It warms the heart, but if used too freely it makes a man
hot-tempered, disputatious, and belligerent. Amid the patriotic
jollity, therefore, when three British soldiers, belated, dusty,
and thirsty, came to the spring on their way to the retreating
army, their boasting met with an incredulous denial, which soon
led to their summary arrest as chicken-stealers and public
enemies. Confined in the insecure Marlborough jail, one of them
speedily escaped, and reached a scouting-party of British
cavalry, which, by order of Cockburn, returned to Upper
Marlborough, roused Dr. Beanes out of his bed at midnight, and
conveyed him to the British ships at Benedict's.

As soon as Key heard of the arrest of Dr. Beanes, one of his most
intimate friends, he hurried, under the protection of a flag of
truce, to the British fleet at the mouth of the Patuxent to
arrange for his release. John S. Skinner of Baltimore, then
commissioner for exchange of prisoners, accompanied him with his
cartel ship.

When Key and Skinner reached the British fleet it was already on
its way up the Chesapeake Bay to the attack on Baltimore. Its
destination was too evident for Cockburn to allow Key to depart
and give the alarm. He was informed in the admiral's grimmest
manner, that while he would not hang Dr. Beanes at the yard-arm,
as he had threatened, yet he would have to keep every man on
board a close prisoner until certain circumstances occurred which
would render their release advisable. When the ships arrived at
their destination he assured them that it would be only a matter
of a few hours before they would be free.