“Tell your story first, admiral, an’ then you shall hear all about the Tory.” “Wa’al, as I’ve said, when that Britisher allowed he’d be willin’ to give me a lift, I told him I’d agree to try anythin’ he could figger out, an’ so I did. Jest about midnight I was told off with twenty other poor wretches to take my turn at gettin’ a breath of fresh air on deck, an’ there was your Barney Nelson on guard. He’d already explained that if I saw him doin’ duty I was to work around behind him, next the rail, where I’d find a rope hangin’ over, an’ it all went along slick as grease. I got behind the marine; found the rope, an’ let myself down inter the water, expectin’ to feel the ping of a British bullet every minute. Of course I didn’t try to splash ’round very much, but pushed off, swimmin’ like a water-logged dory.” “Did you swim from midnight till you came alongside the skiff?” I asked in surprise, and Abel replied with a gleeful laugh: “Ay, lad, that’s what I did, seein’s there wasn’t any dock nigh at hand for me to haul up at. I reckon I’d got well over to the Jersey shore before havin’ the idee that I was out of the course, an’ then I hove to for a bit. You see Nelson didn’t tell me where you was likely to be, so I had to do a deal of guessin’ till the sail of the sloop loomed up in the distance, an’ then I knew you lads were close at hand. After that it was only a case of keepin’ my arms an’ legs goin’, not puttin’ in any very hard licks, ’cause I was bound to save my wind seein’s it might be necessary to paddle ’round quite a spell.” “You must have been swimmin’ a good three hours!” Abraham exclaimed, and Abel replied with a grin: “I reckon I was in the water that long; but I turned over on my back now an’ then for a breathin’ spell. It wasn’t sich a very long pull for the admiral of a fleet, ’cause of course he ought’er know how to handle himself in the water, else he wouldn’t be fit to take command of the Minute Boys’ navy.” It would be useless for me to attempt to set down all that was said that night when, at the distance of five miles or more, we ran down the Long Island shore. It was as if each of us needed to hear himself talk, and there was no thought of anything save yarn spinning until every fellow had wagged his tongue sore. And now, because I have taken up more time and pages than he who reads may care to spend or turn, this poor apology for a story of what we poor apologies for Minute Boys did, shall come to a speedy end, with the promise that at some day I will set down all we accomplished when our company numbered fifty-four members, for it grew apace after somewhat of our work was made known. As may well be understood, we did not attempt to gain New York by sailing up the bay, but doubled Montauk Point as we had done once before, only to find, after an unusually long voyage, that the enemy was in possession of the colony far beyond Meyers Point, while our army appeared to be making for the Hudson river.