FORT WILLIAM HENRY IN DANGER.
It was about two o'clock when the first volley fell upon the startled
Rangers, and through the long afternoon they had fought doggedly,
repelling the successive assaults of their antagonists on flank and
centre, and taking toll of them for every gap in their own ranks at the
rate of two to one.
The Indian allies of the French had at the first been very active,
gliding hither and thither as silently as snakes, or whooping fiercely
as they darted from tree to tree in their endeavors to close in on
the stubborn provincials. But when the deadly aim of the latter had
cost them a score of their number they lost heart, and in spite of the
urging of the French sulked at a safe distance.
After Major Rogers was wounded Seth had kept at his side, for he felt
a kind of presentiment of further harm to his leader, which a little
before sunset was fulfilled by a stray bullet wounding the Major in his
hand and wrist so badly that he could no longer use his gun.
"You had better lie down, sir, where they cannot see you," Seth begged
of him, "and I will fire your gun as well as my own."
It was hard for the Major to follow this sound advice, but his wounds
compelled him, and for the rest of the day Seth did double duty not
only as far as firing went, but in carrying his commander's orders to
the other officers who were farther away.
As darkness drew near, the French redoubled their endeavors to rush
the position held by the Rangers; and more than once it seemed as if
they might succeed, but by the most heroic bravery and the wonderfully
effective use of their guns the Rangers kept them off until at last the
shadows of night enveloped the battlefield and compelled a cessation of
the struggle.
Gathering his officers about him the wounded leader announced his
purpose.
"We're in a pretty bad fix, I reckon," he said in a tone whose gravity
showed how critical he considered the situation. "The rascals have
trapped us like rats, but we're not the men to die like rats, even if
we've lost a good part of our number and our ammunition is nearly used
up. Ticonderoga is so close that there'll be sure to be reinforcements
brought against us in the morning and we must get out of this to-night
by hook or by crook. After an hour's rest we'll make a start, and if
we've to fight every foot of the way we'll do it, for we're not going
to surrender, are we, Rangers?"
"No, no, we'll die first," was the unanimous response heartily given
and then the officers returned to their men to give them directions.
About seven o'clock the Rangers began their difficult, dangerous
retreat. The rain had ceased to fall, but the snow was water-soaked and
the trees dripped from every branch. Even if the men had been in good
condition they could not have moved rapidly; but wearied as they were,
and some of them having to be carried on extemporized litters, rudely
made of boughs, their progress necessarily could be little better than
a crawl, and yet at any moment out of the surrounding darkness a horde
of merciless savages might burst upon them ravening for their blood.
Despite his wounds Major Rogers took the lead; and as he strode forward
with head erect and firm, set figure Seth followed in a spirit of
unstinted admiration, ready to lay down his own life in defence of his
heroic leader.
Halting frequently for the rest that was imperative they tramped on
through the dreary winter night, their hope of escape strengthening as
they got farther and farther away without being attacked.
At one of their halts Seth asked the Major:
"If they leave us alone to-night, sir, do you think they're likely to
follow us to-morrow? We'll be a good way from Ticonderoga by daybreak
and maybe they'll not care to go very far in case we should get
reinforced."
"If we can keep clear of the villains to-night we'll have no more
trouble with them this time," responded the Major with a grim smile.
"They'll not care to follow us any farther than they can help, I'm sure
of that."
And as it turned out he was right in his surmise. Left unmolested all
night, the Rangers neither saw nor heard anything of the enemy on the
following day, and kept steadily on their way back to Fort William
Henry, which they ultimately reached at cost of great exertion, but
happily without having to leave behind any of their wounded.
Out of the seventy-five which had gone forth one week before, less than
fifty returned uninjured, and six more wounded, the remainder having
been either killed or taken prisoners.
It was the first severe loss the Rangers had sustained since their
organization, and they felt it deeply, but it did not chill the
enthusiasm of the survivors. On the contrary, it only inspired them
to greater zeal, and so soon as their leader had recovered from his
wounds, they would be ready for fresh service against the enemy, to
whom they now owed a greater grudge than ever.
It chanced, however, that Major Rogers' wounds resulted in a serious
illness, upon the head of which followed an attack of smallpox, and
this led to a change in Seth's circumstances, as with a number of the
Rangers he was assigned to strengthen the garrison at Fort William
Henry. He did not like this, for the monotony of garrison life was
irksome to one of his restless nature; but he had no option in the
matter, and accepted the situation as cheerfully as possible.
If he had known what was in the mind of Vandreuil, the Governor
of Canada, he would have been more content at the change, as the
French commander-in-chief, having been apprised of the preparations
the English were making all too deliberately for the assault and
destruction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, resolved to anticipate
their action by striking an unexpected blow, and accordingly set about
getting ready at Montreal a strong force for the attack of Fort William
Henry.
The work was well done, no pains or expense being spared in the
equipment of the expedition, which comprised regular soldiers,
Canadians, and Indians. They were provided with overcoats for the day
and blankets and bearskins for the night, with ample supplies of spare
moccasins and mittens, with kettles, axes, flints and steels, and many
miscellaneous articles, together with twelve days' provision, the whole
being packed on light Indian sledges, which were easily dragged along.
No less than a million francs, equal in value to as many dollars of the
present time, were spent upon their force, which reached Lake Champlain
before the end of February.
At Ticonderoga they rested for a week, and made ready more than three
hundred short scaling ladders, so constructed that two or more could be
joined into one long one. Then marching for three days on the ice of
Lake George they neared Fort William Henry on the evening of the 18th
of March, and prepared for a general assault at break of day. They were
sixteen hundred in all, and being pretty well informed of the strength
of the English garrison, and knowing that they had no suspicion of
their proximity, they felt perfectly confident of carrying all before
them.
Now at this time the garrison of Fort William Henry, including the
Rangers, consisted of only three hundred and fifty-six effective men.
Moreover, the fort was not very strongly built; and even if nearly
a score of cannons of different calibre, besides several swivels
and mortars, were mounted upon the log ramparts, it was at best ill
prepared to withstand a well-organized attack, so that the French had
good ground for being quite sanguine of the result of their enterprise.
On the night of the 18th Seth had charge of the sentries, and although
he might have taken it easy on one of the bastions, he preferred to
pace up and down the ramparts, exchanging an occasional word with the
men on guard.
An hour after midnight, as he was standing beside one of the bastions
which faced the lake, and speculating as to how long he might have to
stay at the fort, and whether Major Rogers would soon recover from his
sickness, the sound of distant chopping came to his ears, and presently
he perceived the faint glare of far-off fires.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed. "That can mean only one thing. The French have
come down the lake to attack our fort, and have made those fires
to keep themselves warm. They must think we all go to bed here at
night, and leave the fort to take care of itself, but they're greatly
mistaken. I must rouse the whole garrison at once."
This he proceeded to do as quietly as possible; and on the commander
being informed, he forthwith gave orders for all the cannon that
commanded the lake to be double-shotted, and the gunners to stand in
readiness to fire them at short notice.
Then Seth asked permission to try a little scouting on his own account.
"I'd like to find out how many there are of them if I can manage it.
May I see if I can get near enough to make a good guess? If they catch
me you'll only be one man short."
The commander smiled admiringly at his ardor and indifference to danger.
"It certainly would be a good thing to know their strength," he said;
"and if you're willing to run the risk, I wish you God-speed."
"All right, sir, then I'll go," responded Seth; and putting off
everything that would encumber him, he vanished into the darkness on
his perilous mission.
It was an intensely still, starless night; and if Seth had not known
every foot of the ground by heart he might have come many a cropper
as he hurried in the direction of the fires, pausing at intervals to
listen for any sound betokening the enemy's approach, and then going
resolutely on again until he had got within a few hundred yards of the
encampment.
Here he came to a full stop in order carefully to consider the
situation.
"If I go any farther in this direction I may be caught by some of their
outposts; yet I'm not near enough to find out what I've come for," he
soliloquized. "I think perhaps I'd better try around to the right."
Accordingly he made a detour which brought him to the side of the
French position, and there the cover of the trees made it possible for
him to draw so close to the camp fires that he could plainly see the
figures of the men about there and even overheard their talk.
"Bless my heart, but they're as thick as flies," he exclaimed under his
breath, with a feeling of consternation at his heart. "They outnumber
us completely. I'm afraid they'll take the fort."
As he watched them moving to and fro in the light of the fires he
became aware that they were getting ready for a concerted movement, and
presently they formed up in regular array upon the ice which happened
at the time to be clear of snow.
"They're going to march on the fort right away," said Seth to himself.
"I must get back and give warning."
The French had taken the precaution to send out many scouts in advance,
and these were now spread over the space intervening between their camp
and Fort William Henry, and Seth therefore had to run the gauntlet of
them ere he could regain the fort. Consequently every step was full
of danger; and he moved with the utmost caution yet as swiftly as
possible, for the moments were precious in the extreme.
Once and again he passed so close to one of the scouts that he could
almost have touched him; but his intimate knowledge of the ground stood
him in good stead, especially since the others were warily feeling
their way, and he escaped discovery as it were by the skin of his
teeth.
He had left the encampment far behind, and was about congratulating
himself upon having successfully passed all danger when he was
challenged by a scout, who suddenly rose right in his path.
His only weapon was the hunting-knife which hung in his belt; and he
did not attempt to use that, but replied to the challenge by hurling
himself at the scout head down, butting the astonished Canadian full in
the stomach, and tumbling him upon his back while his gun flew out of
his hands, and fell beyond his reach.
So completely was the wind knocked out of him that he could not even
swear at his assailant, who had disposed of him in such unlooked-for
fashion; and Seth, not waiting to do him any more harm, dashed on to
the fort, where the commander was anxiously awaiting his return.
"They're more than a thousand strong," he panted, "and they're coming
up on the ice right away. They'll be here soon."
"Well, we're ready for them," replied the commander resolutely; "and
though they are four times as strong as we are, they'll find they have
no easy task to get the best of us."
Half an hour after Seth's return the sound of many men marching rapidly
over the smooth ice reached the ears of those at the fort, and the
commander gave orders for the gunners to be ready to fire the cannon
the instant he gave the word.
He rightly judged that the best way of showing the enemy that their
hope of surprising the fort was not to be realized was by receiving
them with the heaviest broadside he could manage to bestow upon them,
and so he waited for them to approach near enough to render his method
of greeting most effective.
The tense expectancy of the little garrison may be imagined, as
listening in breathless silence they heard the steady approach of their
assailants; and their commander seemed to wait so long before giving
the order to the gunners that they grew impatient and restless.
But at last clear and firm the command:
"Make ready. Fire!"
rang out upon the stillness of the night, and was instantly followed
by a sudden burst of flame and a tremendous explosion that sent the
startled echoes flying far over the bosom of the frozen lake, to
reverberate from the snow-clad hills on the opposite shore.