summer of 1803 he was stationed at York, a hamlet carved out of the
backwoods, sustaining a handful of people, but famous as the
gathering-place of many wise men. He found that desertions in Upper
Canada had become too frequent. The temptations offered by a long line
of frontier easy of access, and the desperate discipline in the army,
had led to much brutality in the way of punishments.

Such were the conditions in Upper Canada when Brock reached York.
Shortly after his arrival six men, influenced by an artificer, stole a
military batteau and started across the lake to Niagara. By midnight
Brock, with his trusty sergeant-major and the ever-watchful Dobson, in
another batteau with twelve men, passed out of the western gap in hot
pursuit of the defaulters. Though the night was calm the trip was
perilous. Before them stretched a waste of water, but our hero was in
his element. He was living over again his daring visits to the Casquets
through the furious seas that raced between St. Sampson and the Isle of
Herm.

The crew was divided into "watches," six taking an hour's "breather"
while the other six rowed, hour and hour about, alternately rowing and
resting. When the wind served they hoisted their big square sail, our
hero at the tiller. On this occasion there was little wind, and "Master
Isaac," for example's sake, and "to keep my biceps and fore-arm in good
condition"--as he told the sergeant-major--took his regular spells at
the oar. On arriving at Fort George, Colonel Hunter, Governor and
Commandant, rebuked him for rashly venturing across the lake in an open
boat, "a risk," he said, "never before undertaken."[1] The expedition,
however, was successful, for the deserters were surprised on the
American shore and made prisoners.