Mr. Arnold: A romance of the Revolution

IF THERE were nothing else to recall the day and date, December 14, 1780, I should still be able to name it because it chanced to be my twenty-second birthday, and Jack Pettus,...

“This sergeant posed as a deserter only for the better concealment of his purpose; he went upon this very errand we are speaking of. He is in New York now, and is not only unabl...

“Now, sir, who the devil are you, and what are you doing here?” were his shot-like questions, when my craft had been passed back to the long-boat which served as the flag-ship o...

“Like many another who knows you even less well than I do, Mr. Arnold, I owe you a debt of gratitude. But for your courageous example, not a few men who are now faithfully servi...

“I am sure it would,” I agreed brazenly. But I immediately took the edge off by adding: “For the king’s cause, of course. Mr. Arnold has his abilities; no one will deny that. Bu...

Beatrix had fled before he finished, and afterward he straightened up and looked me over with searchings that seemed to read my inmost thoughts. But his words belied his apparen...

None the less, we sought and searched, as those who have lost their all, using the time recklessly in exploring every stretch of woodland we could locate in the darkness, and ev...

Notwithstanding, some inkling of this was beginning to dawn on me, and like a voice out of the air Colonel Hamilton’s words came back to me “--But to go as you must go, and use...

There was no help save in a stout lie quickly told; and even this might have disastrous after-consequences if the major should come ashore later on and follow it up.

“Oh, no,” I said. “You may go up to my room and see the gentleman’s castoff clothes, if you wish--though they are not over-pretty to look at. In fact you may have everything but...

“Not to-day, Captain Dick; it is not my day for visiting Sir Henry Clinton; nor did I mean that it should be Mr. James Askew’s, either. But by this time I saw that I could not f...

“You seem to be,” I muttered grimly. “But there is a point beyond which the traditions do not run. Setting aside the instinct of self-preservation--which is stronger than any bl...

After that, we left nothing untried for the time we had at our disposal. The walls were carefully sounded, stone by stone, the straw on the floor was swept aside and the flaggin...

“Make a complete soldier of yourself, now, Sergeant, and follow two steps behind me. We shall pace a sentry-beat up and down before the house from this on, until Arnold returns...

“We could do nothing in the fog, and we landed, a little way from the fort, and came here to mount guard. Now for the confirmation of all this fairy tale, General: the groggery-...

It was still early in the evening when Arnold came down to us, treading the stair so lightly that his appearance was all but a surprise. His brow was clouded, but there was a du...

“I would have undertaken to move Sir Henry’s army in the mass to serve you, dear,” I replied. Then I rehearsed the simple details again, so there might be no misunderstanding. “...

Now you may scoff, if you will, but this discovery, the clinching of the nail, as you may say, hurt me unspeakably for the moment. Deny it as we may, we do all live more or less...

I don’t know what might have come of this request if Seytoun had held his peace. The British officers of Sir Henry Clinton’s military family were great sticklers for the point o...

This was sufficiently discouraging, since it indicated that the old sally-port through the powder-room to the outworks had been sealed up at both ends. How thick the outer barri...