"You can't see him now," the soldier said stiffly, presenting his musket as if intending to use it in case the old man persisted in advancing.

"Now look here, you lop-sided lobster," Darius cried at the full strength of his lungs, "you report to the commodore that the Avenger is alongside, or there'll be trouble 'twixt you an' me."

It is not probable the old man expected that he could bully the sentinel, who had had his orders as a matter of course; but by bawling so loudly that he could have been heard on every craft of the fleet, he awakened Joshua Barney, which was exactly what he aimed at doing.

"Who's kickin' up this row?" the commodore asked sternly as he poked his head above the hatchway.

"The crew of the Avenger, sir, come to report."

"Get below here at once," and the commander spoke as if impatient to hear that report.

I had counted that Darius should go alone to the interview; but he insisted on being accompanied by Jerry and me, therefore we followed him into the cabin.

The old sailor did not spend much time in saluting; but in the fewest words possible told what he had learned, and the commodore did not appear surprised by the information.

"It tallies with what I have already heard," he said grimly. "How long will it take the enemy to run up to the mouth of the river?"

"They should be there to-morrow night, for there are some fast sailers in the fleet, sir."

"Find the swiftest canoe in the fleet; put on board rations for twenty-four hours, getting them from this schooner, and run down the river without delay. If your own crew is not huge enough to insure quick work, call on for what men you need. Can you leave in thirty minutes?"

"In five, sir, if we knew where to find the canoe. We're ready, an'

I'll keep the same crew."

The commodore ran on deck, hailed the guard-boat, spoke a few words in a low tone, and returned to us, saying as he did so:

"Rout out my cook, and tell him what you want. Say that I give him five minutes in which to have your provisions on deck. If necessary, in order to learn all which should be known here, send a portion of your crew back with the boat, and do the remainder of your work ash.o.r.e. In case I am not here when you get back, report to Lieutenant Frazier, and take his orders as you would mine."

All this the commander had said hurriedly, as if the moments were precious, and, having come to an end, he began writing at the table, giving no more heed to us than if we never had an existence.

We left the cabin without delay, and while Darius went forward to have speech with the commodore's cook, Jerry and I clambered on board the pungy to let Jim and his friends know of the new duty to which we had been a.s.signed.

"Its a case of keeping on as spies," I said, after repeating the commander's words. "You're to be ready at once; but who's to look after the Avenger is something that hasn't been told us."

There was no time to say anything more, for at that point the guard-boat came alongside, having in tow a long canoe which looked as if a single stroke of the paddle might send her on a long voyage.

"Here is the swiftest craft on the river, and her owner's heart will be broken if you allow the Britishers to get hold of her," the officer in charge of the boat said as he pa.s.sed me the painter of the canoe.

"Do you know what we are to do with the pungy?" I asked.

"My orders are to anchor her further up stream after you have gone.

Don't leave anything valuable aboard, for there's a good chance you'll never see her again."

"We don't own anything valuable, except the pungy herself, and I fancy she wouldn't be very precious save to two lads like Jerry and me who may never own one again if anything happens to her," I said with a laugh, for, strange to say now, when we were about to set off on the most dangerous portion of our work, I failed to feel the slightest fear.

At this moment Darius and the commodore's cook came on deck, each bearing in his arms a certain amount of cooked food, and this the old sailor threw without care into the bottom of the new canoe, himself following with the utmost haste.

"Come on, lads, if you count on gettin' any sleep this night," he cried impatiently as he took up one of the paddles.

"Are we to go without weapons?" I asked.

"We shan't need them. If we meet the Britishers it will be in such force that half a dozen of the best rifles ever made would do us no good, and there will be none others on the river with whom we shall want to interfere."

"But we might run across Elias Macomber," I urged, not minded to go empty-handed on such a perilous voyage.

"It is too late to fool around with spies now," Darius said sharply.

"They've done us all the mischief possible, an' it's a case of standin' before an open enemy."

I had no desire to argue further within hearing of the commodore, and scrambled down into the boat, where my comrades were seated ready to begin the voyage.

Now indeed was Darius the leader of the party, and after the conversation in regard to the muskets, I was prepared to obey him without a murmur.

It is a large canoe which will carry six people comfortably, without sign of being overloaded, yet the boat we were in did it, and I would not have hesitated to put in a couple more had it been necessary, while she paddled as easily as a craft half her size.

"It's a great little boat," Darius said approvingly as we began the voyage with a burst of speed which absolutely surprised me. "I reckon we could show our heels to the best that can be found on the river."

"Where are we goin'?" Jim Freeman asked, impatient to know more regarding our purpose.

"That's what I can't say, lad. We'll run down till we see somethin' of the Britishers, even though we come off the Tangiers again; but I'm thinkin' we'll do well if we make Hog Point this trip."

Jim would have asked more questions; but that Darius cut him short by saying gruffly:

"There's a decently good reason for believin' that the enemy may show himself any minute now, an' if we don't want to get into trouble it'll be safe to hold our peace. There'll be plenty of time for tongue-waggin' later."

It can be fancied that we remained silent after such a remark and the old man kept four of us at the paddles constantly, himself doing twice as much work as any other, while the helmsman occupied that post only in order to rest himself, the steering blade being shifted from one to the other accordingly as we grew tired.

For the fourth time we pa.s.sed Benedict without making a stop, but on this occasion I made no protest, and when we had run a mile further down the river we came upon a pungy belonging to our village, the master of which was evidently doing his best to get all the speed possible out of the craft.

"Better put back!" he shouted nervously, and Darius gave the word to cease paddling as he asked:

"What's the news?"

"The Britishers are comin' this way thicker'n spatter, an' I made up my mind it was time to get under cover."

"Where were the foremost ships when you saw them?"

"Less'n a mile below Hog Point; it looked like there was more'n a hundred vessels."

"You'd better not count on stoppin' long at Benedict," Darius cried as he motioned for us to take up the paddles again, and before the captain of the pungy had time to ask a question, we were beyond earshot.

"It may be the fleet that's bound for Baltimore," I suggested, not being prepared at that time to believe the enemy would attempt to take large vessels far enough up the river to disturb our fleet.

"I allow some of 'em are headin' Baltimore way," Darius replied grimly; "but you'll find that a good many of the fleet will make a try at stirrin' up Joshua Barney."

I knew the old man believed all he said, because from this out when we were come to a bend in the river we would steer the canoe close up to the bank, and slow down until he made certain that the next reach did not have in it any of the enemy's craft.

In this cautious manner we ran down stream perhaps five miles below Benedict, when, on rounding a bend, we saw no less than four armed vessels, with a dozen or fourteen barges, not more than a mile away.