We were
saved at last because help came in time. Lord Cornwallis had laid the
South in ashes, and camped at Yorktown, his army of veterans laden with
spoils. He was only waiting for the transports from New York to take his
victorious men North, join the army there and end the war, and then----"
She drew a deep breath and her eyes sparkled:
"And then, Boy, it happened--the miracle! Into the Chesapeake Bay in
Virginia, three big ships dropped anchor at the mouth of the York River.
Our people on the shore thought they were the transports and that the
end had come. But the ships were too far away to make out their flags,
and so they sent swift couriers across the Peninsula, to see if there
were any signs in the roadstead at Hampton. There--Glory to God! lay a
great fleet flying the flag of France. The French had loaned us twenty
millions of dollars, and sent their navy and their army to help us. Had
the Lord sent down a host from the sky we couldn't have been more
surprised. They landed, joined with General Washington's ragged men, and
closed in on Cornwallis. Surprised and trapped he surrendered and we
won.
"But there never was a year before that, my Boy, that we were strong
enough to resist the British army had the mother country sent a real
general here to command her troops."
"Why didn't she?" the Boy interrupted.
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