"Which of course you will do!" I cried hotly.

"We must make some kind of a turn to favor him; but we're here on the commodore's business, an' the question is whether we'll be warranted in doin' what may turn all the plans upside down. Bill reckons to slip over the side, an' swim ash.o.r.e. If we're roundabout here, the Britishers will count it for certain that we had a hand in the desertion, an' the Avenger may be taken from us before we've got well into our work. The king's officers ain't noways easy in handlin' them as tries to get the best of 'em."

"But if the man swims for the islands expectin' to find us, and we're not there, he'll be retaken."

"Ay, lad, an' most likely dance at the yard-arm for desertion."

"Then of course we must help him," and I beckoned to Jerry, knowing full well he would fall into my way of thinking.

Before anything could be said between my partner and me, however, the Avenger had come off the Severn, and we received peremptory orders to heave to.

"Why didn't you remain alongside, as you were told?" an officer asked angrily when the pungy was at a standstill, and Darius replied:

"The current carried us down the bay durin' the night, an' when mornin' came the captain of that other ship ordered us alongside, sir.

He bought our cargo an' agreed to take more, so if you'd like to trade with us, we can have fifteen or twenty bushels here by to-morrow night, in case the wind holds."

I could see that two or three of the gentlemen on the quarter-deck put their heads together, as if talking about us, and then the one who had first spoken ordered us to lay alongside.

"They're goin' to search us, an' it may be I'll have an invite to stop aboard quite a spell." Darius said half to himself as he swung the pungy around preparatory to obeying orders.

"Then why do we go alongside? It wouldn't take many minutes to run out of range," I said excitedly.

"They'd sink us in a twinkling, an' even though I knew we might give 'em the slip, it shouldn't be done, 'cause we couldn't come here again, which never'd suit the commodore."

The possibility that any of our crew might be pressed into service on board the ship frightened me, as may be imagined; but I understood even while making the suggestion, that we could not hope to escape, and the fate of poor Tom Sackett was pictured before me.

There was no way out of it, however, but my knees were very weak when we ranged up under the starboard guns, waiting like criminals until his majesty's officers should work their will regardless of right or wrong.

Darius was the one who stood in the most danger, for it could readily be seen that he was an old sailor; but he never turned a hair. One would have said to see him that nothing was more pleasant than to thus be overhauled, and he made a most awkward flourish by way of a bow when we were come into position.

Jim Freeman pa.s.sed a hawser, and when it was made fast a midshipman, who acted as if he owned the whole of Chesapeake Bay, came aboard with two marines.

The little whipper-snapper poked his nose into the cuddy, and pretended to be nearly overcome by the odor of the place, therefore he sent the marines below to overturn everything in the bunks, as if believing we had somebody hidden there.

The soldiers came up with our three old muskets, and the little whifflet demanded in a tone of authority to be told why we went so well armed.

"We carry 'em, sir, so's we can get a mess of ducks now an' then,"

Darius replied as respectfully as if he had been speaking to the king.

"They ain't any great shakes of guns, seein's how all of 'em are rusted pretty bad; but we oystermen can't afford anythin' better."

One would have thought the little ape had found three or four thirty-two pounders, by the way he pa.s.sed them up over the rail for the inspection of the officers on the quarter-deck, and then he turned his attention to the hold.

I heard the gentlemen laughing as they looked at our weapons, and in a twinkling the pieces were thrown down on the deck with so little care that the hammer of one was broken off short to the lock, but those who served the king had little care how they destroyed the property of those whose crime consisted in being born Americans.

The midshipman got one whiff from the hold, which I'm free to admit wasn't pleasing, and the soldiers were sent below while he stood with a handkerchief decked out with lace held to his nose, as if in danger of fainting.

As a matter of course nothing was found below, save a lot of mud and some oyster sh.e.l.ls. A blind man might have seen that so far as the vessel was concerned she could be nothing more than an honest oysterman; but the whifflet forced the marines to search over every portion of the hold, and while this was being done one of the officers asked how many bushels we sold to those of the Narcissus.

Darius replied to the question, speaking as nearly unlike a sailor as possible, and not until he had stated the price, showing British silver as proof of the amount received, was the curiosity of the gentleman satisfied.

Then the midshipman clambered over the side of the ship to make his report, and the moment had come when if any of our number were to be taken from us, we would be made aware of it.

I stood by the side of Darius trembling with apprehension, and even amid my fear I took note of the fact that Jerry was feeling far from comfortable in mind, while the old man chewed incessantly on a huge piece of tobacco that caused his cheeks to swell out as if on the point of bursting.

Although we had good cause for being frightened, nothing came of it, and never did words sound more sweetly in my ears than when one of the officers said:

"You can get on about your business; but don't make the mistake again of trying to get below us without first reporting."

"We wasn't countin' on goin' very far away, sir," Darius replied awkwardly. "There's good fishin' to be found around the islands here, an' I was reckonin' on gettin' the drags out."

"Very well, but see to it that you heave to when coming nearabout, and remain until getting permission to proceed."

"Yes sir, I'll do it for certain," Darius cried, and as one of the Britisher's crew cast off our hawser, we filled away, standing to the northeast.

There was not one aboard the Avenger who did not realize what a narrow escape we had had from being forced to serve the king, and I dare venture to say that all hands drew a breath of relief as the pungy sailed beyond range of the big guns.

"Where are you bound?" Jerry asked when he was sufficiently master of himself to note the course.

"I reckon we'll run over to Pocomoke; we'll find oysters in that locality, such as they are, an' there's no need of running too far away from the market."

"You're goin' to lend Bill Jepson a hand!" I cried joyfully, for it would have gone far toward breaking my heart to turn a deaf ear to the poor fellow's appeal.

"That's just what I ain't so clear about," Darius replied thoughtfully. "Suppose we talk the matter over a bit."

I called Jim Freeman and his friends aft, knowing full well what their opinion would be, and when we were together, repeated the story as I had told it to the old man.

Then Darius explained that by helping a sailor to desert from one of the enemy's ships, we might get into serious difficulties, to say nothing of losing the sloop, and he also put it very plainly that in going outside the task set us, we stood a good chance of disappointing the commodore.

It was Jerry who put the matter to my liking, when he said:

"There are chances in favor of our bein' able to do this without interferin' with the work set for us by the commodore; but there isn't much hope for the sailor if he swims over to the Tangiers an' fails of findin' us waitin' for him. You say he'll be hanged if they catch him tryin' to desert. I don't believe I could sleep well nights if we should leave this place, an' he met with his death."

All hands of us felt much as did Jerry, and after thinking the matter over a moment Darius said slowly, as if choosing well his words:

"You lads must understand that I'm as hot for helpin' Bill as you can be; but we're doin' our little part in a war, an' at such times the life of one man don't count for very much when the good of others is concerned. To tell the truth, I couldn't really say what we ought'er do if I studied the thing over for four an' twenty hours. You lads own this 'ere pungy, an' I allow you have the right to say somethin' as to what shall be done with her, though you the same as put the craft out of your keepin' when you took a guarantee from the commodore that so many dollars should be paid in case she was lost. We'll consider it as settled, an' now get to work. Swing out the drags, an' we'll let the Britishers see that we're fishin', even though it ain't noways likely we'll get much here."

I am free to confess that Darius' words made me a bit uneasy in mind regarding our deciding the matter, for I knew full well that he had spoken no more than the truth. It would be hard on Bill Jepson if we gave him the cold shoulder; but by trying to lend a hand we might be doing others a wrong.

However, the question had been decided, and there was little sense in crying over spilled milk, for I was not minded to make any effort at bringing about a change of opinion, therefore I turned to with the others that we might appear to be industriously fishing.

Darius stood to the eastward until we were in Pocomoke bay, and there we stood a good show of getting fifteen or twenty bushels before it would be time to be at the rendezvous appointed by Bill Jepson.

During all this while we had the enemy's fleets in fairly good view, for the vessels appeared to be to the northward of New Point; but, as a matter of course, it could be of little benefit to the commodore to know how many vessels there were, if we could not give him any idea of their weight of metal.

It was nearly noon before we got breakfast, and when the meal was come to an end we had struck some small oyster beds, therefore we were kept jumping from that time until dark, and then had on board a good twenty bushels of fair stock. Not enough from a money-making point of view; but plenty to serve our purpose, for it might not be well to let the Britishers think we could take on a cargo quickly.

Now the greater portion of this time we were in view of those aboard the two vessels we had visited, and by using their spy-gla.s.ses it would have been possible for them to make out what we were doing.