Such was the condition of affairs with us on the morning of July 21.
There was not an idler in the town, for the cowardly and indolent had long since fled to safer quarters, and as we worked with a will at whatever our hands found to do, every ear was pricked up for the signal which would tell that the enemy had at last decided to give us a taste of his quality.
Although expecting it, when the signal was sounded we were taken by surprise, so to speak.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when the reports of the muskets rang out on the warm, still air with a volume of noise which caused them to seem as loud as cannon, and the tools dropped from nearly every man’s hands as he sprang to the highest point of land in order to gain a good view of the lake.
Alec Perry and I did not follow the throng that flocked to the summit of the heights; but, without so much as a single glance seaward, sped swiftly toward the old French fort, where we knew would be found a boat, and our only fear was lest the gunboats should leave the bay before we could board one of them.
We knew the enemy was in sight, otherwise the signal would not have been made, for Captain Perry had threatened direst punishment upon him who should give a false alarm, and we also believed the town would be speedily destroyed, for both my father and Alec’s brother had privately said that we could not hope to successfully oppose the British squadron while our force was so small.
I do not set this down that it may be believed I felt unusually brave at the moment when it seemed certain Presque Isle was about to fall into the hands of the enemy, for at the time I gave no heed to possible danger. My eagerness to be on board the gunboat overshadowed all else, causing me to forget for the moment what probably would happen, in the fear that it might be thought I remained on shore through cowardice.
“At last we shall have a chance to show that we can play the part of men!” Alec said, as we ran, and I, vain of the small share we had already taken in defence of our town, replied boastingly:—
“It seems to me that we have already done as much. Who else can lay claim to having been twice inside the British lines?”
“Perhaps no one would care to admit being so foolish,” he said, with a laugh. “We might have been among the redcoats a dozen times, and yet it would count for but little if we had accomplished nothing more than has already been done.”