with the rear division, crossed the lake and joined us.  The prisoners were secured and then we all took a hearty breakfast.  We had been up and on duty all night, and that, together with our success, made us enjoy that breakfast more than an every-day one.  Colonel Arnold again attempted to take the command of our men and the fort.  But none of us would obey his orders, and the Connecticut Committee said that Colonel Allen was the rightful commander, as the men were to be paid by Connecticut, and Massachusetts had furnished nothing for the enterprise, and Allen had been formally chosen.  Arnold was forced to yield; but he sent a statement of the matter to the Massachusetts Assembly.  That body confirmed Allen’s appointment and directed Arnold not to interfere.  On the day of the capture of Ticonderoga, Colonel Seth Warner, with a small body of our men, was sent to take possession of Crown Point.  But a tremendous storm arose, and Warner was compelled to put back and pass the night with us.  But the next day, he started and captured Crown Point without firing a shot.  You see the garrison only amounted to a serjeant and eleven men, and they didn’t expect an attack; so that Warner had only to come suddenly upon them, and make a bold show, and they surrendered.  More than one hundred cannon were taken at that place, and thus, you see, we had something to begin the war with.  Colonel Arnold gave up the idea of commanding at Ticonderoga, but he would command somewhere, and so he soon after undertook an expedition against St. John’s.  It appears to me, Arnold was very wrong in attempting to remove such a man as Allen from the command.  But I believe he was always thinking of himself alone.”

“I can’t agree with you, Ransom,” said Jonas Davenport.  “I think he was a selfish man in general; but I know he could be generous sometimes.  In that expedition to Canada, he helped his men whenever he could in the smallest matters, when many other commanders would have minded their own comfort alone.  Let us have justice done to every man.  I never liked Arnold as a man; but I think he was as good a soldier and general as I ever knew.”

“Certainly as good a soldier,” said Kinnison.

“His generalship,” said Pitts, “never had much play.  As far as he had the chance, he proved that he had the skill and knowledge for planning military enterprises.”

“I preferred old Putnam to Arnold,” said John Warner.  “He was quite as daring, and a much better-hearted man.”

“Ay, a braver man than General Putnam never drew a blade,” said Kinnison.  “That man’s adventures would make as interestin’ a book as you’d wish to read.”

“I should like to hear some of them,” said Hand.

“You’ve heard of his great feat at Horseneck, I suppose,” said Jonas Davenport.

“Yes,” replied Hand, “and often wondered at it.”

PUTNAM’S ESCAPE.