prospect was remote, and they were willing to run all
chances with their friends on shore, rather than desert
them in their extremity. The determination expressed by
them, therefore, was, that when they could no longer keep
the lake in safety, they would, if the officer permitted
it, scuttle the vessel, and attempt an entrance into the
fort, where they would share the fate of the troops,
whatever it might chance to be.

No sooner was this resolution made known, than their
young commander sought an opportunity of communicating
with the garrison, This, however, was no very easy task;
for, so closely was the fort hemmed in by the savages,
it was impossible to introduce a messenger within its
walls; and so sudden had been the cutting off of all
communication between the vessel and the shore, that the
thought had not even occurred to either commander to
establish the most ordinary intelligence by signal. In
this dilemma recourse was had to an ingenious expedient.
The dispatches of the officer were enclosed in one of
the long tin tubes in which were generally deposited the
maps and charts of the schooner, and to this, after having
been carefully soldered, was attached an inch rope of
several hundred fathoms in length: the case was then put
into one of the ship's guns, so placed as to give it the
elevation of a mortar; thus prepared, advantage was taken
of a temporary absence of the Indians to bring the vessel
within half a mile of the shore, and when the attention
of the garrison, naturally attracted by this unusual
movement, was sufficiently awakened, that opportunity