"What's happening?" I cried loudly, and from the after rail Jim Freeman replied:
"The enemy are comin' into position. They began to show up nearly half an hour ago; but I thought there was no need to waken you till the work was begun."
Those who had turned in, as sensible fellows should have done, were awake and on the alert in due season, while I who believed the safety of the schooner devolved upon myself, slept until the Britishers were ready to begin operations.
The day had dawned, although it was a full half-hour before the sun would show himself. Down the stream, within long range of our fleet, were eight or ten barges, each carrying a cannon, drawn across the river in such manner as to make the flotilla a good target, and the gun which had aroused me was evidently fired for the purpose of testing the position.
I ran aft to where Jim and his friends stood, asking eagerly:
"What are our people going to do?"
"The word has just been given to start the blaze, and the lieutenant believes that we can hold the Britishers in check until the vessels are well afire. We're to form on the shore, and oppose the force which you see yonder."
Gazing in the direction of Jim's outstretched finger, I could make out a line of red-coated men on the southerly shore some distance below the barges, and it was not difficult to guess that they intended to move up, once an action was begun, to where they could fire at us from the bank.
The British commander evidently believed we would fight to prevent the fleet from being destroyed, and, therefore, was forcing his men to perform a great deal of unnecessary work.
Looking around at the boats and vessels of our fleet I could see that the work of destruction had already begun. From the hatch of the Avenger, which craft was lying thirty or forty yards further up stream than the Scorpion, a thin thread of blue smoke was ascending lazily on the clear air, and on five or six other pungies the same ominous token of approaching ruin could be seen.