at the head of the Chesapeake,) and that I was to have the honour of fighting in a barge under the command of my lieutenant. I got up, accordingly, and going upon deck, which was already swarming with men, was struck with the novelty of the spectacle that awaited me. It was not yet day, although the dawn was not far off, so that objects were but dimly discernible. I perceived, first, that we were under sail, but making way very slowly, there being scarcely any wind; and, next, that we had, during the time I was asleep, exchanged a river of half a mile wide for one of at least ten times the magnitude, with bold shores looming duskily up in the distance; and, finally, that our fleet had grown to thrice the number of vessels, some of which, following at a distance behind, were large ships.

As we proceeded onwards, the day began to break, and I saw, some miles off, the indications of a town or village; which having approached within a mile or two, the fleet came to anchor, and orders were given to man the boats. I descended, with a heart beating betwixt fear and hope, into the barge that already lay beside the Jumping Jenny, and which now received the same crew of heroes, with whom I had so unluckily distinguished myself the preceding day.

Our commander having also entered the boat, we lay upon our oars for a few moments waiting the signal to proceed. It was given at last by a sudden discharge of great guns from the ships of war, the thunder of which, with the patterings of the iron balls about their ears, were, I believe, the first intimation the sleeping villagers had of the presence of the enemy. The horrible uproar of so many cannons shot off nigh at hand, and the dreadful sheets of flame bursting from the black sides of the ships,

threw me into a great panic, which was not much diminished when our commander gave the word to proceed against the village;-"Give way, my hearties," he cried; "we shall have something better, to pick, in yon doghole, than ducks and chickens!"

The men responded with loud cheers, which were now heard proceeding from all quarters; for a great many barges like our own were on the water; and the rowers addressing themselves to their oars, we were soon rapidly approaching the devoted town.

But as we drew nigh, we noticed certain appear. ances, which convinced us that the villagers, howeger astounded at the salute we had given them, were not inclined to receive their visitors, without returning the compliments of the morning. And, first, we perceived a great body of them running hastily down to the beach before the town, where stood three or four strange looking objects; which, at that distance and in the uncertain light of the morning, I could not make out: nor, I presume should I have had the least idea of their character, had not Tom Gunner suddenly ripped out an oath, and declared "the bloody villains," (meaning the townspeople,) "had cannon, and were going to give us a salvo."

And, true enough, the words were scarce out of his mouth, when bang went a piece, and a cannon ball striking the river hard by our boat, which was one of the head most, dashed a shower of water in my face, by which I was greatly frightened, thinking at first it was my life's blood all let loose. This salute, as it did, I believe, no damage to any in the fleet of boats, only served the purpose of inflaming the martial ardour of all. The officers d-d their souls, the men cheered, and rowed onwards with redoubled vigour; so that, in a few moments, we

reached the water's edge and sprang ashore. Previous to this, however, we received several other discharges; the wonder of which was that they were all fired by a single man; who, suddenly deserted by his townsman, that had been scared off by the noise of their own gun, stuck valiantly to the pieces, fired them off at us, one after the other, and was even seen, without any assistance, to recharge and refire them; until our sudden jumping ashore, and a volley of small arms let fly at him, compelled him to beat a retreat.

But even then, his flight was conducted in most heroic order, facing his enemies all the while, with a musket, which he fired; then loaded, as he retreated, and fired again. "Charge upon the rascal-run him down," quoth the lieutenant; who, having had the honour first to reach the shore, paused a moment to form his men, which he found no easy task in the face of so determined a foe. At that moment, I—— still in mortal affright, yet thinking of nothing but escape-took to my heels, and ran up the street, along which the intrepid defender of the town was backing at his leisure, having no desire so great as to reach him and put his heroic defence betwixt me and the invaders. As I had had a musket put into my hands, which I still carried, holding on to it rather from instinct than inclination, and unfortunately forgot in my hurry to inform him of my peaceable intentions, it is not extraordinary, when I approached him, which, running at a great rate, I soon did, that his reception of me proved any thing but friendly. In fact, I had no sooner come within reach of his arm, than, clubbing his musket, and exclaiming, with a strongly Irish accent," Surrender, ye villian;" which I should have been very happy to do, had he let me, he fetched me a terrible blow over the head, by

which I was felled to the ground, and left insensible.

And so ended, for that day, my hopes of flight, as well as my share in the martial events that followed; of which I have no further knowledge (and that acquired afterwards from others,) than that the town was taken, plundered, set in flames, and then, in due course of time abandoned by the magnanimous victors.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Containing an account of Robin Day's successor in the Jumping Jenny, and who he was,

WHEN I recovered my wits, I found myself again in the Jumping Jenny, lying sick and sore in a bunk, surrounded by sailors, who were, however, attending to their own affairs, without at all concerning themselves with me. And thus, sick and sore, among the sailors in the hold of the Jumping Jenny, I may say at once, to shorten my story, I remained for several weeks, having received such a hurt from the patriotic Hibernian as required all the strength of a naturally sturdy constitution to carry me through with life. And this was doubtless fortunate, as it prevented my taking a share, as otherwise I must have done, in those other forays against the villages of my countrymen, by which the British warfare in the Chesapeake continued to be distinguished.

I received two or three visits from a surgeon belonging to the fleet, who was a very humane personage, and told me my wounds were not, as I apprehended, of any very great account, considering my youth and hardy constitution; and once, also, I was visited by my friend the lieutenant, who asked me how I fared, swore I was " a brave dog," and vowed he intended to recommend me to the admiral for a commission, "in reward of my gallant behaviour VOL. I.-19