"If it is your duty, Amos, I have nothing to say, although I wish most heartily that others had been pushed forward into danger, and in thus speaking I am selfish, for then some other mother's heart would ache. Be as prudent as you can without being cowardly, my boy, and may God be ever with you. It is believed in the village that Elias Macomber has gone to join the British, because he has not been seen since last night; but if he should escape, Amos!" "There is little fear of that, mother," I replied confidently. "Commodore Barney is not the man Darius has pictured him, if he allows such a villain to escape." After this we talked of family matters until I went up stairs to look at my sisters and brother who were asleep. Then the visit was come to an end, and I went out into the night with a heavy heart; but determined that my family should have no cause to blush for me. I was the first to arrive at the shore, and, lying at full length in the canoe, I waited until my comrades returned from their visit. Jerry and Jim came in company, and appeared to be excited over something, therefore to draw them on without asking any questions, I repeated what my mother had said concerning Elias Macomber. "Ay, that was the talk in town this forenoon," Jerry replied; "but now people are saying that he came back just before sunset--" "Back here to Benedict?" I cried in amazement. "Ay, Jim's mother saw him as he went by her house on the way to his own. She saluted him, but he made no reply--" "But to be here he must have escaped!" I interrupted, unable to hold my peace. "The commodore would not have set him at liberty without telling us!" "That goes without sayin', an' now what shall we do?" Jerry asked as if he had some plan in mind. "What can we do, except to get away before he brings some of his cronies down here to make a row?" "Jerry wants to catch him over again," Jim replied, since my partner did not speak. "If he's alone in his house it wouldn't be such a dreadful hard job, surely not as compared with what we did at the mill." It seemed as if our own safety demanded that we give some especial attention to the traitor, and I proposed that we consult with Darius at once. This was agreeable to my companions, and we boarded the Avenger without delay, rousing the old man to bitter wrath when we told that Elias had escaped. "Somebody will smart for bein' so careless!" he cried. "Joshua Barney ain't the man to overlook anythin' of that kind. Do you allow there may be traitors in the fleet? It looks mightily like it when a coward like Macomber can give 'em the slip inside of twelve hours, for if he was seen in this town at sunset, he must have been at liberty by noon, ay, even before we got under way!" "Jerry thinks we might catch him again, by going at once to his home," I said, impatient to make the attempt or set sail, for I was not easy in mind at lying there while the villain was free.