"Why not go straight into Washington, an' stay there till we find a chance to slip down the river?" "Into Washington?" Jim Freeman cried in alarm. "Why the Britishers have promised to burn the town!" "I know that, an' it ain't likely any of our people will go there because of that same thing." "An' yet you allow that we should stick our noses into the mess?" Darius asked. "Ay, because the Britishers never will suspect that any who took part in the fight would go there. It should be possible to find a hiding-place somewhere in the town, an' it strikes me we wouldn't be in as much danger as if we kept with the crowd." I began to think that there was more in Jerry's scheme than appeared when he first suggested it, and Darius seemed to be considering the matter very seriously. "In the first place," my partner continued, warming to the subject when he saw that we were interested, "it would be necessary to get there before the Britishers took possession, an' it might be we could pass ourselves off as fellows who had stayed in the town like cowards, rather than take the chances of bein' shot." "It's a pretty good scheme, lad, an' I for one am willin' to try it," Darius said abruptly as he rose to his feet. "If the others think as I do, we'd better be movin'." After the old man had thus spoken there was not one of us who would have ventured to object, for he had shown that in any business of this kind he knew more than all of us put together, therefore we made ready to set out; but before the first step had been taken we saw coming toward us from the direction of Bladensburg, a man riding a mule, and waving his arms as if to attract our attention. "Go on," I said petulantly. "We can't afford to hang around here very long if we count on finding a hiding-place in the city, and that is only one of the country people who wants to sell his mule." "I reckon we'll wait a bit," Darius replied firmly. "Unless I'm way out of my reckonin', yonder man was in the fight, an' has scooped up one of the baggage-wagon mules to help him along." "But our party is too big for safety now, and what will it be if we allow every straggler to trail on behind? We might as well follow the other fugitives." All this I said like a peevish child, and no sooner had I ceased speaking than Darius seized me by the shoulder, forcing me to turn until I had a full view of the newcomer. "Look at the man," the sailor cried sternly, "an' then say whether you will allow every straggler to trail on behind us when the road is as free to one as another?" In an instant I was covered with confusion and remorse. The man to whose company I had objected was none other than my own father, and as he approached I could see that he was wounded in the right leg. There was nothing I could say just then to show my comrades how deeply I regretted having spoken in such a tone, therefore I ran forward to greet him who, a moment previous, I had been eager to leave behind.