The Hero of Ticonderoga Part 33

"Why did you not consult me?"'

"It was not necessary."

"I am commander here."

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Allen."

Allen pa.s.sed over the insulting way in which Benedict Arnold addressed him, and very calmly replied:

"You came to me as a volunteer, and I accepted your services and those of your men."

"Quite true."

"Since when, then, have you been given the command?"

"It is time, Mr. Allen, that we should understand each other. I am a commissioned colonel. I bear that rank according to the laws of my colony, Connecticut. Moreover, I was commissioned a colonel by the Provincial a.s.sembly at Cambridge. You hold no rank except that given you by some farmers who have not even the right to elect a representative, but are only squatters on land belonging either to New Hampshire or New York. When the fort was captured it became a military necessity that some one should be in command who would have power to treat with the enemy, and, as you were only--well, a Green Mountain Boy, the command fell upon me."

"Indeed!"

"Yes, and I was thinking of asking you to retire, as your plebeian conduct with the men is apt to injure discipline, and so demoralize the small army."

"You are very considerate."

"It is my duty. I shall take care that your bravery shall be acknowledged."

"Thank you!"

"I must confess that for one who has had no military training you have behaved wonderfully well. The thanks of Connecticut will be awarded to you in due season, and I will see that whatever personal expense you may have been put to shall be reimbursed to you out of the amount voted by the a.s.sembly."

"And I suppose you wish the Green Mountain Boys to leave the same time you desire me to go?"

"No, we have need of men. I shall call them all together and ask them to volunteer as soldiers in the new Continental army, and the officers shall retain the rank they hold at present."

"You have developed the plan very fully."

"Yes, and believe me, Mr. Allen, that I only wish that I could ask you to volunteer; you see yourself that it would be impossible."

"Yes, it would."

"Having been the commander, it would be humiliating for you to accept a lower rank, and besides, the men might think you had a right to give general orders, and thus there would be confusion."

"You are right."

"When can you be ready to leave?"

"I do not know."

"What do you say to the first of June?"

"It depends."

"On what? I will give you an escort."

"When I leave I will arrange for my own escort, should I need one. But it was not of that I was thinking."

"Of what, then?"

"The return of the messengers from New Haven."

"That need not bother you. The report will be made to me, as commanding officer."

"Will it?"

"Certainly, so you can arrange to leave on the first of the month."

"Thank you."

"That is settled, then?"

"Is it?"

"Yes. I am very glad, for I have had a very unpleasant task."

Allen had remained so calm that Arnold was deceived.

He staggered like a drunken man when Allen turned on him, and, in tones which could not be misunderstood, said:

"I have heard all you have to say, and I now tell you that in the name of the Great Jehovah I shall remain here as long as I please, or until the general of the Continental Congress removes me, and, what is more, I shall remain in command, and if you dare to interfere with me or my command, by the Great Jehovah I will send you to Philadelphia in irons!

You are removed from all responsibility until further orders. Go, or I may forget myself!"

CHAPTER XIX.

NEWS FROM BOSTON.

Benedict Arnold had found his master.

This man, whose ambition was colossal, had imagined that the Green Mountain farmer would quail before him and surrender the command.

Arnold's ambition was plausible. What could a farmer know of military affairs? True, Arnold had been a merchant, but then he had studied at Yale and had made military subjects his special forte, and he had been complimented by soldiers of high repute.

Then, had not the English Capt. Delaplace told him he should be a general, and if he remained with the colonies he should have the command of all the forces the young nation could put into the field?

All this had made him believe himself a great man.

But he had encountered a greater.