sir? I think you say that you came from a British
colonel, who is commander of the army that invests this fort; and, by
your uniform, you appear to be an officer in the British service. You
have made a long speech on the occasion of your visit, which, stripped
of all its superfluities, amounts to this: that you come from a British
colonel to the commandant of this garrison, to tell him that, if he does
not deliver up the garrison into the hands of your colonel, he will send
his Indians to murder our women and children. You will please to
reflect, sir, that their blood will be upon your heads, not upon ours.
We are doing our duty; this garrison is committed to our care, and we
will take care of it. After you get out of it, you may turn round and
look at its outside, but never expect to come in again unless you come a
prisoner. I consider the message you have brought a degrading one for a
British officer to send, and by no means reputable for a British officer
to carry. For my own part, I declare, before I would consent to deliver
this garrison to such a murdering set as your army, by your own account,
consists of, I would suffer my body to be filled with splinters and set
on fire, as you know has at times been practiced by such hordes of women
and children killers as belong to your army.'"

"Good!" said Walter; "and the other two American officers, I suppose,
agreed with him."

"Yes," Captain Raymond replied, "and they all felt satisfied that they
would not be so urgently pressed to surrender at once, and on conditions
so favorable, if their prospects were as dark as their besiegers would
have them believe."

CHAPTER VI.

"ST. LEGER made another effort to induce them to do so," continued
Captain Raymond. "On the 9th he sent a written demand offering about the
same terms as before.

"Gansevoort replied in writing: 'Sir, your letter of this date I have
received, in answer to which I say, that it is my determined resolution,
with the force under my command, to defend this fort to the last
extremity, in behalf of the United States, who have placed me here to
defend it against all their enemies.'"

"Did the British give it up then, papa?" asked Grace.

"No; they began digging and making preparations to run a mine under the
strongest bastion of the fort, while at the same time they sent out an
address to the people of Tryon County, signed by Clause, Johnson, and
Butler, urging them to submit to British rule, as