ing a few solid shot over the town, merely as an admonition of what
might be expected if the hot-headed young men persisted in their
violent outbreaks, the "Margaretta" dropped down the bay to a more
secluded anchorage.

The defeated conspirators were vastly chagrined at the miscarriage of
their plot; but, nothing daunted, they resolved to attempt to carry
the schooner by assault, since strategy had failed. Therefore, early
the next morning, four young men seized upon a sloop, and, bringing
her up to the wharf, cheered lustily. A crowd soon gathered, and the
project was explained, and volunteers called for. Thirty-five hardy
sailors and woodmen hastily armed themselves with muskets, pitchforks,
and axes; and, after taking aboard a small supply of provisions, the
sloop dropped down the harbor toward the "Margaretta." The captain of
the threatened schooner had observed through his spy-glass the
proceedings at the wharf, and suspected his danger. He was utterly
ignorant of the reason for this sudden hostility on the part of the
people of Machias. He knew nothing of the quarrel that had thus
provoked the rebellion of the colonies. Therefore, he sought to avoid
a conflict; and, upon the approach of the sloop, he hoisted his
anchor, and fled down the bay.

The sloop followed in hot haste. The Yankees crowded forward, and
shouted taunts and jeers at their more powerful enemy who thus strove
to avoid the conflict. Both vessels were under full sail; and the size
of the schooner was beginning to tell, when, in jibing, she carried
away her main boom. Nevertheless, she was so far ahead of the sloop
that she was able to put into Holmes Bay, and take a spar out of a
vessel lying there, before the sloop overtook her. But the delay
incident upon changing the spars brought the sloop within range; and
Capt. Moore, still anxious to avoid an encounter, cut away his boats,
and stood out to sea. With plenty of sea room, and with a spanking
breeze on the quarter, the sloop proved to be the better sailer. Moore
then prepared for battle, and, as the sloop overhauled him, let fly
one of his swivels, following it immediately with his whole broadside,
killing one man. The sloop returned the fire with her one piece of
ordnance, which was so well aimed as to kill the man at the helm of
the "Margaretta," and clear her quarter-deck. The two vessels then
closed, and a hand-to-hand battle began, in which muskets,
hand-grenades, pikes, pitchforks, and