necessary to choke back our anxieties as best we might, though it was
difficult at times to prevent the tears from coming into a fellow's
eyes.

The troops and guns had been landed before Darius returned, and, what
seemed to me strange, no other vessels of any size had put in an
appearance. There were pungies, barges and row-boats enough to
entirely choke up the river; but nothing larger than the armed brig
which had first arrived.

When the old man came back we learned why the fleet had apparently
shrunken to such small proportions as compared with the size of the
army.

"Nearly every vessel is aground," he said when he approached our
hiding-place with every evidence of having traveled long and rapidly.
"The river is black with 'em from here to the point, an' some are
likely to stay quite a spell on the mud unless mighty quick work at
lighterin' is done. I allowed the Britishers had better sense than to
run ships up here where there's about half water enough to float 'em."

"But what is the meaning of their landing so many men?" I asked.
"There are twice as many as would be needed to capture the whole of
Charles and Calvert counties."

"It's Washington they're aimin' at," the old man said confidently,
"though why they've stopped here I can't figger out, unless it is that
so many of the ships are aground. Whoever is responsible for this end
of the Britishers' movement has made a big blunder."

"Will they do any harm to the townspeople, think you?" I asked
anxiously.

"It don't stand to reason they would. There may be some plunderin' by
the rank an' file; but that's to be expected. You're thinkin' of your
mother an' the children, eh? Well, don't worry; they won't come to
harm, an' on that I'll go bail."

"There's no tellin' how soon some of that crowd will come over here,"
Jerry suggested. "There ain't room enough on that side of the river
for all hands of 'em, an' they'll begin to spread out pretty quick."

"That won't bother us any, for we're goin' to pull up stakes," Darius
replied quietly.

"Are we to join the fleet?" I asked.

"It's the proper thing just now, I reckon, seein's there ain't likely
to be anythin' new around here till the enemy pushes on up the river,
which will be when he has floated some of his vessels."

Even after making this statement Darius appeared to be in no hurry to
move on. He sat amid the foliage watching the throngs on the opposite
side of the river until half a dozen offic