us' storytelling, it
never came into my mind that we would know this wonderful Captain
Barney, except by hearsay.

We continued at our oyster business without being troubled in any way
by the war, although small fights were going on all around us during
the early part of the summer.

More than once had we seen the flotilla under command of this same
Captain Barney, who was come to be a commodore now. In it were
twenty-six barges and pungies, with nine hundred men, all of whom saw
more of service from May to July than they had ever dreamed of.

The commodore did indeed make things "hum," as Darius had predicted.
He attacked anything and everything that was British, never seeming to
care one whit whether he was outclassed or not, and succeeded in doing
the enemy a big lot of injury. It is well known that once, during a
full four hours, he kept his small fleet under the fire of a frigate's
guns, hoping to capture her.

Then the Britishers began to understand that if they wanted to have
things their own way in the Chesapeake, it would be necessary to first
do away with Commodore Barney, and they began operations in great
shape, although at the time we who were most interested in that
locality had little idea of what was coming.

Now after this fleet of barges and pungies began their work, Jerry
seemed to have something of import on his mind; but never a word would
he say in explanation to Darius and me, until our business grew so
dull that it was only with great difficulty we could earn enough to
pay the running expenses, and then it was that the lad came to the
front with a scheme which he thought great, while neither of us so
much as dreamed of what the carrying out would result in.

"It's no use freightin' oysters to Baltimore, when we can't sell 'em
for enough to pay for the use of the pungy, to say nothin' of our time
in dredgin'," Jerry began one afternoon about the first of August,
when we were coming down the bay with our pockets nearly as empty as
the Avenger's hold.

"But we do get a dollar now an' then," I said with a laugh, "which is
more than could be done if we turned idlers. Half a loaf is way ahead
of no bread at all."

Darius nodded gravely as if to show that he agreed with me fully, and
Jerry cried with more of anger than good humor in his tones:

"But I'm countin' on havin' a bit of meat now an' then. I could eat a
razor-back this minute without stoppin' to take off the bristles; but
there isn