es down the bay, letting the anchor fall again near a high bank. Some
of the townsmen followed, and a man named Foster called from the bank,
bidding him surrender. But the captain laughed at him, raised his anchor
once more, and ran farther out into the bay.

It looked as if the whole affair was at an end and the _Margaretta_
safe. But the men of Machias were not yet at the end of their rope.
There lay the lumber sloops, and where a schooner could go a sloop could
follow.

Early Monday morning four young men climbed to the deck of one of the
sloops and cheered in a way that soon brought a crowd to the wharf. One
of these was a bold, gallant fellow named Jeremiah O'Brien.

"What is in the wind?" he asked.

"We are going for the King's ship," said Wheaton, one of the men. "We
can outsail her, and all we want is guns enough and men enough to take
her."

"My boys, we can do it," cried O'Brien in lusty tones, after hearing the
plan.

Everybody ran off for arms, but all they could find in the town were
twenty guns, with enough powder and balls to make three shots for each.
Their other weapons were thirteen pitchforks and twelve axes. Jerry
O'Brien was chosen captain, thirty-five of the most athletic men were
selected, and the sloop put off before a fresh breeze for the first
naval battle of the Revolution.

It is likely that there were a few sailors among them, and no doubt
their captain knew how to handle a sloop. But the most of them were
landsmen, chiefly haymakers, for Machias lay amid grassy meadows and the
making of hay was its chief business. And there were some woodsmen, who
knew well how to swing an axe. They were all bold men and true, who
cared more for their country than for the King.

When Captain Moore saw the sloop coming with its deck crowded with men
he must have wondered what all this meant. What ailed these countrymen?
Anyhow, he would not fight without knowing what he was fighting for, so
he raised his anchor, set his sails, and made for the open sea. But he
had hardly started when, in going about in the strong wind, the main
boom swung across so sharply that it struck the backstays and broke
short off.

I fancy if any of us had been close by then we would have heard ringing
cheers from the Yankee crew. They felt sure now of their prize, though
we cannot see why, for the _Margaretta_ had twenty-four cannon, four
throwing six-pound balls and the rest one-pound balls. Muskets and
pitchforks did n