“I’m glad to hear it,” Cap said. “If all these men got paid, and I had to take their money off ’em the way I did off the ship workers, I’d have to get out of the army and look after my estate.” He took a package of currency from his brown frock and whacked it against the table. It was about the size of two Bibles.

“Good!” Arnold said. “If that’s ship workers’ money, accept my congratulations for a patriotic act! Only don’t let it interfere with your duties! That’s one bad thing about money: if a man has much of it, it’s apt to make him too careful when he gets into a fight. I’d hate to see anyone too careful aboard this vessel when trouble starts, though I want no precautions overlooked! We’re going to need ’em before we leave this anchorage!”

Tom Bickford had a word to say. “We spoke about it coming in, General—about the anchorage. It’s as if you’d had it made! Cap’n Peter was saying they’d have a dreadful time beating in here after you!”

The general slapped his knee. “Why, you’re seamen after all! Thank God for that! We’ve got one or two sailors aboard this fleet, but damned few seamen! Damned few! Yes sir! This is one anchorage in a million! I wore grooves in this lake, running in and out of every cove and around every island, before I found it. It’s the only place on this part of the earth where they’ll have to hunt for us, and then have their noses bitten off before they—before they—–”

“Then they’re stronger than we are,” I said. “How much—–”

“I didn’t say so!” he interrupted. “Don’t misunderstand me!” He shot a quick glance at me. “As a matter of fact, they are stronger: a little stronger: not much, probably.” He dismissed their possible superiority with a wave of his hand. “The point is that their strength has almost bankrupted ’em. They thought they were ready to sail a month ago! If they could have done so they could have occupied Crown Point and taken Ticonderoga. The war would have been over—Pht! Like that!”

He shook his fist at us. “But they couldn’t sail! They couldn’t do it! Thanks to your work in Skenesboro, gentlemen, they had to go to building again. When I sailed up to Windmill Point and let ’em see my wares, they had to lay down three more vessels, starting a month ago; one of ’em a—–”

He interrupted himself. “If I could have got the shipwrights, if I could have got the stores and the men, I’d have built a frigate, as I wanted to in the beginning; and then, by God, let ’em try to find a hole in the north gate!”