40. CHAPTER XL.
RETURN OF THE CHIEFTAINS.
Ten of the American ships had sustained but little injury,
and not half of the red-hot balls of the Wabash had been
expended. Therefore in obedience to an order from the
President, who had witnessed the triumph of the stars and
stripes, the old Commodore led his fleet, flushed with victory,
to the assistance of the besieged. Again the ships
poured a destructive fire into the camp of the enemy, and
this time the besiegers were to experience the consternation
of having red-hot shot hurled amongst their ranks. The
effect produced surpassed all expectations. Ruffleton was
under the necessity of drawing back his men and batteries
beyond the range of the insupportable missiles thrown from
the fleet, which, sailing up and down the river, discharged
larboard and starboard broadsides without intermission.
It was under cover of this bombardment that Randolph
and the Southern Generals urged forward the work of embarkation;
and by the dawn of day the evacuation was
completed.
“Run, Willy!” exclaimed Alice, upon learning the armies
had landed on the Delaware shore—for the party at the
mansion watched through the night—“and if my father and
his friends, I mean our friends, the several commanders,
have escaped unharmed, give us a signal—let it be the prolonged
blast of a bugle.”
“But Ruffleton's word is law in New Jersey,” said Lord
Slysir, musing. “He is absolute there. And if this is the
case in New Jersey, notwithstanding the Governor invoked
and obtained the aid of the Federal Government, backed
by two Southern armies, what resistance can be looked for
in any other free State without such auxiliaries?”
“Oh, land of Washington!” said Alice.
“Where are the guardian spirits of the Revolution?”
exclaimed Edith.
“God will preserve us!” said Mary.
“Nonsense!” pursued his Lordship. “It will be only a
change of form. A monarchy is the Anglo-Saxon's hereditary
government. If the first Cromwell had lived a year
longer he would have been king. This second Cromwell
will either be king himself, or make one of somebody else.
Then you will be united again, like England and Scotland.
You will have Lords and Ladies—and a magnificent Court.
It was from such civil and military convulsions as these, that
my ancestor derived his patent of nobility.” Turning his
eyes on Edith, he then added, “What a magnificent countess
you would make!”
“A Senator's daughter would be sufficient distinction for
me,” said she.
“You might be both the one and the other. Your father,
by espousing the cause of his native North, would unquestionably
have an elevated seat assigned him in Parliament—”
“I pray your Lordship not to amuse my daughter with
any such illusory sketches of the imagination!” said Mr.
Langdon.
“They are merely fancy sketches, father,” said Edith.
“Fancy sketches! I am a bachelor, and, by St. George,
—”
They were interrupted by the bugle-blast announcing the
arrival in safety of the chieftains.
“Saved! all saved!” cried Alice—and the next moment
she and Edith were locked in each other's arms.
“They are coming!” said Mary.
Alice and Edith hastened below to greet them at the
threshhold.
“My marble!” said Randolph, embracing his child.
“No—father—say your daughter. Not marble, now!”
“Edith! dearest Edith!” said Blount, folding the unresisting
maiden in his arms.
“Good!” said Crook. “I have a wife and nine children
at home; but since such greeting is the reward of valor, I
don't see why I may not claim my share of it!” and before
the young ladies could escape, he had embraced and kissed
them both.
They repaired without delay to the apartment above, in
which lights were gleaming, and into which Mr. Langdon
had been wheeled, upon the announcement of the arrival
of the President and the Generals.
“I congratulate you, Randolph,” said the venerable Senator,
“and you, Generals, on your escape from the toils of
the arch-fiend, who supposed he had compassed your destruction!”
“And will no one congratulate me on my victory over
the British?” said the President, affectionately taking the
hand of Mary.
“That would I do, were I not an Englishman,” said Lord
Slysir. “And if I may not congratulate you, nevertheless
I do not hesitate to say that your iron-sided—perhaps I
should say infernal—Commodore, has gained a great naval
victory over my countrymen. The only advantage he had
was superior pilots and his inexcusable red-hot balls.”
“Oh, we'll excuse them, my Lord,” said Randolph,
“since it was Bang's good fortune to escape.”
“To escape?” cried his Lordship. “Can it be possible
that Admiral Bang escaped from the blowing up of the
Vesuvius?”
“Such is the fact,” said the President; “and not only
the Admiral, but nearly all his officers and crew. They
took refuge in the small boats, or sprang overboard into
the river, and were saved by the Commodore. The Commodore
and the Admiral are now decapitating champagne
bottles in the cabin of the Wabash.”
“Ay, and Bang can beat him at that,” said Slysir.
“And now, my Lord,” said Randolph, “I have joyful
news for you.”
“I stand in need of something to cheer me,” said his
Lordship.
“You are free. You were to be liberated upon our
evacuation; and I am not prepared to forfeit my word. You
can go at any moment, sir, under the safe conduct of two
of Alice's Blue Caps.”
“I must crave your permission, Mr. President,” replied
his Lordship, “to remain where I am until I am somewhat
recovered. Miss Edith has fed me and nursed me kindly
during the few hours I have enjoyed the hospitality of this
mansion; but I am not yet in a fit condition to walk, to
ride, or to swim. And, therefore, I beg to be detained a
little longer.”
“Edith,” said Blount, “like any American lady, makes
no distinction between friend and foe, in healing the wounds
received in battle.”
“But for the kind offices I have experienced, I shall ever
protest, although it may not be permitted to aspire to be
classed among the former, that I am not, and never can
become, one of the latter.”
“I am sure I cannot perceive why we may not be
friends,” said Edith.
“I trust you may never perceive it,” said his Lordship.
“My Lord,” said Blount, “are you not the enemy of
her country? Have you not caused Her Majesty's ships to
assail those of her Government?”
“By no means, General,” said his Lordship, with vivacity.
“Her country, according to my interpretation, is the
North, against which Her Majesty's forces do not meditate
any hostile enterprises.”
“No politics!” said Alice, interposing.
“See here,” said Crook, standing before a mirror. “Come,
Randolph—come, Blount, behold yourselves in this glass.
For my part, I confess I resemble my own Pompey, an
African I purchased on Pearl river.”
The Generals and Randolph were much blackened by the
smoke of gunpowder; and some merriment was caused by the
detection of sooty marks on the faces of the young ladies.
“Let us all seek the repose we so much need,” said Mr.
Langdon. “For my part, although I have been distant
from the scene of conflict, I have slumbered as little as any
of the combatants. Ah, Randolph,” he continued, when
the President held him by the hand, and bade him adieu
before retiring to his chamber, “although you have performed
the great feat of regaining a friendly soil after so
many perils, yet, believe me, the Rubicon has been crossed!
I may not live to see the end of this business—”
“Oh, father!” said Edith, “be not so desponding.”
“Nay, be cheerful, my dear friend,” said Randolph.
“There may be more disasters in store for us; but we shall
yet have brilliant days. The darkest clouds must pass
away. Believe me, there are clear blue skies beyond.”
“Oh, yes—and may God permit me to be an inhabitant
of them! Nevertheless, go on, Randolph! You are right.
Save the country, and posterity will bless you.”
During the forenoon all the slumberers rose much refreshed,
with the exception of Mr. Langdon and Lord Slysir.
The former was too ill to leave his couch. The latter
was stiff and sore from the exercises and bruises of the preceding
day and night.
Alice and Edith, arrayed in spotless white, were traversing
the parterres of the garden among the refreshing roses,
when Bim appeared on the opposite side of the hedge,
mounted on a spirited steed the President had given him.
His military salute attracted the attention of the ladies, and,
walking in that direction, Alice accosted him.
“Captain Bim,” said she, “whither are you going?”
“With your permission, Miss, to Philadelphia.”
“To Philadelphia! That might be hazardous. But, I
believe, danger is your delight.” She alluded to the motto
worked with threads of gold on Bim's cap. It was,
“Danger is my delight.”
“In a good cause I do love it, Miss Alice. But fearing
my leave of absence might expire before I could get back,
I thought it my duty to beg another day or two, in case of
accident.”
“What good cause takes you to the city, Captain? An
affair of honor, or of love?”
“Everything in the service of President Randolph, Miss,
is an affair of honor.”
“Very well answered,” said Edith, “as to the point of
honor; but the other point of the interrogatory is evaded.”
“Postponed is the word. I am determined not to be a
lover until I am a General.”
“There, Edith,” said Alice. “It is answered, now. But
he can hardly be serious.”
“I am, upon my word,” said Bim. “I don't know but
one woman in Philadelphia, and she's a Tartar. Oh, she's
more terrible than a hundred batteries!”
“Indeed! Will you tell us her name, Captain?”
“Certainly, It's Mrs. Punt. Miss Mary knows her. She
was the hag I rescued her from.”
“Then it is not likely you will again venture in reach of
such a terrible creature. You have my permission to go,
Captain.”
“Then, with your permission I will retire. I see the
President and at least a dozen Generals approaching.”
And gathering up the reins, which had been loosened to
permit his steed to crop the luxuriant grass, Bim turned and
rode briskly away. The young ladies, not caring to confront
the Generals in their peripatetic Council of War, vanished
under cover of a row of altheas, and returned by another
avenue to the mansion.
