“What is come upon the people, sir?” Alec asked. “It would seem as if all had great cause for fear.”
“So they have; and you must be a stranger here not to know that at noon yesterday the British set out from the North Foreland with a large force to destroy this town.”
“We are but just come from there,” Alec said quietly, “and know that at the time you mention the fleet was not ready to set sail.”
Now the man regarded us more intently, and recognizing me as Captain Dobbins’s son, asked sharply:
“Is it true that you are but just come from the Canadian shore?”
“Ay, sir. We were sent to spy upon the Britishers, and were near to falling into their hands. It may be they have begun by this time to cross the lake, but less than four-and-twenty hours ago we can answer for it that they remained inactive at the encampment. I had thought to find my father ashore, otherwise we would have sought him on one of the vessels.”
“He went aboard the Lawrence less than two hours ago.”
It was one of the brigs to which the gentleman referred; she had been named, by order of the Secretary of the Navy, in honor of the gallant captain of the Chesapeake, who gave his life for his country.
I would have gone home before endeavoring to find my father, in order that mother need not worry concerning us; but by this time several of the townspeople, overhearing what Alec said, had halted near by, and all of them demanded that we carry our information without delay to Captain Perry, urging that it was of vital importance he should know how matters stood on the North Foreland.
Therefore it was that within ten minutes after landing we embarked on the bateau again, and pulled for the opposite shore toward Little Bay, where the Lawrence was lying at anchor.