After he had eaten all the scraps of ham remaining on the bone, Darius set about making a more thorough examination of our refuge, beginning with the small shutter at the top of the building which was used when, the meat having been cured, it was desired to clear the place of smoke. "What are you doing up there?" my father asked when the old sailor clambered on the logs to get at the shutter. "Makin' sure we can keep a lookout in case things get too hot," Darius replied with a laugh. "I'm allowin' this shutter can be swung open a crack without its bein' noticed from the outside." He had no more than opened the window when an exclamation burst from his lips, and without delay I clambered up beside him. From this point of vantage we had a fairly good view of what was going on near about the Capitol building, and my heart beat fast and furiously with fear as I saw the enemy advancing. "There seems to be the biggest part of the British army," Darius said, pointing in the direction of the burying-ground, where I could see the soldiers bivouacking for the night; but nearer at hand were two officers, evidently high in command--General Ross and Admiral Cockburn, as I afterward learned--, with an escort of three or four hundred men, riding directly toward us. Within full view of our hiding-place was a dwelling standing near the government building, and as we gazed I saw the flash of a musket come from this house, when the horse on which the general was riding fell dead, carrying the officer to the ground with him in what looked to be an ugly fall. "That's a fool trick!" Darius cried angrily when no other sign of attack could be seen or heard. "A crazy man must have fired that shot, which can do no other good than to make the enemy hot to inflict some punishment!" We saw a score or more of the escort rush to the assistance of the officer, while the remainder of the soldiers were wheeled about to face the dwelling. I was confident that they would fire a volley into the house, and, indeed, I could well have excused such a course, considering the provocation; but instead of this a squad of men were told off to enter the building, as we saw when the force ran forward on the double-quick with fixed bayonets. By this time, as may well be imagined, all our party, with the exception of my father, were clinging to the timbers of the building that a view might be had of what was going on outside, and Darius, ever mindful of others, took it upon himself to keep our invalid informed of what was being done.