Sandwich. But the trip was attended with serious mishap to his army, for
Lieutenant Roulette, of the British sloop _Hunter_--a brother of the
famous fur-trader--in a small batteau, with only six men, captured the
United States packet _Cayuga_, with a detachment of five officers and
thirty-three soldiers, as she was coming up the river. The _Cayuga's_
treasure consisted not only of valuable stores and baggage, but Hull's
official correspondence with the United States Secretary of War. The
contents of this decided Brock, though he had no idea Hull's army was so
strong, to attempt the reduction of Fort Detroit without a moment's
delay.

The very hour he knew that war was declared he had notified the officer
at St. Joseph. Our hero, whose root idea of a soldier's craft was
"secrecy in conception and vigour in execution," had no taste for
Prevost's mad doctrine that the aggressed had to await the convenience
of the aggressor. Brock had been taught to regard tolerance in war as an
"evil of the first magnitude," and so had already instructed the
commander at St. Joseph that if war was proclaimed he was to attack
Mackinaw at once, but if attacked, "defend your post to the last."
Prevost at the same time had ordered this officer "in case of necessity
to effect his own retreat," never dreaming he would dare attack
Mackinaw. What a contrast the despatches of these two men present! The
one full of confidence, fight and resistance, the other shrinking from
action and suggesting retreat. Brock's despatch was of later date and
more palatable to the fighter at St. Joseph. He started at once for
Mackinaw, fifty-five miles distant, with 45 of the 10th Royal veterans,
180 Canadians, many of whom were traders and voyageurs, and convoyed by
the brig _Caledonia_, owned by the North-West Fur Company.

He landed before daybreak. By noon of that day the Union Jack was