enemy's reach, set fire to her. The party then gave a shout and pulled
away towards the shore from which they had started. The enemy were
alarmed by the firing of the sentinels, the glare of the burning galley
and the shout of the daring band, and fired some of their artillery
after Rudolph. But it was too late; the Americans escaped, and the
galley was burned to the water's edge."

"That was equal to Decatur's burning of the Philadelphia," said Hand.

"It was," replied Kinnison. "Rudolph was very much of a Decatur in
spirit. Soon after the enterprise I've just mentioned. Captain Rudolph
attacked a party of black dragoons who were out foraging for the
British. The blacks were defeated, and many of them taken. In the course
of the fight, Rudolph engaged one of the largest-sized and boldest of
the black dragoons in a regular hand-to-hand combat; and in a very short
time dismounted and captured him."

"The war in the Southern States had more of romance and daring
enterprise connected with it than the war in the North," said Hand;
"though it must be owned, that the movements of the Northern armies were
of more consequence in the long run."

"Yes, there was more that most young men like to read about in the
Southern war," said Warner; "plenty of dare-devil movements, but no
Canadian expedition, nor Saratoga."

"It's a pity there are no soldiers of the Southern army here to reply to
your sneers," said Kinnison. "I know from what I've heard, there never
were better soldiers than the men who fought under Lee and Morgan, and I
scarcely think that George Washington himself was a better general than