but the old man won't stay Shaw's hand
one iota."
"I understand they caught the nigger with the drum."
Judson nodded, his blue eyes ranging along the
hazed river. By this time of year, the hand-hewn
tobacco canoes should have appeared-forty
feet long, five wide
and lashed together in threes and fives to carry big
loads. Because of the trouble, no one as yet knew
whether the canoes would come to load the casks. The
agents of the factors-most of whom were Tory
sympathizers comhadn't shown up at the plantations in
the neighborhood to begin finalizing purchases.
"Who had it?" Donald asked.
"The drum? One of Seth McLean's field
hands. Built it on the sly, out of woodshed
scraps and a goatskin. Seth burned it, then had
fifty laid on the culprit. The punishment damn
near crippled the man. It wasn't much easier on
Seth. But he said it had to be done."
Donald scratched his veined nose as Judson
walked around and helped
him
dismount. In the process, Donald nearly fell.
Leaning on his younger brother, he hobbled toward the end
of the wharf where the Rappahannock lapped softly.
The sky was graying in the northwest, promising storm
before the afternoon was over.
Donald tried his best to stand upright, bracing himself
on the cane he always carried. Without looking at
Judson, he said:
"You don't sound convinced that Seth did the right thing."
"Living around this place, how can you be certain of
anything? Except the old man's dislike for both of
us."
Donald chose to let that go for the moment. "Is Seth
of the opinion the slave problem's quieted, then?"
"Gone under the surface, would be more like it." Judson
slapped a gnat on his sweaty neck, turned
to stare into the west, a blur of hills beneath the
blackening clouds. His expression conveyed his disgust
over the entire situation.
Donald shifted his weight to favor his bandaged
foot. "If you find Sermon Hill so
opprobrious, why do you stay on?"
The younger brother shrugged. "Where would I go
instead?"
"That's what I wish to discuss with you."
Judson's head snapped up, his blue eyes
hooding with suspicion; Donald had sounded almost
schoolmasterish. He, in turn, saw Judson's
temper flaring. He held up a hand to reassure
him:
"Surely you've expected it. The old man's
been quite pointed in the few talks I've had with him.
You're drinking too much. And he says
you're worthless-wait, that's his word, not mine-when it
comes to running the place."
"I wouldn't deny that," Judson replied coldly.
"Then what does keep you here?" Donald's face
showed sympathy. "McLean's wife?"
his
Goddamn
it, Donald, you know that's over!"
"On a practical basis, of course I do. But
a man doesn't heat a wound in his heart all that
easily. I speak from some experience," he added after
a moment. "However, I won't press you if you
prefer not to speak about it."
That was good, Judson thought sourly, because he'd only
have been forced to tell more lies. And it was hard to lie
to the one member of the family with whom he could discuss
things on a halfway ultimate basis. Hard, but
not impossible. Very few actions frowned on
by so-called respectable people were impossible for
him
any more.
"Jud," Donald resumed, leaning on his cane and
staring at the river turning glassy under the fast-moving
clouds, "this siege between you and Father will only come to a
bad end. You need to leave Sermon Hill
for a while."
"I repeat-to go where?"
"I've a suggestion about that. Nothing definite as
yet, but I feel compelled to mention the idea for your
sake as well as mine."
Judson sat down on the end of the wharf, lolling one
of his expensive Russian leather boots in and out
of the water. Behind him, he heard the grunting of the
blacks unloading the huge casks of cured
leaves. One of the drivers shouted angrily. A
whip popped twice. The offender yelped. Judson
preferred not to turn and look. He waited for
Donald to continue:
"As you know, I must return to Philadelphia in
a week or two. The long hours of the Congress, the
rich food, the drinking-they haven't served me
well. I lay abed three weeks during the last
session. I got about the rest of the time only with great
difficulty. There's important work to be done when
the delegates reconvene comparticularly if the king
rejects the petition on reconciliation. I'd like
to go north confident that if my strength fails, someone
trustworthy could be appointed to fill my seat."
Realizing at last what his brother was getting at,
Judson almost burst out laughing.
Donald's intense, pain-wracked expression
checked the impulse. Judson said instead:
"You mean I'd be your replacement?"
"If a replacement became necessary, yes."
Stunned by the idea, Judson sat in silence.
Finally he shook his head:
"I'm flattered you'd even consider me, Donald.
But I doubt very much that the members of your delegation
would welcome someone like me." A mocking smile.
"A gentleman who's seldom sober, and hence
surely doesn't deserve the name."
"But you are my brother. More important, your
politics are proper."
"If not my morals?"
"See here, do you suppose the morals of the
delegates are all that spotless? I've sat at
table with Dr. Franklin and watched
him
turn to stone consuming Madeira. I'm not attending
a conclave of angels, you know-only of men. So
long as you create no public scandal-stay
within the bounds of decency-Amused, Judson said,
"For years I've been trying to find out where those are
located. Every man places "em differently, it
seems." He pondered a bit longer.
"You know, I wouldn't want to wish you ill-but I will
admit the possibility's intriguing."
"Good."
"In fact I'd be more than happy to get away from
this damned place for such a purpose. Still, can you just-
just wave your hand and appoint me to attend in your
stead?"
"Naturally not. You'd have to be duly elected to the
delegation. But there's precedent. Richard Henry
Lee saw to the election of his brother, Francis
Lightfoot, when old Bland had to come home because of
his infirmities. With words in the proper ears, I
could swing it I'm on good terms with Tom Jefferson
of Albemarle County, for instance. He's highly
respected despite his youth-yes, I could
definitely swing it. Mind you, I'm not saying it
will
become necessary. But I'd rest easier up there knowing that
if this blasted gout does lay me low again, my
place would be occupied by a man who's as determined
as I am to stand fast against the king and his ministers."
For a moment Judson was tempted; exceedingly
tempted. To his private shame, he nearly
wished that his older brother would be incapacitated.
Then reality took over. He shook his
head again:
"Oh, I don't think it would work, Donald. I
have no experience in politics."
"I realize that. Some of the other delegates are
pretty short on it themselves. I want to say something
else, Jud. I say it as a brother who feels
affection for you. Eventually, you're going to have
to decide what you are-and where you belong. The kind of
life you're leading now-surely it brings you no real
pleasure-was
"I hate it, for Christ's sake," Judson said
savagely.
"But as to what I am-that's been settled up at the
big house."
"Then at least don't shut out a possibility that
might relieve the situation. All I want today
is your pledge that I can depend on you if I need
you."
Westward, fast-flying clouds showed flickering white
light. Judson watched the bleached wood of the pier
dot with the first raindrops.
"All right," he said with a wry shrug that concealed a
feeling of futility. Donald had probed the
painful riddle that Judson struggled withfor hours on
end. He knew he didn't belong here at
Sermon Hill, where his father's disapproval and the
nearness of Peggy Ashford McLean were constant
torments. But just as certainly, he didn't belong in
the learned councils of the patriots in
Philadelphia.
Where, then?
Where?
He stared morosely at the lightning-ridden clouds
on the western horizon, confronting again the damning
truth:
He was a misfit. His father hadn't been entirely
wrong when he claimed that devil's blood ran in
his son's veins. And to make matters worse, not
only did Judson not know where he belonged in the
world, he didn't know how to find out.
The closing of Donald's fingers on his shoulder
took him by surprise. The compassionate look in
Donald's tired, reddened eyes startled him, then
filled
him
with a warmth he hadn't experienced in-Lord, it must be
years.
"Thank you," Donald said.
"You've made a wretched mistake, you know,"
Judson laughed with a false heartiness,
helping Donald hobble back to the horses.
"Who can be sure? You might discover you have a flak
for oratory and backstairs finagling. Besides, while
the winters in Philadelphia are miserable, I
understand
the ladies are quite flirtatious."
"You understand? Haven't you persuaded even one to tumble
into bed with you?"
Donald responded to the teasing with a grimace. "I
fear these damned bandages would prove-hampering, shall
we say? You, though-that's another story. See what
you have to look forward to?"
"You haven't mentioned this to the old man, have you,
Donald?"
"What would be the purpose? It's merely a
contingency."
"Contingency or no, please do me a favor and
keep it private. Otherwise I'll be rousted
to camp in the fields."
Donald laughed. "I suspect you're right.
I'll keep quiet."
The first of the empty wagons was pulling away as they
mounted in the pattering rain. The huge casks were
somber reminders of the canoes that might never come.
One buck in the second wagon glared at
them when they rode by. Wincing with pain, Donald
didn't see.
Judson
pretended he didn't either.

In the second week of September, Donald
Fletcher left in a coach, heartened by a letter from his
friend Tom Jefferson. The letter said that, for the first time,
the Congress might soon represent all thirteen
separate political entities up and down the
eastern seaboard. Reluctant Georgia was
apparently planning to dispatch a delegation at last.
After Donald departed, Judson was also the
recipient of an unexpected communication: four
closely written foolscap pages dated almost
eight months earlier, and wrapped inside a pouch
one of the Clark boys brought to Sermon Hill. The
letter was one of a packet
that had been sent east by Judson's friend George.
The packet had been posted at Pittsburgh.
The Clark boy said George had informed his family
that he was well and in good spirits. As a member of the
Virginia frontier militia, he had scouted for the
royal governor, the Earl of Dunmore, in sharp
action against the "savages" late the
preceding year.
Dunmore had personally gone across the mountains at
the head of an expeditionary force numbering a thousand
men. His purpose was to put down raiding by the
Indian tribes. The raiding had been provoked
by Dunore's own seizure of land in western
Pennsylvania, and by the arrival of settlers in the
country below the river with the Indian name-Ohio.
In the letter directed to Judson, George Clark
wrote of a successful military engagement at a
place called Point Pleasant. There, a
Shawnee war chief named Cornstalk and his
followers had been decisively defeated. Most
of the rest of the letter concerned itself with the breathtaking beauty
of the wilderness south of the Ohio.
On earlier expeditions, George dark had looked
at its dark, lush shores from a poplar canoe. But
now, at last, he had set foot in Kentucky, and
explored it.
The letter described strange, eerie marsh hollows
where animals stole down to lick at frosty-white
deposits of salt, and woodsmen marveled at
bones thrusting up from the ooze. George wrote that
he had personally seen time-bleached ribs as long as
the roof pole of a cabin, and thigh bones
thick as tree trunks:
"I
believe we gazed upon the remains of phenomenal
Beasts which may have roamed our earth before the coming of the
human kind. At least I have never heard of
skeletons so immense, save in fanciful
tales.
Judson's mind couldn't quite comprehend such a
bizarre curiosity. But he knew George
Clark would never invent a story merely to impress
him. He actually felt a thrill of awe down his
spine as he read the passage.
Kentucky, already divided into three large counties
which nominally belonged to Virginia, now boasted several
white settlements. In 1769, a man from the back
country of North Carolina had crossed the barrier
mountains to explore the territory.
Subsequently, he'd led members of his family
to the rich new land. The Boone clan had journeyed
through the notch in the mountains called Cumberland
Gap, and established a few isolated stockades.
Inhabitants of the frontier outposts lived with
constant danger.
The reason was simple: Kentucky had long been a
hunting ground for the Creek and Cherokee
tribes who ranged up from the, south-and also for the more
ferocious Miamis, Shawnee and Wyandots who
claimed the forests north of the Ohio.
In spite of the threat of Indian attacks from two
directions, Clark saw the Kentucky wilderness as
a promised land for men of free spirit:
Such spacious domains, my friend, have doubtless never
before been viewed by Human eyes. Here is land where
a man can breathe sweet, untainted air. Stroll
all day through forests with branches that arch overhead like the
vaults of Cathedrals. The limestone soil is
fertile, and game astonishing in its abundance.
Fat Turkeys of gold and purple
-
Buffalo grazing the canebrake which rises tatter
than a rider on horseback
-
Elk and Deer beyond counting
-
Paradise, notwithstanding its perils. In Kentucky
a man relies solely upon Himself and a few trusted
Comrades of like mind. It is here, I may say with
conviction, that I have found both Beauty to entrance the
Soul, and vast spaces whose exploration and defense
give purpose to my Life at last.
The letter closed with a brief but sincere wish t
hat
Judson was in good health, and that George Rogers
Cl
ark might again share his experiences in person, if ever
the mounting conflict with England gave him reason
to return to the Virginia colony which had taken so
much of the western forest in its own name.
The letter fired Judson's imagination just as
George's two visits had done. It also filled
him with a heightened loneliness, and a sense of deepening
confusion. At a river-front inn, he withdrew to a
corner and read the foolscap pages again and again.
Rum helped paint vivid pictures of his
lanky, red-haired friend striding along under those
immense green arches, smoothbore over his shoulder,
listening to the wild bird calls and sharing the friendship
of a night campfire. The names rolled sonorously
in Judson's inner ear-
Pittsburgh.
Kentucky.
Ohio.
Shawnee.
By their very sketchiness in his own mind, the lands beyond the
Blue Wall became richer and more
colorful moment by moment; then day by day.
More painful to think about, too.
He took a trip to Richmond. The trip had no
purpose other than to allow him to spend the better
part of two days in bed with a cheerful whore who
didn't constantly whine for demonstrations of
affection, the way Lottie Shaw did. On the
trip he heard that George Clark had indeed
acquitted himself well in the battle at Point
Pleasant. His name was mentioned in the taverns along
with those of other well-known frontiersmen-Kenton,
Girty, Boone. Thanks to men like George,
Lord Dunmore's western war had been a success.
God alone knew when Judson Fletcher would be
able to say the same about his disown existence.
In early November, Donald sent Judson a
letter saying that grim news had arrived on a
transatlantic
schooner recently docked at Philadelphia.
In August, George I'll had refused to receive
the petition for reconciliation, and formally proclaimed
the American colonies in open rebellion. Said
Donald:
Such as John Adams o
r
Mass. Bay are jubilant. It is plain that we
shall soon be past the point of possible compromise,
if we are not already. I was advised of the unhappy
turn of events comwhile at rest in my quarters.
The darned gout has once again confined me,
together with what one of the local croakers diagnoses
as a congestion in the breathing passages, brought on
by exposure to a prolonged spell of wet, foul
weather.
iv
"The vile, perfidious
spawn
of Satan!" Angus Fletcher cried, much too
exercised to touch the hog cutlet and greens on his
plate. "The wretched, deceiving miscreant!" The
old man bunched his fingers and hit the polished dining
table so hard the candle-glasses rattled. A
spoon fell to the pegged floor.
Into his fourth or fifth glass of claret,
Judson Fletcher lounged in his chair at the
opposite end of the long dinner table. A nervous
house black stepped forward to retrieve the spoon.
He retreated when Angus glared.
Muttering private curses, the old man covered
his eyes with both hands. The tall windows
of the dimly lit room were open on the November
dark. The evening was unusually warm; Judson's
neck cloth was undone.
"And all along I thought you and His Excellency were
kindred souls," he said.
Angus Fletcher whipped his hands down. "I need
no clack from you, you damned young traitor."
Judson smiled. "Strikes me it's Lord
Dunmore who's the traitor to those who thought him a
friend. That he'd try to recruit a loyalist army
is to be expected. But promising freedom to any
nigra who deserts his master to join-that's a
delightful fillip, to say the least. After Seth
heard the news, he was talking like the hottest
rebel."
Livid, Angus opened his mouth to reply. He was
so upset, he couldn't say a word. Judson
glanced away, momentarily ashamed of himself.
Yet he hadn't held back, had he?
The opportunity was just too rich. In one stroke,
the Tory governor had undercut the very planters who
were his strongest adherents. Men like Seth McLean
could switch sides quickly when their economic
position was threatened. But Angus, believing both in
the slave system and the authority of the king, was
not so flexible. He'd been suffering ever since the
surprising announcement had been circulated in the
neighborhood the preceding day.
"I'd expect you to relish my discomfort," Angus
snarled at his son. "To gloat-because you've no
brains in your head! No notion of the turmoil
Dunmore may have unleashed. We put the lid on
the kettle that was stewing all summer. Now the damn
fool's pulled it off again. Only Jehovah in
His wisdom knows what will-was
Boots rapped on the pegged floor. Judson
swung around.
Looking apologetic, Reuven Shaw stood just
inside one of the tall windows. His long
blacksnake whip was draped over his left shoulder
and under his right armpit.
"Blast you, Shaw," Angus said, "you're never
to interrupt my dinner and you know it."
Shaw seemed unnaturally pale. "Yessir, I
realize, but-was The overseer swallowed. "Number
two curing
barn's afire."
The room was absolutely still. Angus turned as
white as Shaw:
"Afire?"
"Yessir. I been smellin" something comin' all
day. The niggers been jumpy as hell. I got a
gang working to control the fire, but-was
Angus leaped up. "The niggers set it?"
"Who else, Mr. Fletcher? Half the bucks
ain't in their cabins. Sneaked out after sunset, I
reckon-was
Judson felt no further impulse to laugh.
Outside, behind the overseer, a dull red glare was
rising. He heard strident voices through the
November darkness.
"Sneaked out!"
Angus thundered. "Don't you have anyone watching
to prevent that? Who's your driver tonight? Why didn't
he sound the alarm?"
Reuven Shaw wiped a hand across his mouth. "My
driver tonight was Beau. You know Beau-a good nigger.
I just found
him
by the pond. His body was lyin' on the bank, an' his
head-his head was floatin' in-was
Shaw stopped, looking nauseated.
Well he might, Judson thought, chilled
despite the mildness of the evening. There had been
occasional slave rebellions throughout the
southern colonies in the past. Not many. But each one
was usually disastrous, at least at first, because the white
owners and overseers were numerically inferior.
"You mean to tell me niggers are loose with field
knives?" Angus whispered.
Again Shaw nodded, sick-faced. "Guess that's how
they butchered Beau. Lamed, he's gone for sure.
I checked."
Judson saluted Shaw with his goblet.
"Congratulations. I was told you hided
him
twice this
afternoon
."
"Sassy bastard kept braggin' he was gonna
enlist in Dunmore's nigger army. I shoulda
castrated him last
summer, "fore this got out of hand."
"Well, it obviously
is
out of hand," Angus seethed. "Why haven't I
heard the bell?"
"I come to report first. There ain't much we can do
to save number two barn-was
"Go
ring the goddamned bel
l!
Angus screamed. "We've got to turn out every
white man on the river before this spreads!"
The old man's profanity indicated the depth of his
fear. The house black who had been waiting on
table had disappeared, Judson noticed. Angus
dashed from the dining room, headed for his office. His
passage made the flames of the candles jump and
cast distorted shadows of Judson rising from his
chair.
On his way out, the overseer gave the younger man a
questioning look.
"If you're counting on me to help slaughter the
nigras-was Judson realized he was more than
slightly drunk. He had trouble articulating the
last word:
"Don't."
Shaw scowled. "Like Mr. Fletcher said, we need
every man-was
Judson waved. "Shit. I didn't bring this on.
I won't help finish it."
Reuven Shaw trembled, but not from fear. He gathered
spit in his mouth and blew a gob onto the pegged
floor. Then he spun and ran into the
red-glaring dark.
Judson tossed off the last of his wine. He was
setting the fine crystal goblet on the polished table
when he heard a hideous shriek from out on the
grounds.
He bolted for the window, raced down the lawn toward
the rear corner of the big house. Beyond it he saw
flames leaping from the curing barn, and terrified
bucks, wenches and running to and fro, adding their
hysteria to the din. Other male slaves were trying
to round up the frightened ones with profane shouts or,
in some cases, drivers" whips.
Before Judson reached the corner of the house, his
boots struck something in the neatly scythed grass.
He halted, crouched down, tasted vomit in his
throat-
Reuven Shaw, lying crooked as a doll. The
overseer was dead. An immense gash had been cut
in his throat. The distant firelight lit the still-wet
blood drenching his right sleeve and the front of his
coarse shirt.
Out back, the alarm bell on its great iron began
to toll-but not before Judson heard a stirring up on
his left, in the dark near the unlighted windows of the
conservatory.
"Jesus God-to " he breathed, lurching to his
feet as an ebony figure shot toward
him
from the shadowy concealment. Firelight glittered on
one of the knives used to chop off the leaves at
harvest.
The black man was red to the elbows. Judson's
sotted mind screamed the danger. Somehow he
managed to duck as the frenzied face loomed, white
teeth and eyes glaring. The long knife slashed in
an arc where Judson's head had been a moment before.
He dropped to his knees, grappled for the
slave's ragged trousers. A work-toughened hand
clasped his throat, cutting off his air. He heard
the guttural breathing of his attacker, then the
whissh
of the knife hacking at his throat-
Wildly, Judson wrenched free and rolled. The
slave jumped after him, hacked again. The blade
struck Judson's left boot, cut through the leather
but didn't break the skin. The renegade slave's
downward stroke had thrown
him
off balance. Judson sprang up, used his head
to butt the black in the stomach.
In
seconds, fright had torn the cobwebs out of his
mind.
The slave pitched over backwards. He cursed
Judson in West African dialect. The
cursing ended in a yelp as Judson stamped on the
slave's wrist. The gory right
hand opened. The field knife was loose. Judson
snatched it up, leaped back, panting-
A shadow fell across the lawn from the dining room.
Judson whipped his head around, saw his father with his
sword buckled on and a British-made horse
pistol in each hand.
"Kill him," Angus ordered as the terrified
slave struggled to rise.
Judson hesitated. Angus made a sound deep
in his throat; a wordless condemnation. In two steps
he reached the floundering slave, who blocked his face
with his scarlet forearms, shrieking, "Mist'
Fletcher
comdon'-
his
Angus shoved the horse pistol against the slave's
chest and fired.
Clang
and
clang,
the Sermon Hill bell spread its message of
terror through the still November night. Angus treated
his son to one final glare of utter loathing, then
disappeared around the corner of the house, on the run.
Judson turned his back on the grisly corpse
with the huge, dripping cavity in the chest. The curing
barn collapsed in a crash of burning timbers and
sky-spraying sparks. The slaves were being whipped
into submission by the black drivers; being formed up
into bucket lines that stretched from the springhouse. He
heard two more shots, new screaming-and then, off across
the fields, a series of ululating yells that sent
worms of horror disgnawing through his mind.
The renegade slaves were loose not just at Sermon
Hill, but out in the countryside
-
That made him run like a man demented.
Upstairs first, for his own horse pistol and the knife
for the sheath in his boot. Then through the red confusion to the
stable, where he flung a saddle on his roan, trying
not to hear the pitiless crack of the whips beating the
less able-bodied slaves back to their cabins.
The fire seemed under control now. It had
spread to the roofs of the other curing barns, but slaves
on ladders were dousing the flames with buckets of
water. Judson mounted, jerked the roan's head
savagely, galloped past the cabins and down to the
main road.
At a crossroads he encountered a dozen men from
neighboring estates, all summoned by the bell.
They reined in, shouting questions at him.
"Stand aside.
When they didn't, he booted the roan, jumped the
roadside ditch and thundered by along the shoulder,
tortured by what he saw through the trees in the distance.
Seth McLean's house. Ablaze.
He booted the roan still harder, the wind carrying those
piercing howls to
him
twice more before he turned into the lane leading
to Seth's property.
Riding fast toward the curving front drive, he
saw that his original estimate of the situation had been
wrong. Slave cabins, not the main residence, were
afire. But the front door of the great house stood
open. He heard terrified wails from within.
He jumped from the saddle and sped across the veranda between
the tall white pillars. He heard mounted
men back along the lane. He paused in the
doorway, saw another eight or ten galloping
toward the house, swords swinging from their hips,
muskets and pistols in their hands. In the distance, the
bell still clanged.
Judson wiped his sweat-blurred eyes, entered the
foyer and gagged.
Hacked by a field knife, Seth McLean lay
on the parquet. An ear was missing. An arm. One
foot. The sickening stench of blood filled the air.
Judson heard something stir in the darkened parlor.
He aimed the horse pistol at the arch-
And watched two black girls in long dresses and
kerchiefs come forward out of the gloom. Both were
young-and weeping. House help.
"Upstairs," one pleaded in a feeble voice.
"Love o God, Mist' Fletcher-
upstairs"
In the drive, the plantation men were dismounting.
Judson swayed a moment, drunk again. But not from
wine. From the slaughter; from the unavoidable truth:
This is what happens
comwhen one man chains another. G
od damn my father for not understanding

Somewhere on the upper floor, a woman screamed.
Judson climbed the stairs three at a time,
maddened almost beyond sense. His heart hammered so
violently his chest hurt. The memory of Seth
lying butchered brought bile back to his throat. But
he kept running, toward the source of that scream
keening down the long corridor where two chimneyed
candles flickered, islands of yellow in the darkness-
At the hall's end, a door on the left stood
open. The screaming came from that room; mindless;
mortally afraid. He shouted Peggy's name as he
plunged toward the rectangle of light on the
carpet, skidded to a stop outside, hate welling
when he looked in.
She lay on the floor. Half of her nightgown was
in shreds, the rest completely gone. A young black
bent over her, his trousers around his ankles. A
field knife shone in one hand.
The slave turned at the sound of Judson's
footsteps. His other hand held scraps of pastel
fabric. Behind him, Peggy thrashed and wailed, her
legs spread. A moment's distorted glance showed
Judson the secret place he'd thought about so
often; the curling dark hair against the pale skin.
He saw her small, firm breasts as
well. But there was no excitement in it; only
horror. Seth's wife shielded her face with her
forearms as she screamed-
Desperately, the slave lunged with the field
knife. His pants at his ankles made him
stumble. Judson hammered the barrel of the horse
pistol on the slave's wrist. The knife clacked
to the floor.
The black swayed forward, afraid now. Judson
used his free hand to catch the sweaty chin, prop the
slave up. The weight put great strain on his arm
and shoulder. His right knee buckled. But he needed
only a moment more-
The young slave saw what was coming. His mouth opened like
some ivory-lined chasm. Judson shoved the muzzle
of the horse pistol between the black's teeth and pulled
the trigger.
The black's body seemed to leap upward, then landed
half on top of Peggy McLean. She recoiled
from the weight she couldn't identify, tore at it with
maniacal hands and kept on screaming. Judson
tried not to look at the reddened gobbets of brain
matter and bone the pistol ball had deposited on
the rumpled bed and the wall behind.
He kicked the dead slave's body
aside, laid the still-smoking pistol on the carpet,
bent over the flailing woman. He started to speak,
noticed something else: a few glistening drops of
milky fluid in the black tangle between her legs.
And drying stains inside her thighs.
He closed his eyes, bent his head, jammed one
palm over his face until he was able to control
himself.
Then, as gently as possible, he touched her hair.
"Peggy?" he whispered. "Peggy, look here.
It's Jud
s
on."
The backs of his fingers accidentally brushed her
cheek. She shrieked again, trying to hitch her bare
body away from whoever was touching her.
"Peggy, you're all right. For God's sake look
at me," Judson pleaded, unaware of the tears on
his cheeks. He repeated it:
"Look at me
to 
She opened her eyes; those beautiful, luminous dark
eyes he'd coveted for so long. Her gaze was
unfocused; opaque.
She lifted one hand, as if on the
threshold of
recognition. Then something quenched it. She
recoiled, hand whipping over to shield her face as the
screaming started again, louder and shriller than before.
She bent her knees, hitched her hips away from the
terror in her own mind-
Dry-eyed now, Judson ran downstairs and found
the two shivering house girls. From behind the main
building came the familiar crack of whips and
discharging pistols.
"Go up to her," Judson ordered. "Lock yourselves
in with her and take care of her. Don't open the
door unless it's someone you know personally. A white
man. If anything happens to her, I'll come back
and kill you both."
They obeyed without hesitation as Judson ran out
into the darkness.
Some forty men answered the summons of Sermon
Hill's alarm bell that night. Mounted, they
stormed through the tobacco fields, youths with torches
in the van. They shot, sabered or whipped any
black they found running loose. Judson
traveled with one group and did his part, short of
actually firing his pistol. He rode like a man
half dead, only marginally conscious of
details of what was going on.
Though not completely like the vividly remembered
outbreaks of past years, the one that had ignited at
Sermon Hill, McLean's and one other plantation
further downriver resembled earlier uprisings in at
least one way. It was fueled and given momentum
by rage more than reason. Poorly organized and
planned, it began to weaken as soon as the planters
took to the saddle with their superior weapons and
jangling shackles. It crumbled further as whites
rode in leading chained slaves in twos and threes.
It dissolved completely about midnight, when another
group arrived at Sermon Hill
with the corpse of big, blue-muscled Larned dragging
the ground, pulled by a rope around one ankle.
Larned had been shot in the back with a musket ball
while attempting to swim the Rappahannock. His
noisy thrashing attracted a passing party of
whites. Down on the river bank, they killed him.
"Poor dumb nigger," remarked one of the party, without
any real pity. "He was trying to swim across to the
other side. Didn't have one damn idea of the way
to Williamsburg."
Angus Fletcher ordered Larned's head cut off
and exhibited on a pole in front of the
cottage belonging to the dead overseer.
More and more slaves were rounded up in the hours after
midnight. Most wailed for mercy, claiming that they
had only done what they thought was right: "S'posed to go
fight with Gummer Dunmo." To start the outbreak,
Larned and a few co-conspirators had circulated
word of
Dunmore's
outrageous offer.
Judson listened to the fearful, unlred pleas and
shook his head sadly. At minimum, each
runaway would receive a murderous lashing that might
cripple
him
for life.
One pocket of resistance remained. Half a
dozen slaves, male and female, hadn't
surrendered, yet hadn't been quick enough to escape from
Sermon Hill after the diversionary fire was
discovered. The slaves had thoughtlessly holed up in the
smokehouse. Angus Fletcher issued orders for
brushwood to be piled around the building. He had
been informed that Larned's woman, Dicey, was one of
those inside.
While Judson watched from horseback a
few yards away, Angus lighted a torch. The
old Scot turned his back on his son's obvious
disapproval and applied the torch to the brush. Within
minutes, there was a stench of scorching flesh. Cries
of human pain mingled with the fire's crackling.
A charred door fell outward. Dicey appeared,
soot-covered, pleading for mercy. Angus Fletcher
ordered her shot. A planter with a freshly loaded
musket put it to his shoulder and obliged.
Judson wheeled his roan away from the carnage,
wanting the solace of alcohol. As much alcohol
as he could consume, as quickly as he could consume it.
First, though, he made inquiries of the loyal house
blacks. Yes, the situation at McLean's was under
control. Peggy's mother and father had been summoned from
the Ashford plantation.
Perhaps thirty blacks in all had been slain
outright. Scores more would be maimed by their punishment.
Still, that represented a smaller economic loss
than if the rebellion had gone unchecked even for
another few hours. Judson heard men laughing and
congratulating each other as he headed upstairs.
He locked himself in his room and started to drink himself
insensible. For some reason it proved difficult.
Long after he should have fallen into a daze,
he heard the last dreadful cries from the
smokehouse.
Or were they only in his mind?
Judson's chin sagged onto his chest. He
speculated in a thick-witted way that the burning
alive of six prime bucks and wenches would no
doubt be considered a good investment by old Angus.
An example to insure tranquility for months,
even years to come-
Presently the rum did put him in a stupor.
Yet even then, he heard the slaves' screaming.
And Peggy's.
vi
Seth McLean's funeral was held at an
immaculate white Presbyterian church six
miles from Sermon Hill. The whole district
attended-except for Seth's widow. Three days
earlier, her father had taken her away from
the
McLean house in a closed coach, so that she might
recuperate-if that were possible-among her closest
kin. In the interim, McLean's overseer
Williams was to operate the plantation.
Judson rode to the church ten minutes after Angus
left Sermon Hill. He didn't care
to share the old man's company.
When the pastor finished eulogizing Seth McLean
and turned to speculating on Jehovah's mysterious
and unfathomable reasons for taking human life in
its prime, Judson rose up in a back pew.
He had been drinking since dawn. In fact he
had taken his last pull at the doorway of the little
country church. He created a disturbance by shouting at
the pastor:
"Jehovah didn't kill Seth. Or the nigras
either. We did."
Several of the church elders converged on Judson and
hustled
him
from the sanctuary. He laughed in a crazy,
embittered way as they hoisted him onto his horse
and sent him away up the road. Then the elders went
back inside, shaking their heads.
There, Judson supposed as he groped for another
jug in his saddlebag, Angus Fletcher would be
seated in the very front pew, his head bowed in abject
prayer for the forgiveness of sins-
Particularly
those committed by his satanically inspired second
son.
vu
A gray December morning, with rain tapping the
glass. Judson let the curtain fall on the
misted view of the wharf beside the Rappahannock.
The wharf was empty. A factor had been found, and the
canoes had come at last. This year's crop had
brought a modest profit. Trade with the ports of
England hadn't ceased completely. But most of the
lanters considered that inevitable-just as they now regarded
war as inevitable.
Judson rummaged through the odds and ends of clothing
remaining to be packed. He discovered he'd
miscounted the pairs of linen underdrawers. He added
two more to the pile.
He just wasn't thinking clearly. Images of
Peggy McLean kept intruding. First the Peggy
he'd courted, warm-eyed and laughing. Then the harrowing
face of the screaming girl he'd discovered in the
McLean bedroom-
Finishing his counting, he saw the second picture
again. He began to shudder. Only one remedy for that.
He relied on it almost constantly these days. Since
he had to face his father shortly, that justified a
second drink.
He set the jug aside and picked up the
folded sheets of parchment. Carrying these, he lurched
down the graceful curving staircase to his father's
cramped corner office behind the conservatory.
Judson rolled back the sliding door and walked
in. Then he rolled the door shut with a loud bang.
Framed against a window overlooking the slave cabins
and the raw lumber already nailed up for the framework of a
new smokehouse and curing barn, Angus Fletcher
took his old clay pipe out of his mouth and scowled.
The room reeked of Sermon Hill's own
fragrant leaf.
"You know I don't care to be disturbed when I'm
working on the accounts, Judson." The old man
waved the pipe's long stem at several open
ledgers.
"Appears to me you're smoking, not doing figures,
Father."
Angus sighed. "May God forgive you for your
never-ending disrespect."
"Oh, I think He's too busy with more worthy
folk to bother with the likes of me," Judson
grinned. He held up
the parchment sheets. "I thought you'd want to know the
contents of Donald's letter. It came two days
ago and you haven't asked-was
Angus cut him off: "The activities in that nest
of vipers are of no interest to me."
"Well," Judson announced with another muzzy
smirk, "you needn't count Donald among the
vipers any longer."
That caught the old man's attention. With bitterness,
Judson recognized concern breaking through the flint
facade.
There'll never be such concern for me,
he thought.
Angus asked, "What does Donald say,
then?"
"That the gout is afflicting him severely. And the
pleurisy. As soon as he can arrange
transportation, he'll be returning home."
One veined hand darted out. "Let me see-was
"Sorry, there are parts of the letter that are personal."
Judson folded it and shoved it in his belt.
Angus Fletcher sucked on his pipe. "You
delight in baiting me."
"I guess I do," Judson admitted in a
moment of candor.
"It's your pleasure, your sport. Along with
drunkenness-was
"For Christ's sake don't start that."
"How often must I tell you to refrain from
blasphemy in my presence, Judson?"
"All right." A weary shrug hid his sudden hurt
Despite their differences-and the serious imperfections
of each-Judson knew he should love this old man.
And be loved in return. Sometimes the fact that both
seemed incapable of it produced pain that was damn
near unbearable.
Judson quickly regained control. His customary
mask of smiling arrogance back in place, he
continued:
"Truth is, you won't have to suffer my
blasphemies at
from now on." "What do you mean?" "I'm packing
to go to
Philadelphia
. I'm to serve as Donald's alternate in the
Congress until he recovers."
Angus Fletcher sat down in his hand-hewn pine
chair, dumbfounded. But not for long:
"Apparently there is no limit to your waywardness."
Weaving on his feet, Judson replied, "Why,
I'd say I've been an exemplar of virtue
since that unfortunate business at the chapel-was
"An example of debauchery," the old
man snorted. "Besotted every waking minute-was
"I told you, don't start-was
was off at that slut Lottie Shaw's most nights
oh, yes, I know about that, too." Reaching out as if
he wanted to conceal something private of his own, the
old man closed the ledgers one by one, then stacked
them. "It's time we had an accounting."
"No accounting necessary, Father. I'm leaving, that's
all."
"How will you travel?"
"On horseback." The purpose of the question eluded
him.
Angus rectified that: "I can't spare a single
nigger to accompany you. Not one, is that clear?"
"Oh, I see. Surely. I'll hire some
piece of white trash, then. Send him for the
trunk-was
"You are an abomination in the eyes of the Lord,"
Angus Fletcher declared. "A disgrace to your
heritage, to your upbringing-was
"Dammit, I've had enough of your prating!"
Judson exploded. "My politics are no
different than Donald's!" "Donald is a
misguided innocent compared to you," his father told
him
r
"You shame me in front of the church congregation, you
scandalize the Fletcher name with your concern for widow
McLean's welfare-no, don't argue! I know
how you've had someone from the
house bustling over there almost daily to inquire about
her! If she hadn't been hurt the night of the
rebellion, you'd never have ridden the fields
to capture the niggers."
"You've certainly outlined the charges well,"
Judson said. If only the old man would speak
to
him
kindly just once.
Once!
But that was a forlorn hope. And he recognized that
effort was sorely lacking on his side as well.
He went on:
"There's not much I can add to your expert presentation
of the evidence. I stand accused. Proudly, sir.
Proudly-was
"When comw you stop your insolence?"
the old man fairly screamed.
Judson smiled his most charming smile. "The day
you're rotting in hell, which I sincerely
hope is your destination."
Paling, Angus Fletcher blinked several times.
Water appeared at the corners of his eyes. In a
peculiar, strangled voice he asked:
"What is it that you have against me, Judson? Why is
it that you hate me so?"
"I've often wondered the same about you, Father.
Goodbye-was
As he started to leave, Angus" voice regained
its old harshness:
"One moment more."
Judson turned back; recognized the familiar
sternness of the lined face. That moment of hesitation and
hurt in which they might have reached out symbolically
to touch one another was gone. He felt overpoweringly
thirsty.
In a level tone, Angus said, "You do not
approve of my loyalties to the government which has
made it possible for the Fletcher family to prosper.
You do not approve of the system of labor that keeps
this plantation operating profitably. You certainly
never respond to my
suggestions for improving your lax morals. It
seems me there is nothing more for you at Sermon
Hill-was
He leaned over the desk, pressing his knuckles
on the closed ledger on top of the stack:
"Am I plain enough? Nothing-not a farthing."
"I take it this is your way of informing me I'll have
no consideration in your will?" It was an upsetting thought,
though not entirely unexpected.
"That's correct. You have already tried me beyond all
reasonable limits. Go to Philadelphia-step off
this property for that purpose-and I will never permit you
to set foot on it again."
"Oh-was Judson tried to muster another grin,
couldn't. "A little bait dangled? If I repent,
everything will be well?"
"What's the harm in that? I'd redeem your soul if
I could, since you won't do it yourself." All at
once the old man sounded tired. "You seem bent
on destroying yourself."
"Thoughts like that are too deep for me," Judson said
with a loose shrug. Inside, something broke with tearing
pain. He shut his eyes a moment. Then he
reopened them, managing at last the kind of totally
cavalier smile that could light his face. He reached
for the door. "Goodbye, sir."
"You do understand what I intend, Judson?"
"Of course. "And if thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is
profitable for thee-" his
"Stop."
"that one of thy members should perish-" his
"Stop, goddamn you!"
But Judson kept on, loudly: was "com and not that
thy whole body should be cast into hell." All right,
I'll do the service in hell in your place. For the
moment! That way, you can keep fancying yourself spotless
and sanctified. Until you arrive to join me."
He walked out, rolling the door shut with a bang.

.
R
a
in
rattled on the windows as he hurried through t
he
conservatory. Suddenly he thought he heard a
muffled outcry from the office. A cry of grief.
His heart leaped-
He hesitated. Thought about going back-
But he didn't.
It was much too late.
viii
Half an hour later, Judson Fletcher left
Sermon Hill. His cloak belling behind him, his
tricorn cocked low over his forehead to keep off the
worst of the rain, he galloped down to the river and
turned southeast in the direction of the ferry that would
take him across to the road leading north. At a
front window of the great house, one curtain was held
aside by an unseen hand until Judson's flying
cloak vanished in the December mist. Then the
curtain was slowly put back in place.
The Guns of
Winter
A BITTER GALE off the Atlantic flung
sleet through the November twilight. Philip
turned in at the front gate of the Vassall house
on Brattle Street, Cambridge. He was
chilled clear through, and nervous. Only an hour before,
one of his occasional visits with his wife and son had
been concluded in unexpected fashion.
Philip had arrived in Watertown to find Anne
feeding their stocky infant at her breast. Her
color was good, her strength increasing daily. Apart
from a continuing concern about the likelihood of
full-scale war, what troubled Anne Kent at the
moment was her father's poor health.
The lawyer had lain abed for more than three weeks.
Wracked by chills and constant coughing, he lacked
appetite and was steadily losing weight. During the
hour Philip spent with his family, the raspy cough
from Ware's bedroom was a worrisome counterpoint
to conversation.
On his way back to his regiment, Philip
stopped at the tiny shop near the Charles River where
his former employer, Ben Edes, had reassembled his
press after smuggling the pieces out of Boston in a
rowboat. With a few fonts of type, Edes was
straggling to publish his patriot newspaper, the
Gazette,
on a more or less regular basis.
But when Philip arrived, he found Edes setting
up the
press to print paper currency; special
currency authorized by the Massachusetts
provincial legislature.
There had already been talk in Philip's regiment that
such money might be used to pay the soldiers. The
possibility caused grumbling and resentment.
Money made legal only by the legislative act
of a colony in rebellion might not be worth much.
Certainly it wouldn't be as readily
spendable as the sterling pound. The new currency was being
printed in desperation, to purchase needed supplies
and materiel for the army. Edes, who looked tired,
emphasized the point by showing Philip several
plates for various denominations. When Edes turned
the plates over, Philip recognized Revere
engravings, prints of which had been sold at the old
shop in Dassett Alley. Revere had worked one
new design on the back of his popular depiction
of the Boston Massacre.
"Even new copper for etching the worthless stuff can't
be had," Edes complained, just as the front door
banged open.
"Are you Philip Kent of the Twenty-ninth
Massachusetts?"
Philip whirled to confront the gruff-voiced
arrival: an officer of the Mar8,4 Twenty-first.
The unit's trimly outfitted men had been chosen
as personal guards for the commanding general's
headquarters.
"I'm Kent, yes, sir."
"Christ, you roam around a lot. First I rode
to your regiment, then your wife's rooms-come along
smartly, if you please. I've a horse for you
outside."
"Come along where?" Philip asked. "I'm due
back in camp-was
The ruddy-cheeked man seemed skeptical of his own
reply:
"No, you're to come with me. To General Washington."
Even Ben Edes looked flabbergasted. During the
uncomfortable ride to Cambridge, Philip's
uneasiness increased. The officer said he had no
information about the reason forofthe summons.
Presently they arrived at the large, imposing
residence on what was coming to be called Tory Row.
Like many of his neighbors, Mr. Vassall, owner
of the property taken over by Washington, had fled
to sanctuary with the British in Boston. A few
other loyalists who hadn't as yet departed had
painted black rings around their chimneys, to signify
*cctinuing
allegiance to the king.
As he tethered his horse, Philip decided that his
involvement in the brawl in the Virginia encampment
had somehow caught up with him, and he was due for
punishment.
He slipped and slid up the sleet-covered walk.
Three officers emerged from the brightly lighted house,
arguing. Philip stepped aside,
remembering to offer a salute. The officers
returned it in perfunctory fashion, giving
him
over-the-shoulder stares as they hurried on to their
horses. Their expressions showed their astonishment at
the sight of a common soldier of the line approaching
headquarters; a soaked, bedraggled soldier at that.
More apprehensive than ever, Philip moved on.
Near the front of the house, wind tore at a
swaying pole. At the top, a flag cracked and
fluttered. A flag Philip hadn't seen before.
Britain's Union Jack in the upper left
corner was familiar, but not the red and white
horizontal stripes. He counted thirteen, just before
the armed Mar8,4 men flanking the doorway demanded
identification.
Philip gave his name and unit. He was astonished
when he was admitted instantly, with instructions
to turn left and knock at the drawing-room door.
He did. "Come in, come in!"
Teeth chattering from more than the cold of the night, he
obeyed.
Behind a littered writing desk, General George
Washington faced a wall map representing the
Boston area. A few candles lent a
soft glow to the room. Philip was startled to see a
familiar figure all but hiding most of a chair.
Henry Knox.
Knox lifted his silk-wrapped hand to acknowledge
Philip's presence while the
third-feminine-occupant of the room set a tray
on a corner of the desk. On the tray were
glasses, a decanter of
Madeira
and several oranges.
The plump-cheeked, diminutive woman was dressed
in an elegant gown of pale blue. She glanced
at Philip and smiled in a friendly way. The same
couldn't be said of Washington or Knox. Both
looked weary; under strain.
Philip said, "Kent of t
h
e Twenty-ninth
Massachusetts reporting as ord--.
his
The tall, big-boned general in dark blue and
buff cut him off with a gesture:
"We may eliminate the formalities. Time
presses." His gray-blue eyes shifted to the
woman, softening a little. "Our thanks for the
refreshments, my dear. Now if you'll be so kind as
to allow us privacy-was
"Of course," the woman murmured, withdrawing quickly
and closing the door behind her. Philip assumed the
woman must be the general's wife, only recently
arrived from the family plantation on the Potomac
River in Virginia.
Camp gossip about Martha Custis Washington was
uniformly favorable; she was reputed to be a kind,
gracious person who preferred to be at her
husband's side instead of at faraway Mount
Vernon. Everyone knew the general loved his
estate, and the refined squire's life it afforded.
Everyone also knew that if a
British force ever penetrated up the Potomac,
Mount Vernon would surely be burned.
Yet Washington's wife had placed her husband
above her opulent home, and traveled north in bad
weather over difficult roads to be with him.
Unexpectedly, Mrs. Washington's arrival in
Cambridge strengthened the general's own standing among
the troops. Plainly delighted by his wife's
presence, Washington seemed less austere; became
something more of a human being in the eyes of the men who
served him.
The general indicated the fruit and wine:
"Take your ease and help yourself to refreshments,
Kent. Mr. Knox requested your presence."
"And your assistance, Philip."
"Certainly, Henr-sir. What can I do?"
"Find me at least one more good man to go with us on a
mission of considerable urgency."
Philip picked up an orange, began to peel it
clumsily. Breaking the skin with his thumbnail, he
squirted juice onto his coat, further compounding his
nervousness.
Us,
Knox had said. Then he recalled some reference to a
scheme Knox was hatching; Knox had mentioned it
back in September.
To cover his awkwardness, Philip slipped into a
chair Knox indicated and dispensed with trying to eat the
messy orange. Washington's shadow lay black
and immense over the wall map. He put one finger
on the outline of the coast:
"We face a perilous situation here at Boston,
Kent. A situation which Mr. Knox with his special
knowledge and abilities may help us remedy. I had
hoped to be able to commission him colonel for this duty.
That's temporarily delayed-the damn
paperwork required to gain Congressional approval
of an appointment is beyond belief. But Henry will still
serve as commander of the expedition in question."
Washington knocked knuckles against the map.
"Prolonged hostilities now appear certain.
Especially since His Majesty has declared us in
rebellion. At any hour we can look for
Billy Howe to break his ministerial troops out of
Boston to attack our positions-was
General Howe, Philip knew, had already
replaced the well-intentioned but ineffective Thomas
Gage as commander of the Crown forces locked up on the
Boston peninsula.
"comand here-was Again Washington knocked the map, in its
southeast quadrant. The heights of Dorchester,
overlooking the Neck and the city. "comwe are
vulnerable."
Knox put in, "For that reason I intend
to procure a train of artillery. The guns we
need to fortify our defenses and insure that Howe
does not break out. I must have one or two dependable
men with me, Philip." "Knox recommends you,"
Washington said with a keen look, while Philip
(disthought of his wife, his son, his ailing father-in-law.
"You are of course not compelled to undertake the
duty-was
Two pairs of eyes fixed on him, waiting.
Washington's remark wasn't entirely truthful.
Those steady gazes left
him
no choice.
"If I can be of use, General, then of course-was
Washington's smile was wry. "A refreshing
attitude, eh, Henry?" He swung back
to Philip. "Mr. Knox learned that you plan
to re-enlist, Kent." "Yes, sir, that's my
intention." "Well, you are in a minority," the
general grumbled. "It seems that most of our men have
no desire except to retire to their chimney
corners. In fact, such a dearth of public spirit and
want of virtue-such stock-jobbing and versatility in
all the low arts to obtain personal advantage
comsch grubby self-seeking pervades this ill-formed
army that I shouldn't be at all surprised at
any
disaster which-was
The rising voice cut off abruptly. Somehow it
hear
t
ened Philip to see the general momentarily
embarrassed by an excess of temper.
"However-was Washington cleared his throat. "You
heard Mr. Knox say he needs a pair of
aides he can count on-was
"Can you suggest someone from your own unit?" Knox
asked.
Philip thought, chose words with care: "I know a
great many men. But I'm not sure whether-was
"Whether they're trustworthy?" Washington broke
in.
Philip's nod acknowledged the truth he'd been
unwilling to speak. Then, an inspiration:
"There is one man I met-he seems very
courageous and forthright. He's from your own colony,
General."
That pleased Washington: "What's his name?"
"Experience Tait. I don't know anything about his
military ability. But as a friend, I can't speak of
him
too highly. When I couldn't find a physician,
he went to Watertown to deliver my wife of our
son."
"For money?" Washington asked.
Philip smiled. "No, all he wanted was a
drink afterward."
"A Virginian, all right," Washington said.
To Knox: "Get him."
Knox nodded, said to Philip, "I'll arrange
matters with your commandant so we can leave as soon as
possible."
"If I may ask-was
The silence of both men gave Philip leave
to continue.
"comwhere will we be going? To one of the outlying towns?"
Before the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and
Concord, various patriot groups had hidden a
few small artillery pieces to protect them from
possible British seizure.
Knox stared at his bandaged left hand while
Washington unrolled a map lying on the desk.
Philip craned forward, bone-cold again. What
Washington was
spreading was not a map of the Massachusetts colony
but the whole eastern seaboard of the continent. Philip
began to understand why Henry Knox looked grim.
"We need many more cannon than we can find in the
barns and cellars of Massachusetts Bay,"
Washington said. "There is only one place they
may be had-difficult to reach, doubly difficult
to return from this time of year. But Mr.
Knox has volunteered to bring the cannon back
regardless. You will be going after the artillery pieces
captured some months ago at the British fort
here-was
The Virginian's big-boned hand dropped down
to thwack a blue patch on the map, far away from the
Boston shore:
"Ticonderoga."
The drawing-room windows whined under the onslaught of the
November wind. The orange fell from Philip's
suddenly slack hand, thumped the floor and rolled
to Knox's feet.
The fat young man picked it up and tossed it back
to Philip with an empty smile:
"I'm not surprised at your reaction. The roads
are poor where they exist at all-the distance is
formidable comand there's winter to contend with. But we
will
bring back the guns, because our cause is in
extreme danger until they're in place. I
suppose we should again offer you the option of
withdrawal-was
Philip shook his head. "No, I agreed to go.
I will."
Washington and Knox exchanged brief
smiles. But that didn't relieve Philip's
awareness of the staggering problems of the venture to which he'd
just committed himself. Sleet struck the windows like a
rattle of small-arms fire, and the panes once
again gave off a forlorn, whining sound.
lii
On the eve of the new year, 1776, Philip
Kent half
believed that he'd been submerged in a nightmare from
which he would never awaken.
How long he'd been working, he didn't know.
Since eternity, it seemed. The axe felt twenty
times as heavy as it should. He swung it up again,
brought it down, chopped through the slushy surface of the
ice-
And heard a terrifying crack just to his right.
"Better stand back!" Eph Tait yelled from a
couple of yards away. "She sounds ready to go-was
No sooner was the last word out than Philip felt
the ice of the Mohawk River give way. A large
section dropped out from under one foot. He teetered
wildly, off balance.
His right boot plunged into icy water. Eph Tait
threw down his axe and leaped, pulling Philip
back to safety with a yank. Tait let go
and Philip sat down hard on his rump. The ice
crackled again, but held. Philip climbed to his
feet and rubbed his rear, grimacing.
"Better 'n a river bath, ain't it?" Tait
wanted to know.
"Not much."
"Some thanks I get," Tait said, grinning.
From one shore of the Mohawk to the other,
shadow-figures-hired teamsters plus volunteers
dragooned locally by the persuasive, determined
Knox-continued to chop openings in the ice. The holes
permitted water to flood up and freeze a new
layer over the perilously thin crust on which the men
worked. A high winter moon lit the landscape and the
workmen with eerie touches of white. Behind Philip and
Tait, the lights of the settlement called Half
Moon gleamed on a point of land where the Mohawk
and Hudson met. In Half Moon right now,
Knox was undoubtedly engaged in his interminable
haggling for more sledges, more horses and oxen, more
drivers to push the bizarre caravan southward-
"All this work's a waste!" Philip exploded, his
breath a cloud in the moonlight. He was still
butt-sore; dull
pain tormented every muscle. His
rag-wrapped hands were stiff as sticks. "We'll
never get them across such thin ice."
"We will with a good sharp freeze." Eph Tait
slapped his friend's shoulder. "Come on, let's
mosey back. I'd say we could draw our
whiskey ration 'bout now, wouldn't you? Half an
hour's rest'll do our bones some good."
"A half hour standing still and I'll be frozen
to death."
"Listen, I'm the one oughta be compla*"!" Tait
retorted as they crossed the slippery, moon-bright
ice. On their right, the black line of trees on the
Hudson's east bank showed an edge of silver.
"You volunteered me for this damn duty! A real
honor! "Bout the only honor I'll get is
if I get killed an" they bury me. Say, you
"spose Washington'd come to our funerals
personal, Philip?"
"If he could, I think he would," Philip said
absently.
"Least he could do for a pair o" fine gentleman
volunteers, I'd say-was
As always, Tait's chatter helped relieve
Philip's gloom, and the immediate prospect of a warming
drink took his mind off his yearning to be
back in Massachusetts with Anne and their son.
He slogged on toward the bank where oxen lowed and men
huddled around a log fire built near the sledges
with their precious cargo lashed down by a webbing of
ropes.
At first the journey with Knox had been a delight.
Philip reveled in unexpected vistas of
mountainous country; the vast, silent forests of York
State blanketed with fluffy, fast-melting snow.
They had reached Fort George in early December,
then pushed north to star-shaped Fort Ticonderoga where
the "noble train of artillery," as Knox termed it,
waited for them.
Fifty-eight pieces. Four-pounders
to twenty-four-pounders. Howitzers and some small
coehorns and a few mortars including one giant that
had been
nicknamed The Old Sow. In size, the captured
cannon ranged from a foot long to eleven feet; in
weight, from a hundred pounds to over five thousand.
A hundred and twenty thousand pounds in all, Knox
calculated. To be transported through wilderness,
south and then eastward, three hundred miles in the
depth of winter.
Initially, the artillery-along with one
invaluable barrel of fine-quality British flints
and twenty-three crates of shot-had to be freighted
down Lake George in a collection of
pirogues and batteaux. A single big scow took
the largest pieces. At Sabbath Day Point, the
scow foundered and sank. But in shallow water.
Bailing operations set her afloat again.
With the help of the wealthy York State patrician
Philip Schuyler, already appointed a major
general in the Continental forces, Knox secured
eighty specially built sledges and eighty yoke
of oxen. But thawed, mushy ground prevented the
caravan from getting underway immediately. Finally, late
in December, snow pelted down-and the drivers began
to lash their beasts forward, the sledges slipping and
sliding on runners. New Year's brought the train
of wrangling men, laboring animals and precious
guns to the river junction comwhere capricious weather
once again betrayed them. In hopes of strengthening a
route to the Mohawk's southern shore, the hired men
and local volunteers had been set to work making
holes in the ice.
"Be damned if I ain't goin' home, and my
team too," Philip heard a man complain as he
and Tait approached the welcome warmth
of the bonfire. "Twenty-four shillings a day ain't
half enough when the animals won't be fit to work after this
here trip's over. Hell, they'll probably be
drowned "fore it's done." Philip recognized a
yellow-bearded farmer named Crenkle. The man had
hired on with his oxen at Glens Falls,
"Twenty-four shillings is what you agreed to,
neighbor," Tait said in an unfriendly tone as he
picked
a dirty earthenware cup. He popped the bung of
whiskey cask resting on a trestle. "You should of
bitched to Colonel Knox then."
"Don't give me that colonel shit," Crenkle
said. "He ain't nothin" but a civilian. A
lazy one to boot! Sittin' on his ass in the
village-eatin' dinner while we work ourselves half
to death on that blasted river-was
"No, sir. Not dining."
The voice whirled Crenkle around. In the
firelight his breath plumed as he exhaled.
Cloaked, Henry Knox came waddling out of the
darkness leading his fretful horse. Despite his
girth and his pudding face, there was a severity in his
eyes that made
Crenkle
step backward.
"I have been hunting men to serve in the stead of cowards
and malingerers like you." Knox snatched a cup from
Crenkle's hand and flung it away.
The cup shattered against the muzzle of a howitzer.
Filthy, half-frozen men around the fire exchanged
furtive looks. Some of the men were amused; others
far from it. Their guilt showed.
"Drag home like a cur if you wish, Crenkle,"
Knox said. "But if you do, you've broken your
contract. I will feel free to confiscate your oxen
as a penalty."
"Confiscate
-!" Crenkle screamed. "You ain't got any right
whatsoever-was
"Why sure he does, brother. Here "tis."
Philip spun, startled. He hadn't been aware
of Eph Tait slipping off into the dark. Tait had
returned as silently as he'd gone-bringing with him his
Kentucky rifle that traveled carefully lashed in
place on the sledge carrying The Old Sow. The
long muzzle glittered with highlights from the fire.
"She's primed and ready to jine the argument," Tait
advised the furious Crenkle. "What was you
sayin" about the colonel's rights?"
"Damned high-handed bunch of army bastards-to "
Crenkle began, wiping his beard with a wind-raw hand.
But he sounded less than sure of himself.
Knox glared. "Get back to the river or go
home. Now."
Muttering, Crenkle crept away from the
campfire.
Toward the river.
Knox sighed in a disgusted way, tramped to Tait
and Philip. "Tonight I sent a letter to General
Washington, advising him of our delay. I
assured him we'll cross the Mohawk the moment
it's reasonably safe to do so. Can we hope that'll
be soon?"
"Ice is still pretty weak, Henry," Philip
said through stiff lips.
"We must risk it. We've another crossing down
at Albany comand after we turn east, the hardest
terrain of all. The longer we wait, the worse the
danger of a blizzard."
Neither Philip nor Tait required convincing.
Having ridden west with Knox and pored over his
maps, they were well aware of the mountains separating the
Hudson valley and Boston. There were no
conventional roads or easy passes through the
range. To be caught there in a full-scale winter
storm might mean days or weeks of delay.
Eph Tait sighed. "We was goin' to lay off
half an hour like the rest of "em. But I guess
we better not. Come on, Philip, let's go chop
us some more ice."
"And watch that man Crenkle," Knox advised.
"I'd count on him to sacrifice one of the guns-or
any one of us-to save his scurvy hide."
iv
The Mohawk was crossed a day later, with the
temporary loss of only one eighteen-pounder.
Several hours" labor with pulleys and chains
retrieved the sunken cannon.
By the end of the first week in January the straggling
caravan reached Albany, a substantial town where
a spirit somewhat more patriotic than Crenkle's
prevailed. The ruddy-faced burghers turned out
to cheer the arrival of the first sledges and half-frozen
men.
General Schuyler was a resident of the district. His
influence produced a good-sized party of new
volunteers who helped speed the guns across the
Hudson, reasonably solid now thanks to a
spell of much colder weather. On the
crossing another large cannon drowned, but next
morning it was raised back up through a fourteen-foot
hole in the ice. In return for the help of the
citizens who manned the salvage equipment,
Knox christened the piece The Albany.
The caravan was far behind schedule. In November,
Knox
had told Washington that the entire overland journey
of three hundred miles could be accomplished in
fifteen days. On the tenth of January, the first
teams were just starting their c
li
mb toward the snow-powdered spruces and pines in the
foothills of the mountain barrier that still lay between the
guns and the general who needed them so desperately.
At a night camp, fresh snow ankle-deep on
the ground, Eph Tait asked Philip how he'd
come to be involved in the military struggle:
"I mean, once or twice I heard kind of a
funny turn of phrase out o' you. Like you was
foreign, maybe."
Philip held stiff palms toward the fire,
ignoring a sullen stare from Crenkle across the way.
"I am, Eph. I was born in France. I
learned English early, but sometimes I
don't say a word quite the proper way."
"Be damned," Tait declared. "How'd you get
to Boston?"
Philip shared the entire story with his friend.
Described how his father's wife and son, the
Amberlys in England, had tried to dispute his claim
to his inheritance, then had cruelly hoaxed
Philip and his mother into believing James Amberly
had died. Because he had incurred the wrath of
Amberly's one lawful son, Roger, Philip and
his mother had been forced to flee the Kentish
countryside. They sought sanctuary in London,
hoping to hide in its crowds and teeming streets.
For a time, the plan worked. Philip learned the
printing trade at a shop operated by a family
named Sholto, Met Dr. Franklin, the
American, who encouraged
him
to emigrate to the colonies.
But in Kent, Philip had done more than make his
half-brother angry; he'd crippled Roger
Amberly's hand in a fight. The vengeful young man
hired a professional assassin to track Philip
and his mother. Again they were forced to flee.
This time, Philip followed Franklin's
advice and chose new opportunity in a new land,
instead of a return to their life of poverty in
France. Broken-hearted because her dream of wealth and
position for her son had been destroyed,
Philip's mother died on the sea voyage.
In Boston Philip again took up the printing
trade, with Mr. Ben Edes. As a result, he
was slowly drawn into the patriot movement. He
met Samuel Adams. The rich, dandified
merchant, John Hancock. Paul Revere-
Philip exhibited a front tooth for Eph. A
tooth carved out of hippo tusk and wired in place
by Revere, who practiced dentistry to help
support his family-when he wasn't grinding out
engravings on popular subjects, working in silver,
or riding express for the patriot committees.
Philip told Eph about the unexpected arrival
of his half-brother Roger as an officer in the
British forces garrisoning the city. He even
described how he'd helped an infantryman, a
redcoat named George Lumden, to desert-and how
he'd run Roger through with a British
bayonet to save Anne Ware.
"I suppose secrets like those don't matter much
any
more."
"Wouldn't think so," Eph said. The gazes of both
men were drawn almost unconsciously toward the steep,
dark slopes where great evergreens soughed in the night
wind. Tomorrow they would begin the ascent of those slopes.
Eph got tickled then, huddling closer to the fire
and wrapping his hands around his body as he laughed:
"My Lord, I didn't realize I fell in with
such fancy company. A duke for a papa-to "
"And his son's blood on my hands," Philip said
somberly.
He had omitted only one major part of the story:
his violently emotional affair with the young woman who
was Roger's fiancee in England and, later, his
wife. Alicia Amberly, daughter of the Earl of
Parkhurst, had undertaken the difficult Atlantic
crossing to be with her mortally wounded husband, who was
being cared for by Alicia's relatives, wealthy
Philadelphia Tories. In answer to a letter from
Alicia, Philip had ridden to the Quaker city
to see her, and for a tune, he thought of resuming their
liaison. Even thought of marrying the beautiful,
passionate young girl.
Then, in a chance encounter with Franklin who had just
returned from England, Philip discovered the
hoax perpetrated by Roger and Lady Jane
Amberly. Philip's father was still alive. And
Alicia knew it. She'd only reestablished
contact because Philip stood to inherit everything now that
Roger was dead.
Though Alicia professed love for him, the
revelation of her deceit was a turning point for
Philip, bringing him at last to a sorting-out of his
own thoughts and emotions. He returned to Boston
to marry the girl he knew he really loved; and
to fight in the army.
"To date, a not particularly distinguished career," he
said at the end. "I'm not proud of some of the things
I've done to survive. I've killed more than just
my half-brother-was
"Figgered that," Tait said. "It shows in a man's
eyes. Philip-you "spose this crazy-quilt
army's got any chance atall? I heard the
lobsterbacks might even bring over hired
Germans."
"So did I. To answer your question-I don't know,
Eph."
"But you think all this is worth it, whatever
happens?"
"I guess I do. Most of the time any more,
I don't go that deep. I just go day to day."
"Smart, I reckon," Tait said, looking again
to the star-silvered foothills above them. "Tomorrow ain't
gonna be one of the better ones, I bet."
VI
"Another checkrope! You up there-
tie her
f
ast
to 
Philip's shouted order started the teamster moving.
The man was behind him, near the top of the forty-degree
slope. The hillside was layered with fresh snow;
patterned in blazing white and deep shadow by the
January sun falling between the huge trees. The
sun was melting the snow's crust just enough to worsen the
already treacherous surface.
On its third day in the roadless mountains, the
artillery train was stretched out for several miles.
Each descent of the rolling terrain had to be
negotiated with special care, and proper distance
maintained between the sledges in case of accident.
Philip was about halfway to the bottom of the hill,
tramping beside the sledge bearing The Old Sow.
Below, on level ground, another sledge
carrying two coehorns was about to start upward again.
Eph Tait ran alongside while the drivers
lashed their balky horses.
Over his arm Tait carried a number of heavy
drag chains which he'd unhooked from the runners as
soon as the coehorn sledge reached the bottom of the
steep hill.
Now The Old Sow was being freighted down that same
hillside, and four checkropes fastened to trees
higher up were proving insufficient. One had already
frayed and popped, causing Philip to yell at the
man near the summit. The teamster was starting to string
another rope around a thick bole. But slowly.
Too damn slowly-
The drag chains under the Sow's sledge seemed to be
having little effect. The sledge kept sliding faster.
Foundering in the snow, the yoked oxen felt the push.
Crenkle, their driver, didn't help matters
by screaming obscenities and whipping them frantically
with a supple stick.
The sledge lurched sideways, to the left.
Philip jumped back to keep his feet from being
crushed by the runners. Despite the chill air, he
was awash with sweat under his filthy clothing.
"Crenkle, ease up with the stick, they're
panicky enough," Philip bawled at the farmer.
Crenkle threw
him
a defiant look and kept flailing.
The back end of the sledge lurched again, further
left-toward a natural drop-off of about twenty
feet. If even part of the sledge slipped over,
oxen and all would go. The mortar might be cracked
beyond repair-
"Hurry up with the rope!"
Philip screamed, hand cupped around his
beard-stubbled mouth. The man higher up still seemed
to be moving with maddening slowness. He was just starting
to secure the end of the rope that led all the way back
down to the vehicle bearing the Sow. Six ropes in
all were lashed to staples on the bed of the sledge. One
had broken; only one more was available, trailing
loose on the hillside, tracing a snake
pattern in the snow.
Tense, Philip watched the sledge slide again.
Only a
couple of feet this time-
He whipped his glance back up to the man struggling
with the rope.
Why couldn't he get it tied faster?
One of the oxen bellowed, a terrifying sound that echoed
through the mountain stillness. Philip spun, saw
Crenkle flogging the left-hand ox, down on both
forelegs. The rear of the sledge started another
slide, straight toward the drop-off-
Just as the man fastening the checkrope around the tree
finished his last knot, the sledge's back end
swung all the way left, pointing toward the drop.
The newly tied knots failed to hold. The rope
snapped, uncoiled from around the trunk, end whipping
free-
Another rope broke, leaving two in place. At
that precise instant, Crenkle's maniacal beating
of the oxen achieved results-disastrous ones:
The left-hand ox lurched up and lunged ahead. The
other beast felt the pull and responded in tandem.
The sledge was jerked forward too precipitously-no
longer in danger of slipping over the drop, but given
a sudden giant yank that started it sliding straight
down the melted, slippery track-
The sledge picked up speed, spuming snow from the
runners despite the drag chains. Crenkle saw
the sledge gathering momentum. His reason deserted
him. Before Philip could react, Crenkle dropped
his stick, jerked a hatchet from his hide
belt, started chopping the traces.
"Don't release them, Crenkle!" Philip
yelled. But the frightened farmer paid no attention. He
hacked the last of the traces, stretched out his free
hand and jerked the pin connecting the yoketree to the
front of the sledge.
The freed oxen lunged to the right, off the dangerously
melted path. An instant later, the sledge left
Philip and Crenkle behind, then hurtled by the oxen,
still gathering speed.
Philip reached Crenkle and knocked
him
down with
one mauling fist. "You stinking yellow animal-to "
Crenkle snuffled, on his knees and trying to stop
blood leaking from his nose. The sledge was a good way
down the hill now, thundering toward the bottom where
Eph Tait was just releasing the last drag chain from the
coehorn carrier.
Tait heard the rumbling, turned his head. For a
moment, sunlight made his bad eye glow like a star-
Time seemed to suspend. Philip was only marginally
conscious of his legs pumping through the deep snow. He
shouted incoherent warnings.
He saw Eph Tait frozen with
surprise in the patch of sunlit snow; Eph's
jaw dropping at the sight of the juggernaut hurtling
toward him. The Virginian started to run.
The drag chains draped over his arm fell to the
ground. Somehow he tangled his feet in one of them.
Thrashing, he sprawled
in the
snow-
The mortar sledge hit the bottom of the slope and
careened ahead. Tait threw an arm up in front
of his face-
He disappeared as the sledge ran over him and slid
on past the coehorns, losing momentum on the
flat. The sledge's front end rose at the
bottom of the next slope, the hillside soon
braking its forward progress completely. In the
snow behind, something grotesque and loose-limbed
flopped.
Philip kept running toward his friend. Then the
Virginian screamed.
Philip's beard-matted face distorted. Other
teamsters were rushing to Tait's side. Squinting in the
sunlight, Philip whirled and ran back up the
hill in a shambling gait.
Above him, Crenkle crouched
defensively, hatchet upraised. The defensive
posture crumpled the moment Philip came close
enough for the yellow-bearded farmer to see his almost bestial
face. Crenkle threw his hatchet
away, turned and jumped from the edge of the drop-off.
At the bottom, he struggled to his feet, flung
himself on down the slope, vanishing into a thick stand of
pines. Philip retrieved the hatchet, raced for the
drop. A voice got through to him then; one of the men from
the coehorn sledge:
"Leave him go, Kent! Help us with Tait.
He's still alive."
Philip hesitated. The numbed hand holding the
hatchet shook. In the distance, the pathetic Crenkle
put more ground between himself and the caravan, a scurrying
figure appearing and disappearing in sun and shadow.
The teamster at the bottom of the hill shouted
Philip's name again. Making a guttural sound,
he flung the hatchet down. With a last look at the
tiny figure fleeing into the snowy fastness, he went
to answer the summons. He never saw Crenkle
again.
vii
Forward progress of the artillery train stopped. The
sledge carrying The Old Sow had
survived the runaway descent with no damage.
Nearby, Philip and some of the teamsters erected a
crude tent from fresh-cut branches and blankets.
Ten minutes after the tent was put up, Philip
crawled out of it backwards and let the end blanket
fall. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the blaze
of the snow. The blinking didn't clear his vision.
A horseman was struggling down the slope where the
Sow's sledge had come to rest. Philip watched the
horse slip sideways, falter, then gallop
forward, the mountainous figure of Henry Knox
bouncing in the saddle.
Inside the improvised tent there was a tormented
moan. Philip tried to hide his face by pretending
to wipe his nose. But the other teamsters weren't
looking at him. They studied the treetops, or
gazed at the churned snow
marked by Eph Tait's blood, or they simply
stared at their rag-wrapped boots. Not a man said
a word. The silence was broken only by the occasional
whisper of the wind, the frozen creak of a bough, the soft
thudding of the hoofs in the snow as Knox swung out of the
saddle.
"I got your message and sent ahead for a doctor
from Westfield," he said to Philip. He
started toward the tent entrance.
Philip grabbed his arm:
"I wouldn't, Henry."
"I must see what attention he needs-was
"From here down-was Philip swallowed, touched his own
waist. "No amount of attention is going to help."
Knox turned white as the snowfields. "My
God. Is he awake?"
Forcing back tears, Philip nodded. "We dosed
him with some whiskey. That stopped the worst of his
raving. I even talked to him a minute or so.
He-he knows how badly he's been hurt. He
wants his rifle with him." Philip's stiff hand
lifted in a sad, ironic gesture at the mortar
sledge. Fasten
ed to the bed by ropes tied to t
his, Eph Tait's Kentucky rifle gleamed
blue through a patchy dusting of snow.
"Well, fetch it if it'll be any comfort to him!"
Knox said. "It'll take the doctor a while
to trek here, so anything that-was
He stopped as Philip shook his head.
"Eph asked me to write his family later,
Henry. He wants his rifle loaded."
Knox swayed. Philip had never seen
him look so drained. He glanced around the little
circle of York State drivers, face after
weatherbeaten face, as if hoping one of the men would
speak. Philip said to him:
"I'd say the decision's yours, Henry."
"No. No, it's his. Still-was Knox swiped at
his face. "There is a moral question-was
"Then you tell him that, Henry. You look at
what's left of him and tell him that. I won't."
Silence. The wind mourned through the pines. A branch
broke loudly and fell.
"Get the rifle, would you please, Philip?
I'l
l take it in to him. Unless you-?"
"We did our talking. You'll probably have to use
more whiskey to wake him."
He turned, trudged to the mortar sledge, dimly
aware of shouted curses and snapping whips beyond the
crest of the slope down which The Old Sow had
plunged. A new sledge struggling for the summit.
Maybe the messengers sent
in
both directions from the scene of the accident had missed
on
e
of the vehicles laboring through the woods. The noise
almost seemed a blasphemy as Philip
laboriously untied the frozen ropes, opened the
ammunition box lashed down beside the rifle, loaded
the piece and carried it back to Henry Knox.
Another groan sounded from inside the tent. Then
Eph Tait cried someone's name. A woman's,
Philip thought. Knox bent to enter, carrying the
rifle. Philip walked away.
About five minutes later, leaning his forearm on the
cold iron of the giant mortar, Philip heard the
shot. Hideously loud; echoing and reechoing through the
tree-clad ridges and valleys. He stared at the
mortar's maw as if he could destroy it with a single
glance. He started when someone touched him-
Knox.
The drivers were shuffling away from the tent. The end
blanket flapped in the wind.
Drifting clouds started to obscure the sun.
Whorls of white powder danced on the hillsides.
At the western summit, the sledge coming up had
stopped. The teamsters peered at the peculiar scene
below. The wind sang again, a low, pained sound.
"I think we should bury him here, Philip."
"I think so."
"The rifle's to be yours. He told me. We'll
dig a proper place and I'll say a few words
and-was His voice broke. "comand then we'll get these
goddamned guns going again."
"Yes. All right," Philip said, staring at
nothing. Knox left
him
standing in a cloud of wind-driven snow.
The arrival of the artillery in the village of
Westfield produced almost a carnival
atmosphere.
Townsfolk followed the sledges on both sides,
and small boys couldn't be kept from jumping aboard
to touch the marvelous cold solidity of the great
weapons.
The Westfield citizens offered the weary drivers
huge quantities of food and 4rink. The men
accepted eagerly, nearly starved after their passage
across the worst of the mountains.
In return for the hospitality, the people of Westfield
begged Henry Knox to show off the artillery by firing
the most spectacular piece of all, The Old
Sow. The exhausted Knox obliged. Philip
made himself scarce during the demonstration, taking
refuge in the local taproom. But he still
heard the boom of the mortar, and the subsequent cheers,
applause and shouted insults to King George.
Philip immediately helped himself to another ale. Like
everyone else, the landlord was outside enjoying the
celebration.
IX
"Anne? Annie-I'm back!"
Yelling at the top of his voice, Philip
climbed the stairs of the house in Watertown on the
night of January
twenty-sixth. The preceding day, the artillery train
had arrived in Framingham, its journey complete for
all practical purposes. Philip had ridden
ahead with Knox, who gave him leave to go see his
family. Knox galloped on to the Vassall
House to report to General Washington.
Filthy and almost drained of strength, Philip shouted
his wife's name again as he reached the landing. He
shifted Eph Tait's Kentucky rifle to his
left hand, raised his other hand to knock-
And stopped, paralyzed by what he saw hanging on the
door.
A poorly made wreath of black crepe.
Fears for Anne and little Abraham flashed through his
mind. He stood motionless, aware of
doors opening on the lower floor, heads popping
out-the whole house had been turned into a honeycomb
of emergency apartments. He was certain his wife or
his child had died in his absence-
The door opened. Philip almost wept at the sight
of Anne's fatigued face.
Her chestnut hair was disordered, her dress stained
and wrinkled. Philip couldn't speak. He was
afraid to ask the obvious question.
"The baby's well," Anne said quietly.
"He's sleeping
now."
"Then it's your father. Oh, Annie-was
Suddenly she was tight against him, unable to hold
back her sobs. He let the valuable rifle
fall where it would. Heedless of how he was dirtying her
with his filthy coat, he hugged her; buried his
bearded, unwashed face in the warmth of her hair.
She cried loudly for a minute or so, then fought
to get herself under control
Philip retrieved his rifle, guided her gently
into the dim-lit parlor, shut out the curious faces
at the bottom of the stairs.
"When, Annie?" he whispered.
"The fourth of January. All during
December, the illness grew worse. And you know how
it's all but impossible to find a doctor. Mr.
Revere finally located a retired, half senile
old fellow and practically kidnapped him from
Roxbury. He diagnosed pleurisy-just as I'd
done myself, weeks before-and of course he couldn't
prescribe anything except the usual emetics and
laxatives and-well, when he hauled out this
positively filthy bleeding basin and a fleam with every
last blade caked with rust, I paid
him
and thanked him and told him to leave. I knew it was
hopeless."
Anne's face was white; Philip understood why.
Pleurisy was the name of a dreaded disease of the lungs
and chest; more common in bad weather, it took a high
toll of those who contracted it.
Anne looked around in a strange fashion, almost as
if seeking her father in the gloomy corners. Then:
"Papa was fortunate in one way. He went
peacefully-in his sleep. But dear God,
Philip!-at the same time, there was no word from you.
Nothing except rumors from Cambridge that Henry
Knox was still on the road. Having
difficulties-accidents-was Her agony
poured forth in one strident cry: "I
was afraid you were going to die too
-"
Again he held her close, touched her, stroked her
shoulders, trying to soothe away the remembered
horror. All at once he heard the impatient
gurgling of his son waking in the bedroom. Even as
he listened, the gurgling turned to a yell. He
felt a shameful, completely inappropriate
urge to whoop.
This time Anne broke the embrace, dabbing at her
cheeks. "I'm sorry I took on so. Really,
the worst has passed. I just broke down."
"You had to bury him yourself?"
"Yes, I arranged it here in the local cemetery.
Ben Edes helped. There was no telling when we could
get back to Boston. Philip-at Christmas,
Papa asked me to
say goodbye to you. I'm sure he already knew what
was going to happen-was
She started away, bothered by the baby's cry: "I
must feed him-and you too. Why, you must have lost twenty
pounds-was
She fought to hold a wan smile in place. That was
so like her, he thought, filled with a wordless
tenderness that somehow eradicated his exhaustion, his
hunger, the unpleasantly cold, smoky stench of his
clothing.
"There is one happy circumstance in all the
grief," Anne added. "Papa left what money
he has to both of us. And-oh wait, Abraham,
wait, I'm coming!" she exclaimed as the squalling
grew louder. "Papa said that if we could keep from
spending all the money to live, we should use it to start
your printing business one day. He thought well of you,
Philip, he really did. He wanted you to know."
It should have been heartening news; something to bank away
for the future. But he was again struck with grave
doubts about that future.
He thought of Dr. Warren perishing in the redoubt.
Of Eph Tait buried in the wintry wastes of
western Massachusetts, so far from the southern
mountains from which he'd marched.
And he thought of Abraham Ware, who perhaps would never
have contracted his fatal illness if he'd been warm
and comfortable in his home on Launder Street,
Boston-
Who would be the next to be scythed down? When
Philip speculated about the prospects for his
infant son, the very act seemed macabre
futility. Conceived in the joy of passion-born under a
mantle of hope and love from his parents-what did the
child have to look forward to save growing up in a country
shattered by rebellion?
The struggle could conceivably drag on for years;
wars often did in Europe. That America could win
her
fight seemed to him chancy at best. That she could win
quickly was virtually unthinkable. There was no purpose
in dwelling on the boy's future, or the inheritance
either. Dead men had no use for handbills and calling
cards. What printing equipment could you buy in a
grave?
Possessed by pessimism, Philip felt a
sudden, unexpected need to seize the small
pleasures of the moment. The feel of his wife's warm
shoulder beneath his arm. And something else:
"I want to see my son."
An hour later, Anne served a supper of cold
lamb, fresh cheese, stale bread and hot tea.
Though the fare was less than luxurious, there was
plenty of it. Yet despite the poor rations he'd
endured on the three-hundred-mile journey, he
didn't feel like eating.
All at once, out of his need, fear,
uncertainty, he reached for Anne's hand.
She looked at him and understood. At long last, a
soft smile eased a little of the fatigue in her
eyes. She was as uncertain and hungry as he.
Rising, she blew out the lamp in the corner of the
parlor where they had sat down for their meal. Gently,
lovingly, she took his other hand in hers.
"I should use a razor first," he said with an
awkward little laugh. "Scrape off this bristle. It
could do damage to a lady's cheek-was
"Don't worry," she said. "Just come-was She led
him to the door.
In their large, high bed, their son sleeping nearby
and cooing occasionally, she was warm and eager. Arms
tight around his neck, she wept when he first kissed
her. The touching, the caressing, and then the rhythm of their
bodies seemed to drive back some of the world's lowering
darkness.
But afterward, he couldn't sleep.
He stole out to the parlor, lit a lamp and spent more
than two hours composing one short letter to Experience
Tait's wife in Albemarle County,
Virginia. Even if it had cost every last shilling of
Abraham Ware's money to have it posted and
delivered, he would have paid.
The
Seedtime of Continental Union"
"GENTLEMEN," said Dr. Benjamin Franklin, the
tankard in his pudgy hand shimmering in the light from the
hearth, "I give you our honored guest. By birth,
an Englishman. By choice, an American.
By disposition and God-given talent, a journalist
of the first rank. In the manner of most authors who
delve into politics in these treacherous times, he
has chosen to see his pamphlet brought into the world
anonymously. But to judge from the reception accorded
it since publication one short week ago, I
predict its distinguished creator will not long be able
to conceal his identity. Certainly he may be named and
honored by those gathered here. To a man, I believe
we hold his inspired prose and irrefutable logic
in the utmost regard."
Franklin turned toward the rather seedy-looking guest:
a man with a large nose, a rough complexion,
luminous sad eyes and the general air of one who,
near age forty, recognized his own failure in
life. Tonight, the guest smiled.
Dr. Franklin saluted
him
with the tankard:
"I give you Mr. Paine."
Stick ferrules hammered the floor of the private
dining room of Philadelphia's City Tavern.
""Hear! Hear! Hear!"
Those among the twenty selected guests who lacked
canes made noise with their boots.
Gradually, the hammering and stomping faded, replaced
by a hubbub of conversation. In the fireplace,
two halves of a heavy log fell, scattering
sparks. Franklin sat down beside the guest of
honor. While serving as commercial agent for various
colonies in England, Franklin had apparently
met Mr. Paine, and induced him to come to America
after Paine suffered assorted disasters in customs
collecting, corset manufacturing and marriage.
There were calls for a speech. Applause greeted the
suggestion. Thomas Paine rose, flushing:
"Gentlemen, thank you most sincerely. But I've
prepared no remarks. I only wished to enjoy
dinner and fellowship with the men I consider the most
enlightened of all those holding sessions at the State
House."
More applause, cane-thumping, boot-stamping,
mingled with jokes and laughter. At his table near the
fire, Judson Fletcher was hellishly
warm. He was starting to sweat out all the dark brown
ale he'd swilled down. But he joined
enthusiastically in the uproar.
Certainly it was a select group from the Congress
gathered at the City Tavern this rainy evening in
late January. A select group of
patriots-or a select group of the insane,
depending on your side of the political fence.
Judson had gravitated to the group because Donald
had been part of it. Around
him
sat politicians whose names were known in every one of the
colonies. Franklin. The portly, high-voiced
little Braintree lawyer, John Adams, seated
at Paine's left. From Virginia, the Lee
brothers, and gangling, red-haired Tom
Jefferson, who occupied a chair just across the table from
Judson. Once in a while, Judson was troubled
by the realization that these refined, well-educated men were
determined to push the colonies straight down one and
only one perilous road.
John Adams jumped to his feet. "Then I will
speak for you, Mr. Paine."
The Massachusetts lawyer always struck Judson
as self-important. The guest looked
relieved, though.
Adams went on:
"To paraphrase Mr. Jefferson there, we as a
Congress and as a people want neither inducement nor power
to declare and assert a separation from Great Britain. It
is the will alone which is wanting-was
"Oh, we have the will to gallop the other way,
Wilson style," said Francis Lightfoot
Lee, referring to the Pennsylvania sponsor of a
Congressional resolution of January ninth passed
by a coalition of conscientious conservatives and the
frankly faint-hearted. According to Judson's somewhat
bleary recollection, the resolution declared that the
colonies had "no design" to set themselves up as
an independent nation. Consequently the mention of
Wilson's name produced a few hisses,
including a loud one from Judson.
Tom Jefferson, relaxed and pensive with his long
legs stretched out toward the flames, gave
Judson a speculative look, the
n
glanced away. Judson belched.
Wonder what that was all about?
Adams was continuing:
"comb with the publication of Mr. Paine's
pamphlet, a great step forward has been taken
toward solidifying public thought. We owe
him
a debt beyond our collective power to repay."
Once more the diners noisily expressed their
approval as the Braintree lawyer sat down,
pleased.
Judson had to admit that Adams, who was perhaps the
most determined exponent of independence in the
Congress, hadn't exaggerated. In the days since the
release of Paine's tract of some fifty pages
and fourteen thousand words, it had become a publishing
phenomenon. People literally fought their way into Robert
Bell's small shop in Third Street
to purchase copies; either the version in a deluxe
binding, or the one in less expensive paper
covers.
Judson had finally gotten hold of one of the latter
just this afternoon. So far he hadn't done more than examine
the title page. But he knew a little about the
book's history.
Aitken, the local printer for whom Thomas Paine
did menial shop work, had deemed his employee's
material too inflammatory to print. But help and
advice from Franklin and the
ultra radical
Samuel Adams of Boston-not present tonight; even
radicals like his own cousin John considered him a
mite
too
radical-had led to the connection with Bell.
But Bell, who took the risk of bringing out the first
edition, wasn't enjoying exclusive benefits-or
profits- from his venture. All over
Philadelphia, and in other cities as well,
other presses were churning out copies. The eager
public didn't care whether an edition was pirated
or not. They just wanted to read it.
So did Judson. He was anxious to get away from
this stultifying if augustly populated room,
return to his rented quarters in Windmill
Street near the river and dive into Paine's
pamphlet.
Scraping chairs and the opening of the doors to admit
serving girls to clean up the litter of plates,
cups and glasses indicated he might be getting his
opportunity.
He judged the hour to be past nine. He hoped
Alice wouldn't choose to spend the night with him.
Her whims were unpredictable; dictated
largely by how much claret she'd consumed.
She was a damned attractive wench, of course.
A welcome diversion despite certain puzzling,
even alarming quirks of personality, and a history
that was a total enigma-
But he didn't want Alice tonight. He was eager
to go to bed with no companion save Mr. Paine's
Common Sense.
Reaching for his hat and stick as the gathering broke up,
he was startled by a hand on his sleeve:
"Judson? A word with you-was
Tom Jefferson stood well over six feet.
He met
h
is fellow Virginian's smile with a calm, almost
remote expression. Judson's smile
disappeared.
He had gotten on exceptionally well with Tom
Jefferson ever since arriving in Philadelphia in
mid-December. The other members of the Virginia
delegation comthe Lees, Ben Harrison,
Jefferson's law tutor George Wythe,
Braxton, Nelson-all were cordial enough. But
Jefferson was closer to Judson's own age than the
rest of them. Just a little over thirty,
Judson guessed.
Not much for oratory, but reputed to be the best
phrase-turner in Congress, Jefferson still spoke
with a quiet directness that demanded a listener's
attention. His laugh, when he was in the mood, could
roar. Tonight he obviously wasn't in the mood-as
Judson had noticed a while ago, when the wealthy
young man gave him that odd look.
"By all means," Judson said with a slight bow.
"Shall we go to the public room? I'd drink another
ale before braving that rain."
Jefferson shook his head. "I believe enough's
been drunk for one night."
Instantly Judson tightened up. The polite
reply had delivered its barb-as he was sure
Jefferson intended. Annoyed, Judson picked
up a tankard left by someone else. He gulped the
warm, flat ale remaining in the bottom.
That defiance out of the way, he wiped his lips with his
lace-trimmed cuff and smiled engagingly:
"Then let's talk here, Tom. What did you
want to discuss?" He suspected he knew.
Jefferson didn't avoid Judson's gaze.
"You, Judson."
The smile stayed in place. "A
fascinating subject! Go
on."
"As you know, we've welcomed your presence and your
liberal spirit in the Congress. In that sphere, you're
as much a credit to Virginia as your brother."
Judson's smile soured then. "Shall we skip the
preliminaries? I smell that compliment for what it
is-a preamble to something less flattering."
Jefferson's lips thinned a moment. "Very well,"
he said. "We have received word of a rather distressing
exhibition of patriotism at The Keg the other
evening."
"It wasn't an exhibition of patriotism, it was
a brawl." Judson cheerfully exhibited the
bruises and healing scrapes on the back of his right
hand. "I just went in the place for a drink. I had
no idea it was the refuge of every young Tory in town.
I had two or three, and then a couple of
sweet-smelling chaps remarked that German
G@eorgie would soon make the Congress regret
it ever convened-by signing his treaties with the landgraves
who are to supply him with German
mercenaries
."
Judson shrugged: "One thing led to the
next, and when I got done with 'em, two of the
pretty young gentlemen looked less pretty than
when they first opened their mouths."
The lanky Virginian's nod was dour. "So it was
reported. I only want to remind you,
Judson-friend to friend-that we're engaged in deliberations
of the most serious nature. Our every act will be
scrutinized for years to come-was
"A lecture, then. This is a lecture!"
"Judson, calm down."
"No, by God, I won't listen to-was
"Yes you will," Jefferson said, so softly that
Judson caught his breath. "Your private life
is your affair. But publicly-was
"Publicly
what?"
"We ask that you do nothing further to bring criticism
to our cause." To ease the situation, he smiled a
quick, glowing smile. "I don't doubt that in certain
yet-to-be-written histories, we're damned
beyond redemption as it
is."
Jefferson seemed to relax then, the stiffness going out
of his shoulders. But his clear eyes watched, awaiting
a response. Judson bridled his
temper with difficulty.
"You keep saying
we,
Tom. You're not speaking personally, then?"
"Not entirely."
"For the delegation?"
"And some others. Let's just say I was requested
to pass the message along. I didn't relish
doing it-in case that wasn't obvious. But I
agreed because, in principle, the gentleman who asked
me to do it was right."
Cheeks livid, Judson blurted, "Name the
gentleman."
"Judson, there's no point-was
"Name him!"
Jefferson sighed. "Mr. Hancock-with the concurrence
of Mr. John Adams."
"Hancock!
That pompous dandy-to " Judson was sputtering.
But his anger cooled almost at once. The handsome and
extremely rich Boston merchant, formerly the
chief financier of patriot activities in
Massachusetts, was the duly chosen president of the
Congress. This was no mere slap on the wrist by a
nonentity. For a blink of time, Tom
Jefferson's lean face seemed to be replaced by that
of Angus Fletcher-
Around the private dining room, shadows sprang up
as the serving girls snuffed candles. All the other
men had gone. Winter rain struck the window glass.
In a more temperate voice, Judson asked:
"You say John Adams also joined in the
request?"
"You must understand why, Judson. What we're
undertaking here in Philadelphia will be considered so
heinous in some quarters of the world, our personal
motives and behavior must be above reproach."
"In other words, we can drink and curse and whore as
much as we like behind closed doors, just so long as the
public face is hypocritically spotless?"
Jefferson looked upset. "If that's the way you
care to phrase it, yes."
"That's the only way I care to phrase it!"
Jefferson stifled a sharp reply. Then:
"Judson, the central argument makes sense,
ft
you'll just reflect on it a while-was
"I'll reflect on it while I'm having a
drink somewhere else!" He turned and stormed out,
leaving Jefferson in the shadows by the dying
fire, a red-etched figure, vaguely accusing.
All he could think of as he rushed from the City
Tavern was that he had once more been found wanting.

Winter rain slicked the brick streets and gathered
in wind-riffled pools that reflected the butter glow
of chimneyed streetlamps designed, people said,
by Dr. Franklin personally. Muffled in his cape,
Judson headed for Windmill Street, cursing
fluently.
One minute he cursed Jefferson, deputized
by Hancock and Adams to chastise
him.
The next minute he cursed himself, for again failing
to live up to what was expected of him. Whatever the
hell that was!
Jefferson's warning couldn't be ignored. Though still
young, the red-haired Virginian had already made a
considerable name for himself because of his grasp of divers
fields of learning, from the natural sciences to the
law. That Hancock had assigned
him
the task of speaking to Judson was proof of his rising
status.
And once he cooled down a little,
Judson had to admit that Jefferson's argument was
probably correct. The Congress
was
engaged in momentous and difficult work. The faction
to which Jefferson and Judson belonged saw independence
as the last available option in the face of the king's
continuous refusal to protect American
liberties. But time and again, Judson had heard
John Adams state that although he considered
independence a cause
with high moral purpose, the idea lacked
support among ordinary folk in the colonies.
If it were noised about that members of the independence
group were thugs who bloodied the noses of Tories
in public taverns, the legitimacy of the cause
could be seriously hurt.
And right now, the radicals certainly couldn't afford
that.
Opposition to independence among the Congressional
conservatives led by Wilson and the London-trained
lawyer, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, was
formidable and determined. The conservatives would seize
on every remark or incident that might change minds and
ultimately swing votes. No, Jefferson
couldn't be faulted-
Especially now that Paine's pamphlet had finally
fired the imaginations of great masses of people, and begun
to sway them toward the viewpoint of the radicals.
All at once, Judson felt like a moral
pygmy among giants.
By the time he neared Windmill Street and the plainly
furnished rooms he rented from an elderly tinker,
his sense of shame had deepened even further. He
vowed he wouldn't embarrass Donald again-for he had
certainly done that too, along with alienating himself from
the members of Congress whose convictions he shared.
He would have to work hard to repair the damage.
Judson had undergone subtle changes in
attitude since coming to the city beside the Schuylkill
river. At first, appointment as Donald's
alternate had been little more than a welcome
escape from the turmoil at Sermon Hill.
Then there'd been a period of confusion; a couple of
weeks of familiarizing himself with the routine of the
Congress; of sitting in on his first committee
meetings, saying little. He was a junior member of
two committees. One screened officer appointments
for the twenty-seven new Continental regiments
established the
preceding November. The other supervised
the newly structured Post Office Department, a
Congressional creation which John Adams scorned as
"frivolous" in view of the weightier matters to be
considered.
Confusion and all, those first two weeks brought
Judson
a great sense of pleasure. He relished
association with important men who had only been
names before.
Then, because he did share Donald's politics,
he began to take an active interest in the seesaw
struggle between the conservative and radical factions.
He was now definitely aligned with those who wanted
independence but lacked the votes, or even an
initial resolution to be voted upon. The
conservatives were using every device and argument to block
the introduction of the latter. Despite the king's
rejection of the petition for conciliation, the
conservatives and many of the moderates still believed that
separation from England would not only be morally wrong for the
colonies, but would also be economic suicide.
Judson climbed the rickety outer stair and let
himself into the tinker's musty parlor. Flinging off his wet
cloak and hat, he headed automatically for the
sideboard, and the decanter of claret he
kept for Alice.
Well, not only for Alice-
Midway there, he stopped, stung again with the conviction
that, by his actions, he'd betrayed the men-and the
cause-he supported without reservation. He ran his
tongue over
his
teeth, scowled, turned away and lit a lamp.
He was again aware of some serious and fundamental
flaw within himself. A weakness for the bottle was just one of
its manifestations. Tonight, by heaven, he meant to start
some corrective actions, however small. Such as
forcing himself to leave the claret alone.
He took off his finely cut coat of plum
velveteen, grateful that Alice wasn't on the
premises. He carried the lamp to the bedroom and
picked up Paine's
pamphlet from the bedside table. Sprawling on the
coverlet, he opened to the first page of text.
He read the whole book in less than an hour,
relishing its polemical savagery. Then he went
back to particular passages.
He laughed out loud at Paine's characterization of
monarchy as
the most prosperous invention the devil ever
set on foot for the promotion of idolatry.
He agreed with Paine's insistence on urgency:
The period of debate is closed. Arms, as a
last resource, must decide the contest. By referring
the matter from argument to arms, a new era for
politics is struck; a new method of thinking
hath risen. All plans, proposals, etc.,
prior to the nineteenth of April, i.e., to the
commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacs of
last year; which, though proper then, are superseded and
useless now . . .
He likewise concurred with Paine's assessment
of the king's behavior:
Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages
make war upon their families.
And his scalp prickled when the journalist urged
total separation from the mother country in phrases that
rang like great bells:
The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.
'Tis not the affair of a city, a county, a
province, or a kingdom; but of a continent
-
of at least one-eighth part of the habitable globe
-
Lying with the book resting on his hard belly,
Judson thought of George Clark, wandering the
western wilderness. Paine shared some of George's
vision. He devoured the rest of the passage again:
'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age;
posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be
more or less affected even to the end of time by the
proceedings now
-
Just what Jefferson had been saying.
Now is the seedtime of continental union, faith, and
honor.
Then, almost with reverence, he turned to the final page.
Unblinking, he gazed at the seven superbly
isolated words Paine had contrived to have set by themselves
comhis last tocsin and challenge to his readers.
Staring at the words, Judson's scalp prickled
again. So rapt was his attention, he didn't hear the
light footfalls on the outer stair, or the soft
clicking of the latch.
But suddenly he was aware that the sound of the rain was
louder. He jumped up, laid the pamphlet face
down on the bed, open to that final, astonishing page.
He walked toward the dark parlor.
He recognized the footsteps of his visitor. In
a moment, she entered the perimeter of light
cast by the bedside lamp. Alice-throwing back the
cowl of her cheap cloak of gray wool. Just as
lovely as she was every time he saw her.
And just as drunk.
in
"Hallo, love," Alice grinned. She weaved a
little, one sooty hand pushing back a lock of hair
that might have been a tawny gold color if she had
ever washed it. She was wearing her usual much-mended
dark brown skirt, and a shabby low-necked blouse
grayed by greasy smoke.
Judson concealed his annoyance. "Hello,
Alice. I wasn't expecting you this evening."
"Meaning my company's not wanted?" Her smile, a
shade malicious all at once, unsettled him.
But that wasn't unusual.
She sidled forward, placed her roughened hands on his
shoulders, bent to give him a teasing view of her
naked breasts. "Ah, but yours is, love." The
sight of her half-bared bosom started a familiar,
tumid excitement.
She was a coarse girl; peculiar in many more ways
than one. Maybe that was part of her fascination: she
was a strange admixture of feigned refinement and
gutter frankness.
At times she moved with the grace of the finely dressed
ladies who took the air on Chestnut Street
behind their jeweled vizards. But unlike those same
ladies, she had a direct, unconcealed interest
in matters sexual. She knew how to stir him.
She wasted no time now, caressing his mouth with open
lips.
Judson resigned himself, though not entirely
unwillingly. He slipped an arm around her waist,
smelling the tavern sweat mingled with the odor of the
claret she drank from dawn to dusk-and later. He
bussed her ear, murmured:
"You're still speaking of my company, correct?"
"Certainly, isn't that the dignified way to refer
to this?" One hand crept below his waist to grasp and
fondle.
Almost at once, her fingers produced the sought-for
response. After she'd teased him a moment, she
let go:
"Ah, but we have the whole night-I don't mean to go
out in this damnable weather again. So how about a glass
for a lady, Mr. Fine Fletcher of Virginia?"
He waved to the sideboard. "Lady you aren't. But
help yourself."
"Not a lady? Don't lay wagers!" she
laughed, flouncing off to the decanter with a peculiar
look in her sky-blue eyes. He heard a mug
clink. "Want some, love?"
He sank down on the edge of the bed, glancing with
regret at Paine's pamphlet. "No, I
don't believe-was Suddenly he saw Jefferson's
face. "Hell, why not?"
He listened to the sound of claret splashing out of the
decanter. She drank too much; much more than he
did, and his consumption was far from moderate. On
occasion, she used foul language, but it usually
sounded awkward. She was ruining herself physically and
mentally, and she couldn't be more than twenty-three or
twenty-four.
Another curious thing: her cheeks were pitted. At
one time she must have used the fashionable but ruinous
cosmetics popular among highborn ladies.
When and where had she been able to afford such concoctions?
Sometimes she made oblique jokes about a
mysterious background in better circumstances. But
Judson's questions about it always went unanswered. In
fact he knew nothing about her except her one name,
Alice, and that she worked serving the riffraff who
frequented a particularly disreputable tavern near
the docks. He'd stumbled into the place one
night after Christmas, feeling especially blue with
memories of Seth McLean's wife. In his
stupor, Alice's flaunted body appealed to him.
A direct proposition led to a quick coupling
upstairs in a sleazy room under the eaves-for a
fee. Half of it, she said, went to the landlord.
Still a bit drunk, he'd invited her to come to his
quarters in Windmill Street some evening. For no
fee. Two nights later, at two in the morning,
she arrived. He'd seen her at least twice a
week since.
Alice carried the cups of claret back into the
bedroom, handed him one, neglecting her tugged-down
blouse, a casualty of their embrace. The
half-circle of one rouged nipple showed like part of a
flower. Alice toasted him, drank what he
guessed was a full cup in four quick gulps.
"No trade tonight?" he inquired, mildly
cynical.
"Nothing Peggy can't accommodate."
Judson paled. "Who?"
"Oh, the other slut the old bastard's hired on-a
stupid wench from Jersey. Peggy's this fat- was She
pantomimed the measurements. Judson wiped sweat
off his forehead and lay back on the bed as
Alice went on, "When she's with a customer, you can
hear her grunting all the way downstairs.
Disgusting," she declared with a sniff.
Then she laughed, harshly. Judson studied her
beautiful blue eyes and wondered again whether she was
quite sane.
Alice plumped down beside him. "I give the
customers something more refined, don't I, love?"
Drinking with one hand, she teased his groin with the other.
"It costs you nothing-and in exchange, I get
to sleep in a bed that isn't crawling with bugs. A
lovely bargain, I'd say-was
"If you despise that place so much, why do you work
there?"
"Oh, reasons," she said with a vague wave of the
cup. "Where else should a poor countryman's
daughter work?"
"I've never been convinced you're just a poor
countryman's daughter, Alice."
"Then what am I?" she teased, tossing her head.
Her hair glistened with that greasy sheen he found
repulsive comwhen he was sober.
"A very attractive young woman who, for some
inexplicable reason, chooses to stay wretchedly
dirty when she'd glow like the sun if she
bathed-was
"Pooh," Alice replied thickly. "Bathing's
for rich folk."
"comand who," Judson continued with mock seriousness,
"drinks somewhat more than is good for her-was
"Now
that's
a fine comment from a chap who tosses it down the way
you do."
"Well, I'm not trying to kill myself with it."
Alice's slightly glazed blue eyes glowed
oddly. "You're not?"
"Alice, tell me who the hell you are. What are
you running away from? A husband? An indenture
contract?"
"Nothing." She repeated it, louder: "Nothing.
Listen,
Mr. Fine Judson Fletcher-I could ask the
same of you!"
He looked away.
"Oh, come on love," she said, more softly.
"What's made you so cross with me this evening?" She
reached past his thigh for the pamphlet. "Is this the
reason for the chilly reception?"
"There!" he exclaimed. was 'Chilly
reception." Tavern trollops don't command such
fine phrases-was
Examining the pamphlet's flyleaf, she ignored
him: "Oh, I see what it is. The book
everyone's reading. We even had a helmsman tonight
who had a copy. A lot of foolishness-just like the
business with those dreadful old men at the State
House. Why do you bother? Of course, if you
hadn't come from Virginia to waste your time at that
silly Congress, we'd never have met, would we,
love? I'd still be tossing around in that nasty straw every
night-instead of sharing a tidy bed. And sporting with a
genuine gentleman-was
One hand between his legs, the other, with the cup, dangling
down as she crooked her arm around his neck, she
rubbed her mouth slowly back and forth across
Judson's
. Flicked her tongue along his upper lip. He
smelled the wine, and her heat:
"We are going to make love, aren't we,
Judson? You've improved your mind sufficiently
for one evening, haven't you? Brains aren't everything-was
Her hand grew bolder. "Master Cock-and-balls
needs his exercise too-was
Damn, how she worked on him! Someone,
somewhere, had taught her amorous skills in fine
detail. He pressed his mouth tight on hers.
They kissed a long, lang
u
orous moment, her tongue licking at his teeth,
wet, sinuous-
But even embracing, he couldn't escape the past.
His hands constricted roughly on Alice's waist as
he shoved her down on the bed. She dropped the
empty cup
and wrapped her arms around his neck. The cup thudded
on the carpet. He heard the pamphlet slide off
as well-
He didn't care any longer. She'd slipped her
blouse down so he could kiss her breasts. The
smoky smell of her skin excited
him
beyond all reason.
"Wait, wait, love. A little more wine first," she
gasped, darting away.
Flushed, he stood up. She found the cup and
walked into the dark parlor, her blouse pushed all the
way to her waist. He heard the decanter clink.
He tugged off his throat-stock, his linen shirt.
He really didn't understand why he wallowed
with this girl who meant nothing to him. Nor did he
understand her. Each had built a wall beyond which the other
was not permitted.
But penetrating the wall wasn't necessary for their main
amusement. He dropped his breeches, then his
underclothes. Why the
hell
did it matter who she was? Physically, she hid
nothing.
She had left her clothes in the parlor. She came
out of the dark with long,
languorous
steps, her sky-blue eyes shining bright as the
crystal of the decanter in her right hand. Her breasts
bobbed at each step. Her lower belly glowed like
finespun gold. Her body had a pale beauty that
couldn't be marred even by the rings of dirt on her
neck and forearms.
Standing next to the bed, Alice caressed the stem of the
decanter in a lascivious way. She gazed at
Judson's hips and smiled at the production of the
desired response.
"I'm not the only one with mysteries, love," she
giggled, seating herself on the bed. She cooed with mock
disappointment as passion drained out of
him
suddenly.
"What do you mean, Alice?"
"I saw how you turned white when I mentioned the name
Peggy."
"Like hell I did!"
THE FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES OF
AMERICA
iv
The mild Pennsylvania winter faded under a
mellow sun and the first balmy breezes off the river.
Crowds on the streets grew more numerous as the
temperatures moderated. Whether the
Philadelphians wore the brocade of the wealthy
or the craftsman's homespun, the livery of
servants or the rags of youngsters hawking
flowers or papers or fragrant bread up and down
High and Chestnut Streets, chances were excellent
that if they hadn't read Tom Paine's
Common Sense,
they had an opinion about it, or had heard of it at
very least. As they'd heard the astonishing tidings
couriers brought in from Boston:
By night, General Washington had fortified the
Dorchester Heights with cannon brought from
Fort
Ticonderoga
by his chief of artillery, a Colonel Knox.
In a short span of hours between one sunset and the
next dawn, two thousand men had performed the
Herculean
task of digging earthworks and moving the weapons
into place.
And just in time.
General Howe had planned to break out of the city.
American intelligence had picked up definite
word of an impending attack. But a violent storm
prevented it. Then all at once, Washington's
guns stared down on the rooftops. By the morning of the
seventeenth of March, Boston was empty of the king's
soldiers. All had been loaded aboard ships and
evacuated to Halifax along with at least a thousand
Tory families. From Halifax, it was said, a
major British thrust would be mounted.
Among the patriot faction in Congress, there was
jubilation. The Continental army, conceived and
authorized by the Philadelphia body, had won
its first significant victory. If not on a
battleground, then in the hearts of its partisans.
But fear mingled with the elation. Where would Howe
strike? There was little doubt that he
would
strike. American remained "in rebellion."
Even more reason to declare independence, the radicals
argued in the large and lovely white room of the
State House. It was time to unite the thirteen
colonies for a concerted effort against the Crown; a war
unhampered by hesitation. A war to secure
American liberty forever.
The conservatives still shrank from it. What was needed,
Judson's fellow radicals agreed, was a
resolution to force the issue
Alice continued to visit Judson regularly.
After that night in January, no more questions passed between
them about the origins of the other, or about motives for the
liaison.
Judson knew his own demons and strongly
suspected that Alice had hers. But he decided that
trying to force those demons into the light would probably
serve no purpose. Would only cause trouble, in
fact, since Alice seemed set on keeping them
hidden. So he took pleasure in her highly sexed
nature and at the same time worked to control his
drinking. The results proved satisfactory.
No more warnings were issued by Tom
Jefferson, who treated him cordially again, though it
plainly required effort. Jefferson's mother had
died of an apoplectic seizure the end of March,
and immediately, the tall Virginian began to suffer
violent headaches that left his face bleached with
pain.
For Judson, life was somewhat easier. When he
held Alice in his arms after an hour of
lovemaking, he slept deeply, free of dreams
of Seth McLean's wife.
The Congressional committees labored from early
morning till late in the day. One session in early
April ran particularly long. Judson didn't
arrive back at Windmill Street until
shortly before midnight. As he opened the outer
door, he saw a lamp burning in the bedroom-and
Alice, standing in front of the ancient, flecked
pier glass.
He called her name from the dark parlor but got no
response. He started forward, heard her voice,
pulled up short.
Quite drunk, Alice was watching herself in the mirror.
She touched her bare body now and then. Tears ran
down her cheeks. Her slurred words stunned and
frightened him:
"Philip? Why did you go? Why didn't you love
me enough, Philip?"
He crept back to the outer landing. There he made
sufficient noise to attract her attention before he
reentered
. He didn't let on that he had seen her
haunted face.
Or heard her speaking some lost lover's name as if
her heart would break.
vi
From the south came alarming news. British
vessels with troops aboard were cruising the coast
of the Carolinas, obviously intending to launch an
attack. The rebellion was no longer solely a
Massachuse
tts problem, but an American one
,
In Congress, the radicals continued to press their
case in lengthy debates. Finally North
Carolina empowered its delegates to support a
declaration for independence. And at a meeting of the
Virginia House of Burgesses in May, that
colony followed suit. Even as riders on
lathered horses brought word to Philadelphia that the
British flotilla had dropped anchor
off Charleston, South Carolina, and that an armed
strike under the joint leadership of General Clinton
and the newly arrived General Cornwallis was
imminent, the ranking member of Judson's
delegation rose to introduce a resolution.
Feeling a deep sense of pride because Virginia
had finally provided the means for Congress to act,
Judson sat with the other delegates and watched the
handsome president of the body, John Hancock.
On the wall behind Hancock's desk hung a
drum, British swords and banners captured at
Fort Ticonderoga. With appropriate
protocol, Hancock recognized Richard
Henry Lee.
Scowls appeared on the faces of John
Dickinson and his fellow conservatives. They knew
what was coming. To Judson, the morning light pouring
through the chamber's tall windows had a luminous
quality.
Having been recognized, the patrician Lee
began to read the resolution modeled after the one
adopted in his native state:
"The resolution embodies three propositions, the
first being as follows. That these united colonies are,
and of right ought to be, free and independent
states. That they are absolved from all allegiance
to the British Crown, and that all political
connection between them and the state of Great Britain is,
and ought to be, totally dissolved-was
The room was stuffy. Sunlight glared on the
windowpanes
, shone on the brass fittings of the chamber's two
fireplaces. Men coughed, shuffled their feet,
glanced at the narrow openings at the tops of the windows
as if longing for more air. The windows were kept almost
completely shut at all times, to prevent the
frequently loud debates from being overheard in the
street.
Despite the heat, the discomfort, Judson was
suddenly aglow with a sense of purpose-of counting for
something-that he had never experienced before.
While Lee continued to read, Judson glanced at
Tom Jefferson. He sat hunched over, his
palms pressed against his cheeks and his fingertips
covering his closed eyes. Judson assumed he was
suffering from another of the headaches that had afflicted him
almost constantly since his mother's burial in
Virginia. Across the chamber, Dr. Franklin
kept his eye on John Adams, who sat with arms
folded, taut, ready to spring up for the
inevitable debate.
To Judson, never a religious person, the June
morning had power to cleanse his soul. It was,
somehow, a bright and sacred occasion-
Which rapidly degenerated into noise and rancor as
proponents and opponents shouted to be recognized
in order to debate the issue posed by the resolution.
"Damme
, sirs, I'll prepare no document designed for
approval by a group!" Benjamin Franklin declared
three evenings later, over coffee and tea cups at
The Sovereign near the State House. "I can
foresee
the surgery that'll be done upon it."
"Ben, don't be so confounded stubborn!" John
Adams said.
"On this, I will be stubborn. Let me tell you a
story-was
"I hope it's pertinent," Adams snapped.
"Extremely. I once knew a fellow here in
Philadelphia who desired to open a hatter's
shop. He put hours of energy and effort
into designing and finishing the most important feature
of such a shop-the signboard for attracting
customers. He meticulously painted a
hat on it, and the inscription "John Thompson,
hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money."
Then the poor fool consulted his friends. One said that
because of the drawing, the word "hatter" was superfluous.
Out it went with a stroke of the brush! Someone else said
that "makes" should be deleted, since people who
purchased hats didn't give a damn who made
"em. 'Ready money was wasteful wordage-everyone
knew Thompson never extended credit. Thus his
precious board was reduced to 'John Thompson
sells hats." Ah, said another helpful soul,
but who will be dunce enough to believe you'd give "em
away? So all the hours of work and thought produced
nothing more than a worthless piece of wood with all of
its legend brushed over, save for 'John
Thompson" and the hat drawing, which was poorly done
in the first place. Spare me from editorial
congresses of any sort!" Franklin concluded
cheerily.
"I'll yield the labor-and the later discomfort
produced by the disemboweling of every other phrase-to our
more eloquent and hardy gentlemen of Virginia."
"Not me, doctor," Judson declared when
Franklin looked at him. He wished for a good
drink of rum, instead of the weak tea he'd
ordered. "I'm a poor writer at best."
"Then you, Tom." Franklin's curious
spectacles with lenses of two different thicknesses
flashed back the lamplight. "I'll be of what
help I can, but you have both the skill for the writing,
and the young man's vigor to withstand the editing."
Pursing his lips, Adams said, "But naturally
you'll interject a few ideas."
Franklin beamed. "Naturally. Correcting others
is easy. What do you say, Tom?"
Jefferson looked doubtful. From his waistcoat
pocket he pulled a scrap of paper and laid it
on the table. "My forte is composition of a particular
and limited kind, gentlemen."
That produced laughter. Jefferson's spell of
headaches had passed, and he didn't mind a joke
at his own expense. His friends knew he was
notorious as a maker of meticulous lists: the
daily weather in Philadelphia; the delegates
and where they stood on independence, day by day and week
by week; or the list he'd just shown them. Leaning
over, Judson saw that it itemized Jefferson's
current living expenses.
As he put the list away, Jefferson added,
"I'd really prefer not to carry the whole
responsibility-was
"Damme, we have a committee, a committee!"
Adams thumped the table. "Appointed this very day-to "
Franklin shook his head. "A committee never
accomplishes anything save the wasting of time and the
destruction of sound ideas. The committee can submit
the draft, but one man. must write it. Else
we'll never
debate and vote by the first of the month."
From the corner, the scowling Adams declared, "And
since a decision has been postponed until the
Congress
is
presented with a document, a document we must have!
Ipso jacto,
we require an author. Like Ben, I shun that
role with a passion, and defer to you, Tom."
"Why?" Jefferson wanted to know.
"Reason the first-you are a Virginian, and a
Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business.
There is too much opprobrium attached to the name of
Massachusetts. Reason second, because of my
vehemence in favor of independence, I am
suspected, unpopular and considered obnoxious."
Adams sounded almost boastful, but Judson
had to admit that the statement was correct. "Reason
third-and the most important comy can write ten times
better than I can."
"No more arguments," Franklin said. "You're
elected."
Jefferson sighed. "Very well, I'll try it. But
there are complex questions. What about the condemnation of
slavery we discussed? Though I own slaves myself,
I think we should include it. But it's certain to be
disapproved by most of the southern delegates-was
The discussion continued until almost ten, with little
settled except Jefferson's role in preparing the
necessary statement for submission to the Congress. After the
gathering adjourned, Judson walked slowly back
to Windmill Street, savoring the balmy June
air.
He hoped Alice would visit this evening. He was
anxious to tell her what had happened today: the
appointment of the committee to draft a declaration of
separation. He knew she wouldn't be very interested. But
his intense enthusiasm, fed by the mounting tensions in the
elegant white room of the State House, had
to find an outlet-
In the deep shadow on the corner opposite his
lodging-house, he stopped. On another
corner, he saw a
man leaning against a brick wall. A very tall man
whose features were hidden by the darkness. The man wore
a cloak and tricorn and seemed to be studying the
windows of Judson's bedroom-
There, a lamp burned. Had Alice already arrived?
Some warning instinct turned Judson's palms
sweaty. He hesitated only a moment before making
up his mind. He started across the intersection toward the
tall watcher-
Who promptly wheeled and hurried off down
Windmill Street.
But not before Judson had seen the man's cloak
bell out as he passed under a streetlamp. The
lamp revealed something that flashed dull yellow-
Metal-work. On a pistol in the man's belt.
Alarmed, Judson climbed the shaky stairs to his
door. He was suddenly extremely thirsty again.
viii
Alice seemed in a gay, playful mood. He
hesitated to mention the watcher. He wondered whether
the man had been there before.
Judson and the girl drank, then tumbled into bed.
An hour later, Alice slept restlessly in the
crook of his bare arm. The fragrant air
of early summer, turned even more ripe by the smell
of the river, stirred the curtains.
Somehow the lovemaking had had an unusual effect
on him. Ordinarily he went right to sleep afterward.
Tonight he was tense; but not unpleasantly so.
Maybe it was the gathering momentum of events in the
Congress. Earlier, while they tossed down
claret, he'd described his day to Alice,
ignoring her obvious boredom. He couldn't
possibly be bored. One way or another, the
issue should be resolved in early July when
Jefferson's draft declaration was presented by the
committee -
Musing, he was a fraction late in hearing the stealthy
footstep on the landing.
The door crashed in, the fragile latch booted
to pieces by the hulking figure silhouetted against the
moonlight.
"Stand fast in there!" a raspy voice commanded.
Alice stirred. "I have a pistol."
And so the intruder did. It was the tall man
Judson had seen earlier.
The man took a couple of steps into the parlor.
"Light a lamp."
Judson hesitated, cold beneath the
coverlet.
"I said light a lamp or I'll send a ball
your way!"
Judson reached clumsily for the lamp and a sulphur
match. In a moment a roseate glow lit the
bedchamber. Alice rolled over on her back,
muttering to herself. A section of the cover fell away,
revealing her breasts.
Still in bed but with hands braced under him, Judson
watched the tall man enter the room. Servant's
livery showed under his open cloak. Lamplight
gleamed on the brass-chased pistol. Judson
didn't miss the way the man's supercilious
eyes roved over Alice's exposed body.
"Get up and go to the inside wall," the tall man
ordered. When Judson didn't instantly obey,
the servant snarled, "Any further delay and it will
be my distinct pleasure to kill you. A regrettable
loss for the Continental Congress, eh, Mr.
Fletcher?"
Naked and genuinely frightened, Judson pushed back
the coverlet. He walked barefoot to the place
indicated.
"It's taken a deal of searching to find her," the
tall man remarked. "Months, in fact.
We never imagined she'd go into the stews. Where you
obviously took advantage of her. Ample
cause for an accident, I'd say. However, if you
remain quiet you'll come to no harm." He sounded as
if he regretted the fact.
The tall man turned and called softly toward the
landing:
"She's here, sir. It's safe to come in. Our
Virginia
gentleman is pacified for the moment."
A portly, elegantly dressed man of middle
age almost tiptoed through the parlor. He gazed at the
restless girl, horrified:
"My God, smell the wine on her! No Wonder
she doesn't wake up-was Face mottled, he
swung on Judson. "By heaven, sir, if you've
debauched her-was
"Debauched her!"
Judson guffawed. The nightmare had turned
ludicrous suddenly. "She's a tavern whore! Just
who the hell are you?"
"Careful how you address Mr. Trumbull,"
advised the servant.
"Yes, but you've got the better of me. Who-?"
"Never mind. We know who you are, and that's
enough."
The portly man bent over at the bedside and began
to chafe Alice's wrists. She groaned, thrashed
her head from side to side as if resisting the hands on
her flesh.
Trumbull, Trumbull,
Judson's mind repeated. He'd heard the name
before. The Trumbulls of Arch Street were a
prominent Tory family. The head of it-the
portly man?-owned a large, prosperous
ropewalk.
"Alicia, wake up. Alicia, it's Uncle
Tobias come to take you home-was
"Alicia?" Judson repeated. "Her name's
Alice."
The portly man directed another hateful glance
at him. Judson realized he must have been followed
for some length of time. Days; perhaps weeks. The naked
girl just opening her sky-blue eyes and pushing back
a strand of dirty hair was-as he'd
suspected-someone other than whom she pretended
to be.
All at once Alice's eyes focused. She
sat upright as if she'd been slapped. Her voice
was a mixture of terror and fury:
"What are you doing here, Tobias? Get
away-get out!"
The portly man paled. "Alicia, cover your
nakedness!
What am I doing here
-?" A gesture to the servant with one ringed hand. The
tall man watched Alice with quick alternating
glances at Judson. "We have searched
Philadelphia for months to locate you! What I
am doing here is taking you back to Arch Street.
To your aunt, who's been devastated-driven to her
bed!-ever since you disappeared last fall. To find you
working in a wharf den and consorting with a man who would
destroy these colonies-to "
The sentence sputtered out.
Tory politics and the morality of the well-entrenched
made Mr. Tobias Trumbull speechless with
outrage.
But he managed to seize Alice's wrist again.
"I'm where I want to be!" She jerked her hand
away. "Leave me alone."
"She's ailing," Trumbull gasped to his
servant. "Robbed of her senses by grief-was
"Or by drink, and
thi
s lecher," the tall man said, pointing the pistol
at Judson.
"Alicia, you must come home. We'll find the best
doctors-restore you to health-was
"Get out of here!"
Alice screamed in her best riverfront bellow.
Then she began to curse Trumbull with oaths that
bleached his reddened cheeks. Even the tall servant
looked surprised-and in that moment, Judson moved
with long, swift strides.
The servant swore, leveled his pistol. For one
dreadful moment Judson stared down the muzzle.
He grabbed the servant's wrist, cracked it over
his leg, caught the pistol and drove his bare knee
into the tall man's groin.
Judson jumped back as the tall man stumbled
against the wall, teeth clenching. The servant
recovered, lunged-
Only to halt as Judson took another long step
back and aimed the pistol at his forehead. The
servant glared.
Judson felt harrowingly sober, somewhat
ridiculous-nude with a pistol in one hand-and not a little
confused:
"Now before this charade continues, I want
an explanation." To the portly man: "You claim
to be her relative-was
"My wife is her aunt! She is Mrs.
Alicia
Amberly
, widow of an officer in His Majesty's service
and daughter of the Earl of Parkhurst."
"Earl?"
Judson exploded, slack-jawed from this latest
surprise. Alice had covered her breasts and was
watching the scene like a trapped animal. She too
was sober now, he judged. But still irrational. He
had seen those sky-blue eyes glaze like that before-
He could hardly believe what he'd just learned.
Still,
if
true, it would explain much about the girl's strange,
contradictory personality-
Trumbull swung to Alice but pointed at
Judson:
"Do you realize what sort of man you've fallen in
with? One of those political cheapjacks who-was
"Now I understand why you know so much about me,"
Judson interrupted. "I've been spied upon."
"She has been hunted," the servant
corrected, still furious.
"For the most humane of reasons!" Trumbull
exclaimed. "Sorrow over the death of her husband,
Lieutenant Colonel Amberly, caused her
to run away. Sickness of the mind made her seek
refuge in-squalor, in-was
Suddenly Alice screamed out, "I ran because my
lover deserted me, you stupid old fool! My
American
lover. He turned his back on me-
that's
why I ran-was
Judson was horrified by the wild brightness in the
girl's eyes. He remembered Alice standing at
the pier glass. Was
Philip
the American she'd loved-his
Again Trumbull could barely speak:
"Alicia-what you're saying-it's against all
propriety, it's- obscenity-a symptom of your
derangement-was
He lurched for her. "You will come home for care, for
protection-was
She spat in the fat Tory's face.
Trumbull wiped the saliva from his jowl.
For the first time, he turned pleading eyes to Judson:
"In God's name, sir-help me!"
Judson shook his head. "Why? The decision is
Alice's."
"Her name is Alicia, you arrogant bastard!"
"The decision is still hers. You have no right to force her
out of here."
The servant licked his lips. "He has debauched
her, Mr. Trumbull. That's obvious now."
"I am here
by choicer
Alice screamed again.
"Oh, God-child, please-was Trumbull was almost
weeping.
Judson lifted the pistol, gestured toward the
door open on the mellow June night:
"I think you'd better leave. At once. There is
no law of which I'm aware that can compel her to go with you.
I'm not holding her prisoner. So if she chooses
to stay with me, there's not a damn thing you can do about it."
Livid, Tobias Trumbull said, "You'll do
nothing to assist me when she obviously needs
medical attention?"
"Nothing," Judson repeated. "Unless she
agrees to it."
"No," Alice whispered, fingers like claws on the
coverlet.
"I-was Trumbull swallowed. Then a bit more
determination seemed to infuse his bloated face. "I
do have one recourse in the face of behavior such as
yours, Mr. Fletcher. Gentleman to gentleman-was
The last word seethed with contempt. "I can demand
satisfaction."
Judson's eyes raked the wheezing, overweight
man. "Don't be an idiot. You're not up to a
duel."
"Please-was
Alice was moaning now; moaning and swaying back
and forth. Judson knew Trumbull was right about one
thing: something in the girl's past had damaged her
mind.
Abruptly, she burst into tears:
"No more quarreling!" She covered her ears.
"Leave me alone!"
The awful howl turned
Trumbull's
face pure white. He glared at Judson again.
Behind Trumbull, the servant smiled sardonically.
"Then you'll deny me satisfaction?" Trumbull
asked. "You're not only a traitor but a
coward, is that it?"
Stung by the insult, Judson shouted, "Goddamn
it, if that's what you want, send your second!"
Instantly, he regretted the outburst. It was the
wrong thing to do on several counts. Trumbull was a
pathetically weak-looking man. Yet accepting the
challenge gave Judson a perverse
satisfaction, somehow.
The tall servant bowed. "I will call on you in
due course, Mr. Fletcher. Come, Mr.
Trumbull-was Gently, he took the shaking
Tory's arm. "comthe matter is settled.
When you've disposed of this gentleman, Mrs.
Amberly can be brought home comfortably."
At the landing the servant glanced back, still amused:
"Keep the pistol for a time, Mr. Fletcher.
I'll reclaim it after Mr. Trumbull puts
an end to your life."
The door with its splintered latch closed.
Judson stared at the brasswork of the gun. Sick and
furious, he flung the pistol on the floor. It
skidded, struck the wall.
He sat down beside-what had they called her?
Alicia Amberly? It didn't matter. He was
consumed with terror and pity. Her sky-blue
eyes had an almost infantile quality now.
One hand groped out to touch his chin. She said in a
tiny, plaintive voice:
"No fighting, darling. There's been too much blood
and hurt already, dearest. Promise me-was
Suddenly she pitched against him, her bare breasts
cold; so cold. Her hands worked at his shoulder
muscles:
"Promise me there'll be no fighting, Philip.
Promise!"
"Alice, I-I'm not-was
No use. She was crying again. Wild, gulping
sobs that told him just how fragile her mental
balance really was.
He became aware of a noise that had intruded at the
edge of his consciousness some time ago, but which he only
now identified: a thudding from below. The tinker.
A faint voice demanded to know the cause of the
uproar.
"Nothing wrong," Judson shouted over Alice's
hysterical sobs. "It'll be quiet in a moment-was
"comtolerate no unseemly behavior in my
house!" The voice faded.
Judson stroked the girl's filthy hair and stared
over her shoulder at the pistol lying near the
baseboard. Several times he repeated the name by which
he knew her. She didn't answer or even
respond, only kept kneading his muscles and
crying like a sick child.
The
Thirteen
Clocks
AFTER THE departure of the surprise visitors,
Judson threw on a robe and persuaded Alice
to drink a bit of the only remedy he had
to hand-claret. She held the cup between her work-reddened
hands, gulping greedily. She shuddered. Some of the
glassy quality seemed to leave her eyes.
Mightily relieved, Judson saw that she
recognized him, and her surroundings.
"Alice-was Though the name seemed awkward in light
of Trumbull's revelation, he couldn't use the
other with comfort. "comis that man really your aunt's
husband?"
Her bowed head hid her face. "Yes."
"And you ran off from his home in Arch Street?"
"I was tending my husband who was-wounded while
serving in Boston. He died and-please, no more,
Judson," she finished in a whisper.
"But he said you were an earl's daughter.
Is that true?"
"It was." Her mouth twisted. "Once."
"Who was Philip?"
"Stop!"
she cried, hurling the cup at his head.
He dodged. The cup hit the wall, shattered.
Once again the tinker thumped his ceiling and demanded
quiet. Judson shouted ill-tempered assurances,
then started pacing the bedroom. Alice had bundled
herself in the coverlet as if she were extremely
cold.
He saw how everything Trumbull said could be
possible
. The lines of her face were fine, delicate; or
had been, before dissipation blurred them-
Alice stroked her arm. The flesh was prickled with
tiny bumps. "Judson?"
He faced her, still dismayed by the information that had put a
whole new perspective on their relationship.
She'd meant next to nothing to him until the moment
he discovered who she was, and what had driven her
to her present state. Now he felt a new, deep
concern. With it, he felt confusion about what to do.
"I heard a little of what they said, Judson.
Talk of dueling-was
"That stupid uncle of yours wants satisfaction."
"Don't fight him-was She sprang naked from the
bed, clutching at him. "Swear you won't! I've
brought on too much ruin already-was
He caressed her hair. "Alice, I haven't
much choice."
"You have the choice of saying no!"
Judson shook his head.
"Why not?"
"Because-was He could offer only one rather sour
explanation. "comt's the way it is among
gentlemen."
Although it was a truthful response, it seemed
unsatisfactory. A moment later he understood
why. He dared not admit the real truth. Deep in
him, something wanted to lash out and maim-
He was ashamed and vaguely excited at the same
time. Christ, how despicable he was!
"Then you won't promise-?" she began.
"The best I can do is try to get the poor fellow
to reconsider and withdraw his challenge."
"If you face him, would-would you kill him?"
"He's fat, slow and twice my age. Yes, I
think I would."
She stared into his eyes a moment longer,
then limped back to the bed, covered herself and burrowed
deep into the pillow. Her shoulders shook as she
sobbed. The
sound of her voice reminded him of Peggy
McLean's on the night of the slave uprising.
He poured more claret for himself-that seemed the only
antidote to this muddled situation-and crawled into bed with
her.
He pulled her close, tried to comfort her.
Gradually her hysterical crying moderated and she
fell asleep. Somewhere toward the hour when the stars
paled, he did too.
When he awoke after sunup, his head aching, she was
gone.
Every trace of clothing-every indication that she'd been in the
room had disappeared, except two:
A strand of hair he found clinging to the still-warm
bedclothes. And the tall servant's pistol gleaming in
a ray of morning sun.

News arriving in Philadelphia during June's
balmy weather heartened the patriots. The British
flotilla at Charleston had been repulsed and
heavily damaged, thanks to the accurate, steady
fire of the Americans entrenched in a fort of
palmetto logs on Sullivan's Island in the
harbor.
And members of Congress began to converse in whispers
about
Roderigue Hortalez et Cie.,
a mysterious private trading company just organized
in France. The company had one express purpose:
to speed shipments of war materiel, including barrel
after barrel of vitally needed black powder, to the
colonies.
Some speculated that King Louis XVI, no friend of
Britain, had callously seized an opportunity
to strike at his country's traditional enemy via the
Americans. If that were the real reason for the abrupt
birth of the peculiar firm, no one loyal to the
colonial side would quarrel. Dr. Franklin
reported to a few confidants that
similar covert assistance might be forthcoming under the
auspices of Charles in of Spain.
But what heartened the patriots most was a hope:
If France had moved with such dispatch to aid the
Americans in secret, perhaps, with careful
diplomacy, the French might be persuaded to openly
ally themselves with the rebels. Franklin thought it not
impossible at all. And he expressed
complete willingness to take advantage of the
centuries-old European rivalry.
But whatever the outcome in that area, the long-term
prospects for the war looked a shade less grim
now that
Hortalez et Cie.
was operating under the personal direction of a most
unlikely manager-the author and court wit,
Beaumarchais.
Judson absorbed the news in the corridors of the
State House, or in whispered conferences in the great
white chamber that grew more and more sultry as the weather
warmed. The windows still remained almost completely shut
as the Congress labored on, awaiting the completion
of the draft declaration by the committee.
Concern for Alice had somewhat lessened Judson's
interest in the cause. He was drinking heavily again.
He spent a large part of his time searching the city for the
girl. But she had left the waterfront tavern where
she worked and dropped completely out of sight.
The days dragged. There was no communication from the
Trumbull household. Then Francis
Lightfoot Lee took Judson aside and
politely informed him that the challenge by the Tory
ropewalk owner had become a choice
item of gossip in the city. On behalf of
Judson's friends among the delegates, Lee
hoped-trusted comsome settlement less scandalous than
a public duel could be worked out.
Judson promised to do what he could. He penned a
careful note which he dispatched to Arch Street. In the
note, offered to entertain Mr. Trumbull's
reconsideration of the challenge. A day, later,
Judson's
landlord handed him an answer when he returned from the
State House.
He questioned the landlord:
Yes, the person who had delivered the reply was
tall; and damned arrogant for a servant. Judson
broke the elaborate wax seal and unfolded the
parchment. He read the note, then crumpled it and
threw it away.
Far from accepting Judson's offer, Mr. Tobias
Trumbull re-stated his demand for satisfaction more
strongly than ever.
The unfortunate Mrs. Amberly could not be located
anywhere. The Trumbulls feared for her safety-and
blamed him. Therefore Judson would please take
steps to choose a time, a place and the weapons by which
they would settle their quarrel.
in
In the middle of the final week of June, there were
signs of incredibly hot weather soon to come. On
the afternoon Judson called at the rooms Tom
Jefferson rented in a large brick house at
High and Seventh Streets, the air had a hazy
gray quality, minus any trace of wind.
The normally tidy parlor which Judson had visited
on several occasions was a litter of crumpled
foolscap. The young Virginian sat by a window, his
beloved viola and some compositions by Purcell and
Vivaldi gathering dust on a table nearby. One of
Jefferson's arms was draped laconically over the
back of his chair. A quill dangled from his inky
fingers.
Across the room, Dr. Franklin occupied a
settee. He acknowledged Judson's entrance with a
cordial nod, then poked a finger at the sheet
he'd been scanning:
"Tom, I find this wordy-'we hold these truths
to be sacred and undeniable." Wouldn't
"self-evident" serve as well?"
"Yes, that's good, scratch it in," Jefferson
answered. He sounded tired and indifferent.
Franklin picked up
another quill, dipped it in a well and made the
correction.
Noticing Judson's rather awkward pose at the
parlor door, Jefferson laid aside the portable
writing-box of highly polished wood that had been
resting on his lap. He had designed the miniature
desk himself, folding top and all. He lifted his
long body from the chair, stretched, yawned.
"I only want to complete the damned thing and get
on with the debate," he said. "Will you join me in tea
this warm afternoon, Judson?"
"If you have it, I'd prefer something stronger."
Once more that vaguely accusing expression flickered
across the Virginian's face, on which summer
sunlight had brought out a considerable number of
freckles. But he nodded politely, poured a
glass of Madeira, his forehead glistening with sweat.
Then Jefferson helped himself to tea from a pot.
Franklin tossed aside the foolscap sheet,
pushed his spectacles up on his forehead, massaged
the bridge of his nose:
"I would say we are approaching a finished
draft." To the other man, with a smile: "What
brings you here, Judson? Some additional thoughts for
Tom to put in?" "No, it's a
personal matter."
"Well, before you launch into it, have you any final
opinion about including a passage referring
to slavery?" He indicated the discarded sheet.
"Tom's still pushing for it."
Judson's brows hooked up as he sipped. The
Madeira eased his edgy feeling. "You're talking
about a passage condemning slavery?"
Jefferson nodded. "An instrument of oppression
permitted, not to say encouraged, by His Majesty."
"It's going a bit far to blame the king for the
blackbird trade, isn't it? He may permit
it-but we practice it"
Jefferson stared out the window at the clatter of High
Street. "Aye, a point. And my own hands-and my
conscience-are dirty on that score."
"If we include it, I predict the declaration will
be voted down," Judson said with conviction.
"Dickinson and his friends are fighting us for every vote.
Even stated in temperate language, an
anti-slavery clause would sink us for good."
"I loathe the trade," Franklin said. "I
organized the first anti-slavery club in the whole
of this city. But I agree with your assessment,
Judson."
"I'm still not prepared to strike it out at this stage,"
Jefferson warned them.
Franklin's eyes narrowed. "Nor ever?"
"Only if it becomes crucial to success or
failure."
Heaving his bulk up from the settee, Franklin
mopped his neck with a kerchief and picked up his coat
of brown velour. He draped it over his arm,
saying:
"It will, Tom, never fear, it will. Gentlemen,
I'll leave you to your private business."
As Franklin departed, Judson helped himself
to another drink. He felt sure the
Pennsylvania scholar knew why he'd called-and
had deliberately absented himself from the discussion. The
entire Congress knew about Judson's
predicament by now.
"Tom, I'll come right to it.
I'm going to face Trumbull."
"Didn't Francis Lee speak with you?"
"Yes."
"And urge you to reconsider?"
"I sent Trumbull a letter agreeing to forget the
matter. In reply, he insisted we go ahead.
We've arranged it for the third of July,
in the morning, someplace up the Delaware. I come
to you as a friend, Tom. I know very few people in
Philadelphia, and I need a second."
Unhappily, Tom Jefferson ran a hand over his
clubbed red hair. With a look that sent Judson's
hopes
plummeting, he answered:
In other circumstances, I might do it. Now-it's
impossible."
"Because of the reasons you mentioned back in January?
The moral outrage it might cause-?"
Jefferson agreed with another nod. "You realize
what may happen if you go ahead, don't you,
Judson? President Hancock is well aware
of the trouble. He has again made his feelings-his
strong feelings-known to me. If you persist, in all
likelihood you'll be quietly asked to withdraw from
the Virginia delegation. I'm afraid I'd have
to support that request. I'm sorry, Judson,
but I fail to see how some tavern trollop is
worth-was
White-lipped, Judson cut him off: "We
needn't debate the details."
"Yes, we very much need to debate them. Damn it,
Judson, no one among your close
associates-least of all those of us from your home
colony-can understand why you let yourself be drawn into such
a shabby business. A futile, purposeless
encounter over a woman who-was
"Tom, that's enough."
"On the contrary! You're being obstinate. You act
damned near driven to this!"
Judson turned away. "Maybe I am."
"Well, it's a shameful waste. One day you're in
the thick of things, working, debating, using your
considerable intellect-the next, you're off swilling
down so much strong drink you make Franklin look
like a temperance lecturer! I puzzle over it,
Judson."
Cold-eyed, Judson said, "Why bother?"
"Because-in a short time-was An eloquent shrug.
"comy've become a friend. I try and try to understand
what flogs you to these excesses!" Judson
replied with a bitter smile.
"Have you found any answers?"
"Only one-and that not very satisfactory. I've
concluded that in this world, certain men are stronger than
others. The weaker ones are unable to accommodate
themselves to normal behavior-and finding themselves not fitting
the pattern, they're destroyed by the
situation. Or destroy themselves-was
"Are you sure that's not merely the wine talking?"
"No." He tossed off the rest of the Madeira.
"My father. On numerous occasions."
"It's idiotic to surrender to that sort of defeatist
philosophy."
"I'm a misfit, Tom. I always will be.
Recognizing that, I've at least carried out one of
my father's wishes." Judson's eyes grew
bitterly amused. "He cautioned me against ever
marrying, since if I did, I'd surely pass
along my waywardness to generations of helpless, suffering
grandchildren-was
"Nonsense. You're indulging in self-pity."
Judson smiled again, this time with utter charm. "But that
goes with being a misfit."
Jefferson refused to be diverted: "If we bring
about independency, Judson-if we can finish this war
soon-was
"A pair of mighty tall
ifs"
"Granted, granted. But think of what's to be
won! All the chances you have to break out of this-this
pattern you claim you despise-was
"I don't understand."
"Do you have any notion of the size of this continent,
Judson? We're only crouching on the edge! It
stretches from the Floridas to Hudson's Bay, and
beyond. Out west, past the Ohio, the French fur
traders have traveled a river that beggars the
imagination! The Sieur de La Salle named it the
Colbert but the Indians call it Big River.
Misi Sipi."
He was striding now, caught up in his vision.
"We're getting off the subject, Tom."
"No, no, we're not! This land mass is huge!
Bountiful
as well. Who knows the full extent of the wealth it
holds between that big river and the Pacific? I tell
you the Spanish are doing their best to learn the
answers-with their presidios and missions in what they
christened the New Philippines. Imagine if
even a portion of that territory were ours! If the
foreign flags came down-the lions and castles of
Leon and Castile flying right now in the southwest-the
area they're coming to call
Tejas
- think of the opportunity for settlement!
Agriculture and commerce! The general increase of
human knowledge! All I'm saying to you,
Judson, is that with such vast lands still contested in the
west, no man should feel hemmed in by his immediate
surroundings. By the Lord, I don't intend to be.
Before I die, I mean to see a scientific
expedition walk that whole wilderness to the
Pacific!"
After a moment of silence, Judson said, "I understand
a little of what you're saying. One of my good friends
has already traveled past the Blue Ridge.
Sometimes I've thought I belonged out there with him-was
"Who is your friend?" "George Clark."
"George Rogers Clark?" "That's right."
"He's already made a distinguished name scouting with the
Virginia militia. But leaving the opportunity in
the west aside for a moment-was
"Yes, because the idea's unrealistic. I'll never
get there."
Judson's emphatic statement checked Jefferson
before he could begin another sentence. His enthusiasm
vanished, replaced first by a look of regret, then
by an expression faintly stern and righteous:
"Very well, that may be so. But no matter what his
condition or location, a man grown to adulthood is
at least called to exercise self-control."
"That's another lecture I've received from
my father."
Jefferson gnawed his lip. Then:
"In short, you won't try to moderate your
behavior? Keep your eye on greater
possibilities than what's up a skirt or
down in the bottom of a glass?"
"I try." A pause. "I always fail."
"Does that mean you won't reconsider the
Trumbull matter?"
"At this late hour-I can't."
"Not even in view of the probable consequences?
Hancock will almost certainly insist you withdraw and
return to Virginia."
"Let him."
"Judson, what are you trying to prove about yourself?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"To whom are you trying to demonstrate your
independence? Your manhood-?"
Judson set the Madeira glass down,
noisily. "I'm in no mood for subtle
discourses-was
"Nothing subtle about it," Jefferson waved. "I
see you as you can't see yourself. Sometimes you permit your
essential nature to shine through. A good mind,
moral courage of the highest order. Then you
seem to lose sight of those qualities. Or
quell them deliberately. I think only a man
overcome with loathing for himself acts that way. You've
mentioned your father-is he the one you're constantly-?"
"Good day, Tom." A muscle in his neck
bulging, Judson started out.
"Wait! Listen to me! You'll destroy yourself,
trying to prove something that doesn't need prov-was
The slam of the door shut out the rest.
Judson rushed down the stairs toward High
Street, noisy with wagons rolling in from the country
laden with farm produce. The astute Mr. Tom
Jefferson had struck
into depths Judson didn't care to plumb. Very
uncomfortable depths-
As he walked through the hazy gray afternoon, ignoring
several stares directed his way-the forthcoming duel was
a town scandal-an image of Alice loomed in his
mind.
The Trumbulls had driven her to her pathetic
state. That angry conviction was validation enough for what
he meant to do.
The image of Alice dissolved into another. His father-
Yes, Jefferson had struck much too close to the
truth. Whatever the causes, he was
poisoned by a frequent, almost wholly
uncontrollable desire to defy convention, or any
authority; to choose one road when he knew another
was the accepted way-
Who was to blame? As if it mattered any longer!
Or would change anything-"v
Instead of returning to committee session, he turned
in at the first available ale shop and lost himself in the
airless gloom, safe for a while from the reality of the
world outside. It wasn't long before his inner world was
similarly deadened and remote.
iv
Thunder shook the State House. Bursts of lightning
glared like infernal fire let up from the bowels of the
earth. The storm ripped across Philadelphia,
slamming rain against the tightly shut windows and
reverberating through the chamber where John Hancock
again occupied the presidential dais.
The air in the room was boiling. Judson's face
streamed with sweat. He swatted at one of the mammoth
horseflies that had somehow invaded the chamber
to bedevil the perspiring men listening to John
Dickinson defend his position:
"comand I therefore cannot in conscience support the
resolution yesterday debated by this Congress
sitting as a committee of the whole with Mr.
Harrison as chairman -"
The fuzzy-sounding voice irritated Judson.
He was starting to sober up, and didn't feel at
all well. He wanted to leave, find a tavern,
quench his thirst.
Exactly what day was it? He'd lost track-
With a jolt he realized it was the second of July.
Tomorrow, unseconded, he'd face Trumbull.
Perhaps the steady approach of the day of the duel was what
had kept
him
in a constant stupor for the past week. That, and no word
about Alice; she had utterly vanished.
He blinked, feeling more bilious by the moment. He
changed the position of his chair noisily. He was
aware of the disapproving stares of the Lees and George
Wythe at desks nearby. Even Jefferson,
nervously fingering a copy of his completed draft
declaration, appeared less than friendly.
Dickinson's damnably boring voice droned
on.
Judson slouched, dull-headed, callously
indifferent. To hell with all of them. He had no
business in this lofty gathering. He was
exactly what Angus Fletcher had always said he
was. A wastrel-
What in God's name was that idiot Dickinson
saying now?
"comI have long stood firmly against abuses
perpetrated by His Majesty's ministers-was
A few canes rapped agreement. There was another
crackle of thunder, then blinding whiteness outside the
rain-rivered windows.
comand in fact have publicly condemned those abuses in
publications of which you are fully aware. But I see
nothing save disaster in the resolution it is proposed
we vote on today. To favor independency is akin
to torching our house in winter before we have got another
shelter. I beg you to consider the consequences of the
total war which will surely follow such a declaration.
Think of great cities such, as Boston not
evacuated quietly by His Majesty's armies,
but burned and razed to ruin. Already agents bring us
reports that British officers are swarming across the
frontier, rousing the Indian tribes as allies.
What can that mean but butchery for the settlers who, for
example, chose homesites in the western reaches
of my own Pennsylvania? Furthermore, a war of
long duration cannot but bankrupt both
sides. Ruin England financially, and ourselves as
well-was
"Dammit, this is tedious and insufferable yellow
coward's talk!" Judson yelled, lurching to his
feet. "I submit that we are not arguing what is
or is not good business. We are arguing the choice of
liberty or tyranny. Courage or cowardice!"
Shocked whispers ran around the chamber. Hancock
glared and rapped for silence:
"If you please, Mr. Fletcher! You will be
recognized in proper turn."
Flushing, Judson sat down. He felt queasy
again. Received more than a few angry looks.
Dickinson, obviously enraged, concluded with a
single clipped statement:
"I cannot continue to be a party to these proceedings."
Stunned silence.
Upset, Hancock asked, "Are you indicating that
you wish to absent yourself from further deliberations of this
Congress, Mr. Dickinson?"
"I am."
In the pause, thunder boomed like cannon in the black
sky. With an agonizing sincerity, Dickinson
added:
"I am aware that my conduct this day will
give the finishing blow to any brief popularity I
may have enjoyed as a result of my defense of
Englishmen's liberties. Yet I had rather forfeit
popularity forever than vote away the blood and
happiness of my countrymen."
John Dickinson sat down amid another
flurry of cane-knocking, approval of his moral
courage if not of his final stance. Judson stifled
a belch. Thank God he wasn't burdened with such
niceties of conscience comthough he probably shouldn't
have attacked Dickinson so rudely; should have waited
his turn, framed a reasoned rebuttal-
A lightning-glare startled him. He whipped his head
around as John Adams clamored to be
recognized. On the w
hi
te-shimmering surface of a tall window, he saw a
ghostly image.
Lank hair.
Slack lips.
Haunted blue eyes-
Trembling, Judson covered his face. He
broke out in a cold sweat, nauseous.
Tom Jefferson leaned close, whispering:
"Judson? Are you ill?"
"Drunk," someone else sneered.
"Spoiled sausage-was he said hoarsely.
"Breakfast, I think-was His stomach began to churn
more violently. Sourness climbed in his throat-
He stumbled up from his desk, hearing exclamations in
the chamber. Hancock turned an unsympathetic
eye on him as he ran toward the closed doors,
afraid he'd be sick before he got outside.
His illness had nothing to do with breakfast. He'd
eaten no sausage that morning, spoiled or
otherwise. He'd eaten nothing. He had consumed
four-or was it five?-pints of ale.
In the pouring rain in the State House yard, he
vomited. When he tried to walk back inside, he
slipped on the steps, seeing Trumb
ull'
s porcine face in a lightning burst. He
sprawled on hands and knees, retching, delirious-
And then the step slammed up to strike his face.
Eventually he heard a voice. Familiar,
somehow-
He rolled his head back; heard his name spoken
again. Against the black sky he saw Tom
Jefferson, rain-drenched. Jefferson leaned down
to pull him to his feet:
"Stand up, Judson."
"Sorry," the younger man mumbled. "Sorry for the
spectacle. Plagued bad sausage-was
Sadly, Jefferson glanced at Judson's
befouled clothing. "Whatever the reason, it's the
consensus of the delegation that you should withdraw. Immediately.
I am sorry to tell you that, but you've exceeded
reasonable bounds. Hancock is still in a fury over
your interruption of Dickinson. Whatever his views,
Mr. Dickinson is respected-and treated accordingly.
Hancock would have come out and caned you if there hadn't
been such important business before the chamber."
Thunder; roaring as if the earth would shake a
p
art. The rain drove Between them, and Judson hated
Tom Jefferson's quiet power as much as he
loathed his own weakness.
He wiped sourness from the corner of his mouth.
"Sorry too. Wanted to be seated when the
resolution-was
Jefferson shook his head. "It's done. You've
been lying out here almost two hours."
"The voting's done?"
"Yes."
"How-?"
"Twelve for, none against, New York instructed
to abstain. Tomorrow we begin work on the final phrasing
of the document." Jefferson couldn't conceal his disgust.
"But you have a more pressing engagement. You lent strength
to this gathering for a time, Judson. I wish you'd had enough
strength to see the venture to its end."
He turned and disappeared into the State House. The
door closed loudly.
Judson felt humiliated; unclean. Still sick
to his
stomach, he stood with the rain pouring over him. It had
washed the worst of the mess off his clothes but it could do
nothing to cleanse the stench in his mind and soul.
At first light the next morning, Judson faced
Tobias Trumbull and the tall, smirking servant
in a maple grove beside the Delaware River.
Judson's horse was tethered nearby. Further
away in the mist, a large, splendid coach-and-four
showed blurs at the windows: a few well-wishers
come to offer Trumbull encouragement.
Nervously tapping a thumb on the side plate of
his pistol, the Tory wheezed:
"I ask you one more tune, sir. Where is
Alicia?"
"I haven't seen her and I don't know."
Judson felt abominable. Hung over. His
stomach was still unsettled. His hands shook.
"Liar,"
Trumbull
said.
"Damned liar!"
Judson almost struck the fat fool. Instead, he
turned to the servant:
"Let's have done."
Pleased, the servant indicated a fresh slash on
the muddy ground:
"Start back to back from this line. At the count, begin
your paces. At ten, turn and fire."
Pistols held muzzle up, the two men took their
positions. Judson was worried about his powder and the
priming in this damp weather. The tall man called
out:
"One."
Both duelists started forward, walking away from each
other. Judson consciously tried to steady his gun
hand.
"Two. Three."
Trees along the murmuring river dripped from
yesterday's storm. Rising before daylight, Judson
had found the streets already crowded. People were
turning out to
learn more about the incredible action taken in the State
House. Independency had been voted, so everyone
said-
"Four. Five.?""
Judson fingered the cock of his pistol, aware of his
own raspy breathing.
What had happened to Alice?
"Six. Seven. Eight"
Judson's boots squashed the sodden ground.
Muggy with mist, disthe morning seemed funereal. An
appropriate day to die-
Goddamn it, stop thinking that way!
He had only to take his time; remain calm.
Trumbull would surely miss-
"Nine."
All at once, a torrent of rage against everyone
and everything ripped through him, threatening to loosen the
hard-won control of his pistol hand.
"TEN."
Fighting to stay steady, he pivoted. Watched the
Tory ropewalk owner raise his pistol, aim-
Judson stood motionless, presenting the right side of
his body, a narrow target. The tremor in
Trumbull's forearm already spelled the
outcome. The pistol discharged with a spurt of red, a
lick of smoke. Trumbull took a backward
step as Judson listened to the ball whiz past a good
yard from his chest.
The stupid wretch, to push it this far-to 
He could aim to wound and the affair would be settled. That
would be the sensible way. Slowly, Judson swung
up his dueling pistol, extended his arm full length,
sighted down the muzzle. The tall servant tensed,
clearly afraid his master might bolt.
Trumbull stood his ground, but only with obvious
difficulty. Judson's face wrenched into vicious
pleasure as he noticed a wet stain at the crotch
of Trumbull's trousers. He sighted for
Trumbull's left shoulder, started to squeeze the
trigger-
And saw not some ridiculous, craven Tory, but his
own father, a spectre in the river mist-
Without conscious thought, Judson swung the muzzle
slightly left and fired. Trumbull squealed,
tried to dodge. But he wasn't fast enough. The
ball caught him in the side of the temple, opening a
splintery hole that looked black in the bad light.
Cries of shock and horror sounded from the coach. The
tall servant fanned his cloak aside,
his right hand diving toward his belt. Judson enjoyed
a brief moment of self-congratulation. He had
anticipated some such treachery. The tall servant
drew a pistol as he stepped across the body of his
fallen master-
But Judson had already produced a second pistol
himself, from a hiding place under his coat. He held
the pistol at full cock:
"My duel was with him. I shot fairly. Walk
to the bank and throw your gun in the river."
The tall servant didn't move.
"Throw it away or I'll kill you," Judson
shouted. "With those fine gentlemen in the coach as my
witnesses that I was attacked first."
The bluff worked. Fuming, the tall man strode through
the mud to the high grass along the shore. He
flung his weapon into the water. Judson laughed, his
face as white as a skull in the murk. He aimed
the second pistol at the ground, fired, and when the
explosion died away, tossed the weapon to a point
halfway between himself and the servant.
"That's the one you promised to take back," he
yelled. He walked to his horse, mounted quickly and
booted the animal toward the rutted road leading
to Philadelphia.
Despite the fairness of the duel, Judson had no
illusions about the stories that would be circulated.
He'd had no seconds-no witnesses of his own.
Philadelphia would be hot for
him
now. He could become the victim
of much more than slanted gossip.
The horse's hoofs shot up great sticky slops of
mud on the road to the city. Feeling the aftershocks
of the duel at last, Judson sweated and trembled and
wondered numbly who, after all, he had shot to death
beside the Delaware.
VI
Weary, he unlatched the door to his quarters on
Windmill Street-and pulled up short just inside
the entrance:
"Alice! My God, what's happened to you?"
All filth and rags, she swayed in front of him.
"Judson-this was the morning when-was
"Where have you been?
Where?"
he exclaimed rushing forward.
She fended his hands. He realized with a second
shock that she was feverish. Her eyes failed
to focus properly. Her shabby clothing was
brown with mud; ripped in half a dozen places.
There were ugly moist sores at each corner of her
mouth.
"Never mind," she said, with an expression of such
utter misery Judson could barely bring himself
to look at her. "Is my aunt's husband-?"
"Dead." Judson swallowed. "I gave him a
fair chance. Alice-was He walked toward her.
"Let me get you into bed. Clean you up. You're
ill. Christ, girl, have you just been wandering the
streets-?"
As he reached for her, she uttered one short, wild
wail and dashed past him, out the door and down the
stairs.
He ran after her, shouting her name. But she eluded
him in the morning mist.
He ran a block up Windmill Street in one
direction, a block the other.
She'd disappeared.
Knowing that he could have done little to correct her
unbalanced mental condition, he still felt a deep
sense responsibility for her safety. Not love;
nothing like love. It was just that she had no one else
to protect her against herself. As he had no one
else.
He pondered alternatives. Should he take his
horse and search again? No, he'd tried that before, with
no success.
But he couldn't simply abandon her when she was
clearly in a deranged state. Starting up the steps
to get rid of his damp, mud-fouled clothes, he
looked down, struck by something he'd missed before-
Marks of bare feet on the bleached plank steps.
A toe; an instep; traced in something damp and
reddish-brown.
He crouched, fingered it.
Blood.
How long had she been walking like that? In pain? He
bent his head and wept his grief.
vu
He searched for her the remainder of the day,
unsuccessfully. At dusk, exhausted, he found
a tavern. He barely heard the animated
conversation-and loud arguments-that seethed over the latest
rumors from the State House. Yes, the Congress
was
close to adopting a final draft of its declaration-
Uncaring, Judson drank himself steadily deeper
into darkness-
And woke with a lump on his head, and his
purse empty, in an alley two blocks from the
establishment where he'd passed out.
Stumbling up, he staggered into the nearest street. A
newsboy was ringing a handbell. Judson walked
by, then caught the lad's cry:
"com
alarming death of relative of Trumbull
family!"
He snatched a sheet, read it over the boy's whining
protests. The story was brief, the ink still wet:

of
A woman had been discovered floating near one of the
river piers the preceding evening.
A Mrs. Alicia Amberly, widow of the late
Lieutenant Colonel Amberly of His
Majesty's army, and niece by marriage of Mr.
Tobias Trumbull who had likewise met his
death the same day in an affair of honor.
Trumbull's
distraught wife had identified the drowned girl,
apparently a suicide, as heiress to the fortune
of the Earl of Parkhurst of Great Britain.
Judson flung the paper back at the boy and
strode on, too drained to hurt any more.
Now the issue was whether he himself wanted to survive
amidst the wreckage he had created.
But that was another weakness among the countless ones
afflicting him: he Jacked the strength to expunge his
guilt by doing away with himself.
He thought about it many times in the next couple of
days, sitting alone in the silence of the rooms at
Windmill Street, drinking. Outside, bell
boys passed frequently, shouting that the text of the
independency declaration had finally been approved by the
Congress.
That finally stirred Judson out of his torpor. He
found a coin, went into the street and purchased a
broadsheet-another quick print job, he saw from the
bleary type. Going back upstairs, he read the
news:
On Thursday, the fourth, the
Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen States of
America
had been duly agreed upon, and signed by the
Congressional president, Hancock, "in a hand
big enough for John Bull to read it." Judson
reckoned this to be Saturday morning already. Quickly
he read on.
Official signing of the declaration by all the
Congressional delegates would not take place for
at least a month. A much-corrected copy of
Jefferson's text had
been turned over to a printer named Matlack for
proper engrossing on a clean sheet of parchment.
Additional copies were being rushed to the army and other
major cities. On the eighth, the broadsheet
declared, the people of Philadelphia would be made aware
of the document's contents by a public reading in the
State House yard.
Judson suddenly felt hungry. Hungry and
awake. In no better spirits, but stubbornly
alive. The high drama had reached its conclusion.
He reckoned he'd go along to that reading and learn
how it had all come out. As he poured himself still one more
drink, he decided that a minor actor who had
botched his small, almost insignificant role still
had a right to be present for the denouement.
Despite the horrors of the past days, Judson
couldn't help feeling a shiver of pride at the thought
of what had been done in Philadelphia City.
If he was of no consequence on the world's stage-and
he knew he wasn't-at least he had been
privileged to share a bit of the last act. The thought
was enough to make him put the decanter aside
and think of hunting up a bite of food to renew his
strength.
Monday he would be in the Yard. Tune enough after that
to let the circumstances of his dismal existence
reclaim him.
ix
A thousand people or more jammed the area around the State
House on Monday morning. The crowd packed the
Yard and spilled out into the streets, everyone talking
excitedly. Some looked fearful. Others boasted that
now the colonies would whip Kong George's
soldiers for fair.
Judson tethered his horse at a crowded
hitch-post, wormed his way to the Yard entrance and
gained a favorable position with some shoving and scowling.
The attention of the crowd was focused on a circular
platform normally used as a base for the telescopes
of the Philosophical Society. But this morning,
the person clambering up with parchment sheets in hand was
no scientist bent on studying the heavens. Judson
recognized a man he'd seen around the State
House before: John Nixon, of the local
Committee of Safety.
Judson scanned the faces, smiled in a weary
way. Very few well-to-do people were present.
Mostly plain folk of the working classes, to judge
from their garb.
Then, a row or two ahead, he noticed three
familiar backs: Tom Jefferson, Dr.
Franklin, John Adams. They were talking in an
animated way. Judson didn't want to be seen
by them. Yet something compelled him to edge forward
sufficiently to pick up some of the conversation.
"comand it ought to be celebrated by succeeding generations as
the great anniversary festival!" Adams was saying.
"It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance!
Solemnized with pomp and parade! With shows,
games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and
illuminations from one end of this continent to the other-from this
time forward!"
Judson heard Jefferson answer, "You have a good
right to be proud and thrilled, John. You were its
chief architect."
"I never thought I'd see the hour come," Franklin
said with a deep sigh. "Remember what I observed
about the clocks?"
"Certainly," Adams told
him,
"That pulling thirteen colonies into concerted action was
like trying to force thirteen clocks engineered
by thirteen distinctly dissimilar clockmakers to chime
all at once. Improbable indeed!"
"But not impossible, as it turned out," Franklin
said. "We've done it, by God."
Said Jefferson with a wry smile: "Let us
devoutly hope we survive the consequences."
"Come, come, Tom," Adams chided, "no flagging
now! We must all hang together-was
"Or surely we'll all hang separately,"
Franklin said, amused.
Nixon clamored for the crowd's attention, finally
got it. A wave of silence rippled outward from the
round platform. The man's clear, strong voice
sent each word through the gates and into the mob thronging the
street:
"Herewith the unanimous declaration of the thirteen
United States of America, voted upon by the
delegates of the various states in congress
assembled last July fourth
-"
Applause, some cheering. Nixon waited. In the
interval, Judson heard Jefferson say
to Adams:
"I've seen some of the copies run off from the one at
Matlack's. My God, what they'll
think of us when those copies arrive in Boston or
Richmond-to "
"What's wrong with them?" Adams asked.
"The spelling! The punctuation! They follow neither the
approved draft, nor reason, nor the custom of
any age known to man-was
Adams laughed, then shushed the Virginian as
Nixon resumed:
"When in the course of human events, it! becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have
connected them with another, an
d
to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's
God entitle them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation
-"
Total silence now, the throng hanging on each
syllable. Judson had the eerie feeling that he was
being watched. He turned his head slightly, saw the
tinker from whom he rented his rooms clinging to the top
of the Yard's brick wall. The little old man
frowned, his white locks blowing in the July
breeze. He seemed to be trying
to communicate something to Judson with his
glance. Exactly what, Judson couldn't fathom.
He returned his attention to the reading:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal
-"
Cheering.
"com
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights,
governments
are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety and happiness
-"
The crowd began to grow restive. Jefferson's
stirring phrases were just a bit lofty for the common
man's taste. But shortly, Nixon reached a
section that stirred the people to frenzied huzzahs and
hand-clapping. The speaker read off a
lengthy bill of particulars accusing
the present king of Great Britain
of a host of
injuries and usurpations.
Each new accusation was greeted with an outburst more
enthusiastic than the last; clearly, this was the section
of the declaration that would prove the most popular, and be
quoted most frequently in years to come:
"He has called together legislative bodies at
places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the
depository of their public records, for the sole
purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures. He has dissolved representative
houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness
his invasions on the rights of the people
-
his
Judson's attention wandered a little, his eye drawn
upward to the bell tower of the State House where he
thought he saw a figure scrambling against the blue
Summer sky. Again he swung to peer at the tinker
perched on the wall. But the man was watching Nixon:
"For imposing taxes on us without our consent. For
depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial
by jury
-"
Judson began to be troubled by the tinker's earlier
look. It had seemed to contain a warning. Of what?
he wondered. When the reading concluded, he must find
out.
"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people
-
his
As the sonorous accusations rolled on, Judson
again felt the humiliation of having failed to carry out
his role which his brother had arranged for
him
in good faith. If
only he'd sat through with the Congress to the end!
The Fletcher name-his name; and Donald's-would have
gone down with the names of all those others who would
eventually sign the clean copy-
Judson's mouth twisted. As he'd suggested
to Tom Jefferson, not all men in the world could be great
or important men. Some had to be flawed;
failures-
The dreadful self-hate filled him again, relieved
only by the rising volume of Nixon's voice.
He had evidently reached the document's
conclusion:
"We therefore, the representatives of the United
States of America, in general congress
assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world
for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and
by authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly
publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of
right ought to be free and independent states. That they
are absolved from all allegiance to the British
Crown, and that all political connection between them and the
state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally
dissolved. And that as free and independent states they
have full power to levy war
-"
The crowd grew hushed at that sentence.
"com
conclude peace
-"
A stirring; whispers here and there; perhaps the conflict
could be speedily resolved.
"com
contract alliances
-"
France, Judson thought. If only France could now
publicly come to the aid of the fledgling
country.
"com
establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which
independent states may of right do. And for the support
of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence, we mutually
pledge to each other
-"
Judson glanced up, saw more activity in the bell
tower; ropes bobbing. "com "com
our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."
Bedlam broke loose. People shouted, stamped the
ground, wept and clapped. Judson was punched,
nudged, buffeted from every side as the crowd roared
approval of all it had heard. He wanted
to leave the Yard.
As he turned, so did Tom Jefferson, his red
hair bright as fire in the sun. Their eyes met.
Jefferson's looked abruptly sad.
He seemed on the point of trying to speak through the
rising tumult, a tumult heightened by the first
clangorous peals of the huge bell in the State
House tower. Ashamed, Judson turned away.
Clang! Clang!
The bell sang, each peal reverberating.
As Judson struggled through the crowd, he thought he'd
suddenly been afflicted with some malady of the ear.
He heard echoes begin, sweeping from one end of the
sky to the other. Bells of different pitch and
volume, all responding to the signal of the first
bell proclaiming liberty, filling heaven with their
brazen music-
CLANG! CLANG!
The free and independent states of America.
Judson wasn't embarrassed to wipe tears from his
eyes. He
would be forgotten. But he had been here.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Clambering down from the wall, the old tinker fought
toward him, looking decidedly out of sorts:
"Mr. Fletcher-stop pushing, woman, this is
important! -Mr. Fletcher, you left
Windmill Street ahead o"
me-was
"That's right, what of it?"
"Just "fore I come down here, a party of gentlemen
arrived. Huntin" for you." The tinker was obviously
unhappy about this latest disturbance of his quiet
life.
Judson scowled, his gray-blue eyes
hardening. "I know of no gentlemen who'd seek me
out."
"Not a one but didn't have a mighty ugly phiz.
And a couple o' pistols, too. Tory gentlemen,
I think they
were."
Trumbull's
crowd. He'd been lucky to avoid them thus far.
"I want no trouble, Mr. Fletcher! If you go
back to the rooms, I'd at least wait until
dark. I just won't abide any more rows, or
damage to my property-was
Judson's decision was almost instantaneous. He
shook his head:
"I don't believe I'll go back. I've no
belongings of value there. And my account with you is in
order, isn't it?"
"Yes, square. But what do you want done with "em
things of yours?"
"Sell them, burn them, I don't give a
damn." He turned and strode swiftly through the
crowd as the bells pealed across the sky. In moments,
he was mounted and lashing a path through the celebrating
mob, heedless of whom he struck with his flying crop.
By early afternoon on the eighth of July,
1776, Judson Fletcher was riding southwestward
along the
Delaware, bound home for Virginia.
He knew his father's strength of will. There would be no
place for him at Sermon Hill. But he'd face
that problem later. Virginia was the inevitable
choice. It was the only land he knew.
Ah, but what did it matter where you lived when your
only course seemed to be uncontrollable
destruction of yourself and everything around you?
Still, as Jefferson had said, it seemed to him that there
should be a place in the world-in this country-where a man
could find contentment. An ordered existence. Peace
for a troubled spirit. Unfortunately Judson had no
clear and positive idea about where such a place
might be.
The brief exhilaration of the morning faded under the
wearying rhythm of the horse. Tom Jefferson was right
about something else. The patriots who had gambled their
futures and their very lives on a sheet of parchment
comthe men who had pulled and hauled with such dedication
to create union out of disunion-would want no name like
Judson Fletcher's on their declaration. They would
want no part of a man who was dishonorable and damned.
But why damned?
Why?
Was he, as his father contended, the bearer of some
contaminant impossible to overcome? Some fatal
flaw of body and soul?-providing, of course, such
a commodity as a soul existed! The old man termed
it the devil's blood, but Judson reckoned
Fletcher blood
would be more accurate.
Whatever the name, was he absolutely powerless
to escape the disastrous effects? Sometimes-as now-he
felt so. But he could never puzzle out a certain
answer. And just thinking about it was laborious and
hurtful-
Do you suppose there's an inn at the ferry
crossing ahead? I'm plagued this
irsty
-
Gradually, as he rode on, the last distant ringing
of
the bells of Philadelphia died away beneath the
murmur of the hot July breeze.
What would become of the new nation? he wondered,
trying to dismiss a sudden picture of Alice from his
mind. What would become of him-his
Godamighty, he was thirsty!
And a great fool. The first question was certainly the only
one of importance. The second-and its answer-
counted foil nothing at all.
Two The
Times
That Try Men's
Souls
The
Privateers
FEBRUARY ICICLES hung outside the parlor
windows, fiery crystal that dripped in the bright sun.
The light spilling into the room sparkled the dark
eyes of the baby Philip Kent swung high over
his head, then down again.
"Philip, you'll frighten him!" Anne said as she
came in. The child, stocky as his father, andwiththe same
thick, dark hair, disproved it with a delighted
gurgle as Philip set him down gently, then
brushed out a fold in the homespun smock Anne
had sewn herself.
"He enjoys it," Philip grinned, moving two
paces backward. He stretched out his arms.
"Walk to me, Abraham. Walk to Papa."
Gurgling again, Abraham took three unsteady
steps. He stumbled and sprawled, wailing.
Philip rushed forward. So did the two
visitors. But Anne reached the baby first,
snatched him to her breast and started out of the room:
"You're so used to tossing muskets around at top
speed, you've forgotten how to handle something more
delicate," she teased Philip. "I'll put
him in the crib for his nap. Then we'll eat."
When she'd gone, George Lumden packed
tobacco into his clay pipe and said, "A fine,
strong boy, Philip, How old is he now?"
"Just turned sixteen months."
I
hope we're similarly blessed this spring."
Lumden was a soft-spoken, gray-eyed man with a
--large mole on his forehead. Formerly a British
infantryman garrisoned in Boston, he had
deserted to the American side-and an American
bride-with Philip's assistance.
Reveling in the warmth of the two logs popping in the
fireplace, Philip said to Lumden's visibly
pregnant wife:
"So this will very likely be your last trip to Concord
before the baby's
born
, eh?"
All vivid red hair and winter-pinked cheeks,
Daisy Lumden nodded. She sat beside her husband,
clasping his hand. "I wanted to see my father before it
became impossible to travel."
Early in 1775, Philip had stayed at the farm
Daisy's father owned out beyond the Concord River. The
red-haired girl had been the cook in the Ware
home in Boston. Lumden had been quartered there,
as soldiers were quartered in houses all over the
city, by royal decree. Romance had spurred his
decision to join the hundreds of other redcoats who
stole away, unwilling to take part in a war against people
they considered fellow Englishmen.
"Even with the thaw, the trip up from Connecticut is
difficult," Daisy added.
Philip stretched his cracked boots toward the
flames of the hearth. How well he knew.
"I'll spend half my leave just riding to and from
Morristown
." A pause. "But you haven't told me how
you're finding life in Connecticut, George."
"Satisfactory, more than satisfactory!" the
ex-soldier smiled. "I obtained a small loan
from my second cousin in Hartford, and I've put the
training I got at my father's smithy in
Warwickshire to good use-was
From a traveling valise, he produced a long,
slender oiled-paper package.
"I'll never make a Continental soldier," he
said. "But at least I can do my share in other ways.
Here, I brought this for you."
Pleased and surprised, Philip unwrapped the
package. Sunlight flashed on the gleaming metal
of a new bayonet.
"I opened up a small forge, and I'm supplying
them on contract to the army," Lumden explained with
pride.
"A beautiful instrument." Philip balanced it on
his
hand. "And appreciated-as they weren't when we tried
to hold Breed's Hill. I'd say a fourth of
our men are
equipped with bayonets now. More are getting them
come day. Thank you, George."
Daisy patted a loose curl of coppery hair.
"When Anne wrote that you were coming home, we thought it
might be permanently, Philip."
He clucked his tongue. "I wish it were. But in
January, I rejoined for three more years."
"You very nearly had no army left
to rejoin," Lumden commented.
"That's true."
"In Connecticut, the criticism of General
Washington has been bloody scandalous. Or it was
until last month. People claimed he was such a poor
commander, men kept sneaking away home by the
hundreds."
"It's not the general who's lacking, it's the
troops," Philip replied. Yet he had
to admit that during the grim days of the autumn of
"76 just passed, he too had again questioned the
leadership ability of the squire from Fairfax
County, Virginia. Now that he was home for a bit,
the agonies of the preceding months had a dim,
unreal quality; but the net effect lingered. The
American army had failed miserably.
Washington had lost Long Island in August. Then
came the humiliation of the British capture of
New York City, as the Howe brothers-General
Sir William
irrcliarge of the ground forces, Admiral Lord
Richard commanding the naval squadron blockading the
rivers and landing the regiments-forced Washington's army
into retreat after retreat.
Lumden said, "We understood Sir
William and Black Dick Howe had the king's
authorization to pardon the colonials."
"Yes, I think that's correct. But that was
before
Long Island. And of course the effort came to nothing
because they had no authority
except
to pardon us for our supposed sins. No power to deal
with the issues that caused all this."
Philip chuckled. "The whole rigmarole does have
its comical side sometimes. The Howes tried to open
negotiations with Washington but they refused to address
him any other way than
Mister
Washington. To have called
him
general, you see, would have acknowledged that he had some
authority! And that, in effect, would have recognized
last July's declaration. Well,
Mister
Washington rejected all such correspondence-so the
Howes tried "George Washington, Esquire,
etcetera?
comarguing that
etcetera
could mean anything the recipient wished! Washington
rejected those letters too. Finally the Howes got
tired of dallying offshore and landed on Long Island."
"And the soldiers ran!" Daisy said, disgusted.
"In some cases," Philip agreed. "But for every
one of those incidents, I could tell you three where little
groups of men stood and died. Still, the problem of
lack of training is having its toll. The majority
of men just don't understand military life. God knows
I don't enjoy obeying some fool's orders! A
friend of mine who's in charge of the artillery once
prophesied the problem. He said fanners and
artisans probably couldn't be turned Into a
disciplined fighting force. And whenever it proves to be
true, it's a disaster. When the British crossed
to New
York island and landed at Kip's Bay, for instance,
the militia turned tail. Washington arrived on
that beautiful white horse he rides. He swore
like I've never heard a man swear before. And he
laid about him with his own sword-was
"Attacking the enemy personally?" Lumden asked.
Philip shook his head. "His own men-who were
running. He was in such a state, one of the staff
officers had to lead his horse off the
field. That kind of thing poisons the air. By the time
we were pushed back across the Hudson into Jersey, and
then marched south, the army was ready to fall apart. I
think it would have if the general hadn't turned us out on
Christmas to cross the Delaware."
"People began saying better things about Washington after
that," Lumden commented. "It was a splendid
victory!"
"George, you're acting and sounding like a patriot
these days," Philip laughed.
"I am, a bit," Lumden said, reddening.
"Loyalties do change. How many of those damned
German mercenaries did you capture?"
"Over nine hundred. They're not the beasts they've
been painted. They're hired to fight and they do it,
that's all."
Lumden was correct in one comment, though. Public
opinion of Washington had altered radically in the
preceding thirty days. Only the general's
desperate decision to attack Trenton's
Hessian garrison-a garrison placidly
celebrating Christmas and totally unprepared for
attack-had kept the American army from collapsing
under wholesale desertions brought on by demolished
morale. Philip vividly recalled the
cheerless cold of the December weather; the
stomach-turning passage over the ice-blocked
Delaware in open boats piloted by the men from
Mar8,4; the fast march to Trenton
wit
h
his boots all but rotted away; kneeling and firing
at the Hessians charging along Trenton's main
street while the sleet slashed over his bare,
bloodied feet. Sent to the rear of the lines because he
could barely walk, Philip had missed taking part
in Washington's second small but decisive rout
of the British at Princeton.
Though the memories, once called up, came
back in detail, he could contemplate them with a
certain hard calm. He had faced death often in the
past year. And though he was always afraid before an
engagement, his earlier morbid concern for his own
welfare had disappeared. He supposed that was a
result of experience; the toughening process of
combat. Like Colonel Johann Rail's
Hessians at Trenton, he did his job and
hoped for a speedy end to it, so that he could come home for
good to the little house Anne had rented here in
Cambridge.
But the return wouldn't be immediate. At the moment
Washington's army was in winter quarters, as were the
forces of the king. Spring was sure to bring new
campaigns. Against York State, some said. Against
Philadelphia, others claimed.
Along with the Trenton and Princeton victories,
the discovery that the Hessian mercenaries could be
defeated had somewhat stiffened the army's backbone.
But not enough, Philip had decided. As Knox had
predicted, the Americans had not become an army
in the true sense-
Anne brought cheer back to the room as she
announced:
"Come, the meal's ready. I'm afraid the fare
isn't very elegant."
"Seeing you both again is worth ten banquets,"
Lumden smiled, an arm around his pregnant
wife's waist.
"But we must be off by mid-afternoon, George,"
Daisy said. "I want to be in Concord before it
gets too dark."
"Of course, love," Lumden murmured. Anne
and Philip exchanged amused glances over
Lumden's domestication.
For a while, accompanying his wife to the
carefully set table in the dining room, Philip could
forget the squalid garrison life at
Morristown, and the constant speculation about a spring
offensive. He surrendered pleasurably to conversation
with old friends, and to the costly but slightly gamy
chuck of beef Anne had purchased for the occasion,
doctoring it with a thick brown gravy to make it
palatable.
I
Farewells were said on schedule, about three.
Philip and Anne waved their visitors away from
the front gate. Lumden's hired carriage
lurched out of sight up the rutted street.
Philip took his wife's hand, started back along
the walk almost melted clear of snow. He noticed
a curtain stirring at a downstairs window of the
clapboard house next door.
"Old busybody's watching us again."
Anne laughed. "Mrs. Brumple is a dear
lady, Philip. Eccentric, but dear."
"There's nothing more pestiferous than a widow with time
on her hands. I know she spies on us in the evening
comespecially when we shut the curtains early and go
to bed. Frustrated biddy!"
"But she's been very kind and helpful. She
fixed a poultice when Abraham had the croup at
Christmas."
"She's asked me twice how much money your father
left us."
"Only twice? I've lost count of the times I've
heard the same question-was Anne's brown eyes shone
merrily. "I fend her off."
I'm afraid I just act rude and say nothing."
"Oh, Philip, you mustn't. It's ever so much more
satisfying to Mrs. Brumple if you hint that
Papa left a fortune. That way, she has something
to discuss when she visits the market, or sews
uniforms with her church group--"
"I suppose." He wasn't convinced.
Back in the parlor, he warmed his hands at the
fire. On the mantel rested his mother's casket and the
little green bottle of tea. Above, on pegs,
hung Experience Tait's Kentucky rifle and,
higher still, the sword given him by his friend Gil.
"Would you like to rest a while till Abraham's done
napping?" Anne asked.
He yawned, said, "I would, but there's work that needs
doing." Somber, he kissed her mouth gently.
"It's time I answered my father's letter."
Her brief nod and quick caress of his cheek
said she understood.
Seated at a desk near their bed, a candle lit
against the fading light of the winter afternoon, Philip
unfolded the neatly inked pages of thin vellum.
The letter had been delivered in January to the
Cambridge office of the postal service, after
months in transit. It had been written in the
early fall, and had reached Boston on a French
packet that slipped past the British squadrons
ranging the coast. When Philip had initiated the
correspondence the preceding summer before marching south
to New York, he had never imagined his letter stood
much chance of being delivered to Kentland, his father's
country seat, let alone a chance of being answered.
But now, re-reading the reply, he felt the same
emotional tug as he had all the other times he'd
pored over the words since his return home. His
eye was drawn to the passage toward the end:
It is a wondrous thing
-
nay, I may say a miraculous thing
-
to hear, after years of silence, that my well-loved
son Phillipe Charboneau is alive and grown
to manhood. Your brief missive to that
effect burst like a sunrise into what has become a
gray and tedious existence. My wife is ten
months in her grave, and my other son, Roger,
perished in Philadelphia, of wounds incurred in
Boston Town, where he was serving with the army. The
exact details of his fatal encounter remain
elusive to this day.
Philip wiped his perspiring upper lip. Last
summer he had written his father out of some deep, almost
mystical
compulsion
to communicate with the man who had given him life. But
that first letter to James Amberly had been guarded; had
done little more than establish his existence in the
colonies under a new and different name. He'd
mentioned Marie Charboneau's death on the voyage
to New England. But he'd said nothing about Lady
Jane Amberly's treacherous hoax to cheat him of the
inheritance his father had promised. Nor would he, ever.
And the identity of the slayer of Amberly's
legitimate son would likewise remain his
secret; his guilt.
To know, however, that Phillipe Charboneau has
become Philip Kent
-!
do not overlook the significance of the last name; to know,
I say, that he is happily wed, and has
presented me with a grandson, cheers me as nothing
else could. I am only regretful that
circumstances, including my untimely illness when you
were at Kentland, conspired to rob you of
the portion I meant you to have from my estate. Your
remark that you had burnt the letter to your beloved mother
-
the letter in comwh I pledged you that portion
-
comwas momentarily distressful. Yet on
reflection, I grew to appreciate your act,
drawing from it many favorable assumptions about the man
you have
become. With an ocean separating us, and a darned
debilitating war whose causes are better left
un-debated between father and son, I send you my warmest
affections, a full measure of pride, and my
renewed expression of astonished joy at hearing from
one I had presumed dead. I hope conditions will not
prevent the happy occurrence of communication from
repeating itself.
With eternal fondness, Jos. Amberly.
His father had omitted his hereditary title.
Philip found a fresh sheet, whittled a sharper
point on the quill, then hesitated. He was still
unsure how a duke was properly addressed.
At last he gave up speculating and again wrote
My dear father
as the salutation.
I too experienced great joy and pleasure when a
French vessel succeeded in delivering your letter to our
shores. Let me tell you at once that I wish
only for your good health and fortune, despite the
opposite positions in which we find ourselves as a
result of the strife between our nations. Along with most
of my countrymen, I hope that the trouble will be
resolved, with due consideration to the interests of both
sides, before much more time elapses
Though wholly dedicated to the patriot cause,
Philip could write that honestly; it was the
prevalent view. Most men he knew looked
forward to a resumption of
amicable relations with England-not to mention trade.
Provided, of course, the Americans didn't
lose the war.
In regard to your statement about the inheritance, I must
say to you that I have no regrets about destroying the letter
in question, as I determined at the time
to renounce all claims except the one, most
meaningful of all, whose renunciation circumstance,
pride, and love would never permit. That I may
address you as my father is reward enough, as many
persons I met round about your estate, and also in
London where I stopped briefly, spoke
excellently well of your virtues and character. Not the
least of these was the famous American savant, Dr.
B. Franklin
-
The quill scratched on as the candle burned down.
Philip described his
wife
in glowing terms, then his son Abraham. After
deliberating, he
included one carefully phrased li
ne about his service under General Washington.
He signed the name
Philip,
folded the closely written sheet and waxed it
shut. He owned no special seat to mark the wax.
He addressed the outside to his father at Kentland,
Kent, Great Britain, not knowing Amberly's
London residence.
Then he went to the kitchen. Anne was using
the remains of the meal for the
Lumens
to create a kettle of marrow soup.
Walking up behind her, he kissed her ear. She
clasped his hand where it circled her stomach, pressed
his forearm up against the softness of her breasts, leaned
her head back a moment, her eyes closed.
"Annie," he said, "do you suppose we-?"
Mischievous, she gave him no time to finish,
spinning around and kissing him soundly on the lips.
"The
answer is yes. The soup can wait. Your leave's
too short as it is, and Abraham won't wake
for a while yet-was
Laughing, he hugged her. "That wasn't precisely
the proposition I had in mind-though it's a very good
one. Would you like to go to Boston?"
"Now?" she exclaimed.
"Oh, we've things to do now," he smiled. "Tomorrow,
perhaps. You could market while I look up Ben
Edes and see whether letters can be posted to England."
"I'd love to! I'm sure Mrs. Brumple
would care for Abraham for the day."
Philip grimaced. "I'm glad she's good for
something besides asking impertinent questions and peering
at our closed curtains." He tugged her hand.
"Come on, let's pull 'em shut and give the old
soul her evening's titillation."
iv
The excursion to Boston, though undertaken on foot
along slushy roads, proved fortuitous in several
ways. At North Square, Anne was able to fill
her basket with two reasonably fresh loins of
pork. And at another of the market booths there,
Philip spent a few shillings on a brightly
painted toy drum and sticks for Abraham. He
ignored Anne's tart comments about disliking playthings
that reminded her of the war.
Ben Edes" former shop had been looted and burned
out by the British. But he had returned to a new
location a few doors further down in Dassett
Alley. There the young couple found their old friend
busily working his hand press. He was once again
publishing the
Gazette,
though without any assistance.
As soon as Philip and Anne arrived, Edes
closed up shop and took them to the Green Dragon
for tea and biscuits. At the table, Philip
asked about outgoing mail.
"Oh, it'll take a spell for it to reach England,"
was
Edes' reply. "But it should get there eventually.
Here, I'll see to the posting-was He plucked the letter
from Philip's fingers.
"I must pay you-was Philip began.
"No, it's a patriotic service to one of our
army lads. Just like buying the tea and biscuits."
"You think the letter'll get through, then?" Philip
asked.
"Well, I'm not positive. But there are plenty
of New England privateersmen coasting down south
hunting for British ships to plunder. They drop
mail for Europe in the Indies. From there,
neutral ships carry it to the continent, and it
crosses back to England. We might get lucky
and make a more direct connection on a Frenchman
going home light after dumping powder here."
"The harbor is certainly crowded," Anne
remarked. "On the way back from the market, we
walked by the Sawyer Yard. I've never seen it so
busy."
Edes said, "These days the slogan is-if it
floats, arm it. A new privateer puts out
practically every day, seems like. Only
problem is finding money to build and equip "em.
And men to sail 'em."
He unfolded the copy of the
Gazette
he'd brought along, pointed to an advertising
notice headed in bold type. Philip had heard
that the launching of privately owned war vessels under
letters of marque issued by the Congress was a move
to help offset America's virtual lack of a
navy. But something much more personal about the notice
captured his attention:
An Invitation to all brave Seamen and Marines,
who have an inclination to serve their Country and make their
Fortunes.
The grand Privateer Ship ECLIPSE
commanded by WM. CALEB, ESQ., and prov'd
to be a very capital Sailor, will shortly Sail
on a Cruise
against the Enemies of the United States of Americ
a
The ECLIPSE is excellently well
calculated for Attacks, Defense, and
Pursuit-This therefore is to invite all those Jolly
Fellows, who love their Country, and want to make
their Fortunes at one Stroke, to repair
immediately to His Excellency Governor
Hancock's Wharf, where they will be received aboard
ECLIPSE with a hearty Welcome by a Number of
Brave Fellows there assembled, and treated with that
excellent Liquor call'd GROG, which is
allow'd by all true Seamen, to be the LIQUOR
OF LIFE.
The moment he'd finished reading, Philip said,
"Annie, look at this.
Eclipse
is the ship that brought my mother and me from England."
Edes" eyebrows lifted. "You know Will
Caleb?"'"
"If it's the same man-was
"First-class captain. From up Maine way."
"That's the one," Philip nodded, warming at the
memory of Caleb's kindnesses to him aboard ship
after his mother's burial at sea. "As I recall,
though, Captain Caleb didn't take to sailors
drinking-was
"Can't attract a crew without grog," Edes
commented. "And Caleb needs more crews than one.
He's going into privateering in a big way. Got
Eclipse
and another ship armed already. He's trying
to raise money to build two more. Depending on his
luck at sea, he and the people who buy in stand to lose a
lot-or get rich."
Anne glanced up from the paper. Her brown eyes
took on a speculative look:
"Does this Captain Caleb have his commissions in
order?"
"Think so. Two from the Congress on the vessels
already afloat. Two more are supposedly guaranteed
by the Massachusetts legislature soon as his
new ships
are built. A real enterprising fellow, Caleb
is."
"Where is his office?" she asked.
"The head of Hancock's Wharf, a little further up
from where the ship's berthed."
Crisply, Anne swung to her husband.
"Philip, I think we might go along and look
up your old friend."
"Whatever for?"
"To see whether we might put a bit of Papa's
money to work for us."
"Annie, we're saving that!"
"So you can turn into my competitor one of these days,"
Edes joked.
"The money's just sitting there," Anne said. "And we
don't need every last pound to live. If we had an
opportunity to help the cause and make a modest
profit at the same time-was
Skeptically, Philip cut in, "We're more
likely to see that kind of investment sunk in the ocean
and gone forever."
"At least it's worth investigating, don't you
think? I do." Her emphatic nod left
Philip smiling in spite of himself:
"Annie, sometimes you are the most surprising
woman-was
"She's a woman," Edes said. "That explains it
all." Philip said to him, "I think she's just
making up for
her mother not being able to stay in the shipbuilding
business because it wasn't permissible for women.
Her grandfather owned Sawyer's-was
"Enjoy your chauvinism, gentlemen," Anne said
cheerily, rising. "I intend to look out for the interests
of Kent and Son."
"Is that the name of my competition?" Edes asked.
Anne smiled her sweetest smile. "It will be."
"If she's your business manager, Philip, I
might as
well quit right now. There won't be a printing
house in
New England can stand up against the combination of
you on the press and your wife on the ledgers."
"I think you could be right," Philip grinned as he
rose to join Anne, who was obviously impatient
to leave the smoky taproom. "Goodbye, Mr.
Edes."
The printer looked mockingly mournful. "Remember
me when I'm bankrupt and need a loan, will you?"
"How much interest can you pay?" Anne asked.
Edes laughed, then she did too, as she and
Philip left.
They walked into the February sunlight. Melting
snow ran in the street channels. Philip shook
his head:
"Annie, I repeat-you are a damned astonishing
woman."
"Why should you be astonished, darling?" She settled
her market basket over her arm. "You know our
plans as well as I do. You're going to get through this
detestable war, which we're going to win, and you might as
well open your shop with two or three presses
instead of one-and have something left to hire a couple of
apprentices. Captain Caleb just might
make that possible. So it's all settled."
"Yes, I had that feeling a few minutes ago,"
he laughed, admitting privately with some chagrin that
he wished he'd thought of the idea himself.
In a tiny loft office at the head of Hancock's
Wharf, Philip introduced his wife to a
momentarily dumbfounded Will Caleb:
"Lord, you were barely more than a boy when you crossed
on
Eclipse.
I hardly know you!"
"Well, a good deal's happened since that voyage,
Captain Caleb." Philip moved a chair
into position for Anne beside the Maine seaman's
cluttered work table. "Right now I'm on leave from a
Massachusetts regiment down in Jersey."
"The army?"
"Yes."
Caleb had really changed very little, Philip
decided. He had to be approaching sixty now. But
he was still as trim and tanned as when Philip had
sailed with him from Bristol. His beak nose and flowing
white hair reminded
Philip of the prow of one of this
e swift New England merchantmen on which
Caleb had spent his life.
Caleb said, "If you're in the army, then you sure
as hel-uh, your pardon, Mrs. Kent. You
surely didn't come here to sign aboard one of my
privateersmen."
"No," Anne put in, "Mr. Ben Edes
mentioned that you were searching for investors to help
underwrite the construction of two additional
vessels."
Caleb's eyes narrowed. "You've money to put
into such a venture?"
"Possibly-under a captain with an outstanding
record," Anne told him. "Both Philip and
Mr. Edes say you're every bit of that. We might be
able to raise a sum of two hundred pounds if the
proposition was suitable."
Philip almost strangled trying to protest. Two
hundred pounds sterling represented just about two
thirds of the total bequest left them by Anne's
father. He'd been thinking more on the order of fifty.
It was painfully evident-again-that his business affairs
were now securely in the hands of his wife.
Captain Caleb likewise nearly broke out in
a sweat at the mention of the amount. At once he
unlocked a lower drawer of his desk and
produced a bottle of rum and rolled-up plans.
Anne declined the offer of strong drink but
Philip, still nonplused, helped himself to a bracer.
Caleb eagerly spread the inked drawings:
"You know anything at all about seagoing vessels,
Mrs. Kent?"
"A little. My grandfather founded Sawyer's."
"The devil! That's where I'm going to have these two
beauties built. Here,
let
me show you-was
Anne bent forward with interest. To Philip the
drawings resembled a confusion of spiderwebs. He
recognized a hull plan and. elevation, but not much
else. He rapidly became lost in Caleb's
nonstop references to fore-and-aft rigging, hull
displacement, sharper deadrise for greater
speed and reduced
tumble-home this
anks to smaller-bore cannon, ano
ther weight-saving scheme.
"All the newest designs
Mrs. Kent. And the best long guns we can
purchase. The idea's to crack on as much canvas
as possible, for short cruises. Carry
fewer provisions, less ammunition-speed, speed!
Catch those lumbering Britishers! If we hit,
we'll hit big."
"What are the financial arrangements
i
f
you do seize an enemy merchantman, Captain?"
"Works like this. A prize crew brings the ship back
to an American port-I can't afford agents in
France and the Indies. Besides, the owners lose out if
the prize is sold in a foreign port. That's
standard in the Articles for any privateer."
"All right, that's clear."
"We publish the captured ship's name in the papers
and wait fifteen days. There's a trial
to determine whether she's legally a prize-formality,
mostly. Don't imagine any Britishers, are
going to hop across the Atlantic to appear in court and
fight the claim. Soon as the jurors condemn the
captive as a prize, we pay off the trial
costs and put her on sale-cargo
and
vessel. There's auction expense to be deducted,
but that's a pittance. Whatever the auction brings, the
Articles for each privateer of mine
state that no more than a third is divided among the
captain and crew. The remainder's to be paid to the
owners, in proportion, according to how much they put in."
Anne said, "I'd want all of that in writing. I
mean the exact amount of ownership in each vessel."
"Each
his
You'd want to invest in both?"
She nodded. "A hundred pounds per new ship. The
designs are excellent, so by dividing the investment
we double the chance of a return, and halve the chance of
loss."
"Anything you say!" Caleb beamed. "I've
papers here to completely describe the agreem-was
"No, we're not prepared to negotiate today. But
you're welcome to call at our home in
Cambridge with the documents. Also your letters of
marque which I'd of course like to see personally."
"I'll be there inside of a week! With two hundred
pounds promised-was
"Not promised," Anne warned. "Available."
"Yes, yes, understood. But still, that'll be a big
help. Enough so that I can pretty near raise all the
funds for at least one of the new ships right away."
Anne rose and extended her hand in a
businesslike fashion. "Then do
call
at your convenience, and let's discuss the terms."
"Yes, ma'am, I surely-was
Footsteps on the stairs leading up from the wharf
distracted them. A tall, swarthy man in a blue
wool captain's jacket stalked into the office,
carrying documents. The man was perhaps ten years older
than Philip; in his thirties. He had dark,
tight-curling hair, heavy brows and a small white
scar at the outer corner of his right eye. The scar
pulled the skin downward to lend the eye a peculiar
slitted look.
Despite that, the man exuded cockiness. His
expression had a certain arrogance that repelled
Philip completely.
"Pardon me, W. Didn't realize you had
visitors." The man's nasal voice identified
him at once as a New Englander.
"Potential investors, Malachi," Caleb said.
"Mr. and Mrs. Kent of Cambridge-my
associate, Captain Rackham, in command of
Nancy,
the other privateer
I've already got on the water. I'll be
skippering
Eclipse
till the new ones are built."
"Pleasure," said Rackham, bowing but obviously
unaccustomed to it. Philip noticed how the man's
eyes worked their way from Anne's face to the outline
of her breasts. Uncomfortable, Anne fiddled with the
cloth cover on her market basket.
Caleb didn't appreciate Rackham's
somewhat brazen interest either. To divert him, he
asked sharply:
"You've something for me, Malachi?"
Rackham showed the papers. "A good morning's work.
Two more prize masters for
Nancy,
plus the cooper and the sai
lm
aker you've been hunting for
Eclipse"
He tossed the articles of agreement on the desk,
then helped himself to rum. "But it can wait while we
entertain our guests."
"We're leaving," Philip announced, taking
Anne's arm and steering her toward the captain, whose
rakish figure blocked the head of the
stairs.
Rackham stared at Philip-considerably
shorter-for a moment or so. Then he smiled with
insolent charm:
"Shame. Thought we might all become better
acquainted, seeing as how you're planning to join our
venture." He took account of Philip's
tricorn hat with its black army cockade.
"Serving with the troops, are you, Mr. Kent?"
He met Rackham's gaze without blinking. "That's
right."
"Stationed where?"
"Jersey. I'll be going back soon."
He said it without thinking. An instant later he
regretted the damnable frankness. Captain
Rackham seemed to have become extremely interested
in the contents of his mug of rum. But Philip saw
the seaman's eyes flicker toward Anne with
renewed interest.
Or was he only letting his imagination get the
better of him?
Captain Caleb remained perturbed by the minor
confrontation: Philip and his wife at the stairs,
Rackham casually pretending he didn't realize
he was blocking their way. Caleb reached
out, gently but firmly pushed Rackham's shoulder.
The taller captain stiffened, his quick glare giving
Philip a clue to his temper. Caleb, however,
was clearly in charge. Rackham took the shove and
stepped aside without protest.
"Philip, I wish you safety in Morristown,"
Caleb said.
"Thank you, Captain, I'll take that wish.
Things may get pretty lively when the weather
breaks. General Howe is slow-moving. But Lord
Cornwallis is turning out to be fast and foxy-was
Caleb saw them part way down the stairs:
"Mrs. Kent, the pleasure's entirely mine. Be
assured I'll call on you promptly with my
proposal."
"I'll look forward to it."
From above, Captain Rackham called, "We'll
both come if you wish."
Philip said harshly, "That won't be necessary."
Caleb glared at the other captain. Ignoring him,
Rackham lifted his mug in a wry salute:
"Whatever you say, sir."
As they left the head of the noisy wharf, Philip
said, "Anne, I disliked that Rackham fellow on
sight. A low, scurvy sort."
"I agree. I didn't care for the looks he
gave me."
"Stay clear of him."
"I intend to. I'll make sure I deal only
with Captain Caleb. He's obviously a man of
good character. If we're lucky, we stand to make a
great deal of money."
"Yes, aside from associating with Rackham, I
think the gamble could be worth it. And I'm not saying that
just because I have no choice."
Despite his smile, he was troubled. In minutes,
he had become less concerned about the financial
risk than
about Caleb's partner-who would be within a few miles
of his wife after he had gone back to Morristown.
Anne sensed his worry. "Don't fret," she
said, tucking
her free arm around his. "I've handled worse
than a ruffian sailor before. I can do it again if
need be."
Still, the February sun seemed a mite more chilly,
and the prospect of financial gain from privateer
shares much less appealing.
But he knew his wife. Anne was a determined
woman. So he said nothing more about it.
Deed of
Darkness
SOMETIMES WHEN the summer's heat of Caroline
County weighed too heavily in the cabin, Lottie
liked to start their lovemaking outdoors. Tonight was one
of those times. Judson heard her call from the darkness
under Tom Shaw's apple tree that had failed to come
to bud in the spring:
"Darlin", hurry up!"
Leaning in the cabin door, Judson tilted the jug
of corn across the back of his thin forearm and drained the
last of it. He dropped the jug beside the lolling
yellow hound. The dog's tongue dripped moisture
drop by slow drop.
A red-hued, steamy moon hung three quarters up
from the horizon. Judson could hear Lottie
preparing for him; soft sounds of her skirt and blouse
being put aside counterpointed the harping of night
insects. By now Judson had tired of Lottie.
But he'd had no place else to live when he
rode home from Philadelphia the preceding
summer.
He hadn't even considered stopping at Sermon
Hill. Simply out of the question. To postpone the
return to Caroline County even further,
he'd bypassed it and spent a week in the stews of
Richmond. There, in a brothel, he'd encountered an
acquaintance from his home county. Once the red-faced
young squire had gotten over his embarrassment at
being recognized, he and Judson fell to drinking,
and thus Judson picked up word
that Lottie's marital status had changed while
he was away.
She couldn't go home to her mother and father; they had
married her off solely to get rid of her and create
a little more room in a squalid shanty still crowded with
six smaller children.
So, Judson's acquaintance related, Lottie
had been forced to set herself up in business,
accommodating
any planter's boy with a few shillings and a randy
feeling in his breeches. Judson went to see her and
they reached an accommodation; an accommodation helped
along by Donald's sense of responsibility.
Early on, Donald visited the cabin-Judson
having made no special effort to conceal his
presence. Donald politely asked his younger
brother to go somewhere else besides Caroline County.
On that occasion, Judson-as usual-was half
drunk. He bluntly refused
Donald's request, offering the very reasonable
explanation that he had nowhere else to go.
That stoked Donald's anger:
"I don't care-and I don't want any of your
damned impertinence. You've disgraced yourself,
Judson. In Philadelphia you completely
betrayed the trust I placed in you-was
"Oh, so you heard. I wondered."
"You've been back home three weeks.
Express letters from Pennsylvania travel almost as
quickly."
"Who wrote you?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Well, I hope you're not going to lecture me
about killing that damn Tory-I assume you know about
that too?"
"That information was also contained in the letter -" Judson's
older brother sighed. "But I won't lecture.
It seems you've gone far past the point where mere
words will avail-was
"For Christ's sake stop talking like the old man."
In that wheezy, unhealthy voice, Donald said,
"Nast
in
ess seems to be your stock in trade,
Judson. Let's get back to the issue. If you
insist on spending your days here-was
"I told you I've no place else!"
"comthen be so good as to be reasonably discreet.
Keep yourself and your whore out of sight as much as
possible."
Judson shrugged. "That won't be hard. I don't
have a penny left. Before I came back and made
my arrangement with Lottie, I spent my last on
a little comah-holiday in Richmond."
"Very well, then. I'll make a bargain with you.
Don't flaunt yourself all over the county and I'll
return from time to time-was He fished in his coat,
pulled out a small purse that jingled in his hand.
Judson grinned suddenly:
"You came prepared for a little bribery!"
"Because I suspected you wouldn't go away,"
Donald admitted.
"Shrewd. You always were the clever one of us,
Donald. The one Father half admired-was
"Have the decency to let that subject drop. I am
sick to death of what you've permitted yourself to become.
I should turn my back on you-just as every respectable
citizen in this county will do-was
"When it's a chance encounter in public,"
Judson smirked, recalling the young squire in the
Richmond brothel. The point escaped Donald.
He went on:
"I should abandon you, but I find I can't. Not
completely, anyway."
This time, Judson laughed aloud: "Then the
bloodline
is
improving from father to son! The old man takes the
opposite view. At least where I'm concerned."
"Spare me your hatred, for God's sake!"
Donald flung the purse on the ground. "I will
see you again-here-
if
you've kept your distance. As I say, I can't
properly explain why I should take the trouble
when apparently jail you want is to go down to ruin-was
The puffy face wrenched. "It's my curse to be
unable to forget we're brothers. But believe me,
Judson
comany public scandal and I will forget. Forever."
Scooping up the purse, Judson bowed low. "You,
Donald, have the misfortune to be an honorable
man."
"No, damme-only a very weak and foolish
one."
With that he summoned the black who'd been sent
to wait out by the road. The black helped Donald
mount and the two rode away-
The conversation came to mind this July evening in 1777
because Judson suddenly recalled that his most recent
purse from Donald was almost empty. He took an
unsteady step into the dooryard, wondering if his
brother would pay another call soon-
More immediate concerns re-focused his thoughts. Lottie's
voice whined in the shadows under the dead apple tree:
"What the devil are you doin', Jud? Stop
thinkin' about it and come do it, sweet-was
How many Virginia gentlemen have their own private
whores?
he thought mockingly as he shambled toward her in the
humid dark.
Raised from the depths of her foul degradation
courtesy of my soft-hearted brother, she
accommodates my every wish here on my splendid
private estate
-
He glanced past the corner of the cabin, saw the
white puff of a rabbit's tail. The rabbit was
hunting edible leaves in the pathetic garden
patch Judson had tried to plant in the spring
weather. Hardly any of the seeds had sprouted.
Dying. Everything dying
-
In a year Judson had lost about twenty pounds.
Gone from fashionable slimness to near-emaciation. His
unkempt beard had sprouted fairer than his hair.
His mouth, moonlit as he crossed the yard, looked
softer than ever. Sweat ran down his bare chest
toward the first
swelling of an old man's belly. He wore
only ragged trousers-
Well, what difference did it make? He had
nothing to dress for; no purpose beyond sheer, perverse
continuation of his existence. His days and nights passed
in a haze that was like the haze of the summer moon.
Indistinct, vaguely unreal-
For a year he'd roamed the back roads with the yellow
hound; fished in creeks; worked as little as possible, and
slept a lot. When he tired of that, he played
one-hand card games with a worn deck he'd bought from
a peddler's wagon. When his need or Lottie's
grew too fierce, fornication brought a moment's
release. But not much more.
And of course Donald's money bought
distilled popskull from the dirt farmers in the county-
"Wish you'd saved a drop of that corn for me,"
Lottie complained as he reached the tree. "I'm so
damn dry-was
Judson dropped his breeches and squatted beside
her, his hand reaching out to begin the wearying routine.
"Oh, we'll have that fixed in a minute,
Lottie-was
She giggled, widening the spread of her legs to allow
him a freer access. He ran one palm down the
slope of her breast, aware of the premature sag of
her flesh. Very quickly he tired of the fondling. He
dropped over her and began to work.
Somehow, rolling and clutching at one another, they
moved a short distance from the dead trunk of the apple
tree. All at once, braced above her on his
hands, Judson realized where they were. He wrenched
away, sickened-
On coming home to Caroline County, he'd learned that
Tom Shaw had been killed one night riding
patrol. A fox had spooked his horse. He'd
tumbled off the runaway, breaking his neck.
Lottie couldn't afford to bury
him
anywhere but on his own property"
seeing Judson's stark eyes blazing in the moon,
Lottie giggled again. She reached between his legs:
"Come on, darlin', you don't believe all those
church stories about souls flyin' around once the
body's planted. The old fool don't know
we're doin' it right on top of
him
-"
His face almost demented-looking, Judson stared at
the crude wood cross just beyond Lottie's tangled
hair. Lottie jerked her hand back:
"Listen, Judson Fletcher! You got me all
worked up. You got to finish what you-was
He slammed at her cheek with the back of his right hand.
Her head snapped over. She yelled, a low,
hurt sound. He jumped up, ran from the grave to the
far side of the dead apple tree, leaned his forearm
on the rotting trunk, and his forehead on his arm.
Behind
him,
Lottie was panting, half frightened, half
furious:
"You're turnin' into a crazy man.
A crazy man!"
In the stillness of the summer dark, he said
nothing to deny it. He was sick of her sluttish
voice and sluttish ways-because of what they told about
him.
His refusal to answer only angered her more:
"You gonna talk to me, or you gonna stand there staring
like some stupid, moonstruck-?"
He whirled on her. She'd clambered to her feet,
rushed at him, one hand lifted as if she wanted
to use her nails on his cheeks; his eyes. When she
saw his ugly stare, the hand lowered quickly.
"I've had enough of you, Lottie. Leave."
"Leave?
This here's my property, not yours-was
"You want to be buried on your property,
Lottie? That's the only way you're going to stay
around here-buried beside that poor wretch lying yonder.
I'll give you till dawn to pack up and get
out."
He flung her hand away like some befouled object,
snatched up his breeches and hurried toward the
road.
He didn't have a notion of where he'd spend the rest
of the night. But he couldn't stand to spend it with her.
He heard her screaming at him:
"You'll be sorry you treated me like this,
Mr. Judson Fletcher. You'll be goddamn
sorry, I promise you--to was
He walked faster, pausing only long enough to tug on
the filthy trousers. Threatening him, was she? Maybe
that meant she was going to respond to his own,
completely honest threat of physical harm-and get
out. It was some small encouragement-
But he had to suffer the sound of her yammering voice
for a good quarter mile before distance and the racketing night
insects finally stilled it.
ii
Three mornings later, Judson groaned and
rolled over on the straw pallet in the cabin. The
yellow hound was licking at his arm.
Judson heard ram through the hole in the roof near the
fireplace,
plip-plop,
then another sound-the splash of the hoofs of a horse in
puddles in the yard. Before he could stand up and pull
on his breeches, the cabin door opened.
Supporting himself on his cane and favoring his bandaged
left foot, Donald hobbled in. Outside,
standing with two sets of reins in his hand-and getting
soaked because that was his function at the moment-Judson
recognized the house slave who always
accompanied Donald on his trips from Sermon
Hill. The young black had charge of Donald's
horse and his own pony. His eyes shone, big and
white in the steamy gray of the morning. He was peering
toward the cabin, perhaps hoping for a glimpse of its
notorious inhabitant.
"Shut the goddamned door," Judson said,
holding his head.
"I will if you put your pants on and try to behave
like
something halfway human." Donald pushed the
squeaking door closed with his cane.
Climbing into
his
trousers, Judson let go with a sour-tasting belch.
"A little moral remonstrance before I get the
monthly dole? Well, you can keep "em both!"
Donald colored. But he refused to be
provoked:
"The Shaw woman's left you?"
"That's right, I got a bellyful of her and told
her to pack up."
"Certainly cavalier of you-considering it was her
husband who owned this place."
Judson spat one quick epithet to show what
he thought of that sarcastic quibble. He rubbed his
eyes, yawned, asked:
"How'd you find out she was gone?"
"Very simple. She's already selling her fine wares
in Richmond. A friend of mine came back from there
yesterday. He said Lottie's informing everyone that
you've lost your mind."
That brought a smirk to Judson's mouth. "Could
well be, Donald, could well be. How's the lord
of Sermon Hill taking the news?"
"I've been at some pains to keep it from him. That's
not too difficult. He knows you're back but he
doesn't talk about you."
"Never?"
There was a hesitation before Donald replied:
"No. Never."
"Jesus," Judson said, very softly.
Donald frowned. "Judson, this place is a
sty. Since that slattern's gone, there's no reason
you can't clean it up."
"Oh, God, don't start-was
"Why not? Some time, you're going to have to put an end
to reveling in filth-indolence-was
"Right you are. The moment I find something for which I'm
better suited-was Judson yawned again,
then
ambled toward the crock where he kept the cabin's
supply of mealy corn cakes. Lifting the lid,
he found the crock empty. He remembered that
he'd fried the last cake for his only meal
yesterday.
Donald reached for the inevitable purse whose drawstring
hung from his coat pocket. Fingering the string, he
asked, "You do know they're constantly in need of men
for the Virginia militia levies-?"
Judson scratched his navel. "The last thing I
want to be is a Virginia soldier."
"Then what the hell do you want to be?-other than a
drunken fool bent on slow death? You seem
totally dedicated to rebelling against everything ordinary
people consider normal or decent or-was
"Get out."
"No. You've got to look at yourself, Judson."
"Damn," Judson said with a weary shudder, "what's
provoked you this morning? I've never begged you to come
here, remember. "I'd just as soon you leave."
Donald bit his lip. "Well-you ask what
provoked me-the truth is, I had a most
distressing note delivered to me at Sermon Hill
last night. It upset me because I don't
know how to reply to it."
"A note from who?"
"From Seth McLean's widow."
Rigid, Judson swallowed. "She's back
home?"
"For nearly a month. With the assistance of
Williams, she's gradually taking over affairs
at the plantation. I haven't seen her. But I'm
told her health and composure have been reasonably
well restored. Unfortunately she heard some
talk about you. Your-was A weary wave of the hand.
"Present condition. She asked whether there was anything
anyone could do to help." Donald's mouth pursed,
sour. "You see why I'm in difficult straits
regarding a reply? Obviously the answer is
no."
Judson seized his brother's arm. There was a
strange, prickling alertness tearing through the lethargy
of sleep and hangover:
"Maybe I'll answer in person. I haven't
seen Peggy since Seth was killed. I should call
on her-was
Donald shook his head sharply. "I'm not certain
that would be wise." Yet his skepticism seemed a
trifle artificial.
"Dammit, listen-I'll behave myself. I swear
I will. Just a brief visit. I owe it to her!"
Still doubtful, Donald said, "There's no
guarantee she'd receive you."
"I think she would."
"Well, you certainly couldn't go in your present
state."
"Are any of my old clothes stored at the
Hill?"
"I believe so. In the attic-was
"Get one of the nigras to bring me an outfit.
Sneak it out after dark if you have to-was Judson
whirled to a wall peg where a scrap of pot-tin
served as a bleary mirror. He raked his fingers
through his fair beard. "I'll scrape this off.
Clean myself up decently-was
"Only
to pay your respects and express your sympathies
about Seth."
The concern in Donald's voice spun Judson
around again. Vaguely fearful and yet excited, he
answered:
"Yes, what else did you think? I'll stay
only ten or fifteen minutes. Just long enough to-
what
the hell are you grinning about?
his
"Nothing, nothing. I'll see what can be done about the
clothes-was He gestured to the young black being drenched
in the dooryard. "Lemon can be trusted. But we'll
need to take care that the old man doesn't find out.
It may require a day or two-was
"As soon as you can!"
Donald nodded, started out. Then he turned back:
"I hope it isn't necessary to remind you that she is a
widow. Her status demands special courtesy."
"Stop worrying! I'll behave! I just want
to see her, tell her-dammit, what is it now?"
With surprising gentleness Donald said, "You love
her very much, don't you?"
After a moment Judson said, "I always have.
Hopeless. But I can't help it."
All at once Donald seemed brisk; almost
cheerful: "A visit might hearten her. And perhaps have
a salutary effect on you as well."
Sudden understanding made Judson laugh aloud:
"That's
why you came here today. For my benefit, not hers.
Admit it!"
"Yes, you've caught me. I thought that if
anything could pull you up out of your sorry state, it
might be the name of Peggy McLean."
"Well, you were right. Though I continue to be
astonished that you'd concern yourself."
Donald's smile faded. "I continue to be
astonished myself. I don't suppose anyone can
fully explain how it's possible to despise and
love a brother at the same time. Or why one
woman
out of all the women in this world has the power to redeem
a man."
Or ruin him,
Judson thought as Donald went out into the rain.
The brief flash of despair passed almost
instantly. Before Donald and the slave Lemon
rode away from the dooryard, Judson was at work in
front of the scrap of pot-metal. Teeth clenched,
he hacked and chopped at the yellow growth with his
hunting knife. In the process he cut himself
three times, and scraped his skin nearly raw.
But he couldn't recollect any discomfort he'd ever
enjoyed quite so much.
  in
Reasonably presentable, and mounted on a gray
gelding Lemon had smuggled out of the
Sermon Hill stables for his temporary use,
Judson Fletcher rode up the lane to the
McLean plantation the following Tuesday.
Twilight etched the western horizon gold below
bars of dark gray cloud. The rainy, stifling weather
had passed in favor of a cooler spell. That too
had a certain restorative effect on Judson's
spirits.
He was infernally nervous, though. His belly was as
fluttery as a young man's at his first plantation
ball.
He was still determined to keep his promise
to Donald. He would make the call a short one-
Provided Peggy McLean would let him in the
house!
He cantered up the drive past lamp-lit
windows, listening to the trees rustling in a light
breeze. The sound lent a certain enjoyable
melancholy to the occasion. As he crossed the veranda,
he realized he hadn't been on this same spot
since the night of the uprising. He almost dreaded the
opening of the front door, for more than one reason.
He fussed a moment with the lace stock at his
throat. He smoothed his ruffled cuffs, rubbed both
hands back across his combed temples, checked
the knot of the ribbon with which he'd clubbed his hair.
Then he raised the knocker.
The shiny black face that appeared a moment later
belonged to one of the house girls who'd sent him
upstairs the night Peggy was raped. Astonishment,
then delight registered in quick succession:
"Why, Mist" Fletcher! Good evening, sar."
"Good evening, Melissa. Is-is Mrs.
McLean at home?"
"Yes, sar, she be out in the summerhouse."
"I wonder if I might speak with her?" With
effort, he kept his eyes on the girl's, avoiding
the parquet beyond. Even so, his mind saw grisly
images of Seth's butchered body.
"Why, yes, sar, I think she'd be right happy
to see you."
"I understand she's well and in good spirits?"
"After a long time home with her kin. Mist'
Williams,
he took good care of the place while she was away.
But we mighty glad to have her back."
Melissa stepped onto the veranda, pointed toward the
corner of the house.
"Why don't you walk "round and right on up to the
summerhouse, Mist" Fletcher?"
That was precisely what Judson wanted to do. He
wiped his moist palms on his trousers, forced a
shake of his head:
"I believe it might be better if you told her
who was calling. She might not wish company this
evening."
Puzzled, the black girl said, "All right, sar."
She started away along the veranda.
In the west, beyond the trees where the last light was
fading to amber, a flight of swallows sailed
gracefully. "I'll wait right here," Judson
called. Melissa vanished.
He began to pace back and forth. Remember-a
brief visit.
Brief!
The darkness along the lane seemed to deepen. He
kept peering toward the veranda's end. The black
girl didn't return. His hope started
to disintegrate-
"Mist' Fletcher?"
Surprised, he whirled. The girl had returned
through the rear of the house. She stood in the open front
door. For a long, dizzy second, Judson
hung between wild hope and what he felt was certain
refusal.
"Yes?"
A dazzling smile.
"Mrs. McLean, she say she pleased to see you.
So you go right on "round."
It was all he could do to keep from running.
iv
The McLean summerhouse, a white-painted
structure with a cupola and pine louvers to admit the
breeze, perched on a knoll at some distance from the
main house. As Judson hurried up the lawn,
he saw lamps
gleaming in the slave cabins at the rear of the
property, blacks gathered in groups in the street
between. Someone was clicking out a rhythm with beef
bones. Someone else chanted a wordless melody.
Up at the far end of the cabin street, a portly
figure sat in a rocker that moved slowly back and
forth to the tempo of the music.
Judson thought he saw the overseer wave, lifted
his hand in response. To make such a small,
ordinary gesture somehow filled him with a warmth and
satisfaction
he hadn't known in a long time.
A lantern glowed inside the summerhouse. But the
louvers hid the interior. The closed door
intimidated Judson all at once.
Inhaling the fragrance of the freshly cut lawn, he
approached, straightened his stock again, knocked
softly.
"Come in."
As he closed the door behind him, Peggy Ashford
McLean rose from a wicker chair, putting aside
a newspaper. Several more were neatly stacked at the
foot of the chair. The sight of Seth's widow, her
creamy skin given warmth and luster by the shaded
lantern, almost petrified him.
Peggy wore white silk. The mourning period was
over. Her flawlessly done dark hair caught the
lantern's gleam. She was still slim; elegant;
heartbreakingly lovely. Only her eyes had
changed. They lacked the vivacity he remembered.
Well, there was good reason for that-
Peggy's cheeks took on more color as she
extended her hand. Her skin carried a faint tang
of sweet balsam oil.
"Judson, how good to see you!"
"Peggy-was Words came hard. "You're looking
exceptionally well."
"Thank you."
"I-I understand you're taking over the
plantation."
"Yes, I'm finally learning something about it. Not without
a good deal of struggle, I must confess. I'm
afraid I never concerned myself before-was
She held back the rest of it; he thought he saw the
horror of memory stain her eyes for an instant.
"Oh, but please sit down, Judson. It's
terribly rude of me to keep you standing-was
"I can't stay long. I only wanted to call because
I hadn't seen you since-"Inadvertently trapped,
he got out as best he could: "comsince Seth's
passing."
"I remember very little of that night," Peggy said in a
calm voice. She sat down, folding her hands in
her lap. "That's turned out to be a blessing."
"Yes, I can see how-was
Again he faltered. To conceal how ill at ease he
was, he took the indicated seat, a wicker
lounge. He sat perched on the edge. Peggy
picked up the conversation:
"Still, I know very well what you did to help. The
debt can never be properly paid."
Another awkward silence. He suddenly felt
he'd made a serious error in coming here. He'd
wanted to see her; look at her a moment.
But it was too painful. The sweet lines of her
figure, the grace of her finely wrought face still
had the power to torture him. But reopening the old
wounds served no purpose-
Again it was Peggy who broke the silence:
"Would you care for refreshment? There's port on the
table."
Even though his mouth felt dust-dry, he shook his
head. "I don't believe so, thank you."
"I hope you don't mind if I pour a glass.
I've grown to like a little something this time of evening."
"All right, I will join you," he said
impulsively, standing and walking over to pour a
crystal goblet for each of them. As he handed
Peggy's to her, his hand accidentally touched her fingers.
A shock vibrated through him. Damn, he'd better
leave. And quickly.
He tossed off half the port much too fast.
Peggy noticed. The lantern's flame cast
shifting shadows. With night's coming, the breeze between the
half-closed slats had grown a little more chilly.
"I'm told you've been home almost a year-was she
began.
Another piece of touchy ground! How much did she
know about his present situation? And Lottie
Shaw? He inclined his head, trying for casualness:
"Yes, I spent a while in Philadelphia."
"But you're not living at Sermon Hill."
"No. No, I'm not."
"I did hear the sad news that you and your father had
quarreled-was
He finished the port, felt sweat on his palms.
The balsam scent teased his senses in a disturbing
way. A ghost of his old, charming smile hid his
turmoil:
"Oh, I think it was to be expected sooner or
later. I've never fit in with this sort of life.
I guess I'm too ornery to be tamed down
by anyone, especially a father."
"But that's always been one of your chief charms," she
smiled. Then she took a quick sip of wine, as if
embarrassed. She set the goblet aside and lifted
one of the papers from the floor, finding a refuge in
safer subjects:
"I've been trying to catch up on the war news.
The Richmond
Leader
reports that we have a new flag for the thirteen
states."
"I hadn't heard. What sort?"
She tapped a finger against one of the narrow columns.
"Thirteen alternating stripes of red and white, and
in the corner, a blue field of thirteen white
stars. The Congress approved the design in
June."
"Sounds appropriate." Yes, dammit, he'd
best get out. The intimacy of the sequestered
summerhouse was too upsetting. He rose from the
lounge, walked quickly to the port. "May I?"
"Of course." A pause. "The paper says things
aren't
going well for the army in the north-was
"Honestly, I'm all but out of touch-was His hand was
shaking. He spilled some of the wine as he filled the
glass.
"And we now have commissioners in Paris. Mr.
Deane, Dr. Franklin-was
"I met Franklin in Philadelphia. A
genius. Damned-uh-very jolly gentleman, too."
"So far, he and his associates haven't been able
to promote direct assistance from any of the
European countries."
"I suppose such negotiations take time,"
Judson answered in a lame tone, feeling more and more
trapped by the moment. He could barely keep
his eyes off the sculptured neck of Peggy's
gown. Sweat filmed his forehead. His mind's eye
flickered with images of her naked body on the
bedroom floor.
He fought the memories, sipped the port in
silence. Again she came to his rescue:
"That British general-the one they call Gentleman
Johnny-was
"Burgoyne, isn't it?"
"Yes. The paper reports he may bring a great
force of Germans and those terrible Indians down through
York State this summer. There's turmoil in the
west, too."
It had been months since Judson had thought of his
friend George Clark. He brought up his name, said,
"I wonder how he's faring."
"I understand he was back in Virginia last fall."
"He was? For what purpose?"
"My father told me he came to see Governor
Henry in Williamsburg. He was asking for
several hundred pounds of powder to defend the
Kentucky settlements. The Indian tribes are
raiding there, incited by the British at Detroit.
There's an officer in charge at Detroit who
pays silver for American scalps."
With genuine astonishment, Judson studied Peggy
McLean again. He really hadn't appreciated how
much she'd changed. The young woman he'd courted would
never have been so matter-of-fact about a subject such
as the Indian threat to American settlers on the
frontier. In fact the Peggy of the past might have
made a gay, tasteless joke about it-if she mentioned
it at all. Perhaps the slave uprising hadn't been
without some saving effects. There was a new, assured
firmness in her manner. She had passed out of
girlhood forever.
Pondering the change while he finished the wine
helped relieve his disappointment on another
score: not having seen George Clark the preceding
autumn.
Ah, but George had probably been warned off:
Don't bother with Judson Fletcher any longer.
He's ruined. Drunk all the time. Rutting with a
white-trash woman
-
He set the empty goblet on the table, a sudden,
jerky motion. His head was buzzing a little. The
summerhouse was con
fining; dangerous. Peggy was too lovely. He
damn near ached for her-
"Yes," he said at last, "Donald did tell
me the situation in Kentucky is very perilous. All
the settlers have taken to the stockades for fear the men
will be shot and the women rap-was
He closed his mouth abruptly. Then:
"Peggy, I believe I should be going."
She rose, hurrying toward him. Again he thought he
saw something unusual in her eyes. Embarrassment
over her own quick reaction-
She lifted one slender hand, as if to hold him:
"You mustn't leave without telling me what plans you
have for the future."
The wine had gotten to him. "None at all.
Donald sent me to sit in Ms stead in Congress.
If you listen to the county gossips, you know I
botched that. I humiliated Donald-and since
returning, my life has been even more distinguished."
"Judson."
Her cool, gentle voice caught him up short.
"What?"
"You needn't sound so bitter. You can't shock me.
I've heard everything."
Something drove him to ask, "Including my
relationship with Lottie Shaw?"
"Yes, that too."
"And you still permit me to come here?"
"Oh, I suppose by custom, I shouldn't-was She
turned away, her cheeks coloring again. From the
wine-or something else. "But much as I love my
parents, I hope I'll never be so narrow and
unforgiving as they are on occasion. Being married
to Seth for even a few years was a blessing. I
learned a great many things from him. Things you'd understand
because you were his friend. Above all I learned kindness.
Love-was Head bowed suddenly, she said, "I only
grieve for the waste, Judson. The terrible waste of
yourself."
Without knowing how it happened, he touched her.
Perhaps it was the isolation of the summerhouse; or the
wine; or her loveliness and the haunting balsam
tang that drifted in the soft lamplight. But standing
close behind her, he touched the shoulders of her gown.
Leave, damn you! Before you do something you'll regret!
He didn't leave. He said:
"It was the only possible outcome after I lost you,
Peggy. Though I didn't want to, I stayed
away because I cared for your husband."
Head still bowed, she whispered, "Yes, I know."
"Of all the people along this river, I cared for
George Clark and Seth McLean-and so
I stopped caring for you. Or tried. You know I
came to the house too often. Everyone knew it.
I'm sorry for that, and I'm sorry for bringing it up
now, but I can't help it-was
He was drowning in the scent from her skin. Against
prudence and judgment, he leaned down to kiss the
back of her neck.
Instantly he realized his mistake. He let go
of her shoulders-
The rest would never have happened if some impulse
hadn't caused her to weaken just one instant.
Swiftly, she reached down with her right hand to grasp
his and pull it around to violent, startling contact with her
breast. Her eyes were closed:
"I was a good wife to Seth. I couldn't be anything
else. But there was only one man I really loved,
ever."
The flesh beneath her gown seemed to heat his hand; then his
whole body. She felt
him
stiffen. Her eyes flew open, alarmed. She
broke away:
"Judson, forgive me-was
"There's nothing to forgive, Peggy."
"Yes-what I did just now-taking your hand
that way-was
He saw how deeply it disturbed her. Peggy
Ashford McLean had always lived by the moral code
of the tidewater. Not welcoming it, perhaps. But
accepting it. And that code, of which her parents were the
symbols, explicitly forbade certain
behavior-and a relationship with certain men. He was one
of those men and always would be.
Shame reddened Peggy's cheeks now:
"Perhaps we had better say good evening-was
"Kiss me, Peggy."
"Oh dear God, don't-was
"No one will see. We're far away from the house-was
"Please go. In your presence I'm not as strong as
I should be-was
And he had no strength at all, save the special
kind she'd roused in him suddenly. If only he
hadn't weakened! Hadn't indulged his habit;
drunk the wine-
But it was too late for ifs. She was far too
beautiful. And they were alone-
Clumsily he pulled her into an embrace. She
fought back, tried to push him away even as his mouth
crushed hard on hers, taking from it all the warmth and
sweetness that had been denied
him
for so long. He felt himself roused again. So did
she. With a small, terrified moan she wrenched her
head to one side: "It's wrong, Judson-this is
wrong-was "Admit you want what I do, Peggy."
His voice was already slurred from the wine. He
pressed her backwards, hands caressing her
shoulders. Something savage was loose in him, mastering
every thought but one; every intent but one-
"I don't dare admit that. If we were husband and
wife-was
"We'll never be husband and wife. You know that."
"Yes. Yes."
"But at least we can pretend-This time he literally
took her prisoner, his arms around her waist. She
struggled very little as he kissed her. But for a moment her
lips gave no response. Some dim corner of his
mind comprehended what he was doing to her. Yet the
stark, undammed forces within
him
overrode conscience. He kissed her cheeks, her
eyelids while she whispered her fear, all the old
morality of her upbringing crying out against the touching of
their bodies, the increasing heat of flesh against flesh

con
fining clothing between-
Suddenly she clasped her arms around his neck. Her
mouth came open under his. He picked her up-she
was so light; so airy-light-and bore her to the
lounge, his boots trampling the Richmond papers
with their news of meaningless distant battles. She
resisted hardly at all; a fist against his shoulder
for a moment. Then it opened, defeated. The fingers
slid to the back of his head-
To have put out the lantern would have betrayed too much.
But as he lowered her gently to the lounge, he
managed to shut the louvers on the side of the
summerhouse facing the plantation buildings. He
sat beside her, hands fondling her breasts free of the
corseting-
Her gown a tangle around her hips, she let him
bare her lower body and kneel over it. A terror
filled her eyes all at once. She pushed her
palms against him:
"I don't think I can. Not since-was
"Yes you can, love. Of course you can-was
"No, I'm afraid, I don't-
ah!

She uttered the cry as he pierced into her, aware of
her fear but unable to stop himself. Tears ran down her
cheeks.
She tried to feign feeling; response. But it was
as if her body had locked into rigidity. The quick,
almost brutal thrusts skidded the lounge back and forth
an inch, then two, each motion painful to
him
but doubly so for her. He saw that in the stricken
face pressed close to his; felt it in the taut,
abruptly cold body. Who was she seeing with those
staring, tear-brimming eyes? Not him. Another man
who had stalked up to her bedroom on a night of
fire and murder and taken her the same way.
Christ, almost the same way-
Mercifully, it was soon over.
Panting, he drew back, realizing much too late
the kind of choice she had made: on one hand, the
impulsive thrust of her emotions; on the other, her
scruples and comm important-a fear from which, God
help her, she might never recover.
And it had been the wrong choice.
She wouldn't look at him. She kept her head
turned aside on the lounge cushion, tears shining
tracks down her cheeks. Drained and
hating himself, he brought up one hand to brush at the
tears. She pulled her head away as if his fingers
were fouled.
"Peggy-was
"Don't say anything. Don't speak."
"I lost control, I-was
"It doesn't make any difference. You-you
felt-how I couldn't-how-was
"That'll pass with a man who's gentle. I
wasn't. I'm sorry. God, believe me,
I'm sorry-was
"The sin's mine as much as yours. Please go."
"Peggy, there's no sin if two people want-was
"Yes there is!"
she cried. "I've dishonored Seth
to 
his
"Seth's
dead!"
Her eyes flew open. For one blinding moment she
gazed at
him
with absolute revulsion.
Then she said in a voice whose softness terrified him:
"I am still his wife."
Struggling to conceal her exposed body, she stood and
turned her back, tugging her underthings into place
to hide the staining evidence of their mutual weakness.
He heard her weeping, and that was how he left her-
He ran down the lawn through the darkness, mounted the
gelding, booted it along the lane. The weakness was
his;
his!
He'd vowed nothing like this would happen if he called.
But he'd made a hundred vows in the past-a
thousand!-and broken every one. Whatever he touched became
wreckage. And now he'd wrecked the dearest
object of all.
Forever, he was certain.
Pacing the Shaw cabin all that long night,
Judson seethed with conflicting emotions. Shame.
Condemnation of Peggy for leading him on, permitting
him
-
No, goddammit!
He
was responsible! He had virtually raped her.
Yes, of course, she'd wanted it-at first. But if
he'd had the sense to remember the uprising-the strength
to call a halt at any of several
stages-
The yellow hound licked at his bare foot.
Judson kicked the dog's ribs. The animal
fell, yelping, then crept into the cabin corner, its
tail curled under its
hind-quarters.
Judson couldn't sleep. It was agony for
him
to imagine what Peggy must be feeling as the sun
rose on Caroline County. The deed of last night
would probably blot her conscience for a lifetime.
She was that sort of person.
Yet he'd gone ahead.
Gone ahead!
Just as he went recklessly ahead with any headstrong
wish, no matter the havoc it caused-
He found a quill, a little ink, tore a scrap
from, an old ledger Tom Shaw had used for keeping
a record of his pathetically small purchases of
seed and other staples. In the dawn, Judson
wrote a single sentence:
"I
abjectly beg your forgiveness.
He signed his initial, folded the scrap twice,
put on his shirt and boots and rode to the
McLean house where hands were already heading into the
fields. He knocked at the front door. This
time a different house girl answered.
"Please give this to Mrs. McLean at once."
The girl shook her head. "Mrs. McLean, she
still in bed. She was up mos" of the night feeling
poorly."
"Then give it to her when she wakens."
"Yes, sar, Mist' Fletcher, I will."
Destruction on destruction,
he thought as he galloped down the lane. He had
to escape. But the very hope was futile. There was no
escape from the failures that were built into the flawed
framework of Judson Fletcher. Perhaps old
Angus was right after all; perhaps some poisonous
perversity raged in his blood, uncontrollable.
He wondered if some learned physician might
explain it; doubted it. At any rate, if the lord
of Sermon Hill was correct-and mounting evidence
seemed to indicate he was-it might prove
fortunate in the long run that Peggy's parents had
chosen childless Seth over her other suitor-
At the cabin Judson found some corn left. He
kicked
the hound outside, latched the windows and the
door and started drinking. When he woke up hours
later, the hound was gone.
VI
A few days later, a McLean black rode
over with an answer to Judson's note:
All shame and responsibility must be shared equally
between ourselves. I deem it wisest
-
and safest
-
that we do not ever see one another again.
So Judson didn't venture anywhere near the
McLean plantation again that summer. He could never quite
decide whether he was doing penance or suffering
punishment.
But then, weren't they supposed to be the same thing?
It certainly felt like if
The yellow hound never came back.
Reunion in Pennsylvania
"LET GO, Adams! Damn you, I say let
go-to "
"Ah, come on, Royal. I only want to try
your little cap."
"You stay away from me!"
In response, Philip heard a low,
rumbling laugh.
Philip jumped up, spilling his wood trencher and the
utensils-wood-handled knife and spoon;
wrought-iron fork-into the du
s
t beside the four-legged brass cooking pot.
Uneaten slices of fried salt beef were
trampled as he and chubby-faced Lucas Cowper
dashed for the flapped entrance of the wall tent assigned
to their mess. At least the infernal salt beef
ration, as appetizing as burned gunpowder, was no
loss-
Philip whipped up the flap to see Mayo
Adams backing the small-boned, dark-eyed
Rothman toward the rear of the six-foot-square
tent. Rothman's feet tangled in the bedrolls
arranged on the ground. With an explosion of breath,
he sat down heavily on the packet of new
books his parents had shipped him. Philip was very
nearly as alarmed over the welfare of the precious
books as he was about that of the young man; the books
provided Philip's only means of keeping
abreast of trends in the printing trade.
Chuckling, Adams watched Rothman flounder. When
the younger man diverted his attention to the book
packet for a moment, Adams shot one hand toward the
small knitted cap of black wool that Rothman
wore
His
fastened
to the top of his head with pins:
"Don't be so skittish, Royal. Here, all's
I want to do is try it on-was
Rothman bobbed his head to avoid the bigger
soldier's hand. Scrambling to hands and knees, then
crouching, he panted, "You can't. It's part of my
religion and nothing to do with you!"
"Yeh, but I only seen a few Israelites in
this army, and you're all a mighty sanctified
lot-was He snatched again with one huge hand; again
Rothman ducked just in time.
Adams claimed to have been a brewer's apprentice
in Boston. The bunched muscles of his forearms showed
he was accustomed to heavy work. His oafish face and
squinty eyes indicated that the work didn't
require much brainpower. Royal Rothman was
nineteen, and frail. He had formerly clerked for his
father, a prosperous Boston chandler.
"Listen, I'm gettin" peeved, Royal. I
want to try it on-now
gimme!"
A third time, Royal's agility saved his
skullcap. Philip and Cowper grabbed the
bull-shouldered Adams and spun
him
around.
"Leave him alone, Mayo," Cowper said, though it
obviously required some courage because of Adams'
size.
"Go on back and eat them slops they call food
around here," Adams warned, his eyes smoldering
suddenly. In the heat of the early August evening, the
inside of the tent was as hot as a furnace. "This
ain't none of your affair."
"Certainly is," Philip said, glancing past the
big apprentice to the wooden horses; the racks
where six muskets leaned. He judged the distance,
adding, "When six people live together in one tent,
everybody needs to tread a little easy. You've been
ragging Royal ever since he came to camp."
Adams, who was fond of bragging about kinship with
Mr. Samuel Adams-a lie already identified
by the messmates for what it was-spat on the ground:
was "Cause he's been nothin" but a nuisance.
I'm gettin' a bellyful of livin' with a
feller who jabbers half the goddam night, keeps
a lantern lit the other half-was
"There is nothing wrong with praying
or
reading! Royal protested.
--and
sports a fancy British monicker on top of
it!
On the defensive, the dark-haired young man shook
his head. "I've informed you a dozen times,
Mayo-my father gave me the name Royal when the
colonies were still friendly to His Majesty."
"No damn skin off me," Mayo Adams grinned
ill-humoredly. "I just plain want to try on your
cap. Want to see if it'll make me as
all-fired holy as you are."
"Nothing would do that, Mayo," Philip said.
"Absolutely nothing."
Wearily, the big-bellied Cowper asked,
"What's got you up, Mayo? Did you bribe one
of your friends at the sutler's tent to give you more than
your half pint of spirits for the day?"
"Go fuck a sheep, farm boy."
Lucas Cowper turned scarlet. But he kept his
temper. "You wait outside, Royal,"
he ordered.
The dark-haired private scrambled past Mayo
Adams' tree-like legs and disappeared with one hand still
clutching the little black cap on the top of his head.
As Adams glared, Cowper said, "Now calm down
and that's the end of it."
"Not by a damn sight! I'm tired of the rest of you
treatin' me like I'm nothin'-was
"You act like something else, we'll treat you that
way," Philip snapped, pivoting to escape to the
slightly cooler air outside.
A massive hand crashed on his shoulder, the fingers
constricting, jerking
him
around. From Mayo's breath it was evident that he'd
consumed much more than the
room."
Philip wriggled free of the hand. "For God's
sake, Mayo, we're supposed to be fighting
Howe, not each other!"
"Yeh, but nobody knows where old Billy's got
to since he sailed out o' New York-and you're right
here, Mr. Sassy Kent." Fists up, he
lunged.
Frightened out of an earlier impulse to laugh
in Adams' face, Philip barely had time
to sidestep. He blocked the bigger man's fist on
his forearm, ducked under the windmilling arms while he
signaled Lucas "Cowper with one quick glance.
Adams grabbed Philip's throat. He shoved
Adams" slab-like chest with both hands. Cowper bent
just enough so that Adams fell over him backwards,
cursing blue.
By that time Philip had reached the storage horses.
He jerked out his Brown Bess with Lumden's
bayonet locked to the barrel stud. Philip was the
only man in the mess who owned one of the weapons.
Now the way the bayonet extended his reach was a
definite advantage. Leaning forward and down, he
brought the tip to within a couple of niches of Adams'
bobbing throat-apple.
Soaked with the sudden sweat of danger, Philip still
tried to speak reasonably:
"Mayo, if you don't back off, and right now,
I'm going to send you up to the hospital tents.
You've got better things to do, don't you?"
Sprawled on his back, Adams eyed the steel under
his chin. Some of the hate went out of his eyes. Some, but
not all:
"Well-I guess I do. Let me
up."
"Only if you go outside and walk around till
you're sober."
Cowper put in, "And stay away from Royal, he
does you no harm."
"I didn't sign up to serve with no damn
Israelites!" Adams exploded as he
clambered to his feet. "Robbers, usurers, every
stinking one-was
"Outside," Cowper sighed, summoning courage
to add a shove.
Huge and stooping, Mayo Adams swung his
massive head around as he reached the tent entrance.
His glower was no less unpleasant than it had been
when he was baiting Rothman:
"This time you got me two for one. But I remember
pretty good. Soon as we see some action, you
boys are gonna have more to fret about than Tommy's
musket. You better watch your own backs, too."
He clumped out, leaving Philip and Cowper
exchanging uneasy looks. Lucas Cowper wiped
his forehead.
"Lord, Philip, I think the big fool's
serious."
"I know he is," Philip said as he
returned the Brown Bess to the horse.
There had been arguments with the dull-witted Adams
before. But they'd never climaxed with such an open
threat. Damn, it infuriated him. As if they
didn't have enough to wring out their nerves these summer
days-to 
He followed Cowper outside. Mayo Adams had
disappeared down the noisy street that ran between the
Massachusetts tents. Royal Rothman was righting
the overturned cooking pot in which the six-man mess
prepared its meals. He glanced at Philip and
Cowper, almost apologetic:
"I thank you both for helping me."
Cowper waved it aside as he retrieved his
trencher. "Royal, keeping a bridle on that
straw-head is to our own benefit. Just as Philip
said-men who have to fight together should stick together."
That's granting we ever fight," Philip said with a
nervous eye on the steaming August sunset.
All across the hillsides near the Neshaminy
Bridge northeast of Philadelphia, heavy
blue smoke from hundreds of cook fires hung in
the humid air. Regimental pennons in the tent
city drooped on their poles. Eleven thousand men were
camped in the prescribed rows-and had been
for weeks. A sea of canvas shelters-the largest
belonging to the officers comrolled from horizon
to horizon. There was constant din: men arguing or
laughing or singing; the rumble of baker's wagons
delivering the next day's ration of fresh bread; the
rattle of musketry as some unit staged a
sharpshooting contest to pass the time.
Philip picked up his trencher and utensils, then
forked the dirt-covered salt beef and held it up:
"Want this, Lucas? Might taste better with some
Pennsylvania grit on it."
"Nothing would make it taste better," Cowper said,
throwing his own half-eaten slices into the coals under
the cooking pot Philip started off to dispose of his
garbage, stopped when he recognized two men coming
along the smoky, teeming street-the other two
members of their mess.
One was Breen, a man from the village of Andover.
He was about thirty-five, a lackadaisical
tosspot who maintained that all his life, he'd had
no occupation other than "unemployed." Breen
wasn't his real name, he'd confided once. He'd
used it to join the army and escape creditors and a
common-law wife.
Breen's companion, Pettibone, was a
short, spectacled man in his middle twenties.
Before enlisting he'd taught school in Roxbury.
It was to the somewhat prim teacher that Philip
hurried:
"Did you stop to see about mail?"
Pettibone showed a letter. "I've one from my
Patsy.
Nothing for the rest of you, I'm afraid."
Philip was disturbed. He hadn't heard from Anne
in over a month.
He knew that freighting the wagon-loads of mail
to the army was a slow process. Sometimes a sack
split and weather ruined hundreds of addresses.
Many letters took months to be delivered, or got
lost altogether. That didn't change the fact that he
wanted word about Anne's well-being, and
Abraham's. And about the progress of construction
on Captain Caleb's two new privateering
vessels.
In the first of two letters he'd received since his
departure from Cambridge, Anne reported that
Caleb had called-without Captain Rackham; a
relief. She had gone over Caleb's
proposal, satisfied herself about the details and
invested their two hundred pounds. But her
second letter, posted in June, said nothing more about the
venture.
After supper, Philip occupied himself with the little sewing
kit Anne had prepared before he left. Seated
cross-legged on the ground outside the tent, he
stitched up a tear in the sleeve of his long hunting
shirt. He was becoming an expert with thread and the
steel needle and the open-topped pewter thimble. In the
field, there was no other choice.
Royal Rothman had already gone inside, lit a
lamp and started opening the packet of books from his
parents. His collection thus fax included an
assortment of political pamphlets, a tattered
copy of
Common Sense
which he claimed to have gone through over fifty times, and
an edition of one of the most popular books of
recent years,
Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and
Immortality.
It was a work of the so-called "graveyard" school of
poets. Philip found its blank verse ir
e-
inspiring, and its themes somewhat too morbid for
present circumstances.
What did continue to amaze and confound him was the
popularity of English authors such as Reverend Young
who had produced
Night Thoughts.
The war didn't seem to dampen American
enthusiasm for British literature.
Momentarily, Royal came out again with his new
arrivals. Philip looked enviously at a
richly bound volume whose title he recognized
at once. John Milton's century-old
metaphysical epic,
Paradise Lost,
was enjoying a new burst of popularity; it was,
Royal reported, the year's best seller in
Boston. And the new edition which the younger man showed
enthusiastically was one of the handsomest Philip had ever
seen.
He ran his hand down one page, experiencing a
pleasure that was almost painful. For a moment, bitterness
swept over him, coupled with another intense wish that
he could be home, free to pursue the trade he'd
come to love. He voiced his feelings to Royal, with
whom he'd discussed
his
ambitions before:
"If I had the money and equipment to print fine
books, this would be the sort I'd want to bear my
name."
"I'm sure you'll publish books like this one day,
Philip."
Philip's shrug expressed his uncertainty.
Royal laid the Milton aside, knelt beside his
messmate, fanned out three inexpensively
produced pamphlets.
"Here are the real treats-a new series by Mr.
Paine."
Philip took the trio of pamphlets, noted that
they all bore a common title-
The American Crisis
comand were numbered sequentially. He opened the first; it
was just a few pages long. He flipped to the end,
where the date appeared-December 23 of the preceding
year-along with the author's pseudonym,
Common Sense.
Philip had heard that the famous pamphleteer was
now
Ioyed as secretary to the committee of foreign
affairs of the Congress. From that vantage point, he
continued to use his pen to praise and encourage the
patriots-and damn all Tories,
British and domestic.
"Read the opening paragraph," Royal urged.
"I'd like to read the whole of all three when you're
finished with them."
"Of course you may. But do look at the opening of the
first. Some of the phrases are worthy of a Milton."
Philip turned back to the passage indicated:
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer
soldier and the sunshine patriot mil, in this
crisis" shrink from the service of their country, but he
that stands it
now
deserves the love and thanks of man and "woman.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet
we have this consolation with us that, the harder the conflict, the
more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too
cheap, we esteem too lightly," it is dearness
only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows
how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would
be strange indeed if so celestial an article as
freedom should not be highly rated.
At
that point, Philip stopped and returned the
paper-covered essay with the other two, saying:
"Mr. Paine certainly has a grasp
of the mood of an army camp. He's doing his best
to keep spirits up."
And my own need it badly,
he added in the silence of his mind. He wondered again
whether he would ever live to embrace Anne; hold
his child; or pull the lever on a flatbed press and
watch a sheet come forth, miraculously inked with the
thoughts of the author.
Royal said, "My father's letter reports that Mr.
Paine is planning a whole series of these
Crisis
articles- written as the need arises. Someone will
certainly put
them together in a book one day. Why shouldn't it be you,
Philip?"
Philip smiled wearily. "Well, it's a mite
early to consider that, seeing as I have no press, no
pressroom and precious little money."
But his eyes had brightened a bit; the suggestion had
caught his fancy. Reality quickly took control
again:
"Very likely some printer who isn't with the army will
seize on the idea first."
"Yes, but a Kent edition could be finer and more
handsomely prepared-and Fm sure it would have a
guaranteed sale. Look at all the different
versions of
Common Sense
that are circulating."
Philip nodded, enjoying the fantasy of a
collection of Paine's essays offered under his own
imprint. He didn't even think about the legality
of it. Every respectable printer practiced piracy,
despite copyright statutes of various sorts in
force in the former colonies. Massachusetts
Bay's law had been enacted in 1672, Ben
Bdes had told
him
once. But it was largely ignored, and the penalty was
relatively paltry: a fine three times the
manufacturing cost of the illegal edition. Anyone
could reprint foreign authors such as Milton and the
Reverend Young with absolute impunity. Existing
copyright laws didn't apply to works
by non-Americans.
"All right, Royal," Philip smiled at last,
"I'll consider an edition of Mr. Paine one of
my first priorities. But don't pin me to a
calendar, please. Who can be certain when we'll be
back in Boston?"
Royal's
somber nod showed that he caugh
t the undertone of resignation and apprehension. He
scooped up his shipment and headed for the tent.
"I'll get busy reading so you may have these quickly-was
Philip barely heard the remark. He was staring
into space, seeing the title page of the Paine book
as he
would compose it.
Lucas Cowper, not the least interested in matters
literary, had paid no attention to the conversation,
occupying himself instead with an ox horn he'd obtained
at the camp slaughterhouse. He was fashioning a
new container for his powder. Left-handed, Cowper
needed a horn that would fit snugly on his left
hip; an ox's right horn would have done
him
no good.
While Philip and Royal talked, Cowper worked
away with the tip of his knife, carefully chipping letters
from the bony surface. Now he held up the horn
and displayed its legend to Philip:
Lucas Cowper, His Horn, August 1777
"A handsome job, Lucas," Philip told him.
"I don't know about that," the other grinned.
"But maybe it won't be stolen like the last one."
He applied himself to a few finishing cuts to smooth
rough edges of the letters.
Paine's phrase kept stealing back
into Philip's mind.
Times that try men's souls.
It was certainly apt. Fear and frustration combined
to harry the strongest man's nerve; erode his will;
fill
him
with anxiety. In a few moments, Philip was almost
regretting that Royal had brought up the subject of
an edition of Paine. The tempting idea only
reminded him of the impossibility of fulfilling any
dreams or ambitions in the immediate future.
Stretching, Pettibone emerged from the tent to take the
air after completing his letter to his wife Patsy.
Breen appeared, having vanished to the sutler's for a
while. As the regimental drums began to beat the
night's tattoo, Breen announced disparagingly:
"More of them goddamn Frenchies comin' out
tomorrow
."
Philip looked up from his unfinished sewing. hiswere
ficers?"
"Fortune-hunters, more like. Figger to make a
killin'
sellin' their fancy selves to lead us poor
ignorant clod-foots. Feller told me the
Congress is gettin' mighty sick of them
monsoors paradin' off the ships and askin' for high
rank and lots o' pay."
"If there are more coming out tomorrow, I imagine we'll have
an inspection," Philip said. "Maybe even a
grand review. That'll break up the day, anyway."
Anything to break up the day-to 
And the waiting.

Mayo Adams hadn't come back by the time the last
drumbeats died out across the Pennsylvania
countryside. Philip lay sweating in his
underdrawers, on top of his bedroll instead of in it.
Breen's loud snores, augmented by the click of his
wooden dentures, added to the other irritants-the
heat; the boredom; the uncertainty about what might
lie ahead-that kept Philip awake and restless.
Eventually he dozed off. A sudden clumping and
heavy breathing shot
him
upright:
"Who is it?"
"Adams." Crawling past the other sleepers.
Adams still reeked of gin. General Washington
believed that a certain amount of alcohol was necessary to a
soldier, but that too much was disastrous. A man could
only obtain more than the daily ration if he had a
friend. Adams did.
"You gwan back to sleep, Kent. Let's hope
you wake up tomorrow, huh?"
Chuckling, Adams passed on, a dimly seen
bulk in the stifling gloom of the tent. He took his
place on his roll at the rear corner. Philip
settled down again, tense.
Not a sound came from Mayo Adams. But Philip
had
the
uncomfortable
feeling that the brewer's apprentice was still awake.
Staring at him.
Watching him.
And maybe thinking secret thoughts-his
Two things plagued the Americans encamped above
Philadelphia. One was in the past, the other yet
to come.
The first was the devastating plunge in
morale produced by news from the north.
Practically on the anniversary of the declaration of a
year ago, the American defenders of Fort
Ticonderoga had been forced to evacuate the
position as untenable. Gentleman Johnny
Burgoyne was marching south from Canada with eight
thousand British soldiers, Canadians, and
Iroquois tribesmen recruited by the king's
agents.
Word of Ticonderoga's recapture had arrived in
the Pennsylvania encampment in mid-July.
Virtually every man took it as a grim sign.
Horatio Gates, a capable American general,
was supposedly moving to blunt Burgoyne's
thrust. But there was no guarantee he could do it.
God knew what bloodshed was being perpetrated in
northern York State this very moment.
Then there was the second worry-the future.
The uneasiness sprang directly from no one knowing
the whereabouts of General Sir William Howe, His
Majesty's commander-in-chief in America.
For months, Howe had dallied at New York.
First there were reports that he intended to go north to link
up with Burgoyne. Then other reports said his
objective was Philadelphia. All the
while, his troops remained garrisoned in New
Brunswick and Amboy, supplied from across the
Hudson and capable of retaking the whole of
Jersey-
if
they received orders.
Howe was too busy to issue orders. He was
occupied
with balls and fetes in the captured city. And, so the
story ran, with his new blonde mistress, one
Mrs. Lor
i
ng.
The charming lady's husband, a fervent Boston
Tory, had been appointed
co
mmissary-general in charge of American battle
prisoners. The position permitted Lor
i
ng to fatten his own purse by selling off prisoner
rations at a profit. The scoundrel seemed happy
with his lot-and not the least jealous when General Howe
commandeered his wife for a bed-partner. Perhaps, in some
bizarre way, he considered her surrender a duty
to the Crown that was making
him
rich.
At last, in late July, Howe had moved-but in
an unexpected direction. He and his Jersey army
disappeared into the Atlantic aboard the three
hundred ships commanded by Howe's brother. Somewhere on
the ocean, that armada cruised out of sight of shore-and
no one could say where the eighteen thousand British and
Hessians would ultimately land. Nearly every day,
new rumors reached the Pennsylvania camp-
Howe had been sighted off the Virginia capes-
No, he had not.
Yes he had, but the fleet was gone again.
Whatever the truth, it seemed obvious to Philip and
his messmates that the plan to relieve Burgoyne
had been abandoned. So what would be Howe's
objective? A southern port? Philadelphia,
where a nervous Congress was receiving a stream of foreign
officers who had sailed to America bearing papers from
Silas Deane, the commissioner in Paris? The
papers guaranteed the foreign officers high ranks
in the Continental army in return for their services.
Guaranteed it!
Their American counterparts complained, with justifiable
bitterness.
Some of the soldier-adventurers were reasonably well
qualified. Washington had already appointed a
skilled Polish engineer, Kosciusko, to a
colonelship in that "learned" branch of the service.
But many of the
officers were not qualified for much of anything, and had
only come to the new country in hopes of deposing some
native-born officer-for profit.
And tomorrow, Philip thought, dozing again, a new contingent
of Europeans was due to arrive.
Well, it
would
provide diversion. Something to break the endless tedium
of the days spent waiting and wondering when Howe's
flotilla would appear again; and where.
IV
The drummers hammered in the blistering sun. The
fifers tootled the melody of
The White Cockade.
Standing in the ranks on the parade field, his
musket held at shoulder firelock position,
Philip squinted across the sere grass toward the
approaching horsemen. Out in front of Philip's
company, the commander, Captain Walter Webb of
Worcester, stood as straight as the
spontoon he gripped in his right hand.
Philip wished he could wipe the sweat off his
forehead. It trickled down both sides of his nose
and into his eyes. He had trouble seeing the brightly
uniformed officers cantering toward the
Massachusetts companies.
Of course Washington was immediately recognizable because
of his white mount and his customary blue and buff. But
the two men beside him, riding out ahead of the staff
officers, were unrecognizable blurs-
Until they drew up opposite Philip's
company. Suddenly one of the two with Washington reined
in. Philip gasped aloud at the sight of a
long-forgotten face.
A youthful face. Aristocratic. Crowned under a
tricorn by red hair far brighter than the commanding
general's. But Philip was sure his own eyes were
playing tricks-
No, no, there could be no mistake. It
was
the same
face; a face he'd first seen in a howling
blizzard near his mother's inn, when he'd come upon a
thirteen-year-old boy struggling with two would-be
kidnappers. The boy had been born to the
French nobility; destined for a military career-
The Marquis de Lafayette caught
Washington's attention, pointed. Next
to Philip, Lucas Cowper said under his breath:
"My Lord, he's singling out somebody in this company!"
Washington stood in his saddle, spotted Philip.
The general's face seemed to register recognition
too; perhaps from that night in Vassall House before the
expedition with Knox.
Washington said something to Lafayette. Instantly,
Gil's face burst into a smile.
Royal Rothman, his cap concealed under his
round-brimmed hunting hat, hissed from the front
rank where the shortest men stood:
"It isn't me. It's somebody behind me."
"Damn if that froggy ain't wavin' at you,
Kent," Mayo Adams said from directly behind.
"How'd you git your ass in trouble this time?"
Unbelievably, Washington himself had now ridden
back to consult with a staff officer. The main body
of the inspection party rode on, Lafayette casting
one glowing smile back across his shoulder. The staff
officer wheeled his horse toward Captain Webb,
who appeared ready to fall over in a fault from the
sudden flurry of attention.
The staff officer dismounted, spoke with Webb.
Philip could hear their voices but not the words. Then
Webb's eyes literally bugged.
As the staff officer re-mounted and cantered away,
Captain Webb turned to give Philip a
disbelieving stare. Lucas Cowper whispered again:
"Philip, do you know that officer who went by?"
"Yes, I do."
From behind, Mayo Adams sneered, "Way it's
goin', Kent's liable to be suppin' with old
George "fore long. My God, I didn't know
we were in such highfalutin company."
But Adams" jibes couldn't unsettle Philip
now. He was too stirred by memories,
by excitement, by the astounding reappearance of the young man
who had given him the treasured sword-
The young man Philip had never expected to see again
in all his lifetime.
Then he recalled something the young marquis had said the
last time they met at Marie Charboneau's inn, just
before Gil returned to Paris for more military
training. Something about comrades in arms always encountering
one another again on battlefields.
Comrades in arms.
Gil had said they were exactly that because
Philip had saved his life-
And the prediction had come true.
Officers began to shout orders to break up the
review formation. Captain Webb barked
Philip's name and headed straight for him:
"Kent, are you aware of the identity of that Frenchman?
The one who singled you out?"
"Yes, Captain, I am. Let's see whether
I can give you
all
his names-was
Philip's friends crowded around, listening. Even
Mayo Adams lingered, a disgusted curiosity on his
face. Philip recalled the names one by one:
"Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert
du Motier--
to 
Webb continued to look utterly stupefied as
Philip added:
"His hereditary title's Marquis de
Lafayette. I always called him Gil."
"Pretty damn familiar!" Webb exclaimed.
"I was born in France, Captain. I knew him
there. His family home was in the same province as
mine."
"Well, I don't care what you called
him
then, you're going to have to call him sir when you go
to supper."
"Supper?"
"Why d'you suppose that major rode over here?
You're to clean up and report to the marquis'
pavilion at six on the dot. And you'd better not
forget the Congress just appointed him a major
general."
That touched off an explosion of exclamations.
Philip joined in:
"He can't be more than nineteen!"
"Looks younger, if you ask me. But he's s
general attached to Washington's personal staff.
And the major passed the word that the old man's taken
a strong liking to
him.
You'd best be on your good behavior."
Abruptly, Philip was overcome with
apprehension. He was excited at the prospect of a
reunion with his boyhood friend. But a meeting between a
common private and a freshly commissioned major
general-that was something else entirely. He spent the
rest of the afternoon nervously washing, shaving,
sewing all the ragged places in his best shirt and
trousers-and withstanding jokes from the men in his mess.
There were no jokes from Mayo Adams, though. He
treated the whole business with silent contempt.
"Uh-sir?"
The young Frenchman seated inside the spacious
officer's tent jumped up from his camp chair and ran
around the table where exquisite china, silver and
glassware had been set for two. The orderly
held the entrance flap aside, but Philip
hesitated, uncertain as to whether he should salute.
Gil seized both his shoulders, his face almost glowing
as he exclaimed in French:
"My God, Phillip
e
comx is you! Ranks and titles are forgotten here.
It is Gil and-no, no, I was told you were someone
else! A new name?"
"Yes. Philip Kent"
"Gil and Philip, then
to 
Long-lost comrades reunited!"
He embraced Philip so ardently, kissing
him
on both cheeks, that the orderly blushed.
Gil too
k Philip's arm. "Come in, come
i
n
comwe will dine and talk. But what shall it be? French?
Or the English I speak so badly?"
"My French is pretty well forgotten,"
Philip said with an apologetic smile. Though
several years older than the handsome
nineteen-year-old, he still had a feeling that he was the
junior in the relationship. Even at thirteen,
Gil had been a commanding presence; the tutor who
gave Philip his first rudimentary lessons with the
musket and spontoon. "But we can try, if you
wish-was
"It's easier, easier," Gil continued in French
as he pulled back a chair for his guest. "Be
seated! Tell me everything! Where you live, your
fortunes-everything."
"I'd like to. But honestly, Gil, it-it isn't
necessary for you to entertain me this way-was He indicated the
elegant table. "You're a high-ranking member of the
staff. I'm only-was
"Only my friend. My savior," Gil said with
utter seriousness. His hazel eyes held
Philip's. "I remember very distinctly that I would
not be here in the glorious new land of freedom if you
hadn't happened along that road near Chavaniac
when I was in danger. I'd be a major general of the
worms, very likely. So let's have no more folderol
about rank-was He grinned. "That is a direct
order."
Philip laughed. "All right-General. I still have the
sword you gave me. It hangs over the mantel in
our
home in Massachusetts-was The language was slow
going, but Philip took his time, translating each
phrase carefully out of the more familiar
English
. Gil's sandy eyebrows hooked up at the last
remark: was "Our home." You are married, then?"
"Yes, to a girl I met in Boston." "Children?"
"One son. He'll be two in September."
"How marvelous, wonderful!" Gil reached under) the
bosom of his uniform, pulled out a golden locket
on a slender chain. "This is rather a delicate
ornament for a soldier. But my own dear heart
insisted I bring it with me-was
Proudly, Gil thumbed the locket open to display
a beautifully done miniature of his
attractive, fragile-looking wife. Philip
judged her to be little more than fifteen or sixteen.
The marquis snapped the locket shut, signaled
to the orderly, said in heavily accented English:
"Set the meal, please-and the wine. Then leave us."
The orderly wheeled and hurried out. "Gil, how in
God's name did you get here?" "Well, service
to your new country has become popular in many parts
of Europe. The splendid declaration against King
George last summer-you've no idea how it fired
the minds and hearts of Frenchmen!" "And inspired some
private help from your king." "The bogus trading
company? Yes, I've heard of it. Officially, of
course, France takes no position in the war. As
yet," he added in a significant way. "One
may hope-was
He shrugged. "For the present, it's enough that
volunteers may cross the ocean to offer their
swords. In my case, I'm afraid King
Louis felt the Lafayette name a trifle too
prestigious for even that to be allowed." He made a
face to demonstrate his displeasure.
"You mean it was suggested you shouldn't come'
"Suggested
hardly covers it. I was on garrison
duty in Metz when word reached me about the noble
declaration. I have never been so overcome-so moved.
I decided at once to speed here to support your
cause."
Finally relaxing a little, Philip smiled. "I also
recall you didn't think too highly of the
British."
"That's true-as well as an understatement.
Unfortunately, members of my family were
determined I should not risk my career in this
venture-nor lend the Lafayette name to what
remains, in official circles, an
illegitimately conceived nation. King Louis even
issued a writ forbidding my journey. Had the paper
ever caught up with me, I'd have been clapped away
in the Bastille until my enthusiasm for America
cooled. As it was, I rushed overland in
secret-I took ship at
Los Pasajes
in Spain-and I landed early in July in your
Charleston."
"South Carolina?"
"Quite so. Then I traveled nine hundred miles more
comin carriages I paid for myself-also on horseback
when the carriages broke down. When I
reached the Congress in Philadelphia, I was
given a decidedly rude reception, at least in
some quarters. A Mr. Lovell of that body
remarked that French officers had a great fancy
to enter American service without being invited. In
short, I was treated like the rankest freebooter."
"We've had some of those show up, though."
"Nevertheless, it was an insult. Since I had come
here out of the purest motives, and at my own
expense, I demanded two favors of the Congress.
To serve at my own cost, and entirely as a
volunteer-requiring no rank or command. Though
naturally I hope to have the honor of field command
at some time in the future. I am well trained for
it, after all." He still sounded a bit miffed. "And
training seems sorely needed in this army.
I was agog this morning. That is the only word-agog.
No uniforms! Merely-forgive me!-those peculiar
shirts such as you're wearing. Then I watched a bit
of drill. An absolute shambles
to 
A drillmaster's badly needed-was
"Gil, I'm afraid Washington has neither the
money nor the talent to put together the kind of army
you're accustomed to."
"Aha, but European officers are arriving who can do
something about that! They must be given the opportunity!
Else your cause-our cause-is surely lost."
Glum, Philip told him, "I don't doubt the
general would welcome really good assistance."
"Yes, a magnificent man, magnificent! I
told him I wished for nothing more than to be allowed
to serve near his person till such time as he thought it
proper to entrust me with a division." With an
emphatic flick of one of his epaulettes, he
added, "I did not
insist
upon a major generalship. However-was Another
shrug, and a wink. "It is certainly a step in the
right direction."
Philip smiled again. So did his friend. The orderly
returned, followed by two Frenchmen: one a cook
in a white smock, pushing a wood-wheeled serving
cart, the other a liveried waiter who proceeded
to serve the meal and decant the wine. Philip
discovered that Gil wasn't exaggerating about paying his
own way:
"I want no one in this command to think I am living in
my accustomed style at their expense, Philip.
Everything you see, I purchased. The
venison, the wine-this uniform, the tent, even my
horses and wagons. I am of the opinion that perhaps
I have more dedication to the American purpose than some
of your own rude Congressmen."
"I don't doubt it. More money, too."
"A hit, a most accurate hit!" Gil cried,
clapping one hand over his heart in false pain.
There was no longer any barrier of hesitancy between
them. Philip's uneasiness had completely
vanished, and he fell to enjoying the excellent meal,
the wine and the conversation with unashamed gusto. The talk
was virtually continuous because both friends had much to tell.
Philip related all of his up-and-down history
since Gil had ridden away from Auvergne that
long-ago day. He only omitted the most
unflattering parts-his killing of Roger Amberly
and his dalliance with Alicia before he finally made up
his mind about Anne Ware and the American cause.
For his part, Gil, was ready with anecdotes about
military life, as well as acid comments about the
American commissioner in Paris, Mr. Deane, who
was "frantically" issuing letters to European
officers, promising them exalted posts and high
wages-without specific authorization from the
Congress. Presently, when the table had
been cleared and a lantern lighted and hung at the
open end of the tent, Gil offered a toast with brandy:
"To my comrade Phillipe-ah, I forget so
easily. Philip! May he and his country live
in liberty forever."
Unable to think of any appropriate sentiment to offer
in return, Philip smiled, raised his glass and
drank, supremely content for a few hours in the
renewal of a bond that defied explanation
or-seemingly-geography.
With a little more of the brandy under their belts, the friends could
talk even more frankly:
"Gil, I don't want to sound pessimistic, but
it strikes me that the outcome of this war is as much up
to men like Johnny Burgoyne and General Howe as
it is to us."
"Exactly! There has never been an engagement of
forces in which that wasn't so. However, don't worry-
the enemy will make all the incorrect moves, and we
shall make all the proper ones."
Philip sighed. "I wish I shared your confidence."
Gil grew solemn. "Sham confidence-and a poor
joke. Truly, I wish it were so simple. There
is much tension and impatience on the general's staff
because of the uncertainty in regard to Howe's
position."
"He can't stay at sea forever."
Gil clapped
him
on the shoulder, breaking the dour moment:
"He'd better not, with two such stout fighters
waiting to engage him!"
The boast was cheerful enough. But Philip was already
certain his friend placed little or no confidence in the
disreputable-looking American troops he'd
reviewed earlier in the day. Philip couldn't much
blame Gil, either.
The two talked late into the night. Tipsy,
Philip finally meandered back toward the
Massachusetts tents. On the way he took
great pleasure in displaying Captain Webb's
signed order to the guards who questioned a private's
right to be abroad after tattoo.
He yawned as he neared his own tent. He was
anxious to climb into his bedroll and sleep. But it
wasn't to be. His messmates were still awake, and
fired questions at
him
almost until dawn. They wanted this or that bit of
information about Lafayette; a history of his
experience; an explanation of how he'd gotten to be
a general at age nineteen; his views on the
possibilities for victory.
The only one who sat sullen, cursing frequently
because he couldn't sleep, was Mayo Adams.
Philip's evening out with his celebrated friend seemed
to have increased the man's hostility all the more.
vi
On Saturday, August twenty-third, the
drummers beat out a different rhythm. The signal
to strike camp. Immediately, the tent city began to come
down; the
artillery and the Conestoga wagons began to rumble; work
replaced indolence. Admiral Howe's fleet had
been sighted off Chesapeake Bay. If the enemy
troops landed, less than a hundred miles
separated them from the much smaller American force.
In between lay Philadelphia, where the Congress still
sat in session. Every man in that body was a candidate
for a hangrope if he were caught.
The Americans marched south. Philip was in low
spirits because he still hadn't received any new letters from
Anne.
On Sunday morning, it rained. But the clouds
cleared by noon, in time for a good percentage
of the forty thousand people now living in Philadelphia
to turn out and watch the American companies march
through. Philip didn't see Gil; he would be
riding at the very head of the column, with Washington, and
Henry Knox, and other senior members of the staff.
Captain Webb's command lived up to Gil's
original horrified assessment of it. They were just as
ill-clad as the rest of the units from the other states
represented in the huge parade of eleven thousand
men.
But one visible feature united them-a sprig of
greenery, fresh-cut the night before by the carpenters and
placed in each man's hat to signify the army's
vitality-on direct order of the commander-in-chief.
Quite a few grumbled that more than a couple of leaves
on a twig would be required to bring the quarrelsome,
heat-weary citizen-soldiers up to fighting trim.
Webb's company, where Philip marched, was at
present a fifty-man unit, the second in line
among four such companies forming the battalion.
Two battalions comprised the regiment. And throughout
its shambling ranks-marching was too dignified and
precise a
term-disorder in formation accompanied disorder costume.
Seldom did anyone step exactly in
time with the drumbeats. And whenever the fifers struck up
one of the popular marching songs of the day, the men
bellowed out the words if they felt like it:
"We are the troop "That ne'er will stoop
"To wretched slaver-ee
-"
People leaned from windows, huzzahing, fluttering
handkerchiefs. They lined the walks of Front and
Chestnut Streets that Philip remembered so
well from the weeks he'd spent in the city. Now
circumstances were much different. Burdened with the
equipment of war-canteen, cooking gear, hand-carved
wood drinking cup, sheathed hunting knife,
cartridge box, lead, ball mold and, most
important of all, his Brown Bess with the
bayonet in placed-he was leaving the great city not
to return to Anne but to confront the immense might of
Howe's army. He imagined the foe as a scarlet
serpent a thousand times longer than the British
columns he remembered from Concord and New
York and Jersey.
Next to Philip was Lucas Cowper. Although he
had a deaf ear for music, he tried to improvise
the marching airs anyway-whistling them off key.
Philip stared up at the housepeaks and the
clearing sky, singularly uninspired. No doubt it
was partly due to the long, worrisome silence out of
Cambridge. Surely Anne would have written if
anything had gone wrong-
The singing and the cheers didn't help his mood either. A
dedicated enemy lurked to the south. His job-every
man's job-was to obey orders and destroy that
enemy. Philip was sure Gil would be all dash and
zeal on a prancing horse somewhere up with
Washington. He was glad his friend couldn't see him,
or the rest of his company, as they struggled to keep time
with the Massachusetts drummers and fifers.
Marching immediately behind Philip and Cowper were Mayo
Adams and Royal Rothman, the latter looking
extremely nervous. But no more than
ex-schoolmaster Pettibone just ahead. Pettibone
gazed wistfully at the faces of the young girls cheering
themselves hoarse on either side of Chestnut. He was
no doubt wishing one of them was his dear Patsy.
Only Cowper, whistling in his monotone, seemed
phlegmatically content. And of course Breen,
staggering next to Pettibone. Breen was drunk.
The older man had somehow wheedled an extra ration of
rum which he had proudly poured into his canteen before
the march began. Now he found it necessary
to slake his thirst frequently-no unusual sight
among the soldiers. But Breen's step grew more
erratic by the moment. Finally, swearing under his breath,
Captain Webb dropped back and ordered
Pettibone to hold Breen up.
Breen gladly accepted the support, doffing his
filthy hat to the captain. His sprig of green
fell off and was trampled.
Breen paid no attention, putting his hat back on,
then extending his canteen to Webb. The captain
slapped it down, colored when he saw people on the
sidewalk point. He about-faced, returned
stiffly to the head of the company. All jollity,
Breen made an obscene gesture and continued
to loll with his arm over the shoulders of the scowling
schoolteacher.
Philip wasn't amused. It seemed bitterly
clear again that a victorious army would never rise from
such a disorganized collection of hooligans,
malingerers and sometime-patriots yearning for home.
Yet if there was ever a day when an army in the true
sense was needed, that day had arrived.
The complainers were right. Twigs worn on the order
of the commanding general weren't enough to work the miracle.
Some of the men started a new song:
"Over the hills with heart we go, "To fight the
proud insulting joe
-"
"Kent?"
The voice brought Philip's head around even as he
tried to keep in step with the drums. Mayo Adams
gave him a coarse wink. His eyes glittered like
polished stones in the August sun.
"You doin' all right, Kent?"
"I'm doing fine, thanks."
"Well, good, good. Just don't want you to forget
I'm right behind you, boy. Right behind you every step."
"Our country calls and we'll obey
-
"Over the hills and far away!"
Retreat at
Brandywine
"JEHOSHAPHAT, Philip-look there in the
ditch!"
Staggering along the road among the hundreds of men
fleeing through the early autumn dusk toward Chester
Creek, Philip wiped sweat from his eyes and
followed Lucas Cowper's pointing hand. Of the men from
his
mess, Cowper was the only one he'd seen
since the full retreat began an hour ago.
Now he saw another. Pettibone, lying on the
slope of the roadside ditch, a bloodied hole
shot through the left side of his chest.
The schoolmaster had apparently come this far when the
lines broke, only to drop and die. Through the dust
and smoke billowing over the road, the last, almost
horizontal beams of September sunlight
pierced here and there; sufficient light for Philip
to have a swift, harrowing glimpse of a fat green
fly landing on Pettibone's lip. The fly
crawled over Pettibone's lower teeth and into his
mouth.
"Somebody's got to let his poor wife know,"
Cowper said, shaken.
Philip tugged Cowper's arm. "Later. Come on!
Staring won't help him-or us." He had to shout
to be heard above the noise.
All around them, men limped or ran through the mellow
evening. Cursed or complained as they dragged themselves
along, slowed by wounds or the plain disgust
and bitterness of defeat. Cowper surrendered to the pi
of Philip's hand. The two returned to the center
of the road. Behind them, musketry rattled.
For most of the day the American center had
held Chad's Ford on the east side of Brandywine
Creek, against the fire of Knyphausen's entrenched
Hessians. Then, late in the afternoon, red jackets
began appearing on the wooded hills to their rear,
northward, where the right wing was stretched out in a long
defense
li
ne. The bulk of the British army, mysteriously
absent from the field for hours, had somehow gotten
around behind the American positions. Three divisions
under Cornwallis streamed down the hillsides
to attack.
General Sullivan's brigades vainly tried
to hold them back. Knyphausen's Hessians
moved at last, eastward, to ford the Brandywine. From
that hour, when the sun was already starting down, the outcome
was certain. The Americans had been prepared for an
assault from the west, not for a two-pronged attack from
both front and rear. Around Philip and Lucas
Cowper was the terrible result-a retreat more
clamorous and confused than the one at Breed's
Hill. A retreat that might prove even more
devastating than the steady withdrawal of Washington's
troops at Long Island and New York-
Philip knew the battle was lost.
Cowper knew it. So did all the other men on the
road. Fright and humiliation showed on every face.
As the light kept fading, Philip thought he saw
the shapes of soldiers moving among the trees on his
left, about a hundred yards north of the road. More
Americans retreating, he assumed.
He was so tired, each step almost required a
conscious act of will. His shoulder ached from returning
Hessian fire with the Brown Bess. He'd had
no food since early morning. At three, he'd
drained the last tepid water from his canteen.
"Where in Christ are we supposed to be going?" he
yelled at Cowper, above a din of hoofs and wheels
coming up behind.
"We're to cross Chester Creek, that's what
Webb said."
"Then what?"
"I don't know, maybe they'll tell us at the
creek-was
"Clear away, clear away!"
men shouted. Hastily Philip pushed Cowper to the
shoulder. The heads of charging horses loomed, great
silhouettes against the sunset light piercing the
smoke. At full gallop, the horses dragged a
pair of jouncing howitzers.
The men nearby broke for both sides of the road.
The horses and wheeled guns thundered past. Above
all, it was necessary to prevent the capture of
artillery. Men were expendable.
Back on the road, yearning for just one good breath in
the smoke and dust, Philip grabbed at a skinny
soldier loping toward the east:
"Who are you? What unit?"
"Pinter's Marylanders-was
"Is the whole line broken?" Cowper shouted.
"Damn right it is. Howe's liable to whip us all the
way back to Philadelphia-was
Then the Marylander was gone, dodging and darting around
less speedy soldiers. The man was plainly
determined to save his own skin. Maybe he had more
brains than the rest of them, Philip thought. More
brains than any of the spectral pairs and trios
stumbling east in the lowering gloom, too worn out or
hurt or disheartened to run.
More artillery roared through. Horse-drawn field
cannon this time. One soldier failed to heed the
shouted warnings and fell in the path of the slashing hoofs.
Sourness rose in Philip's throat as the
horses, then the iron-tired wheels, kept
straight on over the flailing victim,
muffling his shrieks, leaving him twitching in the road,
all blood and broken bones.
Cowper kept looking back. Philip jerked his
again:
"Damn it, Lucas, you can't stop to help every man
who's hurt or you'll wind up the same way
yourself."
Resigned, Cowper resumed the shambling pace. And
despite the seeming callousness of his words,
Philip was just as sick over the carnage as the young
farmer was. It seemed to him that those in
command-Washington, the staff, even his friend Gil who was
supposedly on the field today-must have trained themselves
never to view a battle in terms of individuals,
only in terms of units, tactics, strategy.
If they ever looked at the soldiers one
by one-looked at the Pettibones lying dead in the
ditches-they could never remain strong enough to issue
orders for the next battle. Their hearts would break
with despair.
Bitter fury welled up in Philip then. Fury
born of the chaos and his exhaustion; fury over the
human loss and the scandalous defeat-
Why hadn't someone caught the surprise flanking
movement of Cornwallis? Was Washington
asleep? Or was he simply the bungler he was so
often accused of being?
Letting his emotions blur his already failing alertness,
Philip wasn't ready for the unexpected crackle
of musket-fire that raked the road from the left.
Men yelled, dove for the ditches. Philip and
Cowper crouched down, fumbling to load their weapons.
The men drifting through the trees north of the road had
right-flanked suddenly. They weren't American
stragglers at all. Philip glimpsed florid
faces, mitre-shaped hats-
A jaeger company. Hessians who had thrust
forward parallel to the retreat route and were now turning
to attack.
Running for the ditch with powder trailing from his horn,
Lucas Cowper's legs suddenly gave out. Only
an
instant later did Philip realize what had
happened. The young Massachusetts farmer had been
hit.
Cowper pitched head first into the ditch, musket
fallen, horn fallen, bellowing in pain as blood
poured from the place where a Hessian ball had
shattered his upper left arm.
The Hessians were kneeling among the
trees nearest the road, firing their rifles with
precision. Philip jumped into the ditch, ducked as
a ball hissed by, completed the loading of his
Brown Bess without conscious thought. He raised it
into position, shot, absorbed the slam of the
stockplate against his already bruised shoulder, squinted
through the failing light. A blond-haired German
boy slumped against the trunk where he'd been
kneeling. Philip hoped it was his ball that had
opened a gushing hole in the boy's throat.
Cowper was moaning. Philip took a moment to look
at the wound. He saw grisly muscle and bone
showing through the blackened rent in Cowper's sleeve.
The Hessians began advancing toward the ditch,
where no more than a dozen men had taken cover to fight
off the attack. The last of the September light
glared on the steel of German bayonets.
On the road, Philip could still hear many more men
running. He knew what they were thinking. Why risk
your life in a skirmish that couldn't possibly
change the day's outcome-his
"Into the ditch! Turn them back!
Blast you for a pack of yellow dogs
-!"
Struggling to re-load, Philip twisted his
head to see who had shouted. An officer who had
evidently come up from the west dismounted and pulled his
saber. Whacking back and forth with the flat of the blade,
the officer drove men into position to defend the ditch.
The officer was young; in his thirties. He wore a
dingy assortment of clothing. A soiled dark red
coat; a sweat-blackened cravat; limp, frowsy
lace on his tricorn.
He might have been good-looking, except for the wrath
that disfigured his features.
He smacked heads, backsides, thighs, succeeded
in forcing ten or twelve more soldiers to the ditch.
Philip got off another shot but saw no direct
result. The Hessian company was advancing through
tall weeds across a long, ragged front.
The American officer leaped into the ditch near
Philip, one of his boots accidentally slamming
Lucas Cowper's right leg. Disgusted with the man's
almost maniacal bravado-some promotion-hungry
subaltern, undoubtedly-Philip turned on him:
"The man's wounded, you damn idiot!" "Then he
can't turn back the jaegers. But you can. Charge
"em with me!"
In other circumstances Philip might have struck the
officer. But there was no time. Bent over, the
man ran along the ditch, shoved the crouching
Americans up over the lip toward the Hessians.
When he'd gotten half a dozen of them started, he
jumped out of the ditch himself, a grin of bestial glee
on his face.
My God, he's serious!
Philip thought, caught between
an impulse to follow and another that urged him to tend
to the fallen Cowper, who was weeping in delirious
pain.
A yard or so out from the ditch, the young officer
turned back:
"Are you all weaklings?
Come on!"
He ducked as if instinct had warned him of a ball
from the Hessian rifles-he was facing toward the
road-then spun and went storming toward the
mercenaries. He uttered such a bloodthirsty howl
that Philip's spine crawled. The officer was either a
complete madman or entirely without fear.
But here and there along the ditch, a few more men
climbed out to follow the half dozen others. The
Hessians immediately stopped their forward march, knelt
to re-load-
Phillip hadn't had time yet. But he
had his bayonet in place. He watched the officer
an instant longer. Out in front of all the others,
the man was actually charging right toward the Hessians,
ducking and dodging as the German rifles cracked and
flashed.
Miraculously, the officer avoided being hit. He
brandished his sword and kept up that
wordless
screaming
that brought all of the Americans out of the ditch at
last-Philip among them. The first ranks of
Hessians started scuttling back toward the
trees.
Across a front fifty or sixty yards long,
two dozen Americans followed the officer in his
crazed charge. A Hessian stumbled. The officer
sabered him through the chest. A cheer went up from the
Americans. Suddenly Philip caught the mood
of savagery, found himself running as fast as he could,
just like the others-
The Hessians-perhaps thirty in the company
comcompletely abandoned any pretense of orderly
formation, retreating from the wave of attackers who
began howling like the officer. Philip sped through the
tall weeds between the ditch and the trees.
Almost all the mercenaries had already melted back
into the forest.
One sergeant, his belly bulging the tunic of his
uniform, didn't quite make it. He stepped into an
animal's burrow and sprawled. Philip reached the
sergeant just as the man pulled his foot from the hole,
supporting himself on his hands and one knee.
The Hessian heard Philip coming, turned his
bulky body, raised a forearm to protect his
face, shrieked:
"Himmel-was
Philip bayoneted him in the stomach.
In the near-darkness, American muskets spouted
orange fire. Philip stepped on the
Hessian's head, plunged on toward the trees
where the saber-wielding officer had disappeared. But the
light was so poor, he could find no more targets.
He passed a Hessian corpse just this side of the
woods, saw another man running toward him,
whipped up his Brown Bess to stab defensively-
A saber flashed as another musket glared
to Philip's left. The saber clashed on
bayonet steel, striking sparks. Philip
absorbed the blow, dropped back a step, prepared
to fight hand-
to-hand
-
Then he recognized the man who'd knocked his
bayonet aside. The shabbily dressed officer.
Philip couldn't see the man's face clearly.
But his voice was enough to suggest his pleasure:
"A little spirit and they turn tail. That's all it
took, a little spirit-was
He breathed hard a moment, then shouted to those who had
followed him:
"Well done! Well done!"
To the right and left, the Americans who'd joined the
charge, voluntarily and otherwise, offered each other
loud congratulations
.
The officer's saber clacked back into its scabbard.
The whole action had taken no more than three or
four minutes.
Philip thought of Cowper, headed back for the ditch.
The officer strode beside
him
through the tall weeds:
"Damme, if we'd had this kind of spirit at the
creek, we might have carried the day."
Quite without thinking, Philip said an obscene
word. "We don't need more spirit. We need some
commanders who know where the hell the British are hiding.
If intelligence had been proper, we wouldn't have
lost."
The officer stopped suddenly. His voice iced:
"I'll convey your opinion to the commander-in-chief.
But perhaps I should also convey the name and unit of the man
making the statement."
"Philip Kent. Private, Massachusetts
infantry."
"You've a ready tongue, Mr. Kent."
Beyond caring whom he offended, Philip shot back,
"Maybe so. But I'll stick by what I said. We
wouldn't be retreating if we'd known Cornwallis
was coming at us from behind."
"I am w
ell aware of that, soldier! Do you think I like it
any better than you?"
The officer's tone brought Philip up short. He
rubbed his eyes.
"No, sir, I suppose not. I'm sorry I
spoke out."
The officer too seemed less angry:
"Don't be. What you said was blunt but correct.
And I spoke too sharply. You fought
well a few moments ago. All these men fought
well-was
His hand lifted to indicate the little band he'd rallied
to rout the Hessians. All at once he realized
the men were gone. As quickly as they'd assembled, the
anonymous soldiers had disappeared back to the
road, rejoining the columns trailing east. The
officer concluded:
"Let's put the whole conversation out of mind and just
remember the engagement, eh?"
In the darkness a voice shouted, "General
Wayne?"
"Here," the officer barked.
"I've caught your horse, sir."
"Right with you. Mr. Kent-was A hand clapped
Philip's shoulder. "Bravely done."
And he tramped off toward the ditch, leaving
Philip stunned and speechless.
Because of the man's sorry-looking uniform, Philip
had had no idea he'd been following one of
Washington's top field commanders. General
Anthony Wayne, a young squire of this same
Pennsylvania country through which they were fleeing, had a
reputation for recklessness and quick temper. Philip was
grateful that temper had moderated while
they talked. Otherwise he'd certainly have been a
candidate for disciplinary action.
He heard Wayne's horse pound away in the
direction
of Chester Creek. Again he remembered Lucas
Cowper, started running.
There seemed to be fewer men on the road. Perhaps the
main body of the retreating army had passed. He was
uncomfortably conscious of the quiet of the
night-shrouded countryside as he reached the ditch,
clambered down to the bottom, oriented himself as best
he could-
He had charged the Hessians on an oblique
line from the point where Wayne first joined
him.
That meant Cowper should be somewhere to the left as
Philip faced the road. He headed that way.
He'd gone no more than a yard or so when he heard
sounds made by two other people. One was unmistakably
Cowper; groaning. Another man was breathing hard.
The man heard Philip coming along the ditch:
"Who's that?"
Sudden fear wrenching his stomach, Philip answered:
"It's Kent. What are you doing, Mayo?"
Mayo Adams stood up beside Cowper's
shuddering body, a black hulk against the first stars.
There was a vicious undertone in Adams" voice:
"I come across Lucas and decided to help myself
to his canteen and cartridge box. Lost mine
back at the crick."
"Don't touch him. He's hurt pretty
badly."
"Shit, he's dyin'. He won't miss them
things."
"I said get away from him and get back on the
road." Philip raised his empty musket. The
metal of the bayonet glimmered in the starlight.
Mayo Adams chuckled.
"Why, you still got a musket! Think I'll take
that too."
"What happened to yours?"
"Dropped it a ways back, accidental, and
couldn't
find it again. And a feller can't get by without a
musket, now can he? Sure glad I bumped into you
this way. Nobody's gonna know whether the redcoats
kilt only one of the bodies in this here ditch,
or two
-"
The sudden explosion of Adams' breath
gave Philip forewarning that the bigger man was moving.
But tiredness slowed his reaction time. His
bayonet-thrust was poorly aimed.
Mayo Adams sidestepped, safe, and clamped
both hands on the muzzle of the Brown Bess. He
jerked hard. The musket tore out of Philip's
fingers.
Adams swung the musket like a club, his meaty
face awash with starlight for a moment. The little eyes
shone. Desperately Philip wrenched back out of
range of the stock arcing toward his head-
Adams cursed when the blow failed to land. Philip
dove forward, both hands fastening on the stock. He
kicked Adams' shin. The bigger man swore and
kicked right back. Philip almost let go under the
painful impact. Adams wrenched and Philip lost
his hold a second time.
The stock came hurtling toward his jaw. Once more
he started to dodge. His left boot skidded on the
slope of the ditch. Off balance, he fell. He
landed on his spine, the wind knocked out of him.
Laughing, Adams dropped the Brown Bess in the
weeds.
"Well, Kent, guess this here's as good a time as
any to settle things, what d'you say-?"
Philip yelled as Adams' huge weight crushed
his belly; Adams had simply dropped down on
both knees. Big hands stinking of powder closed on
Philip's neck.
Suddenly he felt something rigid under his right hip.
His hunting knife, still in its belt sheath. If he
could only reach it-
To do it, he first had to stretch out his right arm. And he
was close to passing out because Adams' fingers were digging
deep, cutting off his wind. The Boston
apprentice squeezed, then let go; squeezed and
let go. He hummed as he knelt on Philip's
midsection, sporting with him.
Philip heard several men passing along the road
only a short distance away. But they were moving fast
in the darkness, making noise themselves. They'd never
hear Adams' little hum of pleasure-
Philip got his arm straightened out. Then he doubled
his right hand under; bent it so far he thought the bones in his
wrist would snap. Almost as if the hand were a separate
thing, he groped back toward his right hip. Pushing his
knuckles against the ground, he forced the hand along
until he touched his own body.
He extended his fingers-stretched them toward the hilt
of the knife-
He couldn't reach under and free it. Adams' weight
was too great, pressing
him
flat. The huge fingers worked on Philip's
throat while Adams hummed. Dig and release.
Dig and release
-
"Your poor wife's sure gonna wonder what
happened to you, Kent. She'll think some Tommy
kilt you. Maybe I'll call on her one day and
tell her what really happened. Tell her how you
got smart with the wrong man-how you feel about that?"
Abruptly, Adams released his grip.
"Come on, you snotty little bastard, say somethin'!"
Waiting, Adams slid off Philip's belly.
Philip could only make raw, retching sounds.
He tried to raise his right hip a little. He was too
weak.
Adams seized his hair, yanked his head up.
"Listen, I told you to say somethin', you son of a
bitch!"
Adams pulling him up was the mistake.
Philip's tortured right hand closed on the hilt,
freed the knife, brought it whipping up, the blade
turning toward Adams' throat-
Adams saw the glare of the stars on metal. He
stabbed his free hand at Philip's wrist-
Too late. Philip raked the knife edge over
Adams neck, pushing
One startled, gurgling cry. Then blood spewed like
a fountain.
The blood drenched Philip's forehead, his eyes,
his cheeks. He rolled away as the dead hand came
loose from, his hair. The warm, meaty stench of the
pumping blood sickened him.
He flattened on his belly, burrowed in the grass
of the ditch bank, wiping frantically at the mess
on his face. He heard Adams fall.
Minutes went by. Philip lay panting, wanting
to vomit. Gradually the nausea passed. He
tried to stand. Still too tired. He'd had too much.
He'd just lie here, forget it all-
He thought of Lucas Cowper.
He fought the shock and the overpowering lethargy as if they
were enemies as real as Adams had been. At last
he was able to stand up. Weakly; dizzily. But he was
upright. He made four passes at the belt sheath
before he got the knife back in place.
Clenching his teeth and shuddering, he forced himself to step
over Mayo Adams' corpse, walk
toward Cowper till he found him.
He knelt, touched sticky fingers to Cowper's
lips. He felt faint breath.
"Lucas? Lucas, I'm going to pick you up-was
One hand curved under Cowper's neck. As he
raised Cowper's head a few inches, the young farmer
screamed and thrashed. The starlight whitened exposed
bone in Cowper's mined upper arm. Philip knew
he had to get Cowper on his feet and moving or his
friend would surely bleed to death. The responsibility
somehow helped him find strength:
"We'll get to a hospital, Lucas. They'll
have a hospital set up someplace ahead. Chester
Creek, maybe.
Don't worry, we'll get you there and get you
fixed-
He literally dragged Cowper to his feet. The young
farmer cried out again as Philip maneuvered him.
Finally Cowper's right arm was draped over
Philip's neck.
Left arm around Cowper's waist, Philip crouched
and retrieved his Brown Bess. Supporting
Cowper's limp body, fighting the pain and dizziness
in his own, Philip started to walk. Step by labored
step, he climbed to the road and turned
east in the September darkness.
At Chester Creek bridge, he caught up to a
Conestoga wagon that had broken an axle. The
teamsters struggling to repair it stopped long enough
to help raise Lucas Cowper, unconscious now,
to a place on top of the rolled-up command tents.
When it became apparent that the battle was lost, the
tents had been struck at headquarters not far from
Brandywine Church.
The teamsters told Philip to pull himself up into the
wagon too, and ride the rest of the way. He was
glad to do it.
Only half aware of the-repaired wagon starting
to roll again, he leaned his forehead against the plank
side and laid one hand on Lucas Cowper's
feverish
forehead. The
wagon swayed and bounced as the drivers negotiated
the rutted road. Each jolt made Cowper writhe,
though he never woke up completely.
It took the wagon over an hour to travel beyond the
village of Chester and reach the temporary night
camp-and the hastily erected tent that resembled a
corner of hell more than a hospital.
"Raise his head so he can take the rum.
That's good. Son? You awake?"
Stretched out on bloody planks placed on wood
trestl
es, Lucas Cowper shivered and opened his eyes.
Philip stood directly behind Cowper's head at
the end of the crude operating table. An orderly was
already at work ripping away Cowper's shirt.
Philip hardly dared look at the arm. It was a
ruin of blood, severed muscle, bone slivers.
Any tune the orderly touched it, Cowper
grimaced.
The surgeon was middle-aged. He wore a white
apron stained as red as a butcher's. He pressed
a brown glass bottle to Cowper's lips. Cowper
choked. But some of the liquor got down his throat.
Gradually, a little of the glaze left his eyes.
He heard the sounds of the tent. The sounds Philip
tried not to hear-
The cursing of the overworked doctors. The grisly
grind from the next table, where two surgeons twisted
the wood handles of a T-shaped cylindrical saw
whose toothed bit was boring a hole in a
casualty's shaved skull.
And above all, there was the screaming.
The tent stank of urine, excrement,
sweat, putrefying flesh. In the aisle
to Philip's left, a severed foot and a length of
intestine floated in a tub of pink-tinted water.
Although exhausted, the surgeon treating Cowper tried
to speak gently, patiently. His voice carried the
soft rhythms of one of the southern states:
"Can you hear what I'm saying to you, son?"
Feebly, Cowper answered, "I-I can."
"You feel anything in that arm?"
"Hurts-plenty. Can't-move it-was
"Well, the ball destroyed too much muscle and
bone. I'm going to have to take it off at the shoulder."
The surgeon held out one hand. An orderly
dropped a new musket ball into the dirty palm.
Grasping the ball between thumb and forefinger, the
surgeon held the ball up where Cowper could focus
on it:
"I'm going to put this between your teeth. I want you
to bite down hard. Then you won't feel it so much."
The surgeon's pale, stubbled face showed the lie
behind the words.
All at once Cowper tried to struggle up:
"What did you say about my arm, doc-?"
"That I can't save it, son. I have to saw it off."
"Please don't. Oh God,
please!
I'm left-handed, doc. I need both hands to work a
plow-I'm a farmer, I
can't run a farm with one arm gone
-"
Cowper was shrieking now. Philip turned away,
closed his eyes a moment, tightened his hands on
Cowper's shoulders as the wounded man tried to wrench
himself off the bloody table.
"Goddamn it, you've got to hold
him
down!" the surgeon shouted to Philip. The orderly
shoved the rum bottle between Cowper's teeth,
up-ended it until Cowper fell back gagging and
slobbering from the liquid gushing into his mouth. Against his
will, Cowper swallowed several times. The wile
wrenching subsided.
More wounded men were being carried into the tent on litters,
put down in rows near the entrance. There were six
surgical tables working; the steady grind of the
trephining saw filled Philip's throat with bile
again.
Cowper's lids fluttered closed as the rum began
to take effect. The surgeon shoved the musket
ball between Cowper's teeth:
"Bite."
Cowper didn't respond. Using both hands, the
surgeon pressed his jaws together:
"Bite, son,
bite
comt's it." He dashed sweat from his eyes. "Give
me the saw."
An orderly passed
him
the instrument. It still showed stains from the last amputation.
The surgeon walked around to the left side of the
table, stumbling once. Another orderly caught
him
his
held
him
until he was able to stand on his own.
The surgeon scrutinized the exposed shoulder joint
for a moment, then put the center of the notched blade on
the spot he'd selected. With quick back and forth
motions, he began to saw.
Blood ran. Muscle parted. Bone rasped.
Cowper turned white, started to writhe. An orderly
clamped hands on Cowper's mouth so he wouldn't cry
out and swallow the ball.
Grate
and
grate,
the saw cut deeper
Philip expended every remaining ounce of his strength
to hold the farmer's shoulders. At last, the awful
rasping noise ceased. The severed limb thumped into the
dirt beside the table.
The surgeon passed the saw to an orderly, wiped
his forehead again, looked around, turned almost as red as
his apron:
"Where the hell is the tar?"
"Had to heat up a new batch, sir. Here it
comes-was
Two more orderlies struggled to bring up a small
cauldron of bubbling pitch that had been heated on the
fires burning in the hospital yard.
"Watch your eyes," the surgeon warned those around the
table. An orderly took a stick and tilted up
one side of the cauldron. Hot tar cascaded
onto the bleeding stump just below Cowper's shoulder,
cauterizing, sterilizing-
Cowper woke again, screamed and fainted.
The pitch slopped and hissed on the board table,
clotted sticky-black on the end of the
stump. The blood-flow stopped.
Cowper's chest barely moved, so thin was his breathing.
Philip thought he couldn't stand there an instant
longer-
"Appreciate your assistance, soldier," the
surgeon told him. The man rubbed a red hand across
his lips and gestured to Cowper's still form. "Clear him
away and bring the next one."
His eyes returned to Philip.
"There's hot water outside. You can wash up. You
look like you took a bath in somebody's blood. I
hope it was one of the British."
iv
Outside, the near-scalding water dipped from a
kettle hanging over burning logs restored
Philip to some semblance of sanity. But that was almost
worse than the semi-delirium of his twenty or
thirty minutes in the hospital tent.
Drying his face on a rag from the ground, he tried
to shut out the almost continual din of shouting and screaming from
the other side of the canvas walls. It was
impossible-just as winning this accursed war was impossible
-
A face, bright red hair, caught his attention from the
other side of the fire. The Marquis de
Lafayette's fine uniform was stained and torn in
several places.
"Philip! I thought I
glimpsed
you when I rode in. Thank God you've survived
the day-was
Gil hobbled around the fire. Only then did
Philip see the bandage tied tightly around the
trouser leg. A ball had torn the outside of
Gil's left thigh a few inches below the groin,
Gil gestured to the hospital tent:
"Were you wounded in the action? I notice no
evidence of it-was
Too tired to speak immediately, Philip shook his
head. Then:
"Man from my unit lost an arm. I brought him
here."
There was a strange despair in Gil's eyes.
He tried to conceal it with a shrug and a weak smile:
"Well, as you can see,
messieurs les anglais
favored me with a gun-shot. It's trifling. I shall
wait until the doctors finish with the urgent
cases."
"Where were you when you were hit?"
"I do not know, exactly. General Sullivan's
men were
all around me. I was endeavoring to urge them to turn
and stand when the ball knocked me from the saddle-was
His eyes shifted toward the bedlam of the tent; a man
was baying like an animal. His face wrenched:
"I have never seen such chaos! Or such cowardice!
A formal retreat is one thing-the enemy carried the
day decisively. But these men run like hares.
To control them-to command them-it can't be done!"
Philip sighed. "I guess that's why we keep
losing battles."
"The laxity I saw when I first rode into the
encampment will be our undoing!" Gil f
umed. "Undisciplined children ru
nning helter-skelter, disobeying orders at their
whim, cannot defeat the British. Only an
army
can defeat them."
Philip's face, still marked with dried blood at the
hairline and around the ears, looked utterly weary and
despondent:
"I know, Gil. And that's the one thing we still don't
have."
Gil's silence represented total
agreement.
The Brandywine position was lost on the eleventh of
September. For two more weeks the rival armies
feinted and skirmished through the countryside around
Philadelphia. Then the beaten Americans
withdrew to erect a temporary camp at
Pennybacker's Mill, on a creek that flowed
down to join the Schuylkill. The first hint of
autumn nipped the air as Philip and the men in his
mess-now down to three with Pettibone and Adams
dead and Cowper off in a recovery area-wearily
raised their tent.
Philip had visited Lucas Cowper once.
Although conscious, the farmer refused to speak or even
acknowledge Philip's presence. A stained bandage
was pinned over the stub of Cowper's arm. He lay
staring at the roof of
the recovery tent, never blinking. After asking a
score of quiet questions and receiving no answers,
Philip crept away, totally depressed.
He tried to remember that if every man in the army
allowed himself to fall prey to an erosion of the spirit such
as he was again suffering, the struggle was already over for
good. But it was hard to keep going; hard to be at all
encouraged in the face of a shambles like the
Brandywine. And its equally humiliating aftermath:
"It's "ficial," Breen announced, late in the
afternoon of the twenty-seventh. He'd just come from the
sutler's.
"What's official?" Royal Rothman asked in
a listless voice.
"Every man-jack in the Congress skedaddled out
to Lancaster a week ago. And yesterday, ol"
Cornwallis marched the grenadiers
into Philadelphia."
"So the city's fallen?"
was "Pears so, Royal. All the damned
Tories should be mighty happy."
"What the devil happens to us?"
"Oh, we just go on drawin" our liquor ration
an' doin' what they tell us. Be winter soon.
Doubt there'll be much more fightin'."
Having listened in gloomy silence, Philip burst
out, "Why don't we try to re-take
Philadelphia, for God's sake?"
Breen shrugged in a laconic way. "Have to ask
General George about that. But I wouldn't, even if
I had the chance. I understand he's in mighty mean
spirits. Maybe your Frenchy friend could tell you. I
sure God can't."
Breen scratched his belly, hiccoughed, took a
couple of wobbly steps toward the tent, pivoted
back:
"Oh-and "fore you ask, no, they ain't payin" us.
Again."
"We haven't seen a penny in three months!"
Royal protested.
Breen shrugged. "What's the difference? You can't
hardly spend them bills they printed up for the
paymaster. Only place they'll take "em
'thout a bitch is the sutler's. I heard half the
colonies-was
"States," Royal corrected primly. Breen
ignored him:
"comis makin" jokes about the money. "Not worth a
Continental" is what they call somethin'
absolutely not worth a damn."
Breen lifted the tent flap, acting unusually
sober all at once.
"Sure's funny "thout old Pettibone
hangin" around. S'pose they'll send us some green
replacements, Philip?"
"Eventually."
"An' Cowper-what the devil's that poor feller
gonna do? He told me once his daddy
couldn't work no more. Too old. So there wasn't
nobody except Lucas to tend the farm."
"I don't know what he'll do. I don't want
to think about it."
"You was there when they sawed-was
"Yes, I was there. Shut up about it!"
A moment of silence. Breen looked contrite:
"Sorry."
"Yes-me too."
Breen rolled his tongue in his cheek. "You're an
all-right sort, Philip. I don't
"pologize to no other kind, y'know. That's why I
can admit I don't miss Mayo Adams one
whit. Wonder what become of him?"
Philip studied the sky. "Took a British or
Hessian ball, probably."
"Yen, probably."
Breen pulled up his hunting shirt to scratch his
stomach again. Philip noticed a wrinkled sheet of
paper stuck in the older man's hide belt.
"Breen, what's that?"
Fuzzily, Breen peered down. "My
bellybutton."
"No, dammit,

-" He pointed.
"Well, damme if it didn't clean slip my
mind. Fer you-was
As he pulled the paper loose, Philip
practically leaped for it:
"A letter?"
"Yessir, mail finally come through. Picked it up
'fore I bought my ration. Clean forgot I had it.
Maybe it'll perk your spirits up some. Royal, when
the hell you gonna start our cook fire? I'm
hungry as a grizzly cub in April-was
Bunking, he ambled on into the tent.
Philip almost whooped for joy as he examined the
badly wrinkled letter. The handwriting was Anne's.
He tore the letter open, read the date-late
July-swiftly skipped down the lines for the
essential details, his spirits soaring:
His wife was well.
Abraham was growing, talking and in good health.
Captain Caleb's "two new privateers were
nearing completion on the ways at Sawyer's.
The final paragraphs riveted his gaze and turned
him cold.
I do not wish to put additional comworry on you when
your task is difficult enough, my
dearest. But at the moment, there is no one else with
whom I can share a problem that is proving troublesome.
I have received two notes from Will Caleb's hired
captain, Mr. Rackham, whom I am certain you
recall. In each, he has invited me
to Sawyer's to view the vessels under construction
-
which struck me as an altogether suspect invitation,
considering his behavior that day last winter. Neither
missive received an answer, of course. However,
my silence did not end his improper interest.
Indeed, it produced two visits from the obnoxious
man, on our very doorstep here in Cambridge.
Both were likewise of the briefest nature. I
let him
know I did not welcome his attentions. He seemed
to treat the reply as a joke. I am honestly
fearful the fellow is a reckless libertine, no
doubt encouraged by the thoughtless talk of some women whose
husbands are away serving; such women proclaim their
loneliness to any available male who is not in his
dotage. So upsetting were Rackham's smiles and
hints, I have decided to ask our neighbor Mrs.
Brumple to share the house with me. She craves
company, and I believe her presence would
help deter any further forwardness on Rackham's
part.
At first I hesitated to mention the matter to you, dear
husband. Yet here I am pouring out my concerns in
an unseemly way. With you so distant, a great
portion of that strength of which I have sometimes foolishly
boasted now seems altogether lacking
-
proof, if it were needed, that man and wife become a
new whole, far different from what each might have been
as an individual. What I am attempting to do,
I suppose, is to reassure both myself and you that
nothing is amiss
-
and that with Mrs. Brumple occupying the spare room,
no further difficulty could arise.
I can also promise you that at the first opportunity,
I shall speak to Captain Caleb about his
associate's unwelcome overtures. However, the
captain is presently put out into the ocean with
Eclipse
for a week or two, during which time her guns and
procedures for operating same are to be brought
into perfect trim. I will contact him the moment he
returns to Boston Harbor.
God protect you, my beloved, and may your son and
your eternally affectionate wife soon be blessed with
your presence, or, until that joyous day, further
word that you are safe and well.
Ever yours, Anne.
The cool September breeze fluttered the
page., Philip
stared at the amber clouds and a flight of wild
geese streaming toward the southern horizon. But he
saw only the insolent face of Captain Malachi
Rackham.
That night he actually thought about desertion; about
damning this futile war and hurrying home.
Tempting though the idea was, he put it out of mind
because he knew that it was wrong for him, no matter how
anyone else chose to act. It was also wrong because it
would be the most foolish kind of weakness to give in
to fears that were, for the moment, of small substance.
Anne was taking steps to deal with the problem of
Rackham. Those steps would probably prove
effective.
The mere thought of desertion made
him
ashamed for other reasons, too. If he did what
many had already done-simply went home the
moment he felt like it-he would be one of those whom
Tom Paine scathingly denounced as summer
soldiers; sunshine patriots. More important,
if mass desertions continued, there would soon not even
be a semblance of an army left. And the larger
purpose, of which the army was the sole instrument of
fulfillment, would be lost. He believed in what the
army was fighting for, even though up till now most of the
fighting had been poorly done.
He had come to his belief over a long period of
years, with much doubt along the way. But he did have
an unashamed conviction that the cause was just. To leave
would betray both the cause and the conviction.
And, finally, it would betray Anne.
A deserter who appeared suddenly in Cambridge
would not be the man she'd taken as a husband. He'd
wait for the next letter. It would contain less disheartening
news. Confirmation that Caleb had brought his captain
to heel. Surely it would-
With struggle, he almost convinced himself of that.
"I
Mean to
March
to Hostile Ground"
JUDSON FLETCHER rode like a man
pursued.
Lather streaked the flanks of his horse. He knew
he'd already pushed the animal much too hard, covering
the sixty-mile distance with only very brief stops.
He'd been in the saddle most of the night, his stained
coat not nearly warm enough to protect
him
from the bite of the late October air.
From the east, first light gilded the shocked corn standing
in the fields. A yawning farmer loading fat
pumpkins into a wagon gave him a startled stare as
he hammered along the dirt road, plumes of
breath streaming from the horse's muzzle.
What if I'm too late? What if he's gone?
It was Donald, day before yesterday, who had dropped
the casual remark that sent Judson speeding south.
Donald had come by the Shaw cabin with another
purse; the dole was delivered more grudgingly with every
visit.
Judson's appearance had worsened over the summer.
He'd lost more weight. He was lethargic; sullen;
constantly unshaven.
Still, as always, Donald dutifully tried to spark
some reaction from his brother with reports on various
aspects of the war, starting with the loss of
Philadelphia to General Howe's army in
September. That had caused sharp criticism of
General Washington even among his fellow
Virginians, Donald said.
One bright circumstance offset the fall of
America's
largest city: the surrender of Gentleman Johnny
Burgoyne's expeditionary force at Saratoga just
a couple of weeks ago.
Expecting reinforcements in the form of troops under
General Howe, Burgoyne had instead been
virtually abandoned in the York State, while
Howe pursued his conquest of Philadelphia-then
settled in, presumably, to enjoy the favors of
his mistress. Outnumbered three to one by the
Americans under General Gates, Burgoyne
asked for terms. It was the sole piece of encouraging
news in an otherwise bleak cavalcade of disasters
and defeats:
"Unless you wish to count the end of the verbal war over the
Articles of Confederation," Donald told his
brother. "I understand a draft is just about ready."
For over a year Congress had been debating the wording
of a document that would organize the thirteen states
into some kind of working relationship; stipulate
areas of authority; divide financial
responsibility for the war fairly-
"They finally worked out a plan where expenses of the
central government will be apportioned according to each
state's surveyed land, which I suppose is fair.
We won't properly be a country until every one
of the thirteen ratifies the draft Articles,
though. Considering how long it's taken to get the
material written and agreed upon, that may not happen
till the next century! Even if the Articles
are accepted, they leave much to be desired."
Judson's vague murmur was enough to prompt
Donald to continue:
"Every state retains its sovereignty, and the
Congress is granted jurisdiction only in
certain limited areas. It can declare war-but can't wage
it unless each state approves. There's a
proviso saying Congress may borrow money, but not
a single word about how the central government may
raise
money to repay the loans. In
short, if the Congressional fiddler wants to play
a tune, the states collectively pretty well
tell
him
yea or nay."
"I'd hardly compare that kind of document to a
military victory," Judson observed sourly.
"True. But what other accomplishments can we brag
about?"
"Why not save your breath altogether?"
"I probably should. The Articles are a
patchwork. Too many basic questions dodged while
everyone's diverted by lofty sentiments about
'perpetual union. The best you can say is that it's
a start. It seems to me that a more clearly and
thoughtfully drawn statement will be required before very
long. Some sort of formal constitution-was
Judson's apathetic stare showed he'd completely
lost interest. Donald smiled sadly:
"I'm not precisely enthralling you with all this, am
I?"
Judson shrugged, as if to ask what else his
brother expected. Donald sighed. Then:
"Well, perhaps something more personal will pique your
interest. Your friend George has been at
Williamsburg for a fortnight now-
by the Lord!
A response at last!"
It was true. Judson's blue eyes
finally showed something other than contempt or indifference:
"What's he doing there?"
"Damme if I can tell you. Something big's
afoot, though. He's been attending secret
meetings with a special committee appointed
by Governor Henry-Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Wythe
and several other Burgesses. The meetings last for
hours at a time. They must be debating something besides
another request for powder to defend the Kentucky
forts."
"Have you seen George personally?"
"Yes, I talked to him at the Raleigh Tavern
before I rode home."
"How does he look?"
"Very fit. But worried. Conditions in the west are
growing worse. All the tribes rising against the
settlers commy guess is that George came east
to raise some additional militia units. He
wouldn't tell me specifically." A pause, as
Donald eyed his disheveled brother. "He asked
about you."
"What did you tell him?"
"Exactly what I tell Father. As little as
possible. I imagine Tom Jefferson and some of the
others talk more freely-was
Judson glanced away.
"George sent you his regards. Also his regrets that
he couldn't stop by for a visit. I got the
impression he'll be bound back for Kentucky
soon after the secret meetings are concluded."
At that exact moment, Judson felt as if a
door had opened; perhaps the last one remaining for him.
It was a desperate, perhaps foredoomed hope. But
confinement on the tiny piece of cabin property had
grown intolerable. Too often, he found his thoughts
turning to the means for suicide.
He said nothing to his brother about the sudden idea that
fired his mind and restored his energy all at once.
But shortly after Donald had gone back to Sermon
Hill, Judson was mounted and riding south.
Now, in the October dawn sparkling with hoarfrost,
he pounded into Williamsburg. Flashed by the
lovely rose-brick residences of the merchants and the
gentry. Thundered through the farmer's market where a
flock of geese honked and waddled to escape the
flying hoofs. He rode straight to the yard of the
Raleigh Tavern, its leaded windows reflecting the
autumn dawn in diamond-shaped patterns of
yellow fire.
Looking more like a scarecrow than a man,
Judson dismounted and turned the exhausted horse
over to a groom for feeding and stabling. As he walked
toward
the tavern entrance, he was acutely aware of the
hammering of his heart.
In the dark-beamed foyer, he found a sleepy boy
swishing a straw broom over the pegged floor.
Judson's eyes showed huge gray circles of
fatigue. His fair beard, scraped off in
preparation for the trip, had already sprouted again,
unevenly. The sweep knew in a glance that
Judson wasn't the sort of gentleman who
belonged at the Raleigh.
"Son, you've a guest here-was
"Got eight or nine," the sweep replied, leaning
on his broom. "Most are still in bed. And the landlord
don't take kindly to loud talk at this hour."
Checking a burst of anger, Judson lowered his
voice:
"The guest I'm referring to is named Clark. He
hasn't left, has he?"
The boy took his time answering:
"Would you be meaning Major Clark, the militia
commander from Kentucky?"
"Yes, dammit! Is he still here?"
"I tell you the landlord"!! tan me if you keep
on swearing and yelling-was
Judson glared. "Then stop being cheeky and answer
me straight!"
The sweep took a step backwards, poked his
broom toward the arch leading to the public room:
"Major Clark come down about twenty minutes ago
to eat breakfast. Hops up way before daylight every
morning. Guess that's the style out west. You'll
find
him
around the corner by the fireplace, I reckon."
"Thank you very much!"
Boots hammering, Judson spun away. He'd
made it in time.
In time!
Suddenly he halted, catching a whiff of the wood
fire burning somewhere on the other side of the wall.
The aroma wasn't nearly as strong as his own sweaty
stench. He must look a sight.
He stepped to the wall where an ornamental silver
plate hung on display. He bent, examined his
blurred reflection, tried to smooth his tangled
hair. He'd lost the tie-ribbon on the frantic
ride. God, he was totally unpresentable
-
But there was nothing to be done. In the public room,
a chair had scraped. Boots squeaked the plank
floor as someone approached the arch. Judson
straightened up with a jerk, aware of the trembling of his
hands as he confronted the tall figure of George
Clark, red hair neatly tied at the nape of his
neck.
"Judson-?"
"Hello, George."
"Good Lord, I couldn't believe it when I thought I
heard your voice. You're the last person in creation
I expected to see this morning! What brings you
to Williamsburg?"
Judson's mouth went dry. His friend looked lean,
clear-eyed, deeply tanned-and dismayed as he took
in Judson's stained apparel and unhealthy
pallor. All Judson could say was:
"George, it-it's fine to see you-was
He shot out an unsteady hand. George Clark
clasped it in a hard, callused grip. Now that
he'd ridden all this distance, Judson's courage
failed him. He couldn't bring himself to tell his friend the
reason for the trip.
He was afraid George would laugh in his
face.

Even the sweep leaning on his broom was sensitive
to something awkward in the confrontation between the
fine-featured young gentleman who looked as if
he'd just crawled out of some hole in the earth, and the
younger but somehow more poised frontiersman wearing a
thigh-length fringed hunting shirt and leggings of
deerhide. Apparently both were at a loss for
words.
All at once Judson blurted, "Donald
told me you
were here. I rode most of the night-was
"By God that's a mark of friendship! been sadly
neglected, I'm afraid."
"I know you have pressing responsibilities,
George. No time-was
"And too few men. And too little powder. And every
tribe putting on the bloodroot-but come on, come
to the table. Join me in something to eat-was
A bit reassured when his friend laid his arm over his
shoulder, Judson accompanied George into the
public room. As they approached a table near the
fireplace, Judson said:
"I'm afraid you've lost me already.
What was that word-his Bloodroot?"
"The braves use it to paint their faces for
battle."
George pulled out a chair for Judson,
signaled a yawning servant girl, slipped
into his own chair in front of the immense breakfast
he'd been eating. Half a loaf of cornbread and
most of a crock of country butter had been put
away, plus part of an eight-or nine-inch stack of
griddlecakes dripping with clear colorless syrup.
"All the tribes are going to war against Kentucky,"
George explained. "The Mingos, the Shawnee, the
Piankashaws, Delaware, Wyandots-the year of the
three sevens hasn't been good to my part of the
country. The year of the bloody sevens,
Kentuckians are calling it."
The serving girl's shadow touched the table where
George's browned hand closed around his coffe
e
mug. George glanced up.
"My friend's hungry, my girl."
Younger than I am,
Judson thought with despair.
Younger, and he acts twice my age. Twice as
composed and sure of himself
-
"May I bring you something, sir?" the girl asked
Judson.
"Only something to drink-was he began. When
George's eyes widened in surpris
e, he added quickly, "What my frends having.
Coffee. Put mil
k in mine, please."
The girl shuffled away, yawning again.
"I was pleased to have the chance to talk with Donald when
he was here," George said. "If he'd shed some of
that weight, his gout might bother him less."
"Well, there's precious little pleasure for him at
Sermon Hill besides eating and drinking."
"He's helping your father operate the plantation,
then?"
"When he's not meeting here with the Burgesses."
George hesitated. "You're not at Sermon
Hill-?"
"No." Judson's mouth twisted. "Father and I had
one of our famous disagreements-this one a little more
permanent than the others."
"How permanent?"
"I don't intend to go back to the place, ever.
Furthermore, I'm not allowed."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Judson waved, as if it didn't matter. "I
rode off to Philadelphia to replace Donald
in the Congress for a time-was
George nodded. "Tom Jefferson told me,
during one of our meetings."
"What else did he tell you? That I botched my
duties, the way I've botched everything in the
last-?"
The serving girl's return stopped Judson in
mid-sentence. Embarrassed by the outburst, George
glanced toward the fire. Judson wiped his damp
forehead, accepted the mug of steaming coffee, drank
a third of it in a series of gulps. The coffee was
nearly scalding and took some of the chill out of him.
It didn't lessen his tension, though. He was more and more
convinced George Clark would reject his proposal
out of hand.
"I always suspected I didn't fit in around
here,"
Judson said finally. "Now, I know it." The words
had a lame, whipped sound.
There was no reproof in his friend's eyes, only
sympathy:
"Donald said your views on the slave
question helped bring on the trouble with your father."
"It's much more than that. As I told you, I
disgraced myself in Philadelphia. I shot a fat
Tory to death when he challenged me to a duel-even
though Jefferson and the president of the Congress warned
me to steer clear of that sort of affair. There was also
a scandal over a woman-was
And some things since that I'm too ashamed to speak about
even to you.
"I'm not proud of any of it. Ever since I came
back, I've done nothing but live day to day. No
purpose, no ambition-was
He stared at
his
friend. It was impossible to conceal his hope any longer:
"I've thought a good deal about what you used to write
in your letters. About the open country in the west-was
"It's very different than it was just a few years ago,
Judson."
"The war, you mean."
"Aye. We're down to three settlements in
Kentucky. Harrodsburg, Boonesborough and
Fort Logan. All this past spring and summer, our
people have lived like prisoners inside the stockades.
When work parties go out to plant corn, other
armed men go with them to stand guard. It's disn safe
to hunt or farm your own piece of ground.
Everyone's taken refuge at the forts-was
George's mouth set, almost ugly. "There's a
governor at Fort Detroit, Henry
Hamilton, who's paying British silver for every
scalp cut from an American corpse."
"I've heard of him."
"They call him the Hair-Buyer. He understands how
easily the whole Northwest Territory can be
taken if the tribes are properly incited. He
also understands the
value of the land. Which is more than can be said for some of
our elegant Burgesses sitting here in
Williamsburg pinching snuff from their silver
boxes. I came back to try to remedy the
situation."
Judson came closer to the issue: "Donald
thought you might be raising a new levy of men-was
George Clark didn't answer immediately. He
scanned the room as if searching for possible
eavesdroppers. But there was no one else present
besides the two of them and the girl dozing on her stool
by the fire.
George clacked his fork back on his
trencher, used a finger to dab a smear of syrup from the
corner of his mouth. He leaned forward in his chair:
"Donald guessed correctly. After a great deal
of argument and some table-pounding, I persuaded the
committee of the Burgesses to authorize the
recruiting of three hundred and fifty
Virginians for the defense of Kentucky. They're
giving me six thousand Continental dollars to buy
ammunition and supplies."
"Where are you going to find the men?"
"Anywhere I can. Here. Pittsburgh-was
"I'd like to be one of them."
The sudden silence was strained. Judson thought,
He's going to turn me down
-
George Clark picked up his fork, dropped it
again. In the kitchen, a man and woman argued over
who had broken half a crate of eggs. A wagon
creaked in the street; a cow lowed, its bell
clanking. The rhythmic slow swish of the sweep's
broom going over and over the same square of floor
sounded beyond the arch.
George frowned. "When you said you'd ridden all
night, I thought there was probably some reason other
than a wish to see an old friend."
"I want to go to Kentucky, George. I want
to start again."
"I don't think you quite know what you're asking."
The words, gently said, almost broke Judson's
heart.
An instant later, they angered
him.
He slammed the fee mug on the table:
"So I'm judged and found guilty before the fact?"
George still looked troubled. "I'm not sure I
understand."
"You've listened to Tom Jefferson. And
to Donald. You've heard how I failed at
everything before and you've decided I'll fail again."
"Judson, for God's sake! That's a totally
unwarranted accusation-to "
"Is it?"
"Yes!"
"Forgive me, George, but I think you're lying.
Maybe out of kindness, but lying all the same-was
If so, George concealed it. "You simply don't
realize-Kentucky is
not
the tidewater." His supple hand spread
eloquently over the griddlecakes, the
syrup pitcher, the cornbread loaf. "There's little
or no food like this. Just a swallow of water from a
canteen and a handful of dried corn from your
haversack. On the trail, you live like that for
days-maybe weeks."
"I can do it. I know I can."
Silence again. Finally George resumed:
"Judson, it's difficult to say this-was
"A turn-down. All right, do it and be done!"
"God, they weren't exaggerating. You're angry at
everything."
Judson flushed. "I'm sorry."
"Then hear me out. You're my friend, Judson. The
closest friend I knew when I was growing up. That
can't be changed by anything that happens. But because you
are
my friend, I won't deceive or flatter you-despite
your notions to the contrary. There is no peace in
Kentucky! No freedom to roam, explore,
settle where you wish. The tribes are raiding
regularly from north of the Ohio. Killing and
butchering any man they find alone. Or women and
babies, for that matter. I hate to
put it so bluntly, but I need soldiers, not
gentlemen-adventurers."
"Do you think you can locate three hundred and fifty
who meet your high standards?" Judson blazed.
George stiffened, but he controlled his temper, and his
voice:
"If I'm lucky."
"And if you're not, you'll have to take somewhat less
perfect specimens
"Judson, I can hardly stand to listen to this."
"To what?"
"Your bitterness. What in the name of heaven has
happened to you?"
"What's happened, "George, is that I'm
dying."
He said it swiftly; softly. But George
rocked back in his chair, hammered by the ferocity and
pain of the statement.
"I mean it, George. I'm dying by days and
by hours and by minutes-was
"So are we all."
"Not the same way. I'm dying from failing. Dying
because I hold what seem to be the wrong beliefs.
I'm dying from hating my father and being hated-was
"And dying from not being strong enough to overcome all that-and
learn from it?" George asked quietly, with just the
barest hint of condemnation.
Bleak-faced, Judson agreed:
"Yes. That too. But I have learned this much. I
think I have just about one more chance left. One chance
somewhere to pick up the litter of my life and prove
I can be successful at something, however small or
insignificant -"
George cooled visibly. "The defense of
Virginia's western counties is neither small nor
insignificant."
"George, I didn't mean-was
"What happens out there in the next year will determine
how much land America holds when this war is
settled. It will determine whether we'll be pushed
back east of the mountains, forced forever to huddle here on
the coast-was
"Believe me, I didn't mean to suggest-was
Abruptly, George relaxed again. "I know."
A weary smile; a nod. "The fault's mine.
I haven't been in the best of spirits lately-was
He picked up his coffee mug, drank. "However
comt doesn't change the situation I'm facing. I
need steady hands. Sharp eyes." He looked
directly at Judson. "God forbid that I should
sound like a Bible-thumper inveighing against the sin "of
drunkenness. But this much is the truth. In the
forest, liquor will only get a man lost, or
slain."
The quiet statements told Judson more about what
Jefferson or Donald had said to George; and much
more about the immensity of the change in his friend. This
George Clark wasn't the young man who'd roamed
the Virginia woodlands for sheer pleasure. He
spoke like what he was-a military commander.
Judson gave George the answer he hoped his
friend wanted to hear:
"Then I'll swear off it that's what it takes.
Never another drop-was
"It takes even more than that."
"What, then?
Goddamn it, I'm pleading for my life!"
Judson had tears in his eyes. He only
realized it after he shouted. The outcry roused the
serving girl on her stool, brought a gray feminine
head peeping out of the kitchen, stopped the swish of the
broom from beyond the arch. Judson drowned in a red
wave of shame, his cheeks burning-
He kicked against the table's trestle, shoved his
chair bac
k
to leave. His red-haired friend was staring
at him with a mixture of alarm and sorrow.
As Judson whirled toward the arch, George's
fingers clamped on his arm.
"Sit down."
The sneer was unconscious: "What the hell for?
I'm not the sort you want. Clear-eyed.
Pure-hearted-was
"Sit down,"
George Clark said. "And if you really want
to discuss it, stop that self-pitying whine."
Judson felt as if he'd tumbled
in
to an icy brook:
"Discuss it
-
his
Do you?"
"Yes. I think I've made it clear that it
won't be easy to gather the men I need. So I
have-motives for possibly accepting your offer."
Jubilant, Judson pulled his chair up again,
planted his elbows on the table, pleaded with open
hands:
"I'll be sober as a damn saint, George! You
always said I should-see the western
lands-well, maybe this isn't the wrong time but
exactly the right one. If you think there'll be any
problem about me taking orders we're friends-was
"I think that could be a very definite problem."
"No, no, it won't be, I give you my word."
"The word's easy. The deed's hard. I want you
to realize what you're asking. Consider the effort just
to reach Pittsburgh. It's hundreds of miles-was
"I'm strong-you saw how I got here. I rode
all night-was
"And walked in white and trembly as poplar leaves
in a windstorm. I'm not trying to be difficult,
Judson, or hard on you-I could never do that
easily because of all the fine times we shared. But the
truth of what my men will be facing can't be dodged.
Can you sleep in the open when there are ten inches of
snow covering the ground?"
"Yes."
"Walk till there's no feeling left in your
legs-then keep on walking?"
"I can, yes."
"Do you think you could kill a man without making a
sound?"
Judson tried to smile. "The first part is no
problem. I'll practice the second."
George didn't smile back. "The pay is
negligible. Most of my funds will go for
supplies."
"I don't care. Nothing can be any worse than the
trap I've gotten myself into here."
"Can you fire a rifle?"
"One of the long Kentucky models? I've never
tried but I'm positive I can learn. I'm
fair with pistols. Always have been-was
Suddenly George Clark unfolded his lanky
frame, tossed corns on the table:
"Come on."
"Where?"
"I'll saddle my horse and we'll ride out in the
country and find out how expert a marksman you are."
"With a rifle?"
"Yes."
George Clark had a peculiar, almost
secretive expression on his face. Judson
noticed it but failed to understand its meaning.
Once more the tall woodsman surveyed the public
room. Satisfied, he led Judson toward the
side entrance. In twenty minutes, they were cantering
along under arching limbs that streamed down yellow and
scarlet leaves in the brisk morning wind.
The road was alternately dark and dazzling with
sunlight.
He had a chance. One chance. He dared not let it
slip out of his hands-
The hands that were white from gripping his rein hard, so
George wouldn't see how he was trembling.
George Clark shucked his leather hunting bag off
his shoulder, dropped his powder horn on top, then
laid his gleaming Kentucky rifle on the pile.
From a sheath sewn
into the side of the bag, he drew a bone-handled
knife. He set to work stripping a square of bark
from the trunk of one of the trees in the isolated
clearing where they'd stopped. Judson marveled at the
swift, sure movements of George's fingers-and
silently cursed the continuing tremor of his own.
Kneeling in the thick layer of fallen leaves,
George carefully inscribed a small circle
on the moist inner surface of the peeled bark. He
tucked his knife back in his boot, dug under the
leaves, scratched up some
dust
. He rubbed the dirt all around the circular cut,
then blew off the excess. When he held up the
square, the dirt still clung in the cut
outlining a round target.
"Ought to be able to see that," George said.
"Yes, I can see it fine." Judson couldn't
remember when he'd been so jittery. Perhaps that was
because the stakes had never been quite so high.
George carried the target across the clearing. He
pinned it to a trunk
with
one stab of his knife. He left the knife humming
faintly, ambled back through the rustling leaves. Off
in the trees that ringed the clearing, their horses blew
and stamped.
George waved Judson to his side. Both men
hunkered down as George supported the
long-barreled rifle on
his
palms:
"I'll show you how to load one of these beauties.
It's slower than loading a musket, but your aim's
far more accurate."
"So I've heard."
Judson eyed the blade-pinned scrap of bark across
the clearing. The bark moved a little in the brisk wind.
Damn, he'd never hit it.
Never
-
Yes he would. He'd hit it if he never did
another thing.
Patiently, George took him through the routine.
First he filled the rifle pan with powder from his
smaller priming horn. Then he picked up the
second, larger
horn, scraped down at the end so the cut-off tip
fit like a cap. He pulled off the cap section,
held it up: "One of these is an exact measure
of powder." He poured the coarse black grains
into the barrel, then unlatched a perfectly polished,
rust-free plate in the side of the stock.
"Greased patches in here. You lay one over the
muzzle opening-was
He did so, then fished in the bag for a ball. He
inserted the ball over the patch. He loosened the
ramrod clipped to the rifle and handed the rod
to Judson:
"You seat both the patch and the ball with a good solid
stroke."
Judson nearly dropped the ramrod. George
smiled in a tolerant way. Judson got the
ramrod positioned, shoved it down the barrel.
"More, Judson. M. Seat it all the
way, good and firm. All right, that's got it-was
He placed the rifle in Judson's hand. "Now
cock and fire-and remember to use your sight.
Keep reminding yourself that it's not a musket. You
don't just shut your eyes and let "er blow-was
He pointed to a spot on the perimeter of the clearing
opposite the target. "Try it from there."
Feeling as if he were walking to an execution,
Judson headed for the indicated place. When he
got the rifle to his shoulder, it felt immense.
Despite the fall air, he was sweating. The
inside of his mouth tasted like brass."
Off to his left, George leaned on the ramrod.
The wind fluttered the fringe on the hem and sleeves
of his hunting shirt. Judson squinted down the
blue barrel.
Dammit, why couldn't he keep his hands from shaking
-?
The target seemed to be flapping a lot.
Jerkily, he corrected his
aim
-
"Wait till the wind dies," George said.
"One hit is
worth half a dozen hasty misses if
you're aiming for a Delaware who's been stoking himself
on drum talk and Hamilton's rum."
When the target finally settled in place, Judson
began to apply pressure to the trigger.
More pressure.
More-
He tried not to think of the importance of this one shot.
It was impossible. His chance to pull himself out of the
morass he'd made was staked on one lead ball-
Steady.
Steady-
He fired.
The recoil almost knocked him off his feet. A
thunderous echo went rolling through the glade toward the
fields of shocked corn. Birds screeched and
beat their wings, rising from the treetops. Smoke
blurred Judson's vision. He hadn't heard the
ball chunk into the trunk. It was a miss. A
complete miss-
Dismally, he lowered the rifle to his side. In a
moment George Clark came trotting back across
the clearing with the scrap of bark:
"Well, you were wide of the bull."
Failure. Again.
Then, disbelieving, he saw the smile on
George's face. George wiggled the tip of his
little finger in the semicircle knocked out of the lower
edge of the bark square:
"But at least you hit the target itself. Not many
accomplish that on the first try."
"I never heard the ball land-was
"Did you expect to, with all the echoes?"
"George, that's not good enough. Put the target up
again."
George flung the square away. "Not necessary. With
practice, I think you can handle a rifle well
enough. I really brought you out here for another reason
entirely. A much more important one."
Thunderstruck, Judson felt a burst of anger
over the deception. He opened his mouth-
And shut it, thinking:
That's one thing you'll have to stop, boiling every time something
doesn't please you
-
George Clark walked toward another tree, his
hunting knife back in his hand. Judson saw that
peculiar, secretive expression again.
"Before we strike any sort of bargain," George
said, "I want you to know the full extent of what
you'll be facing if you come west."
"I don't understand. You already explained-was
"I'm not talking about the hardships. I mean the real
purpose for which I'm recruiting men."
A white-tailed hare hopped halfway across the
clearing, discovered them and went bounding away.
Judson felt an ominous little tickle along his
backbone. His friend looked positively grim.
"You said you're raising a levy for the defense of
Kentucky. To protect the settlements against the
Indian attacks-was
"I have one set of vaguely worded orders to that
effect, yes," George replied. "Those orders
are meant to be public knowledge. But I have a second
set as well. Very much more explicit And secret.
Thus far those orders have been seen only
by Governor Henry and the special committee of the
Burgesses he appointed. Eventually all the men
I recruit will know the contents of the second set of
orders. But I think you should know them now, while
you've still time to back out."
George started to cut a small chip from the tree
to which he'd walked. "You see, I came home
specifically to present a plan I've been
hatching for months. Governor Henry set up the
special committee because he didn't want
to make the decision by himself. The plan was
approved-enthusiastically by the governor, somewhat
less enthusiastically by the committee-just a
few days ago. I declined to bring up the subject
at the Raleigh-or anywhere in Williamsburg, for
that matter. No man who serves with me will hear
anything about the scheme unless we're in a place where
no Tories could be listening. And every man who
does
hear is pledged to absolute secrecy. Clear?"
Judson nodded.
Below the first mark he'd cut on the tree, and to the
left, George cut another. Still further left,
he cut one more. He drove the tip of the knife
into the highest of the three cuts:
"That's Detroit-the Hair-Buyer's
headquarters. From there, trade goods-hatchets,
scalp knives, rum-travel south to the two
British-controlled posts in the Territory-was
He stabbed the second spot.
"Fort Vincennes on the Wabash River-was
Chunk,
the knife bit the third place.
"And further west, on the prairies that form the
approaches to the Big River, Fort
Kaskaskia. The three sources of British
strength in the northwest. The three points from which they
intend to
take
the northwest-was
George shoved the knife back in his boot,
walked slowly toward the center of the clearing.
"A strategy of cowering inside stockades,
awaiting attack, is a strategy of loss,
Judson-a strategy of futility. I proposed
to Governor Henry that we actively fight for
control of the northwest. Destroy British power in
the three forts one by one."
"Attack them?" Judson asked.
"Capture them," George corrected.
"Can it be done?"
"That's what I sent two of my best men to find out
during the summer."
"Two of your own men went into British towns?"
"It wasn't all that hard. The towns are largely
French-populated. The British only control the
forts. Linn and
Loore pretended to be neutral fur traders.
They weren't molested once. But I guarantee you
they brought back accurate drawings of the
British fortifications at both Kaskaskia and
Vincennes-down to the very number of portholes for the
swivel cannon. The French don't care for King
George's soldiers very much, you see. They
remember that the
fleur-de-lis
flew over that part of the country prior to the settlement
at the end of the French and Indian War.
Consequently, the French at both posts talk
freely. They confirmed that war parties being sent
into Kentucky are directed from Detroit and
equipped from the other two forts. Vincennes and
Kaskaskia supply the tomahawks-and the
promises of silver for every scalp taken. I plan
to put a stop to that. Then, once those stations are
secure, I'm going after our friend Governor
Hamilton at Detroit. With the three forts
fallen, there'll be no further threat of any
consequence west of Pittsburgh. And no doubt about
who possesses the land, once the inevitable haggling
starts." "You mean haggling during peace
negotiations?"
"Exactly. The war will end sometime. So concerning the
northwest, the negotiations can have either a conclusion that's
favorable to us, or one that isn't. I
want to make sure it's the former. You know the saying
about possession being nine points of the law. That's why
I proposed my plan, and why I fought for it when
some members of Henry's committee called it too
risky or too expensive. Every man who goes with
me must understand my aim, Judson-was
George stared in a hard, challenging way:
"Despite the peculiar technicalities of our
situation comfor instance, I'm informed King George still
hasn't declared war officially-was
"For fear it would mean we're recognized as a
country, Donald said."
"Be that as it may, I know who the enemy is, and
where. You would be signing on for much more than
defensive
duty. I mean to march straight to hostile ground, and
put it under our new flag."
"So you've answered my question. You believe the forts can
be taken."
"I wouldn't have argued with the committee for days, and
staked my future on the outcome of the plan, if
I thought otherwise. I wanted five hundred men.
I got three hundred and fifty. If they're the
right kind, I can bring it off."
Judson said, "I'd be proud to be one of
them."
"I confess good judgment still leaves some doubt about
whether I should take you on-was
"I swear to God I'll obey every order-keep
myself straight-was
Because this is the last chance left for me.
George pondered only a moment:
"All right."
Judson let out a yell of pleasure, cut short
by George's raised hand:
"If you don't honor that promise, I'll do
what I would with any man who fails me. Send him
home if it's possible. If it's not, leave him
behind."
"Understood."
"Are you sure? I'll abandon the laggards in the
middle of enemy country if necessary."
At that moment, Judson was stricken with doubt.
Could
he do it? Did he have the strength and will to endure comto
perform as expected?
He knew how his father would answer the question. Angus
Fletcher would totally reject the idea that his younger
son could overcome his own nature. Even now, the
old man's words whispered in his mind,
unsettling
him
-
Devil's blood.
That was a convenient, if vicious, catchphrase for
some terrible flaw in his character; but Judson no longer
doubted the existence of the flaw itself. It was a foe
waiting to destroy him. A foe as dangerous as any
of those tribal warriors George described.
An inescapable foe; one he must confront and
defeat forever.
Was it possible?
He had grave and terrible doubt. But he had no
doubt about the finality of the opportunity. That tipped
the balance. He committed himself with a fervency that
barely suggested a fraction of the fear and hope
seething inside.
"Agreed. Every bit of it-agreed."
George Clark smiled then; a cordial smile.
But still not the same sort of smile Judson
remembered from their boyhood. It was the controlled
smile of a military commander who could never again enjoy
the same equal relationship with an old Mend. And
Judson knew full well that the responsibility
for fulfilling the bargain was his, not
George's. The prospect was both joyful and
terrifying.
"Then let's be leaving," George said. "You'd
best clean up your affairs at home-was
"I will, immediately."
"When you've done so, meet me back in
Williamsburg no later than three weeks from
today." Again Judson heard that warning note in his
friend's voice. "Three weeks at the outside.
If you're not here, I won't wait."
"I'll be here, you can count on it. Will we be heading
across the mountains then?"
"In slow stages," George replied as they
collected the rifle and gear. "I plan to visit
quite a few settlements between here and the forks of the Ohio.
Recruit my men as I go, and have them ready to leave
Pittsburgh no later than next April or
May. The tribes settle in for the winter pretty
much the way the armies do, thank God. But we'll
still have a fair piece of ground to cover before spring-was
He tapped the rifle. "While you're home, buy
one of
these. Oh, and perhaps a good compass. Do some
practicing with the rifle."
"George, I'll learn how to knock out
a redbird's eye at a hundred yards,"
Judson promised.
"Two hundred," George said, perfectly
serious. "And you'll do better if you imagine it's
the eye of a redcoat on the parapet at
Vincennes."
But George's severe manner couldn't destroy
Judon's feeling that perhaps, at last, he was
negotiating a way out of his troubles. He knew one
fact for certain. He wouldn't give George
cause to regret his trust.
He'd die first.
IV
Judson stayed the night in Williamsburg. But
he had no further opportunity to talk with
George Clark. His friend returned to Governor
Henry's office in the late morning and remained
until well after dark. By that time Judson had already
fallen into exhausted sleep in his rented room at the
Raleigh. Next morning at dawn, he set out for
home.
The golden radiance of the October sunrise filled
him with a mystical feeling close to that which he'd
experienced in June over a year ago, when
Richard Henry Lee rose to introduce
the resolution for independency. A long-forgotten
passage of scripture popped into his head. With
it came memories of how he'd learned his Bible-and
then, later, consciously put it out of mind.
Verses had stayed stored in his mental baggage against
his will. Because of his perpetual fear of displeasing
Angus, no doubt. He remembered those dim
Sundays of boyhood when he and Donald were
dragged to the country church. He remembered how his
father always sat perfectly rigid, and cast
disapproving looks at Judson's slightest
squirm.
But now, he didn't at all object to having a
passage
of scripture in his thoughts. The story from Still John
fitted him in an oblique sort of way-
Lazarus, come forth.
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with
graveclothes
-
He couldn't recall the next part exactly. Some
li
ne or other about a face covered with a napkin. It
had probably once made sense to the Hebrews,
but he'd giggled when he first heard it.
Earning a sharp thwack on the ear from Angus, right in
the pew.
The rest came back easily, making his backbone
ripple in an eerie way.
Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him
go.
Risen from the dead?
Well, not quite. But stirring. Stirring.
How ironic, Judson thought as he jogged along.
A Bible verse he hadn't thought of in years-a
verse forced into his head by the discipline of the man who
hated and disowned
him
combrought
him
cheer and comfort in an unexpected place and time.
Even mental pictures of his father's face couldn't
dampen his happiness.
As he rode, he savored the sight of grouse in the
fields, fleecy clouds in the sky. He hailed
a small girl in a
cottage
yard. Proudly, she held up her calico kitten
as he went by. He smiled as if the scruffy little
animal was the most elegant of house
cats. Perhaps the black tomb of his existence
was
freeing him at last, and he was going forth, alive,
onto firm ground-
Not ground free of risk, certainly. George
Clark's plan was perilous, and so was the territory
involved. On the other hand, one of those Indians
George talked about could surely die in exactly
the same way as a Philadelphia Tory. The
only problem was to deliver the shot straight and
true.
He wished that he could tell Peggy McLean where
he was
going
, and with whom. It might make her think a little better
of
him
comif that were possible after the
debased, drunken act he'd committed. However,
even if Peggy would be willing to speak to him again-which
he very much doubted-the idea was academic. According
to Donald, Peggy hadn't been at home for the past
four weeks.
Donald didn't believe she was visiting her
parents. He'd remarked on how curious
it was that no one at the McLean place, not even the
house blacks, knew where the mistress had gone.
If Williams knew, he wasn't saying. Perhaps
her absence had something to do with the business affairs of the
plantation.
Whatever the explanation, Judson hoped the absence
didn't signify more of the same emotional strain that
had tormented Peggy after the uprising; a need to flee
a place where terrible memories lived-
But then everyone had such memories, didn't they?
And, ultimately, the need to flee from them somehow?
He did. A combination of luck, friendship and
providential timing had at last combined to offer him
a way out. Had there not been such a way-
Well, he didn't relish thinking about that
alternative.
Actually, he was ambivalent about Peggy. On one
hand he hoped he'd never again have to face her.
Another part of him still wished she could somehow learn that
he had earned George Clark's confidence. She
didn't need to know how hesitantly, and with what
reservations, George had finally extended that
confidence-
Perhaps Donald would tell Peggy about it when she
returned. That would be easiest for all
concerned.
He turned his attention to less somber subjects.
After he'd ridden some five miles more, a remarkable
thought crossed his mind, making him smile broadly.
He'd been concentrating on how to approach
Donald for a loan to finance a trip to Richmond-and
purchase of the very best Kentucky rifle available
from the local gunsmiths. Not once had he thought
about, or felt a desire for, something to drink.
Still, a nun might refresh him. Perhaps there was an
inn-
No. That was done. Let his palms crawl and his
tongue taste of ashes and the craving bring all the
horrors of hell. It was
done.
He'd promised.
He knew the name of the worst enemy he faced-
Judson Fletcher
comand he meant to conquer him. By God he did!
As the October day turned radiant, he forced
thoughts of drinking from his mind and let his soaring
imagination fashion the sleek, deadly silhouette
of the rifle he'd carry across the Blue Wall into the
west.
Ahead, the familiar curve of the road
signaled that he had barely a quarter of a mile
to ride.
He was grimy, exhausted, butt-sore and hungry
after the long trip, but still in an ebullient mood.
He looked forward to easing out of the saddle, washing
up, enjoying a solid night's rest and a little food
from the cabin's meager stores. In the morning he'd
begin to implement his plans. Contact Donald about
the loan. Perhaps, if all went well, he'd be
on
the road to Richmond before the week was out.
He inhaled the fragrant, nippy air of the
October twilight, a bemused smile on his
face. He let the horse find its own way to the
dooryard-
Where he pulled up short, jolted out of his reverie.
A sorry-looking gray nag whose hock joints
showed signs of bog spavin was tethered to the dead
apple tree.
The gray swung its head, whinnied. Judson's
palms prickled. A lantern glowed inside the
cabin. He heard a woman's voice-
Lottie.
Damn, this was an unexpected complication. A quick
alteration of his plans was in order. He'd
have to ride
downriver a ways, locate an inn where they'd
accept
his
promise of payment until he had an
opportunity to speak with Donald-
At the moment, though, his challenge was to avoid any
sort of argument with Tom Shaw's widow.
Judson dismounted, caught the sound of footsteps
inside the cabin. Lottie's voice had gone
silent all at once. The door remained disclosed
Why was she back? Had she found business poor in
Richmond? Well, he'd commiserate. Even go so
far as to ask that she forgive him for his outrageous act
of throwing her off her own property, if that would
satisfy her. Hell, he'd treat her like a
princess if necessary.
The thoughts chased through his mind in the moments he stood
beside the horse, patting its lathered neck. He
took a deep breath, preparing to walk to the cabin-
The door opened.
"Lottie-was he began, and scowled.
He saw her, right enough. Dirty and disheveled as
ever. But she was standing behind someone else. A man.
The man blocked the cabin door, worn
boots planted wide apart as if to bar Judson's
entrance. The fellow was somewhere in his thirties. Not
bad looking, but going paunchy. He wore dirty
white breeches, a ruffled shirt, a once
elegant fawn waistcoat. He had a puffy,
dissolute face that wasn't helped by a three-or
four-day growth of beard.
Lottie clutched the man's arm, her face all
nasty pleasure as she exclaimed, "Well, look
who's back!"
"Evening, Lottie." Judson spoke calmly,
determined to avoid an altercation. "I've been in
Williamsburg a few days-was
"Then I guess we came home at exactly the
right time, didn't we, Mr. Carter?"
Mr. Carter acted slightly tipsy. He
gurgled something Judson didn't catch. Lottie
went on:
"Mr. Carter an' me,
we're
livin' here now. You better not make any fuss about
it."
"Don't intend to, Lottie." He'd guessed
the laconic Carter's profession, if that was the
proper word. The man continued to regard him
with a peculiar stare that might have been animosity, or
awe, or some of both. "I'll be leaving Caroline
County soon. Just came to collect a few
belongings. My other shirt, my-was
Carter interrupted: "Afraid we disposed of those
right after we returned." The man affected polite
speech, but handled it awkwardly. Judson had seen
men of Carter's stamp in Richmond before. Why he
and his whore had left there, Judson still couldn't
imagine.
"We burned them," Lottie added, still baiting him.
Judson forced a shrug. "In that case I'll
ride on."
Yet it required effort for him to check a mounting
annoyance. He kept reminding himself that Lottie and
her new-found companion weren't worth his trouble.
He turned to amble back toward his horse.
"You ain't gettin' away from here that easy, Mr.
Fine Judson Fletcher. Not after the way you pushed
me off my own land."
"Yes, we've actually been waiting for you,"
Carter said. Judson
didn't
like the sound of it. "Lottie thinks you're due a
comeuppance."
He tried to keep his smile easy, alert to the
undertone of ugliness in the conversation. "I admit I
treated you in pretty shabby fashion, Lottie.
For that, I tender my apologies. But there's no
point in starting an argument now. There's nothing
to argue about-the cabin's yours. I'm bound away from this
part of the country, so let's just pay good evening and-was
"The hell!" Lottie fairly screamed, dashing
past her slovenly friend and snatching at the bridle of
Judon's horse.
Judson was faster. Bridle in hand, he retreated
two steps. The horse nipped at Lottie's hand
but missed. She
jerked back, glaring.
"I don't blame you for being angry, "But believe
me, I don't have the slightest desire to cause you
further distress-was
"Doesn't make any damn difference what
you
got a desire for, I told you I wouldn't forget
what you did."
Suddenly Judson stopped smiling. He had
to impress on them that although he wanted no trouble,
he wouldn't bear harassment:
"Lottie, keep quiet. I'm going
to mount up and leave, and you and your-ah-business
associate can put the cabin to any use you see
fit."
"I don't care for your tone," Carter said, taking
a wobbly step forward. "What were you implying when you
said business associate?"
God! Trifling with trash like these two tried his
patience to the limit. He stood in the left
stirrup, hoisted his right leg over and met Carter's
stare straight on:
"I didn't see any point in using the word pimp,
Mr. Carter."
Carter wilted under Judson's gaze; looked at
the ground.
Judson yanked the horse's head toward the road,
ignoring Lottie's burst of obscenities. At
the sound of scuffling he reined in, swung around in the
saddle just as Lottie pushed Carter aside and
darted into the cabin. Carter's eyes flicked between
Judson and the girl, out of sight in the dim
interior. When Carter spoke, it was to her:
"He's agreed to ride on, Lottie. I don't
think we need press-was
"Scares you, does he?" Lottie jeered, still
unseen.
"Well, you can turn yellow, but he's got somethin'
coming for the way he treated me-was
Suddenly she was back in the door, again shoving the
confused Carter out of the way. And Judson saw just
how badly he'd miscalculated the extent of her
wrath.
He tried to rear the horse back out of the line o:
fire. Both of Lottie's hands were clamped on a
horse pistol that evidently belonged to Carter, who
tried to grab it:
"Listen, we had enough trouble with the Richmond
authorities, we don't want to be responsible
for murd-was
The hammer fell, the powder ignited, the muzzle
bloomed smoke and fire.
Judson ducked, but not quickly enough. The ball
slammed his left side, knocked him from the saddle.
All he could think of in that chaotic instant was
George Clark's warning-
Three weeks at the outside. If you're not here,
I won't wait.
He floundered in the dirt, hurting. The ball had
hit just under his left armpit. Already he felt warm
blood soaking his clothes. Coughing hard, he tried
to crawl on hands and knees. Carter's
voice had a frightened quality:
"Christ amighty, Lottie, you said he has friends
and kinfolk in this county. They won't stand for-was
"Who's going to know who shot him when they find him
lying dead by Plum Creek, like we talked about?"
Judson's hands weakened. He could barely
support himself. He wanted to curse her. Wanted
to curse himself for not getting away sooner.
Christ, it was intolerable, Lottie doing this to him when
things had finally changed for the better
-!"
In his mind, a vicious voice mocked his
despair:
Why blame Lottie? Who caused it if not you?
Coughing harder, he spoke George Clark's first
name aloud. He was stupefyingly dizzy. He heard
his horse clatter away down the road, spooked
by the shot. The dirt of the dooryard rushed up toward
his blurring eyes and struck him, bringing the ruinous
dark.
The Drillmaster
ANOTHER HORSE lay on the shoulder of the road,
the sleet spattering from its still flanks and huge,
distended eyeballs. Philip had already counted three
others, starved and abandoned along the line of
march. He averted his eyes and passed by the dead
animal as quickly as his split, rag-wrapped shoes
would carry him.
The sleet was starting to turn to rain. Ahead and behind,
ghostly double columns of men plodded in the
December murk. Royal Rothman, his face
half concealed by a strip torn from the bottom of his
coat, bumped against Philip to attract his
attention.
Philip turned his head. Even that small effort was
painful. He walked and breathed in pain. The worst
was in his feet.
Sometimes they felt totally numb. Then,
abruptly, sensation would return. Dozens of tiny
knives seemed to be slicing his flesh. A while
ago, he'd glanced down and seen blood staining the
rags on his left foot.
Philip hunched his shoulders against the sleet, tried
to catch Royal's words, had trouble because the chandler's
clerk had almost lost his voice.
"They lied to us," Royal said. "They damn well
lied."
Too weak and weary to argue, Philip answered,
"It's possible. They said thirteen miles.
Thirteen miles from Whitemarsh to the
campsite."
"Thirteen hundred, more like," Breen said just behind them.
"Fuckin' liars. Fuckin' incompetents, every
one."
"I can't keep walking," Royal croaked.
"Here, put your arm around my neck," Philip
said. "Lean on me a while."
A little extra weight made no difference. He had
long passed beyond the point of caring about anything
except taking the next agonizing step; then the
next; and the next. Royal Rothman's body
slumping against his was just one more minor hardship among
all the rest: no food; no water; no decent
clothing; no conviction that anyone really knew where they
were supposed to be going-
The world consisted of this long, seemingly endless road
where the edges of the mud ruts had frozen sharp as
axe-blades, and were only now beginning to soften a
little. But the frozen ruts had already done adequate
damage during the week's march. Men sprawled at
the roadside in the gray of the winter morning, their
feet bleeding so badly they couldn't go on.
It did seem impossible that it could only be
thirteen miles from their last permanent camp at
Whitemarsh to the new one, somewhere on the
bank of the Schuylkill River about twenty miles
west and slightly north of Philadelphia. There,
presumably, they would winter. Rest. Draw
rations.
But a
week
to reach the place? God, that was incomprehensible-to 
Or was it? Everything seemed incomprehensible of
late.
In October, at Germantown, the army had come
close to revenging the humiliation of the Brandywine.
General Washington had implemented an attack
plan against Howe's troops. But confusion about
battle orders comanda sudden heavy fog
descending-turned the near-victory into another rout.
Philip had even heard that American units lost
in the fog had fired on one another.
For an hour at Germantown, the possibility of
success had been within their grasp. Officers said the
troops had
fought well. Then came the fog-and disaster. Seven
hundred lost, they said, More than four hundred
captured -
Supporting Royal, Philip staggered on between
skeletal trees rising in the mist. They
passed more men who had simply stopped; given up.
Then an overturned baggage wagon with two of its
wheels still revolving slowly. Someone had tried
to move the wagon with only one horse. The spent
beast lay thrashing and whinnying in the traces.
Philip saw the spectral figure of an officer
approach, lift a pistol to the animal's head.
The shot boomed through the rain. Royal Rothman
started to cry.
Up ahead, the ground appeared to rise. Philip
picked up the sound of men splashing through water, then a
few weak cheers. Word came back along the
line
from soldier to filthy soldier:
"It's Valley Creek."
"We've reached it."
"We'll be camping tonight-pass it to the rear-was
Wearily, Philip tried. While he was shouting
at Breen, Royal slipped and sprawled face
down in the mud. Philip motioned Breen forward.
Together the two lifted the younger soldier and carried him
through the icy water of Valley Creek.
The rags on Philip's feet fell away,
drifted off in the current. He refused to stop.
All he wanted was the haven of the
campsite that apparently waited at the top of the
rise where thick tree trunks clustered in the
murk.
A plateau, then. They were climbing to a plateau where
there was wood for fires. There should be food, too.
The prospect helped him drive his tired, hurting
body the last few hundred yards. Perhaps their
agony was coming to an end-
By nightfall, Philip knew the hope had been
cruelly false.
A savage December wind swept across the
rolling,
two-mile plateau in the angle between the Schuylkil
River flowing from west to east and the creek that came up
from the south to join it. There were pines and oaks in
plenty. But they offered scant protection from the
wind.
And there were no supply wagons waiting.
When Philip, Breen and Royal tried to hammer
pegs for their tent into the half-frozen ground, the
pegs kept popping out. Exhausted, the three finally
gave up, spread the rain-sodden canvas on the
ground and crawled under it.
Philip listened to the pines moaning in the darkness.
He had a dizzying vision of Anne and little
Abraham sitting by a cheery fire in
Cambridge. At least they were safe and warm. At
least they would survive-
Even that assumption, though, was not without a certain
hollow ring. Philip had received no further letters from
his wife since the last one in the summertime.
Thinking about that for very long was too much on top of
everything else: the army's failure; his bleeding
foot; his ferocious, unremitting hunger-
Dinner for the night had consisted of the one, green-tinged
chunk of bread remaining in his haversack.
He shifted position under the soaked canvas, trying
to get comfortable. The wind roared across the plateau,
carrying the sound of officers shouting orders, horses
and wagons crisscrossing the high ground. Units
of the Continental army were still arriving.
Next to Philip, Royal began to cry again.
Without even thinking about it, Philip reached over with
one stiffened hand and patted the younger man's shoulder,
trying to comfort him.
On Philip's left, Breen suddenly let out
an assortment of curses. Then:
"Cap'n Webb said the general picked this place
"cause we could escape easy if we got
attacked. Shit, you
think
Billy Howe's gonna come out in this weather to bother
with us? He's gonna let us die in the goddamned
place." "Shut up, Breen," Philip said.
"Try to sleep." "And wake up froze to death?
Not me!" Breen hauled himself out from beneath the canvas,
tramped away:
"I'm gonna squat under one of them pines."
Philip might have done the same, but Royal
Rothman
seemed to be suffering an attack of the chills. His
body
convulsed for perhaps ten minutes. Philip held
him
with
both arms, trying to transfer what warmth he could from
his own body.
Finally the convulsions stopped. Royal drifted to
sleep. Philip dozed a little himself. All at
once, Royal
started up:
"Where are we? I dreamed it was Boston-was
"Lie down," Philip said. "I wish it was
Boston too."
Awake and miserable, Royal asked,
"Does this place
have any name at all?"
"Captain Webb said it's called Valley
Forge." Royal collapsed against him like a child,
burrowing
against Philip's filthy coat and starting to sob again:
"I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't cry, it's-not
manly, but
-I can't help it-was
"Go ahead, Royal. There's nothing to be ashamed
of.
Christ, I'd cry too if I had any strength
left." Philip pulled the soaked tent canvas
up over his head
as the rain started falling again.

By January, axemen felled enough timber for construction
to start on a hut city on the plateau that took its
name from a Quaker-owned iron works beside Valley
Creek. The works had formerly supplied
Washington's army; the British had stopped in
September to burn it out.
The commanding general, who had finally moved into a
fieldstone house near the junction of the creek and the
river, ordered regulation army huts
built by each unit. Philip and the men of his company
spent their days laboriously putting up theirs according
to the approved design: fourteen by sixteen feet,
with a rise of six and a half feet to the steep
timbered roof. They had a chimney chinked with cat and
clay, but no windows.
And no meat, other than an infrequent issue of
salt pork.
And no yellow soap to bathe their filthy, infected,
foul-smelling feet.
And no drinking water save what they could carry from the
partially frozen creek.
And no hope. Worst of all, no hope.
in
A knock at the hut door brought Breen's head
up where he lay dozing. Just as quickly, he lay down
again and snored. Breen had spent three pence for a
gill of peach brandy at the sutler's. Philip had
purchased a quart of vinegar instead.
One of the camp physicians had told
him
vinegar would keep his gums from bleeding; prevent his
skin from bursting open with countless sores. Philip
hated drinking the vile stuff. But the doctor had
apparently been right. Breen wouldn't waste
his money on vinegar, and his already malodorous person
had fallen prey to the scurvy. So had a good
percentage of the eleven thousand men settled in for the
winter in the hut city.
The knock came again, more insistently. With a disgusted
sigh, Philip turned over the last of three
fire-cakes heating on the stones next to the
fireplace logs. That was their evening meal: peach
brandy-or vinegar in Philip's case-and flour
mixed with water, then cooked till it hardened. Wind
whined in the chimney,
blowing smoke back in Philip's face as he
said:
"Will you see who's there, Royal?"
The younger man nodded apathetically, shuffled to the door
on rag-covered feet. He opened the door
to admit a gust of snow-and Captain Webb, who
hardly resembled an officer any longer.
Webb was hatless, white crystals powdering his
hair. He wore an old padded blue dressing
gown he'd adopted for warmth on night duty. In
the distance, above the wind's wail, Philip heard
men bawling a contemptuous song around some
campfire, to the tune of the marching air
Yankee Doodle:
"First comwe'll take a pinch of snuff, "And then a
drink of water
-"
Raising his head again, Breen focused his eyes
until he identified their visitor. Then he
passed wind, loudly.
Webb said, "I appreciate your gesture of
respect."
"Think nothin" of it. You finally bringin' us some
replacements? Food would be too much to ask-was
"I'm hunting for cards and dice," Webb
snapped. "The general's making an inspection tour
this evening."
"Likes to keep track of our luxurious livin'
conditions, does he?"
"For God's sake, Breen, that doesn't help
anything."
"Captain Webb's right," Philip put in.
Breen shrugged, uncaring.
"You know how set against gaming the general is,"
Webb said, too tired-as they all were-to worry
about breaches of discipline and courtesy. "Some bunch
of nabobs called a Committee of Conference rolled
in from York this afternoon."
"The Congress is sitting at York now,
isn't it?" Royal asked.
"Correct. The committee's purpose is
to inspect and improve on conditions here, if
possible."
Another oath from Breen indicated what he thought of the
whole idea. The singers in the distance were repeating their
chorus with an even nastier intonation to the final
Lines
:
"And then we'll say, How da you do? "And that's a
Yankee supper!"
"That won't be hard," Philip said. "I swear
to God, Captain, if we don't get some decent
food, there'll be a riot like nobody's ever seen
before."
"And clothing," Royal added, pointing at his bandaged
feet. The brown of dried blood shaded into the green
of pus.
Philip hadn't spoken idly. For days now, as the
bitter January sleet and snow continued without
letup, certain sections of the hut city had taken
to chanting
"No meat! No meat!"
for half an hour every evening. The poison of
incipient rebellion was spreading through the
entire encampment.
"There's nothing I can do about that tonight," Webb told
them. "I just want you to look reasonably sharp if
the dignitaries come this way."
"You know where you can put them dignitaries," Breen
said, farting again. "Will you shut the fuckin' door before
we freeze to death?"
Looking defeated, Captain Webb withdrew into the
snowy darkness. Philip closed the door.
He almost said something to Breen about his discourtesy to the
officer. But such talk wasn't uncommon, and was
seldom punished. Besides, Philip identified it
for what it was: not a disease, but the symptom of a
disease. The problem Henry Knox had predicted still
plagued them. They were amateurs at war, and
except for a few isolated victories now
forgotten, they had performed badly. Untrained as
soldiers, they could hardly be expected to behave like
soldiers.
Philip had no answer for the problem. But he knew
it
could only grow worse unless something drastic
happened.
Saying little to each other, Breen, Royal and
Philip ate their hard, blackened
fire-cakes. Moments later, Philip
experienced one of his frequent attacks of nausea
because of the hut's almost insufferable stench. Their unwashed
bodies, Royal's diseased feet comand Breen's
stubborn refusal to expose himself to the winter air
to urinate-created a stew of smells Philip could
bear only so long. He drank another half cup
of vinegar, put on his tattered coat and hurried out
to the company street.
Head down, eyes slitted against the wind-whipped
snow that had come at nightfall, he trudged
aimlessly between the uniformly built log huts facing
one another on both sides of the dirt avenue. The
rows of huts were perhaps the only detail in all of
Valley Forge that gave the encampment a semblance
of order.
In the distance he saw an immense bonfire blazing
near the artillery park where Henry Knox kept his
cannon. He thought briefly of going to see his friend.
But just as he did, he heard strident voices off
to his left.
He peered between two huts, glimpsed lanterns
a-bob in the next street. He thought he
recognized the tall, angular figure of
Washington, cloak flapping like wings at his
shoulders. A party of officers and civilians had
halted around the general. An argument was in
progress.
Philip dodged between the huts, huddled against the
logs, numb hands in his bottomless pockets. He
heard one of the civilians say:
"com.tressing and unbelievable filth, General.
Corrective measures must be taken, and
swiftly."
Suddenly Washington snatched off his tricorn and
slammed it against his right leg:
"Corrective measures, sir? Why don't you
gentlemen in Congress take corrective
measures? Hire honest teamsters, instead of cheats
who drain the brine from
the salt pork barrels to lighten the load, then
deliver us spoiled meat? Why don't you hire men
who can draw accurate maps? Half the supplies
we're sent never arrive because the drivers get lost
for want of proper directions, and finally dump their
grain sacks in empty fields to rot!"
Another member of the committee spoke up: "Yes,
those criticisms are fully merited. The Congress
is aware-was
"I don't give a damn whether they're
aware,
I want to know what's being done to change things!"
"We intend to return with a full report." "On
the miserable state of affairs you've discovered?"
"Certainly we shall have to detail that, but-was Another
disgusted oath from Washington. "So instead of help for
these brave men, I'll receive remonstrances and more
remonstrances. Well, let me assure you and all
the gentlemen of the Congress-was Even above the singsong
of the wind, his furious voice could be heard a good
distance. "comx's a much easier and less distressing thing
to draw remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good
fire than to occupy a cold, bleak hill and
sleep under frost and snow. Some of my troops are
not yet hutted-you tell
them
that the immediate result of your visit will be a report
instead of food and blankets!"
Yanking his cloak across his chest to protect his blue
and buff coat from the pelt of the snow, Washington
glared at his critics:
"And where is that German officer you promised for my
staff?"
Another of the Congressmen said, "Baron von
Steuben is having his credentials examined
by one of our committees."
"To perdition with your committees! I've heard his
credentials and they're more than satisfactory.
Get him into this camp with a suitable rank and ready
to assist
me. I need someone who can teach these men proper
military drill! At least they can learn something
while they're starving to death!"
"We shall do everything possible to expedite-was
The rest was blurred as the big general stamped past
the
f
ront of the hut and out of sight, followed by the
Congressmen and his officers with the lanterns.
Shivering by the hut wall, Philip thought about the
reference to a German. Another of those volunteers?
Some, like Gil, had proved themselves brave and able;
effective additions to the army. Others were held in
contempt. But it was interesting to hear Washington tell
a Congressional committee that he and his own staff
lacked the ability to shape the Continental and
militia units into a cohesive, well-trained
force capable of fighting in the best European style.
Many at Valley Forge still called Washington a
poor leader in combat. Yet Philip had
heard few openly declare that they would refuse to continue
to serve under him. Specific complaints were always
directed at Washington's senior officers, or the
Congress. The general himself somehow escaped most of the
direct criticism.
But Philip could understand that. The man was an
aristocrat; yet he cared about the welfare of the
ordinary soldier. He had a rare forthrightness when it
came to admitting and correcting his own mistakes,
and the lowest private was aware of it. Perhaps that was why
Washington was admired even when his battlefield
ability was questioned. Perhaps that was why, despite almost
intolerable conditions, Valley Forge hadn't yet
succumbed to insurrection and mass desertion-
Returning to the hut, Philip settled down
to sleep. As he was drifting off, he speculated
about the German officer. A baron, they'd said. The
Germans were generally considered excellent in the
field. The hired Hessians were respected, even
if they were openly cursed and
universally hated. Now Washington was getting his own
German. It remained to be seen whether the man could
accomplish anything.
The last flames flickered out on the hearth.
Philip listened to Breen's snores and
Royal's wheezy breathing. The wind had picked
up. It howled around the chimney and blew
fireplace ash back into the cramped, fetid
room. Thoughts about the German were replaced by thoughts
of Anne-and the familiar worry:
Why hadn't she written? Was she safe in
Cambridge? Did the silence spell illness?
Or something worse-his
Under a violent gusting of the wind, the hut door
flew open. Shivering, Philip leaped up to close
it. He stared a moment into the snowy dark.
Annie, for God's sake write me. Else I
can't go on here. I
just can't go on.
iv
Baron Friedrich Wilhelm
Rudolf
Gerhard Augustin von Steuben set the Valley
Forge camp to buzzing when he arrived in February.
He was accompanied by a trio of aides and a lean
Italian greyhound called Azor. The dog
trotted after the new inspector-general of the army
wherever he went.
Philip first saw von Steuben two days after he
reached the plateau. He didn't quite know
what to make of the officer.
The man rode well, looking huge and formidable in
the saddle despite his middle age and a bandy-legged
body. Some who had seen von Steuben hurrying through
the camp on foot guffawed and said he waddled. They
also said he could speak no English except the word
"goddamn," which, he apparently used quite often. He
and his suite had reached the New Hampshire coast
the preceding December, presenting themselves to the
Congress as available for service to General
Washington.
Encountering Gil one February twilight near the
sutler's. Philip discovered that the Marquis de
Lafayette was not impressed:
"That red uniform with the blue facings he sports? I
have it on excellent authority that he
designed
it himself. And that medal-faugh!"
Gil's mouth pursed to emphasize his contempt.
Studying his friend, Philip thought he detected more
than trace of jealousy.
"Have you seen it?" Gil asked.
"Yes. It is fairly large-was
"Large?
It's gigantic! A sunburst big as a
soup dish-disgraceful ostentation, disgraceful! The
Star of the Order of Fidelity of Baden-Durlach,
he calls it. Well, my good friend, I am not
certain he ever fought for Baden-Durlach-let alone
under Frederick the Great whom he's claiming as his
"close associate." I am convinced his estate
in Swabia is a fiction, just like the "von" in his
name-be probably added that himself, to enhance his
credentials. He keeps prattling in that wretched
French of his about having surrendered various
"places and posts of honor in Germany" in order
to come here. But one can't pin
him
down as to precisely what places or posts! If
he was ever more than a subaltern, I am King
Louis! And yesterday-
yesterday
he had the effrontery to tell
mon ami
General Washington that the officers in camp have too
many servants! That the soldiers must not be kept so
busy shining boots and laying fires in our huts, but
must learn soldiering instead! Can you conceive of such
advice coming from him? A rascal, a pretender, a
windbag equally as mercenary as Howe's
Hessians? I understand his salary is incredible-
another
swindle of the Congress! Learn soldiering from a man
like that? The very idea is an insult to the rest of us who
have volunteered!"
"Well," Philip said when the tirade sputtered
to its end, "I heard one of his suggestions, and it
seemed to make sense."
"Pooh, that clock business?"
"Yes. I wonder why it never occurred to anyone
else?"
Gil waved. "Because it's unimportant."
Von Steuben had reportedly made a scene when
he discovered that not a single timepiece in all of
Valley Forge was coordinated with any other. He
had insisted that all clocks be synchronized with the one
at Washington's headquarters. In Philip's
view, Gil's too-curt dismissal of the idea was
evidence that he wished he'd thought of it.
"I repeat-you'll learn nothing from a man who is
patently an adventurer and a fraud," was Gil's
final opinion before he and his friend parted. Philip
hid his amusement at Gil's professional
hostility, deciding he'd wait and see.
The wait wasn't long:
"Rothman, Kent, Breen," Captain Webb said
when he showed up at the hut a few evenings later.
"Turn out on the parade field tomorrow at six. With
muskets."
Breen scratched his genitals. "Six in the
evening?"
"Six in the morning."
"Jesus Christ, what for?"
"The baron is organizing a special company.
One hundred men from all units, to whom he's going
to teach musket drill and marching. The men will then teach
other groups of a hundred. That damn Dutchman is
trying to turn this army inside out! He rises at
three in the morning to write a drill text-and I
understand he's also developing a manual of
procedures for officers." Webb clearly didn't
care for that.
"Well, I sure ain't wakin' up at six-was
Breen began.
"You'll wake up at five thirty," Webb cut
in.
"comto take lessons from some fat-ass German,"
Breen finished, emphatically.
"Like it or not, I'm afraid you will. The order to form
the company of a hundred is direct from the
commander-in-chief. So you'll be there or you'll be
flogged."
"Son of a bitch." Breen shook his head. "I
guess I'll be there."
Royal Rothman actually looked pleased at the
news. He reached up to the small black cap
pinned to his hair, plucked out something, crushed it
between his fingers, threw it away, then said:
"It might actually be worthwhile, don't you think,
Philip?"
"It's bound to be more diverting than hunting lice or
watching your feet bleed."
"Jesus Christ and the Holy Sepulchre," Breen
grumbled as Webb bent to go out into the bitter
February wind. "Six o'clock in the fucking
morning."
Philip
shivered in the dawn wind, gritty-eyed and yawning.
The Baron von Steuben, his dinner-plate medal
bouncing against his red-uniformed stomach, struggled
to control his prancing horse. The greyhound Azor
nipped at the horse's legs, causing the
brown-haired, round-faced inspector-general to lash
downward with his crop:
"Azor, goddamn-
nein
to 
The dog temporarily at bay, von Steuben
pointed his crop at the blushing captain from New
York, Benjamin Walker, who was serving as his
interpreter. The baron blistered a stream of French
orders at Walker. The captain nodded feverishly
every second or so until the harangue concluded. The
French was mingled with German phrases, and Philip
could follow it only with great difficulty.
Next to Philip, Breen used a few highly
obscene words to characterize the peculiar man on
horseback. Walker overheard but chose
to overlook it. Von Steuben didn't. If he
failed to comprehend the specific words, he caught
their general meaning. He fixed Breen
with a glare that started the latter blinking rapidly.
Walker cleared his throat.
"Men, the general has instructed me to say that he
is personally going to undertake your training. That he,
ah-was
Walker licked his lips, hesitated, almost winced
as von Steuben stared him down.
"He, ah, finds conditions in this
camp-ah-appalling. He is equally
shocked to discover there is, ah, no standardized set of
procedures for marching and handling weapons."
Walker glanced at the general for further instruction.
Von Steuben let fly with more French.
"He says he has noticed a difference between
American troops and those of Europe, in that
European soldiers will follow orders without question but
comah-Americans seem to want to know
why
first. So he will try to explain the reason for each
maneuver as we go along."
Several surprised exclamations and even some
applause greeted the announcement. Whatever his
pretensions, Philip thought, the German had
assessed the temperament of the soldiers correctly.
Some of Philip's reservations began to fade. He
rather liked the hard, capable look of the middle-aged
officer-ostentatious Order of Fidelity and all.
"Now the first thing the general wants to see you do is the
drill for loading and firing your muskets. On the
count of one-was
In haphazard fashion, Philip and the others went
through the drill's twenty steps, Captain Walker
counting each one. By the time the young New Yorker had
called
"Fifteen!"
von Steuben was scarlet. The conclusion of the drill,
muskets at the shoulder in position to shoot,
produced another torrent of French.
"The general wishes me to inform you that in his opinion,
that is-ah-the most slovenly and
time-consuming drill he has ever seen-
his
Still more French.
"comin any part of the globe-was
And more.
"comin his entire life."
Von Steuben uttered a few guttural barks just
to make sure the point got across.
"The general is going to introduce you to a new
drill for the same procedure. A drill which will
shortly be available in written form for you to study.
The general's drill requires only ten counts-was
Suddenly there wasn't a whisper in the ranks.
Walker had caught their full attention at last.
"comthe idea being to save time so more shots may be
discharged at the enemy in the same interval."
Walker bent down to pick up the musket lying at
his feet.
"I will now demonstrate the drill,
following the general's instructions."
Walker's face showed that he disliked the assignment
intensely. Actually handling weapons during training
was considered beneath the dignity of any officer.
Von Steuben noticed Walker's expression.
He swore, cropped his horse to a standstill,
leaped to the ground and waddled to his translator.
He snatched the musket from the astonished captain's
hands.
Then von Steuben jerked at the strap of the
cartridge box Walker had picked up, slung the
strap over his own shoulder, settled the box on his
hip and stalked out in front of the hundred men.
He presented the musket for viewing by the soldiers,
shouted,
"Ein!"
and immediately brought the firelock to half cock.
Philip saw jaws drop and eyes go wide. The
demonstration was absolutely unbelievable. A
high-ranking officer
off
his horse? Handling a musket
personally
-?
"Zwei!"
With thick but somehow swift fingers, von Steuben
took out a cartridge, bit off the end of the paper and
covered the opening with his thumb.
"Drei!"
He primed the pan.
When the entire ten counts were finished, von Steuben
had armed the musket and brought it to his shoulder in
half the time the normal drill required.
The stocky man stumped forward, eyes darting in
search of a pupil. Bad luck brought Breen to his
attention. Von Steuben literally jerked Breen out
in front of the others, slammed the musket into his
hands, flung the cartridge box strap over the
confused victim's head and bawled:
"Ein!"
Breen managed to remember the first
step-half-cocking the piece-but when von Steuben
shouted the count of two, he grew fuddled. Turning
red again, the German thrust his face up near
Breen's and screamed,
"Zwei,
goddamn,
zwei!"
Breen lost his grip on the musket. It fell to the
ground. Apoplectic, von Steuben
shoved Breen back into line and pulled out another
man, a Marylander. He managed to get to five before
von Steuben dismissed him with an even more
torrential outpouring of French and German
profanities. Some of the former comanatomically
colorful-Philip could translate, with considerable
amusement.
The baron proceeded to go through the entire drill three
more times before dragging another man forward.
Fortunately, the Virginian completed the count with a
minimum of error. The German beamed-and so did
most of his trainees, letting the smiles drain
away the built-up tension.
While the February wind grew stronger, bringing a
few snowflakes down, the hundred soldiers
repeated the drill together ten times. Then ten more. And
ten more
after that. Von Steuben waddled briskly up and down
the ranks, correcting the slant of a muzzle here,
the grip of a ramrod there, occasionally slapping a
student on the back but more often cursing.
Finally, around ten o'clock, the baron remounted his
horse. Walker ordered the hundred to prepare
to repeat the drill one last time, while von
Steuben called the count.
By then Philip had fairly well gotten the hang
of it. He was amazed at how the drill did pare the
time required for the vital operation. But the unison
drill was still uncoordinated. By the time Walker had
reached six, von Steuben was screaming and pointing at
poor performers:
"Nein, nein!"
Another storm of profanity, concluding with a thunderous,
"Viens,
Valkair,
mon ami! Sacre!
Goddamn
die gaucheries
of dese
imbeciles! Je ne puis plus!"
Growing almost incoherent, he shrieked, "You curse
dem, Valkair-
you!"
He wheeled his horse and went pounding away across the
parade field, Azor streaking behind him through the
slanting snow. Captain Walker once more cleared
his throat.
"Ah-you men realize-I have orders-was
"Ah, go ahead and get it over with!" someone yelled.
There was laughter at the captain's
expense.
Flushing, Walker cursed and condemned the soldiers
in a monotonous voice for the better part of two
minutes. His
Relieved when it was over, he said, "All right,
let's resume the drill.
One
-!"
Philip observed von Steuben resting his horse
at the far edge of the field. Before long the baron was
lured back by his own interest in the proceedings.
By noon, alternately swearing and complimenting in his
strange pidgin mixture of French, German and very
occasional English, he had the entire hundred going
through the drill with reasonable precision.
Philip noticed something else as they ran through the
final counts-
shoulder firelock; poise and cock firelock;
take aim and fire.
The weariness and despair on the faces in the
snow-covered ranks seemed to have been replaced
by something else. Something he too was experiencing. It
gave him the first glimmer of hope for this conglomeration
of unruly men nominally called an army.
He saw shoulders a little straighter.
Fatigued, reddened eyes a little more alert. Hands
blue-tinged with cold moving with a little more speed and
deftness-
There in the February snow he saw-and felt-the
stirring of pride.
vi
On their way back to their hut after the remarkable
morning, the trio of Massachusetts men discussed
the bizarre drillmaster.
"I think maybe the man has a touch of genius,"
Philip said.
"Fucking maniac," was Breen's contribution.
Royal Rothman said, "I think he's both. I
like him."
So did the rank and file of the army, as it turned
out. Except with those officers such as Gil, who
considered the baron's methods both unorthodox and
degrading, von Steuben was soon the most popular
commander in the camp after Washington.
The German ignored the jealous jibes and rumors
circulated about him, and kept working. As the winter
wore on, leavened at last by a growing trickle of
supply wagons that brought in foodstuffs and clothing,
the baron's original hundred taught new contingents
of a hundred. Those hundreds taught
hundreds more. By early March, Philip and even
Breen had become busy and proficient
instructors of all of von Steuben's lessons:
The new musket drill.
The new cadences that smoothed the execution of
flanking and counter-marching by masses of troops on the
move.
The new
marching
formation-four abreast, instead of the traditional single
or double file. This, the baron had explained, would
allow the regiments to enter or retreat from a battle
zone in an orderly way, as well as faster.
Another obvious innovation, yet quite astonishing when it
was suddenly introduced into an army that had never thought
of it before.
The German also insisted that bayonet drill be
taught comand demanded every soldier have one. Philip could
imagine how that order alone increased business at
George Lumden's forge back in Connecticut.
Uniforms began to look a little sharper. Although few
had been completely replaced, the men took
to maintaining them more carefully, sewing and patching them
instead of letting them simply fall to pieces. When
wagonloads of soap became available,
the men washed their clothes as well as themselves. It
struck Philip that had von Steuben not arrived when
he did, the next engagement of the army might have
brought total anarchy comwholesale refusal
to fight. Now there was actually talk of wanting
to face Howe's soldiers; of wanting to discover how
well the new techniques worked in battle.
Henry Knox expressed it when Philip encountered
him one day in March:
"I thought no one could create a military force out of
this rabble. But I do believe that strutting,
egotistical German's done it."
The long, dark night of the winter seemed to be ending.
The calendar ran on toward spring. Only one
grave concern still infected Philip's waking thoughts
and haunted his sleep.
He still hadn't received a single reply to his letters
to Anne.
At a special evening muster in the company street,
Captain Webb read the message sent to all the
troops from the gray fieldstone house near the
Schuylkill:
"Headquarters, Valley Forge. The
commander-in-chief takes this occasion to return his
warmest thanks to the virtuous officers and
soldiers of this army for that persevering fidelity and
zeal which they have uniformly manifested in all their
conduct. Their fortitude not only under their common
hardships incident to a military life, but also under
the additional sufferings to which the peculiar situation of
these states has exposed them, clearly proves them
men worthy of the enviable privilege of contending for the
rights of human nature and the freedom and independence
of their country-was
Philip noticed Breen wearing a smug smile.
And the older man joined with all the others in a round of
cheers when Webb concluded.
Tramping along to the sutler's after the formation broke
up, Philip said to his messmates:
"I don't think it makes a damn bit of
difference what they say about his losses in the field.
If we win the war and the general had ambition to be king
of this country, he could ask and it would be done."
No one disagreed.
ix
Attendance at divine worship every Sunday was,
supposedly, mandatory. But skimpy crowds in the
log chapel usually testified to the lax enforcement of the
commanding general's order. The last Sunday in March
was an exception. The eleven o'clock service
was to be held on the parade field because a bigger
than usual crowd was expected-without duress.
The predictions proved correct, solely because of the
identity of the preacher. Even Breen went along
to listen.
The morning, although gray, wasn't excessively
chilly. Philip and Breen found places in the
huge crowd of seated men-two or three thousand at
least, Philip guessed. In front of the gathering,
regimental drummers had stacked their drums into a
three-tier platform, on top of which boards had been
laid.
The regular chaplains presided over the hymns and
prayers. But the men were clearly waiting for the sermon,
to be presented by one of Washington's most loyal and
hard-driving officers, General Peter
Muhlenberg, the Pennsylvania-born commander of the
Virginia line.
When Muhlenberg mounted the drum platform with a Bible
in one hand, a wave of surprised comment raced through the
crowd. The general wasn't wearing his uniform today.
Instead, he wore the somber black robes of his
former calling.
There was hardly a man at Valley Forge who
didn't know a bit of Muhlenberg's
story: his training at a theological school in
Europe-which he found too dull; his military
service with the dragoons in one of the German
provinces; and-this part was told most often-the Sunday
morning in January of '76.
Ordained at last and tending to a small parish
flock in the Blue Ridge, Muhlenberg had
mounted his pulpit while his congregation thundered
Ein Feste Burg.
As the hymn faded away, he flung off his black
robes to reveal a colonel's uniform. Then he
launched into a blistering sermon directed principally
at one sinner-King George III. That was his last
official message to his congregation before leading the
Eighth Virginia off to war.
A powerful, commanding figure against the gray sky,
General Muhlenberg leafed through the front of his
Bible. The tactic had its effect; the last talk
quieted-though Breen still whispered questions:
"What kind o' preacher did you say he is,
Philip?"
"Lutheran. It's a German denomination,
mostly."
"Well, I hope he's good, 'cause I don't
usually hang around this sort o"
function-why, look yonder! What's he doin'
here? His church don't meet on Sunday."
Philip peered past the men seated nearby, saw
Royal Rothman lingering at the very back of the crowd,
darting glances every which way, as though anticipating some
kind of trouble. Philip smiled, shrugged:
"I suppose he wants to hear the general as much as
we do. No law says he can't."
The sermon of the preacher-turned-soldier was very much
worth hearing. Philip soon realized Muhlenberg
had chosen his text with care. It came from the
twenty-third chapter of Exodus, and was perfectly
fitted to the mood of the troops-especially their growing
sense of becoming an army worthy of the name.
Muhlenberg first read his text:
"Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee
in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have
prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice,
provoke him not. For he will not pardon your
transgressions, for my name is in him
-"
Then, skillfully, Muhlenberg began to weave
military propaganda into his theology. He likened
the Lord's angel to an army commander whose every order must
be executed without question. Discipline and
obedience- whether he who followed was a lowly
private or one of the Children of Israel-would surely
bring the desired rewards. Muhlenberg saved the
biblical version of those rewards for the end, rolling
them out from the drum pulpit to his rapt, wide-eyed
audience:
"But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do
all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto
thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine
adversaries. For mine angel shall go before thee, and bring
thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites,
and the Jebusites
-
"And I will cut them off!"
It required only a moment's mental translation
for the men to understand the real names of the enemy: the light
infantry; the grenadiers; the Hessians. The
sermon's conclusion brought the soldiers jumping to their
feet to applaud, embarrassing Muhlenberg and
provoking the other chaplains to what amounted to glares
of envy. No one ever applauded
their
sermons.
Breen admitted to being "a mite excited"
by the message, and confessed he'd never quite considered
obeying a superior to be as vital as Muhlenberg
claimed.
But the sermon had still left him thirsty. Even though
it was Sunday, he
announced
with a wink, there were ways-
Losing track of the older man in the crowd,
Philip made a point to catch up with Royal
Rothman:
"Didn't expect to see you, Royal. How did
you like the general?"
"He's every bit as fine a preacher as I've heard.
Though I must say, Philip, I was startled by the
concept that General Washington-or Captain
Webb-could be considered as important in the scheme
of things as an angel."
"Still, it was pretty stirring stuff."
Royal nodded
with a shy smile. "By the way-I'
ve been meaning to say something to you. About an idea
I've had for several weeks now. This printing house
we've talked about-where you're going to publish a
deluxe edition of Mr. Paine's
Crisis
papers-was He hesitated. "You haven't
forgotten-?"
"No, Royal. Seeing my family again is the first
thing I want when this war's over. My own business
is the second."
"Good! Where do you plan to set it up?"
"In Boston."
"I mean where in Boston?"
The extremely serious tone of the question checked
Philip's impulse to chuckle. "Why, I
don't know, Royal. I hadn't thought that far. At
the start, I'll have to rent space-was
"That's my idea. Rothman's is the second
largest chandler's in the whole town. My father always
has extra loft room. I'm sure you could strike
a good bargain for renting some of it. My father's
conscious of the value of a penny, but he's fair,
and-was Royal almost blushed. "comI've even taken the
liberty of writing him about you and your plans. I
think he'd do anything for you, after -"
"After what?"
"I must confess I described how you and Lucas
helped out when Adams was baiting me."
A vivid memory of Mayo Adams dying in the
ditch after Brandywine stained Philip's
thoughts a moment, destroying the high excitement and good
feeling the sermon had produced. He forced the ugly
recollections away, said:
"Royal, it wasn't necessary to say anything to your father.
Or to extend special thanks of any kind."
The young man's brown eyes were round and intense. "I
felt it was."
"Well, then, I think your idea's a capital
one."
"Do you? Honestly?"
"I do. I'll need a good place to operate my
press-but I won't be able to pay much. Loft
space sounds first rate. I'll tuck the thought
away and take it out again at the right time-was
The recurrent streak of pessimism that plagued
him
produced a final thought:
"comif we all survive this business."
"We will," Royal Rothman declared as they reached the
edge of the parade field.
"If we follow that angel, eh?"
Royal appeared embarrassed. "My father is a very
religious man, Philip. He'd scold me
ferociously for
saying this. But if it's a choice between
trusting an angel General Washington, I'll
favor the latter."
Philip laughed. "You don't have to make the
choice. I'd say at the present time they're one
and the same
person
."
"The shad are out! The shad are running upriver!"
The cry in the company street one April morning
brought Philip and his messmates tumbling
outside. Excited soldiers were racing through the camp
with the news:
"Thousands of shad-was
"Running right now!"
Under a chilly sky of pale blue, Philip,
Breen "and Royal located whatever implements
they could-a pitchfork, a shovel, a broken tree
branch-and joined the hundreds of men streaming toward the
Schuylkill River. Some carried barrels,
baskets or the all-important salt. The
human tide poured down to the Schuylki
l
's banks, where an incredible sight stunned
Philip:
The river was dark, almost black with the
bodies of thousands of fish swimming toward its
headwaters like a second, living surface underneath
the first. The whole river seemed to churn. The
passage of the immense schools filled the air with a
strange, whispery hum.
All along the bank, men rushed into the shallows,
clubbing and stabbing and grabbing with their bare hands while
they yelped and swore like profane children. Fresh fish
to be cooked or salted away was a miracle whose
importance was almost beyond reckoning.
Philip peeled off the new shoes supplied him
only a week earlier, darted into the water, felt the
eerie movement of the shad around his ankles. He
slashed downward with the pitchfork, brought up two fish
on the
tines.
He
raised the fork to show Royal, but the young man was
flailing at the water with his tree branch,
oblivious to anyone's delight but his own.
A major of dragoons galloped by on the bank,
headed upstream to plant his horsemen in the river
to turn back the fleeing fish. The strategy worked.
The Schuylkill shallows soon boiled white with
frantic shad trying to swim back
downstream against thousands of others still heading the
opposite way-
The starvation of the Valley Forge winter ended La the
largest fish banquet Philip had ever seen.
That night the Pennsylvania air reeked of
broiled shad and rang with singing, a sound unheard for
months, except in protest. As the smoke of
cook fires climbed to the sky, Captain Webb
purchased an extra gill of rum for each of his
men, and reported an item of camp gossip about
Martha Washington.
Mrs. Washington had joined her husband at the
Potts house in February. Since then she'd
been a regular visitor to the camp
hospitals-when she wasn't busy taking instruction
from a neighborhood farm woman on how to darn the
general's stockings. Tonight, Webb declared with tipsy
pride, he knew for a fact that the lady too had
served shad.
"Picked up some other tasty tidings," Webb went
on. "Still talk, mostly. But it's coming from the
Congress in York. May be a big announcement
in the wind-was
Relishing his control of a secret, he crooked a
finger so Philip would lean closer. Then
he whispered:
"Something about the French coming into the war. Sending us
ships. Soldiers, even. Don't breathe a word.
Nothing official-was
He tottered away toward the next hut to tell
another confidante the same secret.
All at once, Webb about-faced. Fumbling in his
uniform pocket, he returned to hand Philip a
wrinkled letter:
"This finally came down the line from headquarters.
Got sent by mistake to an officer named
Philemon Kent in Moore's Fourth Rhode
Island."
Abruptly, Philip forgot how stuffed he felt
from the excellent fish. He forgot the exciting hint
of a French alliance. He forgot everything except the
letter.
Quills had scratched and re-scratched the names of
different units across the face. The original
address had been smeared by water; rain, perhaps. But
the name
Kent in
Anne's hand was unmistakable.
He tore the letter open, held it near the cook
fire to read. The date was the preceding
November, 1777.
In the midst of pleasantries, endearments and news
of their son, Anne reported that Captain
Malachi Rackham had written her
another distressingly impertinent letter, which Mrs.
Brumple, who is now moved in, considered alarming
in its tone of familiarity.
Philip went whit
e
at that; read on:
But I do not, and neither should you, my darling. I did
find the occasion to speak with W. Caleb concerning his
captain's behavior, and Caleb assured me he
would take corrective steps. He stated that while
Rackham was a most able sailor, he was known to be
of erratic temperament, and had only been engaged out
of necessity, and with considerable reservation on
Caleb's part. Evidently Mr. Rackham's
chief problem is a conviction that he is irresistible
to females
-
which only strikes me as proof that inwardly, he
fears exactly the opposite is true, and must
constantly disprove the suspicion. Since I
discussed Rackham prior to the arrival
of the aforementioned letter, it is evident that any efforts
Captain Caleb may have made to curb R. have not
availed. However, Mrs. Brumple's presence
surely will, in the event the unpleasant gentleman
should dare present himself here again.
"Henry, I'm going home."
Overflowing the seat of the crude wooden chair
provided for his officer's hut, Henry Knox stared
at his visitor in puzzlement.
Philip had arrived at four in the morning, after a
sleepless night. Knox had come to the door wearing a
shabby robe and carrying a lantern. Now the lantern
flickered on the mantel of Knox's fireplace;
the officers" quarters were duplicates of those of the
enlisted men, except that they were somewhat larger.
The fat artillery colonel tented his fingers.
"Philip, I can plainly see that you're
overwrought. But I believe I misunderstood what you
said."
"You didn't. I'm leaving for Cambridge. Now,
before daylight-was He stabbed a hand through his dark hair.
"I had to tell someone who'd understand. The two men in
my mess wouldn't. They don't know Anne. Besides,
I need-was
"Wait, Philip," Knox interrupted,
sounding much less sleepy. "You are telling me that
you've desertion in mind?"
"Much more than in mind. I'm going. Here, I received
this last night. You can see it was written in
November, then sent by mistake to another man in a
different unit."
Knox scanned the letter, his normally placid face
still showing some confusion.
"That I see very clearly. What I do not see is
what there is on this page to bring you to such a state."
Quickly then, Philip poured out the story: the
investment in Caleb's privateers; the first encounter
with Malachi Rackham; Anne's subsequent
references to him in her letters:
"I know her, Henry. Each time, she tried
to reassure me that she wasn't worried. But she'd
never have
brought it up if-well, let's just say I can read
what's behind the words, too. She's terrified of him.
One look at him and you'd understand. He's handsome.
Fancies himself a prize for the ladies. But there's
a nastiness about him-was
The words trailed off. Philip had the dismal
feeling that he wasn't getting through.
Knox confirmed it: "You still haven't
explained why you feel you must commit a very rash and
dangerous act."
"Because I'm afraid something's happened to Anne!
It's April and that was posted in November. I've
had no other letter from her-was
"Like everything else, the mails are plagued slow-was
"Not that slow." Philip paced, feeling trapped.
"Not that damned slow."
Knox frowned again, lifting the letter. "Isn't there
another person sharing your house? I noticed a
reference to a Mrs.-was
"Brumple. An old lady next door. She
moved in with Anne last year because Annie was already
afraid of Rackham then."
"And so you've decided to return to Cambridge
to look into it? Just like that?"
"I have to, Henry. I'm convinced-was
"You do
not
have to," Knox cut in. "In fact, it's not
permitted."
The words hit Philip like physical blows. He
could barely speak:
"For Christ's sake, I know it's not permitted!
I'm telling you because-was
"Because you want me to sanction what you're going to do?
I can't. I am an officer in this army."
"Don't talk like someone making a speech at a
parade review-to "
"Then kindly do not shout!"
Silence. Finally Philip let out a long sigh.
"All right. I'm sorry. I need traveling
money, Henry. Just a little, but I didn't know who
else to ask-was
"The answer is no."
"Dammit, Henry, you've got to-to "
"Philip!"
This time it was Knox who shouted. "It's not pleasant
for me to employ the differences in our ranks-but you
forget yourself. I agree with what you say to this extent.
You may have cause for concern.
May.
There is no evidence to support any stronger word.
But do you think you're the only man at Valley
Forge with worries at home? Some have wives and children
facing outright starvation because no one can operate a
family farm-a family business! Others have lost
loved ones and learned of it only months later, in
letters that went astray just like this one. With the spring
campaign ahead, no leaves are being
granted for any reason."
"I don't give a damn what you say, I'm
leaving," Philip exclaimed, wheeling for the door.
Knox lunged after him, spun him around, flung him
against the mantel so hard the lantern nearly toppled
off:
"You will get control of yourself!"
"Goddamn it, let go! I won't listen-was
"You will! Either go back to your unit or I will have you
arrested and flogged."
Aghast, Philip stared at him.
"You're my friend. You're
Anne's
friend-was
"That makes no difference. You're being driven to this
by fear and fear alone. If you desert, I'll have you
hunted down at once-and brought back."
Abruptly, Knox's tone changed. "You have a
duty here. We all do. After the winter we've
endured-the deaths- the near-rebellions-my God,
and the work you've put in with von Steuben-learning,
teaching others- To quit now for any reason save being
brought down by an enemy ball is nothing short of
treason."
"Treas-?"
Philip couldn't even get the whole word out. The
accusation from his long-time friend seared him like an iron-
And crumbled the facade of the almost hysterical
rationalization he'd constructed in his mind to justify
what he planned to do.
"Friend or not," Knox went on, "if you go, I
promise you I'll report it-and see you
punished."
Numb, Philip picked up the letter that had fallen
to the dirt floor. He felt drained-and dismally
aware that everything Henry Knox had said was right. He
stumbled toward the door:
"I'm sorry I came here-was
"So am I."
Philip spun to glare.
"Because we are friends, Philip. Ordering your arrest
wouldn't be easy for me. But I will do it."
Philip started out. At the sound of his name repeated,
he turned again.
Knox asked, "Where are you going?"
"To-was Philip swallowed. "Back to the hut."
"Is that the truth?"
"Yes,"
Knox let out a long, relieved sigh:
"Good."
Philip closed the door behind him, avoided the
suspicious stare of a guard posted at the head of the
officers' street, walked with slumping shoulders through
the spring dawn, repelled all at once by what
he'd wanted to do until Knox's rough treatment
jarred
him
out of it.
At the same time, he felt trapped. Trapped and
frightened.
He glanced up at the paling stars.
Annie,
he thought.
Annie, are you all right?
Rackham
UNCONTROLLABLE annoyance edged Anne Kent's
voice:
"Abraham, for the third time-eat your porridge."
"Don't want to," declared the stocky, dark-eyed
boy teetering on three worn books piled on his
chair. He dipped his wood spoon into the bowl.
With a wrench of his small wrist, he sent a gob of
porridge flying across the kitchen.
Anne jumped up from the table. "Oh, Abraham,
you're such a trial sometimes-to " Her hands
slapped against her skirt, bringing an alarmed look
to the boy's face.
At once, Anne regretted the shrill
reprimand. She believed in discipline that was firm
yet loving. Whenever her son misbehaved, she
tried not to raise her voice, even as a prologue
to one or two quick whacks of his behind. But in recent
weeks she'd been losing her temper more and more
frequently.
She started around the table to make amends;
substitute cajolery for insistence. But Abraham
had already made up his mind about what he wanted-and
didn't:
"Don't want to eat. Want Papa."
"Papa can't come home. Papa's in
Pennsylvania at a place called Valley
Forge. I've showed you his letters. The word that spells
his name and yours. Kent-was
She bent to caress the boy's dark hair. But
Abraham was still upset from her sharp outcry of a few
moments earlier. He pulled away:
"I want Papa. No more porge. Papa!"
The tension and weariness plaguing Anne these cold
winter days of early 1778 came out again unbidden:
"Stop it, Abraham! You can't see
Papa because he's not here! Now eat your breakfast
or I'll give you a spanking."
She showed him her hand to illustrate. It was
precisely the wrong thing to do.
Abraham Kent, going on two and a half years
old, hurled his spoon to the floor. With one
stubby-fingered hand, he pushed the bowl off the edge of the
table. The crockery shattered, splattering the gooey
paste of oats and water all over the hem of
Anne's dress. She slapped his hand:
"You're a wicked little boy!"
Abraham puckered up his eyebrows, turned beet
color and bawled.
"My heavens, catch the child before he falls!"
exclaimed a new voice. Mrs. Eulalie
Brumple, tiny and frail, darted from the doorway
through beams of watery sunlight and snatched
Abraham to her shoulder an instant before he tumbled
to the floor.
Ashamed and upset, Anne covered her eyes,
turned away.
"I don't know who's in worse temper this morning,
Mrs. Brumple, Abraham or me."
She felt the start of tears, fought them with all her will
as the neighbor woman rocked Abraham
back and forth, ignoring his sharp pulls of her
mobcap and his repeated shrieks:
"Want to see Papa.
Want to see Papa!"
"Here, here, that's no way for a young gentleman
to behave," Mrs. Brumple said as Abraham
yanked the cap down over her right eye. "Let's
find that drum your father bought you, shall we?"
Abraham was diverted from his sobbing, and sniffled
instead:
"Drum?"
"Drum," Mrs. Brumple repeated. "You can
relieve your frustration by banging away to your
heart's eon-tent." She glanced at Anne. "Not
here, however. In the parlor."
Anne stared in dismay as Mrs. Brumple marched
Abraham to the front of the house. In a few
moments the toy drum began to rattle and thump.
The erratic rhythm grated on Anne's nerves.
But what doesn't these days?
she thought as she hung the tea kettle up to boil.
The kitchen in Cambridge was chilly this February
morning. Anne had risen early, unable
to sleep-again. She'd started another letter to Philip,
determined to keep the contents cheerful, free
of any indication of the growing strain she felt in his
absence.
She'd written exactly one paragraph,
describing how Cambridge's population had
increased now that a huge number of Gentleman
Johnny Burgoyne's redcoats and Hessians
had been marched east after Saratoga. The enemy
troops were locked up in compounds, pledged not to fight
during the remainder of the war because Burgoyne had
agreed to that as part of the terms of his surrender. Anne
had broken off the letter in the middle of a sentence
speculating about whether English transports would
ever arrive to take the soldiers away, and then she'd
simply sat staring into space, her body aching with an
all-too-familiar tension.
As Abraham's drumming continued, Mrs.
Eulalie Brumple marched back into the kitchen.
The small-boned sixty-year-old lady with the
hawk's eye and the firmly set mouth never walked
anywhere, only marched.
But her presence in the spare bedroom was a comfort
to Anne. Prickly as the widow Brumple might
be, once she had moved a few belongings from her
home next door, Anne had felt much less
alarmed about the occasional,
all-too-obvious overtures from Captain
Rackham. Happily, she hadn't been bothered
by the man since the autumn. She assumed it was because
Rackham had finally put to sea in search of
prizes.
Anne busied herself pouring tea for the two of them.
She recognized the expression on the older
woman's face and braced for another lecture.
"Mrs. Kent?"
"Yes, Mrs. Brumple?" Neither woman had
yet breached the formality of using last names.
. "I certainly hope you won't take offense if
I mention another condition which I believe needs
rectifying." Mrs. Brumple always preceded one
of her declarations with some such empty apology.
"Won't you have some tea before it gets cold?"
Anne asked, hoping to forestall the impending remarks
on- what this time? Child guidance, she guessed. She
was correct:
"In a moment. First I must speak my mind."
Dark circles showed beneath Anne's eyes. She
sighed, sank down in a chair.
"Go ahead."
"I'm not criticizing, I'm only trying to be
helpful-was
"Yes, yes, I know. Go on." Anne had heard
the preamble dozens of times.
"In my opinion it's a shame you can't in some
wise show that dear young child his father's likeness."
"I don't have any pictures of my husband!"
Anne exclaimed, almost to the point of tears.
"We're not the sort of family that can afford
to commission painters of miniatures!"
Mrs. Brumple considered that, then observed
primly, "Perhaps it would have served you better to hire
a third-rate artist-keeping him at the proper
distance, of course; artists are all immoral
rascals; I was once
unwholesomely
propositioned by such a person-than to have put so much
money in two pirate ships which have
yet to pay you a penny."
"They're not pirates, they're authorized priva
t
eersmen."
"Makes no difference, they've repaid not one cent of
your investment."
Anne said nothing. Mrs. Brumple's statement was
correct. Caleb's small fleet of
prize-hunters, all of them reportedly
in southern waters, had captured not a single enemy
vessel. She was beginning to regret her decision
to invest two hundred pounds in the construction of
Gull
and
Fidelity.
And not just because of the character of Captain Caleb's
associate, who had relinquished command of
Nancy
and become the skipper of
Gul
like.
Caleb himself was sailing the other new privateer.
Mrs. Brumple went on, "A child does need
to become familiar with his own father's face. What a
pity your husband is not as vain as Brumple-was
The little widow always referred to her late spouse
by his last name only. Brumple had evidently
been a tailor who had achieved only modest
success. Anne knew far more about his faults than
his virtues, which were apparently almost nonexistent.
-Brumple was always presenting me with this or that little
charcoal sketch of his likeness. He fancied himself
handsome. The more fool he! May I have some more tea,
dear?"
Anne poured the smuggled Dutch brew, not knowing
whether to laugh at the little woman's pretensions or
burst out sobbing in hopeless frustration.
"Naturally I would have welcomed all those
portraits of Brumple if we'd had babies,"
the widow said. "But after the first several years of our
marriage-years in which I reluctantly permitted
Brumple to indulge in his constant pecking at my
cheek and pawing at my smallclothes comt sort of
thing always led to the inevitable conclusion which I only
suffered as part of my female
duty-where was I? Oh yes. I was speaking of how it
became evident that Brumple and I were not going
to leave heirs in this world. Believe me, after that I
saw to it that he left my smallclothes alone!
However-was She sipped tea. "My original
contention remains valid. Little pictures of a
faraway loved one can be valuable in helping a child
remember the loved one."
Mrs. Brumple fixed Anne with a direct stare.
"Is it possible you could sketch such a likeness of
Mr.
Kent?"
Anne shook her head. "I'm hard put to draw a
straight line."
"Pity." Mrs. Brumple finished her tea.
A crash from the parlor brought Anne half out of her
chair. The widow too:
"Oh dear, the boy's upset something. No, you let
me see to it, you're much too tired to deal with him
properly." She marched from the kitchen at quick step.
Anne felt resentful. But the reaction passed
quickly. In her peculiar, flinty way, Mrs.
Eulalie Brumple liked her neighbor-and loved
Abraham. Anne, too, was basically fond of the
old busybody. She knew that the widow's last
charge was not maliciously spoken-and was entirely
correct. She
was
worn out-
Worn out from coping with Abraham without the help of a
father's masculine hand and voice. Worn out from lying
alone too many nights, shivering despite the
footwarmer she religiously took under the covers.
Worn out worrying about whether the two hundred pounds
loaned to Caleb were gone forever. Worn out fretting
about Rackham, whose name kept slipping into the letters
she wrote Philip, despite her best intentions
that it shouldn't. Worn out with the war that seemed to bring
nothing but minor victories and major
defeats for the American armies. Worn out with thoughts
of Philip meeting his death on the point of a
British bayonet.
Worn out imagining how she would survive if he
never came home, never held her again, never kissed
her and made love to her-
Worn out. Beyond her capacity to endure it any
longer-
She wasn't even aware that she'd pressed her
palms to her eyes and started crying there in the pale
February sunlight. She sat bolt upright at the
touch of a hand:
"Mrs. Kent-let me tuck you in for a rest."
As it could on occasion, Mrs. Eulalie
Brumple's face had softened. Her fundamental
kindness was showing through the hard Congregationalist
facade.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" she asked
softly.
"Very little."
"Then come along."
"I'm sorry my tongue's been so sharp, Mrs.
Brumple. I don't mean to be so curt with the
boy, or you-was
"Now, now, let's have no apologies.
I'll bundle Abraham up and we'll walk to the
market. Come, my dear, stand up-was
Anne did. She was soon in bed, listening to the
stillness of the house. A patch of melting snow slid
off the roof shakes, a loud scraping. She was
literally aching with exhaustion and the hunger for
Philip's presence.
But no matter how she tried, she still couldn't
sleep.
ii
It seemed an eternity since Anne had found
anything the least amusing about the war. But here it was at
last, reported at some length in a month-old
copy of Ben Edes'
Gazette.
The wet, gusty April night seemed momentarily
remote. Curled up in a chair by the cozy fire,
Anne laughed out loud, causing Mrs. Brumple
to glance up from the scarf she was knitting for
Abraham.
"Mrs. Kent, I certainly hesitate
to criticize, but I
believe Abraham is finally asleep-was
Giggling, Anne covered her mouth a moment. "I was
being too noisy, wasn't I? But this is
just delightful. Some chap from Connecticut-let's
see-was She checked the paper. "David
Bushnell's his name. In February he launched a
whole flotilla of what they call infer
n
als."
"What is an infernal, pray? Another name for a
husband?"
"No, Mrs. Brumple! A keg of powder with a
contact fuse. Bushnell set them afloat in the
Delaware River above Philadelphia. His
idea was to blow up the British ships anchored in
mid-river. But because of floating ice, all the
frigates were moored close to shore. The paper
says the British were absolutely terrified of the
kegs, though. The soldiers peppered away at them
with muskets, trying to explode them."
Mrs. Brumple rested her knitting in her lap,
her expression saying clearly, that she thus far
failed to find anything hilarious in the story. Anne
went on:
"The part that amused me is the song composed by a Mr.
Hopkinson from the Congress. It's called
The Battle of the Kegs.
Here, listen-was
"Brumple was always fond of light verse. It did
little to improve his already frivolous mind."
But Anne couldn't be deterred:
"Sir William Howe and that doxy of his are
sleeping when some of the kegs start exploding, you see.
Hopkinson says-
"Sir William, he, snug as a flea, "Lay
all this while a-snoring. "Nor dreamed of harm as
he lay warm "In bed with-was
Anne's finger ticked against the page, her wan
face merry:
"Ben Edes left two blanks right there, but I can
imagine our soldiers hooting out the missing words.
"Mrs. Loring." Here's the rest-
"Now in a fright, he starts upright, "Awaked by such
a clatter. "He rubs his eyes, and boldly
cries was For God's sake, what's the mat
-
?"' his
A knocking in the hallway interrupted Anne, and
diverted Mrs. Brumple from whatever remark of
disapproval she was about to make.
Being closest to the front door, Mrs. Brumple
went to answer. Anne returned to the verse, laughing
as she hadn't in weeks. The doggerel
truly wasn't all that excellent, but she'd gone
too long without finding anything to lighten her spirits.
She barely heard Mrs. Brumple speaking
sharply, and a man's voice replying. The exchange
lasted less than a minute. Then the front door
slammed.
Mrs. Brumple marched back to the fringe of the
firelight:
"Well, I certainly didn't like that person's
looks."
Anne glanced up. "Who was it?"
"Some sort of seaman. Terribly scruffy. He
was inquiring for the Russell house."
"There's no family named Russell living in this
neighborhood."
"I'm well aware of that. I think it was a
subterfuge. I didn't care for the man's cut one
bit, I tell you. Shifty eyes. Just like
Brumple's."
Even though she realized Mrs. Brumple's concern
was probably unfounded, Anne was troubled. She
laid the paper aside, her earlier mood gone. For
no reason she could adequately explain, the word
seaman
brought Malachi Rackham instantly
to mind.
Before she went to bed she scanned the rainy street for a
sign of anyone suspicious. She saw no one.
But she made doubly certain that the front and rear
doors were bolted and all the windows latched before
looking in on Abraham to see that he was
adequately covered.
in
Two evenings later, with the late April rain still
pelting Cambridge, Mrs. Brumple
collected her cloak, gloves and parasol to pit
her Christian courage against the elements:
"You're certain you don't mind me leaving you this
evening, Mrs. Kent?"
Anne smiled. "You're the one who's going to get
soaked, not I."
"In the Lord's work-and General Washington's. Our
prayer circle has reorganized. Not only
to read scripture but to sew hunting shirts at the
same time. We shall be convening every Wednesday evening from
now on. I should certainly be home in an hour or
two-was
"I'll be up, don't worry."
"I attend religious functions with a clearer
conscience than I did when I was married,"
the little lady said as she tugged on her gloves.
"Brumple sat in the pew with me every Sunday because
he felt it was good for trade. Underneath, I always
suspected him of being a freethinker. Good evening,"
she concluded, marching out the front door.
Despite the coming of spring, the house still felt a
trifle cold. Anne kindled a small fire in
the parlor, then sat down to her mending. She worked for
nearly an hour, until her concentration was broken
by sounds from Abraham's bedroom.
She put the mending aside, hurried to the back of the
house. The boy was breathing loudly. As she watched
at
the bedside, he shifted position several times.
She felt his forehead. No fever. Perhaps he'd
been thrashing because of bad dreams-
A loud, hollow clatter startled her. It echoed from
the front of the house. She frowned. Who could be
calling at this hour-his
Apprehensive, she hurried to the parlor, then to the
bay of windows. She lifted a curtain.
Outside, barely visible in the rain, a closed
carriage sat at the curb. The
horse was tied to the hitch post. She saw no sign
of a driver.
Anne's palms turned cold. The logs on the
hearth cast slow-changing shadows over the walls.
She felt a peculiar, nervous fluttering inside
her breast. Perhaps whoever it was would go-
More knocking. Louder.
"I say, Mrs. Kent, are you at home?"
"Oh my God," she breathed, recognizing the
voice.
Terrified, she dashed for the front hallway.
She hadn't latched the door after Mrs. Brumple
left
-
Three steps from the door, she stopped-too late.
The door opened inward, spattering her with rain.
Like some hobgoblin, the tall man slipped inside.
His tightly curled dark hair glistened. The hem
of his cloak dripped. His right eye, so strangely
drawn into a slit by the small scar, caught
firelight from the parlor and glowed like a coal.
"Pardon me for just walking in, but I thought it
possible you didn't hear the knock," said Captain
Malachi Rackham.
iv
Anne went numb as Rackham stared at her, that
nasty, cocksure smile seemingly fixed
in place. He swayed a little. She smelled rum
on
him
-
A dreadful suspicion leaped into her mind. The
man the other evening-the seaman-had he been sent
to see whether she was alone?
Had Rackham been keeping watch
-
his
No, no, that was too fanciful by half-"
Or was it?
She tried to compose her features. But the fluttering
sensation persisted. In a second, she became
certain that her initial guess was correct.
Rackham had waited to call until his man
reported Mrs. Brumple's departure.
"See here, I didn't mean to shock you to total
silence!" Rackham declared, pulling a face. "I
stopped off because I thought you might welcome a
report concerning your investment in
Gull."
He glanced beyond her to the empty parlor. "Are you
at liberty to discuss it?"
"I-was God, why was her throat so dry?
"I've been working in the kitche
not. I've a cauldron of soap cooking -"
Rackham wrinkled his nose. "Odd. I don't
smell it."
"I was about to put it on the fire when you arrived."
"Then you are at liberty for a few moments-was
He accidentally brushed her elbow as he slipped
past into the parlor.
Rackham unfastened his cloak and dropped it over
a chair. He swung to face her, one knee bent
and his boot planted out in front of him. The pose
of a man aping his betters. His clothing reinforced the
impression. He wore dove gray breeches, an
ostentatious coat of yellow velour, too much
lace at collar and cuffs-
He flexed his hands behind him, warming them near the
fire. "Come, come, Mrs. Kent! You can at least
be hospitable to a man of whom you've spoken ill."
"Captain Rackham-was Anne struggled to keep
her voice level. "comx should be evident many tunes
over that you're not welcome here."
He shrugged, surveying the closed curtains at the
bay of front windows. "That may be. But you'll have
to put up with me for a bit, my girl, because you owe me
a kindness."
"What do you mean, a kindness? I owe you nothing!"
Under the drooping right lid, the pupil of
Rackham's eye seemed to burn. "But you do. I
did not appreciate your speaking to Will Caleb about
my letters and my visits."
"Oh? I'm so sorry. Be assured I'll speak
to him a
g
ain, Captain." She started for the hall. "You will
please leave."
"In due course."
Still smiling, Rackham sat down and crossed his
legs.
More frightened than ever, Anne stood in the hall, not
knowing what to do. She realized Abraham had been
wakened by the voices. His faint cry sounded from the
darkness at the back of the house:
"Mama?"
"Go to sleep, Abraham," she called. "It's
all right, I'm here."
There was a fretful murmur from his bedroom, then
silence.
Slowly Anne looked back at the man lounging
near the hearth. Rackham was studying her figure that
her dress showed to advantage despite
its shabbiness. He made no attempt to conceal his
interest.
She glanced at the French sword hanging above the
mantel. Could she pull it down fast enough, if
necessary? The Kentucky rifle beneath the sword was
empty; useless, except perhaps as a club-
Determined not to let her fear get the best of her,
Anne folded her arms across her breasts, addressed
Rackham sharply:
"Was it you who sent someone to the door two nights
ago? A man pretending to be hunting a family
named Russell?"
"Aye, I used a lad from
Gull
for that duty. Same one who watched the place tonight,
then drove me out here in the coach."
"So you have been spying-to "
"Call it what you wish. We have private matters
to discuss. I didn't want anyone else's
company but yours, my dear."
Once more he showed his teeth in what he presumed was
a charming smile. To Anne it resembled the
grimace of a fanged animal. Rackham went
on:
"Gull
anchored in Boston harbor last Sunday morning.
We took a mighty handsome prize off the
Carolinas. As I remarked when I came in, I
thought you'd be interested in that." He feigned readiness
to rise and leave. "However, if you insist you're not-was
Despite her fear, Anne said, "A British
prize?"
"Correct. With some sharp sailing and gun work on
our part, she hauled down her colors mighty fast.
The total proceeds of the auction come-ah, came
to about half a million sterling pounds." He
paused. "Care to hear more?"
The sum stunned her; left her confused and uncertain
about how to proceed.
She had an overpowering urge to dash from the house;
Malachi Rackham would never have spied on her,
nor come all the way to Cambridge in the rain, out
of sheer concern for the Kent investment. That was doubly
obvious from the way he continued to glance at her
breasts, the line of her hip, like a man
anticipating a sumptuous dinner-
Yet if he wasn't lying to her-if
Gull
had indeed captured a merchantman-the prospects
were dizzying, and she ought to know the whole
story.
Rackham tried to resolve her
quandary
:
"Fetch me a port-or a rum if you have it-and
I'll be happy to share the details."
"I'm sorry, I've nothing to give you."
"Ah, Mrs. Kent, that's where you are quite wrong."
His smile left no doubt about his meaning.
"Get out," Anne said, livid. "At once."
"Belay that, if you please," Rackham chuckled.
"I'm not your husband, after all. In fact I
assume your husband is still far away-his Serving his
country honorably while his wife remains
inconsolable
because her bed's empty-?"
"Get
out!"
Anne exploded, raising a clenched fist.
Rackham's veneer of sham politeness crumbled.
He reached her in two swift strides, jerked her
upraised hand down, leaned close until she
nearly choked
from
the stench of rum:
"You listen here, Mrs. Kent. That very first day we
met, I tabbed you for what you are-a lass who
fancies herself stronger than any man she'll ever
meet. And shows it. Well, permit me to tell you
something. Captain Rackham is a fellow who
doesn't hold with being put down in such fashion.
I don't like being put down with haughty looks or
nasty no-thank-you's at the doorstep. Still-I'll
admit that's part of your charm-the fact you think I'm
a nobody and don't bother to hide it. I expect
that's the reason I made up my mind that morning on
Hancock's Wharf that I'd take you-with your
agreement or without."
"Take- ?"
"Here, here, no silly prudery." The cocksure
smile somehow acquired a malevolent twist.
"I've been sporting a good twenty years with the
gentle sex. Never had one of "em turn me
down. Till you."
"You drunken popinjay liar-to "
He grabbed her wrist again. "You watch your
language, woman-was
Anne raked his face with her free hand, her nails
leaving bleeding scratches. Rackham struck her.
She staggered, crying out. Her mind held
one dreadful word-
Madman.
She didn't know what warped memories or
conceits made him what he was. But she knew that
every rebuff she'd given him must have festered weeks,
months in the mazes of his head. She knew he was
drunk, and dangerous-
"Mama?"
Abraham was calling again, frightened by her outcry.
Anne struggled to her feet. But somehow, she couldn't
avoid Rackham's hands. Big hands;
hair-matted; sliding under her arms-
Rackham's thumbs pressed the fabric over her
breasts. "Even in a temper, you're a soft, dear
sight, Mrs. Kent. I can't properly explain
it, but I've never fancied a woman as much as I
fancy you. Perhaps it's because I'm not supposed to,
eh?"
"Damn your eyes-
let me go!"
That only provoked more laughter:
"Ah, stop, Mrs. Kent. You must want a man
so bad you hurt from it. That little fellow you're wed
to-he can't be much in the cock department, now
admit-was
Writhing away from him, she spat in his face.
Again Rackham struck her. She tumbled at his
feet, stunned. Abraham started to cry loudly.
Rackham leaned down, his shadow distorting across the
wall as he jerked her head up by a fist in her
hair:
"I want to tell you about your property, Mrs.
Kent. Your investment-a man who wants to do that should
be treated right, eh?
Eh?"
He yanked her hair. She uttered another hoarse
yelp. Rackham laughed:
"Yes indeed, I want to invite you aboard
Gull
for a pleasant and diverting evening. As I say-you owe
me. You got me roasted by that sanctimonious old
bastard Caleb. But I'll forgive you-if you'll
visit the ship and be nice and agreeable when we get
there-was
Anne screamed deliberately, hoping to attract
someone's attention outside. Abraham's terrified
cries sounded as stridently as her own.
"Be quiet!"
Rackham shouted, letting go of her hair and smashing
the side of her head with his fist.
She lurched sideways, reaching clumsily toward the
mantel; toward Philip's gleaming sword-
Rackham hit her harder. She fell, struck her
temple on the floor, moaned, opened and closed
one stretched-out hand, then lay still.
Anne awoke briefly to the sensation of motion.
She heard carriage wheels and springs creaking. The
clop and splash of hoofs along a rutted road.
Rain pattering overhead-
Through a slot window she glimpsed a distant
farmstead, a yellow smear of lamplight in the rain.
She realized she was leaning against the curve of a
man's left shoulder.
She struggled away, only to have a sweaty-smelling
hand clamp over her mouth.
The places where Rackham had hit her and the other
place where she'd struck her head all hurt
terribly. Rackham inclined his head to slobber a
kiss on her face. She tried to wrench the other
way.
That made him burst out with his damnable laugh-and hold
her more tightly.
His left hand still covered her mouth. She bit at the
fingers. He jerked them away, freeing his arm so he
could squeeze her throat in the vee of his
elbow, cutting off her wind:
"Screaming's useless, my girl. I told you it's
one of my lads up on the box of this hired rig.
Even at the dock in Boston, the sight of
Malachi Rackham knocking some wench about to get
her into a dinghy and out to his ship ain't-isn't
likely to cause any commotion. The
tavern trulls, they sometimes say yes, then start a
squall on the pier, wanting a higher price.
I've often been seen roughing 'em up a wee bit.
So you won't get any help by yelling or-
bitch!"
he howled as she bit hard into the fleshy back of his
hand.
He flung her to the floor of the rocking carriage,
kicked her twice in the ribs, bashed her eye with his
knuckles, bringing new, nauseous darkness swirling
over her.
VI
A pinpoint of light; dull orange.
And motion again. But of a different order this time.
Gentler-
She recognized sounds. The lap of water against
hull planks. The creak of a ship's upper and lower
capstans being turned in tandem. Chain being
pulled up by the messenger cables-
Anchor chain?
Anne Kent opened her eyes; saw her skirt and
petticoat hiked around her knees. She was lying in
a ship's bunk.
She shifted her throbbing head to the left, saw
Malachi Rackham-and a cabin where a single
glass-paneled lantern swayed overhead on a
beam hook.
The two large oval stern windows showed a spatter
of lamp-gilded raindrops.
Rackham lounged in a chair beside an oak table.
Both chair and table were bolted to the decking.
Rackham lolled a drinking cup back and forth in
one hand as he watched Anne with an amused
expression. His showy coat and breeches hung on
a peg near his wall-mounted drop-front desk.
He wore drawers of soiled gray linen, nothing
else.
"Hallo, Mrs. Kent," he said, scratching the
curled
hair on his chest. It was as dark as that on his head.
"Wondered how long it'd take you to liven up.
Been an hour since I brought you aboard."
He held out the cup. "Little rum?"
"The-was She was so dazed, she could barely speak.
"The ship's under way-was
"Oh, not quite as yet. But getting
there, getting there. My pilot'll
take us through the island channels as soon as the
tide's fair. We may meet some foul weather, but
I decided to risk it. I thought it'd be advisable
not to tell Captain Caleb how we disposed of the
prize we took with
Gull.
Caleb and me-I-we're only temporary
bedfellows. As he'll find out shortly after he
sails
Fidelity
back to Boston. The British prize I mentioned
did bring a handsome sum at the sell-off. But not in
American waters, I'm sorry to say."
Rackham feigned sorrow. "We encountered
unfavorable winds, don't you see. Had to beat
south to Saint Eustatius in the Leewards. Only
safe harbor available-was
He was amused at his own reporting of the lie. He
clucked his tongue:
"Yes, truly unfortunate. But the Dutchmen were
accommodating, damned accommodating. We
had the trial-the auction-the only problem being, as
Caleb explained, that under the terms of our
Articles, a prize disposed of in a foreign port
means all the proceeds go to captain and crew. The
owners, God pity 'em, miss out. We've already
divided the share belonging to you and your husband. Understand
now why I've such a loyal bunch of lads?
They'll help me abduct a lady anytime."
Grinning, Rackham slopped down more rum.
Anne had to struggle to form a coherent sentence:
"You-you cheated Caleb-was
"Oh, no, Mrs. Kent! We couldn't help what
happened. Unfavorable winds!"
"Liar. You-you planned something like that-all along-was
Rackham shrugged. "Well-it's possible. But
it's done. Now there's an even more profitable
prospect ahead. We'll be setting a coasting
course for New York."
"The-British-the British hold-was
"New York? Indeed they do. Why do you think
I'm heading there? The privateersmen are taking a
lot of prizes, you see. I'm sure I can find
a buyer for a spanking new beauty like
Gull.
A little work and she'll serve nicely as a
transport to replace one of the captured ones. I
wager plenty of Tory merchants in New
York"
ll
be glad to bid on her."
"The ship isn't yours to sell!" Anne cried
hoarsely.
"Why, who's here to dispute my right-except you? And
we've other matters to attend to, yes we do-was
Still grinning, he ran a hand down between his thighs and
squeezed his crotch.
Anne felt gagging sourness in her mouth; felt an
urge to scream and keep screaming and overcame it
only with maximum effort.
"Right here-was Rackham was still fingering his groin. "comright
here I've the machinery to keep your thoughts diverted
to subjects more pleasant than ships and who owns
"em. Soon as I strike a good bargain for
Gull,
we'll have a grand holiday together in New York
town. Live elegantly, I'll 'guarantee
it."
"You-you'd sell out Caleb when he hired and trusted
you-?"
Rackham's face wrenched. "Caleb's
a fool who thinks as ill of me as you do. We
only did business with each other out of necessity.
Captains-good captains- they're mighty scarce.
I was down on my luck, so I took the first
arrangement offered. But every time that
bastard looked down his nose at me, I
remembered. Every time he ordered me this way or every
which, I remembered-was
Slowly, like a muscular animal rousing from its den,
Rackham laid the drinking cup aside. He
stood up, unfastened the tie-knot of his drawers and
let them fall.
"Just like I remembered every time you gave me the cool
stare or the turn-down. Aye-was
Rackham started for the bunk, his immense engorged
maleness swaying on a level with Anne's eyes.
"comwe'll have a fine and lively time in New
York. We will provided you learn one lesson.
I mean who is giving orders and who is taking
'em-was
"Traitor."
"You be quiet, you bitch."
"A traitor to the country that-was
Rackham chuckled, terrifying her to silence.
"Ah, you're a delicious one, Mrs.
Kent. And why should I be at all angry with you?
You've already called me more names than I can
remember. Sure you have! It'll take me a month
to punish you for each-was
He moved a step closer.
"A dollop of punishment, a dollop of
pleasure-all at the same time, what d'you
say-?"
He reached down, crooked his hand around his own reddened
flesh. From beside the bunk, he crooned to her:
"Come on, now. Come on. Be good.
Give us a kiss-was
This time Anne Kent screamed the wild wail of
hysteria. But Rackham only laughed as he
climbed on top of her.
She awoke in the fouled bunk sometime near dawn.
She had never hurt so terribly in all her life.
Not even at the height of her labor when she bore
Abraham. She felt almost destroyed by the repeated
punishings Rackham had inflicted on her all
night long, beating her and forcing her legs apart each
time, tearing and plunging in her until the pain became
so intense that it turned to a perverted blessing; a sort
of drug to deaden some of the anguish.
Disconnected thoughts flickered through
Anne's mind as she tried to climb from the bunk,
fell when
Gull
rolled sharply. She groped for the captain's table.
It took her almost two minutes to pull herself to her
feet.
Through the oval stern windows she saw the steep-sided
hills and valleys of the ocean.
And no land anywhere.
She brushed hair from one eye, leaned on the table,
stared down at the blood that had dried along the
inside of her left thigh. On her breasts three
vivid blue-yellow bruises, showed.
She grew aware of intermittent sounds. The rush of
water against the hull; the stamp of sailors" feet
overhead; a muffled yell-
In a weak voice she repeated her husband's name.
Her child's. Her husband's again, as if the litany
would somehow rescue her; waken her from this
unbelievable nightmare of captivity and pain-
She hammered on the door. Tugged. Wrenched-
Bolted. On the outside.
She opened one of the oval windows, smelled the salt
tang and watched the wake foaming white.
Gull
was running through a moderately heavy sea.
After staring at the water for a moment or so in a forlorn
way, she latched the window, slipping and falling
once more as she negotiated her way back to the
table. She sank into the bolted-down chair, on the
brink of another fit of uncontrollable weeping.
She hurt; she hurt so terribly-
Then, out of her pain emerged a different sort of
emotion.
Rage.
Rage at the vile way in which she'd been used.
Rage-and a determination not to surrender to despair
while one breath was left.
All right, she said to herself. Think, now. Hard as it
is, if you want to see Philip again-see
Abraham) again, ever-
think!
-
Rackham would return to the cabin eventually. But
how could she get
out
of the cabin?
Only by eluding
him.
Disabling him, even.
If she managed to gain the deck, she might-
might
be able to convince a few of the crew to side with her;
possibly put back to Boston. Rackham's
boasts about the loyalty of his men might not apply
to every single one-
A slim, almost impossible chance"
But what else was there?
She began to turn her head slowly, searching for a
weapon; any weapon to hold Rackham at bay-
All at once she realized that she'd failed to see
the one serious flaw in the scheme. Rackham would
never allow her on deck more than a moment if he
could follow her.
If he-
Hair hanging down into her eyes, Anne Kent
shivered. She wiped her mouth. She literally forced the
completion of the thought:
If
he were alive.
Remembering something, she raised her head. She stared
at the lantern swaying from the beam hook. The
lantern was paned with pebbled glass.
Rackham would notice a broken stern window
instantly. But he might not notice a
broken lantern pane-
Whimpering a little because the effort hurt so much, she
knelt on the table. Groped upward-
The pitch of
Gull
nearly toppled her off. She managed to seize the
lantern, twist it slightly. She bit down on
her lower lip and struck her knuckles against the
pebbled pane on the side away from the door.
She inhaled sharply. Someone was coming along the
companion way!
She started to scramble off the table. The footsteps
came closer-
Then passed by, and faded.
Panting, she waited a few moments. Then she hit
the pane again.
And once more, harder-
Soon after, she lay in the bunk, her naked back
to the door, her body curled not only to feign
sleep but to hide her left hand that held the shard of
glass. Her right hand bled steadily onto the stained
bedclothing.
She lay as still as possible, thinking of Philip's
face, and Abraham's, She tried not to dwell on
how much she hurt. Or on how the pain
might slow her; ruin her sole chance-
She lay with her eyes closed and her heart beating in
a fast, irregular way and her ears straining for a
sound of Rackham returning.
The bolt rattled. Anne tensed.
Her right hand hurt horribly. She'd gashed it
breaking the glass and carrying the shards to Rackham's
desk, closing its drop front to conceal all but the
piece she gripped in her left hand.
She heard hard breathing as the door opened. Heard
Rackham's heavy tread.
"Having a spot of rest, my girl?"
Philip,
she thought,
pray for me. I've just one chance at him
-
"Come along, wake up, let's see how you came
through the evening-was
Rackham's hand closed on her left shoulder,
pulling her over. He groped past her forearm
to pluck at a nipple -
And went white as Anne shot out her left hand with
all her remaining strength, tearing the sharp edge of the
glass across his face once, twice-
"Goddamn you for a deceiving comwhore!"
he screamed, knees buckling. He slapped hands
over his face. The glass had pierced his left
eyeball.
Pink fluid leaked between Rackham's fingers. His
slitted right eye began to quiver in involuntary
spasm.
Anne started to crawl from the bunk. Rackham was
teetering back and forth, cursing and pushing at his ruined
eyesocket as if he could somehow stop the leak and
bleeding. She ducked as he flailed at her with one
arm. She dodged by him, ran-
She almost made it to the unbolted door. The deck
tilted sharply. She lurched backwards against
Rackham.
The lower half of his face was drenched red. His lips
spewed unintelligible words. He grappled her
around the waist, his spittle and blood running down
her arm, her breasts, her belly-
Making wheezy sounds, Rackham hauled her
around
the table. Shreds of tissue hung from the hole in the
left side of his face. His pulled-down right eye
glared with beast's pain as he lifted Anne
bodily, started to hurl her away from him toward the
stern-
She dug fingers into his face, felt one slip
into the pulpy socket.
Gull's
bow rose, coming out of the trough of a wave.
Rackham's thrust carried him along, stumbling,
screaming as Anne kept her clawing hold on his
face.
Too late, Rackham tried to release her. They
fell together, against the glass of an oval window that
burst outward at the impact.
She let go then, both of them plunging toward the
boiling white of the wake. She heard Rackham's
dreadful shriek of fear but she had no time for fear;
no time for anything save a last strident cry of the
soul:
Philip, I love
-
The water smashed her and took her down.
Book Three
Death
and Resurrection
The
Wolves
A
CLOCK TICKED in his mind. Ticked
ceaselessly, hurrying
him
another mile, then another.
The clock drove him on when his exhausted body
almost refused. It woke
him
early every day, false dawn or sooner, the time when
the spring air was piercingly cool and cardinals were just
beginning to swoop through the waving meadowgrass. A
mouthful of dried corn from the haversack-a twist or
two of jerked beef bitten off and washed down with
canteen water taken from a bubbling creek-then he was
off again, mounted on the big bay he'd purchased at
the Will's Creek trading station.
He'd chosen the horse for stamina rather than speed.
But as the days warmed, speed became his paramount
concern. He began to push the horse harder than he
should.
In small valleys between the ranges of mountains,
he'd sometimes stop of an evening with settlers-one
family, or several living in close-clustered
cabins. He'd luxuriate in the comfort of a
slab-wood chair beside a smoky hearth constructed of
mud-plastered sticks.
And always, he'd ask the people a variation of the
same question:
"Do you know the day of the month? I reckon it to be
about the fourteenth, but I had a fever for three days
after I crossed Savage Mountain and may have lost
track somewhat-was
"It's the sixteenth."
And the clock ticked louder, a tormenting rhythm
reminding
him
that it might already be too late. He'd be up and
gone from the settlement before sunrise, ignoring the
healed wound in his left side that still ached when the air
was cold.
The first week or two, traveling across the Blue
Ridge that turned all smoky indigo in the
twilight hours, then up through the meadows along the
meandering Shenandoah, he'd wondered if the
prophecies put to him before his departure had not been
wholly correct. Maybe he
was
a madman to set out alone.
True, he was well enough equipped. And he faced
little risk of Indian attack this far south. Most
of the fury of the British-incited Six Nations was
focused miles to the north, across the tier of
tribal towns from the valley of the Genesee to the
valley of the Mohawk in York State.
Yet there were many other ways for a lone man to perish in
the wilderness.
And he was inexperienced; possessed no forest
skills as such, only his rifle and a compass and a
couple of sparsely detailed maps.
But he had an almost demonic will to succeed.
To follow and find the man who had warily put trust
in him; the man who now surely felt that trust
betrayed. He kept going when rainstorms drenched
him; stopped only when the fever and flux made his
head spin and his bowels run until he was so weak
he felt he could never stand up again.
But somehow he did, listening to the great clock buried
in his mind; the clock ticking and ticking the hours and
days like whip-strokes being laid on.
He followed the trails that wound up the dark, forested
grade of Little Allegheny Mountain, then
Savage Mountain where the fever felled him a
second time and he lost another three days, too
feeble to do more than lift corn kernels to his mouth.
At last he reached Allegheny Mountain, in the
highest range. The wooded peaks looked almost
black against the April sky. Bobolinks
wheeled over him and hares jumped in the brush as he
climbed the slope on horseback, sitting quite
tall on the bay, the Kentucky rifle held
one-handed across his thighs. He was never more than a
foot or two from the rifle, even in the pleasant
green valleys of cabins and small tilled
fields.
As the clock beat, something burned out of him. An
older self became a stranger.
After weeks on the trail, his deerhide trousers and
shirt felt not stiff but supple; a second skin.
His flesh took on a darker tone, changing from the
dead white of the winter sickbed through the burned red of the
first days of exposure to the sun and wind and beating
rains. When April came to an end, his cheeks had
a mahogany shine. Not a single extra ounce of
flesh remained on his body. Strangely, the new
gauntness didn't give him an unhealthy
appearance, but the opposite.
On the downslope of Chestnut Ridge, beyond the
Great Meadows where General Washington had once
built a fort to withstand a siege by the French, the bay
horse broke its leg stepping in a burrow. He
shot the animal and left it in a grove of shimmering
mountain laurel and went ahead on foot,
along a trail that should bring him to the junction of the
two rivers-the Monongahela flowing up from the south,
the Allegheny rushing down from the north-
If his compass and maps were correct.
But it had to be May already. The breathtaking beauty
of the mountains and the intervening green valleys no longer
exhilarated him. The clock in his mind beat louder-
George Clark had said he would depart from the
forks in mid-April or early May.
He was proud of having come this far alone. Proud of
surviving on sheer persistence, with not one drink of
liquor since he'd left the tidewater. Those
times when he'd sickened and lay shivering in the night
woods astir with unfamiliar, unseen creatures,
he'd wanted a taste of alcohol so badly his
throat burned.
But he had gotten through without it. He'd summoned
up resources in himself long unused. There was deep
satisfaction in finding them still present, ready to lend
him the stamina and stubbornness he needed for the trek.
Yet even that pride was fading as he plodded on
foot, fearing-knowing-he'd be too late.
The weather changed from spring sunshine to cool, windy
gray as he followed gullies where black
coal-veins showed along the eroded walls.
He slept less and less every night, tossing by the
small fire he always built with his chip of flint and
his little steel bar and the supply of tinder shavings kept
carefully dry in his haversack along with his powder and
ball. Dozing, knowing he must rest but wishing he
didn't need to, he'd hear a howling off in the
trees, and occasionally see a glittering animal
eye reflect the firelight. The wolves smelled
him. They came to prowl close by. But the blaze
kept them at a distance.
As he came out of the woods one gray morning, a
farmer's wife guiding a plow on a poor, cleared
patch of land reached for her musket lying a few
feet away. She watched him warily as he
approached.
He touched the floppy brim of his old
loaf-crowned hat-a gift from a family for whom
he'd chopped some wood in return for dinner at the
start of his trail in Maryland. He tried to smile
in a cordial way:
"Morning, ma'am. My name is Fletcher. I'm
headed for the fort at the forks. Can you tell me how far
that is?"
The lean, weary-looking woman, thirty or so but
already minus most of her teeth, leaned on the
plow handles while the dray horse clopped a hoof
impatiently. He saw one of the woman's palms,
ugly and moist with old and new blisters.
"At least thirty miles, give or take a
few," she said. "Where you from?"
"Virginia."
"You bound to the forks alone?"
"That's right. I'd hoped to arrive by the first of
May."
"You're two weeks late."
He touched his hat brim again. "Then I'd best not
delay. Thank you-was
"You-was
He turned around at the sound of her voice.
"comy wouldn't want to stay a while? I could use
help with the planting."
"I'm sorry. I can
"t
."
"All right."
He started on along the fresh-turned furrows,
hearing a faint rumble in the gray sky to the west. The
woman wiped her forehead with her forearm, pointed
toward the ramshackle cabin surrounded by stumps at
the edge of the field:
"There's a spring out behind if you want to fill that
canteen."
"Thanks very much, I will."
He said it quickly, his tone matching the impatience he
felt. The clock in his head beat its warning.
He'll be gone
-
HE'LL BE GONE
As he bent to hold the mouth of his canteen under the
stream spilling from the rock ledge behind the cabin, he
wished suddenly that the earth could pour forth more than
water. The old craving hit him, thickening his
tongue.
Near the spring, an upright slab of
wood
name carved out with the point of a knife. Evidently the
father of the two small girls he heard chattering and
giggling in the cabin. Perhaps he should stop; help the
woman in return for a few meals and a few nights
of rest. Then turn around and go back east. He
felt too incredibly tired to travel one more mile
if, at the end, he failed to find his friend-
Now listen,
he reprimanded himself.
You'll find him. You'll find him if you have
to go all the way to the shore of the Kentucky country
alone
-
But he had scant confidence.
His throat burned as he capped the canteen,
walked around the cabin, waved to the woman at the
slow-moving plow and set off through the forest while the
May sky rumbled.
Judson assumed that what had spared his life was the
clean passage of Lottie Shaw's pistol ball
in and out through the flesh of his left side. That and the
cowardice of Carter, the man who was living off her
diminished earning power following their flight from
Richmond.
He had no way of knowing whether Carter had deterred
Lottie from putting another ball into him and seeing
him surely dead. In fact he had no
recollection of anything in the hours immediately after the
shooting.
Lottie and Carter had evidently left him where
they planned: in the damp autumn leaves along
Plum Creek. Somehow he'd stumbled up and away
from there, guided by an instinctive sense of direction,
until he reached the road that wound to the
Rappahannock near Sermon Hill.
He learned later that a field black spied him
staggering along the road and summoned help.
He was borne to Sermon Hill in a wagon.
There, according to Donald's subsequent report, he
was looked at by Angus Fletcher.
The old man recognized that his son might be
bleeding to death. He sent for a physician-and told
Donald that Judson would be permitted to remain at
the plantation until he recovered or died.
But Angus insisted Judson be put in one of the
slave cabins. His principles would only bend so
far.
  in
Judson did remember waking in the cabin, thrashing
and yelling and feeling thick bandages wrapping his chest
under an itchy nightshirt.
Flushed of face, Donald perched on a stool beside
Judson's pallet. Gently, he tried to push his
brother down:
"You'll kill yourself for certain if you flop around that
way."
"I promised to mee
t
George Clark in Williamsburg!" were
Judson's first words.
"You
what?"
Breathing hard, Judson explained in labored
sentences. At the end Donald shook his head:
"You've been lying here the best part of two weeks.
There is no way you can make that rendezvous."
"Send a message, then. You've got to!"
Donald agreed, and arranged it. But the black
messenger returned in three days with the news that
George Clark had already departed.
"Then-was Speech and even breathing still cost Judson
considerable pain. "As soon as I'm up-a week
or so-I'll follow him-was
Donald rubbed his gouty leg, shook his head a
second time:
"It'll be more like a month before you're well enough
to hobble. The wound was clean but quite deep." An
ironic smile touched Donald's lips. "Father
said you were to be given the best possible care. Do you
know he
summoned a second doctor all the way from
Richmond because he felt the local sawbones
didn't know enough? I've never seen him so
shamefaced as when he told me he'd done it."
Judson was too astonished to say anything
immediately. He gazed at the cabin's dirt floor,
listened to the voices of blacks moving in the street
outside, experienced alternate pangs of bitter
mirth and exultation. Finally, he spoke:
"I can't conceive that I'd even be allowed at Sermon
Hill. I'm surprised Father didn't order me
floated in the river immediately, to save possible
funeral expenses."
"Stop that," Donald said, angered. "He's a
narrow-minded, vile-tempered old devil, and no
one knows it better than I. But he's not a
monster, just a man. And you
are
his son. So let's have no more vituperation. There's
been enough hate on both sides too damned long."
Judson lay back, hurting. "Yes," he
murmured. "Yes, I guess that's right-was
A moment later, he re-opened his eyes:
"When I am able to leave, I still intend to follow
George."
"By yourself? That's insanity."
"Maybe, but I'm going. I'll settle with that
Shaw bitch first, though."
Donald waved. "You'll be spared. She's
disappeared, along with the flash gentleman who
arrived with her while you were in Williamsburg. They
either left you for dead or feared to finish what they'd
started because they could guess the consequences. Father sent
drivers searching for them. With pistols and muskets."
"Nigra
drivers?"
"Three of his most trusted. He armed them
personally."
"You can't be serious."
"I am."
'TO BE goddamned."
"Why should you be so surprised? Blood outlasts
everything. Overcomes everything-including hatred.
Blood and time are the world's two great healers."
Judson repeated it, bemused: "Blood-was He
shook his head slowly. "Odd you should light on that
word."
"It's common enough."
"But the old man thinks I've a bad strain
ru
nning in me. Devil's blood, he calls it."
"He has the same kind." Again that ironic
smile. "Don't tell me you've never noticed.
Of course, I don't doubt he softened somewhat
because you were shot. That made you vulnerable, you
see. It's easier to forgive a wounded creature
than one who's raring up to snap at you. I wouldn't
question it too much, I'd just be thankful. The hate's
ruined both of you for years."
Sleepy, Judson sighed. "I feel too stinking
rotten to hate anyone but myself. Yes, I-I'm
grateful he relented. Would you tell him?"
"Of course. I doubt he'll have any reaction."
"I'm not
looking for a reaction, just tell
him."
"I will."
"Also tell him I'm going to
follow
George. It's the only way I can turn my
life around. Even if I don't catch him,
or-if something should happen to me on the way, I have
to start over. Do you understand?"
Donald answered quietly, "I do. And that's a
great virtue of this country. One of the things which makes
a dis.heartening, tiresome war worth fighting."
"What are you talking about?"
"We've much to win besides all those lofty principles
declared in Philadelphia, Judson. I've
heard Tom Jefferson speak of it time and
again-the country in the west. The chance it offers for people
to begin again. Lord-was A brief sigh. "I sometimes
wish I could go."
His eyes sought his younger brother's. "But I hope
you haven't conceived this venture only to prove something
to Father."
"No. As I told George, I tangled my
affairs so badly in this part of the world, I have to leave
or I'll die here." Donald tried to joke,
pointing at Judson's left side: "I
agree-it damned near happened, didn't it?"
iv
On a bright morning in late March, Donald
walked down to the river road with his younger brother.
Though still pale, Judson looked fit. He
carried a haversack and the Kentucky rifle
Donald had sent to Richmond to procure. Misty
March afternoons when he could manage to keep his powder
dry, he'd practiced loading and firing in a
remote field. His target was a chunk of log
set on top of a tree stump. Before too many days
had gone by, he could hit the section of log, six
inches high and four across, nearly every time.
Donald looked ponderously heavy and tired as he
leaned on his cane at the point where the main
road intersected the one leading from the great house.
At sunrise, Judson had packed his
haversack, tucked away the pocket money
Donald had loaned him, dressed for his departure
and left the cabin. Not once during his recuperation
had he entered the main building at Sermon Hill,
nor seen his father, except to catch glimpses of him
riding the fields.
"I still think you are absolutely lunatic,"
Donald said. "But I also have come to the conclusion that
with a spot of luck, you might find what you're
seeking."
"I don't know what that is, Donald."
"Yes, but when you find it, perhaps you'll recognize
it."
"You're more confident than I am."
"Brotherly intuition," Donald smiled. "You're
not the same person I used to know-was
"Of necessity," Judson said. "I guess we
drive out our
demons the best way we can, just to survive. I
don't really know where I'm going, but I know I
can't stay here. That's a splendid declaration of
purpose, isn't it?"
And he gave Donald a wry smile that
hid a very real ache. The melancholy had
overwhelmed him without warning on the slow walk down
to the river.
"It's an honest one," Donald said. "By the
way-I'll take care of your request that Peggy
McLean be told."
Judson's head lifted sharply. "Is she back
home?"
"Why, yes. In all the bustle of
preparation
these past couple of days, I must have forgotten to mention
it. I ran into Williams. He told me. He
said she returned about a week ago. She's been
staying inside because her health is poor again,
evidently."
Concern stabbed Judson. "What's wrong?"
"Williams professes not to know. It's very odd-you
realize she's been away since last fall-his
Williams said she let slip a remark about
sailing home on a coasting vessel."
"A
coasting
vessel? Why in God's name would she risk a sea
trip, north or south, when the British are
everywhere?"
"So are the American privateersmen. But I
agree, in wartime, a pleasure cruise anywhere is
deuced peculiar-and a holiday the length of hers
downright astonishing. Where could she go? Neither
Philadelphia nor New York in the north,
only Boston. Possibly Charleston or
Savannah south of here-was
"I'm sure Peggy has no relatives in
Charleston or Savannah," Judson said, trying
to puzzle it out. "It seems to me she told me
years ago that her mother had kin somewhere up in New
England. Maybe my memory's faulty, though-was
"The sad truth is, the uprising is probably still
affecting her. To the degree that wild jaunts offer
the only release she can find. Williams said
nothing about-was Donald sought the term he wanted.
"commental
difficulties. But he's intensely loyal, so he
wouldn't."
"I
doubt the cause is solely the uprising,
Judson thought somberly. I
expect it's also a certain event that happened afterward
-
For a moment he entertained the notion of
stopping at McLean's on his way out of Caroline
County. But he rejected the idea. Nothing he could
do now would ever make amends for the despicable act
committed in the summerhouse.
His thoughts lingered a moment on an image of
Peggy's face. Not without effort, he blanked the
image from his mind as part of the past he had to shut out
forever.
"Well-was He couldn't bear to protract the parting
much longer. "comif you do have the opportunity, tell
her where I've gone, and why."
"Be assured I'll do so. I know it will be months
if not a year or more before we hear from you-was
"I promise I'll write when I can."
"Yes, but with the tribes rising, I doubt the post
operates on any sort of regular schedule between
here and Kentucky!"
And not at all from the British-controlled territory
beyond,
Judson added silently.
"I don't want to sermonize, Judson, but I
do believe you've made the proper choice. I'm
thankful that despite all the turmoil in the west,
there's open land to which a man can go if need be-was
Tears glistened in the corners of his eyes.
He wiped them away quickly. "God keep you,
brother."
"And you," Judson answered, starting up the road.
"Oh, wait-damme! I'm forgetting everything-to "
Judson wheeled around, startled to see his brother
pull a small black-bound book from his coat
pocket.
"I saw Father while you were putting your things together.
This is a present-was
Judson's jaw dropped. "Not for me-?"
"Don't be too overwhelmed until you examine it.
It's what you'd expect of him, I think."
"I didn't expect anything."
"No, I mean the nature of the gift."
Donald's thumb bent around to the gold stamping on
the binding. Judson smiled that old, brilliant
smile that could light his face:
"A New Testament. I see what you meant."
"Go on, open the flyleaf."
Judson took the book. Something caught in his
throat when he saw the familiar handwriting, a little
shakier with age than he remembered, but still
recognizably his father's. The inscription read:
To my son Judson, Angus Fletcher March
29,

Judson's smile faded. His face grew almost
stark as he stared at the words. Donald chuckled with
false heartiness:
"Of course Father thinks you're even madder than I
do. Yet all the while he's inveighing against your
waywardness, I get the feeling that in some queer,
perverse way he approves of what you've chosen
to do."
Judson's eyes widened in fury. "I told you
I chose it for myself, not to please him."
"Somehow I believe he appreciates that. I
think it's the very reason he does approve.
Maybe he recognizes that you've become a
man."
"I wasn't aware I was anything else."
"Oh yes," Donald said quietly. "Until a
few months ago, you didn't deserve the name.
Ah-to " A hand was quickly raised. "None of your
temper, now. It's the truth. Most of us come to it in
our own time and in our own way, and some never come to it
at all. But you have. And while you didn't exactly
turn out as Father wished-was A shrug. "Well,
life is endless compromise. You wanted Peggy and
couldn't have her.
I loved my wife and lost her. Father wanted a
dutiful pair of boys, appropriately Tory
in sentiment-he still abominates the rebellion, you
realize-and instead, he got one gouty old lump
who barely manages to help him run the place and
is on the wrong side politically to boot. He
also got an atheistic rogue who has decided,
God save us, to be one of those rude
frontiersmen-was
Donald smiled. "Every father desires a lot from a
son, I suppose. If he can't have everything, he
settles for what good things do come about."
"I don't think Father really cares about m-was
"Dammit, now, no more! He does! He told
me he is convinced you'll probably die of the ague
after your first week of sleeping in the woods. But I
swear he sounded just a mite proud when he remarked
on it."
Judson started to speak, found he couldn't. He
tightened his hand around the testament, tucked it
carefully down into the haversack. Something in him fought
to bring forth words; the hardest words, perhaps, that he'd ever
uttered-
Something else resisted. For a moment his
fin[*copygg'features showed the tormenting
struggle.
Then, almost blurting it:
"Tell him I thank him very much for the gift."
"Certainly."
"And-was
My God, there were tears in his eyes!
"comand tell him I said-was
The tide burst through-older than all the terrible
resentments built between them, timeless in its force and
power:
"Tell him I said I love him."
"That, he will welcome most of all."
Judson grinned. "But he won't believe it, the
old bastard."
They laughed together, clasped hands, and Judson
turned west in the morning sunshine.
Late in the afternoon of the day he met the woman plowing
in the field, Judson felt the first drops of
rain. Before long, with thunder rumbling intermittently,
the drizzle changed to a downpour. He was quickly
soaked to the skin.
The woods grew darker, the faint trail
increasingly difficult to follow. Squinting through the
rain, he saw the way ahead blocked by an
immense, lightning-felled tree.
He decided to bear to the left, go around. He was
thankful for the deerhide trousers; brambles grew
among the ferns.
The forest smelled of rich earth that steamed as the rain
slacked off. But for several minutes, the fall had
been torrential. Footing was hazardous.
He reached the run of a gully perhaps ten feet
deep. He started to work his way along it, keeping
an eye on the position of the fallen tree on his
right. When he was well past it, he'd cut back
to the trail and-
Weakened by the rain, the gully's edge gave way under
his left boot.
Judson flailed, toppling over with a yell that went
echoing through the dense trees.
He struck the gully bottom, left leg bent
back under his right knee. At the moment of impact,
the leg was lanced with an excruciating pain.
He lay gasping for a minute or so. He searched the
crumbled side of the gully until he located his
rifle and haversack, both dropped during the
fall. He braced his hands in the mud beneath him,
straightened his left leg-
The fierce pain exploded again.
Damn! He'd twisted something, badly.
He floundered onto his chest, tried to push up that
way. But the moment he gained his feet, he
grimaced
and clenched his teeth. He'd never get a quarter of a
mile on that leg. Not till he rested it.
Overnight, at least.
He attempted a few abortive steps, only
to give up in exquisite agony. He was conscious
of the clock ticking in his mind, every wasted moment
spelling ever more certain failure to find George
Clark at Pittsburgh. Christ, he'd
crawl
on-to 
But good sense prevailed. The scant amount of time
he'd gain if he kept going would be better spent
letting the injury repair itself a little. Better
to make his camp and start at daylight. By then, he
might be able to move faster.
Trying to control his anger over the sorry turn of
affairs, he clawed his way up the mud and rock
of the gully side, retrieving his rifle and tossing
it up to the rim, then the haversack. After what
seemed an endless climb, he reached the top. He
pulled himself over, resting his cheek on a fern while
he gulped air. Thunder rocked the forest.
Rain began to patter the back of his neck.
No damn possibility of finding dry wood now,
he thought. The best he could do was drag himself to the
nearest large tree-and hope that the lightning he saw
flickering in the west would not strike the particular
tree he selected. Actually, he couldn't very
well avoid trees, they grew so closely here.
One was no more or less dangerous than another.
Lugging rifle and haversack, he reached the big
maple he'd chosen, settled himself so his spine
rested against the trunk. The new leaves overhead would
protect him from all but the heaviest rain.
The injured leg throbbed. What a blasted, damned
piece of bad luck! He was so
close!
Less than thirty miles to the forks-
Still, there was nothing to be done except rest and wait
for morning. He let his mind drift, trying to free
it of frustration and fury. The patter of the rain and the
murmur of the receding thunder had a soporific
effect.
His eyelids grew heavy. Leaning the back of his
head against the maple bark, he yawned-
And popped his eyes open, disoriented, alarmed-
Blind-
No, no-he'd only slept. Till dark.
All around him, the woods were still. The silence was
accentuated by the occasional, barely audible scurry
of some nocturnal animal, or the drip of water
from a branch. The air was cool, moist. He rubbed
a hand across his mouth, reached down to the aching leg,
squeezed it and winced.
Thirsty, he groped for his canteen. He had it
tilted, ready to take a swallow, when he heard the
sound-
A yipping bark that slid higher, into a howl.
Wolves. Somewhere out in the darkness.
He understood instantly how vulnerable he was. The
howl multiplied, two, three, perhaps four
predators blending into a weird chorus that set his
teeth chattering. He couldn't run away from them.
He had to stay here and defend himself here-
At least he had the rifle, and the hunting knife in
his boot.
Thunder again, booming. He fumbled for the haversack,
face and chest covered with a sudden sweat.
Laboriously, he loaded the rifle, readied it in
his lap while the howling grew louder.
As a new thunderclap died away, he heard another
sound. The drip from the trees was quickening. The
rain was starting again. Heavy enough to reach his protected
position and soak him-
A streak of lightning zigzagged through the sky, showing
him three black-nosed snouts not four yards from where
he lay. Fangs shone white and animal eyes
glowed until the lightning flickered out.
He swallowed, heard a wolf's guttural
snarling; heard clawed feet moving across the wet
earth-
He flung the rifle to his shoulder, aimed it blind
in the
dark, triggered it-
The damp powder in the pan didn't ignite.
Swearing, he fought to his feet. He almost
yelled
aloud at the agony in his leg. But he had to stand
up. They were coming. Three at least.-The Lord alone
knew how many more might be gathering further out in the
impenetrable black of the woods.
He hunched his right shoulder, snaked his hunting
knife out of his boot sheath, closed his teeth on the
blade's dull edge and gripped the rifle muzzle
with both hands. He concentrated all his attention on
the sounds of the wolves closing, cruelly aware of the
one central fact of his situation:
He would kill them, or he would be killed by them and
never reach the forks of the Ohio.
The rain beat down harder, making detection of
noises more difficult.
Well,
he thought, if
this is the end of it, at least I needn't be ashamed
of how it happened.
He tried to buoy his confidence with a silent assertion
that he would not
permit
himself to be killed.
Well and good. That didn't alter reality. He could
very well die in the next few minutes even if he
made a thousand resolves. The most disheartening part
was realizing that if he did perish, George Clark
would never know how he'd tried to catch up to
him
and honor his pledge to serve-
Strangely, though, when he accepted the
possibility of dying, a deadly sort of calm
swept over him. It helped him take a firmer
grip on the rifle muzzle, and almost completely
forget the terrible pain in his leg.
A snarling, clawing thing of fur and fangs
hurled against him. Judson wrenched his head aside.
The twisted leg gave way.
He lurched against the tree, slid, landed on his
side, gashed the corner of his mouth on the knife
clenched in his teeth. Fangs tore through his deerhide
trousers. He
brought the rifle whipping over and down. The wolf's
jaws loosened as bone cracked.
Judson kicked at the flopping, clawing animal.
Beat at it with the rifle stock, smashing,
smashing
The wolf let out a weak yelp and fell away from
him-
Just as the other two converged, snapping, slavering -
He clubbed at them, kicked them while the rain
fell steadily. He switched his rifle to his
left hand, took the knife out of his mouth with his right,
stabbing and clubbing simultaneously, hardly a man
any longer; he was an animal almost as savage as
his attackers.
His knife opened the throat of one of the wolves. The
other clamped its jaws on his left arm, shredding
flesh, starting blood running.
Crazed with pain, Judson dropped the rifle from his
left hand, lashed his right hand over and buried
the knife in the wolf's belly. In its
death-throes, the animal bit him to the bone.
Judson screamed, jerked back against the tree,
knocking his head hard. The gut-stabbed wolf
twitched at his feet and lay still.
He panted, tried to close his left hand into a
fist, could not. He felt warm blood trickling
down over his knuckles.
But they were dead. All three, dead. He was safe
from-
Lightning lit the forest. He let out a single short
sob of despair.
The glow in the heavens showed him two more, jaws
dripping. Thunder pealed as they crouched to spring.
The Guns of Summer
TO PHILIP THERE was a peculiar and frightening
familiarity about this moment. The heat reminded him of
Breed's Hill. So did the dull glare of
bayonets; the scarlet coats-
The British foot soldiers were advancing from the
east, through steam rising after the most recent downpour.
The sunlit vapor fumed up between the trees like some
outpouring of infernal ovens, lending a spectral
quality to the figures of the enemy.
He was awash with sweat. It ran down to the
tip of his nose, rivered over his chest and along his
legs, soaking clothing already wet from the June rain.
He guessed their position to be somewhere to the west of the
little Jersey hamlet of Monmouth Court House.
While the ghost-soldiers marched toward them through the
mist, the Americans waited in a north-south
Line
on the east side of McGellaird's Brook, a
ravine whose bottom resembled a swamp more than a
creek.
The army of thirteen thousand had marched north from
Valley Forge a week ago. Philip guessed
that perhaps half that number of men were strung out in
advanced positions to which they'd moved starting around
seven that morning. Thus far, Philip's contingent
had met only light resistance.
The temperature in the woods had to be close to a
hundred. Up and down the line men lay fallen,
fainted away. A few others struggled to revive
them, without much luck.
Philip's musket felt slippery in his hands as
he squinted through the steaming air. Each breath he
took was labored. He heard the British
infantry drummers hammering the cadence somewhere behind the
dim figures advancing in the steam between the
thickly clustered trees.
Sword pulled and ready, General Anthony
Wayne slipped along the rear of the American
line. His sweat-sheened face showed an emotion that
might have been frustration-or rage. From the brush where
he crouched near Breen and Royal Rothman,
Philip heard Wayne repeat the same command over
and over:
"Hold fire. Hold fire until your officer
signals."
The handsome, flamboyant young general-as dirty,
stinking, sand-
covered
and fly-bitten as the rest of them today-passed within a
yard of Philip. Wayne broke step, stopped a
moment as recognition registered.
Philip was too weary to return Wayne's
brief, comradely smile. But he did ask a
question:
"Are we to hold, General? Our own drum
signals don't make much sense."
Wayne's mouth wrenched. "As long as I have charge
here, we'll not only hold, we'll attack. As
for the signals-I'll be damned if any officer in
this sector can make sense of 'em-or knows
what our esteemed commander's up to. Order,
counter-order, disorder-that seems to be the rule for the
morning. Charlie Lee didn't want this action in
the first place. So we'll just forget him, eh?"
Wayne smiled again, the kind of bravado grin that
had given the young Pennsylvanian a reputation as a
commander impatient with hesitation and virtually
unconcerned about his personal safety. Philip
watched the general move off through the sodden weeds,
working
his way south along the ragged line awaiting the
redcoats.
They were much closer now. Philip could distinctly
see facial features through the confused interplay of
sunlight and steam. Far away, thunder rumbled.
Another storm.
Or could it be cannon-fire?
In Breen's eyes-in Royal's-in the eyes of
all the stubbled, sweating men watching the advancing
enemy, Philip saw the same concern that kept a
triphammer rhythm of fear going in his own chest.
The army had not formally engaged the British since
leaving Valley Forge on the twenty-third of
June.
And now the British had a new commander.
Unfortunately so did all the Americans holding
advanced outposts in the field this morning. To a
man, they distrusted the general who was supposed to be
giving the orders. As Wayne had said, Charles
Lee had argued against this pursuit. Despite all
von Steuben's training, the Americans, Lee was
convinced, were still no match for British regiments-
Very shortly they would resolve the issue.
Resolve it in this patch of Jersey marshland where the
tree trunks were surrounded by pools of water left
from the huge storms that had alternated with intense heat
and humidity for days on end. Philip watched the
British closing in the ordered ranks he
remembered so well from Breed's Hill-
Then suddenly, from behind the marching redcoats, he
picked up a terrifying new sound.
"Oh Jesus," Breen exclaimed. "They're
throwin" cavalry at us!"
Philip peered through the sweat blurring his eyes. The
British infantrymen were flanking right and left.
Into the openings burst the hard-riding vans of mounted
units; men in green-faced blue coats and hussar
busbies, their drawn sabers flashing-
"Queen's Rangers!" someone cried in fright.
The American officers up and down the
Une called the count for cocking and poising
firelocks. Philip heard Walter Webb
yell:
"Hold for the signal-to "
Looking inhumanly tall in their saddles, the
Tory Queen's Rangers thundered between the trees,
riding down on the Americans, sabers raised.
Philip watched one jouncing cavalryman's
Busby
tilt askew so that it touched his right eyebrow.
Sixty yards away now.
Fifty-
Coming at the gallop, dozens of them, hundreds, a
surging wave of blue coats and steel-
A man to Philip's left shrieked in panic,
threw down his musket and began to run back toward
the ravine. Webb shouted at him but let him go,
whirling to concentrate on the cavalrymen. In the
distance Philip thought he heard an American
drum signal for a retreat.
Or was that thunder again?
Where was General Washington? Why had they been
thrust forward like this under the over-all command of a man
everyone considered a braggart, a fool, even a
coward?
The Ranger horse came on.
Forty yards.
Thirty-
The great chargers rolled their eyes and bared their huge
yellowed teeth against their bits. In patches of
sunlight, the sabers glared like a spiked wall
rolling forward -
Finally-much too late, Philip feared-he heard
the command bawled from company to company:
"Fire!"
A wild but all too brief elation had greeted the
news
of the French alliance.
The agreement between the American commissioners in
Paris and the government of King Louis XVI had
actually been reached in early January. A treaty
stipulated that France would come to the aid of the new
country with men and materiel if and when war broke out
between Britain and her traditional enemy.
Very few doubted that such a war was inevitable. According to the
rumors reaching Valley Forge in the late spring,
France actually seemed to be encouraging incidents that
would provoke open conflict. A French armada
commanded by Admiral Count d'Estaing had already sailed
from Toulon with four thousand soldiers
aboard. The soldiers were prepared to land on
American soil if, by chance, their country and England
were at war by the time the ships made a landfall.
Alarmed, the king's ministers in London had
replaced the sluggish, luxury-loving Howe with a
new commander in America, Sir Henry Clinton.
Upon hearing the news of the French armada, Clinton
promptly abandoned the prize of Philadelphia
and began its evacuation in mid-June. Washington
ordered the march from Valley Forge a few days
later, moving the American army into New Jersey,
an inferno of summer humidity and sandy roads and
sudden storms.
Somewhere ahead of them Clinton zigzagged toward
New York with his troops and his precious train of
fifteen hundred wagons loaded with supplies and
equipment. According to the scouts, Clinton was at
present heading northeast, to reach the safety of
New York via Sandy Hook. Only General
Charles Lee and a few other senior officers were in
favor of letting in
mi
go unmolested.
But thus far the pursuit had been a fiasco.
Washington pushed on without directly
contacting the retreating enemy, listening meantime to the
counsels of
his various generals, and weighing each opinion.
Everyone knew Anthony Wayne's terse
advice:
"Fight, sir."
Von Steuben had theoretically brought the army to a
new, higher pitch of readiness. Yet Washington
had finally decided on a compromise. They would
engage Clinton's rear guard only. If that
action proved successful, the entire American
force could sweep forward.
Regrettably, the general who demanded personal
command of the exploratory action was thin, ugly,
egotistical Charles Lee, nominally the
highest-ranking officer after Washington.
Lee had seen service in Europe. He considered
himself much more of a military expert than his superior.
There was even talk that he had penned not-so-secret
notes to the Congress denouncing Washington as
"damnably deficient." Lee stubbornly
maintained that the army to which he'd pledged his service
could never win a major engagement against crack
British and Hessian units.
Conscious of his rank and its perquisites,
he still demanded command of the probing action aimed at
Clinton's retreating troops. Washington
reluctantly agreed-
And Lee began not a vigorous chase but a slow,
aimless dallying. The men in the field this steaming
twenty-eighth of June, 1778, were already aware that
while Lee vacillated, Clinton had started his
precious baggage train moving again. During the
darkest hours of the preceding night, the quarry had
begun to widen its margin of distance from the Americans.
Now, along an irregular front near tiny
Monmouth Court House, the forward American
units braced for what appeared to be a
protective counter-stroke from Clinton's rear.
And, as General Wayne had disgustedly noted, no
clear-cut instructions had yet been issued by
General Lee.
"Order, counter-order, disorder."
Every man, it seemed to Philip, was left to fight as
circumstances dictated.
Or flee. be
Or die.
The first of the Tory Queen's Rangers had nearly
reached the American line. Philip's musket
bucked against his shoulder, cracking out flame
and smoke.
His ball struck an officer's huge roan in the
neck. The animal bellowed as it went down. A
fountain of horse blood sopped the officer's
breeches.
Three and four deep, the cavalry charged the line of
erupting muskets. Some blue-coated men
dropped. Others broke through to hack and chop with their
sabers. The area immediately in front of Philip
quickly became a melee of downed horses and mountless
men, with other Rangers from the rear charging through as best
they could.
And now came the frantic business of re-loading-
The officer Philip had unseated dashed to his right,
grabbing at the reins of a horse whose rider had been
shot. Philip saw this while he fumbled with powder
and ball and tried to remember von Steuben's
ten-count. All around him he heard screams,
shots, curses, the sickening
chunk
of sabers striking exposed flesh.
The bloodstained officer gained the saddle, spurred
the new mount forward. Sections of the American line
began to break, the men scrambling toward the ravine.
Philip and Royal Rothman held their
places in a clump of shrubbery that afforded them
only minimal cover. The smoke, the steam, the
uproar of hoofbeats and shrieks and explosions
constricted Philip's world to little more than a few
yards of ground-
Just as Philip finished loading, the officer with the
blood-reddened trousers tensed in the saddle, ready
to leap his new horse straight over their heads in
pursuit of the men fleeing to the ravine.
Royal Rothman jumped to his feet, took two
short steps to the side, rammed his bayonet into the
horse's belly as it went over. A hoof struck
Philip's ear, drawing blood-
The big cavalry horse wrenched in midair. The
Ranger cried out, his blade arcing crazily as
horse and man tumbled. Breen was back-stepping and
re-loading at the same time. He slipped in a
muddy place. The falling officer's saber, coming
down at a chance angle, cut Breen's neck from the
right side.
Breen's head seemed to loll toward his left
shoulder. Blood cascaded over his chest. The
officer's bayoneted horse was down, thrashing,
loosing its stinking bowels in its death-agony.
The officer pulled himself from under the fallen
horse, staggered to his feet. Philip aimed his
musket at the blue-coated back, decided
instantly not to waste a shot, leaped over the dying
animal with bayonet thrust out ahead.
The officer heard him coming, spun. A bar of steaming
June sun lit young, frightened blue eyes. The
saber flashed up defensively. Philip dodged
under, stabbed his bayonet home and yanked it out.
The Queen's Ranger spilled forward into' the
mud. American muskets were crackling and flaming
again.
"Have at "em with bayonets!"
Off to his right Philip recognized Wayne's
voice, very nearly a maniacal shriek. A
riderless British horse went by, almost knocking
Royal over. The horse tried to check at the edge
of the ravine. Philip watched it tumble over-just as
he heard other hoofbeats behind him-
More of the Rangers on the attack. He shot shoulder
to shoulder with Royal. Their two balls killed one
cavalryman, wounded a second. They jumped apart
to
let the horses race past. The dead Ranger
hung head down, his boot caught in his stirrup.
Again Wayne ordered the bayonet charge.
This time sections of the American Une began
to move.
Philip and Royal bent low, stumbling toward the
trees. Philip gulped air. God, he was
dizzy. The heat was enough to make anyone pass out-
Quickly he glanced up and down the line. What he
saw restored his spirits and re-sharpened his senses. The
American musket-fire had blunted, then broken
the Ranger charge. A few last horsemen were
wheeling to head back the way they'd come, retreating
wraiths in the forest steam.
A ball whizzed past Philip's head. He
ducked automatically, realized that the infantrymen
who had stopped to permit the Ranger companies
to charge through had now started a defensive fire.
But the Rangers-superb soldiers-had been
beaten!
Philip and Royal converged on a kneeling
infantryman who desperately tried to decide which
of them to shoot. His face plastered with sweat and sand,
Royal took advantage of the hesitation and
dispatched the luckless redcoat with one stroke of the
bayonet.
When the man fell, Philip glanced at his friend.
There was something strange and terrible and old in
Royal's eyes. As he smiled, the sand cracked
from his cheeks and dribbled onto his filthy shirt. His
teeth had the white look of a skull's.
Ahead, they heard Wayne's bellow. Out in
front of all the rest, he was leading the bayonet
attack. Philip and Royal staggered toward the
voice, hunting for redcoats.
But in the steamy, uncertain light they were hard
to spot. And now they too were p
u
lling back.
Philip stumbled and sprawled in a pool of water.
By the time Royal had helped him to his feet, they
both heard a new, readily identifiable sound in the
woods:
American drummers beating a familiar cadence.
Anthony Wayne came storming back toward them,
shaking a bloodied spontoon:
"Form up in column of fours!
Column of fours!"
"General, why are they beating retreat?" Philip
shouted. "We've got 'em running-was
Wayne stopped long enough to mop his forehead with his
sleeve. He was shaking:
"You go tell that to General Lee-you can
probably find him having breakfast behind the
Lines
to It appears we nipped Clinton's tail a little
too smartly. A scout came through before we started the
charge. He said Clinton's turning the main body
of the army back against us. He's afraid of losing his
wagons. We're
that close
-"
Wayne's index finger and thumb illustrated. His
face was still white with fury.
"comccsequently, Charlie Lee's called a
retreat!"
He stalked on towarbled the ravine, screaming:
"Column of fours, goddamn you!
Retreat formation!"
Wearily, Philip and Royal began to trot after
the retreating general.
Philip's temples hurt. So did his chest.
Sand and tiny insects tormented his exposed skin.
He cursed long and loud, finally exclaimed:
"That damn yellow Lee still thinks we can't hold
against the British!"
Astonished, he heard Royal echo his anger with one
foul word after another. The boy, it seemed,
was no longer a boy-
They loped back past the horse Royal had
killed, to rally around two drummers signaling from the
other side of McGellaird's Brook.
iv
They marched while the sun blistered them. They marched
on a road half mud, half sand, in a direction
Philip presumed to be westward. Back toward
English-town; back toward the main body of the army.
They
marched
along in a column of fours, cursing but keeping
step. Every man in the ranks knew how close they'd
come to blunting the British counter-thrust and breaking
through.
It seemed to Philip that the horror of Breed's
Hill had been repeated with an eerie, subtle
variation. This time the American bayonets could have
won the day. At least in his limited sector-
Then, once again, the retreat signal. Not to keep
them from defeat, but to prevent a victory.
Damn!
They tramped along the sandy, hell-hot road,
complaining bitterly.
The pullback had been orderly, and without
casualties. Von Steuben had taught them that.
He had also taught them a great deal they were unable
to use, Philip thought in disgust.
Next to him, Royal said, "Do you suppose
anyone will go back for Breen's body?"
Philip grimaced. "How can they? Looks like
we're going to be driven back miles
from
where we started."
"Will Captain Webb write Breen's family?"
Philip shrugged. "Breen never told us his real
name. It would take a visit to Andover to find out who
he really was."
"For all his coarseness, he wasn't a bad
sort."
"No-was Philip ached at the memory of the older
man dying from the chance cut of the saber. "No, he
really wasn't, he-was
"Look sharp!" Royal exclaimed. "Horsemen
coming!"
A man behind suddenly groaned and pitched
sideways, overcome by the heat. Royal jumped
to grab him and support him as Philip caught a
clatter of hoofs in the shimmering air down the road
to the west.
At the head of their company, Captain Webb
called
for a left-face to the roadside. With fair
precision the men executed the movement as von
Steuben had taught them, holding their lines in the
damp weeds at the shoulder. Royal lowered the
fainted man to the ground and fanned him with both hands.
"Bet we got to fight here," someone said. "Bet the
fucking British
swung around
the flank and cut off the road-was
For a moment there was more cursing, and consternation until
Captain Webb cried:
"Shut up and listen! Hear that cheering? That's not for the
enemy-was
Men craned insect-bitten necks, jostling to see.
And suddenly, out of the west, Philip heard it: a
massed roar of voices.
The outcry grew louder and louder under the sweltering
sky. A wave of sound, it rolled toward them along
with a cloud of boiling dust in the center of the road.
A rider emerged from the leading edge of the cloud.
Hatless, wearing blue and buff, he galloped his
huge white horse in the direction opposite that
of the retreat.
Toward
Monmouth Court House-
Behind Washington an entourage of officers rode
full speed. The cheering was unbelievably loud.
The commander-in-chief glanced neither right nor left
to acknowledge the bellow that rolled across the
countryside as he passed. He paid no attention
to the muskets thrust up in the air in rhythm with the
huzzahs. Philip had only a momentary
glimpse of the tall general's face before he
disappeared beyond the dust streaming out behind the horses. But
that glimpse was enough to give Philip pause.
Washington's profile had looked savagely
scarlet. If not with sunburn, then with anger.
Almost stupefied, Royal and Philip gaped at
one another. They heard yet another new sound, this
time from the east. A different pattern of flams and
ruffs-
Tootling fifes joined the drums. And from man
to bedraggled man, cries ran along the roadside:
"Counter-march!"
"They say he caught Charlie Lee and blistered
him with curses!"
"Called him a damned poltroon-a coward-was
"Lee's relieved. Washington's in
personal command -"
"No more retreat!"
"All right, form up!" Captain Webb shouted,
vainly trying to shove his men back onto the road as
the uproar all but drowned him out:
"We're going back!"
"We're going back!"
"WE'RE GOING BACK!"
Mid-afternoon.
They were in an orchard, behind a hedge that rimmed its
eastern perimeter. As far as Philip could tell,
they were holding the orchard somewhere near the center of the
American lines. They were south of the Englishtown
road, still west of Monmouth Court House-and firing
through the shrubbery as the British grenadiers advanced
in those splendid, never-wavering formations.
Philip's hands were beginning to blister from the combined
heat of the weather and the musket-metal. Royal was still
alongside. Wayne was in over-all command of the
orchard position; Philip could see him peering through
the barely breathable powder-smoke that drifted from
muskets and the cannon booming on their flanks. The
entire afternoon had been mind-numbing. Endless shifts
of position; charge and countercharge.
Philip wearily pointed the musket through
the hedge and picked off a fur-capped, perspiring
grenadier coming toward him in rote step. The
grenadier toppled
forward, his bayonet stabbing into the ground. The soldier
knew he was dying, but he clung to the butt of the
Brown Bess to keep himself from falling, as if that in
itself could undo the effect of Philip's shot.
Slowly, the grenadier's slippery hands gave out.
He slumped to his knees, fingers sliding
inexorably down the muzzle. Philip blinked
twice. When his vision cleared, the grenadier had
let go of his musket and lay on his back,
unmoving. The upside-down weapon stood beside him in
the earth like some obscene parody of a churchyard marker.
Other grenadiers with bayonets at the ready marched
past the corpse, never glancing down.
Philip wondered how much longer he could survive
without water. Just to his rear, an older man
flopped in the grass, felled not by a wound but
by prostration that purpled his cheeks. The man's
tongue protruded like a frog's as he compressed his
hands against his belly and made retching sounds-
Philip had no energy for thinking of the danger of their
situation. No energy to speculate about
strategies, or the over-all success or
failure of the engagement of the entire American
army. Clinton had struck swiftly, throwing unit
after unit against them across a broad front. But for
Philip, the world had again constricted to a small
patch of ground where he crouched behind the hedge,
concentrating on the steps of von Steuben's ten-count
drill.
Philip's flayed hands almost worked independently of
his exhausted mind. He loaded, fired, dodged
instinctively whenever he heard a ball hiss through the
leaves-
The American fire broke the grenadier charge
thirty yards from the hedge. In the smoke, Philip
saw redcoat after redcoat falling. Suddenly someone
stumbled against his legs.
Philip wrenched his head up. Saw Webb, a
sooty
ghoul who grinned and pointed a bleeding hand through a
break in the foliage:
"We've hit Colonel Monckton, their
commander."
Up and down the line, men picked it up:
"Monckton's killed-someone shot Monckton!"
As the grenadiers began to pull back, re-form for
another charge, Webb's hand closed hard
on Philip's shoulder.
"He's one of their kingbirds. Can you two bring him
back to our colors?"
Gulping for air, Philip said, "Can try. Come
on, Royal. Leave the musket. Stay low-was
The two of them crawled forward on their bellies, out
past the hedge into tall grass. Occasional musket
fire still crackled over their heads. All at
once, Philip stopped.
He burrowed his elbows into the soft ground. His ears
rang. He let his head hang like an exhausted
dog's. Waves of nausea left him helpless.
"Royal, I can't," he gasped. "The damned
heat-was
"It's only a little further," Royal panted,
grabbing the back of Philip's hunting shirt and
giving him a tug. "They want Monckton's
body at the colors. You can make it-was
The perimeter of the orchard was a miasma of smoke and
dimly seen sky. He was tired beyond the limits of
comprehension. He rolled his head sideways, saw
Royal watching him with almost wild-eyed intensity.
The boy had lost his little black wool cap during the
day, Philip realized.
"Come
on!"
Royal said.
Philip dug his elbows into the grass, pulled his
numbed body forward a few inches. And a few more-
Royal Rothman speared out one hand, closed it
clawlike on the powder-blacked uniform of the
grenadier commander who lay with eyes and mouth open. Out
of sight in the tall grass, the British drummers
changed cadence to start the next advance.
"Help me pull him!" Royal pleaded. "If you
don't, the grenadiers will catch up to us-was
Philip's right arm felt dead. He forced it
to move by will alone, reaching down across Colonel
Monckton's nose and open mouth to dig his fingers
into sweat-drenched wool. Then he began to crawl
backwards, feeling as if he were dragging the weight
of the world.
His head buzzed. Buzzed and rang. Distantly, as
though in a windstorm, he heard Royal's voice,
now louder, now fainter:
"A little more. Only a little more, Philip.
Don't let go of him
-!"
"I
can't stand to look at him that way?"'
Philip screamed, shifting his hand to the dead
officer's face. One by one he pushed down
Monckton's eyelids.
Just after he touched the corpse, something started his hand
shuddering;
then his whole arm. It was all so damned senseless.
The heat; the slaughter-
He just wanted to give up. Stop. Rest. Close
his eyes-
"Keep pulling, Philip! The grenadiers have
spotted us. But we're close.
Pull!"
He tried. God, he tried. He had no strength
left. His arm shook uncontrollably-
What sort of man had this Monckton been?
Surely he'd loved someone. A wife. Children.
Surely he believed he was just as right as those on
Philip's side. It was a waste. A wretched,
damnable
waste
-
All that kept him tugging the corpse was a memory
of Anne and Abraham on which he forced himself
to concentrate.
He knew there was a purpose to the struggle
beyond the immediate one. He knew because Anne had revealed
it to him, little by little, in their first months of courting.
He'd believed in it when he married her. Did he
now-his
Yes, he supposed so. But he was spent; so
spent, the nature of the purpose was beyond his power
to recall. What he clung to-what kept him
floundering and flopping on his knees and elbows to drag
the body were two faces. All else was stripped
away; dross.
A woman. A child-
that
was why he was here. Why he had to fire his musket.
Obey orders. Stay alive, so he could return
to-
"Up, Philip! Drag him through! Quickly-I can
see grenadiers aiming at us-was
A foot from the hedge, Philip struggled with the
incredibly heavy body. He seemed incapable of
raising it properly. Warning shouts rose from the
American side of the hedge. He wondered about the
reason, the instant before musket fire exploded behind
him.
Royal shouted and flattened out, letting their burden
drop. Dazed, Philip was a fraction
slow. On hands and knees, he presented a clear
target. He seemed to see Royal's sweat-shiny
face across some great abyss of smoke and noise.
Royal's mouth opened to utter a cry of warning.
Something buzzed near Philip's ear. Leaves
rustled, a dream-like sound-
The buzz was a grenadier ball. Royal's yell
dinned suddenly:
"For God's sake get down
-"
Another musket-blast obliterated the rest.
Philip felt something thump Ms right calf. There
was searing pain.
A moment later his dazed mind finally recognized that
something had pierced the top of his right boot. He
flopped on his buttocks, propped up by one hand
on Monckton's shoulders. Incredulous, he stared
at the hole in the boot's thin, worn leather.
Something large and hurtful was lodged in the flesh
inside that boot. All at once, another
peculiar sensation made him grimace. His lower
leg not only hurt like fury, it felt as if it had
just been plunged into a pot of boiling honey-
Idiotic,
he thought, blinking back a haze that wouldn't
go away. It was in his mind.
Honey's never warm, never
-
He saw the redness pouring through the place where the ball
had penetrated the leather.
My God, I'm hit,
he thought with a curious, light-headed detachment.
Royal shouted urgent warnings he couldn't understand.
The drums of the advancing grenadiers hammered.
Trying to focus his eyes on the glistening blood,
he sagged over against Monckton's corpse.
Blearily, he came back to consciousness a few
minutes later. Royal was slapping his cheek. His
whole lower leg and foot burned fiercely. When
he rolled his head sideways to squint down the
side of his body, he saw his trousers soaked with
blood where the fabric was stuffed into his boot-top.
"Get up, Philip. If you stay here you'll be
caught or killed. We've got to get you to the
surgeons."
"I-was Cracked lips formed thoughtless words. "I'm
hit."
"I know you're hit! That's why we have to get out of
here."
"Not sure-I can walk."
"Try."
"Tired. So damn tired, Royal-was
"Listen to the drums!"
"The grenadiers?"
"No, ours. We're pulling back."
"Don't think-don't think I-was
"You
have
to! I didn't drag you through the hedge to see you
left for the enemy."
"Good of you," Philip mumbled, afraid he
wasn't making much sense. "Good of you, Royal.
But I'd rather rest. You go on-was
"You don't know what you're saying!" Royal
panted, his face a barely recognizable blur.
He pressed his hands
against Philip's cheeks. "Listen to me! I'll
help you walk."
"No, I-was
"Yes! You must walk!
Listen
-!" So desperate that he was close to tears,
Royal wrenched Philip's head from side to side,
trying to rouse him from his wound-induced lethargy. "Do
you want to spend the rest of the war on one of
their prison ships in New York harbor?"
"No."
"What kind of medical help do you think they'll
give you? None! They won't see to your wound.
They'll probably let the gangrene take
over-rot your leg-do you want that?"
"No, but-was
"Then stop fighting me and
get up!"
Savagely, Royal dug his arms beneath Philip's
back. Philip saw Royal's musket lying on
the ground. It seemed to bend and quiver like a snake
even as he watched.
Royal almost dropped him. Philip thoughtlessly
put weight on his right foot, cried out. But somehow,
he got upright, Royal beside him.
Philip hooked his right arm around Royal's neck,
bent his right leg at the knee. Something Royal had
said drove him to the effort.
Gangrene
-
Mustn't think of that. Just hang onto Royal.
The younger man was panting now, his retrieved musket
dragging from his right hand. They hobbled away from the hedge
on Philip's one good leg and Royal's
two, moving through the orchard.
After a few minutes, it was a little easier.
Philip's head cleared slightly.
But why couldn't he
f
eel anything in his right
f
oo
t?
Sweat streamed down his neck. Mosquitoes and sand
flies stung him. "Must be-hundred and ten-was he
mumbled.
"At least. Come on, we're making it-was
The drumming pulsed in Philip's ears. He
felt ashamed of his lack of strength. Biting his
upper teeth into his lower lip, he stung himself out
of the dulled weariness that made
him
want to lie down again. In the nightmare of smoke and
noise, of thudding drums and steadily reddening afternoon
light, they crossed the orchard, the last stragglers in
a column retreating to the next holding position.
The two kept up as best they could.
Soon Philip completely lost track of his
surroundings. He heard a clatter of
hoofs, a creak of wheels-then Royal's
jubilant exclamation:
"Here's a medical wagon! We'll have you aboard
in no time." Royal raised his voice: "Driver,
hold up! Wounded man-was
Royal's supporting arm inadvertently relaxed.
Philip sagged forward onto his knees, then
slammed face first into the dust, never feeling the
impact
vi
He woke in the inferno of a medical tent, wishing
he hadn't. It was like living Brandywine all over
again, except that this time, the man writhing on the gory
planks wasn't Lucas Cowper.
He tasted rum in his mouth. Bit the ball when he
was ordered. Shifted and moaned softly as unseen
pincers dug into the flesh of his calf just a few inches
above his
ankle
.
Then he saw two spheres floating near; one
huge, white and moist, the other smaller, red and
wet-
"Got her out nice and clean."
The white sphere was the surgeon's
perspiring face, the red one the flattened lead ball
held in dirty pincers. The surgeon discarded the
ball and the instrument, gripped Philip's shoulders.
"Hold steady, now. We're going to cauterize it
with
an iron."
Before Philip could move his lips, the heated metal
touched his skin. He started to scream. From behind, a hand
jammed his jaws together so he wouldn't swallow the
ball held between his teeth.
A foul odor of burning flesh rose into his
nostrils, starting uncontrollable gagging. At
once, the ball was jerked from his teeth.
Rough hands seized the injured leg, held it. His
calf and foot, numbed again by the searing iron, felt
curiously thick. The surgeon's sticky face
peered down. A lantern hanging above him lit
droplets of sweat in his unpowdered hair.
"They're wrapping it with clean rags, and we've a
crutch for you," he said. "One of your messmates
is outside. He'll help you walk. We can't
let you lie in here, we need the room for more serious
cases. You understand -"
The man's exhausted voice indicated that he
didn't care whether Philip did or not.
The surgeon barked over his shoulder, "Let's have his
crutch! And one of the chits, so he can draw all the
rum he needs to kill the pain."
"Is-will I walk all right?" Philip gasped out.
The surgeon wiped his hands on a filthy scarlet
apron. "You saw the ball. It came out clean.
I can't say whether or not there's muscle
damage."
And that was the end of his attention, because another patient
on the next table was shrieking as the bone-saw rasped
back and forth. Philip's doctor ran to answer a
cry for assistance.
Like some animal being shunted out of a pen, Philip was
propped up on one foot, dizzy as he was. The
crutch-pad was jammed under his right armpit. Then he
was helped to the tent entrance, where Royal waited
anxiously, his face indistinct in the glow of the
lanterns flaring in the twilight.
Philip breathed hard. Moving was difficult. But
he
wasn't excessively uncomfortable. The rum, the
cauterizing iron and the rag bandages had reduced his
lower leg and foot to little more than a lump of meat,
devoid of feeling.
"Come on," Royal said, maneuvering
Philip's left arm over his back again. "I think
I can locate our unit. Are-are you all right?"
"Little-out of my head," Philip answered
truthfully. Something fluttered from his hand.
"Royal-that paper-need it for extra rum tonight-was
Dutifully, Royal stretched and half-squatted,
recovering the chit. Philip closed the fingers of his
hand as if the bit of paper were a nugget of precious
metal or a priceless gem.
He was too dazed to worry about the possibility of
gangrene, or how his leg would feel when the
mortifying effects of the hot iron wore off. He
wondered if he would ever walk properly again, but he
couldn't bring himself to think much about that, either. For that he
was thankful.
.. vu
Not long after dark, they were resting in another apple
orchard, among several hundred men, quite a few of
whom had light wounds. Philip was grateful the
day's action had been called to a halt. He
couldn't have hobbled one more step if General
Washington had personally ordered
him
to do so under threat of court-martial.
Royal lay near him, sprawled on his
side. Philip sat against the trunk of a tree, his
right leg stuck out straight, the bandage that wrapped
him
from sole to mid-calf looking gigantic and
grotesque in the dim light. His crutch rested
across his thighs.
Royal had brought Philip his extra ration of
rum. He sipped it from his hand-carved wooden drinking
mug, taking a little every time the pain became hard
to bear.
slapped at sand flies deviling his cheek. It was
all the effort he could manage.
Once twilight came on, the fighting had ended.
In the steaming darkness Philip heard a dim buzz
of many conversations. He wondered which portions of the
field he and Royal had occupied during the
frantic maneuvering of the afternoon. He supposed
he'd never know-
He grew aware of Royal speaking in a tired
monotone:
"comsome say we whipped them. But I've heard just as
many say it was a standoff. Clinton's gotten away
in the dark with his baggage, and we'll never catch him
now."
Philip could only utter a single wordless
syllable to show he'd heard.
"They say we lost over a hundred dead from
sunstroke, too."
Again Philip could do no more than murmur.
A lantern spread a widening glow off to their right.
Several subalterns and a senior officer,
shadow-figures, were slowly working their way among the
resting men. Philip thought he recognized a
voice that was asking a question for which no one had the
answer.
Royal did, though:
"General Wayne?"
"Who spoke?"
"Over here, sir."
"Who is it-?"
The party of officers approached. Philip lifted
his head, saw a disturbing double image of a bedraggled
Anthony Wayne.
"Private Rothman, sir. I heard you ask about
General Washington."
"Can't find him anywhere."
"One of the other fellows told me he'd already gone
to sleep. Yonder under a tree at the far side of the
orchard. He found General Lafayette lying
exhausted and spread his cloak over both of
them."
"Many thanks-was
Wayne started on, then hesitated, his eye fixing
on Philip.
Wayne said, "I recognize you. Kent, am I
right?"
Each word seemed to weigh a ton
in
his mouth:
"Yes, sir."
"You were at McGellaird's Brook."
"Yes, I was."
"Took a British ball, it appears."
"Yes, sir. Nothing-was He forced each word, hoping
they were true. "comnothing too serious."
"Well, savor that rum, Kent. You and the rest of
these men earned it." His handsome face broke into a
prideful grin; the kind of devil's grin that had
earned him his fierce reputation. "Today wasn't
Brandywine, by heaven."
"No, sir," Philip said. "Thank God for
that."
"We can thank the
commander-in-chief while we're at it. God grant
you a swift recovery."
Before Philip could offer a reply, Wayne strode
off, a tall silhouette between the two resting
soldiers and the subaltern leading the way with the
lantern.
Philip closed his eyes, let his whole body go
slack. No conscious effort was required. His right
leg was throbbing again.
He brought his hand up; tilted the cup; dribbled ru
m
over his chin before his tongue caught the rest.
Royal sighed. Then:
"Philip?"
"Uh?"
"Do you feel any better?"
"Some."
"Then I think
I'll
sleep a little myself."
"Good." It was barely audible.
After a moment's silence:
"Philip?"
"Mm?"
"Captain Webb told me General Washington
ordered a huge celebration back in camp at
Englishtown tomorrow. Said we'd behaved like a
real army, and won a victory over the flower of the
British troops." Royal's tone was
unmistakably proud. "The flower of the British
troops, those were his exact words. Captain Webb
said there was very little panic, despite all the confusion
at the beginning. I suppose a lot of the credit
goes to that German. Maybe our luck's changing.
Maybe we'll win against them yet-was
Philip's answer was a snore.
Before a week passed, Philip knew something was
seriously wrong with his right leg.
The wound had been re-dressed twice by army
doctors. Each commented that Philip had been
lucky to escape the kind of ravaging infection that
produced gangrene, then amputation. But when
Philip was told by the second doctor to test his
weight on the wounded leg, he fell over in a child-like
sprawl. The doctor avoided Philip's eyes
when he was back up on his crutch. Philip
demanded an explanation.
"I think the ball may have damaged internal
tissues," the doctor said. "A great tendon,
possibly. If it doesn't heal properly, you-you
may have difficulty walking."
A cold lump clotted in Philip's
throat. "For how long?"
"For life. Our knowledge of anatomy's inexact, you
understand. But-was
Philip's ghastly whiteness made the doctor
stop.
"You mean I'll have to get about on a crutch from now
on?"
"I can't be certain. I saw a somewhat similar
case after a pistol duel over cards at Valley
Forge. The man was left with a permanent limp."
Tears of humiliation and rage sprang
to Philip's eyes. "Jesus Christ."
"Here, here," the doctor said with false heartiness,
clapping Philip's shoulder. "At least there's one
benefit. You'll be mustered out very promptly now."
"To go home and live as a cripple?"
"I-I told you, soldier. I can't be positive
one way or another-was
"I'm sorry, doctor, but I think you're lying."
The man said nothing, averting his gaze a second
time. White-lipped, Philip hobbled out of the tent.
IX
The July twilight was cool. After picking up the
mail that had finally come north through Jersey
to Washington's summer encampment at
Haverstraw Bay, Philip started immediately for the
bluffs.
The doctor's prediction had proved partially
correct. Two days ago, Philip had started
getting about for short periods without the crutch. The
injured right leg no longer caused
him
much pain; the wound was healing, and evidently no bones
had been broken.
But there was permanent damage. His foot was stiffer
than before, lacking natural springiness. He had
looked at the foot closely the last time it was
dressed, and it seemed to him that the arch of the sole had
flattened somewhat.
Tonight he leaned on the crutch. Without it, his
progress was awkward, and the limp noticeable-just as
his bitter, brooding silences had become noticeable
to Royal and Gil and Captain Webb and others who
knew him.
The doctors had also confirmed that he was no longer
fit for fighting. His separation orders were being
prepared. Before many more days passed, he would be free
return to Boston. It was ironic that the prospect
filled him with so little joy, when it was all he'd
wanted for so long.
But he'd never planned on returning to his wife
and his son as a cripple.
Behind him, Philip heard singing around the cook
fires. Even on the tiring march north from
English-town-a march on which he'd been permitted
to travel most of the way in a medical wagon-the
spirits of the other men had unproved dramatically.
True, the army had lost a prime chance to destroy
Clinton's force. The enemy commander was now safe on
the island of New York, some miles downriver.
But for the first time, the Americans
had
fought like first-class troops. Even Gil said so,
riding in the medical wagon and trying to cheer his friend.
Washington, awaiting Clinton's next move and
planning his own, expressed his pride in his men
openly and frequently.
General Charles Lee, relieved of command and facing
disciplinary action-perhaps even court-martial-had not
been heard from on the subject.
To hearten the men even more, a courier had arrived at
headquarters this morning bearing word that spread through the
encampment by noon. The Count d'Estaing's
frigates and ships of the Une had been sighted off
the Delaware capes!
Extra rations of alcohol were allowed, on
Washington's order, and permission was given for
another all-out celebration. Perhaps, as Royal had
said that night in the orchard, the fortunes of the
Americans were reversing at last-
But that was of small importance to Philip just now.
He was finally able to forget his own injury, and the
problems it posed for the future. Forgetfulness came
with concentrating on the two much-wrinkled letters he
pulled from his pocket as he reached a secluded
place where the cliffs dropped away to the wide,
blue-black
Hudson. The river flowed serenely, its surface
pricked silver by the first summer stars.
Philip had practically snatched the letters from the
postal clerk, noting only that one was in a man's
hand, the other in a woman's. Clumsily, he
lowered himself into the long grass and laid his crutch
aside, unable to suppress a smile as he started
to open Anne's letter.
All at once he noticed what he hadn't
noticed before. The handwriting, though feminine, was not
hers.
A moment after he tore the seal, the first thunderblow
fell.
The letter from the neighbor woman, Mrs. Eulalie
Brumple, was dated the end of April. Phrases
leaped out to sear him:
-
sad duty to report distressing events
- -
and when I returned, she was not present
- -
within hours I had begun to fear for her safety
- -
a seafaring gentleman of your acquaintance has
called, and believes he may have some clue to the
perpetrator of what now seems a most foul act
of abduction
- -
hope this will reach you with dispatch, bringing you at least the
small assurance that I will care for your son
Abraham devotedly until some resolution of the
situation is effected
-
One word burned Philip's brain and set him
trembling.
Abduction.
xi
The second letter, dated the tenth of May,
was from Captain Will Caleb. It told the rest of the
dreadful story.
Returning from a voyage aboard
Fidelity
coma voyage capped by seizure of a valuable
British prize-Caleb
discovered that his other new vessel,
Gull,
hat vanished from Boston harbor with Malachi
Rackham in command. Even Caleb's somewhat
stilted phrasing coman indication, perhaps, of how
difficult it had been for
him
to write the letter-couldn't conceal his fury:
The rogue likewise captured a prize off the
Carolinas. To auction it, he sailed to the
Leewards rather than an American port
-
his express intent being to defraud the rightful owners of
their share, I am certain.
Upon his arrival in Boston late in the month of
April
-!
now fear with the foulest purpose in mind

he stayed not overlong.
Word first reached me only to the effect that he had set
sail for an unknown destination. I subsequently
learned, through that network of seamen's intelligence which
operates despite the presence of the army of a foreign
tyrant, that said destination was the port of New
York, where Rackham planned to compound his fraud
and multiply his illicit gains by selling
Gull
to a new Tory owner
-
selling, in effect, what he neither owned nor had
any right to sell.
But I am ahead of myself, and will shortly explain
how I come to use Rackham's name in past tense.
Learning of
Gull's
abrupt departure, I repaired at once
to Cambridge to report the sad turn to your most
esteemed wife, hoping to offset the disappointment with
my own happy news
-
that in command of
Fidelity, I
had secured a British merchantman whose
sale here has increased your investment some
thousand-fold, a right handsome profit
-
Racing on through the letter, Philip could not summon the
faintest stir of delight at what should have been
welcome news: he was modestly rich. It made
no difference because of what he already sensed lay ahead.
"In Cambridge, the good Mrs. Brumple
related to me the horrid story of the surprising
disappearance of your. dear wife, a most perplexing
and puzzling affair, but only that
-
until more news came to me from New York
-
this very day.
The news was brought by a neutral vessel, Dutch
flag, which called at the aforementioned port last
week.
Gull
did indeed put in there, but under mystifying
circumstances.
Her first mate, a fellow who was privy
to Rackham's plan, was in command. The captain himself
was lost at sea between Boston and
Gull's
destination; lost, I regret to report, along with a
Massachusetts Bay woman of unknown identity
whom Rackham caused to be brought aboard the night
before he sailed.
Evidently a struggle ensued, as both fell to their
deaths from Rackham's own cabin. In the cabin was
evidence of blood, and one window was shattered. The
whole business is the talk of New York, and was
narrated in detail by the Dutchmen.
"God," Philip said in a stricken voice.
"Oh dear God." He virtually forced himself to read
the next:
Thus a perverse pattern has shaped itself; a
pattern, I say, unguessed and unglimpsed
till I recollected Mrs. Brumple's odd
tale
-
as well as certain other incidents, viz., the
unsavory and reckless interest of the dd Rackham in
Mrs. Kent.
I will endeavor to find out whether my suspicion as
to the identity of Rackham's companion has
foundation, or, mercifully, is but grim coincidence.
I debated long over whether to inform you of matters
herewith reported. However, since Mrs.
B. later told me she was writing an urgent
message concerning your. wife's absence, I felt
I had better take the step.
"I
trust Divine Providence will prove all
worries ungrounded, and reveal the person who
perished with Rackham to be some other
-
Philip couldn't read the rest. Captain Will
Caleb's hope was fruitless. He knew it with a
heavy, dead feeling; knew it as certainly as he
stood shivering on the solid brink of the cliff.
Finally, he looked back at one passage in the
letter.
Late April, Caleb said.
After
his decision not to return home.
He damned himself and his idiotic sense of duty.
He damned Henry Knox and he damned
Washington and he damned the war most of all.
A lightning bug winked soft gold in the
wind-stirred grass high above the river. What could
he do?
Nothing.
It was too late
-
"Anne!" he cried, a small dark blur on the
brow of the bluff. From the silent forests on the
Hudson's far shore the frantic echo pealed
back.
AnneAnneA nneA nne
-
A sentry came running, musket at the ready,
to see who had shrieked like a madman in the July
twilight.
Xll
"I feel partially responsible-was Henry Knox
said in a feeble voice. Philip had hobbled
to Knox's quarters, a dead man who yet moved and
thought. Solitude was unbearable; he needed to speak
to someone. Share his grief with someone-
Or was it guilt he wanted another to share?
Realizing it, he was ashamed. Guilt was quite evident
on Knox's round face.
Forcing himself, Philip shook his head.
"Henry, there's no blame. You were right in
everything you said at Valley Forge. And no one forced
me to stay and take a British ball. But-was
The decision was spoken an instant after he made it:
"comI'm not waiting for the mustering-out papers.
I'm going home now."
"Yes. I fully understand. Is there someone to care for
your son until you arrive?"
Philip balanced on his crutch, tugged out the first
letter. "The lady who wrote this, Mrs. Brumple.
She can give Abraham her complete attention
since-was His mouth wrenched. "comsince there's no one
to bury."
Knox frowned sadly, silent.
Philip stared down at his right leg in the new,
larger boot that permitted a bandage to be worn
inside. His voice sounded faint, almost like an old
man's, as he went on:
"Once I met Dr. Franklin in
Philadelphia. He told me a story from his
boyhood. How he bought a
pennywhistle
, not knowing its small value and paying far too much.
He said that afterward, he always judged everything in those
terms-was he paying too much for a whistle?"
Suddenly, uncontrollably, tears streamed down
Philip's cheeks.
"She's dead. I know that bastard took her aboard
his ship. She probably died trying to get away from
him
- that would be like her. I know I had to stay. I know
we all had to fight for the country if we mean to keep
it. But the price is too high, Henry. The
whistle cost too much-oh, Christ-
Annie
-"
Not caring that it was unmanly, he covered his face and
cried.
Henry Knox continued to stare in silent misery.
At last he managed to say:
"I'm sure it's precious small consolation for your
injury and your personal grief. But as Mr.
Paine wrote in that famous pamphlet of his,
anything
worthwhile-worth having-ultimately commands a high
pr-was
Philip swallowed back the tears, silencing his friend
with a hateful stare:
"I don't want to hear any more, Henry."
"Philip, you mustn't lose sight of the goal! You
said it yourself-if we win this war, we secure liberty
for-was
"Yes, Henry. Yes, goddamn it, I know
very well
what we'll secure. But doing it, you
haven't lost the woman you love."
The Shawnee Spy
THE LOW-LYING sun set fire to the great bend of the
river sweeping away west of the point of land where the
American flag flew above the five-sided fort.
The fort was constructed of heavy logs, reinforced on the
landward faces with brick and stone. East of the fort,
mercantile establishments, shanties and a boatyard
straggled along the shore of the Monongahela. He
saw i
t all through a haze of J
une humidity as he came down from Coal Hill
like some kind of walking corpse.
His deerhide shirt and trousers were stained and torn.
Strips of the shirt were wrapped tightly around his
upper left arm. The arm was bandaged in two other
places, below the elbow and at the wrist. All three
bandages, and the exposed skin above and below each, were
filthy with dirt and dried blood.
The fair-haired man had a strange, almost
maniacal glaze in his eyes as he limped along
the street in the early dusk, dragging the stock of his
Kentucky rifle in the dirt. There were men and a few
women abroad, the men mostly in hunting outfits.
Despite the heat, a couple of them wore
fur hats with raccoon tails dangling down the
back. One or two of the men were dark enough to have some
black or Indian blood. Nearly everyone gave
the stranger a stare. Several pointed to call a
companion's attention to the shambling figure.
The man continued to move with that sleepwalker's gaze
and gait. His passing stilled the voices of loungers
on the shadowy porch of a two-story boardinghouse The
man seemed not to hear any of the clatter of river
settlement: the hammer and thud of mallets from the
boatyard; the riffle of an evening drum from Fort
Dunmore; the creak of a wagon almost overflowing with
glistening black lumps of coal coming up behind
him.
As the wagon went by, the man glanced up. The
driver was instantly uneasy because the man's eyes
burned with fever or hunger or something else. In a
hoarse voice the man asked:
"Is George Clark here?"
The driver hauled on his reins, stopped his team.
"George Clark of the Kentucky militia?"
"Yes."
The driver pointed between crude buildings to the boat
landing on the Monongahela. "Them's his five
flat-boats moored yonder."
The man with the rifle swayed, as if he were having
trouble standing up. But his eyes were still afire.
"I didn't ask you about Clark's flatboats,
I asked about him."
Fearfully, the wagon driver swallowed. "Try
Semple's Tavern."
"Where is it?"
"Right down there."
Without so much as a thank-you, the grim figure
stumbled on. The driver wiped his mouth and shook his
head.
Judson saw. But he didn't give a damn
what anyone thought about
him.
His sole objective was to reach the end of the journey,
and stop. It wouldn't be too long, hopefully. A
few more steps-
Lord! If only he could relieve his thirst with a
swig of mm. Just one drink, to ease the tension in
him; to moisten his raw, parched throat-
Since the night when he'd killed five wolves
between sunset and dawn, emerging from the experience half
alive, he'd wanted nothing so much as a strong
drink. It would have eased his pain; mitigated the
agony he felt at every step. But, of
necessity, he'd gone ahead without it, pushing
on-dragging on-toward the forks with the ache of clumsily
bandaged wounds a constant companion.
Now, stumbling toward the door of Semple's, his
thoughts grew confused. Why was he here? For a drink?
No, that wasn't right-
Dizzy, he swayed back and forth again. He
knuckled his eyes, planted his feet wider until
the spell passed.
He licked his upper lip, all peeled and split
and hard. He blinked a few times, then realized
someone was watching him.
The man was a dim figure in the fast-lowering dark.
He was seated against the corner of the building. He
wore buckskins with long fringing, and hide
moccasins. An English dragoon pistol and a
hunting knife were thrust into his belt. The man's
face was completely in shadow. The sinking sun was behind
him; and his flop-brimmed frontier hat helped
to conceal his features.
Oddly, the fellow hadn't so much as stirred when
Judson
showed signs of passing out in front of him.
Not that Judson Fletcher expected an outpouring of
humanitarianism from the citizens of
Pittsburgh. He knew he looked far too
grimy and forbidding for that.
But as his mind cleared a little, he mentally remarked
on the man's absolute lack of motion. Quite
different from the reactions of the other inhabitants
he'd encountered while walking into the settlement.
In the few seconds that he and the seated man stared at
one another, Judson noticed one more peculiarity.
The man had his arms crossed over his chest, and his
hands tucked out of sight next to his ribs.
Judson's scrutiny made the fellow nervous.
He jumped up and disappeared around the end of the
building. But not before Judson saw the back of a hand
that
was either a white man's burned extremely brown
by the weather, or was naturally dark-
Well, he'd seen a few similar types in the
little town already. He supposed it was possible for
half-breeds to venture into Pittsburgh so long as
they proclaimed themselves loyal to the American
side.
Having decided the strange spectator was indeed
an Indian-and cleared his head a little more in the
bargain-Judson shuffled on toward the tavern door
and thrust it open.
He heard a blast of boisterous talk, saw a
blur of faces in the sullen redness leaking through
greasy windows. When he entered, heads turned.
Some of the conversation diminished.
At the bar, in the shadow of a stag's horns hanging
on the wall, a tap-boy drew foaming mugs of
ale from a cask. The smell drifted to Judson
clear across the room; set his tongue moving in his
mouth.
Abruptly, the interior of the tavern seemed to tilt
and distort. Again he fought to stay on his feet.
Searched comb didn't find the face he sought.
He staggered forward between the tables, smelling the sweat
of the long hunters, the teamsters and
river men
gathered over venison and fish and hominy. He was
aware of foreheads scratched; comments murmured about his
ghastly appearance. None of that made any difference.
Two emotions gripped him as he took his faltering
steps:
Disappointment that his friend wasn't here.
And anger over his own consuming awareness of the rum and
ale fumes.
As through a fog that receded ahead of him, stirred and
swirled back by the motion of his weary
body, he saw half a dozen rough-clad men
watching him with particular attention from a table beside a
window. The men had been poring over a map. As it
became apparent that Judson was heading in their general
direction, one
of the men quickly folded the map and slipped it inside
his greasy shirt. His eyes slid to the ravaged arm,
then back to Judson's face, suspiciously.
Judson went by a table of three noisy men wearing
homespun shirts. One of the three, in his cups,
grabbed Judson's rifle.
"Stranger, where you come from? Looks like you tangled
with-was
Judson wrenched the rifle away so violently the
drunk nearly toppled out of his chair. The
drunk's face and those of his companions sobered as
Judson stared at them.
"Are you with Major Clark?" Judson asked,
hoarse.
One member of the trio had enough courage to meet the
glowing blue eyes. "You mean Colonel Clark?
He's carryin' that rank now."
"I see. Are you with him or not?"
"Nah, we ain't. But them lads are." A thumb
indicated the map-readers who sat
silently, watching the exchange.
Judson's features lost a little of their hostility.
"Obliged," he mumbled, shuffling on. The drinker
who had seized the rifle swallowed as he eyed
Judson's profile obliquely, then swung
around and yelled for another
were
rum, too loudly.
Near the table where the six were seated, Judson
squinted into the smoke.
"Have any of you seen Colonel Clark?"
"Yes," replied the man who'd put the map
away. "He's off lookin' to the supplies."
Judson concealed his resentment of the curt tone,
asked:
"Will he be coming back here?"
"In a while. Do you have business with the colonel?"
"That's right."
"He expectin' you?"
"I'll discuss the details with
him
personally," Judson
said. The fellow who'd answered his questions shrugged.
No one invited Judson to sit down.
He supposed he couldn't blame
George's men for that. Who was to say he wasn't
some Tory sent to spy on the famed frontiersman?
Still, the rejection rankled; his anger nearly burst
out in a flash of cursing.
Just in time, he remembered the larger objective.
With effort, he shuffled away from the six unblinking
pairs of eyes and reached a small, unoccupied
table along the wall.
It was blessed comfort just to stretch out in the hard wooden
chair. The tap boy negotiated a path through the
tables, appeared beside him:
"Something, sir?"
"I'm just waiting for-was
He stopped. His pain, his fatigue, his anxiety
about the sort of reception he'd get from George,
and the cool suspicion of the six men by the window combined
in an instant to loosen the rein he'd kept on himself
during the long, agonizing miles to Pittsburgh.
The boy tried to be polite: "Waiting, sir?
For a friend?"
"Exactly right." Judson fished in his trousers
pocket, touching coins. Something bleak and sad
seemed to fill
his blue eyes as he finished, "A friend you keep in
one of those kegs. Bring me a rum."
As the boy started away, Judson added, "But just
one!"
The boy glanced back, puzzled by the remark.
Judson saw the six at the window whispering to one
another behind the cover of lifted mugs.
Hell, they're drinking,
he thought.
I'm certainly entitled to one.
He needed that rum. It would relax him. Put him
more at ease when it came time to explain to George
why he was so late catching up to him. The boy
returned shortly, Judson paid, then clamped
both hands
around the battered pewter mug, raised it and gulped.
Yes-better. His teeth chattered less after the very
first swallow. Much less after the second.
The last daylight was leaching from the sky outside the
window where the six still talked softly, their map
spread again. One of the men was pointing to the map with the
tip of a pelt knife that caught lamplight and
flashed-
To his astonishment, Judson discovered that the contents
of the mug had disappeared without
him
even being aware of it.
And no George yet.
Ah, but it was marvelous to stretch his legs. Feel
the rum soothe the lingering pain, and his apprehension. The
taproom seemed to grow noisier and more smoky.
Extra lamps were lit now that full dark had
fallen. Judson put away a second rum that
tasted even better than the one before.
His spirits unproved with remarkable speed. He had just
about convinced himself that he should approach George's
suspicious friends, identify himself and state his
business. It certainly wasn't to his advantage
that they'd backed him down at fust. Hell, he was
as valuable to George as any of them!
Yes, he'd speak to them a second tune; he
made up his mind to it. And if they grew insolent,
he'd give them cause to regret it-
"Boy!"
The lad came scampering in response to the yell.
"Yes, sir?"
"One more rum-and buy a round for that glum crew at
the window."
Consternation among the six. Surprised, eyeing one
another, they didn't know what to make of
Judson's bold assault on their privacy.
Leaning back in his chair, vastly amused
and feeling like a new man, he allowed himself a loud
chuckle.
When the boy brought a tray of mugs, Judson
boomed a thanks, flung coins onto the tray and
tipped an extra penny. Then, holding his full
mug, he shoved the tap boy lightly with it:
"Go on, now. Serve Colonel Clark's
lieutenants. But they needn't reciprocate.
They don't look the sort to understand good Virginia
manners anyhow."
He saw a deep scowl at the window table. He
responded to it by lifting his mug in a mock toast.
Another of the frontiersmen rose from his seat,
flushed. Two others pulled him back down because
Judson was grinning. A tipsy, insolent grin, but
a grin all the same.
His behavior was beginning to cause puzzled comment
among others close by. Just as he raised his mug
still higher, prolonging the pantomimed toast, he
heard a voice at the window table. Belonging to which
man, he couldn't say; the tap boy blocked his
view. But the words were clear:
"comsome common drunk, that's all. Not worth a
quarrel -"
Judson's fingers whitened on the mug
handle. His cheeks turned livid as he slammed the
mug on the table, started to jump up. At that
instant, he was aware of heads turning near the
door. Through the smoke he saw flame-red hair.
The first expression on George Clark's face was
surprise. Then came brief bewilderment; next,
disappointment. And finally, disgust.
George saw Judson half risen from his chair,
the rum mug in one hand. George's eyes grew
sadly accusing. His cheeks were white.
Judson let go of the mug, paying no attention to the
location of the edge of the table. The mug tipped,
clanked on the floor, splattering the rum in a
huge pool.
Judson tried to untangle himself from between table and
chair. The drinks had addled him more than he'd
realized. He slipped on the wet floor,
sprawled on hands
and knees, his rifle crashing beside
him
as he called his friend's name. The name came out as a
slurred yelp.
Laughter, then. Scornful laughter, and loud.
Judson's temples hammered as fast as his
pulse. His face felt hot. He
fumbled for the rifle, staggered up, ready to call out
those who'd laughed-
There were too many. Gaping, guffawing mouths ringed him.
In stunned confusion, he saw the terrible consequences
of his behavior-
The doorway of Semple's Tavern was empty.
George Clark had seen him drinking and walked out,
A full moon haloed George's head as he
stalked away from the tavern. Judson reached the
doorway a good half minute after his friend left, and
he would have lost him in the darkness even for that silvery
light. George was moving rapidly in the direction
of the boat landing.
As Judson lunged across the tavern yard, he
heard voices raised behind him, and chairs
overturned. But he gave little thought to George's
friends who might consider him a threat to their commander.
All that concerned him was the contempt on George's
face the moment before he turned and stalked from
Semple's.
Knuckling his eyes and fighting off the rum-fumed
dizziness, he kept the dwindling figure in sight
only a moment longer. Then George disappeared
into the shadows under the log wall of a mercantile
establishment.
Desperate, Judson began to run.
He dashed past the front of the darkened store and down
along the same wall where he'd lost sight of his
friend. Panting, he pulled up at the building's
rear corner, conscious of a violin squeaking somewhere
ahead.
He glanced back, saw George's half-dozen
friends clustered in the spill of light at Semple's
doorway. He held his position in the shadows
until five of them went
back inside following a brief, noisy discussion.
The alarmists in the group evidently lost the
argument. But a sixth man set off toward the fort on
the point.
Judson's breathing had a fast, panicky quality
as he crept around to the back of the store. He lost
his balance, nearly fell when he stepped into a deep
wagon-rut. Cursing, he jammed the butt of his
rifle into the rut while he searched the riverfront
for a sign of his friend.
With a gasp of relief, he saw him-silhouetted
against the mellow glow of lanterns shining inside the
moored flatboats.
Five of the river craft were tied to the landing, three
along one side, two on the other. Each
boat was roughly sixty feet long, twenty wide,
and squared off at the ends Above the timbers of
hulls that rose a good three or four feet higher
than the moon-dappled water, walls and roofs
enclosed most of the deck space. A great wooden
steering sweep swung to and fro at the stern of each
flatboat.
Windows and roof trapdoors on four of the vessels
were thrown open, letting the lamplight show. Only
one boat-the one farthest out in the row of three-was
totally dark. From the others came an assortment of
sounds: that scraping violin; voices; the bleating of
sheep; the low of a cow. In one unenclosed section of
deck, the horns of a massive bull caught
moonlight.
But it was George dark on whom Judson centered
his attention. Near the head of the landing, George was
walking back and forth with quick strides, pausing now and
again to lift his head toward the moon. Judson was
reluctant to abandon the protection of the shadows from which
he watched. George's posture, and his pacing, were
conclusive evidence of how angrily his friend bad
reacted to the sight of him drinking.
With the back of his free hand, Judson wiped sweat
off his forehead. He had only two
courses: either slink away and hide until his friend
departed down the Ohio,
or confront him and try to explain the circumstances
that had caused him to break his vow. When Judson
thought of all the distance he'd come-thought of the terrible
fight with the wolves, and the brutalizing trek
to Pittsburgh afterward-he really had no choice at
all.
"George?"
George's trained reactions brought
him
whirling around in a defensive crouch. One hand
dropped toward the long knife tucked in his boot.
Judson called the name again, and stepped into the
moonlight so the red-haired frontiersman could
identify him.
George Clark's supple hands fell to his
sides. On the flatboat where the violin sawed
away, playing a reel, Judson was astonished
to hear female voices, then children's laughter. His
heart hammering, he walked toward the head of the landing
where George waited, a sum, almost blade-like
figure in the moonlight.
Never had such a short distance seemed so long.
Judon's hands itched and shook. And he was
bitterly conscious of the telltale reek of rum.
But shock and despair had already sobered his mind.
George turned his head slightly as Judson
approached. The moonlight fell across the
red-haired Virginian's lean face. Judson
trembled at the chill aloofness of his friend's
features, and found himself wishing for one more drink.
He walked to within three feet of his friend, catching the
pungent aroma of pigs drifting from one of the
flatboats
. Aboard another, a child bawled suddenly. A
woman's gentle voice murmured comfort. Those on
a third boat blew out their lamps and pulled the
roof trap shut from inside with a loud thump.
Judson started to speak, couldn't. A night bird
sailed low over the Monongahela, moon-silver
on its wings. For a brief moment the bird shone as a
glowing dot against the woods on the far shore. Then
darkness hid its flight.
George said coldly, "I never expected to see
you,
Judson
. When you failed to arrive in Williamsburg-was
"I couldn't help that." God, how thick his voice
sounded. "I was shot. A light wound, but
I couldn't leave till I recovered. I-I
came overland-was
"Alone?"
"Yes. I had a little trouble, but I made it all
right. I traveled as fast as I could because I thought you
might be gone from here already."
"Should have been. We were delayed at Redstone, up the
river. To my surprise, I picked up twenty
families who want to make the trip to Kentucky,
danger or no." He gestured toward the boats.
"Getting their belongings stowed took time."
"You can carry twenty families on those five
craft?"
"Yes, and all my men. The boats are exceedingly
roomy. And I recruited only a hundred and
fifty. I even had trouble finding those. That's
another reason for the delay."
"I saw some of your men at the tavern," Judson
told
him,
then added a word that went straight to the issue:
"Drinking."
George dark uttered a long, almost sad sigh.
"Judson, if that remark is supposed to excuse
what I witnessed in Semple's, I must
tell you it won't. Those men can be trusted with their
liquor."
"Meaning I can't be?"
"Meaning you gave your pledge. That was the only
condition under which I accepted you."
"My God, I came miles and miles-to "
Judson began.
"And look a good deal the worse for it." George
pointed at the filthy bandages.
"Shouldn't I be entitled to one mug of rum, then?"
"You answer that," George shot back. "You're the
one who gave the pledge. I'm afraid you
traveled to Pittsburgh for nothing, Judson."
"For nothing-?"
Stunned, disbelieving, Judson was speechless for a
moment after that. Then his anger burst out:
"You pious, arrogant son of a bitch! You're
short of men, yet you'd turn me away for downing
one drink!"
George's pale eyes flared in the moonlight.
"How many?"
"Well-not one. But not many more. George-was
The other cut in sharply, "I told you in
Virginia, we have serious military business down
the Ohio. Where we're going, each man
depends on all the others for his safety. I'm
responsible for everyone in my party-I must have men I
can trust not to weaken when the going's difficult. You
knew that before you started west. You knew that when you
ordered up liquor at Semple's. I am not being
puritanical, only practical. Believe me,
I didn't accept every recruit who presented himself
these past months, and-was
Suddenly there was-unhappiness on George's
face. He pivoted away to keep from displaying it as
he finished:
"And much as I
might
want to, I won't accept you."
At first Judson didn't know whether to guffaw in
astonishment or drop to his knees and beg. Then,
slowly, he understood that the rejection was final. He
understood just how wide the gulf separating him from his
boyhood friend had become. And he felt completely
stripped of every hope he'd cherished since that day he
and George had ridden into the country outside
Williamsburg, and he had shot the Kentucky
rifle with trembling hands, and given his pledge-
For a moment he almost seemed to see wispy,
leather-skinned Angus Fletcher in
George's place. Angus shaking his head.
The devil's blood will tell
-
He started to pull the little black-bound testament from the
breast pocket of his hunting shirt, ready to fling the
book at that tormenting image. But the mind-phantom
disappeared. Only George remained,
condemning
him
with austere silence.
The violin fell quiet. Sheep bleated. The
river lapped the flatboat hulls with a tranquil
rhythm.
"What the hell am I supposed to do, George?"
Judson asked finally. "I've left everything behind.
Everything!"
"I don't know," George admitted,
weary-sounding now. "Perhaps you can find work here in the
settlement"
"Work!
Christ, I don't know how to do any work! But I can
fight-was
"Not in the forest. Not on the Illinois prairie.
Not craving spirits so terribly that it hampers your
judgment, ruins your stamina, makes you
worthless-was Abruptly, George bit off the loud
reply. He went on more moderately, "If I
could make the decision as your friend, I would. But it's
not possible any longer. All I can do is invite
you aboard my boat-was He indicated the dark
vessel at the outer end of the three. "compour you
one more rum-was
"Now that the damage is done, eh?"
George winced at the bitterness. Softly:
"No, just-just for old tunes' sake. I'll loan
you a little money if you need it, but-that's the end. Come
on, let's not quarrel any more. The decision's
made. I'd feel much better if you'd enjoy the
hospitality of the boat for a bit-was
Ears ringing, eyes blurred, Judson still caught the
guilt in George's voice.
He tried to hate his friend. Tried to summon
wrathful words again, but he was unable.
He
was the guilty one.
He
was the betrayer. Of everyone including himself.
A dreadful weight seemed to push down on his
shoulders. Something George had said a moment ago
rang through his mind, almost like a bell tolling
for his own life:
But that's the end.
Lazarus, reborn for a few hours, had lacked the
force to survive. Angus Fletcher was right after
all.
Judson
betrayed and destroyed at every turn. Never quite strong
enough; never quite knowing why-
Well, at least there was the promise of a drink.
"All right, I'll accept the offer," Judson said
with a wan smile. He and his tall friend started along
the landing.
George moved with his customary silent grace. The
bull bellowed and tossed its horns as they passed.
Judson gazed at the swift-flowing river, thinking
of the ruinous tide that coursed through
him.
That tide had swept him to a final chance-then, just as
quickly, swept the chance from his grasp.
Uncomfortable in the awkward situation, George
tried to make conversation:
"These are interesting craft, you'll find. They're
oneway boats. Designed to be torn apart again,
and the lumber used for shelters once we reach the
falls of the Oh-was
Judson barely heard his friend hesitate. He was
ready to turn and flee, his guilt deepening moment
by moment. He decided to tell George he'd
changed his mind; intended to make his way back into the
settlement at once. Just as he was about to speak, he
grew aware of a peculiar tension in his friend's stance.
George had stopped talking-and walking-just where the
square stern of his flatboat bumped gently against the
landing pilings. The moon burned in the pupils of
George's narrowing eyes as he raised a finger
to keep Judson silent.
Wrenched from the morass of his own misery, Judson
followed George's pointing hand. Up the plank
sidewalls, past a latched wooden window to the
slightly arched roof. Judson sucked in a breath.
The trap lay back; open.
And, running to it from the far edge of the roof, was a
track of small, glistening puddles of water.
George bent close to Ju
dson.
"Someone's inside. Crawled up from the other rail
--from the river-was
"Who would it be?"
"No idea. But I keep my public orders
aboard, locked in a strong box. I've
wondered if some Tory sympathizer might try
to steal them. The other set's here-was He touched the
belly of his hunting shirt. Then he tapped
Judson's rifle:
"Is that primed?"
"Yes."
"All right, look sharp-was
George sidled near the rail of the moored boat,
one hand darting down to his boot. The blade of his
long knife flashed as he raised it waist high.
"I don't care to jump through the trap and surprise
our visitors in the dark," he whispered. "But
maybe we can flush them out into the light-was
As Judson lifted his rifle with sweaty hands,
George leaned forward and started hammering a fist on
the sidewall of the flatboat.
The moment George stopped thumping, he heard
sounds inside. Quick, light footsteps; then an
oath, as something banged the deck planks.
"After my strong box, all right-was George began.
Hands shot from the black square of the open trap. A
tall-crowned hat with a flop brim seemed
to levitate swiftly into the moonlight. By the time the
lithe intruder hauled himself onto the roof, Judson
recognized
him.
I
t
was the lounger
from
outside
Sample's
Tavern. The man who had concealed his hands.
Judson thought he understood why-
The intruder's hat blew off as he scrambled for the
river side of the flatboat. Judson had a
swift impression
of a knife blade glittering in one brown fist, and
metalwork
shining on the pistol in the man's belt. George
Clark leaped up onto the rail, then to the roof.
Judson jammed his rifle to his shoulder. He had
a clear shot at the moon-silhouetted stranger.
He steadied his grip, triggered the weapon.
An explosion-a dull glare of orange-
Then the aftermath of silence, signaling a flash in the
pan.
Damn'
Either he'd lost most of his priming, or it had
gotten damp-
"Stop!" George yelled, starting across the
flatboat roof. He was between Judson and the intruder
now, so that even with another weapon ready, no further
shots would have been possible. Judson put a knee
on the flatoat rail, stretched out his bandaged arm,
clenched his teeth, dragged himself up to the roof as
George lunged across it, knife in one hand, the
other shooting out to catch the fringe of the
i
ntruder's hunting shirt.
The man let out a wild, terrified cry that
instantly raised voices of alarm from the other
boats. By sheer strength, George held onto the
spy's shirt while Judson painfully hauled
himself up to the roof. As he did, he saw the
chiseled starkness of the intruder's face; saw
black, moon-washed eyes blinking with rage and
terror; saw dark, greases-dressed hair hanging
straight to the man's buckskin collar-
The Indian fought as George tried to drag him
back to the center of the roof. Judson gained his feet
at the roof's edge, unsteady because the struggle had
set the flatboat bobbing. All at once he saw
something else stuck in the Indian's belt:
Folded papers. The orders from the strong
box.
With a guttural yell, the Indian yanked his
knife from his belt, swiped at George's throat
with a bright arc of steel. Judson shouted a warning but
George was even quicker. Releasing his hold on the
captive, he jumped backwards.
His left boot landed in the trail of water left
when the Indian stole aboard. George skidded and
sprawled, hitting the roof with a loud clump. By then
Judson was moving, peripherally conscious of
clamoring voices, of boots pounding the landing as people
poured from the other flatboats-
But all he saw was the Indian's throwing hand jerking
back, then streaking forward.
The knife was poorly aimed. George wrenched his
right shoulder up. The blade struck the roof where
he'd been lying, skittered away.
The Indian's other hand closed on the butt of his
English dragoon pistol. Crouching, he
transferred the weapon to his right hand with startling
speed, drew back the cock-
George Clark was a target too large and too
close to miss. The Indian's teeth shone, clenched
in a kind of death's-head grin as he extended his
pistol arm, full length. Frantically,
George started to roll aside. But he was too
late; too late-
Judson launched himself hard and fast. He had a
dream-like sensation of almost flying across the roof. The
Indian swung instinctively. The pistol discharged
at close range. Judson doubled as the ball
struck him in the gut.
Smoke drifted. Judson felt flowing warmth in
his middle. Then pain.
He dropped to his knees, holding back a hurt
cry. He heard the shouts of men clambering up the
flatboat's side behind him, several bringing
lanterns whose light flooded the roof. George
dark had regained his feet and caught the Indian.
He wrenched one arm around the spy's windpipe. With
his other hand he pressed his knife to the writhing
captive's throat.
Judson watched with a dreamy sense of unreality,
even though ferocious pain was eating through his
midsection
, and blood was washing down under his trousers
into his crotch. He knew very well why he had
endangered himself deliberately. It was more than
friendship. It was the terrible need for absolution.
Curiously, despite the pain, there was
tranquility in him. Paying the high price of
expunging some of his guilt brought a light-headed
feeling of release; freedom. For a moment a
strange parody of his old, shining smile wrenched his
mouth.
Harsh voices sounded as the flatboat men rushed
by him across the roof:
"You all right, George?"
"Who'd you catch? Who fired?"
"Damn half-breed, looks like-was
Clear and strong above the clamor, Judson heard
George's voice:
"See to Fletcher there. He took the Indian's
ball."
George flung the captive into the hands of others as
the lanterns tossed grotesque shadows back and
forth across the swaying roof. In the pen area of a nearby
boat, frightened sheep bleated louder than ever, quickly
joined by squealing pigs, then a wailing infant.
George rushed to the men gathering around Judson,
pushed them aside as Judson lowered himself
clumsily to the roof. Breathing seemed difficult.
The initial violent pain in his middle had
subsided, replaced by a steady ache. From the waist
downward he was blood-soaked. He could
feel the drenching along his thighs.
George knelt beside him, face pale in the
starlight. Several of the other men seized the Indian,
pressed pistols and knives against his body, struck
him
in the face, barked questions:
"You speak English?"
"What's your name, you red bastard?"
"Where'd you come from?"
"Say something or we'll shoot your damn head
off."
In a rasping voice, the Indian snarled a word:
"Nennemki."
About to speak to Judson, George dark glanced
back over his shoulder.
""The thunder." I've heard of him. Part
English, part Shawnee-and one of Hamilton's
roving agents. He was after the orders in the strong
box."
"Got "em, too. Almost," a man said, jerking the
folded papers from the spy's belt.
Judson coughed. That worsened the ache in his belly.
He rested his head against the flatboat roof, seeing
George outlined against the moon. His friend's hair
glowed like silver fire, and his voice had
an odd, strained quality:
"You took that shot deliberately, Judson."
"You-was Speech required immense effort. "comy--
would have gotten it--otherwise. And-was
More coughing, this time with a phlegmy sound.
"comx's more important-you get-where you're going
than-that I go with you-was
"Let's have none of that kind of talk. Well carry
you to the surgeon at the fort-was
"What-whatever you say. Doubt-if it's worth the
trouble, though-was
Over the muted conversation, rougher voices were continuing
the interrogation of the half-breed. He fought in the
grip of the men holding him, tried in vain to avoid the
kicks to his groin, the yanks of his hair, the
knife points raked along his exposed skin.
George kept staring at Judson, stricken
to silence.
Nen-nemMore started to scream at his tormentors, an
outburst of badly pronounced English:
"Goddamn long knives! Come just for pelts, there
is land enough for all. But now, goddamn Kaintucks,
you want the land too! Come with your women, come with your
plows, come with your houses of log and steal our hunting
fields, our deer forests, so we fight you
for Great Father George! You can kill Nennemki
-"
"You bet your damn greased-up hide we will,"
someone growled.
The Shawnee paid no attention, his shrieks silencing
the clamor of the growing crowd on the landing:
"com
but others will run the trails with guns from the
Hair-Buyer, powder from the Hair-Buyer. You
steal the land, we throw down the red war belt until
we die or you die
-
1"
Listening to the shriek over a steadily rising roar in
his inner ear, Judson somehow felt sorry for the
captive. Beneath the fury of the Shawnee's ranting was
an almost pathetic undertone of misery and loss.
Judson grieved for the savages in that strange
moment, because he understood why the Shawnee cried his
outrage. As the tidewater planters had gradually
taken the freedom of the blacks, the frontiersmen
too were taking what was not theirs: the lush woods and
meadows Judson had seen only through the
descriptions in George's letters; but on those lands,
Nen-nemki's forefathers had roamed for
generations-
Now George dark and his boatloads of riflemen
and pigs and children would ride the river westward. And if
George's great plan succeeded, the tribes would have
even less land than they'd had before.
Perhaps it had to be. But, oddly, there was little hate for the
Shawnee in Judson, even though he knew the
half-breed had mortally wounded him.
Judson couldn't hear the rest of Nennemki's
harangue. The roaring in his ears had grown too
loud. He felt an overpowering desire to rest.
Fingers touched his cheek. George's-
"We'll fetch you to the surgeon now, Judson."
"Still think-it's useless-was One hand struggled up
to clasp his friend's, because he was all at once cold
and afraid. "I'm-only sorry-I'll never-see
Kentucky with you-was
Sudden darkness descended.
He woke on a straw pallet in a log-walled
room at Fort Dunmore. George was there, and the
post doctor as well.
The doctor hesitated a long time and cleared his
throat twice before saying softly that the pistol ball
couldn't be removed; that Judson was evidently
bleeding internally; that an opium tincture
had been forced down his throat to ease his pain; and that
saving his life was next to impossible.
Judson listened in a detached way,
li
ght-headed. When the doctor finished, Judson
whispered that his wound didn't hurt all that much,
thanks to the tincture. He endured a fit of
coughing, then asked George when he intended to head the
flatboats down the Ohio. George said they would
push off shortly after sunrise next day..
Judson swallowed, then smiled, his sweat-slicked
face shiny in the flickering
light
of the room's one lantern of pierced tin. "comI'll
live-long enough, to see that, anyway!"
George and the doctor
glanced
at one another. Despite Judson's feeble
voice, he sounded certain.
How remarkable, Judson thought. He
did
feel peaceful. As if a struggle had reached an
end, and he could rest in good conscience.
Before drifting off again, he mumbled a question about the
Indian spy. George told him that
Nennemki had confessed. The Shawnee had indeed
been dispatched by Hamilton at Detroit. His
mission was to watch for signs of any substantial
military force being assembled at Pittsburgh.
"I suppose Hamilton chose him because he's
half white, and therefore less suspect.
Nen-nemki did make one most revealing statement,
though I doubt he himself understood its
significance." George paused a moment.
"Hamilton wants to know how many men might be
coming to fortify and defend the Kentucky settlements."
"The Kentucky-his That-that means the British still
haven't guessed-was
Judson stopped, realizing the doctor was still in the
room. He started to mutter an apology, but
George's icy smile said it wasn't necessary:
"Our true purpose? No, evidently not."
Judson breathed one more word-all he could manage:
"Good."
He remembered George staying with
him
a long time, hunched on an up-ended section of log
with his hands locked around his ankles while his pale
eyes watched with a mixture of
guilt
and regret. Judson woke occasionally, attempted
to speak to the tall young man. He wanted to tell
George to have neither regret nor guilt because he,
Judson, had been the one with the tally of guilt that
required erasing That was one reason he'd lunged
between George and the Shawnee with the pistol. One
reason, but only one-
He couldn't muster enough strength to say what needed
saying, though, and that saddened him. He floated in a
foggy limbo where the pain was constant and, at times,
close to unbearable. He made no outcry.
In one of Judson's wakeful intervals, one of
George's men-a member of the six from Semple's
Tavern-appeared to say that Nen-nemMore had been
hanged.
Barely awake, and having consciously willed himself
to live the night, he asked to be carried to the shore
in the morning sunshine.
He sensed a sizable crowd around the litter on which
he lay; he could hear their excited voices. Though
he couldn't feel it in his chilly hands, he knew
he must be holding the small New Testament because he
recalled asking for it.
Gradually, he separated other sounds from the hubbub:
an almost continual thud of boots on the
landing; the sharp commands of George's men making the
flatboats ready for departure.
Judson saw next to none of the actual activity.
His eyes were slitted against the bright daylight. He
felt the sun on his cheeks but it was curiously
heatless. From his chest downward, his body seemed
thick. He knew he was bandaged and doped with the
surgeon's tincture.
Tune dragged. At last, a woman near him
exclaimed, "Oh, they're going-to "
A round of huzzahs split the early summer air.
Judson cried feebly, "Lift me up!
Please, someone lift me up-to "
At last, he was heard. Hands grasped the end of the
litter where his head lay, elevated it slowly. He
was disappointed. He could see little more than a glare of
sunlit water.
He blinked and kept blinking until, finally, in a
welter of confusing shapes and colors, he discerned a
glowing patch of red.
Red hair-
George Clark.
Where was he standing? On the roof of one of the
flatboats? It must be so. The tall figure of his
friend burned bright as an angel's in the
sunshine. And it was receding ever so slowly.
"Man the sweep when we pick up the current!" a
voice boomed in the distance.
Suddenly Judson was more afraid than he had ever
been in his life.
His hands had turned to ice. He had to exert
tremendous effort just to feel the grainy surface of the
testament cover between his fingers.
Shining and fierce and powerful, the figure of George
Clark floated off in the sunshine. The cheering started
again.
Gone away,
Judson thought.
Gone away into the
west I never saw. Gone away to
-
what were the names?
Kaskaskia was one. He couldn't recall the other.
But he did remember that George had an
important secret mission in the Northwest
Territory. By paying the price of his guilt-a
price that had needed paying for so many years-he had
helped make George's journey possible. It was
a good thing to think about. One good thing to balance against
all the bad-
Faces drifted through his mind. A wrathful
Angus. A disappointed Donald. Butchered
Seth, and Alice, drowned. Vengeful Lottie.
Sorrowing but stern Tom Jefferson -
Peggy. Lovely Peggy.
The memories disturbed his sleepy comfort. He'd
brought others so much sorrow; done so much that was
despicable. He had so few good memories. The
best, perhaps, was having seen the nation born-
And there was George. There, he could be proud.
He'd helped one of Virginia's finest captains
set out to extend the boundaries of the new nation. That could
be written down in the meager column opposite the
much longer, blotted one.
He concentrated on the distant red-haired figure
that now seemed to be floating in a gathering mist. With a
shiver, he realized the mist was not external; it was
within himself. He clutched the testament tightly,
whispered the word,
"Father
-" while the cheering thundered.
The first of George Clark's flatboats swung
into the bend at the forks and, with sweeps churning back
and forth, caught the current that would bear the little army
down the Ohio, into the west.
But Judson never saw. Slowly, he closed his
eyes. His head lolled to one side, a faint
smile fading away.
One of the men holding the litter said, "I think we can
put it down now."
The Price
of
Heaven
ON A SPRING afternoon some eleven months later,
two men climbed Breed's Hill overlooking the
Charles and the Mystic and Boston harbor.
The older of the two, Philip Kent, walked with a
slight limp that contrasted with the frolicsome skips and
jumps of the small boy clutching his hand. The boy was
dark-haired, handsome. His brown eyes sparkled as
he surveyed the orchards and stone fences and windblown
pastures of the peninsula.
The boy tugged his father's hand. "Papa, couldn't we
have a race?"
"You know I can't run a footrace," Philip
said in a sharp voice.
"But we run together sometimes."
"Only because you insist, Abraham. And only at
home."
The boy frowned. "All right, But can't we
go over to that other hill? I want to see the ships
better-was
"You'll stay here. We won't be all that long."
"Papa, please-was
"I said
no!"
The Marquis de Lafayette adjusted his
tricorn against the slant of the sun. On one of the
hat's upturned sides, Gil sported the
white-centered cockade that symbolized the French
alliance.
"My good friend," he said, "would it hurt to let your
son roam? I shall be a little while examining the
redoubt."
Philip shrugged wearily. "All right. You can run
yourself, Abraham. But no farther than the top of
Morton's -" He pointed. "And stay in sight!"
Abraham gave a quick nod, a half-fearful
look in his dark eyes as he watched his father's
severe face a moment longer. Then he turned
away.
Freedom quickly restored his spirits. He was soon
tracing through the grass on his way to the summit of
Morton's Hill.
"A splendid lad," Gil remarked as
he watched the diminishing figure. "Four years
old, isn't he?"
"Not quite. In September. But he's bright for his
age. Mrs. Brumple has already taught
him
to read a little."
The young Frenchman turned to gaze at the rooftops
of Boston across the Charles. "Tell me. Are you
and he-shall we say-on good terms?"
"I don't know what you mean by that. I'm his father."
"Do you spend time together?"
"I see Abraham whenever I can. And twice a
week-Wednesdays and Sundays-very early in the
morning, we both go out to Watertown."
Gil asked lightly, "What's the attraction there,
pray?"
"My wife's memorial."
"Ah, certainly. My deepest apologies-I
forgot-was
Recovering from his embarrassment, Gil pondered
Philip's blunt statements silently. Philip
was thankful, because he'd heard quite enough on the subject
of Abraham from Mrs. Brumple. Only the other
morning, she had launched into one of those
well-intentioned but infuriating lectures that
would have caused Philip to order her out of the house if
he hadn't needed her to care for his son. Even now,
he could recall the conversation -
"Mr. Kent, sir, you'll forgive me if I
interject a comment -"
"Of course!" Philip retorted, displaying the
bad temper that had afflicted him of late. "I
forgive you for it
constantly, don't I?"
A forced, belated smile didn't mitigate
Mrs. Brumple's irritation. "I certainly
never intend to be critical, Mr. Kent-was
"Yes you do, my good woman, so go right ahead."
"Really, sir, this is intolerable-to "
Philip sighed. "I apologize. Please do
continue."
"Well-all right. I've been meaning to speak to you
about these continual trips to the place where your dear
wife's memorial is."
"You sound as if you don't approve. I see
nothing wrong in paying respects to Anne."
"But must Abraham go with you each time? Twice
weekly?"
"Why shouldn't he?"
"Well, sir, this is a personal
opinion-and you may find it odd coming from one who
constantly deplored her husband's lack of piety.
But I feel that your insistence upon Abraham
visiting Mrs. Kent's memorial so often is
harmful to him."
"Harmful?" Philip arched his brows. "In
God's name, woman, how?"
"Sir, please accept this in the spirit in which it is
offered. The Lord's name should never be taken-was
"Yes, yes, I realize! I'm sorry. Now
please get to the
point
."
Mrs. Brumple clamped her lips together and
nodded. Unhappily, Philip realized he'd
roused her combative spirit:
"The point is this. A small boy should associate
his father with cheerful events and surroundings, not
exclusively with graveyards-no matter how
revered the departed."
Philip replied quietly, earnestly, speaking the
deep hurt that was always with him-and was especially
painful during long, wakeful nights in his solitary
bed:
"Mrs. Brumple, I loved Anne
above all other people in this world. I repeat-her memory
deserves to be honored."
"I wouldn't have it otherwise, sir! You miss my
meaning entirely. Your visits have become a
fixation! The boy barely remembers the dear lady,
and he only thinks of you in connection with situations of
sadness combbreavement. I cannot help but believe it will
warp his nature if it continues indefinitely."
Curtly, Philip said, "Thank you for the advice.
I will give it serious consideration."
Ye gods, how the old goose annoyed him
sometimes! He certainly
didn't
intend to give her words even a moment's serious
consideration-
But now, standing with Gil and watching Abraham's
whirls and turns in the long grass, the discussion
slipped back into his mind, and he felt a twinge
of guilt.
He'd seen the fear i
n his son's eyes when he spoke harshly to him a
few moments ago. Perhaps he
was
giving excessive attention to mourning-and, more
important, forcing the boy into the same
pattern.
But dear Lord, he did miss Anne! Was it so
wrong to pay homage to that undying affection?
Gil continued to study
him
with thoughtful hazel eyes. Somehow the glance prodded
Philip to expand his defense of himself and his
relationship with his son:
"I don't deliberately leave Abraham to his
own devices, you understand. But I've all I can
handle running the presses and watching those damned
apprentices. Also, as you're well aware, I've
sunk a great deal of money into the preparation of my
first book."
Gil nodded, tugging the slim volume from the roomy
pocket of his coat. The book was bound in lustrous
brown leather over boards. Philip had invested in
the paper and other materials necessary to produce the
sort of book Royal Rothman had suggested-a
deluxe edition of Tom Paine's
American Crisis
essays.
More essays were still coming from Paine's quill, of
course. But Philip had collected all those
previously issued as individual
paper-bound pamphlets, re-set them in a highly
legible typeface, run off the sheets and sent them
to a bindery. He was gambling on being able to eventually
sell two thousand copies to private collectors
and circulating libraries.
He had received the books from the bindery three weeks
ago, and thus far had disposed of perhaps two hundred
copies, on consignment to Boston book shops.
Less than fifty had been sold. He had
expected to do much better.
"If business doesn't improve," Philip said
at length, "I may go out of the trade altogether."
"What?" Gil exclaimed. "You've only just
started!"
Philip stared over the sunny hillsides shadowed
by a passing cloud.
"Yes, but Anne's death changed a great many things,
Gil." He swung to face his friend. "I didn't
tell you everything when I showed you the shop this morning.
Selwyn Rothman, whom you met, is pressing me
for a long-term commitment. A lease on the space I
rent by the month. I've put him off because I
frankly don't know whether I want to continue. A
few months after I opened the shop, I ordered a
signboard to be hung outside the entrance
to Rothman's loft. Although the sign's completed,
I've never called for it. The sign painter's
apprentice devils me about it practically every other
day-was
Gil looked genuinely concerned as he returned the
book to his pocket. "If you abandon your
enterprise, what will you do?"
Philip shrugged. "I might have a stab at a
different trade. In another city."
"Printing is all you know!"
"That's true. But without Anne, I've damned little
heart for it."
"My friend, it saddens me to see you grieving so
deeply," Gil said. "It makes you sound like an
old man at twenty-five."
"Twenty-six. That's about half an average
lifetime, don't forget."
"Still, you talk like a veritable ancient. I've been
only a week in Boston, but I've noticed it
almost constantly. A change since we last saw
each other-a distinct and unhappy change."
"I'll remind you that any new business is taxing.
Especially when you wonder if you should continue with it.
I wasn't aware of sounding ancient, however."
Sensitive to Philip's sarcasm, Gil
veered the subject slightly:
"I was quite impressed by your shop, I might say."
"Over and above the gamble on the book, I have to fight
like the devil to get orders. Old Rothman's a
fine gentleman, though. He's used all of his
contacts to help me. But other people would pay him much more
than I do for the loft space. So he's pressing me
about a lease. Gently, but pressing nevertheless."
"The chandler is the father of the young man from your mess, am
I not correct?"
"Yes. Royal's still with the army-
n
Philip sat down on a stone fence, folding his
hands around his knee. It seemed to
him
that he heard drumming in the sunshine; distant
drumming. Voices crying
"Push on-to "
He shivered. But the illusions refused to depart.
He heard Anne's laughter-
He searched for the spot where he'd rowed to their very first
picnic. Centuries ago, it seemed.
Melancholy, his eyes lingered on the strip of beach.
"Philip, you mustn't think of giving up so quickly,"
Gil said suddenly. "I venture Kent's
will prosper if you only give it time."
"I'm fearful no one can really prosper till we
have
peace again. And the war goes on."
"Ah, but in our favor! Such a change since a
year ago! The splendid Colonel Clark's
victories-both British posts in the northwest
taken, and that perfidious Hamilton forced
to surrender at Vincennes! Captain Paul
Jones sailing his
Ranger
into Whitehaven in England and spiking the very guns of
their fort! Now the rumors of conciliation attempts
being undertaken by Lord North-let us hope the Paris
commissioners stand fast. Nothing short of independence.
Full independence!"
Philip rubbed his right leg absently. "They'd
better not settle for anything less. Thank God
for the French, anyway. Without your country, we
wouldn't have a fraction of the negotiating power that we do
now."
It was true; especially since the preceding
December, when King Louis
XVI'S
council had elected to recognize the
United States as a fully independent nation.
"So it is a bright picture!" Gil said with false
cheer. "And I hope to brighten it more by taking this leave
and returning to Paris. I am going personally to the
king, to request a larger fleet, additional
troops-believe me, Philip, it is only a
matter of time before the war is decided in America's
favor. Of course, until it happens, there will
continue to be pulling and hauling on both sides-was
"They
have
captured Savannah. And they seem to be mounting a
campaign down south."
"Yes, but
Quinton's
strategy is most
interesting
. More important, I believe it is
significant."
"I honestly haven't paid that much attention-was
"Since Monmouth Court House, the British have
not
committed
an entire army to the field anywhere. I think they
scent stalemate or defeat in the wind-just
as I scent victory. If not this year, then within
twenty-four months. Thirty-six at most. I'd
wager on it."
"I hope you're right."
"France's entrance into the war has turned this to a
global struggle. The sort of struggle England can
least afford. We are harassing her from the Indies to the
Indian Ocean. She can no longer give full
attention to you rebellious Americans-was
Gil's jab at his friend's shoulder, lightly
delivered, produced no response. Nor did
another forced smile. Philip continued to stare
moodily at the sunlit hills, the ships at
anchor, the raw buildings of the new Charles-town
rising where the old one had burned.
Gil perched on the stone fence alongside Philip,
frowning now:
"I begged General Washington's permission to sail
from Boston in part because I wanted to see you, my friend.
I'm afraid I almost regret doing so."
"Well, I'm sorry. I wouldn't pretend
I've been in the best spirits since I came home
last summer."
"One cannot mourn forever, Philip."
Philip didn't answer.
Gil sighed, tried to start the one-sided conversation on
yet another tack:
"I would like to see the remains of the redoubt where you
fought."
Philip raised a listless hand. "There."
"You won't come with me?"
"I'd rather not."
"Damme, you are a gloomy one!" Gil indicated
the small figure scuttling across the sunny
landscape. "If you have no thought for yourself, have a thought
for that child. You'll pardon me for saying so-was Philip
glanced around sharply, hearing the echo of Mrs.
Brumple. "comb sometimes you treat
him
as if he were some Hessian's brat instead of your
own son."
"I told you, Gil, I have a lot to do these days.
For one thing, I'm rushing to finish a circular
to promote the Paine book in other cities."
"Yet at the same time, you are uncertain whether
it's worth the effort!"
Philip said nothing.
"No wonder the boy suffers," Gil murmured.
Philip jerked his head up, defensive again:
"Mrs. Brumple is a very adequate
housekeeper. She feeds Abraham-sees to his
clothing, his naps-he doesn't want for anything.
Our-was The unconsidered word seemed to bring a shadow
across Philip's eyes. "comour investment in the
privateers paid off handsomely. Of course much of
it's tied up in equipment and loft rental and the new
book. But I'll always make sure there's enough left
for Abraham's needs."
"His material needs. A woman you have hired as
your housekeeper is no substitute for a father's
attentions and affections."
Philip rose quickly.
"Did you come here to see the redoubt or to lecture
me, Gil?"
Gil flushed. "The former. Again I beg you
to excuse my impertinence."
Philip sighed. "If you'll excuse my temper.
It must be obvious that I'm having trouble with it
lately."
Gil asked softly, "With the boy?"
"With everyone."
The admission was a hard one, but truthful.
The months since he'd come home from the camp at
Haverstraw Bay had been confused, hectic-and
miserable.
Everything he had confessed to the young marquis he felt
twice as deeply inside:
Once, he had looked forward to every step involved in
establishing his business. The purchasing of two
secondhand presses-the hiring of two devils-the
long hours spent meeting delivery deadlines on his
first hard-won orders for handbills and broadsides
all seemed devoid of the joy he'd anticipated
from the days when he first caught the excitement of the
printing trade at the
Sholto shop in London.
Reality, somehow, hadn't matched his expectat
ion.
Without Anne to share it, his life was nothing more than a
succession of tiresome days and fretful nights. It
was an emotional strain to make his frequent visits
to the cemetery in Watertown
, though he felt h
e had no choice.
He'd erected a headstone in Watertown,
alongside the one marking the resting place of
Anne's father. He'd erected it even though no
mortal remains would ever fill the grave-
Gil had been eyeing his friend speculatively for
several moments. Now, finally, he jumped
to his feet.
"Philip, I regret to say I must renege on
one arrangement we made."
Philip's dark eyes narrowed. "What
arrangement?"
"My promise to take your letter to your father the duke,
and see to its smuggling across the Channel to England."
That, at last, got a strong reaction:
"You promised to do it! I haven't written him in
a couple of years-was
"Yes, I realize that. However-was Gil pursed his
lips, shrugged. "comy are not precisely being a
cordial companion. I frankly resent being
treated in such boorish fashion."
For a moment Philip believed his friend was wholly
serious. Then he saw the faintly mocking gleam in
Gil's hazel eyes. He didn't immediately
comprehend the reason for it, though.
"Here I am," Gil continued, "faced with my final
night in America-my ship due to sail shortly
after sunrise-and I will go to this very fine late supper
which has been arranged in my honor, but the whole
evening will be spoiled by memories of my friend's glum
spirits."
"If this is some elaborate joke,
Gil, I fail to understand it. I'm not trying to ruin
your damn supper party!"
"Never mind-just take my word, you have. I cannot
do a service for someone who treats me so shabbily.
However-was He arched his brows, studying the
slow-sailing clouds. "comif, for example, you were
to show your sincere interest in my well-being-was
"How?"
"By accompanying me tonight."
"What?"
"I said I would like you to accompany me to the supper
party."
"Out of the question."
"You're engaged?"
"There's a cracked leg on one of my presses.
I planned to go back to the loft yet this afternoon and start
on the repair. I imagine it'll take me a good
part of the evening-was
"Ah, pouf I Tomorrow will be soon enough."
"I've got to finish that blasted circular!"
"You are inventing excuses," Gill declared with an
airy wave.
"That's not so, I-was
"Why bother with repairs and circulars if you intend
to give up your trade?"
"I haven't definitely decided to do that-was
"But you're thinking about it. So neither repairs nor
advertisements are that urgent. Besides," Gil
hurried on as Philip started to protest again,
"there's a practical reason for my desiring your
company. The kind family issuing the invitation to me
has also included another guest. A young woman who
is the niece of my host's wife. Since I am
a married man, the host and hostess have arranged for
my partner for the evening to be a grand dame quite advanced
in years. Some antique relative of Mr.
Hancock's, I believe. But the other lady I
mentioned-a young widow-is thus far without a suitable
compan-wait, wait, hear me out!"
Philip had limped off along the stone fence to stare
at the cloud-dappled sky.
Gil rushed after him, still speaking in that light,
half-mocking tone:
"You needn't curdle up so! You might enjoy an
evening of feminine companionship."
Gazing obliquely at Philip to see if he'd
piqued his curiosity, Gil waited. Philip
merely scowled. Gil went on in spite of it:
"The young woman is from Virginia. Her name is
McLean. According to my host, she is
pretty and quite intelligent. To have dinner with her,
while possibly a pleasant diversion, should not be
construed as an attempt at matchmaking, if that's
what's troubling you."
It was, in part, but Philip didn't admit it,
saying instead:
"Hauling a stranger along, Gil-that's
ridiculous."
"Let me decide that, please. Will you go?"
"No, of course I won't go. I doubt the lady
would care to have someone like me for a partner. I mean-was
He spread his fingers downward to indicate his right
leg. His mouth twisted in an ugly way. "comI'd
hardly cut a fine figure dancing."
"There is to be no dancing. But your concern is
revealing. I've suspected you were overly anxious
about your injury. You probably pay it more heed than
anyone else would."
"I
am
a cripple."
Gil shrugged again. "You are if you think you are. It
is that simple, I believe."
"To you."
"So you definitely will not go?"
"I've already answered that."
"In other words, you reject your friend and his interest in
you?"
Philip uttered a long sigh. "If you insist on
putting it that way, yes."
"Very well. I shall have my secretary return your
letter to the duke."
"Damme, you promised-was
"Ah, but I have my price."
"Lectures, supper invitations-
what the hell is this all about!"
Suddenly the Marquis de Lafayette grew
completely sober-faced. He looked much older
than his years as he laid a compassionate hand on
Philip's arm.
"It is about you, my friend. It is about your life, which
must go on even though your beloved wife's has
ended."
Gil spun and thrust one hand toward Abraham
scampering on the sunlit hilltop in the distance.
"Will you consign
him
to misery the remainder of his days just so you can revel in
it too? I think that is decidedly short-sighted.
And selfish. Earlier, I tried to suggest
that every grief must have an end. You paid no attention-was
"My wife
died
because I was away when I should have been
here!"
"Why
should you have been here? Explain to me exactly comwhy?
You professed belief in the army's purpose, did
you not? You pledged yourself to that purpose, did you not?
You committed yourself to helping deliver this new nation
into freedom-freedom for each man to choose his own
path without consulting kings or ministers. I am a
foreigner, but I have the distinct
impression
that what has happened in this country in the last few
years now means more to me than it does to you!"
"That's a damned lie. I believe it was
worthwhile to-was
"Faugh, you do not believe it was worthwhile at
all. Otherwise you would not throw it all away."
"Throw
what
away, for Christ's sake?"
"The future that has been and is being so dearly and
preciously won! You make a mockery
of the struggle. You no longer care about the future!
Oh, you run about
pretending to be busy-you substitute frantic
motion for authentic purpose-but you've admitted
you've lost hope-abandoned yourself to wallowing in
grief-even reached the brink of throwing away the career
you once hoped to create for yourself in this country! If
all of that weren't so, you'd clearly see, for
example, that your behavior is creating an
irreparable gulf between yourself and that boy. No, don't
deny it-I saw how he looked at you a few
minutes ago! In twenty years you'll have no son
worthy of inheriting what you've begun, because what
you've begun is already disappearing in apathy and
bitterness. Your son's love will have disappeared
too-and no doubt your son himself, when he's old enough
to flee the moody creature who's a father in name
only! I repeat, do not argue-I am not finished!"
Gil cried, cheeks scarlet now.
"I know I should not speak this way. It is none of
my affair if you wish to entomb yourself, give up and
rot in despair all your days. But a week in
Boston has been quite long enough for me to see the
pattern evolving. You are driving that boy from you, and
just as surely, you are counting as nothing all
that's been spent to give
him
a future-a country to grow up in that is unlike
any other this world has ever seen. Once, you faced
death for that. Now you dismiss it! You dismiss out of hand
all the decent men who have surrendered their lives for
this new nation. You very conveniently forget they died not
only for themselves but for you. More important, for that
boy! You forget, and you spit on their sacrifice!"
Gil was trembling. He averted his head, as if
ashamed. Philip tried to blunt the stinging accusations
with sarcasm:
"Those are fine sentiments. But over-optimistic,
don't you think? You're talking as if we've
won."
"We have!
I am willing to take my oath on it! America will
surely triumph now that its own army has
shown fighting teeth, and allies are on your side-was
"Allies? We've only France."
"I suspect there will be another soon. Perhaps not
formally tied to America but declaring war on Britain
nevertheless. I refer to Spain. However, you're
dodging the issue."
"Gil, I can't help how I feel!"
"But certainly you can. You are a man. Grieve
inwardly if you must. Of course you will never forget your
wife. But the world goes on. So must you."
"I'd rather have lost the war than Anne!"
Hazel eyes pinned him. "You see? My
indictment was entirely correct."
"I-was Philip hesitated. "Well, dammit,
not entirely, but-was
"What you mean is, you want both the war won and your
wife alive, and it has not worked out that way because things
of value carry a high cost. One which must be paid
despite our bitter reluctance. Mr. Jefferson
named the price explicitly. 'Our lives. Our
fortunes. Our sacred honor." If you were not
willing to pay it, you should have said so at the beginning-and
stuck with the damned, cowardly Tories! It is a
measure of what a weak, pathetic creature you are
allowing yourself to become that you put those same sentiments
into type-was
Gil snatched the slim book from his pocket and
shook it at Philip.
"comy print them in hope of a profit, yet you're blind
to the very words on the page! Mr. Paine knows Heaven
sets the proper price on its goods. In your
miserable self-pity, you have forgotten!"
He hurled the book at Philip's feet and
stalked off.
ii
Stunned, Philip reached down for the volume that
represented so much of his stake in the future-a
future which, in his darkest moments, he was indeed
ready to
abandon.
As he straightened up, he saw Gil glaring at
him. The young Frenchman turned his back.
Philip swallowed, remembering almost word for word the
passage Royal had first shown him; the passage
he'd set so carefully as he began work on the
Paine edition.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too
lightly; it is clearness only that gives everything
its value
....
Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its
goods
....
It would be strange indeed if so celestial an
article as freedom should not be highly rated
....
But it was dearness and struggle that had given
Anne her importance in his life, too. Now she
was gone. Irretrievably gone. That was the loss,
the price, that had reduced him to confusion and
depression and uncertainty about what he wanted for
himself in the years ahead-if indeed he wanted anything
at all.
His temper in control again, Gil walked slowly
back to his friend. With a polite half-bow, he said:
"Once more I was grossly intemperate. But this time
I offer no apology. The words needed speaking."
"Gil, I-perhaps you just can't understand. Believe me
when I say I feel
responsible
for Anne's death."
"Then you have fallen into dire error."
Philip shook his head, resigned: "It certainly
wouldn't be the first time-was
"I do remind you of this. If you cannot or will not lift
yourself out of your despondency, then you
will
be responsible for that young boy dying-even though he
lives physically to be a hundred years."
"Gil, this-was
Philip stared into his friend's face, still shocked and
hurt by the assault, even as he began
to understand Gil's motives.
"comth is pretty damned thick stuff for you to spout
just because I don't want to have supper with some
damned widow from Virginia."
"The dinner is incidental. Your willingness is not."
Gil touched his arm, adding softly, "Come-will you deny
your old comrade in arms?"
A lengthy pause. Philip's face hardened a
little.
"Let's get back to the basic issue. If I
go, will you carry the letter?"
"Yes."
"Otherwise you won't?"
"No. You will have to see to it yourself. I will consider our
friendship at an end."
"You're not serious."
"Perfectly."
Philip remained silent even longer. The sound of the
wind seemed to intensify, then fade. Shaken, he
began:
"What time--?"
He couldn't get out the rest, because Gil exclaimed:
"My coach will call at seven sharp!"
Feeling exhausted by the argument, and more than slightly
traitorous to Anne's memory,
Philip let out a long, defeated sigh:
"AU right. Seven o'clock."
"Splendid!
Splendid!
You don't even have to enjoy it. Just go. Now-was
Gil whirled
him
around by the shoulders, drawing Philip's attention
to what he'd perceived only dimly a moment before:
"comyour son is calling you. Evidently he's found
some object of interest." Another of the billowy,
slow-moving clouds darkened Gil's face. "Why
don't you go to him? Speak to him? This time, out of more
than necessity?"
Philip stared at the summit of Morton's
Hill as Gil added, "I shall stroll by what's
left of the redoubt and rejoin you shortly."
All elegance, lace and gold trim that gleamed in
the sun, the Marquis de Lafayette walked off
through the high grass.
The
Woman From Virginia
PHILIP CLIMBED awkwardly over the stone fence
and started down the slope toward the base of
Morton's Hill. He was continually
conscious of his limp now, and certain that the other
guests at the supper party would be also. What a
blasted fool he was, to allow a moment's weakness
to overcome his initial refusal!
Or was it weakness? Could Gil be right about the
necessity for abandoning his excessive preoccupation
with Anne's death?
The blatant bribery concerning the letter to James
Amberly had been relatively incidental
to Philip's change of mind. He could have found
other, though less certain, means of posting the letter
to England. He could not have endured the dissolution of his
friendship with the marquis quite so easily.
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that
Gil's threats were deliberate devices for breaking
through to the heart of his personal crisis and jolting
him, if possible, from the despair that had held
him
in its grip for months.
Still, the idea of dining beside some strange woman was
unnerving. But he had said he would, so now he must
suffer through. The evening was certain to be a disaster-
He was glad to be momentarily distracted from
contemplating it. The distraction was provided
by Abraham, waving and calling from the
summit of
Morton's Hill.
As Philip reached the depression between the hills, the
boy pointed to something in the grass. Philip blinked
against the sun, thinking he saw Anne standing on the
hilltop, lovely as he remembered her from that first
picnic in the pastures of farmers Breed and
Bunker-
So long ago.
He heard the distant drums again. The distant
voices-
Push on! Push on!
How that cry had terrified them, just before the redcoats
stormed the redoubt where Gil was wandering, trying to mark
its outline in the overgrown grass.
Philip started up the hill toward Abraham, still
upset about the prospect of an evening in the company
of some Virginia charmer. About all he'd learn from
such a person might be a few details of the widening
war in the southern states. He might not even learn
that if she were a vapid creature who paid no
attention to affairs of the country.
He thought about the long conversation just concluded.
Realistically, Gil was correct in one of his
comments. There way confidence abroad now.
Philip heard it in every lane and coffee-house in
Boston.
It was a boisterous, be-damned-to
-
you confidence risen phoenix-like from the humiliation of the
early days of the war. It was a confidence forged in the
bitter struggle to bring military discipline out of
disorder. It was a confidence instilled by steady,
courageous, honorable men like Washington, and
bizarre professionals like Baron von Steuben.
It was a confidence heightened by France's open and
growing support of her ally, even though that
support was birthed in expediency as the result of
centuries-old hatred.
Whatever the motivation for the act, France had tipped
the balance. The bastard nation had at last been
legitimized; recognized by another country.
Surely
others would follow suit-Laboring up Morton's
Hill, Philip hesitated at the halfway
point, jerked back to the immediacy of his
surroundings. There were too many ghosts stirring here;
ghosts whose presence threatened to overwhelm him with
grief-
Sweating suddenly, he stood with one hand at
his brow to blot out the sun. He failed to notice
Abraham's wigwagging arms fall to his sides,
indicative of his disappointment as he saw his father come
to a stop
in
the rippling pasture grass.
Philip was pale. The eerie drumming became a
thunder that conjured up too many faces he wanted
to forget.
Black-skinned Salem Prince and handsome Dr.
Warren facing bayonets in the redoubt, and going
down to death-
Eph Tait, begging for a rifle to end his own life
in the winter-clutched mountains-
Lucas Cowper, screaming as pitch on the stump of
his arm seared his whole future out of existence-
A schoolmaster with a fly crawling in the moist, dead
cavern of his mouth; never again for him the pleasure of
shiny faces over hornbooks, or the companionship
of a girl called Patsy-
There were more, thousands more, whose names and histories he
would never know. Gil said they had died for
him.
He would have died for them if that had been his lot and
luck. And collectively, they would have
perished for a piece of paper drawn up in
Philadelphia and flung at the world in
magnificent defiance of tyranny; magnificent
affirmation of everything in which a lovely, tender,
strong-minded Boston girl had believed-
Everything
he
had believed.
Once.
A new thought struck him. Anne, too, had given
herself. She was a casualty of war just as surely as
the others were. He was certain that, to the end, she had
kept her faith in the worth of the difficult straggle
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too
lightly.
Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its
goods
-
All those he remembered, including Anne, had
known the value of the goal for which the nation fought. And had
paid the price. Not by choice. But they had paid.
He stared down at his right leg and thought,
And so did I.
Would he have had it otherwise? Seen freedom lost
in return for personal safety and
security? That was the fundamental question Gil asked.
In conscience, Philip had to admit his answer was
no. But in that answer, there was heartbreak-
"Papa? Come see-I've found a bird. I think
it's a waxwing!"
Once more Philip shielded his eyes, shifted
position for a glimpse of his son's face. He was
disconcerted to see that the boy looked apprehensive.
No doubt he expected an absent stare; or a
scowl and a reprimand-
"I'm coming, Abraham."
He resumed his slow ascent of the hillside, the
phantom drumming a crescendo; the sound seemed
to throb all around him"
Then, as he concentrated on the boy's tense,
expectant face, it began to fade-
As did the horrible massed cry of those long-ago
voices:
Push on! Push on!
Suddenly, there was no grimness at all in the
voices dying away in the sunny wind. There was
only a challenge. His mouth framed the words
softly:
"Push on-was
It was what he must do. Put pain and
grief behind as best he could, and live the rest of his
life in the now, not the yesterday or the tomorrow that should have
been.
God, it would be hard. But the spur was there.
In the boy.
A good thing, he thought wearily. A good thing, or I
never would do it-
He went as fast as he could to the top of Morton's
Hill. When he reached Abraham's side, the
boy pointed down:
"See, Papa, isn't that a waxwing?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Mrs. Brample showed one to me last week. She
said they come and they go and nobody knows when or why-was
Studying the brown, crested bird pathetically
flopping in the grass, Philip nodded in an
absent way.
"He's hurt, isn't he, Papa?"
"Yes," Philip said, kneeling and starting to touch the
bird. He pulled his hand back for fear of injuring
the already mangled wing.
"Do you think we
could
make
him
well if we took him home?"
"Abraham, I don't know anything about caring for
birds-was
He saw
disappointment
stain Abraham's round brown eyes again, added
quickly:
"comb I'll venture Mrs. Brumple knows. If
she doesn't, she'll pound every door in
Cambridge till she finds someone who does."
"Yes, she knows just about everything," Abraham said,
his jutting lower lip testifying to his bittersweet
relationship with the elderly housekeeper. "She said
cedar waxwings eat mulberries and cherries, I
remember."
Philip stroked his son's hair, saw Anne's
face shimmering like a double image over the boy's.
So close he could almost touch her.
"I'll tell you one thing I'll bet she doesn't
know, Abraham, and that's how to build a wood
bird cage. It's the sort of thing fathers are
supposed to do. Let's pick
the bird up. You'll have to do it because your hands are
smaller and softer. And we'll need something to carry
him-I'll borrow Gil's hat. By the
way, I've promised Gil I'd go to a supper
with
him
tonight-was
His stomach knotted at the mere thought of it.
"comb I needn't repair that broken leg on the
press until tomorrow, so we'll go along
to Rothman's right now and ask Mr. Rothman for a
packing crate we can chop apart. I'll build a
slat cage for the bird and we'll take
him
home to Mrs. Brumple and let her ply her
skills. If it's possible for that wing to heal, at
least the fellow will have a place to recuperate
comfortably. Are you agreed, Abraham?"
"Oh, yes, Papa, yes, let's go at once!
May we call Gil?"
"Yes, we-was
Philip paused as he started to stand up. Still
kneeling, he took his son's small hand in his
larger one.
"Abraham."
The old uncertainty blurred Abraham's
smile:
"What, Papa?"
"Abraham, you're a good son and I always want you
to know I love you. I haven't been in very good
temper these past months, but I promise you that's
going to change. I want to show you I love you, not just
say the words."
The boy flung himself at his father and wrapped his arms
around his neck and held
him
tightly.
Philip pulled Abraham close, holding him
around the waist, feeling the beat of life and warmth in
the small, strong body. Presently he drew
back, looked into his son's eyes, seeing for a
moment the other flesh that had given the boy life: the
remarkable chestnut-haired girl who had taught
him
to love liberty as much as he loved her.
"One more thing, Abraham-was
"Yes, sir?"
"From now on, I don't believe we'll be
traveling to Watertown quite so often."
"To Mama's place?"
"Yes. I will go occasionally myself, but you need not.
After all, you must have extra time to tend the waxwing.
And you and I should do other things together-was
"I wish you would let me go to the shop with you,
Papa."
"You like it?
n
"Yes, the ink smell, and all the noise, and the
boys who work for you-I wish you could find something for me
to do there."
"Perhaps I can, Abraham. I'll try."
"I know I am not very old-was
"Big enough to carry an ink ball, I should imagine."
He patted Abraham's cheek. "At any
rate, let me make what visits to Mama's
place are called for, eh?"
"Of course, Papa."

Philip was ashamed of the relief he saw in his
son's face.
But he was gratified by the merriment that quickly
replaced it.
ii
At dusk, Gil's hired coach wound through the
dimly lit Boston streets. The elegant young
officer lounged on the forward-facing seat Philip
sat uncomfortably on the other.
He hadn't been so finely dressed in
months. But putting together an outfit for the supper had
required Mrs. Brumple to postpone care of the
waxwing for an hour, and to make a quick trip to a
haberdasher's. From there she rushed to a neighbor's,
to borrow a decent pale blue shirt of the proper
size, and a cravat of the same shade.
Philip's coat and velvet breeches of dark
blue did not precisely match. But his white
waistcoat and hose looked new-bought, which they were.
Eulalie Brumple
had fussed over him as if he were her child instead of her
employer-"You'll forgive me for saying so, Mr.
Kent, but your hair ribbon is not neatly tied. It
looks every bit as sloppy as Brumple's always
did. Come here!"-and despite his nervousness,
Gil's arrival had come as a genuine relief.
But his anxiety was back full force now, heightened
by a continued sense of betraying Anne's memory.
Gil watched Philip drum his fingers on his right
knee, then reached over to grasp his friend's wrist:
"Stop that! You're fidgeting worse than a green
recruit going into battle."
"That is exactly how I feel."
Gil laughed. Philip glanced out the coach window
for the first time in several minutes and
exclaimed, "Where the devil is this party? Either your
host and hostess are in financial straits-was
"I assure you they are not."
"Then your coachman's lost."
"Not that either. We are going to call for the young woman
whom I mentioned to you this afternoon."
Philip jerked his gaze back from the row of houses
rolling past outside. Quite without his being aware of it,
the coach had proceeded to a North End street which was
distinctly run down.
Scowling, he said, "When I agreed to come, I
wasn't aware the bargain included calling for the widow
in
person
."
"It didn't-then," Gil grinned. "I took
car[*copygg'of that after we parted."
Irked and not a little confused, Philip gestured to the
shabby houses. "This widow-she's staying in this part of
town?"
"No, she is staying at our ultimate destination.
The home of our host and hostess. The latter is
Madame McLean's aunt on her mother's side."
"Gil, you aren't making sense! What the hell are
we
doing in the North End?"
"Well, there's a snippet of gossip attached
to the answer to that. We are calling for Mrs.
McLean where she boards her child."
"Her
child!"
Philip shouted. "You
have
got me into some old woman's match-making
session!" "Philip-was
"You've paired me off with some panting bitch who's
lost one husband and is desperate to trap another
to support her brat! I've a mind to climb out
right now." Amused, Gil restrained Philip with a
hand on his arm: "My friend, I am assured that
Madame McLean has neither the desire nor the
intention to go shopping for a mate among cold-blooded
New Englanders."
"Then what's she doing boarding a child in Boston? Was
her husband from here?"
The hazel eyes grew more somber as Gil
answered, "He was not. Philip,
please
treat what I'm going to tell you in confidence. It
is my understanding that the young woman's daughter
was born well
after
her husband died.
Bore
out of wedlock, I suspect."
"Then I've more in common with the baby than the mother,"
Philip grumped.
"I believe the child was brought Into the world here in
Boston, however." "Not Virginia?"
"No. The child's mother comes of good stock. No doubt
she wished to avoid scandal at home. I do know for a
fact that she has made two difficult voyages
from Virginia in order to see to the child's welfare."
Philip shook his head. "I still don't understand-was
He pointed outside to the less than elegant
dwellings with ramshackle stoops and grimy front
windows. "Why is the child lodged in this area, instead
ofwith prosperous relatives?"
"Why, simply because the widow's aunt and her uncle
by marriage are too advanced in years to handle a
rumpbumptious infant. You'll see when you meet
them. A private home would therefore be preferable
over an orphan's asylum, I imagine-and no
financial hardship for Madame McLean. She
is reputedly quite well off. So don't
flatter yourself into thinking you'll be examined up and down
for husbandly earning power! I promise you,
Philip, it's a social occasion only-was
Scowling again, Philip said nothing.
"See here! Are you so ungallant that you can't help
escort Madame McLean to the party in style?"
Philip's face turned bleak. He pointed to the
new white hose showing at his calf.
"I hardly cut a figure that could be called
stylish."
"Will
you stop that confounded self-pity?" Gil barked, his
smile humorless all of a sudden.
Regretting his irritation, he started to add something
else. Just then the coach rocked to a halt, in
front of an unprepossessing house on another
shabby street.
"We have arrived. Philip-was The hazel eyes
caught lamplight from the windows of the residence.
"comif I have erred, forgive me. I only arranged
to call for Madame McLean because I thought you might
be more comfortable making her acquaintance before we descend
into the somewhat staffer atmosphere of the
party
."
"Well, I'm decidedly u
ncomfortable. You fetch her out by yourself."
"No, I will not," Gil said, gently nudging his friend
toward the door one of the coachmen had handed open. "The
snail must emerge from his shell sometime!"
Climbing down, Philip swore a blistering oath
which Gil pretended not to hear.
As they ascended the steps, Philip tried to keep
his shoulders squared. It was impossible. His right one
sagged a little each time he put weight on that foot.
To make matters worse, he and the celebrated
marquis were being peered at from numerous windows on
both sides of the street. Within the house itself,
Philip heard a high-pitched squalling.
"Plague on it!" Gil muttered. "Sounds like her
child's fretful. She'll not be ready-was He let the
knocker fall.
"How old is this offspring of hers?" Philip
wanted to know.
"Let's see, I was told-was He thought. "A
year? Something on that order-was
The door opened to reveal an obese man in his
middle thirties. The man was either a member of the
merchant class, or had attempted to dress like one
when he learned who was to call at his front
step. From the quality of the neighborhood, Philip
suspected it was the latter.
Wig slightly askew, the poor fellow
dry-washed his hands and hopped from one foot to the other
as his distinguished visitor introduced himself and his friend.
From somewhere upstairs, the devilish squalling continued
as the obese man said:
"Come in, sirs, please do! I am Chadbourne
Harris. My good wife and I board little
Elizabeth-was A piercing shriek made him gulp.
Harris had a comfortable enough home, Philip
decided, glancing into the parlor that opened off the
front hallway. But the air was tanged with an
odor of cooked cabbage, which he detested.
Opposite the parlor entrance, double doors to a
dining room stood slightly ajar. Philip spied
a gleaming eye on the other side.
Goodwife Harris, perhaps? Embarrassed to confront
her distinguished guest in person?
Gil, however, was all civility and kindness as he
passed small talk with the nervous master of the house.
Harris kept fidgeting with his wig and getting powder
on his fingers while the screaming continued upstairs.
Philip noted a woman's hooded cloak of fine
velvet lying
on a hall stand. Of the woman herself, there was still no
sign-
She appeared all at once in the lamplight of the
upper landing, startling Harris, Gil and Philip
because, over her shoulder, she carried the howling infant.
The young woman was elegantly gowned, with dark hair
and fair skin. Her quite pretty features showed her
distress. But she wasn't the least hesitant about
coming downstairs. The little girl wearing a nightgown
squealed and struggled on the widow McLean's
shoulder.
"Mr. Harris," the young woman said, "is your
wife nearby? I can do absolutely nothing with
Elizabeth-was
"My wife? Ah-somewhere-I'll see-was
He bolted for the parlor, remembered something,
hurtled the other way and jerked the double doors open
to reveal a flustered woman whose girth nearly
matched his.
"Mrs. Harris, Mrs. McLean requires
you!"
Goggling at Gil-it was obvious which one of the
visitors was the French officer-Mrs. Harris
crossed to the younger woman and took the wailing
infant. Philip got a brief look
at the child's face: angelically beautiful, with fair
hair and pale blue eyes. But the beauty was marred
by the infant's rage and continual thrashing.
"Madame McLean," Gil said, "may I bid
you good evening? I am your humble servant, the
Marquis de Lafayette."
She curtsied prettily, though her pink cheeks
showed her embarrassment at the child's behavior, and she
had to raise her voice to be heard:
"It's indeed a privilege to meet a soldier and
patriot of your distinction, sir."
The widow McLean's speech was softer, more
rhythmic than that of New England. It had a
pleasing sound; but Philip was more impressed at the
way the young woman managed to maintain composure
while her daughter was yelling.
He
had to admit the lady from Virginia had a handsome
figure, too. What drew his sympathy, however,
was a certain quality in her eyes. A sad
quality that didn't match her smile-
Gil was just about to present Philip when the child gave
another cry and hit Mrs. Harris on the head.
"E
li
zabeth
to was
Mrs. McLean ran to the older woman, seized the
little girl's wrist and slapped it smartly. The child
cried all the louder, while Mr. Harris gestured
and grimaced, urging his wife to remove the source
of the noise.
This Mrs. Harris did. The wail slowly
diminished. The young woman brushed at a lock of
dark hair that had loosened over her forehead. In her
eyes Philip saw the sadness intensify for a
moment.
Then she overcame it, and smiled again as she turned
to her escorts:
"My deepest apologies to both of you gentlemen.
Sometimes Elizabeth is so uncontrollable, I'd
swear the child is an imp tutored by Satan himself."
Her smile was dazzling now. But Philip sensed a
grimmer undertone in the remark.
As Gil assisted Mrs. McLean with her cloak,
he said:
"Permit me to present my dear friend, Mr.
Philip Kent of Boston."
Fastening the ties of her cloak, Peggy McLean
met Philip's eyes with cordiality,
nothing more. He stepped forward to acknowledge the
introduction-and realized too late that he had
automatically put his weight on his right foot,
revealing his limp. The young woman's glance dropped
for an instant; she had seen-
Philip reddened, found it impossible to speak.
Gil filled the strained silence:
"Mr. Kent is lately returned from the
Continental army, where he served with distinction. He was
injured in the battle of Monmouth Court House,
in New Jersey."
"An injury in a noble cause, Mr. Kent,"
Peggy
McLean said. "I have read that the army fought
splendidly there. But for the lack of a few more officers
with the courage of Virginia's General Washington and
Pennsylvania's General Wayne, the enemy would
have been destroyed."
Gil beamed. "Quite so. Philip and I have known each
other many, many years, by the way. We fought together at
Monmouth, and in other actions as well. Happily,
my dear comrade survived to lend his considerable
talents to that admirable enterprise for the promulgation
of knowledge, the printing craft."
Even as Gil finished the embarrassingly
flowery pronouncement, he swept the front door
open and stepped aside to permit Peggy McLean
to" go through. Philip caught his friend's prompting
glance. He raised his hand and let the young woman
rest hers on top.
"Thank you, Mr. Kent," she said.
They descended the stairs together. Philip was
conscious that he was shorter than his companion, and that,
too, was unsettling. He recalled feeling the
same way in his first days of courting Anne-
As he assisted the widow into the coach, it occurred
to him that Gil had deliberately raised the
subject of his limp in order to minimize it; keep
it from being an additional source of tension during the
rest of the evening.
climbing
into the coach himself, he realized with relief that Peggy
McLean didn't appear to be the least repelled
by his disability. In fact, as the coach set off,
the driver hallooing to warn a crowd of urchins out of the
way, she put Philip further at ease by saying:
"This printing business which the Marquis mentioned -I
assume it's located here in the city, Mr.
Kent?"
"Yes, that's right. My firm's a modest
one so far. Broadsides, advertising notices-was
"But I agree with the marquis-printing
is
a craft of great worth to society in general.
Especially in these
all the states depend on the printed word for
encouraging news."
"It is the owner of the firm who is modest," Gil
broke in. "Philip has just published a very
handsome library edition of Mr. Paine's
Crisis
papers."
"Indeed! I've read several of them. I admire
the content as much as the prose. Is your edition doing
well, Mr. Kent?"
"Not as well as I'd like. I'm preparing a
circular to promote its sale by post
to booksellers in other cities-was
"Perhaps I could take a quantity back
to Virginia with me. I have friends in both Richmond
and Williamsburg, and I'm sure I could
prevail on them to place the circulars in the
proper hands."
Despite himself, Philip smiled. "Why, that's very
kind. I understand you do travel between your
state and ours occasionally."
"Yes, when the weather's favorable and the seas
reasonably safe. Tell me, what's the name of
your firm? Is it a family firm?"
"Well, I have a young son, named Abraham after
my late wife's father. Of course I entertain some
hope that he might continue in the business. For that
reason I christened the establishment Kent and
Son."
"I wish both Kents much success and prosperity,"
Peggy McLean said, returning his smile with
warmth.
Philip felt a peculiar sensation then. With a touch
of surprise, he realized what it was. He was
enjoying this young woman's amiable and literate
conversation as he'd enjoyed nothing else in months.
He even caught himself eyeing the swell of her
figure beneath her cloak.
That produced another severe twinge of guilt. It
was embarrassing to find himself responding to widow
McLean's presence with even a flicker of
physical pleasure-
Perhaps the evening wouldn't be so disastrous as he'd
imagined.
Gil tapped Philip's shoulder,
interrupting his reverie:
"By the by, my friend. That signboard for your doorway
comh you made plans yet to put it up?"
"No, I-was
He cut the sentence off abruptly, realizing how
skillfully he had been maneuvered into a trap.
But Philip couldn't be angry. Behind Gil's
smile and apparently innocent question lay genuine
concern.
"I have been too busy to think much about it," he
resumed. A moment later, the decision was made:
"I expect to call for the sign and have it erected within
a week, though."
"First-rate! I'm sorry I shan't be here
to watch."
Peggy McLean said, "Most business signboards
here in Boston seem to have distinctive designs,
Mr. Kent. Is that true of yours?"
"It has a design. Whether it's distinctive, I
can't say. Just the name, Kent and Son, lettered in
gold, Kent at the top, the other two words at the
bottom. In between, there's a green bottle painted
black for about a third of the way up. The black
represents tea. I was present at Griffin's
Wharf when-was
"When Mr. Adams held his famous tea party,"
Peggy nodded. Her stock rose immediately with
Philip, for whatever else she might be, she was
no empty-headed beauty languishing disconnected from
the world.
Sitting forward on the coach seat, aware that he was
looking at her with perhaps too great a degree of
interest comand sinfully enjoying it!-he went on:
"Yes, exactly right. During the cutting and dumping
of the tea chests, my shoes got filled with the stuff.
I put some in a green bottle to save it. I have
it as a souvenir at home. I like the bottle's
symmetry, but more important, I like what it stands
for. So I chose the bottle for the signboard instead
of something more typical such as a press or a
book-was
He realized the coach had stopped. A large,
impressive house loomed outside. All the
downstairs windows were aglow with candles, and the rooms
themselves shed brilliant lamplight into the street.
Liveried servants sprang to the coach door.
Glancing out the other side, Philip saw they had
returned to the vicinity of the Common.
One of the servants handed Peggy McLean out.
Philip followed, alighting with only a
slight awkwardness. He was feeling less
self-conscious by the moment.
Moving to Philip, Peggy McLean said, "I will
need to pick up those circulars before I sail
home, Mr. Kent."
"I can have them brought around to you."
"But I've never seen a printing shop. I should like
an invitation to visit yours."
"You may have it, of course."
"I hope you don't think me too forward. Since
my husband was killed some years ago, it's been
necessary for me to involve myself in many areas not normally
considered proper for a woman. With my overseer's
assistance, I manage my own plantation, for
example. I've found I have an interest in
commerce-even a certain small aptitude for it. I
like to broaden my knowledge of all areas of business-was
"Then you'll surely be welcome at Kent and
Son, Mrs. McLean."
"Wonderful! We can work out the details over
supper. And on my next trip to Boston, I'll
give you a report on my success with the
circulars."
"You'll be coming back reasonably soon?"
"Yes, Mr. Kent, most assuredly."
Standing perhaps a foot from him in the glare of a torch
held aloft by one of the host's footmen, Peggy
McLean looked at Philip a moment longer.
Color rushed to her cheeks. She glanced away,
adding:
"I wonder if I might have your hand to climb the
steps-?"
Philip smiled. "Certainly."
When he lifted his arm and she touched him, there was a
peculiar prickling all along his spine. And, within
him, only a vestige of guilt.
Philip couldn't see the Marquis de
Lafayette smiling broadly as he followed the
couple up the stairs in the shifting light of the
windblown torches.
Epilogue
The World Turned Upside Down
ON THE NINETEENTH of October, 1781, some
eight thousand British and German troops laid
down their arms outside the tiny tobacco port of
York-town in the state of Virginia, in token of the
surrender of their commanding officer, General Charles
Cornwallis, Earl of Cornwallis, to the combined
American and French forces under General Washington
and his ally, Count Donatien de
Rochambeau.
The Hessians who had been besieged in
Yorktown, trapped between the American army and the
French fleet of Admiral de Grasse, stacked
their arms with phlegmatic resignation. The British
were a shade less gallant; embittered redcoats
were seen to crack the butts of their muskets on the
ground, and regimental musicians staved in the heads
of their drums. Lord Cornwallis himself pleaded
indisposition, sending a deputy to the ceremony.
General Washington refused to treat with the deputy
He
insisted that Cornwallis" alternate speak with
his
alternate, an American general of lesser
rank, Benjamin Lincoln.
During the un
i
t-by-unit abandonment of arms and musical
instruments, the British bands played a peculiar
assortment of music. Few were marches; some were
airs with a distinctly melancholy strain. One, a
popular nursery tune entitled
The World Turned Upside Down,
seemed ironically appropriate to the
failure of the last thrust of the army of His Majesty.
The army had swept up along the southern coast of the
United States, hoping to win the victory that had
eluded the British in the north.
At Sermon Hill, Caroline County, Donald
Fletcher heard the story of the siege and surrender not
many days later, from relieved residents of the
district. There had been an ominous period of
several months in which all the farmers and planters
along the Rappahannock had feared they would be
fighting redcoats from their own fields and verandas.
News of the surrender brought jubilation. And word of the
playing of that particular children's melody tickled
Donald's fancy as very little did any more.
Donald felt his age. His gouty leg kept him
in constant pain. He did leave Sermon Hill
occasionally, but not without enormous effort.
Donald's stomach had swollen to immense
proportions from his continuing refusal to cease his
excessive eating and drinking. The task of operating
the plantation after his father's death from a paralytic
seizure in mid

780 had become a burdensome routine without real
purpose; only massive meals and
massive quantities of port and claret could
relieve the lonely sameness of his days.
So he enjoyed hearing every detail of the humiliation of
Cornwallis, a humiliation most interpreted as the
end
of hostilities, even though peace was by no me cial
as yet.
Before the year was out, the gentry along the
Rappahannock found their own world turned
topsy-turvy by other unexpected happenings.
Hints of the first one circulated about Thanksgiving
time, and Donald, through his house blacks, soon
managed to confirm that the rumors had a factual
basis.
Williams, the overseer who had helped Seth
McLean's widow keep her plantation operating as
efficiently as was possible during the war, had been
authorized to place the property on the market.
The actual owner, Peggy Ashford McLean, was
away on one of her frequent trips to the city of
Boston when the estate went up for sale. She
returned to Caroline County in early December-and
to the astonishment of Donald and everyone else in the
district, she brought with her a new husband, plus
two children.
One was her bridegroom's son by his first wife.
The second was a little girl a few years younger, who
was supposedly related to Peggy's distant kin in
New England.
There were no fetes, no gala balls to welcome the
new couple, because they had expressed their desire for
privacy, keeping to their great house except for
Sunday worship at the little Presbyterian church
six miles from Sermon Hill. The children were not
present on those occasions.
Like most other persons of substance along the river,
Donald at first harbored private reservations about
the fellow Peggy McLean had married. A mere
tradesman, it was said; a printing-house owner!
Neighbors who came to visit Donald stated
unequivocally that the Bostonian had to be a
fortune-hunter. The opinion was widely held
until Williams gradually let slip certain
details to disprove the charge.
According to the overseer, Mr. Philip Kent had some
wealth of his own, due to successful investment in a
privateering enterprise. His printing business was,
if not yet overwhelmingly prosperous, at least
successful.
And he had important personal
connections.
He was a good friend of a wealthy Jewish merchant of
Boston-there were several thousand Jews in America
at the time, many quite affluent-and Kent's friend, Selyn
Rothman by name, was said to have been one of those who had quite
literally helped stave off the total collapse of
America's finances during the war. He and others had
advanced the government huge sums from their personal
treasuries. Rothman, it was reported, had given
nearly as much as the Polish-born Haym
Solomon and, like Solomon, had not demanded any
definite terms for repayment.
Further, Donald learned that Rothman had helped
Peggy McLean's new husband through his first
difficult days of establishing the firm called
Kent and Son. But what gave final approval
to Kent's credentials was his widely discussed
friendship with the Marquis de Lafayette. The
Frenchman was a heroic figure in the eyes of
Virginians, both because General Washington thought so
highly of
him,
and because of his presence during the fighting at
Yorktown.
Curious about the new liaison that was
to result in Peggy Ashford McLean Kent's
removal to a new home in the North, Donald
made a difficult trip to worship services one
drizzly Sunday morning. He noted that Peggy
looked radiantly happy as she entered the tiny
church on the arm of her new husband-who, Donald
saw with some astonishment, was a good half a head
shorter than his wife. Also, he limped
noticeably.
Yet the Bostonian had a rather cocky bearing, and a
certain pugnacious set to his dark features.
To Donald
he appeared a man of determination and quiet
vigor.
In the churchyard afterward, Donald had a chance
to greet the New Englander. He found Kent to be
well educated, at least superficially. What
continued to impress Donald the most, however, was
Kent's steady, almost bold stare-as if he would
cheerfully thrash any person who dared to question his right
to marry a woman of such impeccable background as
Peggy.
All smile and blushes-looking healthier, in
fact, than he'd seen her in many a year-Peggy
invited Donald to call at the McLean
house that afternoon. He accepted.
In the carriage on the way back to Sermon
Hill-Donald could no longer exert the effort or
withstand the pain of riding horseback-he lingered on some
far-from-godly thoughts which had teased his mind throughout the
tedious sermon.
Peggy certainly seemed pleased with her new
spouse. But Donald wondered about the more intimate
details of the marriage. Having endured the
nightmare of the uprising of '75-25en raped, was the
long and short of it-would she be capa
ble of fulfilling what were eu
phemistically known as wifely duties?
And had the groom known the quality-or should one say
"limitations?"-of the goods he had acquired?
Donald realized he'd never know the answers, and
supposed they were none of his business. But he
wondered all the same.
At the McLean house, he visited for an hour
while the drizzle continued to fall from the December
sky. He found himself enjoying conversation with this Kent
chap, who had served with the American army for several
years, and been mustered out after Monmouth Court
House, where he had received the wound that crippled
him.
At one point, their talk was interrupted by
the sudden arrival of the two children.
One was ,a rather stocky, dark-haired boy of about
six. The other was a bad-tempered but lovely little
girl of about three.
Philip Kent presented his son Abraham, but
Peggy had scant chance to do the same with the girl, whose
name was Elizabeth. The child seemed preoccupied with
turning over small tables, pulling books from
shelves and howling like a fiend when Peggy tried
to discipline her-gently at first, then crossly.
Fortunately, the little girl caused so much commotion in
the couple of minutes before Peggy seized her and
carried her out bodily, both Peggy and her new
husband failed to notice the absolutely
thunderstruck expression on Donald Fletcher's
face.
When Peggy returned, out of breath and murmuring
apologies, Donald had concealed his surprise
behind a bland expression. But he did ask a question or
two about the little girl. She would of course become
part of the new household along with the boy Abraham,
Kent said.
Peggy supplied the information that the girl was an
orphaned relation of the northern branch of
Peggy's mother's family. Elizabeth had been
raised in a private home in Boston. It was the
child, Peggy explained, whom she had gone to visit
by ship, twice annually at first, then more often.
Donald concluded that the shortened intervals were
probably prompted by a ripening romance with Kent.
During the discussion of the vile-tempered little girl,
Peggy seemed to be staring at Donald in an odd,
apprehensive way. Still privately agog, he
struggled to keep his features bland, and to give her
no cause to think he suspected much of her story was
a lie. Soon she lost her air of tension. The
visit ended on an equable basis-though Donald
could still hear the little girl
yelling her head off somewhere upstairs as he bundled
into his coat and muffler. Just before he stepped off the
veranda to the open door of his carriage, he shook
Kent's hand, then Peggy's. On her wrist he
saw a pattern of red marks; she had been bitten.
Riding back to Sermon Hill for the second time that
day, he asked himself if his senses had deceived him.
But he was certain they hadn't. He didn't know
whether to feel horribly sorry for the new Kent
household, or to laugh at the unexpected twists
and turns fate could take.
The rain fell more heavily throughout the rest of the afternoon.
That evening, in Sermon Hill's huge and lonely
dining room, he found he had no appetite for
food. After the blacks had left him, he sat with a
decanter and glass, his bandaged left leg propped
on a stool and his eyes resting on one of the more recent
and unprecedented additions "to the furnishings of the
house.
On the inner wall, its canvas glowing in the
candlelight, hung an oil portrait of Angus
Fletcher.
The portrait was of immense size. It showed the
old man dressed in elegant gentleman's
apparel-a suit and accessories which, in fact, he
had never owned, but which were added by the artist at Angus'
insistence.
Throughout his entire life, the elder Fletcher had
shown no concern whatever for his personal appearance.
Indeed, he'd shown few traces of vanity at
all, except for the vast and unspoken one of operating
Sermon Hill exactly as he wished, and at a
profit. Then, unexpectedly, he had commissioned the
painting-one month after receiving the news that Judson
had been shot to death in Pittsburgh.
George Clark was another hero to the
Virginians along the river. After his victory at
Kaskaskia, then the more incredible one at Fort
Vincennes which his little army had approached in the dead
of winter, across
flooded prairies others would have considered
impassable, George Clark had sent Angus a
letter. Donald had read the letter several times; it was still
stored among his father's few personal effects in the
office.
In the letter, the Virginia frontiersman paid glowing
tribute to Judson's heroism. He made it quite
clear that, except for Judson's sacrifice, the
great enterprise in the west would very likely never have
come about.
It was after the receipt of the letter that Angus Fletcher
began making inquiries about qualified portrait
painters-insisting on references and answers by mail
to a series of questions. He finally selected an artist
from Baltimore.
The artist boarded at Sermon Hill six weeks
while completing the canvas. Angus sat
willingly, though he put forward certain demands which the
artist protested. Sermon Hill must be glimpsed
in the background of the painting. In the middle distance,
one or two figures must appear in a
field, standing passively. Black figures;
slaves.
The artist said all those stipulations would limit his
thinking; hamper his artistic expression. But
Angus' hectoring ways, and the high price he was
paying, won out. So there Donald's father hung,
resplendent in a white lace cravat such as he
never owned in later life. And there were the docile
blacks behind
him,
and Sermon Hill a whitish rectangle in the
upper right.
The artist from Baltimore had professed to be an
admirer of the well-known Boston miniaturist and
portrait painter, John Copley, who had gone
off to Italy before the war and was now settled in
England-colonial migration in reverse! The artist
told Donald that Copley had painted a number
of the Boston radicals responsible for
precipitating the conflict-Samuel Adams and the
express rider Revere were two-and that in their
portraits, Copley had striven both for
verisimilitude and for
composition that captured the essence of the subject's
character. Thus Angus Fletcher had been
posed with one fisted hand on his hip. And he was shown
full face, so that the tough, lined countenance
assaulted the viewer head on. Whether by accident
or intent, the artist had brushed tiny highlights
into Angus' pupils, lending them a suggestion of
temper about to be unleashed.
At first, Donald had charged the whole business off
to senility, plus Angus' abrupt if belated
realization that he, like all men, would go to the earth in the
end. Only gradually did it dawn on Donald
that Judson's behavior at Pittsburgh had
given Angus something of which to be genuinely proud;
something which therefore made the old man worthy of
memorialization in a family portrait. It was as
if, for all his days, Angus Fletcher had
harbored doubts about his principles, his style of
life, his very worth-doubts which he had successfully
concealed. Donald came to the conclusion that he never
wholly understood his father until the portrait was
completed.
Now, with the winter rain ticking the glass of the dining
room windows and the candles burning down in their
graceful chimneys, Donald refilled his glass
and regarded the portrait with a sardonic smile.
In the hours before Angus Fletcher had
closed his eyes for the last time, he had rambled a good
deal to his older son who sat by the bedside.
Angus confessed his joy in Judson having partially
redeemed himself by the way he died. But Angus again
stated that he thanked the God he would soon confront
that Judson had fathered no children. In spite of his
manner of dying, Angus said with regret, Judson
had been driven by the devil. Pride and grief
wove together in that, Angus' final verdict on his
second son.
It was a blessing that Angus Fletcher wasn't
alive today, Donald thought, to have seen what he had
seen at
McLean's.
He understood at last Peggy McLean's long
absence in New England before Judson's departure
to the west. She had been bearing the child.
When had it been conceived? So far as he knew,
Judson
had visited Peggy only that one time after Seth's
burial. Perhaps there had been additional meetings of
which Donald was unaware.
Obviously others in the neighborhood would now
suspect an illegitimate birth as one possible
reason for Peggy's mysterious behavior.
Donald thought that only the most perspicacious would
identify the father, however.
He understood Peggy's apprehension during the afternoon
visit, too. He was thankful he had done nothing
to show he recognized the little girl's resemblance
to his younger brother.
But there could be no mistake. Elizabeth had
Judson Fletcher's bright hair and Judson
Fletcher's bright eyes, and she bore a certain
facial resemblance to Judson as well.
She had also inherited Judson's violent
tendencies, it seemed.
And that fellow Kent was taking the child into his
household! Donald wished him the strength and luck
to survive the ordeal.
God, it was funny how the world revolved.
A collection of contentious, stubborn-minded
colonials of all degrees of literacy, wealth
and dedication had somehow defeated the military
might
of the globe's greatest empire. In the process, a
new country had come into being.
And Judson, who had squandered most of his life in
uncontrollable excesses, had redeemed himself in
his father's eyes by dying a hero of sorts-
And leaving no heirs.
now an angel-faced little harridan was carrying the
Fletcher blood straight to the table of a Boston
family.
Thank heaven I won't be around in fifty years
to see what havoc that's wrought!
Laughing aloud, Donald poured more wine while the
rain beat harder "on the house and the Fletcher eyes
glared from the wall in the guttering candlelight.
Afterword
Authors sometimes think (misguidedly) that once
The End
is written, all the important work has been
done.
The truth, of course, is far different. The
publication process is never completed-a real link
is never created-until a book reaches the hands of a
reader.
And a great many people collectively perform the
in-dispensible job of seeing any new book out into the
world where that happens. But those same people are usually
overlooked in the author's haste to thank everyone from
Ms postman to his dog.
So recognition and appreciation are due to the
ladies and gentlemen of the Pyramid
Publications sales and marketing staff-and also
to Mr. Sy Brownstein and all his associates at
International Circulation Distributors comfor their
dedicated and enthusiastic effort on behalf of this
series, and this writer.
JOHN JAKES
About The
Author
JOHN JAKES was born in Chicago. He is
a graduate of DePauw University, and took
his M.a. in literature at Ohio State. He
sold his first short story during his second year of
college, and his first book twelve months later.
Since then, he has published more than 200 short
stories and over 50 books-chiefly suspense,
non-fiction for young people and, most recently, science
fiction. He has also authored six popular
historical novels under his Jay Scotland
pseudonym. His books have appeared in translation
from Europe to Japan. Originally intending to be an
actor, Mr. Jakes' continuing interest in the
theatre has manifested itself in four plays and the
books and lyrics for five musicals, all of which
are currently in print and being performed by stock and
amateur groups around the U.s. The
author is married, the father of four children, and lists
among his organizations the Authors Guild, the
Dramatists Guild and Science Fiction
Writers of America.