Captain Perry and my father, however, knew how vain were these hopes, for Master Champlin had reported to them that no more men were ordered to Presque Isle, and again Alec’s brother pleaded for an opportunity to show what might be done with the fleet that had been built by frontiersmen.
As I came afterward to know, he wrote a second letter to Commodore Chauncey, in which he said:—
“For your sake and mine, send me men and officers, and I will have all the British squadron in a day or two. Commodore Barclay keeps just out of reach of our gunboats. The vessels are all ready to meet the enemy the moment they are officered and manned. Our sails are bent, provisions on board, and, in fact, everything is ready. Barclay has been bearding me for several days; I long to be at him. However anxious I am to reap the reward of the labor and anxiety I have had on this station, I shall rejoice, whoever commands, to see this force on the lake, and surely I had rather be commanded by my friend than any other. Come, then, and the business is decided in a few hours!”
CHAPTER X.
THE TRAITOR.
The days passed, and nothing came of Captain Perry’s second appeal for the forces which were needed if the United States would hold possession of the territory bordering on Lake Erie.
Alec and I, together with many other lads, worked industriously upon the fortification which had been named Fort Wayne even before anything was done toward building it, and I venture to say that if all the people in the United States had labored as earnestly on the defensive and offensive as did we of Presque Isle, the war would have been brought to an end before the close of the year 1813.
When we had put up the blockhouse on the bluff east of Cascade Creek, and finished the fort after a rude fashion, Major-General David Mead arrived at the head of a full regiment of militia, and then it seemed as if the government had at last remembered our feeble condition.
It was a day full of excitement when these troops entered the town, and not the least among the ceremonies was the saluting of the general with thirty-two guns as he went on board the Lawrence to pay his respects to Captain Perry, who, immediately after our late victory, had been brought low by a return of the fever.
My father was present at the interview; but what passed between the commanders we of the rank and file had no means of knowing, save as certain events transpired which we came to believe were the result of their deliberations.
It was only reasonable that, after having served under him, Alec and I should find it in our way to cultivate the acquaintance of Silas Boyd, and through him we got an insight into what otherwise would have been difficult for us to understand.