by "Mad Anthony Wayne" was
one of the most brilliant battles of the war.

[Illustration: THE ONLY THING WAYNE WAS AFRAID OF.]

Learning the countersign from a negro who sold strawberries to the
British, the troops passed the guard over the bridge that covered the
marsh, and, gagging the worthy inside guard, they marched up the hill
with fixed bayonets and fixed the enemy to the number of six hundred.

The countersign was, "The fort is won," and so it was, in less time than
it takes to ejaculate the word "scat!" Wayne was wounded at the outset,
but was carried up the hill in command, with a bandage tied about his
head. He was a brave man, and never knew in battle what fear was. Yet,
strange to say, a bat in his bed would make him start up and turn pale.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION.

The atrocities introduced into this country by the Tories and Indians
caused General Sullivan to go out against the measly enemy, whip him
near Elmira, and destroy the fields of corn and villages in the Genesee
country, where the Indian women were engaged in farming while their
men-folks attended to the massacre industry.

The weak point with the Americans seemed to be lack of a suitable navy.
A navy costs money, and the Colonists were poor. In 1775 they fitted out
several swift sailing-vessels, which did good service. Inside of five
years they captured over five hundred ships, cruised among the British
isles, and it is reported that they captured war-vessels that were tied
to the English wharves.

[Illustration: GENERAL GATES'S PROPER CAREER.]

Paul Jones had a method of running his vessel alongside the enemy's,
lashing the two together, and then having it out with the crew,
generally winning in a canter. His idea in lashing the two ships
together was to have one good ship to ride home on. Generally it was the
one he captured, while his own, which was rotten, was allowed to go
down. This was especially the case in the fight between the Richard and
the Serapis, September 23, 1779.

In 1780 the war was renewed in South Carolina. Charleston, after a forty
days' siege, was forced to surrender. Gates now took charge of the
South, and also gave a sprinting exhibition at Camden, where he was
almost wiped off the face of the earth. He had only two troops left at
the close of the battle, and they could not keep up with Gates in the
retreat. This battle and the retreat overheated Gates and sowed the
seeds of heart-