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A Boy of the Revolution
(Pathe Freres)
By LEONA RADNOR
Upon the very edge of the woods, which crept down close to the settlement of Jamestown, stood the comfortable home of John Smith. Within the cozy living-room, one bright spring day, in the troublous times of the Revolution, John Smith, his buxom wife, and their young son, Bob, were seated about the table, when they were startled by an agitated rapping at the door.
' ' Open the door, Bob, ' ' commanded the father, as they all rose from the table.
The lad obeyed, and started back with a cry of surprise. There, upon their threshold, stood a Colonial officer, almost fainting from fatigue, his uniform bedraggled, his whole air an appeal for protection.
Staggering past the boy, the visitor addressed the father, in a voice husky with exhaustion.
"I am Lieutenant Ralph, of the Continental Army," he said, "and I must throw myself upon your hospitality and mercy."
"But how came you here?" asked Smith, with a perplexed frown.
"I was reconnoitering with two of my men, in the woods below here, when, without the least warning, bullets began to fly around our heads. There were British in hiding some
RALPH APPEALS FOR SHELTER
where, but, of course, I didn't stop to look. I saw my two men fall, poor fellows, then I spurred my horse thru the woods as far as I could, but they were gaining on me fast, so I left the horse, crept thru a tangle of underbrush, and slid down a long, steep bank. There I hid under a ledge of rock. I could hear them shouting and hunting above me, but they finally gave it up, and I made my way here. I'm not wounded, only exhausted. Hide me until all danger of their search is over, and give me a chance to rest, and I'll be off again."
"We cant give you refuge," spoke up the woman. "It would mean our ruin, perhaps our death, if it were known. f 9
"Wife," interrupted the man, "Lieutenant Ralph shall not be turned from John Smith's house in his hour of peril. I know the risks of war, and this man is welcome to the refuge I can offer him. That will do, wife — not another word. I shall find a place to hide him. The house is not safe, sir. It is liable to be searched, so I must ask you to follow me outside. Come along, Bob, and keep your eyes and ears open."
Mr. Smith cautiously led the way from the back door, thru the low shrubbery, out to where the woods grew dense. Here he stopped, before a large tree with a hollow trunk.
"Make haste, Lieutenant! Get in there, and I'll conceal the hole with bushes. ' '
Lieutenant Ralph painfully crawled into the hollow, and Mr. Smith and Bob disposed shrubs over the opening so skilfully that none but an Indian would have scented a hiding-place.
There were no signs of the pursuing party, but, back in the house, Smith schooled his wife and Bob in the parts they were to play, in case they were questioned. Mrs. Smith was clearly