"How many of the British were there, Captain?" asked Evelyn Leland.
"I have forgotten, though I know they far outnumbered the Americans."

"Yes," he replied, "as I have said there were about four hundred and
fifty of the Americans, while Beckwith had twenty-five hundred men and
was assisted by the flotilla of Admiral Cockburn, consisting of armed
boats and barges, which appeared suddenly off Blackbeard's Point at the
mouth of Hampton Creek, at the same time that Beckwith's troops moved
stealthily forward through the woods under cover of the _Mohawk's_ guns.

"To draw the attention of the Americans from the land force coming
against them was Cockburn's object, in which he was partly successful,
his flotilla being seen first by the American patrols at Mill Creek.

"They gave the alarm, arousing the camp, and a line of battle was
formed. But just then some one came in haste to tell them of the large
land force coming against the town from the rear, and presently in the
woods and grain fields could be seen the scarlet uniforms of the British
and the green ones of the French."

"Oh, how frightened the people in the town must have been!" exclaimed
Grace. "I should think they'd all have run away."

"Most of them did," replied her father; "but some sick and feeble ones
had to stay behind--others also in whose care they were--and trust to
the supposed humanity of the British; a vain reliance it proved, at
least so far as Admiral Cockburn was concerned. He gave up the town to
pillage and rapine, allowing the doing of such deeds as have consigned
his name to well-merited infamy.