That night sixty of the countrymen and townsmen met at a farmhouse nearby and laid their plans. It was Saturday. On Sunday Captain Moore and his officers would go to church. Then they could gather at the wharf and might take the schooner by surprise. But it is often easier to make a plot than to keep it a secret, and that lesson they were to learn. The captain and his officers went to the little village church at sound of the morning bell; the _Margaretta_ lay lazily floating near the shore; and the plotters began to gather, two or three at a time strolling down towards the shore, each of them carrying some weapon. But in some way Captain Moore discovered their purpose. What bird in the air whispered to him the secret we do not know, but he suddenly sprang to his feet, called to his officers to follow him, and leaped like a cat through the church window, without waiting to go round by the door. We may be sure the old-fashioned preacher and the pious people in the pews looked on with wide-open eyes. Down the street like a deer sped the captain. After him came his officers. In their rear rushed the patriots, some carrying old muskets, some with scythes and reaping-hooks. It was a hot flight and a hot chase. Luckily for Captain Moore the guard on the schooner was wide-awake. He saw the countrymen chasing his captain, and at once loaded and fired a gun, whose ball went whistling over the head of the men of Maine. This was more than they looked for; they held back in doubt; some of them sought hiding places; before they could gain fresh courage, a boat put off from the schooner and took the captain and his officers on board. Captain Moore did not know what was wrong, but he thought he would frighten the people, at any rate. So his cannon thundered and balls came hurtling over the town. Then he drew up his anchor and sailed several miles down the bay, letting the anchor fall again near a high bank. Some of the townsmen followed, and a man named Foster called from the bank, bidding him surrender. But the captain laughed at him, raised his anchor once more, and ran farther out into the bay. It looked as if the whole affair was at an end and the _Margaretta_ safe. But the men of Machias were not yet at the end of their rope. There lay the lumber sloops, and where a schooner could go a sloop could follow. Early Monday morning four young men climbed to the deck of one of the sloops and cheered in a way that soon brought a crowd to the wharf. One of these was a bold, gallant fellow named Jeremiah O'Brien. "What is in the wind?" he asked. "We are going for the King's ship," said Wheaton, one of the men. "We can outsail her, and all we want is guns enough and men enough to take her." "My boys, we can do it," cried O'Brien in lusty tones, after hearing the plan.