"As Hale mounted the scaffold he said,'You are shedding the blood of the innocent; if I had a thousand lives I would lay them down in the defence of my injured, bleeding country'; and his last words were, 'I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.'
"A country that may well remember him with love and pride," said Grandma Elsie.
"Oh, what wicked, wicked things they do in war times!" sighed Little Elsie.
"Yes," said her grandma; "war is itself a wicked thing: wholesale murder--sometimes on both sides, always on one."
"When the folks on one side are fighting for freedom, that's right, isn't it?" asked Eric.
"Yes; everyone not a criminal has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
"Is it right to hang a man just for being a spy?" asked Ned.
"Not always, I'm sure," exclaimed Eric. "It wasn't right to hang Nathan Hale, I'm sure, for he was a good man, and only doing what he could to save his country."
"Very true," said his father; "and he is now one whose memory is cherished and honored, while that of Cunningham--his cruel executioner--is abhorred."
"I'd rather be entirely forgotten than remembered as a cruel, wicked wretch!" exclaimed Eric.
"Yes; as any right-minded person would," said his father.
Shortly after breakfast the next morning the whole party were on the yacht, and it was speeding down the river. West Point was their first halting-place. Some hours were spent there; they were just in time for the battery drill; after that they climbed to the top of Mount Independence, enjoyed the view, and visited the ruins of "Old Fort Put"; came down, and then went back to their yacht, promising themselves another and longer visit to West Point some days later.
The captain pointed out the sites of forts Montgomery and Clinton as they passed, and told of their building by the Americans during the War of the Revolution and their destruction by the British in 1777.
"As Lossing tells us," said Captain Raymond, "'They fell beneath one heavy blow suddenly and artfully dealt by a British force from New York, and the smitten garrison were scattered like frightened sheep upon the mountains.'"
"Oh, papa, surely they didn't surrender without fighting at all?" exclaimed Lulu.