“Not a bit of it, lad; but what we believe is one thing, and legal proof quite another. Howsomever, there is no reason why we should spend our time talkin’ of him, for it’s a subject that gives one a bitter taste in the mouth. There is much work to be done on shore, an’ we’d best take our share of it. While you lads were ferretin’ out traitors, an hundred and five men arrived; therefore, as I have heard it said this mornin’, Captain Perry has about three hundred officers an’ men fit to do duty. A scanty number with which to man two twenty-gun brigs an’ eight other crafts; but they are to be distributed around in the most economical fashion possible, an’ we shall put to sea as soon as the fleet can be got over the bar.” “How long will that take?” Alec asked. “I cannot say; but certain it is that we are to move down to the entrance of the harbor to-morrow mornin.’” This was Saturday, the last day of July, and with the thought in my mind as to the breaking of one of the commandments, I asked old Silas if he believed it would be right that we should put to sea on Sunday. “We are to make a move in the mornin’, lad. War is a wicked thing at the best, an’ those who engage in it give little heed to God’s day, so that an advantage may be gained. Our commanders have the idea, from some information brought by General Mead, that no time is to be lost, and orders have already been given for the fleet to make ready. Even the small craft must be lightened in order to get them over the bar, and I understand that there is much doubt in Captain Perry’s mind, as there is in my own, whether the _Lawrence_ and _Niagara_ can get out at all. It won’t be a short job at the best, and I’m allowin’ a week will be well nigh spent before the cruise is begun.” By the time the old man had finished speaking we were in the traitor’s boat, pulling toward the shipyard where the “camels,” having been completed, were being tested. It was dull work here for Alec and I, since there was little we could do to aid in the task, and I proposed that we spend the remainder of the day with my mother, for it might be many weeks before such another opportunity would be ours. Therefore it was that until daybreak on Sunday morning, the first of August, we remained quietly at home, and then set out with my father, who had come ashore about midnight, to take our places on board the _Lawrence_ as members of her crew. Old Silas was there, ready for duty, as might have been expected, and when the brig, under the influence of the early morning breeze, passed the town toward that neck of sand which threatened to deprive us of the opportunity to take part in the battle we believed to be near at hand, every woman and child in the settlement stood on the shore to witness what they probably believed was a departure. The cruise came to a speedy ending.