University of Virginia Library

13. CHAPTER XIII.
Another terrible adventure befalls, and Robin Day saves his money
and loses his friend.

Meanwhile, we had not paused to enter into
these explanations, but rode onward at such speed
as the nature of the road permitted; and the martial
equanimity wherewith the brave Dicky seemed to
bear the misfortune of the murder, which, in fact,
he professed to consider a mere accident of war, had
the effect of somewhat enlivening my own spirits.
We found, to our mutual delight, that both were
bound, in the first instance, to Philadelphia; and
Dicky demanded what were my designs, after I
should get there. I told him I was to go to sea in a
privateer, as my patron had arranged for me; a declaration
that gave him extreme disgust.

“Upon my honour, and soul, and conscience, by
Julius Cæsar,” said he, “I would as lief go to battle
in a meal-bag, tied up to the chin. It's all small
game, this sea business—a fight between two dirty
little ships—a dog and a pig squabbling in a gutter;
—twelve killed and twenty wounded, and a hellaballoo
in the newspapers. Give me,” he cried, with
enthusiam, “a fight where there's a thousand killed
of a side, or it may be, twenty thousand, with
scratches in proportion; five or six hundred field pieces
blazing away, slambang, all together—fifty thousand

muskets peppering all at once, bayonets shining,
horses charging, trumpets clanging, drums rattling
—rub-a-dub-a-dub—with generals, and field-marshals,
and cocked hats and feathers, and all that, my
fellow! by Julius Cæsar, that's the thing for me!
But your nasty ships—all tar and bilgewater, brine,
slush, stale junk, and mouldy biscuit—rolling about
—sick as a dog, no soul in you—nothing but firing
off cannon and making wood fly—nobody killed
worth talking about—a small business—'pon my
honour, and soul, and conscience—by Julius Cæsar,
a small business!”

“But remember, Dicky,” said I, somewhat moved
at this contemptuous picture of my destined profession—“remember
the prize-money.”

“Curse the prize-money,” said Dicky Dare,
with the lofty spirit of a soldier; “I go for the
glory!—However,” he added, relapsing into sentiments
not so high-flown, “there's the booty that a
soldier has, to put against your prize-money; and
there's sometimes grand picking after a battle, especially
in an enemy's country. Think of a city taken
by storm, by Julius Cæsar!—the shops, and banks
with vaults full of money!—the rich houses, and
stables full of elegant horses!—the churches with
golden candlesticks and all sort of things! the heaps
of plate, the rings, and the jewels! Ah, by Julius
Cæsar, it's no such small matter, that booty, after
all. However, I don't stick for that: the honour's
the thing, the fame and the greatness, my fellow;
and that's enough for a soldier.”

With this, the gallant general, after indulging in
another tirade against the meanness and insignificance
of existence at sea, particularly in a privateer,
which he held to be no better than life in an oyster-boat,
proposed I should give up the design, and

unite my fortunes with his; that is, turn soldier;
for which, having a good horse, and some of the
sinews of war in my pocket, he held me admirably
well qualified. It was his intention to proceed
without delay to the theatre of war on the Chesapeake,
which was the nearest field of distinction;
and there, he doubted not, we should play the very
mischief with the enemy, and cover ourselves with
immortal renown.

The idea was not disagreeable to my inclinations.
The voyage in the privateer I had not yet had time
to reflect upon, nor to ask myself what appetite I,
whom my early adventures had imbued with an
inveterate horror of salt water, might have for it.
The conversation of Dicky recalled me to a memory
of my disgust, and I felt a stirring desire to
unite with him in his noble enterprise; whereby I
should both avoid the terrors of the sea, and secure
to myself the company and countenance of Dicky,
whom I recognised as a superior genius, and ardently
longed to have as a companion.

But as I could not prevail upon myself to attempt
an adventure so important, without the consent of
my patron, who had assigned me to another career,
and to whose will I was now desirous to yield implicit
submission, as some amends for my past misconduct,
I proposed deferring my answer until we
got to Philadelphia; whence I promised to write to
Dr. Howard, and request his permission to seek my
fortune on dry land.

To this proposition the general very readily
agreed, declaring that a day or two could make no
difference, that he had heard there was great fun in
the big cities, and that the theatres were the finest
places in the world; and besides, he added, having
discovered I had made the highly unmilitary blunder

of setting out without any arms, while he, on
the contrary, was armed to the teeth, we should
want a day or two to fit me out with the proper
weapons and other munitions of war; among which,
in the warmth of his fancy, he seemed disposed to
consider as highly proper, though he would not
pretend to say they were indispensably necessary,
a brace of generals' uniforms, with chapeau and feather,
and epaulettes, complete. But as these articles,
he admitted, were expensive, it was proper to consider
how we stood provided with the needful.
Accordingly, he demanded how much money the
“old codger,” as he irreverently termed my benefactor,
had given me. I replied, “I did not know:
the doctor had given me a pocket-book, which I
had in my pocket; but I had not had time to examine
it, and I knew not what were its contents.”

“As for me,” said Dicky, with an important
tone, “I never go into a campaign, without knowing
what is in the military chest; and, by Julius
Cæsar, when dad gave me his purse, I took good
care to count all the money in it; and, by Julius
Cæsar,” (speaking as if he expected me to be
astounded,) “there's fifty dollars in it!”

But this was a fortune to Dicky; who, from the
poverty of his father, had always been kept bare of
money, and never expected, perhaps, to handle such
a sum in his life. But mean as the sum appeared to
me, who, besides having been always lavishly supplied,
had been accustomed to hear my patron speak
of his thousands and tens of thousands (for he was
a very rich man,) I was astonished, as Dicky anticipated;
though, as it happened, not so much at the
vastness of his treasure, as at a danger which suddenly
invaded it.

We had, by this time, left our homes some fifteen

or twenty miles behind us, and had just descended
one of the many vile hills by which our speed was
retarded, coming to a wild place very dark with
woods, and very dismal, where the road seemed to
fork; and we were about to halt, to debate upon our
route; when, all of a sudden, a man leaped from
among the bushes, and seizing both our horses by
the bridles, exclaimed—“D—n my eyes! if you r'e
so flush in the locker, I a'n't.—Your money, or
your blood!”—A demand, whose abruptness threw
me into such mortal terror, that I thrust my hand
into my pocket, intending to give him all I had,
and beg for mercy besides. General Dare received
the application in quite another way. “My blood,
then, by Julius Cæsar!” cried the valiant youth,
who pulled out a pistol, and fired it without ceremony
in the highwayman's face, bawling, at the
same time, “Surrender you dog, or die!”

The shot did instant execution, first, upon the
robber, who fell to the earth, with a curse and a
groan, and then upon our horses, neither of which
displayed the courage to be expected of chargers
bound to the battle-field, but, on the contrary, fell to
plunging and prancing like incarnate fiends; and
then, each choosing a different fork of the road,
betook them to all their speed, whether we would
or not, leaving the wounded highwayman to his
fate.

To this inglorious flight, I, obeying my own instincts,
which were pretty much like those of the
animal's, should not, I believe, have opposed any
particular objections, had it not been for the separation
from General Dare; but of this I was for a time
unconscious, the frenzy of Bay Tom, who, besides
running as hard as he could, made sundry desperate
attempts to get rid of his rider, giving me no leisure

to think of any thing but the preservation of my
own neck. Nor did I recover my composure until
the animal, having continued his flight for about half
a mile, suddenly came to a stop among a crew of
wagoners; who, with their wagons, were encamped for
the night in front of a little tavern on the wayside,
greatly patronised by worthies of that class; and finished
the adventure by flinging up his heels, in a fury, I
suppose, of delight at his happy escape; whereby I
was very suddenly transferred from his back to that
of a wagoner, who had got up to stir the fire, and
was now prostrated by the vigour of the salutation.

The man, at first frightened, and then enraged,
awoke his companions by his exclamations; and they
came tumbling out of their carriages, threatening
dire things against the invader of their rest; but when
I had informed them of the cause of the accident, and
the attack of the highwayman, they abated their rage,
or rather directed it to the robber, whom they immediately
swore they would take, dead or alive.
Each seized upon a horse, and the man whom I had
prostrated, jumped, without any ceremony, upon
Bay Tom; thus putting it out of my power to accompany
them; as perhaps I should have willingly
done, to seek for my friend Dicky; and away they
galloped to the field of battle.