You all tell me what a bold and swaggering lot the ruffians who call themselves the Sons of Liberty have become,” said Drakov. “And how many of them were there that night, five, six, more? And doubtless, there were those present in the tavern who were not among their number, and who prudently chose to remain inside rather than risk being caught up in a brawl out in the street. Yet they saw that someone had thrown that pumpkin through the window, knocking Macintosh down to the floor. And they doubtless heard the commotion in the street, and then saw Stiles being carried back inside with his ribs all busted up. What were the gallant Sons of Liberty to say, that six or more of them were bested by one man? That one man put them all to flight?”
The crowd murmured its agreement.
“Even so, Dark,” said Hewitt, “why should they concoct such an outrageous story? Why not simply claim they were outnumbered?”
“Perhaps,” said Drakov, “because there was a witness or two who were not among their number, not members of the Sons of Liberty, that is to say, who were outside with them and could assert that they were only up against one man. And. gentlemen, let us ask ourselves, if what they saw was not, in fact, a spirit of some sort, then what must they have seen? A man dressed all in black, on horseback, perhaps with his cloak pulled up so that they could not see his face? Is it not possible that rather than vanish, he merely galloped quickly down some convenient alleyway when they scattered before his horse, so that he only seemed to disappear?”
“That sounds much more plausible to me than the idea of some ghost.” said Hewitt. “In which case, bravo to that man! Let us drink a toast to him!”
“Hear, hear!” said a few people in the crowd.
“Yes, by all means, let us applaud that man, whoever he may be.” Drakov concurred. “But, gentlemen, before we drink our toast, let us consider that we might well profit from that unknown man’s example.
“Indeed?” said Brown. “How so?”
“Consider the Sons of Liberty, gentlemen,” said Drakov. “Who are they? What are they? Men much like ourselves, no more, no less. And yet, day by day, it appears that more and more, the city falls under their grip. And why, I ask you? Because they arc better men than we?”
“No, by God!” said Brown.
“Indeed, no, they are not,” said Drakov. “And yet what makes them so different from ourselves that they seem to have such power? What. precisely, is their power, gentlemen? That, with the exception of a very few, their members are not known.”
“But we all know who they are,” protested Brown.
“Do we?” Drakov asked. “How many of them can you name? Six? Eight? Ten, perhaps? Fifteen or twenty. at best? Yet when they stage their demonstrations, how many of them are there? Forty, fifty, sixty or more? When they come to threaten people in the night, are not many of them masked, or their faces blackened with burnt cork?”
“Yes, that’s true enough.” one of the tax commissioners said. “I can readily attest to that.”
“Their power. Then,” said Drakov. “seems to lie in the fact that they accomplish much of what they do by stealth. By being unknown, by heaving stones through windows in the night and such. And now, it seems, a loyal subject of King George has given them a taste of their own medicine, paid them back in their own coin.” He raised his eyebrows and looked around at them. “Can we not learn from his example, gentlemen?”
John Hewitt smiled. “A wise man can always profit by the good example of another.” he said. “I wonder who our ‘headless horseman’ is. And I wonder if he will ride again soon?”
“I should not be in the least surprised.” said Moffat.
“In the meantime,” Drakov said, “perhaps his fellow loyal subjects of King George should discuss how best to give the horseman our support?”
“What do you propose, Nicholas?” said Brown.
“Gentlemen,” said Drakov, picking up his glass of wine, “the Sons of Liberty are bent upon visiting their deviltry upon us. They give us deviltry, 1 say we rebel against it and pay them back with hellfire!”
“Hear, hear!”
“Well said! Well said!”
“Gentlemen,” said Drakov, rising to his feet with upraised glass. “I give you the headless horseman! And all those with the courage to ride along beside him!”
“I’ll drink to that!”
“And so will I. by God!”
“Me, too!”
“Your glasses, gentlemen! Raise up your glasses!”
“To the headless horseman!” Moffat said. “Hellfire to the
Sons of Liberty!”
They all joined in the toast and drank.