"Ay, and our cry shall be," echoed Forest, "Liberty Freedom and Independence!"
CHAPTER XVI.
THE TEMPTATION.
Capt. Delaplace was fretful and soured by his defeat.
"If it had been in open fight," he said, "I should not have cared so much; but to be caught in a trap, it is enough to make a man kill himself."
He was speaking to Benedict Arnold, and that patriot was ready to listen almost gloatingly to the story.
Arnold was a peculiar man; he was kind and sympathetic, yet was ready to rejoice over the sufferings of the fallen.
Allen had asked Arnold to spend a portion of the day with the defeated officer, so that he might be more consoled, for company is always soothing.
Delaplace was a diplomat; he had imbibed the idea that every man had his price; in other words, that every man could be influenced for or against a cause by bribery in some form or other.