nd Brigade and turned about and come back without speaking to any
one. Arnold was looking down as if absorbed in his own thoughts when
Merriwether passed him in the road. He did not return the latter's
salute. It was evident that the General had ridden away for the sole
purpose of being alone.

"I went back to my hut and sat down to try to find my way when suddenly
the General appeared at my door on his bay mare and asked me to take a
little ride with him. I mounted my horse and we rode out on the east
road together for half a mile or so.

"'I believe that my wife had some talk with you this morning,' he began.

"'Yes,' I answered.

"'A British officer has come up the river in a ship under a white flag
with a proposal regarding an exchange of prisoners. In my answer to
their request for a conference, some time ago, I enclosed a letter from
Mrs. Arnold to Miss Margaret Hare inviting her to come to our home
where she would find a hearty welcome and her lover--now an able and
most valued officer of the staff. A note received yesterday says that
Miss Hare is one of the party. We are glad to be able to do you this
little favor.'

"I thanked him.

"'I wish that you could go with me down the river to meet her in the
morning,' he said. 'But in my absence it will, of course, be necessary
for you to be on duty. Mrs. Arnold will go with me and we shall, I
hope, bring the young lady safely to head-quarters.'

"He was preoccupied. His face wore a serious look. There was a
melancholy note in his tone--I had observed that in other talks with
him--but it was a friendly tone. It tended to put my fears at rest.

"I asked the General what he thought of the prospects of our cause.

"'They are not promising,' he answered. 'The defeat of Gates in the
south and the scattering of his army in utter rout is not an
encouraging event.'

"'I think that we shall get along better now that the Gates bubble has
burst,' I answered."

This ends the testimony of "the able and most valued officer," Jack
Irons, Jr.

CHAPTER XXX

"WHO IS SHE THAT LOOKETH FORTH AS THE MORNING, FAIR AS THE MOON, CLEAR
AS THE SUN, AND TERRIBLE AS AN ARMY WITH BANNERS?"

The American army had been sold by Arnold. The noble ideal it had
cherished, the blood it had given, the bitter hardships it had
suffered--torture in the wilderness, famine in the Highlands, long
marches of half naked men in mid-winter, massacres at Wyoming and
Cherry Valle