"What do you mean?" I asked in surprise.
"Jest what I said. The officer from the Severn declared that you two lads could tell what had become of Bill."
"I had actually forgotten that we aided a deserter," I cried. "Tell us what happened after we left the Avenger?"
"Well," Darius said slowly, stopping to twist off a huge piece of tobacco, and otherwise trying to make his yarn a long one so that we might round Hog Point in the meanwhile. "We run over to the Delaware shore, as I counted on doin', tryin' to find a boat; but it was no go. We didn't see anythin' that would float, an' of course we couldn't fool 'round there very long after sunrise, else the Britishers would see us, so I made up my mind that the best plan was to face the music right soon.
"We ran down for the Narcissus; but was hove to by the Severn, an' a lieutenant with four marines came aboard. Bless your heart, lad, but they did search the pungy from stem to stern, even shovelin' the oysters over as if thinkin' we might have Bill under 'em. Then the officer went on board, an' that little nincompoop of a midshipman boarded us. 'Where's your crew?' he squeaked, an' I said innocent like, 'They're all aboard, sir.' 'You're a liar!' says he, 'when I was here last there were five lads on deck, an' now I see only three.' 'Oh the other fellows have gone home,' says I. 'They only came out with us for a lark.' 'Where's your boat?' says he. 'She belonged to them,' says I. 'You're a liar,' says he. 'Yes, sir,' says I, which same was true, an' off he goes madder'n a wet hornet.
"Then the lieutenant comes aboard after I saw a lot of 'em on the quarter-deck talkin' fit to kill, an' he asks me when you went home. I told him you lived on the Delaware shore, an' you skipped when the pungy got near shore. 'You're a liar,' says he, an' I agreed with him same's I had with the midshipmite. 'The boys have helped a deserter from the Narcissus,' says he, 'an' have carried him to the mainland. I've a mind to seize your vessel.' I tell you what it is, lads, 'bout that time I thought the Avenger was a goner, for Britishers in American waters are mighty apt to do whatever comes into their minds."
"Well, did that settle it?" I asked as Darius ceased speaking, much as though his story had come to an end.
"No, we had three or four officers come aboard later, an' I ain't certain but that we'd lost the pungy if signals hadn't been sent up on the flag-ship, which I took to be a command to prepare for gettin' under way. Leastways, them as was botherin' us scuttled over to their own craft in short order, an' then there was a heap of knockin' about in gigs an' barges, with nobody givin' any attention to us. We'd been hove to half a musket shot from the ship, an' when I saw they had other fish to fry an' plenty of 'em, I run close aboard as I yelled like a countryman, 'Any orders for us, sir?' It was quite a long spell before anybody answered, an' I'd sung out two or three times, when that little midshipman squealed, 'You are to go about your business with that pungy, an' we'll overhaul you again when we have more time!"
"Then you started for the Patuxent the best you knew how," I said, thinking I understood just what should have been done under the circumstances.
"I wasn't such a bloomin' fool," Darius replied. "We run down to the Narcissus bold as lions, an' I told 'em we'd brought some more oysters; but they threatened to fire into us if we didn't sheer off, an' then I coaxed for 'em to take what cargo I had, offerin' to sell at six cents a bushel, till they must have thought I was a stark natural fool."