nd plunder in Virginia. In one of
these raids a captain of the colonial army was taken prisoner.

"What will your people do with me if they catch me?" Arnold is said
to have asked his prisoner.

"They will cut off your leg that was shot at Quebec and Saratoga,"
said the plucky and witty officer, "and bury it with the honors of
war, and hang the rest of your body on a gibbet."

{19} This bold reply of the patriot soldier showed the hatred and the
contempt in which Arnold was held by all true Americans; it also
hints at an earlier fame which this strange and remarkable man had
won in fighting the battles of his country.

Now that war with the mother country had begun, an attack upon Canada
seemed to be an act of self-defense; for through the valley of the
St. Lawrence the colonies to the south could be invaded. The "back
door," as Canada was called, which was now open for such invasion,
must be tightly shut. In fact it was believed that Sir Guy Carleton,
the governor of Canada, was even now trying to get the Indians to
sweep down the valley of the Hudson, to harry the New England
frontier.

[Illustration: The Washington Elm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under
which Washington took Command]

Meanwhile, under the old elm in Cambridge, Washington had taken
command of the Continental army. Shortly afterwards he met Benedict
Arnold for the first time. The great Virginian found the young
officer a man after his own heart. Arnold was at this time captain of
the best-drilled and best-equipped company that the patriot army
could boast. {20} He had already proved himself a man of energy and
of rare personal bravery.

Before his meeting with Washington, Arnold had hurried spies into
Canada to find out the enemy's strength; and he had also sent Indians
with wampum, to make friends with the redskins along the St.
Lawrence. Some years before, he had been to Canada to buy horses; and
through his friends in Quebec and in Montreal he was now able to get
a great deal of information, which he promptly sent to Congress.

Congress voted to send out an expedition. An army was to enter Canada
by the way of the Kennebec and Chaudiere rivers; there to unite
forces with Montgomery, who had started from Ticonderoga; and then,
if possible, to surprise Quebec.

The patriot army of some eighteen thousand men was at this time
engaged in the siege of Boston. During the first week in September,
orders came to draft men for Quebec. For the purp