out of the door, he saw the guards running in every
direction, with dragoons chasing them.

What all this meant, nobody knew at first; and Wilkinson supposed that
it was merely a band of marauders of the British army, who were making
a raid into the country to get what they could in the way of plunder.
It was not long before this was found to be a great mistake; for the
officer in command of the dragoons called from the outside, and demanded
that General Lee should surrender himself, and that, if he did not do so
in five minutes, the house would be set on fire.

Now, it was plain to everybody that the British had heard of the
leisurely advance of this American general, and that he had left his
command and come to Basking Ridge to take his ease at an inn, and so
they had sent a detachment to capture him. Soon the women of the house
came to General Lee, and urged him to hide himself under a feather bed.
They declared that they would cover him up so that nobody would suspect
that he was in the bed; then they would tell the soldiers that he was
not there, and that they might come and search the house if they chose.

But although Lee was a jealous man and a hasty man, he had a soul above
such behavior as this, and would not hide himself in a feather bed; but,
as there was no honorable way of escape, he boldly came forward and
surrendered himself.

The British gave him no time to make any preparations for departure.
They did not know but that his army might be on the way to Basking
Ridge; and the sooner they were off, the better. So they made him jump
on Major Wilkinson's horse, which was tied by the door; and in his
slippers and dressing gown, and without a hat, this bold soldier of
wide experience, who thought he should be commander in chief of the
American army, was hurried away at full gallop. He was taken to New
York, where he was put into prison. It is said that Lee plotted against
America during his imprisonment; but General Washington did not know
that, and used every exertion to have him exchanged, so that his
aspiring rival soon again joined the American army.

But his misfortune had no good effect upon General Charles Lee, who came
back to his command with as high an opinion of himself, and as low an
opinion of certain other people, as he had had when he involuntarily
left it. It was some time after this, at the battle of Monmouth Court
House, that Charles Lee showed what sort of a man he really was. He had
no