Captain Perry, powerless to obey such commands as came from Washington, yet burning with the desire to strike a blow in behalf of his country, was forced to remain within the harbor on the defensive, when his one desire was to begin hostilities. With a force of sailors so small that the entire number would not have been sufficient to work the _Lawrence_, he could do no more than answer Commodore Chauncey’s summons in the following words:-- “The enemy’s fleet of six sail are reported off this harbor. What a golden opportunity if we had men! Their object is, no doubt, either to blockade or attack us, or to carry provisions or reënforcements to Malden. Should it be to attack us, we are ready to meet them. I am constantly looking to the seaward; every mail and every traveller from that quarter is looked to as the harbinger of the glad tidings of our men being on the way. Give me men, sir, and I will acquire both for you and myself honor and glory on this lake, or perish in the attempt. Conceive my feelings: the enemy within striking distance, my vessels ready, and not men enough to man them. Going out with those I now have is out of the question. You would not suffer it were you here. Think of my situation: the enemy in sight, the vessels under my command more than sufficient and ready to make sail, and yet obliged to bite my fingers with vexation for want of men.” CHAPTER IX. A BLOODLESS VICTORY. I had reckoned on setting down the details of many small adventures which befell Alec and myself during such time as the townspeople of Presque Isle were in a fever of fear, believing the British would make a descent upon them while our fleet was much the same as useless; but the pages are counting up so fast that many things must be omitted, else I shall have come to an end of my paper before the real story has been begun. Therefore it is that I may do no more than explain the condition of affairs in the settlement while our vessels lay at their moorings inside the bar, useless, because lacking men, and the British frittered away their time reconnoitring until, fortunately, we were in fair condition to meet them. After we two--meaning Alec and I--had brought for the second time information of what was being done on the North Foreland, and General Porter sent word from Black Rock that the enemy’s squadron was about to make a descent upon us, there was neither man, woman, nor lad in the town who did not feel certain the attack must be made within a very few days at the longest, yet it was destined that we should have ample opportunity to make all necessary arrangements for defence. Strange as it may seem, we were not molested for a space of three weeks, and to this day no person, save the British commander himself, has been able to decide why the king’s forces did not destroy our little fleet, which afterward worked so much mischief.