"That was plain sailin'. Bill was one of the first put into the place, an' knowin' he'd take a trip to the yard-arm when the Britishers found out who he was, he naturally took advantage of the chance to snoop 'round a bit. We had the run of the whole buildin', seein's there wasn't many of us, an' when he went in the prisoners didn't number more'n twenty. He found a key in the door that led up to the attic, which seemed to be a sort of store-room, an', thinkin' it might come in handy if the others didn't know the lay of the land, he locked the bloomin' place, havin' done so without bein' seen. When I came he didn't know anythin' about the scuttle; but we figgered that if there wasn't one, we could get up stairs an' pull bricks enough out of the chimney to give us a hole. There wasn't any need of doin' that, however, 'cause we found the hatch bolted on the inside, an' the rest was easy. The only thing about the whole business which bothers me is, why the Britishers didn't have a good look around before turnin' the buildin' into a jail." "The drubbin' they got at Bladensburg, even though they did win the battle, confused them," my father said with a chuckle of satisfaction. "It strikes me that we'd better get the pungy under way mighty soon," Captain Hanaford interrupted. "It can't be a great while before some of the crowd sees the rope we left danglin' from the chimney, an' then you may set it down as a fact that this city will be searched in a way that won't be comfortable for us." "But where'll you go, Bob?" Bill Jepson asked. "The British fleet is in the river, an' to sail up stream strikes me as bein' dangerous, for they can send light boats after us, an' this draft won't make much fist of runnin' away from them in such a breeze as you've got now." "I had an idee the wind was gettin' up," the oysterman said as he opened the hatch a few inches, and at that instant a gust swept into the cuddy bringing with it a full pail of water. "A good, nice little thunder squall," the captain said in a tone of content, "an' if it comes from the right quarter, we're in luck." Darius was on deck in a twinkling, and I followed him, hoping that we might be able to leave our mooring, for at such a time it would not be a very difficult matter to get so far up stream as to baffle pursuit. At the moment, however, it seemed as if our good fortune had deserted us. The wind was drawing down the river with a force that shut off all hope of sending the pungy against it, and the rain came in such torrents that the deck was awash in short order.