I walked rapidly, no, I ran, till I reached the office, wondering what it could be for which my presence was so imperatively demanded. One of the owners of the Aurora was in the office, and he immediately took me to his private room, out of hearing of the clerks. After closing the door, he said,-- "How long will it take you to get ready for sea?" "As for myself," I answered, "not over an hour; for my vessel I couldn't say till I know the kind of service expected." "Well," he replied, "we have news from Washington that war with Great Britain is inevitable. Events are leading up to it very rapidly, and it is liable to come at any moment. Now, we want to fit out some privateers and have them ready to take the sea the moment war is declared. We want you to command one of them, and your friend Taylor can have another. Will you tell him so as soon as you see him?" "Certainly I will; and as to fitting out, I will proceed about it at once, whenever you name the ship I'm to command." "That's all right," he said; "but we want you to act as secretly as possible, so as to get the start of our rivals as much as we can. Those who are first at sea when the war breaks out will have the best of the harvest in prizes." "Certainly, sir; I understand. With your permission I'll think the matter over to-night, and come to you to-morrow with my plans. I suppose I am to get the powder, guns, and all other things necessary for equipment and stores, and the firm will pay for them?" "Certainly; but our name must be kept out of sight, or it will be a hint to our rivals in business to follow our example, and that's what we want to avoid." Then he meditated a moment, and I remained silent, waiting for him to speak. When his meditations were concluded, he said,-- "You will have command of the Baltimore clipper Marguerite; she is lying at Jones's wharf on the East River, and right alongside of her is the Hyacinth, which we shall give to Captain Taylor. Before you leave the office I will give you the builder's plans of both vessels, so that you will hardly need to make any measurements when you go to look at them. Just stroll around carelessly and look at the two vessels as closely as you can, but don't use any measuring lines or rods when anybody is in sight, or do anything to show that you have been drawn there except by idle curiosity. If you want to measure anything, you and Taylor can pretend to get into a dispute about it, and then measure to decide the difference between you. I will look for you here some time in the forenoon to-morrow." This ended our conversation, and I hurried away to find David and tell him of his new prospects in life. I was lucky in finding him at once, and asked him to take a stroll with me while we had a friendly chat. Soon as we were out of earshot of everybody I told him what the reader already knows. There was still time before sunset for visiting Jones's wharf, and so we walked in that direction.