Phelps soon after left the fort, hiring a boatman to take him down the lake in a small boat. He entered the boat in full view and under the guns of the fort. He requested the boatman to row hard that he might terminate the journey as soon as possible. The boatman then requested him to take an oar and assist. This Phelps declined to do, being in full sight of the fort, by saying he was no boatman, because as a peddler he would not usually know how to handle an oar.