The Young Continentals at Monmouth

When Ben Cooper heard the two men come plunging up the crazy old stairs, his active brain at once began to cast about for a means of defense. The landlord was struggling to his feet, the blow, perhaps, having been a glancing one.

“Open the trap,” cried Ben.

Though he did not understand why, Paddy instantly did as he was bidden. And as he was doing so Ben grasped the landlord. The man struck out wildly, but the lad was behind him and held him fast.

“Down with him,” said Ben, swiftly.

And Paddy, now grasping the idea, also seized the man; with a heave they raised him from his feet. The woman shrieked and strove to climb in at the window; then the landlord shot through the trap-door full upon the oncoming men on the stairs. And this latter structure, infirm as it was, could not bear the sudden shock of the impact; with a splintering crash the supports gave way; stairway and men went down amid a cloud of dust, and a chorus of startled shouts.

Paddy Burk, as he clapped to the trap-door, laughed gleefully.

“Why, then,” said he, “he never made such a hasty going down-stairs of it in his life before. And the other two were fair surprised at his haste, by the looks of their faces when he met them.”

“You villains,” wheezed the woman, who, seeing that success was impossible, had ceased her efforts to enter by the window. “You have killed him.”

“Arrah, that would be the unlucky thing, entirely,” commented Paddy. “Sure, the like of him were intended for the gallows, and it’s a shame, so it is, that it should be cheated of him.”

While the woman was panting forth some sort of an answer to this, a gust of wind extinguished the candle, and under cover of the darkness they heard her withdraw across the roof, and go groaning through the scuttle. Now that their own light was out, that which came through the crevice in the floor was plain once more; and acting upon the same impulse, both boys looked down into the room below.

From the heap of débris formed by the collapsed stairway, the three men were just arising, and their voices were raised in bitter exclamations against those who had been the cause of their mishaps.

“They were awake,” declared the landlord as he rubbed his hurts and limped about. “They overheard what we were saying and were waiting for me.”

“You’re a numskull!” stormed Tobias Hawkins. “Why did you not say that there was some chance of their hearing us?”

“How was I to know that they were not asleep?” groaned the man. “Oh, my head, my head!”

“It’s a thousand pities that he didn’t break your head,” growled Sugden, trying to remove the traces of the fall from his clothes. “But come,” his eyes glowing evilly, “show us the way you reached them; this time they’ll not come off first best, I promise you.”

The boys, as they watched, saw the man take out a heavy pistol.

“This way to the ladder that leads to the loft,” said the landlord, pointing to the inner door; “then to the roof itself, and——”

“Enough of that!” here broke in Tobias Hawkins. The watchers saw him gesture upward with one hand, as though warning them that if the lads had heard what they had planned previously, they would be likely to do so again. Then the man began speaking in a low tone which neither Ben nor Paddy could catch distinctly. While he talked the landlord secured a short-barreled musket from a closet, and Sugden examined his pistol with attention. A great deal of Hawkins’ low-voiced talk seemed to be the asking of questions; the landlord answered with much gesturing and pointing. And while this was in progress the huge landlady come rolling in, and with great spirit and panting eagerness entered into whatever plans were being made.

“As I look at her,” said Paddy Burk, “faith, I see not a one of them who’s more anxious to do us harm than she is.”

“They all seem determined enough to me,” said Ben, dryly. “And I think it’s time for us to take some steps to meet them. It will be no great while now before we have that short musket and those pistols looking in our faces.”

Once more the candle was lighted and the two boys looked about the room carefully. There were six windows in all; two of these overlooked the roof in the rear from which the landlord had entered; two were at the front with the porch roof directly underneath.

“They can come upon us as easily from the front as the rear,” said Ben. “These two windows on the side,” going to them, candle in hand, “overlook the yard which we crossed in going to the barn.”

Paddy Burk peered out at one of these.

“It’s not much of a drop to the ground,” said he, recklessly.

“There is a stone pavement which might serve to cripple us,” said Ben. “Now these,” and he bent forward, “might help us to avoid an injury.”

So saying he picked up a number of long straps from the floor. They were the same that the landlord had brought, apparently with a view to trussing them up; and when he had fallen under the pistol butt he had dropped them.

“The luck,” quoth Paddy, “is with us to-night. Sure, here we are with the way of escape placed at our hands by the very blackguard that would be the first to send a shot after us.”

Carefully knotting the straps together, they fastened one end to a rafter, the other they dropped out at a window; then they collected their belongings and prepared to depart. After they had extinguished the candle, they stood for a moment, listening; there were careful footsteps below and the sound of a door opening and closing.

“They are making ready,” said Ben, in a whisper.

With his pistol in one hand Paddy crept out at the window and slid down the leather rope. A moment later and Ben had followed him, and again they stood listening. From the front came a faint scrambling noise, and Ben grasped his friend’s arm.

“There’s some one climbing the porch,” he whispered. “Some one will also make for the rear windows——”

“And would draw our attention—if we were here,” interrupted the astute Paddy. “And while we were watching, or fighting with them, those from the front would jump in on us.”

In the barn they quickly found their horses, and led them out. To prevent possible pursuit and a shot in the dark, Ben also brought out the horses ridden by Hawkins and Sugden. One of these he saddled for himself, intending to lead his own lamed animal; then they mounted.

As they did so, there came a sudden crash from the upper story of the inn. Looking up they could make out nothing, for the night was thick.

“They have burst in the windows at the back,” said Ben.

And at that instant, as though to prove that he had judged correctly a few moments before, there came a second crash. There was a jingle of glass upon the tavern porch, a shout and the sound of stamping feet. Then a light flared up in the windows through one of which they had just passed.

“Suppose,” said Paddy, always ready for an adventure or a lark, “that we give them some small idea as to where we are.”

Then, actuated by a common impulse, they drew their pistols and sent a crashing volley through the lighted squares of glass above. As the windows splintered before the discharge, a chorus of startled cries arose, and then with shouts of laughter at their parting jest, the two boys clapped spurs to their horses and went galloping away through the rain.