Martha’s appearance quieted any fears for her safety, however, and soon after all were running to the creek with their burdens of boxes and broomstick guns.

The raft was heavy and hard to move, but finally all hands heaved and tugged and moved it inch by inch nearer the water. The bank of the stream was about three feet above the surface of the water, so when the raft was half over the bank they expected to see it plunge headlong in with a splash, but it stuck on the jagged trunk of a tree, and the children 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 this stick. Jim can stand there just opposite you, while Jack and I, being strongest, will pry and shove from the back to shove her over,” said George.

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 more nearer the water.

“Fine! Now, boys, once more!” shouted Jack.

Again the signal sounded, and all four pried and pushed. Suddenly the weight of the raft carried it forward with great momentum, dislodging the stone upon which Jim stood and pushed with his broomstick. He lost his 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 of the sluggish stream when the heavy corner of the raft dug down through the water immediately clung to him, Jim was an object for pity when he sputtered 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 like that?” demanded Martha, justly angry.

“Huccome Ah feel ’shamed? Diden’ dat ole warship give me struggle enough widdout yo’ all blamin’ me fer a wettin’?” cried Jim defensively, trying to rub the mud from his eyes.

“Well, now that you’re wet, you’d better be the captain on the ship. Get the raft back here to shore so we can load her up with tea,” ordered Jack.

“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 do with 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 you who are colonists must hurry across the bridge to the other side. We British will stay here and pile up the cargo of tea and sail the raft across the creek.

“When we sail into Boston harbor you must try to keep us out, and that is 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 the raft, nor, indeed, command the warship, but having said it he could not very well change the order, so the next best plan was to sail with Lord Somebody, with Jim the captain.

The captain, so proud of his title and position, forgot about his muddy appearance, and eagerly hauled the cumbersome raft to the bank.

“S’posin’ you girls and John be the colonists on the other bank. You must 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 the tipsy-looking raft, this suggestion met with their fullest approval; but John 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 with chests.

“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 Boston harbor! Hurry across and be ready for us,” cried George, who half-suspected John of jealousy, and, at the same time, felt he was guilty 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 Boston harbor.

On the American side, Martha had found an old apple tree near the bridge, the fruit of which had lain so long on the damp ground that the apples were rotted within and soft as pulp, the skins being the only sound 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 secret joy in planning how he would fire those cannon-balls at the men on the ship.

So, without a hint of the ammunition being quickly transferred from the apple tree to the site of Boston, the three brave and eager colonists awaited the coming of the tea cargo.

CHAPTER VI – THE BATTLE OF BOSTON

“We’re stuck!” declared Jack, as they tried to shove off from the bank now said to be England.

“And every time I push the water comes up over my shoes,” said George, looking dolefully at his soaked shoes and stockings.

“Let’s pull them off and fling them over on the bank,” suggested Jack.

George, forgetting he was not on dry ground, instantly followed Jack’s idea and sat down on the raft to remove his shoes. At the same time, Jim tried to climb aboard from the creek where he had been pushing, and the result was that the water swept over the top surface of the raft and submerged everything under six inches of water.

“Ah, say! See what you did to me!” cried George, now soaking wet to the waistline.

“Quick! Never mind the wet – there go our tea chests!” yelled Jack, trying to save the drum as it floated away from the raft.

Jim and George, over-anxious to save their cargo, suddenly leaned out to catch the bobbing cartons and boxes, when the unbalanced raft tilted treacherously over with the weight of the three boys and shot them all into the stream.

The screams and shouts of dismay brought the three Americans running to the Boston port, and as they stood laughing unfeelingly at the scene in the water, the British declared they’d get even when they landed in Boston.

“Better get here first!” called Anne.

“We’ll salute you with guns all right!” added John grimly.

“So’ll we! We’ll go back to London and find some guns and shot, too,” promised George, looking at the Americans and then at Jack, who was wallowing through the mud to gain the bank again.

“Jim, haul up your ship for us to load with ammunition,” ordered George, as soon as Jim’s head appeared from under the raft, where he had rolled when the warship keeled over.

But the clever Yanks kept all news of their ammunition from the eyes and ears of the British. Then, having found some long sticks that would answer for guns, the three mariners set sail again on their dangerous journey across the sea – a distance of thirty feet from bank to bank.

This time the raft was kept balanced, while the three stood hugging each other in the center of the boards. Their shoes and coats had been left on the woodpile, so they were not hampered with overmuch clothing.

Now, John had bided his time very patiently, and, feeling that he had been supplanted in the fun and affections of George by his cousin Jack, he determined not to wait till the ship came into port, when the boys could jump from the vessel, to land and find the pyramid of bad apples ready to fire.

So he waited until the loosely-constructed raft reached midstream, where the current of the sluggish water turned it partially around so that the boys faced back at England, and dared not turn about for fear of another submersion.

Taking careful aim, John threw a large and wonderfully squashy apple at Jack. It landed on top of his head, and the juicy, brown contents of the apple-skin ran down over his face, ears and neck.

“Ouch! What’s that?” screamed Jack, the acid of the juice blinding his eyes. He threw out his hands for help as he cried, and thus catching Jim, both slid off the raft a second time, as the craft went under on that side.

George could afford to laugh at the sight, for he still held his footing on the wet and slippery raft; but he laughed too soon. John took another aim and fired a second shot. It hit the boards of the raft just back of George, who was not aware of it, as it simply squashed all over without making a noise.

He moved back a trifle to gain a surer footing, and that action was his own undoing. His foot slipped on the slippery mush, and down he came upon the planks. Again the tipsy raft dove, and again George slid off into the stream.

The middle of the stream was swollen by the rains to a depth of four feet, and Jim only being three feet high, could not be seen, but he could paddle a bit with legs and arms in poor imitation of swimming, so George and Jack found him wildly kicking and striking the water in a vain endeavor to float.

John doubled over in glee at his marksmanship, and the two girls, running to see what the new commotion was about, saw the three boys in the creek, trying to board the raft. With every pull and extra weight on the warship, it dipped gracefully and slipped the children’s eager, clutching hands from its edges.

“You’ll have to wade back to England and sail again,” yelled John comfortingly.

“You just wait till we get over there!” threatened Jack, who suspected the power back of that apple.

“We’ll wait all right! Long time comin’, too!” roared John, slapping his knees.

While Jack pulled Jim to shallow water, George managed to haul the now water-logged raft back to the English shore. The pasteboard cartons and drum were thoroughly soaked by this time and showed signs of collapse, but the soap-box withstood the elements in a fine manner.

During the third trial to cross the tempestuous seas, the cartons holding oatmeal and hominy spread out and the cereals floated down on the face of the creek. The pasteboard sides, now flattened out and soaked, were of no use, so they were kicked off; but in the sudden jerking Jack and George clutched each other madly, or they would have slid into the water for the third time.

“I guess Boston will never get a speck of that cargo!” laughed John, both hands behind his back holding large-sized decayed cannon-balls from the apple tree.

“What’ll you bet?” challenged Jack.

“Bet you three shots to your every one that you won’t land it!” taunted John.

“Take you up! If we land anything we take three shots at you. If you keep us from landing, you have three at us,” cried George, the fire of battle shining in his eyes.

“Here, John, you wade out and upset them,” whispered Anne mischievously.

“They won’t count that as fair!” exclaimed Martha.

“I’ve got a better idea. I’ll get up on that tree-trunk leaning out over the creek and you girls can hand me some heavy clumps of dirt, wood or rocks. I’ll drop it over on the raft so it will tip and roll off the rest of the cargo,” whispered John.

The three sailors were fully occupied in balancing and bringing the raft across the stream where it should go, so they failed to see John scale the overhanging willow tree and lean down to get the rocks and fragments of tree-trunks the girls passed up to him. Not until a stone fell upon the side of the raft where the remaining boxes stood did they dream of danger from a fort.

“Ah, say, that isn’t fair!” complained Jack, not daring to look up or around.

“All’s fair in play!” laughed Anne from the bank.

A second rock landed on the edge of the raft, and then a mass of dirt and dead leaves. After this, the girls assisted in the fusillade, and the boys were not only kept busy avoiding the ammunition of the Americans; but they found the raft tilting so dangerously that another added bit of weight would roll the single remaining soap-box from the ship.

“Jack, it’s dare or die!” said George, nodding to the débris thrown on the raft and the slant of the ship under water.

“What do you say?” wondered Jack.

“Jim’s the lightest – he must take the soap-box and try to reach shore with it while we fight them for a landing out here. If they go for Jim, we can land, and if they keep up with us Jim can scramble up the bank.”

Jim was willing, and Jack thought it was a fighting chance, so the captain of the Dartmouth sidled off into the water and grabbed the box which he had to safely carry up on shore – in the face of the American cannonading.

Had the creek been clear of mud and roots, the British might have landed their sea forces, and thus the history of the American colonists might never have been written as such; but which one of the combating parties could dream of the unseen menace that took a part in this tragic fight?

The two girls and John saw Jim slide off and push the soap-box in front of him, but they felt a sympathy for him, for it was apparent that Jack and George preferred to remain on the raft and let Jim try to land. Then they would claim the right to fire three shots to one at the Americans.

But the three Americans determined to fire as many of the soft apples at the two remaining sailors as they could land, so Jack and George were kept busy ducking and objecting, and Jim had gone half the distance between the raft and the gnarled root, where he hoped to climb up, when a blood-curdling yell was heard, which seemed to rise from his very toes.

British and Yanks alike forgot their enmity and shouted out: “What’s happened, Jim?”

But the little pickaninny, beating the water frantically with both hands, while continuing to howl, tried to jump up from the water.

Jack and George, too wet to mind more water, and John, with the two girls on shore, rushed for the captain to try and save him, for they firmly believed he was about to yell his last earthly breath.

Jack and George reached him first, and instantly caught his wildly waving arms to drag him up on shore. They thought that if it was his time to “climb the golden stairs” he was always singing about, he ought to begin on dry land.

But Jim’s yells grew more appalling as he was half-carried and half-dragged out of the water. Just as John and his two confederates ran up, the cause of all this frenzy was found.

A huge mud-turtle had snapped onto one of Jim’s brown, upcurling toes, and as resistance was brought to bear against this grip, the turtle held on the tighter.

George knew what to do, so he quickly broke its shell with a sharp stone, and Jim almost fainted with relief at his freedom. The girls tried to pet him and offer sympathies, but Jack and George took advantage of the situation.

“Ha! We brought meat to shore! We landed all right!” yelled Jack, dancing like a wild Indian.

“Three-to-one shot,” added George, rushing away to find the ammunition John had plied so thickly.

But most of the apples had been fired, and Jim whispered: “Ah wan’ t’ go hum!”

“Ah, don’t go home now! Your toe will soon feel better, and besides, mammy will ask you where the boxes went from the store-room,” advised Martha.

Jim looked up at her wistfully and said: “Ah’ll tell her dem British sunk ’em all!”

“That would be mixin’ American history, ’cause it was us Yanks that sunk the cargo,” corrected Anne.

“All but the fish!” chuckled Jack, pointing at the turtle.

“If Jim can’t go home, and you girls won’t let us shoot as you agreed, what shall we do, anyway?” sulked George, who felt it was an unlucky day, because no more apples could be found.

“Why not play the Battle of Lexington? That’s fun!” suggested Martha.

“We can use the raft to sail up Lake Champlain, where it can be the first warship of the American navy,” added Anne.

“All right – come on!” declared John, who was glad to postpone his being shot at by two good aims like George and Jack.

“Here, or on the other side?” asked George.

“Well, here’s a good tree for the earthworks on the hill near Boston,” ventured John.

“We won’t need it for Lexington or Concord, but we really ought to have something that would pop like shot, or it won’t seem real,” replied Jack consideringly.

“Can’t we skip those two first fights, and start right in with the burning of Charlestown and the fight on the hill? We can build a dandy bonfire for Charlestown,” said Anne.

“Umm! Never again! We had a fire once when Washington’s homestead burned down, and Jim’s just raisin’ a new crop of wool since then. My hair was frizzled to the roots, too, and our eyebrows were all gone. We looked awfully funny without winkers on our eyes or brows over them,” laughed George, the memory of his burns too fresh to attempt a second fire even in play.

“Then we can’t do it! We may as well go home and wait for the automobile to come back,” said Martha resignedly.

“I don’t see why. We can build earthworks and fight down the British as they come up the hill, and then the British can win the battle and fight us all the way back to Charlestown; and General Washington can come along and pat us on the back for courage and bravery, and then we can all plan together how to get back at the British,” exclaimed George eagerly.

“I’m wet and soggy, and Jim’s going to cry all afternoon, so I guess I’ll go back and change my clothes,” said Jack, suddenly feeling discouraged over the failure of his nation to win an easy battle.

“If we keep away from the store-room, and creep up the front stairs to change our clothes, we can be sitting on the lawn under the canopy when mother gets back,” ventured Martha.

“What about Jim?” worried several voices.

“Let John take him home and dry his clothes, then they both can join us on the lawn, and sit quietly while the sun sets. Mother says she wants us to watch the fall sunsets, as they are always so beautiful,” offered George.

The others stared in unbelief at this daring commander, who suggested quietly admiring sunsets, but each felt that it would be as well to seem meek and quiet after the raid on the boxes in the store-room.

So the good advice was followed, but Martha did not dream that Jim had dumped the washing-soda over the orange pekoe tea, so that it was impossible to sift or wash it out. Hence, the Parkes had no tea that afternoon, nor, did the cook have her fragrant beverage at each meal until the new chest came from Washington.

“Well, didn’t the Yanks sacrifice tea to their patriotism that time in Boston?” asked Jack of his mother, when the story was told.