one bad. When the British in Philadelphia heard that the French were
coming to help the Americans, they were afraid they might be caught in a
trap. So they left in great haste and marched for New York. Washington
followed and fought a battle with them, but they got away. After that
Washington's army laid siege to New York, as it had formerly done to
Boston.

That was the good thing. The bad thing was this. General Benedict
Arnold, who had defeated St. Leger and his Indians, and who was one of
the bravest of the American officers, turned traitor to his country. He
had charge of West Point, a strong fort on the Hudson River, and tried
to give this up to the British. But he was found out and had to flee for
his life. Major Andre, a British officer, who had been sent to talk with
Arnold, was caught by three American scouts on his way back to New York.
They searched him for papers, and found what they wanted hidden in his
boot. Poor Andre was hung for a spy, but the traitor Arnold escaped. But
he was hated by the Americans and despised by the British, and twenty
years afterwards he died in shame and remorse.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] All the accounts agree that Colonel Stark spoke of his wife as
"Molly Stark." But it has been found that his wife's name was Elizabeth;
so he may have said "Betty Stark."

CHAPTER XIII

PAUL JONES, THE NAVAL HERO OF THE REVOLUTION

WE are justly proud of our great war-ships, with their strong steel
sides and their mighty guns, each of which can hurl a cannon-ball miles
and miles away. And such balls! Why, one of them is as heavy as a dozen
of you tied together, and can bore a hole through a plate of solid steel
as thick as your bodies.

Such ships and such guns as these had not been dreamed of in the days of
the Revolution. Then there were only small wooden vessels, moved by
sails instead of steam, and a cannon-ball that weighed twenty-four
pounds was thought very heavy. Six and twelve-pound balls were common.
And to hit a ship a mile away! It was not to be thought of. I tell you,
in those days ships had to fight nearly side by side and men to fight
face to face. To be a mile away was as good as being a hundred miles.

But for all this there was some hard fighting done at sea in the
Revolutionary War, in spite of the small ships and little guns. They
fought closer together, that was all. Boast as we may about the
wonderful work done by our ships at Santiago and Manila in the Spanish
War