ake, to take the tiny post there and bring back boats
for the crossing on the 10th of May. Then Arnold turned
up with his colonel's commission, but without the four
hundred men it authorized him to raise. Allen, however,
had made himself a colonel too, with Warner as his
second-in-command. So there were no less than three
colonels for two hundred and thirty men. Arnold claimed
the command by virtue of his Massachusetts commission.
But the Green Mountain Boys declared they would follow
no colonels but their own; and so Arnold, after being
threatened with arrest, was appointed something like
chief of the staff, on the understanding that he would
make himself generally useful with the boats. This
appointment was made at dawn on the 10th of May, just as
the first eighty men were advancing to the attack after
crossing over under cover of night. The British sentry's
musket missed fire; whereupon he and the guard were
rushed, while the rest of the garrison were surprised in
their beds. Ethan Allen, who knew the fort thoroughly,
hammered on the commandant's door and summoned him to
surrender 'In the name of the Great Jehovah and the
Continental Congress!' The astonished commandant, seeing
that resistance was impossible, put on his dressing-gown
and paraded his disarmed garrison as prisoners of war.
Seth Warner presently arrived with the rest of Allen's
men and soon became the hero of Crown Point, which he
took with the whole of its thirteen men and a hundred
and thirteen cannon. Then Arnold had his own turn, in
command of an expedition against the sergeant's guard,
cannon, stores, fort, and sloop at St Johns on the
Richelieu, all of which he captured in the same absurdly
simple way. When he came sailing back the three victorious
commanders paraded all their men and fired off many
straggling fusillades of joy. In the meantime the
Continental Congress at Philadelphia, with a delightful
touch of unconscious humour, was gravely debating the
following resolution, which was passed on the 1st of
June: _That no Expedition or Incursion ought to be
undertaken or made, by any Colony or body of Colonists,
against or into Canada_.

The same Congress, however, found reasons enough for
changing its mind before the month of May was out. The
British forces in Canada had already begun to move towards
the threatened frontier. They had occupied and strengthened
St Johns. And the Americans were beginning to fear lest
the command of Lake Ch