swered a voice.

"Very well, indeed! We have now only to wait for the guns. But,
gentlemen, I have just heard that Ewing made no attempt to cross, and
that Cadwalader, having tried it, failed. He could get his men over,
but no horses and guns, on account of the ice on the bank, and
therefore he returned, and we are here alone. What, think you, is to
be done now?"

There was a moment's silence.

"Perhaps we would better recross and try it again on a more favorable
night," finally said De Fermoy, in his broken accents.

"Yes, yes, that might be well," said one or two others, simultaneously.
The most of them, however, said nothing. The general waited a moment,
looking about him.

"Gentlemen, it is too late to retreat. I promised myself I would not
return without a fight, and I intend to keep that promise. We will
carry out the plan ourselves, as much of it at least as we can. I
trust Putnam got Griffin off, and that his skirmishers may draw out Von
Donop. But be that as it may, we will have a dash at Trenton, and try
to bag the game, and get away before the enemy can fall upon us in
force. General Greene, you, of course have sent out pickets?"

"Yes, sir, the first men who crossed over, a mile up the road, on the
hill yonder."

"Good! Ha, what was that? Snow, as I live, and the moon 's gone, too!
How dark it has grown! I think you might allow the men to light fires
in those hollows, and let them move about a little; they will freeze to
death standing still--I wonder they don't, anyway. How unfortunate is
this snow!"

"Beg pardon, your excellency?" said the first of the two messengers.

"What is it, man? Speak out!"

"Can we stay here and take part in your attack, sir?"

"Certainly you may. Fall in with the men there. Where are your
horses?"

"We left them on the other side, sir."

"Well, they will have to stay there for this time, and you 'll have to
go on foot with the rest."

"Thank you, sir," said the men, eagerly, darting off in the darkness.

"That's a proper spirit, isn't it? Well, to your stations, gentlemen!
We have nothing to do now but wait. Don't allow the men to lie down or
to sleep, on any account."

And wait they did, for four long hours, the general sitting motionless
and silent on his horse, wrapped in his heavy cloak, unheeding, alike,
the whirling snow or the cutting sleet of the storm, which grew fiercer
every moment. He strained his eyes out into the blackness of