Now the gunboats were not the only vessels building by this time. The keels of two twenty-gun brigs and a clipper schooner were laid down near the mouth of Cascade Creek, and a huge quantity of timber had been felled nearabout ready for the workmen. There was no time in which to season the stuff, and I have seen planking bent on the ribs of a brig within four and twenty hours from the fall of the tree. In fact, my father had a small fleet in process of construction, and Captain Perry was pleased to compliment him for his activity and good judgment. Sixty men had volunteered under Captain Foster to guard the shipyards against a possible attack by the Britishers, and all the workmen were drilled each evening in the manual of arms, therefore our village presented a very lively and warlike appearance. While Alec was telling me his story, and I explaining to him all I had done in the work of preparation, our elders had decided as to what further steps should be taken. Captain Perry was to go at once to Pittsburg to send on the necessary supplies, while my father would journey to Buffalo in quest of men and ammunition. So urgent was the need that no time was spent by either of these officers in repose after once a definite plan was formed; but both set out that same night, and Alexander was left in my charge, a fact which made me feel a certain sense of responsibility and much pride. It would seem as if I had written over-much in my attempt to give whoever may read these pages a fair idea of how we two--meaning Alec Perry and I--came together, and yet a few more lines of dry detail are necessary for a better understanding of what may follow. At this time our defences consisted of a small battery and a blockhouse on the bluff at the entrance of the harbor; between them and the town were the old French fort and another small blockhouse. Opposite the town, on the peninsula to the westward of Little Bay, stood a third blockhouse, a storehouse and a hospital, which last buildings were erected after we received word that Captain Perry had been sent to Presque Isle. The gunboats were on the stocks in front of the village; while west of the settlement, at the mouth of Cascade Creek, where was a blockhouse for the protection of the shipyard, the brigs and the schooner were being built. My home was on the shore of the harbor midway between the old French fort and the first-mentioned shipyard, and there it was Alec Perry lodged, sleeping in the same bed with me on the night after our first meeting. Before departing on his journey to Buffalo, my father said to me:--