or two hours,
the muzzles of the guns scraping one another, and the cannon being
discharged as fast as they could be loaded. The _Richard_ was soon
shattered to that extent that she began sinking. Fire broke out
repeatedly on both vessels, and finally Jones was able to work only
three of his guns. At this crisis, he found that his consort, the
_Alliance_, Captain Landais, was firing into him as well as the
_Serapis_; but not heeding him, he continued his battle with the
_Serapis_, whose sailors fought as bravely as his own.

The fearful struggle was decided by a sailor in the rigging of the
_Richard_, who was engaged in throwing hand-grenades on the deck of the
_Serapis_. One of these dropped into the hatchway and exploded a mass of
eighteen-pound cartridges, which killed twenty and wounded twice as many
more. Captain Pearson placed himself at the head of his boarders and
made a rush for the deck of the _Richard_. Jones, leading his own men,
drove them back. The explosion of the grenades silenced the main battery
of the _Serapis_, and Captain Pearson himself hauled down his colors,
both crews in the awful confusion believing for some minutes that it was
the _Richard_ that had surrendered.

When day dawned, the riddled _Richard_ was settling fast, and Jones had
barely time to remove his crew to the _Serapis_ when his own vessel went
down. Four-fifths of his men had been killed or wounded.

[Illustration: BRITISH CAPTAIN SURRENDERING HIS SWORD TO PAUL JONES.]

Investigation of the conduct of Captain Landais in firing into the
_Richard_ led to the conclusion that he was insane, and he was deprived
of his command. Jones did no more special service for the Americans. For
his unsurpassable achievement he received the thanks of Congress, and
the king of France presented him with a gold sword. After the war he
became a rear-admiral in the Russian navy, and died in Paris in 1792.

One of the saddest and most shocking events of the Revolution was the
treason of Benedict Arnold, who had won a brilliant reputation for his
bravery and generalship. He was quick-tempered, treacherous, and
extravagant, and disliked by most of his men, despite his extraordinary
daring. His first resentment against Congress was the failure of that
body to make him one of the first five major-generals, in the face, too,
of Washington's urgent recommendation for such promotion, which was made
after Arnold's splendid services at Saratoga.

He was plac