"What can I do?"
Stanton suddenly sprang from his seat and confronted the shivering old man.
"I'll tell you what you can not do!"
The President gasped for breath and listened helplessly.
"You can't yield that fort to the conspirators who demand it. Dare to do it, and I tell you, as the Attorney General of the United States, you are guilty of high treason—and by the living God you should be hung!"
The venerable Secretary of the Navy, Isaac Toucey, lifted his hand in protest. Stanton merely threw him a look of scorn, and shouted into the President's face:
"Your act could no more be defended than Benedict Arnold's!"
"And what say you, Holt?" the President asked, turning to his heavy-jawed Secretary of War.
"Send a ship to the relief of Sumter within twenty-four hours, and let South Carolina take the consequences—"
"Good!" Stanton cried.