Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (32 page)

“Sir, there are three other roads leading
away from Trenton besides the one along the river. Might it be a
good thing to be sure to cut off any retreat before we hit
them?”

“We were talking about that when you
arrived. We are crossing at three places with a total force of
around five thousand. We plan to hit them from the north and south
before dawn. Thank you. Go get something to eat and draw three days
rations. We leave soon.”

Moon Owl heard a commotion outside of the
cabin so donning a bearskin robe she came out, her mother following
her. A boy of some ten years age was being carried to the long
house by a brave, and several villagers were clustered about the
pair, looking sympathetically at him as they entered the
dwelling.

When she came inside, Moon Owl saw
immediately why there was such great concern. The boy had been
mauled by a mountain lion and in addition to scratches and other
wounds, his leg was severely damaged. Although he was trying to be
stoic about his injury, the boy had tears of pain streaming from
both of his eyes. About the only thing positive about the wound was
that no major arteries had been damaged.

Hastily she spoke with Tall Elk and soon the
boy was being carried to her cabin. She had them place him in her
own bed then, and proceeded to wash his wounds with hot water,
which had been ready for starting a stew in the kettle hanging over
the fire in the hearth.

Her mother returned after an hour or so,
having removed enough snow to gather what they could find of the
necessary healing herbs. It was a paltry collection for making a
poultice being as it was in the dead of winter. Moon Owl and some
others thought that the boy’s chance of surviving the wound was
slight given the infection that was sure to follow.

By the second day, it was obvious that he
had a serious infection raging in his leg as red streaks had
already started to appear, radiating away from the deepest wounds.
Moon Owl had cared for the boy along with the boy’s mother, and
both had slept on the floor near the bed. She paced the floor at
night, lost in thought, seeking a solution. Further forays into the
snow-covered forest yielded none of the herbs that were customary
to use and none had been put away for such an emergency, so the
boy’s prognosis was very bad.

When everyone was asleep on the third day
after the incident, Moon Owl gathered some smoked venison chunks
and made a stew, adding the small amount of dried up herbs that
they had found. After looking around to make sure everyone was
asleep in the cabin, she took the knife that Ian had given her and
made a small incision inside her left forearm. She worked to force
out blood, catching it in a wooden bowl and when she had maybe
three tablespoons, she added a bit of broth that had cooled to
where it was only a little above lukewarm.

Carrying it to the boy, she awakened him and
began to feed him the broth using a wooden spoon. After the boy
took it, he lay back exhausted by even that effort. A film of sweat
had covered his body for the past two days, and both Moon Owl and
the mother of the boy worked to keep him and his wound clean, only
allowing him to move outdoors to relieve himself at times.
Carefully she cleaned the wound again and then she re-opened her
cut and forced yet another two spoonsful of blood out, dribbling it
into the worst of the gashes on his leg. These were places that had
not scabbed over, but continued to ooze and appeared to be the
worst of all of the wounds.

As she looked down on him she wondered if
her blood would do for him as Ian’s blood had done in healing her.
She knew that there was no more to be done for now so she curled up
on a bearskin rug and pulled her robe over herself and soon had
dropped off to sleep. As she drifted off, she remembered with
longing how she had always slept in Ian’s arms. Never had she felt
as secure and safe as at those times.

At that moment she missed him keenly, maybe
as much as at any time since he had left. Her last thoughts as she
spiraled down softly into sleep were
where are you tonight, Ian?
Are you safe? Are you well?

***

They had lost the element of surprise by the
time they had gotten into Trenton, but the Hessians were still in
disarray, having not ever expecting an attack on Christmas night.
The fighting began between eight and nine o’clock that morning and
continued for several hours. During the fighting Ian was carrying
an order to an artillery unit when he came across a young
lieutenant wounded, but alive. Stopping, Ian threw him across his
shoulder as if he was a blanket and ran as fast as he could without
attracting too much attention during the battle. Twice he saw
spurts of snow nearby as enemy marksmen tried to shoot him,
underestimating his speed.

Reaching an American position, he gently
lowered the young man to the ground under a wagon where the sleet
would not fall on him. He spoke to the man and got his name and
then went to seek the commanding officer of the artillery unit. He
was directed to a young captain who was issuing orders to
reposition some of the cannon as Ian arrived. “Sir, I have a
wounded Lieutenant, uhm… he said he is James Monroe. Can you tell
me where our doctor is?

Turning to Ian he said “Who are you?”

“Ian McCloud, sir.”

“Captain Alexander Hamilton” he said as he
extended his hand. “The doctor is near the north end of this
formation last time I saw him. Lieutenant Roderick is his name, Mr.
McCloud.”

“Thank you sir. I will fetch him after I
find a blanket for Mr. Monroe.”

“He will have blankets too. Good luck” he
said as he turned to shout at a group wrestling a four pounder
through a muddy spot. Ian had notified the doctor and gotten a
blanket which he took back to Monroe, covering him and telling him
that someone would be along soon. The young lieutenant looked at
Ian and extended his right hand. As Ian clasped it he said “Who are
you?”

“Ian. I am Ian McCloud, Lieutenant Monroe.
Doctor Roderick will be here soon to look after you.” As he was
leaving, Hamilton beckoned to him and gave him a message for
Washington and Ian set off with it through the sleet. It was
falling so heavily by now that he was able to run some of the way
at vampire speed, bringing the message to Washington’s adjutant.
Some of the Hessians escaped in small groups that day, but no major
formations were able to fight their way to freedom.

As it turned out, only Washington’s force of
some two thousand four hundred men got across, mostly in long
flat-bottomed Durham boats. A small number of the enemy escaped to
the south, those roads not being cut off early enough to trap every
one of them. Nearly a thousand prisoners were taken and ferried
across to be marched to Philadelphia. The Continental Army took the
captured artillery and supplies they had taken from the Hessians,
along with their weapons, powder, and shot and crossed back over
the Delaware River to its western shore. Two of the Americans died
on the march of exhaustion and exposure, but the Hessians suffered
over twenty deaths.

After three more days, it was apparent that
around three dozen or more of the American forces had died of
exhaustion and sickness following the battle. Washington’s entire
force was spent from the effort, thoroughly worn out and needing
rest badly. Princeton and New Brunswick could not be attacked,
which was a keen source of disappointment to Washington.

At year’s end Generals Knox, Cadwalader,
Ewing, and Sullivan met with Washington to discuss long term plans
to quarter the army and keep it fed in Pennsylvania and to discuss
whether to advance on Princeton. Washington then talked of his
disappointment in not being able to capture Princeton and New
Brunswick.

Knox spoke then during a lull and said
“General Washington, we have beaten a European army in their own
camp. This is a good way to start the winter, sir.”

“I am grateful for the success we had Henry,
but still I am disappointed overall. I wanted something bigger than
this to end the year.”

“Sir, if I may say so, I was talking to the
courier Ian McCloud just two days ago about this very thing and he
made an interesting observation.”

“Go on.”

“He said that we do not ever have to win a
big battle against the British forces to win this war. We need only
deny them a clear victory over the Continental Army. Time and their
ungodly expenses pursuing this war on the other side of an ocean
will wear them down.”

It was quiet then, and the wind outside
played about the tent door flap as the four of them stared at him
in silence.

Knox continued then saying “Sir, we need
only to keep the army together and a constant threat. They can
never claim a victory as long as you and the army are in the field.
Time is on our side, sir.”

“I can see the logic in that, but will
France or Spain come to our aid before we run out of money and men
to fight?”

“As McCloud said, they have given us money
and armaments already.”

“How does he know that? That is not a
well-known fact at all.”

“Sir, he was sent to New York to start up
two banks by a well-known bank in London and he is very
well-connected in France too. He thinks that as long as we are in
the fight in a serious way, they are likely to keep helping, and so
do the men who sent him to America.”

Washington and the other two stared at Knox
in silence then as the wind blew even harder, causing the whole
tent to shake.

Knox continued then saying “McCloud believes
that because both countries have a grudge against England they may
need only to see a chance to exploit the distraction of this war to
their own advantage. He reminded me that the British still hold
Gibraltar in Spain and France hasn’t forgotten losing their
possessions in North America to England. Animosity and favorable
timing could make them move and that should tip the outcome of the
war in our favor.”

“Yes, yes, that is all true, and even now
Ben Franklin is in France as our ambassador. He is as wily as they
come and if anyone can convince them to join us in the war old Ben
can. Still there are times when I wonder if they will join us soon
enough.”

***

Checking his disguise one last time, Henri
Lafayette departed from the Banque de Lafayette in Paris, walking
with a slight feigned limp right past the investigator hired to
follow him. He figured this was as good a test of his disguise as
any and shortly as he climbed into a carriage and saw that the man
had ignored him, he was satisfied.

Within the hour he was knocking at the door
of a small chateau in Passy, a small village just outside of Paris.
An older gentleman wearing spectacles answered the door, saying
“What might I do for you, sir?”

Henri asked “Is this where Benjamin Franklin
is staying?”

“It is sir and I am him. What may I do for
you today?”

Henri put forth his hand and said “I am
Monsieur Henri Laforge, Doctor Franklin. And it is I who can do
something for you.”

***

Washington had taken his army across the
Delaware once again and had encamped just south of Trenton upon
hearing that there was a large cache of British supplies stored at
Princeton and that Major General Cornwallis was going to march on
Trenton and take it back. He opted to move out to the east and let
Cornwallis’s force bypass him. The object would be to take the
supplies and Princeton, leaving Trenton empty when Cornwallis
arrived.

A running battle developed and the end
result was that neither army ended up in control of Princeton.
Washington never got the supplies, but the British were forced out
of Princeton and only had a force in New Brunswick remaining in New
Jersey. The year-end losses shocked the British but rejuvenated the
American forces. Washington opted to winter in Morristown, New
Jersey and Ian stayed with the army as a hunter to provide game and
also to carry messages to and from the Congress in
Philadelphia.

***

Stuart came to Cosette with a lopsided grin
on his face, saying “I have asked Rebecca if I might escort her to
the Gala tomorrow night and she accepted. Will you please teach me
to dance a minuet of some kind?”

Putting the fireplace poker back in its
place after repositioning a log in the fireplace Cosette smiled
sweetly as she sat down and picked up her cup of tea. “Yes, I will
teach you today. I am happy for you, Stuart. You know that she had
become infatuated with your brother last spring before he and James
left.”

“Yes. She told me a bit about that. I think
it was a real shock to her when we showed up, especially with you
supposedly long dead.”

“I give her a lot of credit, Stu. She seemed
to be quite taken with Ian and she was forthcoming about all of
that, as hurtful as it was. I really think a lot of her. You could
do far worse than Rebecca Davis” she said with a smile. Looking
more seriously at him she said “Have you thought any more about
that dead body that was found down the road?”

“I have hardly been able to get it out of my
head. Have you thought of anything else concerning that?”

“Yes. How strongly do you believe in
coincidence?”

“What do you mean?”

“How coincidental is it that a vampire would
make a kill nearly across the street from where another vampire is
staying as a house guest?”

Stuart sat back on the sofa then, raising
his eyebrows. He was conscious of the crackling of the fire and of
the sound of a log settling on the andirons. “I see what you are
saying and I suppose it was in the back of my mind as well. What do
you think then?”

“Either we or others in this house are being
watched.”

It was silent again as the fire hissed and
crackled, and then Stuart said “It has to be something to do with
us or with Ian, doesn’t it?”