"Just then the old General (who'd been listening with his eyes wide open) asked what all this meant; and when we told him he faces round on Masterton and says, quite angry like, 'Why didn't you tell me all this before?'
"'How could I?' says Masterton; ''twould be blowing my own trumpet.'
"'Well,' says the General, 'I'll blow it for you, and pretty loud, too. You shall have the Victoria Cross for this, my boy, as sure as my name's Richard S——.'
"And so he did have it, sure enough; and if you can find me any man that deserves it better, why, I'll be werry glad to see him, that's all."
[Begun in Harper's Young People No. 53, November 2.]
THE BOY-GENERAL.
BY EDWARD CARY.
Chapter III.
We have now reached the fourth year of the Revolution. The British were getting ready to leave Philadelphia. Should the Americans allow them to march across New Jersey unharmed, or should they be followed, and, if possible, be beaten? Lafayette strongly urged that they should be closely chased, and that, if any chance offered, a battle should be fought. General Lee, a very able man, who was next to Washington in rank, opposed this idea. Washington sided with Lafayette, and sent him, with a strong body of men, to follow the British, and take the first opportunity to give them battle. Then Lee changed his mind, and wanted the command which the young Frenchman possessed. "My fortune and my honor depend upon it," he said, and the generous Lafayette gave up the command.