"I want to send a messenger to Sudbury. Do you think you can find the place, Isaac Rice?" "I will show him the way, sir," Nathan said promptly, and the colonel favored him with a glance of surprise, but took no further heed of his sudden complaisance. "At that settlement you will find one Captain Remember Baker; tell him what has been done at this point, and say it is my wish he join me here without delay. Select the lightest boat you can find for crossing the lake, and make all haste." Then the colonel turned away, intent upon the work of preparing a list of the garrison which had surrendered, and some of his officers entering for further instructions prevented the boys from making any inquiries concerning the mission. On leaving the quarters, Nathan, eager to serve this new commander of the fort with all possible celerity, would have hastened at once to the shore in order to set out, but that Isaac insisted upon giving Corporal 'Lige due information as to their proposed movements, much to the displeasure of young Beman, who claimed that the old soldier was of no account when the colonel had given orders. "Well, this one is," Isaac said stoutly. "He's a good friend of mine, and I wouldn't think of leavin' without first tellin' him, no matter whose orders I was obeying." "Well, I s'pose you must have your own way, but the time will come when you won't think so much of that pig-headed old man as you do now." To this ill-natured remark the lad did not reply, but on presenting himself to Corporal 'Lige and explaining what he was about to do, the latter, still busy with his work of taking account of the stores, made very much the same remark as had Nathan. "Don't consider, lad, that you are to report to me when ordered on duty. Be careful of yourself; do not run into danger needlessly, and get you gone without delay, for Colonel Allen is a man who doesn't take kindly to loiterers." Nathan showed himself to be one who could perform a task promptly and in good order when it suited his pleasure so to do. He it was who selected the boat in which they were to cross the lake; borrowed a musket from one of the men that he might not be forced to make the journey weaponless, and succeeding in begging such an amount of provisions as would serve them for dinner. While these few preparations were being made, Warner, with a detachment of twenty five men from Colonel Allen's regiment, put off on his journey to Crown Point, and after watching them a moment Nathan Beman said in a tone of one who is satisfied with himself: "It's jest as well we didn't have a chance to go with that crowd, for they won't get anywhere near there until the wind changes, and it seems as though whoever is in charge of the job, ought to know it." "I suppose the plan is to take the fort by surprise, as was this one, and unless our people get there soon, it will be a failure, because the news of what has been done here must fly over the country quickly."