“Being free and dying free. Like you said. That’s what I want. That’s why I’m here.”
“Huh. Okay. Well . . . white boy like you . . . shouldn’t be a problem if you don’t starve to death or die of sheer boredom. Most of the fightin’s over, I think.”
“I wasn’t born free.”
He frowned. “No?”
“No.”
“What’s that mean?”
I couldn’t tell him I was born a girl. I gave him another truth instead. “I was bound out when I was a child,” I said. Colonel Kosciuszko was pointing out something on the redoubt and General Paterson was nodding his head.
“You are still a child,” Grippy said. “Are you still bound out?”
I shook my head, but he wasn’t convinced.
“You a runaway?”
That’s exactly what I was, though not the way he meant.
“We’re all running away from something, aren’t we?” I said. “But no . . . I don’t belong to anyone. I don’t owe anyone anything. And no one’s looking for me.” The last part might not be true, but I hoped it was.
Near the end of the day, as we were nearing the post at Peekskill Hollow, a man on horseback rode out to meet us, and even twenty rods out, I identified Colonel Sproat. He greeted the general with a crisp salute and acknowledged Colonel Kosciuszko. His eyes lingered on me for a moment, and I held my breath, but he simply greeted me by name and praised me for my swift action and my level head in Tarrytown.
“Private Shurtliff is my new aide-de-camp, Colonel Sproat,” Paterson said.
“You are familiar to me, Shurtliff. There are Shurtliffs in Taunton. Perhaps I know your family?”
“I don’t know, sir. Even I do not know my family. But I am not from Taunton.” It was the truth for the most part, and it rolled from my tongue.
He nodded easily, and I was forgotten. He rode alongside the general and, in muted tones, shared some information that straightened the general’s back and sharpened his gaze.
“We received some information about a trove of supplies near Eastchester in some sort of underground cavern. The man who reported it claims the supplies that never made it last August are there.”
“An underground cavern? It sounds like a trick.”
Colonel Sproat shrugged. “I thought the same thing. But I trust the source. He said not many know it’s there, and it’s not well guarded.”
“He claims he’s been inside?”
“Yes, sir. A couple brothers, just youngsters, were keeping an eye on the entrance. They didn’t realize he wasn’t part of the same gang that hired them. He told them to take him inside, and they did.”
“Who’s paying them?”
“Don’t know. But nobody on our side. I’m guessing the detachment that went missing was bribed to desert or they’re dead. I think dead. DeLancey doesn’t pay when he can just take.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“He said it’s chock-full. Wine. Hams hanging from an overhead beam. Barrels of flour. Beans. Rice. Potatoes. Molasses. Lard. Jars of fruit.”
“How many wagonloads?”
Sproat blew out a breath and shook his head. “He seems to think the barrels alone would fill a barge.”
“What do you propose we do?”
“We take it, sir.”
“Any troop movement or wagons toward Eastchester, and they’ll know. There are no secrets in the neutral zone.”
“True enough. But if we send a brigade, there won’t be much they can do to stop us.”
“Unless they get word and move it before we get there.”
Sproat scratched his head. “We need those supplies, General. Nobody knows that better than you. My men have been on half rations all winter. We’ve been holed up. Not scouting. Not marching, not fighting. So we don’t need as much, but that can’t continue.”
“I know.”
“DeLancey hasn’t answered for the attack in Tarrytown. I would very much like to empty those stores.”
“There and back, how far?” General Paterson asked.
“Thirty miles. Maybe a little less. Ten or so from White Plains.”
“We’ll leave at daybreak tomorrow. I will go with you.”
“You, General?” Sproat sounded stunned.
“I can’t devise a plan for seizing the provisions if I don’t know the particulars. I need to see where they are kept, how many men and wagons we will need to move them, and if it’s worth the risk to the men who might find themselves in the middle of a gunfight if my plan isn’t a good one.”