Arnold was in good humor; he wanted to talk, and not about the awful situation of the army on Isle aux Noix, or the mischances that had brought it about. That was Arnold’s way—to cast his thoughts into the future, and dwell as little as possible on the past. What’s done is done, he argued. It’s water under the bridge. Lay your plans; and if the plans go wrong, it’s the fortunes of war—not something to be wept over.

He was a great planner, able to see farther and straighter into the future than any man I ever knew. He was a great soldier and good company, too. When he put his hand on the tiller to feel our crazy craft I saw he was a good seaman as well.

“Feels as if Noah might have used her as a tender,” he said. “What’s her best point of sailing, do you think?”

I took the tiller and worked her a little. “I wouldn’t want to commit myself,” I said, “for fear I’d have to prove it.”

He nodded. “That’s the way she feels to me, but you can’t always tell about a bateau. Did you ever sail one before?”

When I said I hadn’t, he grinned. “They’ll surprise you. They’ll stand pretty near anything. They’re almost as good full of water as when they’re tight and dry—just wetter to sit in, that’s all.”

This was a relief, as Tom Bickford had started bailing with his camp kettle.

“So don’t be afraid to push her,” Arnold went on. “It’s a hundred miles to Crown Point and another hundred to Albany. I’m counting on reaching Crown Point in two days at the outside.”

I said nothing, knowing we would either make Crown Point in two days or never make it at all.

Arnold was restless. His brain, it seemed to me, was never still, not even when he was asleep.

“About that vessel you sent to Crown Point,” he said suddenly. “How long would it take to put her together and finish her?”

“Finish her fit to cruise?”

“To cruise and fight.”

“If I could have twenty men from our shipyard,” I said, “I could have her ready for sea in two weeks, provided I rigged her as a sloop.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “That would be about right: two weeks! That’s fast! We’d have to build ’em quick—quick!”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Yes sir,” Arnold said meditatively, “yes sir! It’s got to be done! Somehow we’ve got to do it! It would take three hundred ship carpenters: three hundred of the best.”

I thought he was joking. “Three hundred! You could build a fleet with three hundred!”