ct upon this suggestion; but it seemed to
please Pierre, and he at once set about getting the Tory cur where Uncle
'Rasmus could overlook him, therefore was I forced to lend a hand.

"Am I to be left here trussed up like a chicken ready for the roasting?"
Horry Sims asked angrily when we had put him once more in the corner of
the room without taking undue care as to the handling.

"Your stomach is full; except for your liberty are you better off than
either Pierre or I, and you may lie there thanking your stars that
matters are no worse for you," I cried, whereupon little Frenchie, as if
fearing I might abuse the prisoner of which he was so careful, opened
the door and literally thrust me out.

When we were come near to my Lord Cornwallis's headquarters, I noted
with surprise that a goodly number of the soldiers, together with a
large sprinkling of officers, were pressing on toward the water's edge,
and it was no more than natural Pierre and I should follow the throng,
excited as we were by seeing the privates throw down shovel or pick
without permission, to chase at the heels of their superiors.

Before we were come to the dock it was possible to hear from the
distance a dull boom, as if many miles away a heavy cannon had been
discharged, and then there came another and another, and I heard those
red-coated men nearest me say gleefully:

"Admiral Graves is stirring up the frog-eaters! We may count it as
certain that these two rivers will no longer be blockaded by Frenchmen."

Then I remembered what Morgan had said, and understood that the fighting
for the possession of this town of York had already begun on the sea;
that the British fleet had come down to drive away the vessels under
command of Count De Grasse. Once more I grew timorous with understanding
that if the Englishmen should be victorious in this naval battle which I
doubted not was close at hand, then would it be possible for them to
land troops on the river of York or of James at their pleasure, until
our forces at Williamsburg were outnumbered ten or twenty to one.

The same thought was evidently in Pierre's mind, and he also must have
been fearing that the English sailors might prove superior to the French
seamen, for he said in a whisper, drawing me closely to him by clutching
tightly at my arm:

"My Lord Cornwallis must be mighty uneasy just about this time, for
unless the British fleet can drive away the French vessels, then is he
left to the m