How Canada was Won

his Band

ct as scouts had left Fort William Henry a mile or more behind them. "Without organisation we shall be nowhere. We cannot live out here and do good w

er, flitting noiselessly amongst the trees. As for Steve, looking tanned and weather-beaten, and as fine and independent a young leader as could well

, boys," he said. "We

er places, jest to let the Cap'n see as you know what's wanted. Hem! Form line! Pete, you're a foot or two out in yer calculations. Jest hop back

usty and courageous backwoodsmen who till that day knew no master, who had fought and hunted in their own manner, without direction from any one, and more often than not with themselves alone to look to for leadership and advice, had

koned that after all a bit of discipline air wanted. Yer see, supposin' we was called together all of a sudden, and them skunks of redskins war close handy, waal, if we hadn't any idea of order, where should we all be? Reckon the most of us would be jawin' and tellin' the others what to do. Waal, that

roval at the sturdy, short figure of the Irishman, who stood at attention, his musket to the shoulder, his eye fixed on his leader. A glance, in fact, was sufficient to show that he alone of the whole company present had had some experience of drill and discipline. There, too, was Pete, his bulky figure bursting almost from his hunting shirt, his head and ears swathed in a huge coon-skin cap. Of the others, tall and short, slim or more sturdily built, there was not one who had not the appearance of a hardy backwoodsman. There was a keen look in every face, and if he had not known it before, the manner in which this band had slipped from the fort that morning and made their way into the forest told him t

irrup of a bird, the call of a wild cat, or the screech of an owl brings all together. Then he who speaks is the chief. If others dare to open their lips they die.

same cause for coming here. We have something to win back from the French and their Indians, and we have a king who asks for our help. I am glad to see that you are prepared to obey some sort of discipline, for it w

rs been there they would have tossed their caps on to their bayonets and cheered. But these backwoodsmen knew well that a shout might bring a hornet's n

'n, and every boy here, has a bone to clean with them 'ere French, and ef

and remimber, ivery one of ye, that till we can drive these men back to their own counthry there'll be no peace for us, their murtherin' Indians will be rh

n instinctively gripped the barrels of their ponderous muskets. There w

re dying daily from infectious disease, while those who form the garrison have little to do but grumble. Let us take u

has been born and brought up close to these lakes, and I reckon he'll know every inch of the ground. Ef we're to live out in

re even that short experience had taught them that life in the British stronghold was not one altogether to be desired.

g up to the sturdy backwoodsman who had been called upon, and slapping

and alongside of it thar's Lake St. George, which is a good deal bigger. Waal, up thar, at the foot of Champlain, there's Crown Point, one of them Frenchie's fort

th that," interrupted

rozen lakes. Now, Cap'n, I've shot and trapped over that 'ere place scores o' times, and me and a mate once did a winter's outin' thar, trappin' and collectin' pelts. We was, as you mi

nd it?" aske

dred feet perhaps, and right at the top it dips jest as sudden. That dip air about the size to take this party, and

le," sugge

at ere place a few of us chaps could hold up a hundred

nspect," said Steve promptly.

mile perhaps, ma

I am, and since you have decided to follow some sort of discipline, I will say nothing more about it, but leave the matter to you

parties, which had been arranged by Jim and Mac, and while some trailed off after Seth and Steve, others moved away like ghosts into the forests to act as flanking guards. And as Steve cast his eye to right and left he caught sight of th

e of the band, as he pointed to a narrow track in

ail," added Steve swif

a tree some distance away, and closer inspection

t be proud," said Silver Fox. "These men passed in

shoes than the others," said Ste

rned. One was a pale face, and he led. They went towards t

rs who up till lately had been unacquainted with Silver

Mohawk, which all the party underst

nswer. "He read these signs, a

shoes here, boys. Well, there are no return traces. Yesterday they made in the direction of Fort William, and I guess that the

f the men. "The snow was sweep

e almost blown back home, while their traces were covered. Here, in the forest, where the full force of the wind was not so m

zed a path," said Jim curtly. "W

ifty feet long, by twenty broad, and some fifteen deep. Its opening faced directly north, in the direction of the French position, while its back was walled in by a mass of roc

ed it inter position, whar it formed a roof over our heads. Now ef we was to do the same right alon

e for an armed camp, for it was within reach of their friends, occupied an advanced position, and, owing to its nearness to Fort William Henry, could easily be victualled. For a little while he stood on the edge of the hollow staring out at the wind-swept and dark frozen surface of the long lake to the left, known as St. George, and then at the still more slender strip to the right, Wood Creek, on the banks of which many a little skirmi

ight I reckon we could easily hear folks on the ice, and ef we was held up badly, why a charge of powder bur

ession at once," answered Stev

tensely practical men had set them in motion. While three stood on the mound keeping a sharp look out, the others went to drag the longest boughs they could find in the forest, where hundreds lay on the ground. Then the fourteen who had made back for the fort carried a note from Steve ask

d to place the longest across the top of the hollow. Others had been laid crosswise on these,

cks of frozen snow collected at the very mouth of the hollow. And with these and a number of loose rocks he soon contrived to erect a rough fireplace, with a wide chimney overhanging it, which ran up the sloping back of the hollow, a

grate. "Reckon thet fire'll have to get started when it snows hard, and after that, when it's light, nothing but chips

Truly, you pale faces think of strange things. Where my brothers and I would have set our wigwams in the thickest forest, there seeking protection from the snow and keen winter winds, you come hither and burrow like foxes. You make one big wigwam where we should have seen no opportunity of doing so, and as I look on and smoke you ere

nd who had founded Quebec. It, too, was clad in a garment of white, snow hanging to the trees, and in the dull wintry green of the pines, which grew thickly there. For background there was the blue haze of the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains, now the favourite haunt of thousands of holiday-seeking Americans. And still farther to the north, buried in the dull horizon and behind it, lay the Richelieu river, with its few forts, and its seigneuries, where the gentilhommes of this new colony, the lately-constructed noblesse, sat in their p

lver Fox, staring out at the scene below. "What we want now is a

," answered Jim at once.

n sky above, and held h

y covered, and ef we jest build a wall of branches at the face of this nest, waal, it'll be cove

d small tree trunks had been dragged. "It will be dark in an hour, and if it is goin

s the darkness fell. By then snowflakes were silently flitting to the ground, powdering the rough roof above the hollow, and resting upon the ca

ow. "To-morrow we shall hope to know more about its position an

in't no need for look-outs to-night. The snow'll keep every livin' soul under cover. I

mongst the branches. Then pipes were produced and filled, while the backwoodsman who had so diligently built fireplace and chimney, used flint and steel with a will, and

it his pipe, passing the brand round the circle when he had finished with it. "It air snowin' hard, and the best brave livin' couldn't se

the band, stories of fierce border fights came to the ear, stories which all knew to be true in every detail. Wiry backwoodsmen recounted how they had left civilization to become pioneers in the wilderness, how fortune had smiled upon them, how the land had been cleared, the crops sown, the hut erected, and the store of pelts increased, till the prospect for the future was rosy. And then the French had come, they and their so-called Christian Indians. Wives and children had been slaughtered, men had been slain and scalped, huts fired, and the future utterly wrecked. That was the mom

keep the fire going, and to-morrow we'll tell off a couple to act as c

blankets were produced, and very soon th

ollowing morning, as he rose from his blanket and pushed

nd lakes and mountains all had the same thick covering, save in a few odd places, where the green of the pines broke through, or where the snow had tumbled from the treetops. As for the lakes, they were a vast expanse of the whitest snow, lai

hose are guns trailin' out behind 'em. Cap'n, it looks as ef they war o

ple of guns mounted on sledges. The head of the expedition was turned towards the foot of the lake, and, as it advanced, those who looked cou

must have seen us, or gained news of our coming. They are marching for this side of t