Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-10-26

Aside from this, there lay hidden close at
hand $500, and none, save Lounsbury, had
fathomed the secret. 1t was my all, barring
the schooner, though that was not total
loss, as the admiralty papers in my pocket
bore witness. No man willingly foregoes
two thousand four hundred and odd dollars
in gold rightfully his own, unless he be a
coward; and that, | maintain, | am not.
And so. by my fortune l determined to stand
until it should be sunk, blown up, or other
wise lost
There was more than this pecunary inter-
est which sealed my determination to stay
where | was for space and risk the future
And that-the war.
Lest my reader think had been laggard
in the conflict which had now been on better
than two and half years, let it be known
that l had been active against the enemy,
both afeld and afoat; notlceably in the
whaleboat warfare on the coast.
/ had made more than one lobster hack
wish he had stayed in Merry England (un-
less he was at once set past wshing), and
helped dig mighty hole in the kings ex-
chequer by destroying his property. But
that was in the past, and runs not with this
tale.
l could lily abide the discipline OF the
army, though with the patriots discipline
was but trifle more than name. 1t suited
me best to be my own master and fight in my
own way mot that quarrel with the mode
of another man. and armies are necessary,
and never would | have more than earned
Iations had stood in the ranks and moved
forward or backward on the word of COM
mand.
Determined then not to run, it took me but
cbort tip,a to hot -,
position l could well serve the great cause
which to no man was dearer than to me.
Washington, l knew, had few agents within
the lines of the city, and these might never
hope to know, they, like myself, being hood
ed under the mask of toryism.
This last fact was hitch. might become
storehouse-a very mine of information on
the strength, weakness and contemplated
movements of the enemy, but be without the
means of unloading my knowledge. To force
a way through the lines was to take ones
life in ones hand with small chances of keep
ing it, and this would become necessary in
my case, for on a close examination of Louns-
bury's papers | found nothing in the shape
of a pass save an old one signed by Gen.
Howe, which had opened way out of Phil
adelphia.
The rest of the documents proved to be of
10 value to me, as they related to matters
concerning the kidnapping of some unnamed
party in Norfolk and an investigation with
Il view of British occupation of that unimpor-
tant town.
From the moment had found these pa,
pers until my landing | had given no thought
to the future, my first business having been
to provide for my own safety This ow be-
ing accomplished (for the present, al least),
] fixed matters to my taste in this wise
would become a spy Ia fair name in good
cause), and as a rampant tory, half free
booter and half swashbucliler (as became the
character of the man into whose shoes had
stepped), | would peer and pry, and, when
finally loaded sufficiently to warrant it, 60
to Clinton and, on the plea Of past services
and in the name of Lounsbury, demand a
pass through the lines.
would not turn my back on this fair pros
pect and become a common soldier. Nay,
like Lounsbury himself (who was now lying
somewhere in the city,, had been a free
lance, and a free-lance | would continue to
be.
Difficulties and obstacles were forever OBJ
truding themselves in my mind. The dan
ger | put aside, for war being n pastime
must incur danger in any active hostility
or sit at home and play the boy Both duty
and self-interest demanded my standing
where the force of circumstances had placed
me, and | hailed my determination with
grim joy. Three years agone | was a col
onist-which had been a small matter-but
since the Declaration | had been an Amer.
lean, a title to be proud of, and now, though
not in the field, would prove worthy of the
name.