Before he could reply, I turned to Joseph Phipps and Doc. “Cut strips from the back of the tent. Bind ’em and gag ’em—all of ’em. Ellen, you too, or you’ll be blamed for it when they find you.” Then I said to Doc, “I’ll watch at the flap of the tent; and if one of ’em makes a sound, hit her with the flat of your hatchet and run for it.”

LIV

SPONGE-BELLY and Verrieul were already looking for us; and, five minutes after Doc and Joseph and I came out of the tent, we left Buttonmould Bay to the tune of three hundred friendly female voices. The voices were raucous and shrill; and in words as coarse as they were pithy they urged us to knock the bloody heads off the bloody Americans. To Doc and me the very friendliness of the voices made their eldritch yells sound sweeter than music.

When we were clear of the bay, Doc smashed the neck from a rum bottle. It held a little drink for each of us; and Doc, draining the last drop, threw the bottle far behind with a quavering whoop. “Hi-yi! Ten miles to Crown Point! Five more to Ticonderoga! We’ll have another bottle halfway to Crown Point! We’ll have another when we pass it, and another when we’re halfway between Crown Point and Ti—–” He hiccupped. “And then we’ll have our last one after we’ve got ashore. Just tell ’em that, Verrieul, and see if it don’t get a little speed out of this here waste-basket they call a canoe!”

There was still light in the western sky when we passed Crown Point—light enough to let us mark with our thumbs the measure of rum we were supposed to drink from the third bottle. The liquor had no more effect on me than so much tea. I thought at first it was the fault of the rum; but when Doc, in a strident voice, began to sing a mournful melody, I knew the rum was all right.

When we rounded the broad elbow at Crown Point, we had no more need of daylight for measuring our rum. Ahead of us, winding along the shore and extending up the slopes of the hills on the western side of the narrow strait, were the lights of countless campfires and the shimmer of innumerable tents. They looked, against the dark hills, like holes punched in a somber screen behind which glowed a golden radiance. Here, at last, were the British in all their strength; and at the sight of that city gleaming in the wilderness, I felt a sort of triumphant relief which led me to join in the howling of my Indian companions, as if I, too, were delighted at the spectacle. My relief, however, was due to the knowledge that Ticonderoga was still safe.