committed to his hazardous quest, set forth on the
armed sloop Schuyler with Captain Pond--? one of
the captains in the igth Regiment--in command,
across the Sound to Long Island. When he landed
Captain Hale said farewell to the last American
friend he was to be with, so far as we have any
record.

Assuming that he reached this point on or near
the 15th of September, one or two other facts
suggest themselves. It is known that the Declaration
of Independence had been carried to the American
camp as early as possible after its announcement
in July, had been read to the troops assembled
for that purpose, and had been received with unbounded
enthusiasm. It is probable that both
Colonel Knowlton, later in command of the Rangers,
and Captain Hale, one of its officers, were present
at that reading and joined in the huzzas. Singularly
enough, neither one of these two men was
a citizen of the United States for three months.

Two months later Colonel Knowlton fell in the
battle of Harlem Heights, on September 16th, six
days before Nathan Hale's execution. Knowlton's
last words are said to have been, "I do not care for
my life, if we do but win the day."

From the moment of his leaving New York, the
mind of such a man as Nathan Hale must have had

[[79]]

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v?