Miles allowed three days for the crew to become acquainted with each other, their new roles, and battle drills. Until then he gave firm instructions to avoid any ships that were sighted. He desired the crew to be prepared for their first true attempt to capture a prize, yet he also understood that the best preparation was battle itself. Therefore, on the fourth day, when a merchantman was spotted, Miles gave the order to approach it.

He was certain the crew was eager for a fight, but the ship gave none. He quickly determined it was because the ship had only four guns and they were in poor condition, something he was certain would be remedied by the ship's owners if they possessed other ships they did not wish to lose.

Miles gave command of the boarding party to Asher, having the most experience, and they all handled themselves and the situation quite well, even without a fight. He would need to commend them later for not being too excited and encouraging a fight when there wasn't one being offered. Though, he was interested in testing them when there truly was a battle at hand. 

The prize's crew was small and quite skeptical of Miles from the moment he stepped onto the deck of the ship.

"Is it truly such a war that warrants privateers?" the captain, a man named Lawry, asked. "I had no warning of such a thing. You wouldn't be taking advantage of a difficult situation, would you?"

Miles was amused by his tone. "I am. Quite literally I might add. It is a true war and my letter of marque is quite legitimate."

The cargo was mostly household goods. While not the most valuable of cargoes, when Miles thought of the city of Boston and the need for every household to replace even the most basic of goods, he knew they would make some profit.

He also discovered, with some amusement, that there was no shot or powder on the ship for the four poorly-maintained guns. Certainly the owners would regret such negligence.

Once the ship, called the Valor, and its crew were secured, Miles selected a crew under Clark's command to sail it and watch over the prisoners. The Scot then began to sail as the prize's escort to Boston. He hoped it would prevent other ships from seizing the Valor, as well as deter any attempt by the prisoners to retake their ship. Miles ordered the crew remaining on the Scot to keep a watch over the Valor to take notice of any such attempts. 

"We're escorting her to Boston?" Asher asked as the orders were being followed.

"We are," Miles replied. "I decided my father's policy was the best to follow. He only began escorting each prize when he lost too many on their way into port. Remaining with the prizes allows us to better defend against others taking the prize from us. We may still lose her to the navy if we get too close to a fleet, but other privateers will be less likely to attempt to take her themselves."

Asher nodded. "I recall when that rotten captain from Virginia snatched one of our prizes then and claimed it for his own. How did the courts ever rule on that?"

Miles thought back. "I don't recall my father ever telling me. He may have given up the battle with the court in the end. The prize wasn't worth much, from what I recall. He was more irritated that the crew were kept as prisoners and only a few of them returned afterward. Escorting prizes also reduces our risk of losing too many of our crew were that to happen. If we take three prizes and send them ahead with small crews, and all three are taken, we will lose many more members of our crew than we would in losing a prize we are escorting."

"So long as we are not also taken," Asher added.

"Indeed," Miles said with a nod.

"Perhaps you aren't mad after all," Asher said with a chuckle. "Your plan appears sound from my viewpoint and you've captured us two excellent first prizes with little effort."

Miles smiled. "Tell your boarding party they did quite well keeping themselves in line. I expected someone would become overly excited and shoot someone."

Asher chuckled again. "As did I. Hopefully things always go so smoothly."

At that moment another ship was sighted in the distance, one that must have approached while they had been distracted with the first prize. Miles retrieved his spyglass and was able to determine that it was another merchantman, one that was perhaps a bit larger.

"We will soon find out if things will continue as smoothly," he told Asher, then gave the order to make for the ship. "We have some time before we reach her. Change the watches for now, until we draw nearer and can prepare for a possible battle."

Asher nodded. "I'm sure few will rest knowing another prize will soon be within reach, but they'll learn."

This second prize was indeed larger than the first, and was armed with a dozen guns. In the dusk light Miles could see the crew preparing those guns as McFadden played the Scot's call to arms for formality's sake. This captain certainly had more knowledge of the war at hand and was more prepared to give battle than the first ship's captain had been that morning. He knew that the striped flag flying over the Scot's stern meant danger to their trade.

The prize fired first, but only one of the six shots of its broadside hit the Scot. The ball made a small dent between two gunports but did no more damage. The other five shots fell short and splashed harmlessly into the sea. Miles ordered a rolling broadside fired, and most of the shots appeared to make contact with the merchantman.

Miles didn't want to damage the prize ship too severely, yet the ship clearly had no intention of surrendering. Judging by the sails, Miles knew they were trying to run. He ordered the Scot moved into position to rake the ship from the stern. The ships had closed in enough that those in the tops on the Scot were firing muskets and rifles into the crew of the merchant ship, doubtless wounding several of them.

Still, Miles held the gun crew in readiness, but didn't give the order to fire again. The prize had turned away enough to make its own broadsides useless, but two stern chasers soon fired at the Scot. From the quarterdeck Miles saw two of his crew fall wounded. Still, he held their fire until their position was most effective. Only then did he order three guns fired at the stern of the prize ship.

One of the stern chasers was rendered useless. The mizzenmast shuddered visibly with the loss of parts of its rigging. Moments later, the crew lowered the flag, furled the sails, and surrendered, just as the sunlight faded completely into night.

The ship was called the Youth and it was another ship full of household goods, but these ones were of higher quality and worth more – though some had been damaged in the fight. There was fine china and porcelain, silver plate, even silks and other fine fabrics. Certainly luxuries that would be desired to retain a sense of normalcy in a time of war.

The captain was irritated by the loss of his cargo, and muttered repeatedly about "damned rebels." The crew said they'd only fought to uphold the captain's honor, as he had demanded it. Several of them asked to join the privateer. Miles knew he needed to add to the crew, so after speaking to each of those candidates for several minutes, he allowed five of them to join from the prize's crew of thirty. This irritated the captain even more. 

Miles considered that he already had one prize to escort to Boston and few sailors to spare to sail the Youth and watch over the prisoners who seemed more likely to cause difficulties than those on the first ship. As the second prize was damaged and would need repairs before or after it was sold, likely reducing its value, Miles chose to allow the ship and its crew to go on their way – without their cargo or the crewmen who wished to join the Scot. He would take the opportunity to determine how seriously the issue of breaking bulk, or not returning a prize in full with cargo and ship brought to port together, would be taken by the court in Boston. Such leniency had been seen before, though rarely discussed openly. He didn't believe Mr. Finley would be all that opposed to smoothing the way if needed. 

Surprisingly, being permitted to leave with his ship seemed to also increase the captain's anger at his situation. When Miles asked if he needed anything in order to make repairs before sailing on, he briefly believed the captain would strike him.

Miles was grateful to learn the two crew members he'd seen fall were not too terribly wounded. Thayer saw to them the moment they took the prize and assured Miles they were unlikely to die. Miles knew he would lose some members from his crew soon enough, but he was happy to know that wouldn't happen quite yet.

"You all did exceedingly well for your first two engagements," Miles told the crew as they sailed away from the prize and rejoined the Valor, which had remained just beyond the battle. "I am quite satisfied with all of you. You conducted yourselves as truly brave and true privateersmen. You showed courage and restraint both. I propose we return these goods to Boston and earn our pay, then seek more. What say you?"

The crew enthusiastically agreed, cheering and hooting. Miles grinned.

"Very well. I believe you each deserve an extra ration of alcohol tonight, but mind your watches. We don't need the navy finding their stolen ship full of drunk Americans who can't fight for themselves."

That received another round of cheers, laughter, and hoots of celebration.