“How do you propose being taken?” Wolfe asked.

“My idea was,” James replied, “that I should land with a party near Cap Rouge, as if to reconnoitre the French position there.  We should, of course, be speedily discovered, and would then retreat to the boats.  I should naturally be the last to go, and might well manage to be cut off.”

“Yes,” Wolfe replied, “but you might also, and that far more easily, manage to get shot.  I don’t think that would do, Captain Walsham.  The risks would be twenty to one against your escaping being shot.  Can you think of no other plan?”

“The only other plan that I can think of,” James said, “might involve others being taken prisoners.  I might row in towards Cap Rouge in broad daylight, as if to examine the landing place, and should, of course, draw their fire upon the boat.  Before starting, I should fire two or three shots into the boat close to the water line, and afterwards plug them up with rags.  Then, when their fire became heavy, I should take the plugs out and let the boat fill.  As she did so, I could shout that I surrendered, and then we could drift till we neared the shore in the water-logged boat, or swim ashore.  I can swim well myself, and should, of course, want four men, who could swim well also, picked out as the crew.”

“The plan is a dangerous one,” Wolfe said, “but less so than the other.”

“One cannot win a battle without risking life, sir,” James said quietly.  “Some of us might, of course, be hit, but as we risk our lives whenever we get within range of the enemy, I do not see that that need be considered; at any rate, sir, I am ready to make the attempt, if the plan has your approval.”

“I tell you frankly, Captain Walsham, that I think your chances of success are absolutely nil.  At the same time, there is just a faint possibility that you may get ashore alive, escape from the French, discover a pathway, and bring me the news; and, as the only chance of the expedition being successful now depends upon our discovering such a path, I am not justified in refusing even this faint chance.”

The general touched a bell which stood on the table before him.

“Will you ask the captain to come here,” he said to the officer who answered the summons.

“Captain Peters,” he said when the captain appeared, “I want you to pick out for me four men, upon whom you can thoroughly rely.  In the first place they must be good swimmers, in the second place they must be able to hold their tongues, and lastly they must be prepared to pass some months in a French prison.  A midshipman, with the same qualifications, will be required to go with them.”

The captain naturally looked surprised at so unusual a request.

“Captain Walsham is going to be taken prisoner by the French,” General Wolfe explained, “and the only way it can be done is for a whole boat’s crew to be taken with him,” and he then detailed the plan which had been arranged.  “Of course, you can offer the men any reward you may think fit, and can promise the midshipman early promotion,” he concluded.