ntgomery was killed, the daring
Arnold fought in vain, and in the end the invading army was forced to
march back--all that was left of it.

As the Americans went back, Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander,
followed, and made his camp at St. John's, at the north end of Lake
Champlain. The nearest American post was at Crown Point, far down
towards the foot of the lake. Not far south of this, near the head of
Lake George, was the famous old French fort Ticonderoga, which Arnold
and Ethan Allen had captured from the British the year before. I tell
you all this that you may know how the land lay. A glance at a good map
will help.

I think it very likely that some of you may have visited those beautiful
lakes, and seen the towns and villages on their shores, the handsome
dwelling on their islands, and the broad roads along their banks;
everything gay and smiling.

If you had been there in 1776 you would have seen a very different
sight. Look right or left, east or west, nothing but a wilderness of
trees would have met your eyes. As for roads, I fancy an Indian trail
would have been the best to be found. And no man that wished to keep his
scalp on his head would have thought of living on island or shore.

The only good road southward was the liquid one made by nature, and this
road Carleton decided to take. He would build a strong fleet and carry
his army down the lake, while the Indians that came with him could
paddle downward in their canoes.

At this time there was not a vessel on the lakes, but Carleton worked
hard, and soon had such a fleet as these waters had never seen. Three
of his ships were built in England in such a way that they could be
taken to pieces, carried through the wilderness to St. John's, and there
put together again. The smaller vessels were built on the spot,
soldiers, sailors, and farmers all working on them.

It was well on in October before his task was finished. Then he had a
fleet of twenty-five vessels in all, twenty of them being gunboats, but
some of them quite large. Their crews numbered a thousand men, and they
carried eighty-nine cannon.

You may well suppose that the Americans knew what was going on, and that
they did not fold their hands and wait. That is not, and never was, the
American way. If the British could build, so could the Yankees, and
Benedict Arnold was ordered to build a fleet, and to have it ready for
fighting the British when it would be needed.

Arnold had been