However great his need of coming up with the British, Elias Macomber knew too much to trust himself in a canoe on the open bay while the wind held as it did, and we knew beyond a peradventure that if he had not already gained the fleet, he was hiding on sh.o.r.e somewhere.

It would be folly to spend time in such a needle-in-the-haystack business as looking for him on sh.o.r.e when we had no clue to guide us, as even Darius was forced to admit, and, therefore, we set about the work in hand, which was the dredging of oysters enough to give us excuse for seeking out the enemy.

It seemed to all of us that we were in more danger through information which Elias might give, than we would have been while playing the spy with him safely cared for on one of the vessels of Commodore Barney's flotilla, and we went about the work as if it was possible to feel the chafing of British halters around our necks.

We began dredging exactly as we would have done had we been trying to get a cargo for the Baltimore market, and never a sail did we see during all that day, a fact which told us that the enemy was not yet ready to open his campaign.

Not until well into the night would Darius allow that we had a sufficient quant.i.ty of oysters to warrant us in finding purchasers, and even then there was no more than fifteen bushels aboard.

"It will do for a starter," Jerry said when Jim Freeman proposed that we spend one more day dredging.

"But the first Britisher we came across would buy as many as we've got," Jim objected, and Jerry replied with the air of one who has thoroughly turned the matter over in his mind:

"So much the better. We shall then have established ourselves in the business, and can come back for another cargo. There will be less suspicion of us the second time."

"I reckon you're right, lad," Darius said decidedly. "We can't expect to gather much of any news the first pop, an' if we get acquainted, it will be a long step in the right direction."

As a matter of course, the old man's opinion settled the question, and we hauled around for a run down the bay, double reefing the mainsail and jib, as was proper when you take into consideration the fact that we had the same as no cargo aboard to give the pungy stiffness.

Up to this time neither one had made any proposition as to how we were to begin operations, and I naturally concluded that we would sail boldly up to the first craft we saw, asking if we could sell them oysters, therefore I suggested, when we were standing off on a course that would bring us on to the Tangier Islands:

"If we keep up this rate of speed, we may come upon the enemy while it is yet night."

"Ay, lad, an' I'm thinkin' it would be a good plan."

"But people don't go out sellin' things before daylight," I said with a laugh.

"I'm countin' on bein' properly interduced," Darius replied with a grin. "If we're hailed, an' ordered to lay by till mornin', we shall have one ship's crew that'll listen to us."

I did not understand this explanation more than if it had been given in Latin; but the others appeared to be satisfied, and I held my peace rather than display ignorance.

We kept our course a couple of hours, and, then, directly in a line with the Tangiers, I saw the loom of what appeared to be a large ship.

"There's one of the fleet," I said in a whisper to Darius, who was at the tiller, and he replied in a matter-of-fact tone:

"Ay, lad, I'm allowin' she's the Severn or the Narcissus, both of which made it hot for the commodore in the Patuxent."

"How large are they?"

"The Severn should be carryin' thirty-eight guns, an' the other four less, if I remember rightly."

"I had rather we made our first attempt with a smaller vessel," I said, feeling decidedly uncomfortable in mind now we were so near beginning the dangerous work.

"Bless you, lad, we might as well be overhauled by a frigate as a sloop, so far as the chances of bein' found out are concerned; but we're goin' through this business as slick as we did at the mill."

Darius held the Avenger straight for the enemy, and when we were come within half a musket-shot I heard the hail we had been expecting:

"Sloop ahoy!"

"Ay, ay, sir!" Darius cried.

"What craft is that?"

"An oyster pungy with part of a cargo which we're hopin' to sell, sir.

Can we do any business with you?"

"Heave to, an' lay alongside until daylight."

"Very well, sir," the old man cried, and then he let fly a lot of orders to us of the crew which would have shamed a landsman to utter, for of a verity no sailor could have understood them.

However, by giving no heed to what he said, we brought the Avenger into position; but I soon saw that the tide was setting us away from the Britisher, and suggested that we let go the anchor.

To this the old man would not agree.

"Obey orders if you break owners," he said with a grin, and I knew he had some reason for thus being so foolish.

However, to make a long story short, we remained hove to until day dawned, and then we were within a cable's length of a large ship, while a mile or more further up the bay was the vessel that had first hailed.

"Ahoy on the sloop!" came from the second ship, and Darius replied in the tone of a countryman:

"Ay, ay, sir."

"Why are you loafing around here?"

"We came down to sell some oysters; but the chap on t'other craft told us to heave to, an' we've been driftin' 'round here ever since. I dunno whether we ought'er go back to him, or try to sell you what few bushels we've got."

"When did you take them?"

"Last night. Oh, they're fresh enough, if that's what you're thinkin'

of. Don't you want to try 'em?"

"What is the price?"

"Ten cents a bushel; that's what we ought'er get up to Baltimore, an'

I reckon we might knock off a little if we don't have to run there to unload."

Then, without waiting for permission, Darius began giving us fool orders intended to get the pungy under way, and we came lumbering around under the ship's starboard, where we could have been blown into the next world with no more labor than the lighting of a match.

Darius lifted one of the hatches and leaped into the hold ordering us to "bear a hand lively that the gentlemen might taste the oysters,"

and pa.s.sing up a basket full, shouting to me so loudly that he could readily have been heard on the ship:

"Pa.s.s 'em over the side, Bubby dear, an' be careful how you fool 'round the rail!"

I should have laughed at his manner of speaking but that I knew he was playing a part, and I did my best to obey the command.

The sailors of the ship, eager for anything by way of a change of food, held out both hands invitingly for the fish, and I contrived to swing the basket aboard.

Then it was that I saw an officer take charge of the fish, calling for the after steward to come forward, and a moment later some one cried: