"But the leaders will be hanged."
"So let it be."
"Can you face the thought of death like that?"
"I can, for my country will be saved from a serfdom which no self-respecting nation should submit to."
"If—mind, I say if, for I do not think there is the remotest chance—but if the colonies were successful, what could they do for you? I suppose you might be a governor, or something like that, with no salary to speak of, while if you had remained loyal to your king you might have a chance——"
"Of being snubbed, insulted and laughed at."
Delaplace smiled. He had learned the cause of Arnold's action in joining the colonists—it was disappointed ambition. Could he play on that and win over Arnold? If so, then he would regain the fort, and that by treachery; but what of that? Would not the result justify the means?
"My dear general"—Arnold smiled at the title—"if anyone insulted or snubbed you it was through a misunderstanding. Tell me about it, and I think all can be rectified."
"It is too late."
"Not so; it is never too late for a great nation to rectify a wrong done to even the humblest of its subjects, let alone a man of such undoubted courage and rectitude as Gen. Arnold."