"What's the matter, Jim?" Jerry cried. "You're actin' like as if somethin' had gone wrong!"
"Gone wrong?" Jim exclaimed, and it did really look as if his eyes would roll right down on his cheeks. "The whole bloomin' bottom has dropped out of everything. The Britishers are comin' into the bay thicker'n spatter, an' I don't see how you got in here without bein' caught!"
"In here?" I cried in amazement. "Have you lost your wits that you think the Britishers would come into the Patuxent river?"
"I reckon it's you that are needin' wits!" Jim cried as he scrambled over the rail. "So you think they wouldn't come into the Patuxent, eh?"
"Certainly not, and for the very good reason that there's nothing here they want."
Jim looked at me in pity, and I afterward understood that there was good reason for his so doing.
"How long have you been up Baltimore way?"
"Near to ten days," Jerry replied, hoping to hasten Jim in the telling of the news with which he was near to bursting. "We had hard work to sell our oysters at any price, an' then it fell a dead calm with weather hot enough to tan a nigger."
"Then there's little wonder that you boys are way behind the times as to what has been goin' on 'round here," and Jim threw out his chest as he swelled with the importance of being the first to impart startling news. "In the first place," he said, speaking slowly as if to prolong his enjoyment at giving information which would not be pleasing to hear, "Admiral Cochrane, the Britisher, has passed the capes with twenty-one vessels, an' Commodore Malcolm is below with a fleet loaded with soldiers. Tom Harrison swears there were more'n ten thousand men."
"Somebody has been stuffin' you, Jim," I said, not crediting his news.
"Then they've stuffed Commodore Barney too, an' when he runs I allow the rest of us had better be huntin' a hole."
"Commodore Barney don't run!" Darius cried angrily, for he never allowed anything disparaging to be said in his presence of the man whom he believed to be the greatest naval commander who ever lived.
"Perhaps he don't very often; but he has this time," Jim said in a tone so decided that we could not but believe he was convinced of the truth of his own words.
"Did you see him?" Darius demanded, and I expected that when he answered this question Jim's story would fall to pieces; but the lad replied bold as a lion:
"Of course I did! All the boats laid here after the fight in St. Leonard's bay, an' it was only yesterday they scooted up the river!"
Here was news with a vengeance, and I no longer felt the same desire to punch Jim's head which had come over me when he first came aboard with what I believed was a cock and bull story.
Then, with first one and another asking questions, we learned from Jim that while we were in Baltimore the British frigate Loire had chased Commodore Barney's flotilla into St. Leonard's bay, and blockaded it there until Colonel Carberry's artillery came down from Frederick and drove the enemy away.
Then, having learned of the enormous force at the mouth of the bay, Commodore Barney sailed to Benedict, where he remained four and twenty hours, or till word was brought that ten or twelve of the enemy's vessels were bound up the bay, bound most likely for Baltimore or Washington, when he sailed for Nottingham, further up the river.
Darius was more concerned than either of us, for he firmly believed that Joshua Barney would not have beaten a retreat without first having been positive that an overwhelming force was near at hand, and if there were Britishers near enough to drive the commodore away, we had got ourselves in a pickle by coming up the river.
The first thought which came to my mind was that the Avenger was in great danger of being captured in short order, for I made no question but that the enemy would pursue Barney, and we were where we could not escape, save by way of the bay.
Jerry, however, had the idea that all these man[oe]uvres would further his scheme, and he said as if being thoroughly well satisfied with the situation:
"We can run up to Nottingham, as well as the commodore, and once there I reckon it will be possible to make our trade."
"But if the fleet is forced to remain there, all hands will be idle, and the commodore won't care to hire us while several hundred men are loafing around the decks," I suggested, and Jerry's jaw fell.
But Jim had not exhausted his budget of news, although it was impossible for him to give us anything more very startling.
"The commodore had only got eight pungies an' five barges of the fleet – "
"Where are the other boats?" Darius demanded sharply.
"Somewhere on the Delaware side; they went off on a cruise before the Britishers hove in sight. He has taken on the schooner Scorpion, which was here at anchor, an' I heard one of the officers say that there was about five hundred men in this part of the fleet."
"I'm goin' ashore," Darius said abruptly. "It ain't no ways certain to me that Jim has heard this thing right, an' I count on gettin' down to facts."
Jerry and I were eager to land, and, without even stopping to thank Jim for the news he brought, we went over the rail into our canoe, pulling in hot haste for the shore.
Never waiting to speak with such few loungers as were to be seen near the water front, I went directly to my own home, and there found more tidings of war.
My father had joined Commodore Barney, as had nearly all the able-bodied men of Benedict, agreeing to remain in service while our section of the country was menaced by the enemy, and mother seemed to have the idea that I would follow his example.
Jerry's father had gone with the fleet, and, as she said, only those who had been opposed to the war with England, remained at home. After greeting me, and telling what little she knew of the situation, mother set about getting together the few things I owned which might be needed on a long cruise, and I was ashamed to say that as yet I had had no idea of going to fight the Britishers.
Don't let it be understood I believed the United States could have done other than declare war in 1812, or that I had any secret liking for the Britishers. I simply believed that I did not have the backbone of a fighter, and preferred to stand at a distance while the more eager went ahead; but yet I was not really a coward, as I think was afterward proved.
However, just then it made me feel rather uncomfortable to have mother gathering up my few belongings, and telling me what to do in event of receiving such or such a wound, and, with my brain all in a whirl, I went out of doors under the pretense that it was necessary I should have a talk with Darius and Jerry.
Once alone by myself, behind the corn-crib where no one would be likely to see me, I tried to sum up the situation so far as I was immediately concerned, and it did not look cheering. We had sailed the Avenger down the bay and up the river never sighting a single craft, although it appeared that the British were swarming near about our very course. It was not probable we could run to the southward without coming across some of their vessels, especially if they were reckoning on pursuing Commodore Barney, and even though we did get to the mouth of the river in safety, where could we go? The big fleets were at the entrance of the bay, and had not come there for nothing; the enemy was counting on attacking Washington or Baltimore, it seemed certain, and by going to the northward we would likely find ourselves out of the frying-pan into the fire.
It seemed very much to me as if we had lost the Avenger, whichever way we turned, and my heart grew heavy, for once she was gone Jerry and I were badly off.
Hardly knowing what I did, I went toward my friend's home, and met him coming my way, a look of excitement and eagerness on his face.
"Well, it seems as if we were in for it!" he cried when we were come within hailing distance, and I asked irritably:
"In for what?"
"A bit of fightin', of course. You wouldn't be willin' to stay here with the cowards Commodore Barney left behind, would you?"
"There are a good many things I had rather do than poke my nose into a hornet's nest," I replied,