hen you don't think he is going home?" continued Putnam facetiously.

"Not yet, though I wish he might; then I would go home, too."

"But seriously, where do you think he is going?" urged Putnam.

"I fear that he is bound to New York, for that is a port more important
to him than even Boston." Washington spoke as if he were greatly
perplexed.

"Well," added Putnam in his resolute way, "if he is bound for New York
it won't do for us to be fooling about here long."

"No; and if I were certain that his destination were there, I should put
you in command of that post at once," said Washington. "Besides the
importance of the position to him, the large number of Tories in that
town is a great inducement for him to strike there. Governor Tryon has
been plotting something with them, and who knows but his appearance
there will be the signal for them to rise against their own country."

"Just like 'em," answered Putnam. "A man who will turn against his own
country ought to dangle at the end of a halter. With the British army
outside, and hundreds of traitors inside, New York will make a poor
show."

"There is no telling what a strong defence of the town can be made with
the Lord on our side. My hope is in the righteousness of our cause."

Washington called a council of war in his perplexity. He laid before his
military advisers his reasons for supposing that the foe, driven from
Boston, had sailed for New York.

"The English will be chagrined over their defeat here, after all their
boasting," said Washington, "and we may expect heavier blows in future
somewhere. The king will not suffer 'rebels' to remain unmolested. We do
well to expect that in future the king will concentrate the military
power of his government and hurl it upon us to bring us to terms."

It was finally determined to put General Putnam in command at New York,
and he was hurried away, with all the troops in Boston but five
regiments, and instructions to complete the fortifications commenced by
General Lee. Two or three months before, in consequence of the
appearance of a British fleet, under Clinton, in the harbor of New York,
and the secret plottings of Governor Tryon and the Tories, Washington
placed General Lee in command there. Lee at once arrested leading
Tories, and sent them to prison, threatening all the rest, in his fiery
way, with similar punishment if they continued to aid the enemy.
Governor Tryon fled to a British man-of-war in the harbor,