While the ships were lurching, one of the enemy's anchors caught the quarter of the Richard and the two held fast, thenceforward fighting side by side. They were so close indeed that the Serapis could not open her starboard ports, and the cannon were fired through the port-lids, which were blown off; but the main deck of the Richard was so high that the broadsides of the enemy injured no one, though they did great damage to the vessel. This tremendous battle lasted for two hours, the muzzles of the guns scraping one another, and the cannon being discharged as fast as they could be loaded. The Richard was soon shattered to that extent that she began sinking. Fire broke out repeatedly on both vessels, and finally Jones was able to work only three of his guns. At this crisis, he found that his consort, the Alliance, Captain Landais, was firing into him as well as the Serapis; but not heeding him, he continued his battle with the Serapis, whose sailors fought as bravely as his own.

The fearful struggle was decided by a sailor in the rigging of the Richard, who was engaged in throwing hand-grenades on the deck of the Serapis. One of these dropped into the hatchway and exploded a mass of eighteen-pound cartridges, which killed twenty and wounded twice as many more. Captain Pearson placed himself at the head of his boarders and made a rush for the deck of the Richard. Jones, leading his own men, drove them back. The explosion of the grenades silenced the main battery of the Serapis, and Captain Pearson himself hauled down his colors, both crews in the awful confusion believing for some minutes that it was the Richard that had surrendered.

When day dawned, the riddled Richard was settling fast, and Jones had barely time to remove his crew to the Serapis when his own vessel went down. Four-fifths of his men had been killed or wounded.

BRITISH CAPTAIN SURRENDERING
HIS SWORD TO PAUL JONES.

Investigation of the conduct of Captain Landais in firing into the Richard led to the conclusion that he was insane, and he was deprived of his command. Jones did no more special service for the Americans. For his unsurpassable achievement he received the thanks of Congress, and the king of France presented him with a gold sword. After the war he became a rear-admiral in the Russian navy, and died in Paris in 1792.

One of the saddest and most shocking events of the Revolution was the treason of Benedict Arnold, who had won a brilliant reputation for his bravery and generalship. He was quick-tempered, treacherous, and extravagant, and disliked by most of his men, despite his extraordinary daring. His first resentment against Congress was the failure of that body to make him one of the first five major-generals, in the face, too, of Washington's urgent recommendation for such promotion, which was made after Arnold's splendid services at Saratoga.

He was placed in command at Philadelphia, while recovering from the wounds received at Saratoga. He married a Tory lady, and his misconduct caused his trial by court-martial, which sentenced him to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief. Washington performed the unpleasant duty with delicacy, but its memory rankled and was increased by his anger against Congress for its refusal to allow his claims for expenses in the Canadian expedition. Influenced also, no doubt, by the Tory sentiments of his wife, he determined to take the step which has covered his name with everlasting infamy.

On the plea that his wounds were not yet healed, he induced Washington to place him in command at West Point, the most important post in the country and the principal depot of supplies. He opened a correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton at New York, and agreed for a stated sum of money and an appointment in the British army to surrender the post to a force which Clinton was to send against it. When a point in the negotiations was reached where it was necessary to send a trusted agent to meet Arnold, Clinton dispatched Major John André, who went up the Hudson in a sloop, and, September 22, 1780, met Arnold at the foot of Long Clove Mountain. Everything being agreed upon, André started to return to the sloop, but found that, owing to its having been fired upon by a party of Americans, it had dropped down stream. Obliged to make his way to New York by land, he assumed the dress of a civilian, and, furnished with a pass by Arnold, he set out on horseback.