Looking Gloucester way, by which I mean gazing across the encampment of those who held our village of York in a wavering grasp, we could see that the red-coats had not only withdrawn from the outermost works; but appeared to be massed together close within the limits of the village as if for mutual protection, and little Pierre, ever quick to see, and keen to understand what he saw, said to me in a tone of triumph as he laid his hand on my shoulder: "Look yonder; see the red-coats huddling together like a lot of rats in a trap, and verily they are trapped now, for so long as the French vessels remain inside the Capes, so long are they shut in here at the mercy of those brave fellows who have drawn the net around them!" Then it was that I began to question if Cornwallis was indeed in such close quarters? In the river lay, as I have already said, the _Guadaloupe_ and the _Charon_, and in addition were a number of other large vessels, the names of which I do not remember. I asked myself whether, by making a brave attempt, they might not force their way past the French fleet, and thus escape by the sea? "There is no chance they will try anything of the kind," Pierre said when I suggested that mayhap our people did not hold the British in such a firm grasp. "Look more closely at the ships, and you will see that but two of them are armed for war, the others being only transports. What chance would all of them have against a single frigate? No, no, Fitz Hamilton, Cornwallis knows only too well that he is in a tight place; but he is not such a fool as to make so desperate a venture. Here he has taken his stand, and here he must remain until having beaten off our people, or made up his mind to surrender." I wish it might be possible for me to paint a picture of the British encampment surrounded by our brave Americans, as Pierre Laurens and I saw it that afternoon when the shades of night were gathering. Points of lights, betokening camp-fires, or torches set up in the entrenchments that the troops might be able to strengthen their defences, twinkled in every direction. Then was a zone of darkness lying between the enemy's works and our forces, after which came again a circle of twinkling lights that seemed to shine out in a most friendly fashion, as if telling us lads to be of good cheer for kindly aid was nigh at hand. Now and then would come a great flash of fire, followed by a heavy booming noise, as one army or the other sent a shot across the lines to show that all were on the alert, and again we could hear in this direction or that, the sharp crackle of musketry which caused us to start forward toward the sound believing a battle had begun. During all the time we were besieged in the village of York did it appear to me certain the two armies would come together immediately in a hand-to-hand grapple, and many times did I believe the end was nigh at hand, although never were both forces in their entirety engaged in conflict.