y a member of the crew who would ever strive to
obey all orders promptly, whatever might be the situation. And in so
doing I counted myself to be wise.

The old man remained at the helm speaking not a word, and chewing
vigorously as we worked the pungy down the reaches in face of a head
wind, not very strong at that, but the current favored, therefore we
had the satisfaction of knowing that with all our pulling and hauling
we were doing better than two and a half miles an hour.

I had expected Darius would propose that we hold a consultation as to
our future course; but he gave no sign of so doing and Jerry finally
asked:

"Where are we headin' for?"

"Fishin'."

I turned away, thinking the old man had given an idle answer to evade
questions; but Jerry was not to be turned down so readily, and he said
with a laugh:

"We've given over the fishin' business for quite a spell, I reckon.
'Cordin' to my way of thinkin', an' seein's how this cruise may turn
out to be anything rather than a picnic, I allow that all hands should
know what is to be done."

"That's my idee to a dot, lad, an' I'm tryin' to think up some kind of
a plan so that when you fellows begin to figger, I can put in my oar
with some show of sense."

"But where do you reckon that we're bound for?"

"Fishin', lad. Where else can we be bound?"

I turned again, understanding now that the old man was serious, and
asked him if he supposed we could do any spying on the British fleet
while we were wasting time getting oysters or fish.

"Didn't the commodore allow that we should keep right on bein'
oystermen?" Darius asked with just a shade of impatience. "How do you
expect we can sneak around the British fleet unless we've got some
excuse for goin' there? It was in Joshua Barney's mind, the way I
looked at it, that we might sell oysters to the fleet, which would
account for our bein' among the vessels, an' to do that we've got to
put in a cargo."

It was plain enough, now that the old man had spoken of it, and I
understood that we had a bit of dredging before us in order to make
ready for the more important portion of the work.

"But after we get a load, Darius? Shall we sail boldly down the bay,
asking the Britishers to buy?"

"That's what I've been tryin' to make out. All of you can figger it
'cordin' to your own idees, an' then we'll talk it over."

Surely this was putting it fairly, and we tried to follow the old
man's advice, or, at least I