," was his reply.

"Papa, don't you miss Max?" was her next question.

"Very much," he said. "Dear boy! he is doubtless feeling quite lonely
and homesick this morning. However, he will soon get over that and enjoy
his studies and his sports."

"I think he'll do you credit, papa, and make us all proud of him," she
said, slipping her hand into her father's and looking up lovingly into
his face.

"Yes," the captain said, pressing the little hand affectionately in his,
"I have no doubt he will. I think, as I am sure his sister Lulu does,
that Max is a boy any father and sister might be proud of."

"Yes, indeed, papa!" she responded. "I'm glad he is my brother, and I
hope to live to see him an admiral; as I'm sure you would have been if
you'd stayed in the navy and we'd had a war."

"And my partial little daughter had the bestowal of such preferment and
titles," he added laughingly.

Just then Rosie and Evelyn joined them, followed almost immediately by
Walter and Grace, when Lulu gave them in a few hasty sentences the
information her father had given her in regard to the history of Lewis,
and told of their near approach to it.

Every one was interested and all hurried from the breakfast-table to the
deck in time to catch a view of the place, though a rather distant one.

When it had vanished from sight, Evelyn turned to Captain Raymond,
exclaiming, "O sir, will you not point out Forts Mercer and Mifflin to
us when we come in sight of them?"

"With pleasure," he replied. "They are at Red Bank. Port Mercer on the
New Jersey shore of the Delaware River, a few miles below Philadelphia,
Fort Mifflin on the other side of the river on Great and Little Mud
Islands. It was, in Revolutionary days, a strong redoubt with quite
extensive outworks."

"Did our men fight the British there in the Revolutionary war, papa?"
asked Grace.

"Yes; it was in the fall of 1777, soon after the battle of the
Brandywine, in which, as you may remember, the Americans were defeated.
They retreated to Chester that night, marched the next day toward
Philadelphia, and encamped near Germantown. Howe followed and took
possession of the city of Philadelphia.

"The Americans, fearing such an event, had put obstructions in the
Delaware River to prevent the British ships from ascending it, and also
had built these two forts with which to protect the _chevaux de frise_.

"The battle of the Brandywine, as you may remember, was fought on the
11th of