The tension at Niagara was trying. Two
officers of the 41st were expelled for killing dull care by dissipation.
A Canadian merchant schooner was boarded in mid-lake by an American
brig, taken to Sackett's Harbour and stripped. The Americans were
pouring rations and munitions of war into Detroit. If Brock's hands were
shackled, he knew the art of sitting tight. He made another flying trip
to Amherstburg, taking one hundred men of the 41st, in the face of
Prevost's standing orders to "exercise the strictest economy."
Handicapped on every side, doing his best and preparing for the worst,
he wrote Prevost that his "situation was critical," but he "hoped to
avert dire calamity."

The river bank between Fort George and Queenston for seven miles was
patrolled night and day. A watch was placed on Mississaga lighthouse
from daylight to dusk, and beacon masts, supporting iron baskets filled
with birchbark and pitch, were erected on the heights to announce, in
event of hostilities, the call to arms.

At this time one of Brock's most intimate friends--his chosen
adviser--was Mr. Justice William Dummer Powell, later Chief Justice of
Upper Canada, and former Speaker of the House. At the judge's house and
at Tordarroch, the log mansion of General AEneas Shaw--another intimate,
and Adjutant-General of Militia--Brock was wont to repair for a few
hours' rest from official cares. It was at Tordarroch (Oak Hall), on the
outskirts of York, that the great Duke of Kent had been a guest. When at
Fort George our hero usually lived with Colonel Murray, of the 100th,
and "charming Mrs. Murray," as he was fond of calling her, in their
"pretty cottage," and if not there he was a constant visitor at the
house of Captain John Powell, a son of the judge and son-in-law of
General Shaw, between whose daughter, Sophia Shaw, and Isaac Brock there
had developed a deep attachment. Here he whiled away spare moments with
whist and cribbage, "diversions," he said, "that sharpened a man's
wits." He would shoot wild pigeons and spruce partridges in the adjacent
bush, or take long gallops, frequently alone, over the plains beyond the
Heights of Queenston, ever on the lookout for new bridle-paths and
point-to-point trails.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DECLARES WAR.

It came at last! On June 18th, 1812, after weeks of preparation, placing
an embargo on shipping, putting 100,000 militia on a war footing on the
pretence of hostilities amo