Then we pushed off from the bulkhead with barely enough wind to fill the sails, and while rounding the battery I could see how much more war-like was the appearance of everything than when I had last been there in the daylight. Soldiers were marching and counter-marching, as if bent on some work more important than that of merely perfecting themselves in the drill; the sentinels looked to be more alert, and there was less of laughter and careless conversation ashore than I had ever observed. Coming around the East river we could see plainly the obstructions which had been planted there, but in our small boat we had no difficulty in avoiding them. Then, stretching straight away toward Wallabout, we had before us on the New York side the newly built redoubts and intrenchments, until it seemed to me as if the entire town was surrounded by defenses, and save for the fact that I had seen that vast array of vessels, filled with men eager to kill us at the king’s bidding, I would have thought that we might hold ourselves secure from any enemy whatsoever. As it was, however, and knowing from Sam’s story that General Howe could launch upon us fully eight thousand more men than we had fit for service, a big lump came in my throat as I asked myself how long we Whigs might be able to hold out against such superior numbers. It was near to three hours, so light was the wind, before we were come to the sloop’s old anchorage, and then, to my great delight, we saw my father and Sam’s on the shore just making ready to take skiff, probably bound for New York. It was a most opportune meeting, for otherwise we might have been forced to depart upon our work of spying without having had speech with those whom we were so eager to see, and once they recognized us we had good proof of their affection, and what their anxieties must have been. We Minute Boys went on shore at once, and there I would have told my father what we counted on doing, but that he checked me, asking if it was a service required of us by any of the officers of the army, and on being told that it was, he bade me hold my peace. With this, however, I would not be content, knowing that it was no secret to those Americans stationed on the island, therefore might be repeated to him, and when I was come to an end of the instructions that had been given, he said, taking me by the hands: “Go, my boy, without delay, and may the good God grant that you and I come together again very soon. Say a word of farewell to your mother, who, during nearly two days, mourned you as a prisoner aboard one of the king’s ships, and then hasten away.” “Will you go on board, sir, and see our prisoner?” “To what end?”