I finally reached the fort at Cape May one week later, this time WITHOUT dying. Well, they were happy to receive the help and I was happy to finally be in out of the bloody damn cold again. Anyway, several weeks later, in late March, the snow had started to melt. I sat in the small mess hall, eating my ration of gruel. The man who sat across from me was Mark Tulyard, a 22-year-old private. We weren't really friends-I wasn't really much into making friends anymore, not as long as this war still went on. No, we weren't really friends, but we talked sometimes.

"Stiles…." He began with a sigh, "What… what's the use of it all. I mean, really, neither side is gaining much of anything, either way, but everyone is losing." He shook his head.

I let out a small, almost unnoticeable sigh, though inwardly, I groaned immensely. But it wasn't his fault-he didn't know what I'd been through, had no idea of the innumerable times I'd had conversations almost identical to this one.

"Well Mark, wars have certainly proven the worst of mankind, that's for sure, but one thing I've noticed too, is that hard times like this also have way of bringing out the best in folks. For example, just before I came here, (actually it had been several months earlier, but…) I was on my way to a small town called Nole Heights, near the Canadian border. Now, Nole was an American town, and when I got within a day of it, I saw a couch approaching. I asked if I could have a ride. The man said sure, but he was in a hurry. It turned out he was carrying a wounded British soldier into town to receive medical attention, even though the man was an American."

This surprised Mark quite a bit. I thought he was about to say something, but then in walked the commanding officer, telling me it was time for me to take watch on the eastern wall. It was chilly and misty out, as the spring sky awaited the coming of dawn. The fort was built about 40 yards from the shore, high up on a rocky embankment; as I listened to the sloshing waves on the beach far below, I withdrew my telescope from within my long, black coat. I peered out across the deep, dark expanse of space that stretch far over to the lands in Europe. I don't know what I thought I would be able to see, for as view reached the horizon, it all just sort of meshed together into a bluish black….thing. Still, this was a very important job; the British Navy could attack at any time. I passed back and forth a few times, and then started quietly whistling a tune. After a few more minutes, the deep, black, darkness began to fade into a bluish grey as morning approached. I stopped and once again got out my telescope, scanning the horizon for any signs of peculiarity.

Then, I saw it, far off on the horizon. At first, I thought it might be a whale, or maybe a dolphin. I kept watching, and sure enough, it was a ship, but I still needed to wait to find out WHO'S. About another half hour later, the ship had come close enough to distinguish the British flag, flapping on top. I immediately went to signal the captain. We got everyone on low-level alert, but had to simply wait until the ship got close enough before we could do anything. I hate waiting, so much, especially in a case like this. Soon the sun came up, and still the ship continued gradually drifting closer. Several hours later, at about 10:00, another ship started approaching from the Southeast. After closer inspection, I noticed it 

was an American ship. I was both glad and deeply disappointed, and I think many of the men shared that sentiment.

By noon, the American ship had closed in on the British one, and the two vessels engaged each other in combat. For a long time, the two of them were locked in a stalemate, and all we could do was watch helplessly. Eventually, however, the British ship started gaining headway on ours. The Americans started trying to route the British towards the shore so that we could assist them, but it was no use. Within a couple more hours, the American ship had been set on fire. A short time later, both armies were on their way towards the beach. We all got down into boats and started rowing out towards the battle. It was a man-to-man fight out in the water in the boats. I was forced to row in the boat I was in, as they still didn't trust me well enough to put me as the main gunner. As we got closer, a stray bullet grazed my hand. I tried to make sure no one noticed, so that they wouldn't see the wound instantly heal up for no reason. Turned out I didn't need to though, since a few moments later, everyone in my boat was killed. I took the gunman's weapon and started trying to pick off British soldiers on nearby boats but since all the rowers were gone, I really had no way to get anywhere, though I did manage to pick off a few of them as they passed. Soon though, I just abandoned the gun and the boat and dove in with my sword. Swimming is always such a pain in the with a sword, but I went up to a few of the Brits and cut off some oars and even some hands. One man dove in for me and made me drop my sword. We struggled in the water for several minutes, until I finally snapped his neck. I dove down to tried to retrieve my sword-a really stupid move I know because: one, I would probably never be able to find it, and two, I made myself a perfect target for whoever felt like shooting me from above. Amazingly, I did manage to find my sword after only a few seconds, but received another shot in my left hand (the OTHER hand). By the time I came back up, many of the Boats had reached the shore and many of the soldiers were fighting on foot now. I quickly swam back to catch up and join the fight. When I got to the shallows, I immediately joined in the fighting, hacking away at opponents with my sword. I quickly found a man carrying a pistol. I hacked off his hand and caught it in my left one before finishing him off with a thrust to the gut. Now that I had a gun, I was able to do some real damage! I started killing of men with my sword in one hand and the gun in the other. At one point, I heard someone yell "STILES!!" I looked over to my left to see a man aiming a rifle right at my head, but just as he was about to fire, a huge wave came up and consumed him. I didn't want to take any chances, though. I quickly ran over with my sword and stabbed him through the back with my sword before he ever had a chance to rise.

By this point, though, the men from our fort started joining in the battle, and they must have realized that they had greatly underestimated us and had started to retreat right back the way they came. I wasn't ready to give them up yet, though, and I had a few things my fellow soldiers did not, like the ability to swim really really fast, and to stay underwater without coming up. So I dove under and swam till I caught up with one of the boats. I then held onto the underside as they rowed back towards the ship. Once the boat stopped, I waited a few minutes before coming up to try and climb on board, but I was immediately caught. I looked up to see several guns pointed straight towards my face.



"I don't know how in God's name you ever managed to get all the way out here, but you are bloody well lucky I don't blast your head off."

Ya know, at that point, I should have just told them to go ahead and shoot me. I would never see any of these guys again, and what's more, their guns probably could Not have blasted my head off anyway. So honestly, I don't know what I was thinking at that point, maybe I was still just THAT bent on getting at these guys that I wasn't thinking.

Well, at any rate, I allowed myself to be captured, and soon realized that I was not the only American prisoner aboard this ship. I was thrown into the holding cell with twelve other Americans. It was never a good fate to become a prisoner of war onboard a naval ship, as everyone knew that sooner or later you would probably just end up drowning. Still, these guys didn't realize who they actually were with! As Autolycus, legendary thief extraordinaire, there wasn't a lock built that I hadn't picked, a safe that I hadn't cracked, I had escaped from some of the stickiest situations known to man. Only problem this time was, even if I DID break us all out of there, these guys would all probably drown before we reached land. So, all there was to do was lay low for now and wait for a chance to come along. Unfortunately, it took a lot longer than I expected it to. In mid August, after I was getting totally sick of being in there, can't imagine how the other guys must of felt, we started sailing up Chesapeake Bay. After two more days, we heard the sounds of a battle going on. I realized this was our chance. I quickly went and picked the lock to let us out.

"Ok guys," I said, "as soon as we get out of here, just run directly towards the side of the ship and dive in. Swim like your life depends on it, because it does-until you get to shore!" With that they all dashed out, me bringing up the rear. On my way across the deck, I managed to swipe a small handgun and a knife from one of the British soldiers, though I did have to knock him out to avoid being caught.

Half an hour later, I reached shore, and within an hour, we had regrouped and we decided to leave. We continued following the water line in the direction that I thought was North.

"Does anyone have a clue where the Hell we are!?" one of the men named Paul asked as we continued walking."

"I'm not sure," I replied, "but I was pretty sure I heard them say we were going up into Chesapeake Bay. At any rate, I think it would be better to get there before they do, wherever "THERE" is…"

We walked all day, until, by nightfall, we saw a glimmer of fire.

"You guys stay here," I advised.

I crept up slowly and carefully towards the small, wooden cottage. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't quietly enough. A big dog came running out of the house, and tried to attack me, but I soon fired off a shot from my gun, scaring him away. However, the shot had clearly awoken the owner who burst 

through the door, firing off his rifle as he did. Fortunately, I had prepared myself and had ducked beside the door just before he came out. I attacked him, disarming him of his weapon and threatening his neck with my knife.

"Now look, buddy, I am really sorry about all this, but I just want a few things from you, ok. First, I want to know Where we are!? What's the nearest big city?"

"D-DC! The capital, it's just 20 miles west, and a little bit north of here!"

"Good, now, secondly, what is the date!?"

"I, I don't know really-HONEST! I don't go into towns much, but I think it's about August."

"One last thing, do you have any extra food? I have eight men out there, and we are all starving. I promise, you will be reimbursed, I SWEAR!"

He gave me a little bit of food, hardly enough to sustain eight people, but I didn't eat any of mine. We stopped to rest that night for just a couple of hours, and then marched on, nonstop, until we reached Washington, having no idea just how LATE we were…