Kings Pinnacle (29 page)

“That will be all gentlemen.
Please prepare to leave the camp before first light tomorrow. You
are all dismissed. Captain Ferguson, if you will please wait, I
would have a word with you,” concluded General Howe.

Captain Ferguson rose from
his chair with the rest of the officers but stepped back to allow
the others to leave the tent. As soon as the last officer had left
the tent, General Howe turned to the captain.

“Captain Ferguson, do you
have anything to add to my battle plan regarding your riflemen?”
asked the general.

“Excellent plan, sir; I
expect a full rout of the rebels,” replied the smiling Captain
Ferguson.

“
My thoughts also,” said
General Howe.

“During your attack tomorrow
morning at Chadds Ford, I want you and your men to concentrate on
trying to kill Continental Army officers, rather than firing at
ordinary soldiers. With the expert marksmanship skills of your men
and the superior range of your rifles, I think that we stand of
good chance of depleting Washington’s ranks of skilled leaders in
this engagement. You and your men should get as close to the
Brandywine as you can, remaining under cover, so that you will have
the best chances to snipe Washington’s officers,” continued the
general.

“It would be my pleasure,”
replied the captain, his smile even wider.

“Have you heard from the
Prophet?” asked the general.

“I have not,
Sir.”

“Well, no matter, I doubt
there is anything he could tell us that we don’t already know
anyway. The Eagle Spy has already given us everything we need to
know. But I would like to meet with the Prophet anyway, since this
battle will probably end the war. I would like to personally thank
him for his service to the crown. I would also like to discuss my
plans for him after the war. He has been a very valuable asset to
us, and I would like for that to continue.”

“I know that we should
contact him under only the most extreme circumstances, but I want
you to arrange for the Eagle Spy, Moses Doan, to secretly deliver a
message to him later today. Tomorrow afternoon, before we attack, I
would like to meet with him along the north River Road on the east
side of the Brandywine, south of Sconneltown. Tell him to meet me
only if he can get away to meet with me without jeopardizing his
position.”

“I will make the
arrangements, sir,” replied the captain.

* * * *

Samuel

“
Did you deliver the
message?” asked Major Samuel Ruskin.

“Indeed I did, sir,” replied
Molly, looking down at the dirt floor of her tent.

“What did Captain Ferguson
say in response?”

“He said to tell you that
the message had been delivered,” replied Molly still staring at the
floor.

Samuel Ruskin was pleased
that she had delivered his message, and he was in a hurry, so he
left the tent without any further discussion.

On his walk back to his
tent, Samuel spied a very large poorly dressed Continental Army
soldier walking toward him. The large man was ambling along the
same path at a place where the narrow path passed through a grove
of trees. Rather than yield and step off the path so that Major
Ruskin could pass, the large soldier stayed on the path and bumped
into Samuel, knocking him down.

“What do you think you are
doing?” said the indignant major, still lying on the
ground.

“Sorry, sir, I must have
been daydreaming,” replied the solider.

“I’ll see that you daydream
your way into a court martial and out of this army.”

“I hope thee are not hurt,”
said the soldier, extending his hand to help the major
up.

After Samuel was back on his
feet, as the soldier was brushing off Samuel’s clothes, he leaned
close to Samuel’s ear.

“I bear a message for thee
from General Howe,” the large soldier whispered in Samuel’s ear.
“He wants to meet with thee if possible, just south of Sconneltown
tomorrow afternoon, if thee canst get away without being
seen.”

“Tell the general that I
will be there,” whispered Samuel.

“Thy wish in my command,”
said the large Quaker, Moses Doan, called the Eagle Spy, who
immediately disappeared into the trees.

* * * *

Alex

Outside Molly’s tent, two
buckskin-clad men who were hidden in the trees near the camp
followers’ tents saw Major Ruskin leave. But they did not see his
encounter with the Eagle Spy as the Quaker delivered the message to
him from General Howe. They huddled together to discuss what to do
next.

“Clem, you stay here and
watch to see if anything else develops. I’ll go tell Robert and
Lieutenant Mackenzie what is going on here,” said Jonas Dunne to
his companion.

The other man’s name was
Clemet Jackson, but everyone called him Clem. He was also a
frontiersman and scout, and he had been partnered with Jonas Dunne
for many years. They were best friends and had hunted together
since they were young men. When they were younger, they had married
two sisters in a double wedding ceremony. But both women had died
several years earlier during a yellow fever epidemic that swept
through the frontier. The men had remained close.

Alex, Robert and Hugh were
in Alex’s tent when the lanky Jonas walked in.

“Sir, may I come in?” asked
Jonas.

“Certainly. Do you have
anything to report?” asked Alex.

“Sir, as you know, we
followed the young woman from the tent across the Brandywine, all
the way back to the camp followers’ tents near our camp. She never
caught sight of us, I am real sure of that. She went to her own
tent and immediately went in it. We staked out her tent from the
trees across the clearing and took turns watching it. About a half
hour ago Major Samuel Ruskin walked into her tent without
announcing himself. He stayed only for about one or two minutes and
then left. We were too far away to hear anything or say what
transpired in the tent while Major Ruskin was inside. Clem Jackson
is still watching the tent,” said Jonas.

“Very good. You have done
well, Jonas. Go back to Clem and see if anything else happens or if
anyone else visits her tent,” said Alex.

Jonas Dunne left the tent
immediately and headed back the way he had come to rejoin his
partner in watching the young girl’s tent.

“What do you think, Robert?”
asked Alex, who had already formed his own opinion about
it.

“I think that Major Ruskin
is our spy, but we can’t prove it. The girl won’t talk, and without
her testimony, it his word against ours.”

“My thoughts exactly. What
do you think we ought to do?”

“There’s nothing we can do
right now, but at least we know who the spy is. We can focus our
efforts on him and not spend any more resources on the girl. She
may be his pawn in this game. He must be holding something over her
head and forcing her to do his bidding,” replied Robert.

“Lots of things can happen
during a war. We need to task some men to watch him during the
upcoming battle. just to make sure that nothing unfortunate happens
to him. There is more than one way to deal with a traitor and
Reivers can be ruthless,” continued Robert with a sly
smile.

“Aye, they can,” piped up
Hugh.

“Do you mean lots of things
can happen in war or that Reivers can be ruthless?” asked
Alex.

“Aye,” answered Hugh. “And I
think that we ought to watch him, just to make sure that he stays
safe during the battle,” continued Hugh with a guilelessly blank
expression.

Robert and Alex turned to
look at each other and then simultaneously nodded.

That evening, just after
dark, Robert walked along the path to the camp followers’ tents. He
soon found Jonas and his partner, Clem, watching the girl’s tent
from the trees across the way.

“Has there been any more
activity here?” asked Robert.

“Nothing to report, Robert;
I think she has gone to sleep,” replied Jonas.

“Okay, I want you two to
head back to camp to eat and get some sleep. Tomorrow morning at
first light, I want you two to follow Major Ruskin all day. Don’t
let him see you, and if he does anything strange, report back to me
or Alex.”

“Will do,” replied Jonas,
who immediately left with his partner Clem Jackson.

Robert gazed at the girl’s
tent for a few minutes and then turned and went back to camp to
tell Alex the plan he had set in motion.

* * * *

Alex

“
Lieutenant Mackenzie, I
want you to split your cavalry unit into two groups,” said General
Washington. “I want one group to scout north all the way up past
Sconneltown. I want the other group to scout south at least five
miles past Pyle’s Ford. The morning fog has obscured the British
troop movements. We are aware that they are on the march, but I am
getting conflicting reports regarding their disposition. I need a
set of eyes I can trust to warn me personally if we are being
flanked from the north or from the south. Don’t send a courier back
with reports on what you find. I want you and or one of your
brothers to ride back and give me the report face-to-face. I want
to be able to depend on what you and your brothers say to
me.”

“
I understand, sir,”
replied Alex.

“How will you split up your
unit?” asked General Washington.

“Sir, I will send my
brothers, Robert and Hugh north with half of my men. Alexander
Glendenning and I will take the other half south.”

“Very good. Please depart
immediately. I am in dire need of information that I can trust,”
said General Washington, turning to handle another conference with
waiting Continental Army officers.

It was already noon, and the
Continental Army had been awakened early that morning by the
reports and sounds of British troop movements on the west side of
the Brandywine River. Washington’s defense of Philadelphia at
Chadds Ford was going to be tested that day, and they all knew it.
Alex had been summoned to General Washington’s field headquarters
on the heights overlooking Chadds Ford, where the general could
observe the battle firsthand. The action between the British and
the Continental Army at Chadds Ford had lapsed into inactivity
after the initial British attacks. General Washington feared that
the British were up to something. He wanted more information, and
he needed reliable information. Alex left the meeting at a trot and
soon arrived where his men were assembled just behind the hill
where General Washington’s headquarters was located.

“Robert and Hugh, I want you
take Big Mike and half the men north and scout the area all the way
past Sconneltown. I will take Alexander and the other half of the
men and scout south about five miles past Pyle’s Ford. When you
have finished your reconnaissance, I want you or Hugh to meet me
back here at General Washington’s field headquarters. Do not send a
man back to report. General Washington wants to hear the report
from you or Hugh from the north and a report from me from the
south. I will meet you two back here at the general’s headquarters
in no more than two hours from now.”

“Have you heard anything
from Jonas and Clem?” asked Alex.

“
Nothing yet,” replied
Robert.

“Let’s ride,” said Alex as
leaped into his saddle.

* * * *

Robert and Hugh

“
Weel, there appears to be
nae sign up here,” said Hugh as they reined in their horses about
two miles north of Wister’s Ford.

“Let’s travel on north to
Sconneltown, just to make sure,” replied Robert.

They hadn’t ridden far when
they spied a horseman riding south at a gallop along the River Road
from Sconneltown.

“
That looks like Jonas,”
said Hugh.

“It is Jonas,” replied
Robert as Jonas arrived and halted his horse, almost running into
them.

“Whoa there Jonas. What
goes?” asked Robert.

“Hello, Robert. Clem and I
followed Major Ruskin all day like you said. He didn’t see us,
we’re sure of that. Long about noon, he saddled up and rode north
with two soldiers. We followed almost a mile behind him. We heard a
shot about thirty minutes ago, so we rode hard to see what it was.
We found the two soldiers who were riding with Major Ruskin lying
on the side of the trail. One was dead from a gunshot through the
back and the other one had been stabbed and was almost dead. We
tried to save the one that was stabbed, but he was too far gone.
Before he died, he told us that Major Ruskin had attacked him and
the other man when they stopped and got off to water their horses.
Major Ruskin shot the one man in the back and then drew his knife
and stabbed other man before he could escape. The major then
mounted up and rode north alone. We laid out the two men so that we
could bury them later. Then we mounted up and followed Major Ruskin
north until we saw a big dust cloud,” said Jonas as he took a drink
from his canteen.