no Iroquois among the passengers of the fleet. He strolled listlessly about like a fellow who had nothing in the world to do, and who cared. less than nothing for soldiers and war. Co-co went with him, limping dreadfully as to his left leg, and there was no danger that a whiteheaded, worthless old black man, crippled with rheumatism, would be pressed into any part of the British army or navy. There might have been some question about Guert's security from permanent duties, if it had not been a time when everybody was thinking about something else. At all events, the long hours wore away and the three spies were entirely safe when

Ugh!" exclaimed Up-na-tan excitedly. "Look! Noank. Heap gun!"

"That's so!" eagerly responded Guert. "And Skipper Avery's in the city. I saw him, day before yesterday."

"Cotch her, dis time," said Co-co. "Dey's goin' to Kip's Bay. Find 'em dah, suah!" He seemed to have no idea but that the Noank was going up the East River for American rather than British purposes, but his feelings were not stirred as were those of Upna-tan. The old pirate looked more like one than ever as he glared after the Asia and the squad of smaller craft she was guarding, and

he muttered fierce words in more tongues than one. He could be patient, however, for he was an Indian, and they all waited for the darkness.

There were sentries stationed all along the shore, but the three scouts had no trouble in evading them, for every redcoat was watching the New York side of the water and not his

own.

"Now!" hissed Up-na-tan. "Guert follow. Let tide carry him."

In an instant they were in the water, as silently as so many eels, and the tide swept them on as it had swept the ships, only that the three spies were also swimming vigorously across its current. It was not at all a difficult feat. for three good swimmers, used to salt

water.

There would have been little more to speak of than a good bath, if it had not been for the vigilant night-watch on the deck of the Merlin, as she lay at anchor.

They were keeping a keen lookout, and they did not fail to notice something or other suspicious on the water, borne rapidly past the ship. They hailed it, of course, but there was no answer. They hailed again, and then Guert heard a quick command:

"Fire!"

It was followed by a rattle of musketry, and the balls hissed near him, as they struck the water. There was no answering shot. Nothing but the mocking war-whoop of Up-na-tan, and before a boat could be lowered and sent in pursuit of them, the three escaped spies had gained the shore and were pushing on toward the tangled swamp below Bowery Lane.

"Guert hit?" asked Up-na-tan.

"No," began Guert, but the old Indian at once pushed up his left shirt-sleeve, for he wore no coat, and for the first time he was aware that one of the bullets had grazed his left arm.

Ugh!

the scratch on his arm, that testified to the peril through which he had swam the East River.

CHAPTER V.

CUTTING OUT THE NOANK.

"So, thee has been wounded in battle," said Rachel Tarns, as she looked down into Guert's face the next morning.

"No, I wasn't," said Guert cheerfully. "I was wounded in the water. It won't amount to anything."

His mother sat by her loom, but she was not weaving. She had turned to look at Guert and her eyes agreed with Rachel, whose next remark was:

"Thee looks pretty well, with thy arm in a sling. Thy foolish mother is even proud of thee."

He did not look badly, now that the mud was washed from his face and hands, and he was dressed in a new suit of homespun, woven and fitted by his mother, with Rachel's help.

His arm was not troubling him, but he had an idea that the sling it rested in was something like epaulets. He had had a long sleep after reaching home, and now he felt like having another, but it did not seem exactly the time to be in bed.

It seemed less so an hour later, when he was telling Maud Wolcott and Mrs. Murray all he knew or had seen of General Washington's wonderful retreat from Long Island. They came over to hear about it as soon as Rachel told them of Guert's return.

"Guert," said Maud, at last, "have we got to give up New York?"

"I'm going home as soon as I can," replied Maud; "but there isn't any chance to get away, just now."

"And mother," said Guert, "means to go away up the Hudson to live at Mr. Van

Wart's. She won't stay in New York if our army leaves it."

"I can't get away," said Mrs. Murray. "Perhaps I'd better stay. I can't do anything anywhere else, but I wish I could go to France or to China. It's terrible!"

"Guert!" suddenly exclaimed Maud, "there's Up-na-tan at the gate."

He was there, with his inseparable black ally, and not many minutes later, they and Guert were on their way to the lower part of the city. It was indeed feeling pretty low, that day, for a great deal of it was within cannon shot of British men-of war. It was busy, too, for the streets were full of wagons. Some of these were carrying away people and household goods, and some were loaded with army stores of all kinds that were going to places of greater safety, away up the island, or even beyond it. There were not wagons enough, however, and too many of them carried sick soldiers. It was a very blue time.

Guert saw it all, but he and his friends were on a hunt, and it was only after many inquiries that they found that Knowlton's regiment, to which Captain Hale belonged, was away up the East River, on the shore of Kip's Bay, and that they must trudge back again.

"Anyhow," said Guert, "that's where Skipper Avery will be. With the other New

teer; that is, into the kind of cruiser that the British were calling "Yankee pirates."

Guert could hear all they had to say, and he understood a great deal of it, but his spirits were away down. Up-na-tan might be even more cheerful, because all the American army was now guarding his own island for him, and Co-co could laugh at any time; but everybody they met wore a gloomy face and it was of no use for the sun to shine so brightly. It was something like a surprise, therefore, when they at last reached Knowlton's camp and Captain Hale came out to meet them, for his face was as brave and confident as if there had been no defeat, or as if he were looking forward only to victory.

"Hurrah for you, Guert!" he said, and so said Skipper Avery, just behind him. "It was a plucky thing for you to do."

""Twasn't much," replied Guert. "I've swum further than that. I can move my arm pretty well, too."

"That'll heal right over," said the skipper; "but I tell ye what, I know just where the Asia is, and the Noank. They're anchored not more'n tew hundred yards apart. I'm goin' to git her back, though, sure as guns!" "So, so!" exclaimed the Manhattan. Noank. Get heap big gun. When go?"

"Get

"I'm picking up the right sort of men," said the skipper; "but what we want is a couple of whale-boats. Soon's I can git them, we'll pitch right in."

They talked and they planned, and all the while Guert found himself watching the bright face of the captain. It seemed to do him good.

"Up-na-tan is brave," he thought; "so is Co-co. They are not afraid of anything, But they're not as brave as Nathan Hale. I wonder if Aleck Hamilton's as brave as he is. General Washington is. I don't believe I

am."

He felt a great deal less so when he went away, and his spirits went down again, during several days that followed. Everybody knew that there were negotiations going on between Congress and Washington and the British commanders, and there were dark rumors that the

"Of course they won't," said his mother. Let me fix up your arm before you go out. You don't need the sling any more."

He was willing to give up his ornament, for that night at least, considering what might be before him, and he was not marked as a wounded man when he went out. He told his mother:

"We are going out in the boat, and the captain is going with us. So is the skipper." "I'm glad of that," she said. "They won't do anything foolish or too risky."

Perhaps they did not, but when Guert joined them, after a long evening walk, they and a score of other men were gathered at the head of one of the narrow inlets among the rushes of the Harlem swamps. They were all armed to the teeth; every man wore a cutlass as well as belt pistols, and they looked like buccaneers, for none of them were in uniform excepting Captain Hale. For all that, they were carefully picked New England seamen, of the toughest, hardiest kind, and they were now taking their places in a pair of long, graceful whale-boats.

It's going to be a pretty dark night," said Guert. 66 They can't see us."

"Just what we want," said Hale. "We're all right, if the Noank is anchored by a hempen cable. See that Indian! A good deal depends on him."

Guert had already been watching the movements of Up-na-tan. The old pirate wore no cutlass, but he seemed to think of making a razor out of his long-knife, by the way he stropped it on his leggings, and tried its edge again and again.

Out through the dark and winding inlet slipped the two whale-boats, and when they were in open water, and the crews took to the oars, all was as silent as ever, for the rowlocks were muffled, and the blades were dipped as if splashing might be dangerous. It was in deed dark. It was just the night for two such

boats to glide along like ghosts over the quiet

water.

"We shall get there just as the tide begins to run well," remarked Hale, "and then it'll be quick work, live or die."

"We've passed more than one boat," said Guert; "not of our side, I guess."

"Navy patrol boats," replied Hale. "They must have mistaken us for some of the same sort."

"We're strong enough to capter any patrol boat," growled Skipper Avery, "but I'm right down glad we didn't hev to dew it.” "Ugh!" exclaimed Up-na-tan. for old chief. So!"

"Hale wait

Guert heard no signal, but both of the whale-boats were instantly still. He was looking at the head of Up-na-tan, for that was all of him that could be seen above the waves into which he had slipped, over the side of the boat.

"The Noank lies out yonder," said Hale. "I didn't think we were so near."

Near or far, it was a trial of any one's nerves to sit there and wait, in the midst of unknown danger.

Ugh!" he grunted, “Asia. ship. Where Noank? Ugh!"

No want big

Again he swam fast, and the tide aided him, and in a little while he had no need to swim, for he could hold by one hand to a thick rope. It was the cable that held the Noank at her anchor, and Up-na-tan was cutting at it with his very sharp knife.

It was the last thing that anybody on board the schooner could have been expecting, for the Americans had no navy, and their defeated army on the shore had no means of harming the fleet or any vessels under its powerful protection. It looked very much,

however, if a seaman had been studying the deck and spars of the Noank, as if she were only waiting for orders to raise her sails and go to some other anchorage.

Saw, saw! cut, cut! worked the knife at the cable; but it made no noise, and the water that gurgled around the hull of the Noank was enough to drown the low, hard breathing of the last of the Manhattans.

The vessel made just a little lurch when the last hempen strand was suddenly severed. Then she was swept away by the rushing tide, and the watchers on her deck heard a shrill whistle in her wake, and what seemed an answer, out in the darkness near them.

They were few in number. Not by any means all of them were armed. They were utterly taken by surprise, moreover, and just as a tall figure, brandishing a long knife, clambered over the stern and rushed toward the wheel as if he intended to steer her, the hushed plash of muffled oars came quickly on both sides of her, grappling irons were thrown on board, and these were followed by a rush of stalwart men.

"Silence, for your lives! was the hoarse command of the first voice they heard, and it was followed by:

"If any man fires a shot, cut him down and throw him overboard!"

They were hopelessly outnumbered, and the only regular naval officer on board was asleep in his hammock below. Not one of them was willing to be killed, just for the privilege of firing a gun, and so they quietly surrendered, while Captain Hale's men swiftly hoisted the sails of the schooner. In a few minutes more she was speeding away through the shadows, while a British naval officer on the deck of the Merlin was remarking:

"Moved, has she? All right. I knew she was going to, but she got her orders quicker than I thought she would."

Captain Hale and his men had therefore captured the Noank with little more noise than would have naturally been made by a bungling crew in heaving her anchor and getting her under sail. The anchor had been left behind, however, and her very full cargo

of provisions was to be delivered to the American army messes. They were all in need of just such supplies, for the Continentals were made low-spirited by lack of food as well as by their defeat in battle.

No other men on board of the Noank, or anywhere else, were more anxious to get her rations out of her than were Skipper Avery, Up-na-tan, Guert and Co-co.

They had the hearty sympathy of Hale, and were promised that as soon as the mouth of the Broux River could be reached, the cargo should be out in a twinkling.

"Ugh!" replied Up-na-tan, with eyes that glistened triumphantly. "Get up heap gun! Make Kidd ship! Go heap fight! So, so, Up-na-tan!

"I won't go home till I see every gun there is down there," said Guert, as he peered down the open hatchway into the hold. "I want to know what the skipper bought with that money."

"Ship guns, mostly," said Hale, standing by him ; one field battery. Our men can arm and fit out the Noank right here, and then she had better put to sea at once, or some of these British men-of-war may find her."

There was danger of that, although there was a kind of truce between the armies while Admiral Lord Howe tried his best to convince General Washington and Congress that they had better give it up. The general had his hands full, but Guert would have had very little to do if it had not been for the hold of the Noank.

What a treasure-chamber that deep hole was, and what wonders of war came up, after they got out the provisions and began to stir the ballast. Guert found that he and his friends took only a small amount of interest in any cannon that were to go ashore, but Upna-tan danced a war-dance with joyful whooping when a long brass eighteen-pounder was hoisted on deck, followed by all the fixings for mounting it as a swivel, to swing around and shoot in any direction. Then there came up first-class brass "sixes," to serve as broadside guns, three on a side, making the Noank a well-armed privateer; her authority for that