“I thought General Arnold was with Gates,” said the officer.
“Oh, they quarreled,” I replied airily, which was the truth, “and General Arnold, being relieved of his command up there, has come down here to fight this battery. You have seen for yourself that he knows how to do it.”
“It is true,” he said, “your fire was very warm.”
He looked up at the battery, but I would not let him come within fifty feet of the shore, and he could see nothing save the earthworks and some of the gun muzzles.
“It can be made warmer,” I said confidently, not boastingly.
“I have come to summon you to surrender,” he said. “We will offer you good terms.”
“Surrender!” I laughed in scorn. “Why, my dear captain, you have made no impression upon us yet, while we have scarred your ships a bit.”
“That is a fact,” he said. “You have handled your eighteen-pounders well.”
“Twenty-four pounders,” I corrected.