Chapter 11: Scouting.
It was near five o'clock before the final rout of the French tookplace; but, before that time, several hundreds of the Canadians andIndians had left the scene of action, and had returned to the scene ofthe fight in the wood, to plunder and scalp the dead. They wereresting, after their bloody work, by a pool in the forest, when ascouting party from Fort Lyman, under Captains M'Ginnis and Folsom,came upon them and opened fire.
The Canadians and Indians, outnumbering their assailants greatly,fought for some time, but were finally defeated and fled. M'Ginnis wasmortally wounded, but continued to give orders till the fight was over.The bodies of the slain were thrown into the pool, which to this daybears the name, "the bloody pool."
The various bands of French fugitives reunited in the forest, and madetheir way back to their canoes in South Bay, and reached Ticonderogautterly exhausted and famished, for they had thrown away theirknapsacks in their flight, and had nothing to eat from the morning ofthe fight until they rejoined their comrades.
Johnson had the greatest difficulty in protecting the wounded Frenchgeneral from the Mohawks, who, although they had done no fighting indefence of the camp, wanted to torture and burn Dieskau in revenge forthe death of Hendrick and their warriors who had fallen in the ambush.He, however, succeeded in doing so, and sent him in a litter under astrong escort to Albany. Dieskau was afterwards taken to England, andremained for some years at Bath, after which he returned to Paris. Henever, however, recovered from his numerous wounds, and died a fewyears later.
He always spoke in the highest terms of the kindness he had receivedfrom the colonial officers. Of the provincial soldiers he said that, inthe morning they fought like boys, about noon like men, and in theafternoon like devils.
The English loss in killed, wounded, and missing was two hundred andsixty-two, for the most part killed in the ambush in the morning. TheFrench, according to their own account, lost two hundred andtwenty-eight, but it probably exceeded four hundred, the principalportion of whom were regulars, for the Indians and Canadians keptthemselves so well under cover that they and the provincials, behindtheir logs, were able to inflict but little loss on each other.
Had Johnson followed up his success, he might have reached South Baybefore the French, in which case the whole of Dieskau's column musthave fallen into his hands; nor did he press forward againstTiconderoga, which he might easily have captured. For ten days nothingwas done except to fortify the camp, and when, at the end of that time,he thought of advancing against Ticonderoga, the French had alreadyfortified the place so strongly that they were able to defy attack. Thecolonists sent him large reinforcements, but the season was gettinglate, and, after keeping the army stationary until the end of November,the troops, having suffered terribly from the cold and exposure, becamealmost mutinous, and were finally marched back to Albany, a smalldetachment being left to hold the fort by the lake. This was nowchristened Fort William Henry.
The victory was due principally to the gallantry and coolness of Lyman;but Johnson, in his report of the battle, made no mention of thatofficer's name, and took all the credit to himself. He was rewarded bybeing made a baronet, and by being voted a pension, by parliament, offive thousand a year.
James Walsham, having no duties during the fight at the camp, had takena musket and lain down behind the logs with the soldiers, and had, allthe afternoon, kept up a fire at the trees and bushes behind which theenemy were hiding. After the battle, he had volunteered to assist theover-worked surgeons, whose labours lasted through the night. When hefound that no forward movement was likely to take place, he determinedto leave the camp. He therefore asked Captain Rogers, who was theleader of a band of scouts, and a man of extraordinary energy andenterprise, to allow him to accompany him on a scouting expeditiontowards Ticonderoga.
"I shall be glad to have you with me," Rogers replied; "but you know itis a service of danger. It is not like work with regular troops, whereall march, fight, stand, or fall together. Here each man fights forhimself. Mind, there is not a man among my band who would not risk hislife for the rest; but, scattered through the woods as each man is,each must perforce rely principally on himself. The woods nearTiconderoga will be full of lurking redskins, and a man may be brainedand scalped without his fellow, a few yards away, hearing a sound. Ionly say this that you may feel that you must take your chances. Themen under me are, every one, old hunters and Indian fighters, and are amatch for the redskin in every move of forest war. They are true gritto the backbone, but they are rough outspoken men, and, on a servicewhen a foot carelessly placed on a dried twig, or a word spoken above awhisper, may bring a crowd of yelping redskins upon us, and cost everyman his scalp, they would speak sharply to the king himself, if he wereon the scout with them, and you must not take offence at any rough wordthat may be said."
James laughed, and said that he should not care how much he was blownup, and that he should thankfully receive any lessons from such mastersof forest craft.
"Very well," Captain Rogers said. "In that case, it is settled. I willlet you have a pair of moccasins. You cannot go walking about in thewoods in those boots. You had better get a rifle. Your sword you hadbest leave behind. It will be of no use to you, and will only be inyour way."
James had no difficulty in providing himself with a gun, for numbers ofweapons, picked up in the woods after the rout of the enemy, werestored in camp. The rifles had, however, been all taken by the troops,who had exchanged their own firelocks for them. Captain Rogers wentwith him among the men, and selected a well-finished rifle of which oneof them had possessed himself. Its owner readily agreed to accept fivepounds for it, taking in its stead one of the guns in the store. Beforechoosing it, Captain Rogers placed a bit of paper against a tree, andfired several shots at various distances at it.
"It is a beautiful rifle," he said. "Its only fault is that it israther heavy, but it shoots all the better for it. It is evidently aFrench gun, I should say by a first-rate maker, built probably for someFrench officer who knew what he was about. It is a good workmanlikepiece, and, when you learn to hold it straight, you can trust it toshoot."
That evening James, having made all his preparations, said goodbye tothe general and to his other friends, and joined the scouts who weregathering by the shore of the lake. Ten canoes, each of which wouldcarry three men, were lying by the shore.
"Nat, you and Jonathan will take this young fellow with you. He is alad, and it is his first scout. You will find him of the right sort. Hewas with Braddock, and after that affair hurried up here to seefighting on the lakes. He can't have two better nurses than you are. Heis going to be an officer in the king's army, and wants to learn asmuch as he can, so that, if he ever gets with his men into such a messas Braddock tumbled into, he will know what to do with them."
"All right, captain! We will do our best for him. It's risky sort ofbusiness ours for a greenhorn, but if he is anyways teachable, we willsoon make a man of him."
The speaker was a wiry, active man of some forty years old, with aweatherbeaten face, and a keen gray eye. Jonathan, his comrade, was ahead taller, with broad shoulders, powerful limbs, and a quiet butgood-tempered face.
"That's so, isn't it, Jonathan?" Nat asked.
Jonathan nodded. He was not a man of many words.
"Have you ever been in a canoe before?" Nat inquired.
"Never," James said; "but I am accustomed to boats of all sorts, andcan handle an oar fairly."
"Oars ain't no good here," the scout said. "You will have to learn topaddle; but, first of all, you have got to learn to sit still. Thesehere canoes are awkward things for a beginner. Now you hand in yourtraps, and I will stow them away, then you take your place in themiddle of the boat. Here's a paddle for you, and when you begin to feelyourself comfortable, you can start to try with it, easy and gentle tobegin with; but you must lay it in when we get near where we may expectthat redskins may be in the woods, for the splash of a paddle mightcost us all our scalps."
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bsp; James took his seat in the middle of the boat. Jonathan was behind him.Nat handled the paddle in the bow. There was but a brief delay instarting, and the ten boats darted noiselessly out on to the lake. Fora time, James did not attempt to use his paddle. The canoe was of birchbark, so thin that it seemed to him that an incautious movement wouldinstantly knock a hole through her.
Once under weigh, she was steadier than he had expected, and Jamescould feel her bound forward with each stroke of the paddles. When hebecame accustomed to the motion of the boat, he raised himself from asitting position in the bottom, and, kneeling as the others were doing,he began to dip his paddle quietly in the water in time with theirstroke. His familiarity with rowing rendered it easy for him to keeptime and swing, and, ere long, he found himself putting a considerableamount of force into each stroke. Nat looked back over his shoulder.
"Well done, young 'un. That's first rate for a beginner, and it makes adeal of difference on our arms. The others are all paddling three, and,though Jonathan and I have beaten three before now, when our scalpsdepended on our doing so, it makes all the difference in the workwhether you have a sitter to take along, or an extra paddle going."
It was falling dusk when the boat started, and was, by this time, quitedark. Scarce a word was heard in the ten canoes as, keeping near theright-hand shore of the lake, they glided rapidly along in a closebody. So noiselessly were the paddles dipped into the water that thedrip from them, as they were lifted, was the only sound heard.
Four hours' steady paddling took them to the narrows, aboutfive-and-twenty miles from their starting point. Here, on the whisperedorder of Nat, James laid in his paddle; for, careful as he was, heoccasionally made a slight splash as he put it in the water. The canoesnow kept in single file, almost under the trees on the right bank, forthe lake was here scarce a mile across, and watchful eyes might be onthe lookout on the shore to the left. Another ten miles was passed, andthen the canoes were steered in to the shore.
The guns, blankets, and bundles were lifted out; the canoes raised onthe shoulders of the men, and carried a couple of hundred yards amongthe trees; then, with scarcely a word spoken, each man rolled himselfin his blanket and lay down to sleep, four being sent out as scouts invarious directions. Soon after daybreak, all were on foot again,although it had been arranged that no move should be made till nightset in. No fires were lighted, for they had brought with them a supplyof biscuit and dry deers' flesh sufficient for a week.
"How did you get on yesterday?" Captain Rogers asked, as he came up tothe spot where James had just risen to his feet.
"First rate, captain!" Nat answered for him. "I hardly believed that ayoung fellow could have handled a paddle so well, at the first attempt.He rowed all the way, except just the narrows, and though I don't sayas he was noiseless, he did wonderfully well, and we came along withthe rest as easy as may be."
"I thought I heard a little splash, now and then," the captain said,smiling; "but it was very slight, and could do no harm where the lakeis two or three miles wide, as it is here. But you will have to lay inyour paddle when we get near the other end, for the sides narrow inthere, and the redskins would hear a fish jump, half a mile away."
During the day the men passed their time in sleep, in mending theirclothes, or in talking quietly together. The use of tea had not yetbecome general in America, and the meals were washed down with waterdrawn from the lake (where an over-hanging bush shaded the shore fromthe sight of anyone on the opposite bank), mixed with rum from thegourds which all the scouts carried.
Nat spent some time in pointing out, to James, the signs by which thehunters found their way through the forest; by the moss and lichensgrowing more thickly on the side of the trunks of the trees opposed tothe course of the prevailing winds, or by a slight inclination of theupper boughs of the trees in the same direction.
"An old woodsman can tell," he said, "on the darkest night, on runninghis hand round the trunk of a tree, by the feel of the bark, which isnorth and south; but it would be long before you can get to suchniceties as that; but, if you keep your eyes open as you go along, andlook at the signs on the trunks, which are just as plain, when you onceknow them, as the marks on a man's face, you will be able to make yourway through the woods in the daytime. Of course, when the sun isshining, you get its help, for, although it is not often a gleam comesdown through the leaves, sometimes you come upon a little patch, andyou are sure, now and then, to strike on a gap where a tree has fallen,and that gives you a line again. A great help to a young beginner isthe sun, for a young hand in the woods gets confused, and doubts thesigns of the trees; but, in course, when he comes on a patch ofsunlight, he can't make a mistake nohow as to the direction."
James indulged in a silent hope that, if he were ever lost in thewoods, the sun would be shining, for, look as earnestly as he would, hecould not perceive the signs which appeared so plain and distinct tothe scout. Occasionally, indeed, he fancied that there was some slightdifference between one side of the trunk and the other; but he was byno means sure that, even in these cases, he should have noticed itunless it had been pointed out to him; while, in the greater part ofthe trees he could discern no difference whatever.
"It's just habit, my lad," Nat said encouragingly to him; "there's justas much difference between one side of the tree and the other, as thereis between two men's faces. It comes of practice. Now, just look at theroots of this tree; don't you see, on one side they run pretty nighstraight out from the trunk, while from the other they go down deepinto the ground. That speaks for itself. The tree has thrown out itsroots, to claw into the ground and get a hold, on the side from whichthe wind comes; while, on the other side, having no such occasion, ithas dipped its root down to look for moisture and food."
"Yes, I do see that," James said, "that is easy enough to make out; butthe next tree, and the next, and, as far as I see, all the others,don't seem to have any difference in their roots one side or theother."
"That is so," the scout replied. "You see, those are younger trees thanthis, and it is like enough they did not grow under the samecircumstances. When a few trees fall, or a small clearing is made by agale, the young trees that grow up are well sheltered from the wind bythe forest, and don't want to throw out roots to hold them up; but whena great clearing has been made, by a fire or other causes, the trees,as they grow up together, have no shelter, and must stretch out theirroots to steady them.
"Sometimes, you will find all the trees, for a long distance, withtheir roots like this; sometimes only one tree among a number. Perhaps,when they started, that tree had more room, or a deeper soil, and grewfaster than the rest, and got his head above them, so he felt the windmore, and had to throw out his roots to steady himself; while theothers, all growing the same height, did not need to do so."
"Thank you," James said. "I understand now, and will bear it in mind.It is very interesting, and I should like, above all things, to be ableto read the signs of the woods as you do."
"It will come, lad. It's a sort of second nature. These things aregifts. The redskin thinks it just as wonderful that the white manshould be able to take up a piece of paper covered with black marks,and to read off sense out of them, as you do that he should be able toread every mark and sign of the wood. He can see, as plain as if theman was still standing on it, the mark of a footprint, and can tell youif it was made by a warrior or a squaw, and how long they have passedby, and whether they were walking fast or slow; while the ordinarywhite man might go down on his hands and knees, and stare at theground, and wouldn't be able to see the slightest sign or mark. For awhite man, my eyes are good, but they are not a patch on a redskin's. Ihave lived among the woods since I was a boy; but even now, a redskinlad can pick up a trail and follow it when, look as I will, I can't seeas a blade of grass has been bruised. No; these things is partly naturand partly practice. Practice will do a lot for a white man; but itwon't take him up to redskin natur."
Not until night had fallen did the party again launch their
canoes onthe lake. Then they paddled for several hours until, as James imagined,they had traversed a greater distance, by some miles, than that whichthey had made on the previous evening. He knew, from what he hadlearned during the day, that they were to land some six miles below thepoint where Lake George joins Lake Champlain, and where, on theopposite side, on a promontory stretching into the lake, the Frenchwere constructing their new fort.
The canoes were to be carried some seven or eight miles through thewood, across the neck of land between the two lakes, and were then tobe launched again on Lake Champlain, so that, by following the eastshore of that lake, they would pass Ticonderoga at a safe distance. Thehalt was made as noiselessly as before, and, having hauled up thecanoes, the men slept till daybreak; and then, lifting the light crafton their shoulders, started for their journey through the woods. It wastoilsome work, for the ground was rough and broken, often thicklycovered with underwood. Ridges had to be crossed and deep ravinespassed, and, although the canoes were not heavy, the greatest care hadto be exercised, for a graze against a projecting bough, or the edge ofa rock, would suffice to tear a hole in the thin bark.
It was not until late in the afternoon that they arrived on the shoresof Lake Champlain. A fire was lighted now, the greatest care beingtaken to select perfectly dry sticks, for the Iroquois were likely tobe scattered far and wide among the woods. The risk, however, was farless than when in sight of the French side of Lake George. Afterdarkness fell, the canoes were again placed in the water, and, strikingacross the lake, they followed the right-hand shore. After paddling forabout an hour and a half, the work suddenly ceased.
The lake seemed to widen on their left, for they had just passed thetongue of land between the two lakes, and on the opposite shore anumber of fires were seen, burning brightly on the hillside. It wasTiconderoga they were now abreast of, the advanced post of the French.They lingered for some time before the paddles were again dipped inwater, counting the fires and making a careful note of the position.They paddled on again until some twelve miles beyond the fort, and thencrossed the lake and landed on the French shore.
But the canoes did not all approach the shore together, as they haddone on the previous nights. They halted half a mile out, and CaptainRogers went forward with his own and another canoe and landed, and itwas not for half an hour that the signal was given, by an imitation ofthe croaking of a frog, that a careful search had ascertained theforest to be untenanted, and the landing safe.
No sooner was the signal given than the canoes were set in motion, andwere soon safely hauled up on shore. Five men went out, as usual, asscouts, and the rest, fatigued by their paddle and the hard day's work,were soon asleep.
In the morning they were about to start, and Rogers ordered the canoesto be hauled up and hidden among the bushes, where, having done theirwork, they would for the present be abandoned, to be recovered and madeuseful on some future occasion.
The men charged with the work gave a sudden exclamation when theyreached the canoes.
"What is that?" Rogers said angrily. "Do you want to bring all theredskins in the forest upon us?"
"The canoes are all damaged," one of the scouts said, coming up to him.
There was a general movement to the canoes, which were lying on thebank a few yards' distance from the water's edge. Every one of them hadbeen rendered useless. The thin birch bark had been gashed and slit,pieces had been cut out, and not one of them had escaped injury or wasfit to take the water. Beyond a few low words, and exclamations ofdismay, not a word was spoken as the band gathered round the canoes.
"Who were on the watch on this side?" Rogers asked.
"Nat and Jonathan took the first half of the night," one of the scoutssaid. "Williams and myself relieved them."
As all four were men of the greatest skill and experience, Rogers feltsure that no neglect or carelessness on their part could have led tothe disaster.
"Did any of you see any passing boats, or hear any sound on the lake?"
The four men who had been on guard replied in the negative.
"I will swear no one landed near the canoes," Nat said. "There was aglimmer on the water all night; a canoe could not have possibly comenear the bank, anywheres here, without our seeing it."
"Then he must have come from the land side," Rogers said. "Someskulking Indian must have seen us out on the lake, and have hidden upwhen we landed. He may have been in a tree overhead all the time, and,directly the canoes were hauled up, he may have damaged them and madeoff.
"There is no time to be lost, lads. It is five hours since we landed.If he started at once the redskins may be all round us now. It is noquestion now of our scouting round the French fort, it is one of savingour scalps."
"How could it have been done?" James Walsham asked Nat, in a low tone."We were all sleeping within a few yards of the canoes, and some of themen were close to them. I should have thought we must have heard it."
"Heard it!" the hunter said contemptuously; "why, a redskin would makeno more noise in cutting them holes and gashes, than you would incutting a hunk of deer's flesh for your dinner. He would lie on theground, and wriggle from one to another like an eel; but I reckon hedidn't begin till the camp was still. The canoes wasn't hauled up tillwe had sarched the woods, as we thought, and then we was moving aboutclose by them till we lay down.
"I was standing theer on the water's edge not six feet away from thatcanoe. I never moved for two hours, and, quiet as a redskin may be, hemust have taken time to do that damage, so as I never heard a sound asloud as the falling of a leaf. No, I reckon as he was at the very leasttwo hours over that job. He may have been gone four hours or a bitover, but not more; but that don't give us much of a start. It wouldtake him an hour and a half to get to the fort, then he would have toreport to the French chap in command, and then there might be some talkbefore he set out with the redskins, leaving the French to follow."
"It's no use thinking of mending the canoes, I suppose," James asked.
The hunter shook his head.
"It would take two or three hours to get fresh bark and mend thoseholes," he said, "and we haven't got as many minutes to spare. There,now, we are off."
While they had been speaking, Rogers had been holding a consultationwith two or three of his most experienced followers, and they hadarrived at pretty nearly the same conclusion as that of Rogers, namely,that the Indian had probably taken two or three hours in damaging thecanoes and getting fairly away into the forest; but that, even if hehad done so, the Iroquois would be up in the course of half an hour.
"Let each man pack his share of meat on his back," Rogers said. "Don'tleave a scrap behind. Quick, lads, there's not a minute to be lost.It's a case of legs, now. There's no hiding the trail of thirty menfrom redskin eyes."
In a couple of minutes, all were ready for the start, and Rogers atonce led the way, at a long slinging trot, straight back from the lake,first saying:
"Pick your way, lads, and don't tread on a fallen stick. There is justone chance of saving our scalps, and only one, and that depends uponsilence."
As James ran along, at the heels of Nat, he was struck with thestrangeness of the scene, and the noiselessness with which the band ofmoccasin-footed men flitted among the trees. Not a word was spoken. Allhad implicit confidence in their leader, the most experienced bushfighter on the frontier, and knew that, if anyone could lead them safefrom the perils that surrounded them, it was Rogers.
James wondered what his plan could be. It seemed certain to him thatthe Indians must, sooner or later, overtake them. They would be awareof the strength of the band, and, confiding in their superior numbers,would be able to push forward in pursuit without pausing for manyprecautions. Once overtaken, the band must stand at bay, and, evencould they hold the Indians in check, the sound of the firing wouldsoon bring the French soldiers to the spot.
They had been gone some twenty minutes only, when a distant war whooprose in the forest behind them.
"They have come down
on the camp," Nat said, glancing round over hisshoulder, "and find we have left it. I expect they hung about a littlebefore they ventured in, knowing as we should be expecting them, whenwe found the canoes was useless. That war whoop tells 'em all as wehave gone. They will gather there, and then be after us like a pack ofhounds.
"Ah! That is what I thought the captain was up to."
Rogers had turned sharp to the left, the direction in which Ticonderogastood. He slacked down his speed somewhat, for the perspiration wasstreaming down the faces even of his trained and hardy followers. Fromtime to time, he looked round to see that all were keeping welltogether. Although, in such an emergency as this, none thought ofquestioning the judgment of their leader, many of them were wonderingat the unusual speed at which he was leading them along. They had sometwo miles start of their pursuers, and, had evening been at hand, theywould have understood the importance of keeping ahead until darknesscame on to cover their trail; but, with the whole day before them, theyfelt that they must be overtaken sooner or later, and they could notsee the object of exhausting their strength before the struggle began.
As they ran on, at a somewhat slower pace now, an idea as to theirleader's intention dawned upon most of the scouts, who saw, by thedirection they were taking, that they would again strike the lake shorenear the French fort. Nat, who, light and wiry, was running easily,while many of his comrades were panting with their exertions, was nowby the side of James Walsham.
"Give me your rifle, lad, for a bit. You are new to this work, and theweight of the gun takes it out of you. We have got another nine or tenmiles before us, yet."
"I can hold on for a bit," James replied. "I am getting my wind better,now; but why only ten miles? We must be seventy away from the fort."
"We should never get there," Nat said. "A few of us might do it, butthe redskins would be on us in an hour or two. I thought, when westarted, as the captain would have told us to scatter, so as to giveeach of us some chance of getting off; but I see his plan now, and it'sthe only one as there is which gives us a real chance. He is makingstraight for the French fort. He reckons, no doubt, as the best part ofthe French troops will have marched out after the redskins."
"But there would surely be enough left," James said, "to hold the fortagainst us; and, even if we could take it, we could not hold it an hourwhen they all came up."
"He ain't thinking of the fort, boy, he's thinking of the boats. Weknow as they have lots of 'em there, and, if we can get there a fewminutes before the redskins overtake us, we may get off safe. It's achance, but I think it's a good one."
Others had caught their leader's idea and repeated it to theircomrades, and the animating effect soon showed itself in the increasedspeed with which the party hurried through the forest. Before, almostevery man had thought their case hopeless, had deemed that they hadonly to continue their flight until overtaken by the redskins, and thatthey must, sooner or later, succumb to the rifles of the Iroquois andtheir French allies. But the prospect that, after an hour's run, ameans of escape might be found, animated each man to renewed efforts.
After running for some distance longer, Rogers suddenly halted and heldup his hand, and the band simultaneously came to a halt. At first,nothing could be heard save their own quick breathing; then a confusednoise was heard to their left front, a deep trampling and the sound ofvoices, and an occasional clash of arms.
"It is the French column coming out," Nat whispered, as Rogers,swerving somewhat to the right, and making a sign that all should runas silently as possible, continued his course.