"I was just telling Barney I wished I could take the 'Prince' downriver. But there's not the smell of a breeze. She was becalmed since yesterday!"
"Where is she?" asked Joshua.
"Past Chester," Barney said. "She ran aground during the storm; evidently she was escorted upriver by those refugee boats—you were speaking of them." Again his eyes met Joshua's and he smiled a little.
Joshua said, "Why don't you join us aboard the 'Montgomery'?"
Read interposed. "We have our full complement. Captain."
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"My compliments to Captain Read," Barney said. "But I'm going downriver in a ship's boat, kindly provided by Humphreys, here. Goodbye sir." This last was to Joshua, and Joshua murmured, "Goodbye," reluctantly. He watched Barney walk away. A longboat was waiting at the dock for him. The men in it were bandannaed; they looked a cutthroat lot. Humphreys whispered to Joshua: "The worst rascals in my crew, but he asked for them." Joshua waved to him as he followed Read aboard the "Montgomery." In midchannel Barney's boat was pulling away swiftly with the still outgoing tide.
The "Montgomery's" anchors were weighed. There was, as Humphreys had said, no smell of a breeze. Therefore the oars flashed and dipped as the brig started downriver to the sea. Joshua sat down on the arms chest aft, his rifle across his knees. The tide was still ebbing, very slowly now. It was a small aid, though, and Joshua reckoned any aid was welcome. Joshua reckoned that they had until noon at the very latest before the incoming tide would lift the "Triton" off the mudbank and let her sail unscathed to freedom.
Joshua watched the other twelve rowvessels as they ploughed along through the silver waters of the river. It looked better than it smelled, for the muddy banks stank foully. He was conscious of the smell; he was conscious of an immense disappointment, for he knew now how much he had hoped that Barney would come with them. Barney's boat was still dead ahead, so close Joshua could see the brawny scarred and tattooed arms of the men who pulled at her oars. In sudden impatience, Joshua got to his feet and started to pace back and forth on the narrow deck. His marines were clinging in the rigging. The arms chest, which he did not know if he would use, sat there like a reproach. They were passing Barney's boat now; Joshua went to the side and waved. He got a glimpse of swarthy faces, gold earrings and shining cutlasses. Barney waved a cutlass at him, and drew his finger across the blade. Joshua left the rail and went back to the arms chest. They were leaving the city behind.
Read was bustling about importantly. "Of course we should row down," he said to Joshua and the first officer. "But we must remember she's a frigate."
Joshua said, "Yes."
"It looks as though everyone in the city will be there," Read continued. The road along the river was already crowded. Horsemen
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galloped along, coaches lurched, and wagons struggled through the mud engendered by last night's rains.
"Evervone wants to see the British stuck on a mudbank," Joshua commented, his mind far from his words. He was more than ever conscious of a mounting excitement that had Barney at its root. He said aloud, "If we could—" He broke off, and once again jumped to his feet.
The men bent to the oars. They flashed and dipped. Still there was no wind. The improvised crew were laughing and talking, lounging on the deck, climbing aloft to see what they could see and waving to the people on the roads. A couple of them had stretched out on deck, to pass the time in snoring.
After a couple of miles Joshua could contain himself no longer. He said to Read, "Shouldn't you give the men at the oars a rest? Get fresh blood, so to speak?"
Read looked surprised. "When the time comes, sir," he said, sharply. But in a few moments he relayed the order to the first officer. One of the sleeping men untangled himself and went to relieve an oarsman. Joshua paced back and forth.
The next curve of the river should reveal Chester. Great homes along the river dominated the banks now. Their landing docks were empty of craft, and Joshua knew^ they were already on the scene. The men bent to the oars. They pulled past the city, its shipyards, its docks. One of the men kicked a sleeping figure sprawled on the deck.
"Get up, you lazy bastard, and you might see something," he was told.
There was activity now on the brig. Its guns were out and loaded, with shouted orders from Read. His voice annoyed Joshua. He told himself that after having sailed with Barney he was damned spoiled. There weren't many men like him in the Navy. He didn't know what Barney could do with a longboat and twenty potential murderers, but he could do something. If he were in command of the brig he could and would do something.
The "Montgomery" had at least maintained its lead dead ahead of the other smaller craft. Astern came the other twelve galley's, slim, rakish, a little fleet of them. And then suddenly a shout went up from the lookout. "Sail-ho!"
This electrified all the rowgalleys since the en" had echoed out over the river. They seemed to pull harder and gather speed. The
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curve of the river came nearer and nearer, and then Joshua saw the "Triton."
Joshua jumped up on the arms chest to see better. He swore. There she was, all right. She was no mirage—the "Triton," 32.
Joshua's experienced eyes told him she was not only lovely but fast. Three great masts towered over her upward, courses, tops, royals furled. The stiff set of the standing rigging and the slack curves of the running rigging made a picture against the pinking skies.
Her crew would be upward of three hundred men. She was single decked, built for cruising, for spying out the enemy, for quick capture. Ensnared with mud, she listed. Her runout starboard guns pointed slanted up; the larboard guns stuck their muzzles listlessly down toward the river's slow moving water; they were eighteen pounders. On forecastle and aft long nines bristled. Now the incoming tide had swung her around about; she presented her stem to the oncoming rowgalleys; her rakish bow held fast in the mud.
The "Triton," 32. Joshua felt his excitement rise. His mind whirled with plans. If they could capture her, could he finance her for privateering? If he and Barney threw in together all the money from the recent prizes, and— He broke off his calculations sharply. He had instead a picture of Barney standing on that quarterdeck with the stars and stripes on her gaff; into this came Douglass' cool voice: "I've dined aboard the 'Triton.' " British oak, copper bottomed, fitted with brass guns, gleaming; in Barney's hands she would be quick deadly menace!
The reality of her was upon them. Uniformed figures moved on her decks. Loud voices and jeers went from ship to shore, and ashore there were crowds of people. Across the rolling fields, in the distance, came still the sound of the bells of the little country churches, ringing, tolling out their warnings. The British are here.
Coaches and wagons of every description were on the scene, fires had been built; hawkers were selling coffee and hot chocolate and lemonade. Flags waved gaily. On the river the thirteen rowgalleys began to slow their oars; and over this merry scene the sound of gunfire was almost startling.
The "Triton," incensed and harried by these paltry vessels, shook with the recoil of her stem cannon. Joshua knew they were beyond the range, but these were the guns which would keep the frail galleys at their distance. Nevertheless, Read roared out an order to fire.
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He wasted ammunition. The British jeered loudly, the cries plain to hear. "Come no further, Yankees," yelled a topman perched high in the "Triton's" rigging. "You might get hurt."
Read was standing next to Joshua. The "Triton's" guns were indeed formidable. She towered upward, bristling with armament. All thirteen galleys ceased their rowing, and spread out a little. Then began a sort of serenade, military in sound but not in action.