rders
from the King! He refused almost weeping, and for two days was plunged
in gloom. Imagine such a glorious chance for a fight going begging!

Then arrived a belated letter from Newcastle in England, telling him
to "concert measures with Shirley for the annoyance of the enemy."
Warren was so afraid that some future orders would be less vague, and
give him less freedom, that he set sail for Boston with a haste that
was feverish. He had with him three ships,--the _Mermaid_ and
_Launceston_ of forty guns each, and the _Superbe_ of sixty. But those
two wretched days of delay! He fell in with a schooner from which he
learned that Shirley's expedition had started without him!

I daresay, being a sailor and Irish, our Captain expressed himself
exhaustively just then; but he recovered speedily and told the
schooner to send him every British ship she met in her voyage; then he
changed his course and beat straight for Canseau, determined to be in
that expedition after all. He certainly was in it, and a brisk time he
had of it, too.

At Canseau they were all tied up three weeks, drilling and waiting for
the ice to break, but they were thankful to get there at all. The
storms were severe, as may be gathered by this account of their
efforts to get into Canseau, written by one of the men: "A very Fierce
Storm of Snow, som Rain and very Dangerous weather to be so nigh ye
Shore as we was; but we escaped the Rocks and that was all."

Pepperrill was thankful enough to see the Captain and his
squadron,--it was four ships now, as the schooner had picked up
another frigate for him,--but the two commanders were destined to rub
each other very much the wrong way before they were through.
Pepperrill was a man who took risks only very solemnly and with
deliberation, and who was blessed with endless patience. Warren took
risks with as much zest as he took rare food and rich wine, and in his
swift, full and exciting life there had never been place or time for
patience! When the siege actually commenced, the poor Captain nearly
went wild with the inaction. He wanted to attack, to move, to do
something. Pepperrill's calm judgment and slow tactics drove him
distracted, and they were forever at odds in spite of a secret respect
for each other. In speaking of the contrast between them, Parkman,
after describing Pepperrill's careful management of the military end,
says: "Warren was no less earnest than he for the success of the
enterprise.... B