It would seem as if I had written over-much in my attempt to give whoever may read these pages a fair idea of how we two—meaning Alec Perry and I—came together, and yet a few more lines of dry detail are necessary for a better understanding of what may follow.
At this time our defences consisted of a small battery and a blockhouse on the bluff at the entrance of the harbor; between them and the town were the old French fort and another small blockhouse. Opposite the town, on the peninsula to the westward of Little Bay, stood a third blockhouse, a storehouse and a hospital, which last buildings were erected after we received word that Captain Perry had been sent to Presque Isle. The gunboats were on the stocks in front of the village; while west of the settlement, at the mouth of Cascade Creek, where was a blockhouse for the protection of the shipyard, the brigs and the schooner were being built.
My home was on the shore of the harbor midway between the old French fort and the first-mentioned shipyard, and there it was Alec Perry lodged, sleeping in the same bed with me on the night after our first meeting.
Before departing on his journey to Buffalo, my father said to me:—
“You and young Perry are not to remain idle while I am away. It is necessary a message be sent the workmen on the Point, and early to-morrow morning you shall set out with it. You should be able to go and return in two hours, now the ice is in such good condition for skating; but I propose that you remain there three days, going out on the lake a distance of eight or ten miles every night and morning to learn if the enemy are abroad. In other words, you two youngsters are to act as scouts during my absence. Do not run unnecessary risks, and in case of a snow-storm you will remain under cover, for I am not minded to hear on my return that you have come to an untimely end.”
It puffed me up with pride to have such a commission as this, and Alec’s eyes glistened as my father spoke, for he was a brave lad, as has since been proven more than once when I have come nigh to showing the white feather.
There was more in the mission, as we two lads understood it, than had been put into words; surely if we could be depended upon to keep watch over the harbor at a time when there was every reason to believe the enemy might be making ready at the mouth of the Niagara River for an attack upon Presque Isle, then for a certainty we might count ourselves the same as having been accepted members of whatsoever crew we chose to join.
There was very little sleep for us on this first night of comradeship, and I believe had either proposed to set out that very hour, the other would have gladly acceded to the proposition. We did succeed, however, in curbing ambition until slumber closed our eyelids, and when my mother awakened me next morning the time for action had arrived.
It was not a difficult matter to borrow a pair of skates in Presque Isle, for there was hardly a person in the village who did not own what, to us on the shore of the lake, was almost indispensable during the winter months.
The ice was in prime condition when we two made ready for the short journey across to the Point, and the preparations consisted of nothing more than buckling on our skates. We wore such clothing as might be needed, and there was no necessity of burdening ourselves with provisions, because the men at the blockhouse would supply us with food as well as lodging.