to the eastward after
passing Morton's point. It may be that the lives of all of us who go
ashore will depend on your faithful discharge of duty, therefore act as
soldiers should. When you have made certain that any vessel, or boat
with a considerable number of men on board, is coming in this direction,
discharge one of the muskets, after which make ready to help us on board
with whatsoever we may bring."

Then Hiram, together with the remainder of us Minute Boys and the men he
had brought with him to work the sloops, went on shore, and at the first
farmer's dwelling we came upon I understood that our visit was not
unexpected.

Fifty or more sheep were penned in a small enclosure, and John Weston,
the owner of the land, together with his son, were busily engaged
putting grain into bags that it might the more readily be transported.

We began our work by stacking arms and setting to at the task of
carrying the sheep to the shore, bundling them into the small boats, and
then pulling out to the sloops.

Where there were so many laborers the task was soon completed, and then
came the more fatiguing portion of the business, meaning the
transportation of the grain.

However, we set to it with a will for there was one more farm on Hog
island which should be visited, and Hiram, fearing lest we might be
interrupted, urged us to our utmost.

The day was warm; the bags of grain far too heavy for easy handling, and
in a short time I was so weary that but for Hiram's shouts of
encouragement or reproaches, I should have ceased work for a short time
of rest.

It was just at the moment when I had made up my mind to declare I could
not continue the labor until after having a breathing spell, that the
report of a musket rang out on the still air so startlingly that each
fellow who had a burden dropped it to look hastily about, and those who
were empty-handed, including Hiram, ran with all speed to the shore.

I was among the foremost, and having reached a bend where it was
possible to get a fairly good view to the westward, an exclamation of
dismay burst involuntarily from my lips as I saw a schooner-rigged craft
coming around the westerly end of Noddle island.

"It's bound to be the Britishers!" some one near me exclaimed, and I
replied, speaking somewhat petulantly because of my fears:

"Who else could it be, coming from that quarter? Our people would not
despatch a craft of that size after having sent two sloops, and
the