Alec and I, together with many other lads, worked industriously upon the fortification which had been named Fort Wayne even before anything was done toward building it, and I venture to say that if all the people in the United States had labored as earnestly on the defensive and offensive as did we of Presque Isle, the war would have been brought to an end before the close of the year 1813. When we had put up the blockhouse on the bluff east of Cascade Creek, and finished the fort after a rude fashion, Major-General David Mead arrived at the head of a full regiment of militia, and then it seemed as if the government had at last remembered our feeble condition. It was a day full of excitement when these troops entered the town, and not the least among the ceremonies was the saluting of the general with thirty-two guns as he went on board the _Lawrence_ to pay his respects to Captain Perry, who, immediately after our late victory, had been brought low by a return of the fever. My father was present at the interview; but what passed between the commanders we of the rank and file had no means of knowing, save as certain events transpired which we came to believe were the result of their deliberations. It was only reasonable that, after having served under him, Alec and I should find it in our way to cultivate the acquaintance of Silas Boyd, and through him we got an insight into what otherwise would have been difficult for us to understand. As for instance: The third day after General Mead’s arrival men were set at work in the shipyard on four huge scows, or box-like boats with flush decks, and my comrade and I puzzled our brains in vain to come at some reasonable conclusion regarding their purpose. It was evident they could never be intended for sailing crafts and equally certain that they were not being built for cargo-carrying, because there were no spars, and the upper portion was made without a hatchway, unless small square holes cut fore and aft might be called by such a name. “They are boxes, rather than vessels,” Alec said, after we had speculated long and vainly regarding their purpose, and then he added, as if the thought had but just come to him, “Let us learn if old Silas knows anything about them.” The gunner was not far off. He had just come ashore from the _Lawrence_, where he had been looking after some of the pieces which were not mounted according to his notions, and we summoned him without delay. “Don’t know the meanin’ of ’em, eh?” he asked, with a laugh, after a brief survey of the odd-looking craft. “Well, lads, I’m allowin’ that you’ll be pleased because they’ve been begun.” “I can’t understand why anything of that sort would give us pleasure,” I said stupidly; but Alec, quicker witted, cried excitedly:-- “Do you mean that they have anything to do with our fleet leaving the bay?”