"

The old man paused to take in another cargo of tobacco, and then
continued:

"Young as he was, the lad found a chance to ship as master's mate on
the sloop Hornet, William Stone commandin', an' in one day, so it's
said, he, carryin' a flag an' with a drummer an' two fifers, enlisted
a full crew for the Hornet, all from Baltimore, which goes to show
that the people there thought he amounted to somethin'. Barney sailed
in Hopkins' fleet to the Bahamas, where the town of New Providence was
taken, an' the commodore scooped in all the ammunition to be found on
the island. A little while after that, he shipped on the schooner
Wasp, which convoyed off the coast the vessel in which Benjamin
Franklin was goin' to Europe to help pull this country through, an'
when they came back into the Cape May channel they found the king's
ships Roebuck an' Liverpool--one of forty-four guns an' the other of
twenty-eight--waitin' for 'em. There was lively times for a spell,
until the Wasp contrived to slip into Wilmington creek, where she laid
till half a dozen row galleys came down from Philadelphia to attack
the British ships. Then the schooner came out, an' while the fightin'
was goin' on, captured the brig Tender, one of his majesty's armed
vessels what poked her nose in to help the big fellows. They say
Barney fought like a tiger, an' with his captain wounded, brought the
little schooner an' her prize through the fog into port.

"Then they gave him a lieutenant's commission, an' sent him off in the
sloop Sachem, all of which happened before he was seventeen years old.
He soon found a chance to fight, an' after an action of two hours,
captured an English brig. After that they took the sloop Race Horse,
cuttin' her up so badly she sank, an' the next to come their way was a
snow from Jamaica, which the lad counted on bringin' into port, he
bein' put on board as prize master. Then he had a bit of bad luck; the
snow was re-captured, an' Barney made prisoner, as stands to reason;
but he was exchanged at Charleston, an' rode horseback to Baltimore."

"How do you happen to remember all these things?" Jerry asked,
thinking, perhaps, that Darius was giving us more guff than truth.

"Remember it?" the old man repeated sharply. "Why I've sailed with
Captain Barney, an' every mother's son of the crew knew the story, for
it ain't often that a lad of seventeen gets such a record, so we
couldn't help keepin' it in mind, besides which, I've got lot