logged boat, or swim ashore. I can swim well myself, and should,
of course, want four men, who could swim well also, picked out as the
crew."

"The plan is a dangerous one," Wolfe said, "but less so than the
other."

"One cannot win a battle without risking life, sir," James said
quietly. "Some of us might, of course, be hit, but as we risk our lives
whenever we get within range of the enemy, I do not see that that need
be considered; at any rate, sir, I am ready to make the attempt, if the
plan has your approval."

"I tell you frankly, Captain Walsham, that I think your chances of
success are absolutely nil. At the same time, there is just a faint
possibility that you may get ashore alive, escape from the French,
discover a pathway, and bring me the news; and, as the only chance of
the expedition being successful now depends upon our discovering such a
path, I am not justified in refusing even this faint chance."

The general touched a bell which stood on the table before him.

"Will you ask the captain to come here," he said to the officer who
answered the summons.

"Captain Peters," he said when the captain appeared, "I want you to
pick out for me four men, upon whom you can thoroughly rely. In the
first place they must be good swimmers, in the second place they must
be able to hold their tongues, and lastly they must be prepared to pass
some months in a French prison. A midshipman, with the same
qualifications, will be required to go with them."

The captain naturally looked surprised at so unusual a request.

"Captain Walsham is going to be taken prisoner by the French," General
Wolfe explained, "and the only way it can be done is for a whole boat's
crew to be taken with him," and he then detailed the plan which had
been arranged. "Of course, you can offer the men any reward you may
think fit, and can promise the midshipman early promotion," he
concluded.

"Very well, general. I have no doubt I can find four men and a
midshipman willing to volunteer for the affair, especially as, if you
succeed, their imprisonment will be a short one. When will the attempt
be made?"

"If you can drift up the river as far as Cap Rouge before daylight,"
James said, in answer to an inquiring look from the general, "we will
attempt it tomorrow morning. I should say that the best plan would be
for me to appear opposite their camp when day breaks, as if I was
trying to obtain a close view of it in the early morning."

"The