minister. He had written letters to his sisters and to his betrothed,
but his cruel captors destroyed them before his eyes. That last was
done by William Cunningham--one of the most notoriously cruel Tories
of the war. He afterward gave as his reason for that act of cruelty
that he meant the rebels should never know they had a man who could
die with such firmness.

"As Hale mounted the scaffold he said,'You are shedding the blood of
the innocent; if I had a thousand lives I would lay them down in the
defence of my injured, bleeding country'; and his last words were, 'I
only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.'

"A country that may well remember him with love and pride," said
Grandma Elsie.

"Oh, what wicked, wicked things they do in war times!" sighed Little
Elsie.

"Yes," said her grandma; "war is itself a wicked thing: wholesale
murder--sometimes on both sides, always on one."

"When the folks on one side are fighting for freedom, that's right,
isn't it?" asked Eric.

"Yes; everyone not a criminal has a right to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness."

"Is it right to hang a man just for being a spy?" asked Ned.

"Not always, I'm sure," exclaimed Eric. "It wasn't right to hang
Nathan Hale, I'm sure, for he was a good man, and only doing what he
could to save his country."

"Very true," said his father; "and he is now one whose memory is
cherished and honored, while that of Cunningham--his cruel
executioner--is abhorred."

"I'd rather be entirely forgotten than remembered as a cruel, wicked
wretch!" exclaimed Eric.

"Yes; as any right-minded person would," said his father.

CHAPTER VIII.

Shortly after breakfast the next morning the whole party were on the
yacht, and it was speeding down the river. West Point was their first
halting-place. Some hours were spent there; they were just in time for
the battery drill; after that they climbed to the top of Mount
Independence, enjoyed the view, and visited the ruins of "Old Fort
Put"; came down, and then went back to their yacht, promising
themselves another and longer visit to West Point some days later.

The captain pointed out the sites of forts Montgomery and Clinton as
they passed, and told of their building by the Americans during the
War of the Revolution and their destruction by the British in 1777.

"As Lossing tells us," said Captain Raymond, "'They fell beneath one
heavy blow suddenl