By this time the soldiers had made ready to remove the wounded men, and, much to my relief, we of the sloop were not called upon to aid in the gruesome task of putting them on board the boat. Then came two terrible days for us--terrible because we lay idle off the ferry, not daring to go on shore owing to the orders Lieutenant Winterbottom had given, and wholly ignorant of what was being done, save that we knew full well a battle had been fought and our people got the worst of it, although the greater portion of them held their own in the fortifications. During all this time we remained on board the sloop, never venturing to go on shore even for a single moment lest we should be needed, as the lieutenant had suggested, and then a young fellow who did not appear to be more than twenty years old, hailed us from the shore at about five o’clock in the afternoon, asking that we come in the punt and take him aboard. “I have here a written order from Lieutenant Winterbottom,” he said, when I had explained that our instructions were to remain at anchor until receiving some positive command from General Putnam or one of his staff. It can well be fancied that we went for him with a rush on hearing this, for now, after so long and terrible a time of waiting did it seem as if we might learn the truth of what had been done, and because I cannot tell the story as well as did he, I propose to set down the tale exactly as he told it to us immediately we brought him on board. His name was James Martin, and he had come to New York with the Connecticut troops to aid in the defense of the town when it was known that the Britishers were counting to make an attack upon our people. Martin had an ugly wound in the shoulder which, fortunately, had already been dressed by a surgeon, and the written word he brought from Lieutenant Winterbottom was to the effect that we take him aboard and remain on the alert, for we would have work in plenty before midnight. “Does that mean we are to carry soldiers back to the town?” I asked, and Martin replied: “I have no idea what is to be done. Some believe General Washington counts on beatin’ a retreat, while others are of the opinion that we are to make a try at gettin’ over Gravesend bay way, so that we may take the enemy in the rear.” “S’posen you tell us all you know about the business from the time you set out for Long Island?” Abel Grant said, and it can well be understood that we were eager enough to hear the story; but, in order that we might not miss seeing or hearing the first messenger who should come to us, we gathered in the blood-stained cockpit, where Martin was made as comfortable as possible. And here is the story he told, set down exactly as we heard it from his lips: “It seemed a good deal like sport to come up to New York from New Haven, and a grand time some of us had until the afternoon when we were ordered to march down to the ferry to take boat for Long Island.