d,
for oakum we had resort to tree-gum. For caulking, one spared a
handkerchief, another a stocking, and another a piece of shirt, till she
was stuffed in all her fissures. In this labour we passed eight days,
and then were ready for the launch again.

On the very afternoon fixed for starting, we saw two sails standing down
the river, and edging towards our shore. One of them let anchor go right
off the place where our patched boat lay. We had prudently carried on
our work behind rocks and trees, so that we could not be seen, unless
our foes came ashore. Our case seemed desperate enough, but all at once
I determined on a daring enterprise.

The two vessels--convoys, I felt sure--had anchored some distance from
each other, and from their mean appearance I did not think that they
would have a large freight of men and arms; for they seemed not ships
from France, but vessels of the country. If I could divide the force
of either vessel, and quietly, under cover of night, steal on her by
surprise, then I would trust our desperate courage, and open the war
which soon General Wolfe and Admiral Saunders were to wage up and down
this river.

I had brave fellows with me, and if we got our will it would be a thing
worth remembrance. So I disclosed my plan to Mr. Stevens and the others,
and, as I looked for, they had a fine relish for the enterprise. I
agreed upon a signal with them, bade them to lie close along the ground,
picked out the nearer (which was the smaller) ship for my purpose, and
at sunset, tying a white handkerchief to a stick, came marching out of
the woods, upon the shore, firing a gun at the same time. Presently
a boat was put out from the sloop, and two men and a boy came rowing
towards me. Standing off a little distance from the shore, they asked
what was wanted.

"The King's errand," was my reply in French, and I must be carried down
the river by them, for which I would pay generously. Then, with idle
gesture, I said that if they wished some drink, there was a bottle of
rum near my fire, above me, to which they were welcome; also some game,
which they might take as a gift to their captain and his crew.

This drew them like a magnet, and, as I lit my pipe, their boat scraped
the sand, and, getting out, they hauled her up and came towards me. I
met them, and, pointing towards my fire, as it might appear, led them
up behind the rocks, when, at a sign, my men sprang up, the fellows
were seized, and were forbid