mpt to
pass up the river. Nothing more was done.

"In July, 1814, when a British fleet and army were in the Chesapeake,
the authorities of Alexandria again called the attention of the
Secretary of War to the feeble condition of Fort Washington. The
secretary did not believe the enemy would push for the capital, and
nothing was done. The Alexandrians appealed to General Winder, who
recommended the strengthening of the post. Three of the banks in
Alexandria offered to loan the government fifty thousand dollars for
the construction of more defences for the District. The money was
accepted, but nothing was done to Fort Washington. When the battle of
Bladensburg occurred, and the seat of government was left to the mercy
of the invaders, Fort Washington was as feebly armed as ever, and its
garrison consisted of only about eighty men, under Captain Samuel T.
Dyson."

CHAPTER XX.

DODGING THE ENEMY.

As I have said, Captain Hanaford shoved his tiller hard over, throwing
the pungy around until her nose struck the mud, and it was a question
of getting her off the bank in the shortest possible space of time,
unless we were minded to lay there when the action began, for none of
us doubted but that an engagement was close at hand.

"It's a case of runnin' back up the river," Bill Jepson said
nervously, "An' the sooner we get about it the better."

Darius was not of the same opinion, as was shown when he said, after
waiting a moment to learn if any other had an opinion to express:

"I'm willin' to agree that we're bound to put back a bit, so's to be
out of the way when the iron begins to fly; but I don't hold that we
should run very far off until findin' out how things are goin' to
turn."

"You might settle that question after the pungy is afloat," my father
said grimly. "Just at present we're in a bad place if there's to be
any firing done, and when we're off the mud you'll have plenty of time
in which to discuss the situation."

"That's about the size of it," Captain Hanaford added emphatically,
and then he ordered us lads into the small boat that we might pull the
pungy's bow around.

Any one who has ever run an oysterman such as we have in the
Chesapeake, knows that when a craft of that build takes ground ever so
lightly, it is not a simple matter to float her, especially when
there's no cargo that can be shifted to bring the stern down and the
bow up.

We lads worked our prettiest with the paddles after m