g says," remarked Grandma Elsie, "'The great difficulty was
overcome by a power mightier than that of man. Our fathers were fighting
for God-given rights and it was by his help they at last succeeded.'"

"What's the rest of the story?" asked Walter. "How did Washington and
his army slip away without the British seeing them? For I suppose they
had sentinels awake and out."

"Washington had a number of camp fires lighted along his front," replied
Harold, to whom the question seemed to be addressed, "making them of the
fences near at hand. That made the British think he was encamped for the
night, and Cornwallis, when some one urged him to make an attack that
night, said he would certainly 'catch the fox in the morning.' The fox,
of course, was Washington, but he didn't catch him. It was not till dawn
he discovered that the fox had eluded him and slipped away, fleeing so
silently that the British did not know in what direction he had gone
till they heard the boom of the cannon in the fight here.

"Cornwallis thought it was thunder, but Sir William Erskine recognized
it as what it was and exclaimed, 'To arms, General! Washington has
outgeneraled us. Let us fly to the rescue at Princeton.'"

"How long did the battle last?" queried Walter.

"The fight right here lasted about fifteen minutes, but was very
severe," replied his brother. "Then Washington pushed on to Princeton,
and in a ravine near the college had another sharp fight with the
Fifty-fifth British regiment."

"And whipped them too?"

"Yes; they were soon flying toward Brunswick, the Fortieth regiment
going along with them.

"A part of a regiment was still in the college buildings, and Washington
had some cannon placed in proper position, then began firing on them.
One of the balls--it is said to have been the first--passed into the
chapel and through the head of a portrait of George the Second that hung
in a large frame on the wall. A few more shots were fired, and then the
Princeton militia, and some other daring fellows, burst open a door of
Nassau Hall and called upon the troops there to surrender, which they
did promptly."

"And Cornwallis had not reached there yet?" Walter said interrogatively.

"No," returned Harold, "and when he did arrive he found that the battle
was over, and Washington, with his victorious troops and prisoners, had
already left the town and was in hot pursuit of the fleeing Fortieth and
Fifty-fifth regiments."

"And our poor