"Has he ever been to sea?"
"No, sir."
"What sort of a boat is it?"
"A dug-out; we made it ourselves."
"Oh, did you? Why didn"t you tell me that first? Never mind, it"s all right. They"ll never try to put to sea in a dug-out, but they may try to escape to some point lower down the bay in it, so my message to the fort won"t be amiss."
The Lieutenant had sent a message to the fort that at daylight he should arrest the party, and that if they should take the alarm and try to escape by water, a boat must be sent from the fort to overhaul them.
He now dressed himself, first sending for a file of soldiers under a sergeant, with instructions to parade at his door immediately.
When all was ready he said to Jake.
"Now then, young man, come with me, and guide me to the camp of these lads."
Jake led the way, and when a little after daylight they approached the camp the Lieutenant said to him:--
"I don"t want to make any mistake in this business. You go ahead to the camp and see if the lads are there. That"ll throw "em off their guard, and I"ll come up in five minutes."
"But Lieu--" began Jake, remonstratingly.
"Hold your tongue, and do as I tell you, or I"ll string you up to a tree, you rascal."
Thus admonished, Jake walked on in fear and trembling to the camp. As he approached it he observed the unusual stir which was going on, and wondered what it meant, but he did not for a moment imagine that Sam had guessed the truth.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE SEA FIGHT.
When Jake entered the camp it was fairly light, and as Sam looked at him he caught a glimpse of the file of soldiers in the thicket, three or four hundred yards away.
He knew what it meant.
"We"re about to leave this place, Jake," said Sam, as the boys stowed the last of their things in the boat, "we"re about to leave this place, and you"re just in time. Get in."
"Well, but where--" began the culprit.
"Get in," interrupted Sam, who stood with one of the rifles in his hands.
Jake hesitated, and was indeed upon the point of running away, when Sam, placing the muzzle of his gun almost against Jake"s breast, said:--
"Get into the boat instantly, or I"ll let daylight through you, sir."
There was no help for it, and Jake obeyed.
Sam quickly cast the boat loose, and as he did so, the Lieutenant discovered his purpose, and started his men at a full run toward the camp.
Sam pushed the boat off and, taking his place in the stern, took the helm.
"Hoist the sail, quick!" he said; and the sail went up in a moment. A strong breeze was blowing and the sail quickly bellied in the wind.
"Lie down, every man of you," cried Sam, but without setting the example. A moment later a shower of bullets whistled around his ears.
He had seen that the soldiers were about to fire upon him, and had ordered his companions to lie down, confident that the thick solid sides of the boat would pretty effectually protect them.
As for himself, he must take the chances and navigate his boat. The soldiers were not move than fifty yards from him when they fired but luckily they failed to hit him.
"Now for a run!" he exclaimed. "Before they can load again, I"ll be out of range, or pretty nearly."
The breeze was very fresh, almost high, and as the boat got out from under the lee of the sh.o.r.e timber, she heeled over upon one side, and sped rapidly through the water. The Lieutenant made his men fire again, but the distance was now so great that their bullets flew wide of the mark.
"We"re off boys at last. Look out for Jake Elliott and don"t let him jump overboard, or he"ll swim ash.o.r.e. He is a prisoner."
"Is he? what for?" asked Billy Bowlegs.
"For betraying us to the British."
At this moment a boat pushed out from the dock at the fort, and Sid Russell, who was Sam"s most efficient lieutenant, and was scanning the whole bay for indications of pursuit, cried:
"There goes a row boat out from the fort, Sam, an" they"s soldiers on board "n her. I see their guns."
"Arm yourselves, boys," was Sam"s reply. "I want to say a word first.
Jake Elliott has betrayed us to these people, and they are trying to arrest us. If they catch us, we shall be treated as spies; that is to say, we shall be hanged to the most convenient tree. I believe we"re all the sons of brave men, and ready to die, if we must, but I, for one, don"t mean to die like a dog, and for that reason I"ll never be taken alive."
"Nor me," "nor me," "nor me," answered the boys, neglectful of grammar, but very much in earnest.
"Very well, then," replied Sam. "It is understood that we"re not going to surrender, whatever happens."
"It"s agreed," answered every boy there except the wretched prisoner, who was no longer counted one of them.
"That boat has no sail," said Sam, "and she"s got half a mile to row through rough water before she crosses our track half a mile ahead. I think I can give her the slip. If I can"t we"ll fight it out, right here in the boat. Now, then, one cheer for the American flag!" and as he said it, Sam drew forth a little flag which he had carried in all his wanderings, for use if he should need it, and ran it up to his mast head by a rude halyard which he had arranged in antic.i.p.ation of some such adventure as this.
The boys gave the cheer from the bottom of their broad chests, and every one took the place which Sam a.s.signed him, with gun in hand.
Meantime Sam tacked the boat in such a way as to throw the point of meeting between her and the British boat as far from the fort as possible. It was very doubtful whether he could pa.s.s that point before the row boat, propelled by six oars in the hands of skilled oarsmen, should reach it. If not, there remained only the alternative of "fighting it out."
"Reserve your fire, boys, till I tell you to shoot. There are only six armed men in that boat. If they shoot, lie down behind the gunwale.
You mustn"t shoot till we come to close quarters. Then take good aim, and make your fire tell. A single wasted bullet may cost us our lives.
Above all, keep perfectly cool. We"ve work to do that needs coolness as well as determination."
The boats drew rapidly nearer and nearer the point of meeting, and Sam saw that he would succeed in pa.s.sing it first, but narrowly, he thought.
"We"ll beat them, boys," he said. "The sea is rough, and they can"t do much at long range, and they won"t get more than one shot close to us." At that moment the men in the British boat fired a volley, after the manner which was in vogue with British troops at that day. The two boats were not a hundred yards apart, but the roughness of the water, on which the row boat bobbed about like a cork, rendered the volley ineffective.