CHAPTER V
THE BOSTON TEA PARTY
"What shall we play?" asked Jack the moment the four were out on theveranda.
"Play--why, war of course!" responded George, placing his fingers betweenhis lips and giving a shrill whistle.
"What's that for?" wondered Anne.
"That's the signal for Jim that we are going to have an engagement withthe British!" replied George, watching eagerly the side of the housewhere the kitchens were located.
"Hist!" sounded from a thick arbor of clematis that shaded the kitchenporch.
"There he is! Come on now," ordered George, starting for the lilacbushes across the lawn.
"Children! Come and get your overshoes! Everything is soaking wet!"cried Mrs. Davis from the library window when she saw them race throughthe wet grass.
"Oh, dear me! Martha, you go and bring them to us, will you?" askedGeorge impatiently.
"I'm not Mrs. Washington yet, and she didn't run errands for Georgebefore she was married to him," objected Martha.
"Send Jim for them!" whispered Jack, as he saw the little fellow runningwith might and main to join his adored commander-in-chief.
"What will you play with if the weapons and uniforms are in the attic?"asked Anne.
At this they all stopped short, as no one had thought of the armyequipment till then.
"Guess Jack and I had better go for the overshoes and then we can bringalong some things for the Continental army," ventured George.
"And send Jim on to John's house to call him out," added Martha.
"Yes, that's a good plan. You, Jim, see here!" explained George. "Climbover the hedge and look for John. If you don't see him, whistle, andwhen he comes out, tell him we are going to the creek to have the BostonTea Party--see?"
"Yeh, Ah see all right!" eagerly replied Jim, nodding his woolly headenergetically as he started off for the hedge that separated theGrahams' from the Parkes' estate.
The two girls were told to go to the barn and find some tools--axe,nails, hammers, or hatchets, and a saw, if possible.
"What for?" asked Anne.
"Don't we have to have warships out in Boston harbor if we want a teaparty like that real one was?" scorned George, as he caught hold ofJack's hand and ran for the house.
The lilac bushes were abandoned for a time, while the girls sought forand captured various tools in the barn when the gardener was absent. Thetwo boys tied up whatever uniforms they could conveniently carry, andJim hid them near the Grahams' house and gave the familiar cat-call forJohn.
These important errands completed, they all went to the creek thatcrossed the private road leading to the Parke estate.
Again assembled for play, they examined the items on hand and John said:"You can't have ships without material."
"I thought maybe we could rope together some of these logs the menchopped down last spring; but they look kind of heavy to handle,"replied George calculatively.
"Humph! They'd take a tackle and derrick to move. What we need is justboards and some crosspieces to tie together like a raft. I've made 'emin camp," said Jack.
"Then you can help us make one now," said Martha eagerly.
"We'll have to find some boards and small logs then," replied Jack,looking about in the timber heap for suitable lengths for crossbeams.
"We've got some boards about six feet long in the lumber house near herethat I heard father say he wouldn't use till next summer. Then he'sgoing to lay a new boardwalk from the garage to the barn," suggestedJohn.
"Just what we need. Come and show me where they are, and we four boyswill bring them here while the girls roll those small lengths of timberdown to the water-edge," said Jack.
Soon all hands were working eagerly, nailing boards to some crosspieces,and then roping loose ends securely to the logs so they would not slipoff when launched in the creek. The water of the stream was nearly afoot deeper than usual, owing to the heavy rains of the night andmorning, so the raft would float easily if it was well built.
The battleship was ready to sail when the luncheon bell sounded over thelawns to call the British and Continental armies to mess. The childrenlooked at each other in disgust, for now it seemed a wholesale waste oftime to go home and eat!
"What have you got for tea?" asked Martha at this moment.
"We'll have to make-believe tea," said John.
"That won't be as much fun as if you had some chests and boxes stackedon the boat. Maybe Jim can find some empty boxes in the store-room forus to fill with sand," ventured Anne.
"I'se got some broomsticks hided away in a alley under de pantry. Deykin be for guns," remarked Jim, who hoped his news would divert thethoughts of his friends from the raid on store-room boxes. Jim felt thatwould be a dangerous attempt.
"Fine! Bring them out and leave them under the lilacs while you go backfor the empty boxes. We'll eat lunch and meet you where you leave theguns," said George conclusively.
"Cain't some uv yo' all hep me in de store-room?" asked Jim plaintively.
"What for? You can creep in and empty some boxes out better than if alot of us went with you," countered Martha.
"But onny one uv yo' all will hep a lot! Not all uv yo'. One uv us kinhan' down dose boxes an' anudder kin shift it outen de store-roomwinder. Den Garge kin stan' unner dat winder an' run wid 'em t' delilacs," explained Jim, who really was very cunning in self-defence.
"Good stunt! Martha, you go with Jim right after lunch and Jack and Iwill carry away the goods," said George, waving a hand at John, whostarted in the opposite direction for home and luncheon.
"I'll try to bring some things, too," said John.
At the table that noon, the ladies suggested that they all take a nicedrive about the country in the automobile. The amazed children looked ateach other and then at their elders.
"Goodness me! We don't care about scenery, mother!" objected George.
"Of course not! We want to play nice outdoor games," added Martha.
"What have you been doing since we stopped reading?" asked Mrs. Davis.
"I didn't hear a sound from you, so I thought you were pining forsomething to do; that is why I proposed the drive," said Mrs. Parke.
"Oh, no, we never pine. First we found Jim, and then we went to John'sside of the hedge to get him. After talking over the best thing to play,we decided to build something Jack knows all about 'cause he has camped,and we are going to carpenter just as he tells us this afternoon, so yousee we haven't time to admire the scenery," explained George.
"That is very nice, and constructive play is always to be encouraged,Kate," remarked Mrs. Davis to Mrs. Parke.
"But there is generally something doubtful under all of the quiet andconstructive plays George favors so readily," doubted Mrs. Parke.
"Mother, if you don't believe we are going to build something great andworth while, ask Jim. He never tells fibs!" said George, with such adisappointed expression in his eyes that said 'My own mother hesitatesto trust me,' that both ladies hastened to assure him that they fullytrusted him.
So the mothers were sent off on the drive, and the two armies continuedtheir plans for a grand fight.
The moment luncheon was over Martha crept to the back door and thence tothe store-room that was built out from the butler's pantry. The servantswere all downstairs eating lunch and talking, so the time was mostopportune for a raid. Jim was already there trying to pry up lids ofcereal cartons and other boxes.
"Heah's some mos' empty," said he, the moment Martha appeared in thestore-room.
"They're all right! Even if there is a little oatmeal and rice in someof 'em--so much the better, cause we must try to fish 'em out of thewater when the Yanks throw the cargo in," said Martha, carrying thethree boxes to the window, and dropping them out on the grass whereGeorge stood waiting.
Besides the three boxes used for cereal, Jim found a real tea-caddy, butit was more than half full, so Martha emptied the contents on anewspaper spread on the floor behind the door.
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bsp; Also they found a soap box and the contents was emptied on top of thetea for want of a better place. A cardboard drum that had held driedfruit or other viands, stood on the shelf with some stuff in it--lumpyand pulverized together.
"What is this?" asked Martha, taking up a lump.
"Ah donno, but maybe yo' kin tell ef yo' tas' it," suggested Jim.
So Martha carefully touched the lump to her tongue, but the moment itcame in contact with the pink tip, the washing-soda burned and smartedhorribly.
Martha dropped it and held her mouth frantically, while Jim implored hernot to make a noise or they would be "ketched." But the venture wasenough for Martha, who hurried out of the room to seek a drink ofcooling water.
Jim, thinking it a shame to leave a nice drum there after such a painfulexperience, emptied the soda upon the soap and orange pekoe tea anddropped the drum from the window. He then climbed up and dropped himselfout upon the grass, where George waited.
"Where's Martha?" queried Jack.
"Makin' soap-suds, Ah reckon," giggled Jim.
"Making what?" demanded George, surprised.
"Wall, she's went fer a drink an' ef dat sody sticks to her tongueshe'll have suds all inside her mouf, won't she?" said Jim.
Martha's appearance quieted any fears for her safety, however, and soonafter all were running to the creek with their burdens of boxes andbroomstick guns.
The raft was heavy and hard to move, but finally all hands heaved andtugged and moved it inch by inch nearer the water. The bank of thestream was about three feet above the surface of the water, so when theraft was half over the bank they expected to see it plunge headlong inwith a splash, but it stuck on the jagged trunk of a tree, and thechildren tried in vain to dislodge it.
Then Jack had an inspiration.
"We'll use the broomsticks and pry her off!"
"Fine idea! Here, John, you stand there and pry under her with thisstick. Jim can stand there just opposite you, while Jack and I, beingstrongest, will pry and shove from the back to shove her over," saidGeorge.
Obediently, John took his place and Jim stood on a flat stone opposite,but on the lower side of the raft. When the signal was given by Martha,all four shoved and worked together and the raft moved an inch morenearer the water.
"Fine! Now, boys, once more!" shouted Jack.
Again the signal sounded, and all four pried and pushed. Suddenly theweight of the raft carried it forward with great momentum, dislodgingthe stone upon which Jim stood and pushed with his broomstick. He losthis balance and fell upon the raft just as it submerged in the creek.
Jim went with it, and as the mud that was stirred up from the bottom ofthe sluggish stream when the heavy corner of the raft dug down throughthe water immediately clung to him, Jim was an object for pity when hesputtered up from the water.
"Dear me! The first man overboard and neither side ready for the act!"sighed Anne seriously.
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Jim, to go and spoil the battle likethat?" demanded Martha, justly angry.
"Huccome Ah feel 'shamed? Diden' dat ole warship give me struggle enoughwiddout yo' all blamin' me fer a wettin'?" cried Jim defensively, tryingto rub the mud from his eyes.
"Well, now that you're wet, you'd better be the captain on the ship. Getthe raft back here to shore so we can load her up with tea," orderedJack.
"Whose going to be British and who the Yanks?" asked John.
"I'm always George Washington in these fights," hinted George.
"Then you're out of this battle, 'cause Washington hadn't a thing to dowith the tea party," returned Martha.
"You ought to be a Lord Somebody who sailed with the captain on the_Dartmouth_ when that tea was brought over from England," said Jack.
"Guess I will. Jim can tow the raft over to the bank, and those of youwho are colonists must hurry across the bridge to the other side. WeBritish will stay here and pile up the cargo of tea and sail the raftacross the creek.
"When we sail into Boston harbor you must try to keep us out, and thatis the way the fight will begin. Whichever side wins can take the raft,and cargo and sail it wherever they like," explained George.
It had not been Jack's plan to have George take the first ride on theraft, nor, indeed, command the warship, but having said it he could notvery well change the order, so the next best plan was to sail with LordSomebody, with Jim the captain.
The captain, so proud of his title and position, forgot about his muddyappearance, and eagerly hauled the cumbersome raft to the bank.
"S'posin' you girls and John be the colonists on the other bank. Youmust use the guns and anything you can to keep us from landing the tea,"said Jack.
As neither Anne nor Martha wished to risk their dry clothes on thetipsy-looking raft, this suggestion met with their fullest approval; butJohn grew sulky, as he wanted to try the raft.
"It's made of my father's boards, too!" grumbled John.
"What's that?" shouted Jack, now engaged in loading the ship withchests.
"Nothing much! I don't see any fun in this fight, that's all,"complained John.
"Oh, but there will be! Just wait till we get in that row in Bostonharbor! Hurry across and be ready for us," cried George, whohalf-suspected John of jealousy, and, at the same time, felt he wasguilty of selfishness himself.
The tea was stacked in its boxes on the ship _Dartmouth_, and the three,Captain Jim and the English baronets, as passengers, set sail for Bostonharbor.
On the American side, Martha had found an old apple tree near thebridge, the fruit of which had lain so long on the damp ground that theapples were rotted within and soft as pulp, the skins being the onlysound part of the fruit.
"Wouldn't they make fine cannon-balls?" exulted Martha.
"Oo-oh, let's!" cried Anne, and John, coming up just then, felt a secretjoy in planning how he would fire those cannon-balls at the men on theship.
So, without a hint of the ammunition being quickly transferred from theapple tree to the site of Boston, the three brave and eager colonistsawaited the coming of the tea cargo.