Alice Turner Curtis

“ The July sun beat warmly down, but a little breath of air from the sea moved steadily across the marshes filled with many pleasant odors. Here and there big bunches of marsh rosemary made spots of soft violet upon the brown grass, and now and then little flocks of sand-peeps rose from the ground and fluttered noisily away. But there was a pleasant midsummer stillness in the air, and by the time Anne had crossed the marsh and reached the shade of a low-growing oak tree she began to feel tired and content to rest a time before continuing her search for ripe beach-plums. ”

“ Captain Enos nodded. “You are a wise child,” he said. “My writing isn’t the plainest in the world, but I’ll do my best. I have some sheets of good smooth paper in my sea-chest, and a good quill pen, too. Elder Haven fixed the pen for me from the feather of a wild goose I killed on the marshes last spring. But I do not think there is such a thing as ink in the house; but I can make a fair ink with the juice of the elderberry and a fair lot of soot from the chimney. So think up what you wish to tell your father, Anne, and if it storms to-morrow we’ll write the letter.” ”

“ Keep in your heart all I have told you. I shall come for you when I can. But you are to be happy and not think of me as in danger. A brave man is always quite safe, and I wish you to believe that your father is a brave man, Anne.”
“Am I not to tell Mistress Stoddard?”
“Tell no one, Anne. Remember. Promise me that when they speak of me as drowned you will say no word!”
“I will not speak, father. But if they do say ‘traitor’ or ‘spy’ I am not to bear it. Captain Enos said I need not.” ”

“ It was just a year ago, Anne remembered, as she unwrapped her bundle, that she and her father had sailed across the harbor from Ipswich, where her mother had died.
“We will live here, at the very end of the world, where a man may think as he pleases,” her father had said, and had moved their few household possessions into a three-roomed house near the shore. Then he had given his time to fishing, leaving Anne alone in the little house to do as she pleased. ”

“ Stoddard, smiling down at Anne.
“It must be because ’Tis a little girl whom they all like, and who is always kind and pleasant to the other children,” said Anne. “If ’twas a King of the May we would all want Jimmie Starkweather; but there are not so many girls as boys.”
The other children were all at the spring with bunches and wreaths of flowers, and Anne was surprised to see that a mound of sand had been heaped up and covered with pine boughs. ”

“ The men came ashore in boat-loads, washed their clothes at the spring, bought such provisions as the little settlement could offer, and wandered about the shore. The citizens treated them not uncivilly, for since the men of Province Town were unable to make any resistance to those they felt to be their country’s foes, they knew it to be best to be silent and accept the authority they had not the strength to defy. So the fishing-boats swung at anchor in the harbor, and the men lingered about the landing, or fished for plaice fish and sole from their dories near shore. ”

“ All that the bucket will hold I will splash upon them,” and she made a fierce movement as if casting buckets full of wrath upon her enemies, “and sand!” she continued; “while they are wet with the water I will throw sand upon them. ’Tis worse to say things of my father than of me.”
“Come here, child,” said Mrs. Stoddard; “we will not let words like the Cary children speak trouble us. And you will remember, Anne, that I shall be ill-pleased if I hear of water-throwing at the spring. Come, now, we’ll be going toward home.” ”

“ Anne’s bare feet began to ache. She believed they would be blistered, but the women paid no attention to her. Anne knew that they were very near the Truro beach. She could see the big waves dashing up in a long curving line, and as they came round a high cliff of sand they came suddenly upon a big fishing-boat drawn up on the beach. Two sailors stood by it. In an instant the squaws had turned to flee, dragging Anne with them. But she screamed, and threw herself down on the sand. The sailors came running toward them, and the Indian women fled. ”

“ The wind is favoring us. You have had a fine visit, Anne?”
“Yes, indeed!” agreed the little girl, “and I have a present for Aunt Martha,” she said, as the sloop ran out among the islands. “See, my father gave me this for her,” and she held up a gold coin. “Will she not be pleased?”
“But she will be better pleased to have you safe home again,” said Captain Enos. “What do you think Amanda Cary will say when she hears of your voyage to Boston and of all the fine things you have seen there? ’Tis not many of the children in Province Town have ever taken such a journey.” ”

“ My mother said so, and waifs do not have uncles or fathers or anybody.”
“I am no waif, for I have a father, and my Uncle Enos will tell your mother not to say such words of me!” declared Anne boldly, but she felt a lump in her throat and wished very much that she had not stopped to talk with Amanda.
“I don’t see why you get angry so quick,” said Amanda. “You get angry at everything. I’d just as soon play with you, if you are a waif.” ”

“ For a moment she forgot the taunts of the Cary children, and sat silent and smiling, her head resting against Mrs. Stoddard’s shoulder. There was a peaceful little silence between the two, and then Anne spoke.
“I would wish to know what ‘traitor’ might mean, Mistress Stoddard?” 19
“Very like to ‘spy,’” answered Mrs. Stoddard. “The children meant that your father had told the British that they could find good harbor and provisions here. That, like a spy, he had opened the door of a friend’s house for silver.” ”

“ Toward noon Anne carefully let herself down from the bunk, and peered out through the door, which Captain Enos had left open. She could see the low sandy shores of Cape Cod, and here and there a white-sailed boat. “I guess we must be ’most to Boston,” she thought; “the sun is way up in the middle of the sky, and I am so hungry.” She came a little nearer to the cabin door and put her head out. “Uncle Enos!” ”

“ The next day Elder Haven came to see John Nelson to hear more about the great triumphs of the Americans; and when Anne’s father told him of Captain Stoddard’s trip to Newburyport, with Anne carrying the important message for the Newburyport patriots, the good clergyman held up his hands in wonder. “She is a brave little maid,” he said. “It should be put on record that a maid of Province Town helped the Americans to win their just cause against King George. Indeed it should.”
“She is a brave child,” agreed Captain Enos. ”

“ Captain Enos smiled and nodded.
“That’s right, Anne,” he said; “Boston houses may do for town people, but we sailor-folk like our own best.”
“Yes, indeed!” replied Anne, “and I do not believe a beach-plum grows on their shore. And nothing I tasted there was so good as Aunt Martha’s meal bread.”
The next morning Anne started for school, wearing the new shoes and scarlet stockings and the little plaid shawl. ”

“ THE BOAT BEGAN TO TIP
197
“How far is Barnstable from Boston?” asked Anne.
“Miles and miles,” answered Amos. “’Tis only about half-way up the cape from Province Town.”
“Then we could not walk to Boston from there?”
“No,” said Amos; “why should we walk? There’ll be a good breeze come sunset. All we need is a good drink of water, and there’s a water-jug in the cabin. I can take it ashore and fill it at some spring.”
As the children talked, the current had carried the boat steadily toward shore, but now it did not move.
“She’s stuck on a sand-bar,” exclaimed Amos, “and the tide’s turning. ”

“ But ’Tis strange he did not seek to see Anne,” he continued thoughtfully.
“John Nelson loved the little maid well,” declared Joseph Starkweather. “He had but poor luck here, but he did his best. The Newburyport man tells that the British are in great anger at his escape, and vow that the settlement here shall pay well for it when they make harbor here again.”
“We have no arms to defend the harbor. ’Tis hard work to rest quiet here,” said Captain Enos; “but it is great news to know that our little maid’s father is a loyal man. We like the child well.” ”

“ Stoddard. “We shall need many such for light and heat before the long winter goes. But put it on, child. ’Tis a good plan to write thy father.”
The pine knot blazed up brightly, and Captain Enos drew the table near the open fire, and, with Anne perched on a high stool beside him, and Mrs. Stoddard busy with her knitting, while the white kitten purred happily from its comfortable place under her chair, the letter was begun. ”

“ Before dusk he had sold his cargo of fish at a good price, and Anne, wearing her scarlet stockings and new shoes, and holding fast to the captain’s hand, walked with him up the street to the house of the man who had been at the wharf when the sloop came in.
“They are good people, born in Wellfleet,” said the captain to Anne, as they walked along, “and I shall ask them to keep you over night. I shall sleep in the sloop, and to-morrow we will find out all we can about your father.” ”

“ There are two bunks in the sloop’s cabin, and I would be company for him.”
The more Anne thought about this cruise to Boston the more she longed to go. Captain Enos was late to his supper that night.
“I have a fine cargo of fish,” he said, “and I shall go out on the morning tide, before you are awake, little maid,” with a nod to Anne. “Next spring you and Aunt Martha shall go with me and see the fine town of Boston, with its shops and great houses. The British soldiers will be gone by that time, and it may be we will have our own government. There will be good days for us all then.” ”

“ April brought warm, sunny days, and Anne no longer wore the knit hood and mittens, and had once more set her playhouse under the pine trees in order, and now Amanda with her doll often came to play with her. ”

“ Captain Enos nodded approvingly. “A good and loyal heart she has, I know,” he answered, “and ’twill be better indeed not to puzzle the little maid. We’ll be ‘Uncle’ and ‘Aunt’ to her then, Martha; and as for her name on the town records, perhaps we’ll let the matter rest till Anne is old enough to choose for herself. If the British keep on harrying us it may well be that we fisherfolk will have to go further up the coast for safety.”
“And desert Province Town?” exclaimed Mrs. Stoddard, “the place where your father and mine, Enos, were born and died, and their fathers before them. ”

“ We can’t swim, and ’twould be foolish to try,” answered Amanda.
“We’ll have cooked fish for dinner,” said Amos as they ate beach-plums for breakfast. “I’m sure I can find some punk somewhere on this island, and while I am looking for it you girls gather all the dry twigs you can find, make a good-sized hole in the sand and fill it up with dry stuff that will take fire quickly, and I’ll show you how Indians cook.”
“I’d rather have some Indian meal mush,” replied Amanda; “can’t you swim across to Long Point, Amos, and hurry home and send some one after us?” ”

“ After Amos had marked out his sister’s name in the sand he started along the shore to where a dory lay, just floating on the swell of the incoming tide. 82
“Amos is going to fish for flounders,” said Amanda; “he catches a fine mess almost every afternoon for mother to cook for supper. He’s a great help.”
“Want to fish?” called out Amos as the two little girls came near the boat and watched him bait his hooks with clams which he had dug and brought with him.
“Oh, yes,” said Anne; “do you think I could catch enough for Uncle Enos’s supper?” ”

“ Mayhap it belonged to the ‘Somerset.’ If so I’m glad they lost it.”
“’twas the ‘Somerset’ ran down my father’s boat and nigh drowned him,” said Anne, “and the sailors lent him no help, but laughed to see him struggle till he reached near enough their ship to clamber up.” 105
“I wish I could be a soldier like your father,” said Amos, and at this Anne looked upon him more kindly.
“Scull faster, Amos,” urged Amanda; “the sun is not two hours high, and ’Tis a long walk through the sand before we can get home. I do hope we’ll get there before milking time that I may have a drink of warm milk.” ”

“ Joseph Warren tried to stop the fortifications on Boston Neck, but ’twas no use. And word is being sent to settlements to be ready to furnish men. We’ve got supplies in Concord, and Americans have been drilling for some time. We’ll be ready for war if war comes. I’ve a message for the Newburyport men to be ready to join us, but I see no way of getting out of Boston. You’re a brave man, Captain Stoddard, to come into harbor.”
Captain Enos’s face brightened as he listened to John Nelson. ”

“ Mrs. Stoddard said nothing to Anne of the trouble at the spring, and when Anne would have explained her part in it, her friend said quickly: “Captain Enos is not displeased with you, Anne. He thinks the Cary children not well taught at home, and says for you not to play with them,” so that Anne had gone happily back to her playhouse, and told “Martha” that there was no one so good as Mistress and Captain Stoddard, “except my dear father,” the little girl had added loyally. ”

“ Already the Boston people are beginning to need many things. Americans are not going to submit to feeding British soldiers while their own men go hungry.”
But now Joseph Starkweather was the only man who interested himself in the lonely child. Day after day of that first week of her father’s absence Anne had stayed close to the little house, looking hopefully out across the harbor for a sight of his boat; and day after day Joseph Starkweather had come lounging down the beach to speak with the child, to ask her what she had for breakfast, and if she slept safe and unafraid. ”

“ He could swim some and walk some, and he’d get over there all right; then he could walk home and tell father and Captain Enos and they would come right after us.”
“Why doesn’t he go then?” questioned Anne. “I do know that my Aunt Martha is sadly 98 worried; it is full two days since we set forth.”
“Amos likes to stay here,” said Amanda, lowering her voice to a whisper; “he thinks it is fun to live as Indians do, and he doesn’t want to go home. If he gets enough to eat he’ll stay and stay, and then he can tell Jimmie Starkweather of being wrecked on an island.” ”

“ If we make Boston, I may be made prisoner by the British,” and Amos 194 looked as happy over the prospect as Anne did at the thought of finding her father.
“Mistress Stoddard will not be pleased,” cautioned Amanda.
“She did not greatly blame me before,” said Anne. “She knows I want much to see my father, and Uncle Enos does not want to go. If we sail safely there and home, it will save Uncle Enos trouble. He will not have to go himself.”
“Should we see Rose Freeman?” asked Amanda. ”

“ Some there were, however, who declared John Nelson to be a British spy, and hesitated not to say that he had sailed away to join some vessel of the British fleet with information as to the convenience of the harbor of Province Town, and with such other news as he had brought from Ipswich and the settlements nearer Boston. For it was just before the war of the American Revolution, when men were watched sharply and taken to task speedily for any lack of loyalty to the American colonies. ”