Hiding a Horse

By Doris Boyko

Temperance Wick held a damp cloth to her mother’s feverish forehead. “I’ll fetch the doctor before it gets dark,” she murmured comfortingly. “‘Tisn’t far to ride.”

Ever since Father had died just ten days before, Mother had been ill. It was only a mile to Temperance’s sister Phoebe’s home on the road to Mendham. Phoebe’s husband, Dr. Will Leddell, would come quickly to attend to her mother on that New Year’s Day of 1781 if he possibly could.

Mrs. Wick shook her head sadly. “The roads are too icy. It isn’t safe to ride horseback alone. And there was talk of some shooting over at Jockey Hollow.”

Tempe, an excellent horsewoman, frequently cantered her horse, Captain, through the beautiful, wooded New Jersey countryside near Morristown. “I’m not afraid,” she boasted. “Besides, Washington’s soldiers are in camp at Jockey Hollow to protect us from the Redcoats.”

“Still, trouble is brewing,” insisted her mother. “The war for our independence has gone on too long. Be very careful,” she muttered weakly before drifting off to sleep.

Tempe wrapped her red homespun cloak about her and dashed to the barn. She flung her arms around the horse’s neck. “Oh, Captain,” she whispered. “We must get help for Mother.” Then Tempe quickly saddled the animal and galloped down the road.

As they sped on, Tempe became more and more apprehensive. Mother and she were all alone at the Wick farm now. Snow-covered trees hung ominously over the narrow rutted road, and a stiff wind lashed her face, stinging her tear-filled eyes.

She gave a sigh of relief when she reached her sister’s house. A welcoming door swung open. “Tempe!” Dr. Leddell, cried, surprised. “Come in by the fire. What are you doing out in such wintry weather?”

“It’s Mother,” the worried girl replied. “Can you come quickly? Her fever is worse!”

The kindly doctor assured her that he would come right away.

Tempe turned Captain around, and as she headed homeward, she began to feel more at ease. “Everything will be all right,” she murmured, “and I’ll soon be safely home.” But as she rounded a bend in the road, several soldiers stepped out of the woods. They waved for her to stop. “Halt!” shouted a tall, ragged man. Grabbing Captain’s bridle, he added, “We won’t hurt you. We’re not the British.”

“Then let go of my horse!” cried Tempe. “I must get home!”

The soldier continued to hold on to Captain. “Excellent horse,” he declared. “We can use it.”

“But he’s my horse, and I want to keep him. I need him!” objected Tempe.

The soldier laughed. “We need him more. We need all the horses that we can find.”

“But aren’t you from Washington’s army? Captain is the only horse we have left. All the others have already been taken by the troops. Why do you need him, too?” persisted Tempe.

One of the other men pointed to a soldier with bandaged feet. “Frostbitten, that’s why. He can’t walk, and we can’t leave him here.”

“Aren’t you encamped at Jockey Hollow to defend us against attack by the Redcoats?” asked the puzzled girl.

Another soldier shouted angrily. “We were at camp. Indeed we were! Nearly froze to death! And we haven’t been paid for twelve months in the bargain.”

“Get down from your horse, Miss, before you get hurt,” urged the tall soldier. “We’re men of the Pennsylvania Line on our way to Philadelphia to see the Congress and to demand our back pay.”

Tempe nodded sympathetically. She really felt sorry for the men. Just the year before, more than a hundred soldiers had died at Jockey Hollow because of sickness and a lack of food and warm shelter. But then she thought of her sick mother at home. They would be stranded at the lonely farmhouse without a horse. Surely the soldiers could carry this man to the nearby army hospital and stay to defend New Jersey.

All at once she made up her mind. She reached out her hand as if for help in dismounting. But when the soldier let go of the bridle to help her, she kicked Captain with her heels and spurred him on. Down the frozen road she galloped, musket shots ringing in her ears.

“It’s all right, Captain. They can’t catch us now,” she cried, slowing him down at last. “But they will follow us,” she told her steed. “I can’t keep you in the barn. And if I hide you in the woods, you’ll surely die from the cold.”

Past the fields and apple orchards she rode and straight through the herb garden to the farmhouse door. She sprang from the horse’s back and glanced down the road. The men were nowhere in sight. Holding tightly to Captain’s bridle, she led him quickly inside and closed the door behind him.

Gently Tempe took him through the kitchen and into her mother’s bedroom, where she explained to the amazed woman all that had happened. Then she carefully walked Captain into the spare room. The horse’s shoes clattered over the wooden floors.

“You must keep quiet,” she told him. Hurriedly she fetched some towels from the wardrobe and wrapped them around Captain’s feet. “Just in case you paw the floor,” she muttered.

Tempe stood with her horse, holding his head so that he wouldn’t whinny or snort. A few minutes passed before she heard the angry soldiers shouting in the yard: “She’s not in the barn!” “No sign of them in the woods!” Other men’s voices sounded closer to the front door: “The snow is so trampled down that we can’t see any fresh tracks.” “Must have gone past and down the road!”

Worried and thoughtful, Tempe quietly soothed Captain while the soldiers searched the grounds and outbuildings. Are they setting a trap for me and waiting until I come out of hiding? She wondered. Of course, they wouldn’t have expected me to bring a horse into a house! Nevertheless, she waited a long time, listening for their footsteps and voices, before she went to help her mother.

Just when Tempe decided that the men had given up the hunt and left, Captain whinnied when there was a soft knock on the door. Tempe went and cautiously opened it a crack. She was relieved to see that it was Dr. Leddell.

After the doctor treated her mother, Mrs. Wick began to feel better, and in a few days she was able to leave her bed.

Tempe continued to keep Captain in the darkened spare room, however. At first she was afraid to leave the house, so she fed him biscuits and lumps of sugar from the kitchen. Later she dared to sneak out to the barn for feed.

Six days later news came that the soldiers’ mutiny was over. “Now Captain can go back to the barn!” cried Mother thankfully. Tempe slowly led her horse out of the house, leaving behind hoofmarks on the wooden floor.

Word spread like wildfire about the young woman who had outfoxed the soldiers in New Jersey. Even General Washington and his men expressed their admiration for her. To this day, Tempe Wick is remembered for the daring, clever way in which she saved her horse.

Illustrated by Bradley Teare