me
excuse for being there, and also realizing that we must never pursue
Elias within sight of any vessel of the fleet, otherwise he might give
such information as would cut short our career in this world.

With the coming of the new day the wind came out of the west with a
force that gave promise of providing the pungy with a goodly sized
bone in her teeth, and in case Macomber was no more than two hours in
advance there was yet some possibility of overtaking him.

We usually dredged for oysters off Hog Point, or Parker's creek,
therefore in a short time we would be on the fishing grounds, unless
we took the risk of standing across the mouth of the Potomac on the
chance of seeing the traitor, and I did not believe he would venture
to make that long stretch while the breeze was so strong.

By the time we arrived at the mouth of the river there was no
necessity of discussing the situation, for the chase had surely come
to an end.

However great his need of coming up with the British, Elias Macomber
knew too much to trust himself in a canoe on the open bay while the
wind held as it did, and we knew beyond a peradventure that if he had
not already gained the fleet, he was hiding on shore somewhere.

It would be folly to spend time in such a needle-in-the-haystack
business as looking for him on shore when we had no clue to guide us,
as even Darius was forced to admit, and, therefore, we set about the
work in hand, which was the dredging of oysters enough to give us
excuse for seeking out the enemy.

It seemed to all of us that we were in more danger through information
which Elias might give, than we would have been while playing the spy
with him safely cared for on one of the vessels of Commodore Barney's
flotilla, and we went about the work as if it was possible to feel the
chafing of British halters around our necks.

We began dredging exactly as we would have done had we been trying to
get a cargo for the Baltimore market, and never a sail did we see
during all that day, a fact which told us that the enemy was not yet
ready to open his campaign.

Not until well into the night would Darius allow that we had a
sufficient quantity of oysters to warrant us in finding purchasers,
and even then there was no more than fifteen bushels aboard.

"It will do for a starter," Jerry said when Jim Freeman proposed that
we spend one more day dredging.

"But the first Britisher we came across would buy as many as we've
got,"