should seize the sloop _Unity_, and make the attempt to capture the
English gunboat. Neither Rebecca nor Anna knew of this plan; and, still
tired from their journey, as well as by the excitement that morning at
the church, they were glad to go early to bed and were soon sound
asleep. Mrs. Weston, unable to sleep, waited in the kitchen for her
husband's return. For Mr. Weston and his neighbors were busy with their
preparations for the coming battle. It was decided that Captain O'Brien
should take command of the sloop, and before the sun rose the next
morning forty Machias men were on board the _Unity_. Half this number
were armed with broad-axes and pitchforks; the remainder had muskets.

It was just at sunrise when a warning shot from the gunboat reverberated
along the harbor, and Rebecca awakened suddenly. She realized at once
that the conflict had begun. In an instant she was out of bed, slipped
quickly into her clothing, and leaving Danna sound asleep, she sped down
the path and along the trail to the high bluff that commanded a view of
the harbor.

There was a favoring wind and the _Unity_, with her crew of untrained
men, was now in full chase of a vessel well-armed and equipped. On swept
the sloop, and a sudden volley of musketry from her deck astonished and
confused the enemy. The gunboat swerved, and the bowsprit of the _Unity_
plunged into her mainsail, holding the two vessels together for a brief
moment.

Rebecca, standing on the bluff, shouted aloud. She was sure that the
moment of triumph for the Machias men was close at hand. But victory was
not so easily achieved; the vessels suddenly parted, and now a storm of
bullets rained upon the _Unity_.

Captain O'Brien swung the sloop alongside the _Margaretta_ and twenty of
his men armed with pitchforks sprang to the enemy's deck. A hand-to-hand
conflict ensued. Surprised by the dauntless valor of the Machias men
the English were forced to yield. The English flag was pulled down amid
triumphant shouts of the Americans; the wounded were cared for, and
English officers and crew made prisoners of war.

When Rebecca saw the English flag vanish from the gunboat's mast and
heard the resounding cheers, she knew that the Americans had conquered
their enemy, and that the liberty tree would stand unchallenged. But she
did not realize that she had been a witness to the first naval exploit
in America after the battle of Lexington.

All the women and children and such m