s pleased by the praise;
but he made as if it was of no consequence.

"You lads have done your full share, an' if any credit is to be given
it goes to the whole crowd."

"Not a bit of it!" Jerry cried, looking up from his task of binding
the sailor with whom I had fought. "It's as Amos says; but for you
this never would have been done, an' it won't be my fault if all the
men of the fleet don't hear of it."

"We're not out of the woods yet," Darius said, as though he would
change the subject. "If I'd had half the head you give me credit for,
we'd run the pungy up here, instead of leavin' her a mile away."

"Josiah can go after her," I suggested, "and by the time we're ready
to put our prisoners aboard she should be here."

This proposition suited the old man, and Jim's friend left the
building at full speed, while I asked Darius to make certain the
miller was trussed up in proper fashion.

"What'er you goin' to do with me?" Essek Harland cried with a whine.
"I ain't to be blamed for what's been done this night! How can I help
it if a crowd of Britishers take possession of my mill?"

"Talk that over with Elias Macomber; he's aboard the pungy," Darius
replied in a matter-of-fact tone as he proceeded to bind the man with
strips of bags provided by Jim.

CHAPTER V.

WITH THE FLEET.

The British sailors did not make any talk on returning to
consciousness and finding themselves bound hand and foot. The officer,
however, after recovering from the bewilderment which appeared to have
come over him because of having been taken prisoner in such an
unceremonious fashion, protested against being tied like a criminal.

"Will you give your word to make no attempt at escape?" Darius asked;
but this did not suit the Britisher, for most likely he was reckoning
on a rescue by those of the people who favored the king, and there
were not a few of such vermin on the Patuxent river.

"I refuse to give my parole, save to an officer of the American army
or navy," he said stiffly, and Darius replied cheerily:

"Then you see that we've got no other course save to deal out the same
dose for all, 'cause we're not countin' on losin' any of you."

"What are you goin' to do with me?" the miller asked, and I took it
on myself to make reply:

"You'll get the same treatment as Elias Macomber, and however harsh it
may be, you won't have it as tough as is deserved. These others are
prisoners of war; but you two are traitors and sp