IMPORTANT:please go back and read chapter eight again, I edited it. It's mostly the same but please reread it quickly. :)
Hey. So, yeah, I finally updated. So sorry I was late, but crap went down. Dad got new kidney. I started high school.
Oh, an incase anyone got confused, before telephones were invented, 'hello' meant 'wow!'. When Edison was speaking into a telephone and found it worked, he said, 'Hello!' instead of, 'Ahoy-hoy!' which was what Alexander Grahm Bell wanted everyone to say. It caught on.
Yeah, I'll shut up now.
Chapter Nine
It was a day and a half before everyone landed in Bushwick Shore, New York and the children bid Mr. Holden a grateful goodbye. It had been a day and a half since James, Henri and Sarah had passed through Newark and three days since they had started their trip. Privately they all wondered how long they were going to be able to keep it up. Before their leaving, Mr. Holden had warned them that there was a British encampment passing through the city.
Sarah coughed, which was beginning to sound painful. "It's getting dark." she whispered, not wanting to hurt her throat. She was right. It was getting cold again and the sun was setting.
"We have to keep going or we'll never reach Boston." James declared, and Sarah tilted her head in agreement.
Bushwick Shore was a port city—small, but busy. Henri crossed his arms. "I'm hungry. And tired."
"We have to keep moving." repeated James.
"What's that?" said Henri, looking up at the darkening sky.
"What's wh—" James was cut off by a drop of water on his face and swiped it away with his fingers. "Oh." he extended his hand to feel, as expected, more raindrops.
"Wonderful." sighed Sarah. "Come on."
They had been walking in the increasing rain for a few minutes when James turned to Sarah. "You're sick. Do you want my coat?" he wasn't too keen on giving it to her but the last thing anyone really needed on their unexpected travels was a deathly ill girl, he reminded himself.
"No, thank you." Sarah glanced up to the sky, squinting slightly in the rain.
"If you get worse you'll just slow us—"
"James, I don't want your ruddy coat. I'm fine..." Sarah hesitated before finishing. "Thank you."
Night fell, made darker by the rain clouds.
Suddenly Henri grabbed both of his companions by the shoulders and wretched them backwards. Off-guard, they stumbled and glared at Henri. Sarah opened her mouth to scold before Henri pointed.
"Look!" he whispered.
In the distance, a campfire burned. The large group of men sitting around the campfire were making no effort to hide themselves, talking at normal volumes and heedlessly wandering around. Tents were set up and the sounds of walking could be heard.
Light from the fire fell onto a man on the outskirts of the group and they realized he was on patrol—the metal on his gun gleamed for a moment.
They had found the British encampment.
The three stared at one another in panic for a moment, frozen in place. No one wanted to move, knowing that any snapped branch could alert the soldiers to their unwanted visitors.
The soldiers who were holding guns.
Slowly they began to pick their way back the way they had come, towards the paved street, this task made harder by the darkness, the rain, and their exhaustion. Nevertheless, they were practically to the street again.
And then Henri tripped.
He fell. Small twigs snapped. James hauled him up by the arm without even looking. Everyone was focused on the lights and conversations from the camp. The sentry had began speaking and the James struggled to hear.
"What was that?"
"I don't know. A fox?"
"Really? See if you can get an aim on it. There are good prices for fox pelts nowadays."
At this point the children just ran. Someone tripped on a cobblestone, the other two children tripped over them, and suddenly everyone was sprawled the street.
"Hello! It's street urchins! Cedric, don't fire, it's just some children—" the man called back to his fellow soldiers before catching a glimpse of their faces and he stepped back for a moment. "Up, all of you."
There was something very familiar about him that Sarah couldn't quite place. Had she seen him before? Had he been at Boston—this could be disastrous.
The children scrambled up, Henri in between Sarah and James, and avoided his eyes. He studied James and his gaze flickered down to Henri before he noticed Sarah. "Look at me, girl."
Sarah held her breath and looked up. Then suddenly the soldier realized slightly. "Is your name Sarah Phillips, Miss?" she nodded and clenched her skirt in her hands nervously.
"Is your father Major Edward Phillips?" he asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. Sarah nodded uncertainly and the man's face broke out in a wide smile. "Colonel Brandon, His Majesty's Army."
Sarah realized how she knew the man. He was a friend of her father's, and had been a semi-regular visitor up until a few years before, when he had received word of his new post in the colonies. Before she could stop herself, she said quickly, "Do you know where my father is? Have you heard from him?"
"Your father? I hadn't known he was in the colonies. Sometimes the letters get lost when one's always moving from place to place. Is he in town?" asked Colonel Brandon. Sarah shook her head.
"He's exploring the wilderness in the Ohio territories. He departed a long time ago." the redhead replied proudly, and a bit wistfully.
As this exchange was going on, the mood between Henri and James had shifted from anxious to bored. It seemed no matter where they went they ran into Torries for Sarah to talk to.
"I zhink England must be very zmall. Zharah knows mostly everyone zhere." Henri complained quietly to James.
"What are you doing here, Miss Phillips? And who are your..." he paused to choose his words. "Er, escorts?"
As Sarah explained the circumstances of her stay in the colonies, the Colonel listened intently. Sarah looked over at James, who nodded slightly. "This is James, and this is Henri. They're apprentices of Dr. Franklin." they both greeted the man. "We're..." she hesitated, then quickly decided. She knew Colonel Brandon could be trusted. "We're on our way to Boston." the Colonel's eyes lit up.
Suddenly something happened that caught everyone's attention. Colonel Brandon pulled from his coat a piece of paper. No, not simply a piece of paper, a letter. He held it in one gloved hand. "This is..." he glanced at Henri and James, then motioned for Sarah to walk away from them a few paces. She looked back at them once before listening to the older man.
"Sarah, this is something very important. I hope I can trust you with it. Your father is a man of impeccable character and he would never pass up a chance to further the Crown."
Sarah nodded uncomfortably. "I'm loyal to the King." he hadn't said anything about her not being loyal, but she felt like stating it anyway.
"I would never ask anyone other then a soldier to carry it, but circumstances are dire. We're just stopping here for the night before continuing down to Virginia. This letter was supposed to be given to our courier yesterday, but he was indisposed. This letter must go to General Conway—and he happens to be commanding troops in Boston." Sarah swallowed hard and nodded again.
"But, sir, I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but what's—"
"In the letter? You were always a curious girl. You mustn't inform anyone else. On your honor as your father's daughter."
"Alright." said Sarah uncertainly.
"From a recent interrogation we have gathered a sizable amount of the names of traitors to the Crown who are distributing treasonous propaganda—you understand. Our control over the colonies isn't as thorough as we'd like. General Conway has been informed of the letter but he doesn't know it's contents yet. He's still waiting for it." with that, he handed Sarah the letter. "Is there anything you need, Miss Phillips?"
"No. No, sir, thank you." said Sarah quickly. Despite her liking for the man she didn't want to spend another minute with him. It seemed that whenever military men knew her father she was expected to live up to that. Colonel Brandon replied in the same and began to walk away.
"And Miss Phillips?" he turned. "Give my greetings to your father. God keep you."
She replied with a similar goodbye and then slipped the letter into her sleeve as she walked to James and Henri.
"What did the Redcoat want to say?" James asked. He sounded like he did when he was attempting to annoy her, but looked more concerned then teasing.
"He wanted to know how my mother was. He—heard how Tom joined the Army." she said. The group fell silent as they walked.
Sarah could feel the corner of the letter scratching her arm as she walked. She couldn't help but wonder what patriot could have betrayed his countrymen, and what names were in the letter.
Were there any that Ben Franklin knew?
But she had to deliver it. Colonel Brandon was right, she was loyal to the Crown, and so she had to do what he had asked.
Didn't she?
So both Daniel Holden and General Conway are real people who were alive during the Rev. War. I like doing that ;) Hopefully this will be the last of the OCs, because I really hate using them.