The Americans were sorely disappointed. They had taken up their arms with such confidence of success that they could not bear to lay them down with so little done. Their murmurs were loud and deep. Some were ready to lay all the blame upon their allies. Nothing but the good sense of Greene and the good feeling and generous nature of Lafayette could have prevented an outbreak. The old leaven of English animosity toward France still lay deeply rooted in the colonial heart. It was an unfortunate beginning of the alliance that was to give them victory. For still another year the principal island of Narragansett Bay was to remain in the hands of British soldiers, and its other islands and the shores of its mainland lie exposed to the ravages of British cruisers. It was a year of suffering. There was no more fighting in regular battles, no more laying siege by regular advances, but many plundering excursions for the wanton waste of property and the wicked waste of life. Houses were burnt from mere wantonness; woods and orchards cut down to serve for fire-wood, and for this the cold winter furnished a good excuse; but when at last the enemy withdrew, little was left of the sylvan beauty of Narragansett Bay. The adventurous fighting was chiefly done on the water, and the hero of it was Silas Talbot, of Providence. Talbot had already distinguished himself early in the war, both on land and on the water. Nothing suited his adventurous spirit so well as the leadership in enterprises which to other men seemed hopeless, and his judgment and skill equaled his daring. Of these bold exploits one of the boldest was the capture of the Pigot galley, a vessel of three hundred tons, mounting eight twelve-pounders, protected by strong boarding nettings and manned by forty-five men. The force with which Talbot took her was a small sloop carrying two three-pounders and manned for the occasion by sixty men. As a recognition of his gallantry Congress sent him a commission of lieutenant-colonel, and not long after that of captain in the navy.