SMALL | MEDIUM
Mine ear is open, and my heart prepared;
The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold: --
Say, is my kingdom lost?
Shakspeare.
North America, that the toils and dangers of the wil-
derness were to be encountered, before the adverse
hosts could meet in murderous contact. A wide,
and, apparently, an impervious boundary of forests,
severed the possessions of the hostile provinces of
France and England. The hardy colonist, and the
trained European who fought at his side, frequently
expended months in struggling against the rapids of
the streams, or in effecting the rugged passes of the
mountains, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit
their courage in a more martial conflict. But, emu-
lating the patience and self-denial of the practised
native warriors, they learned to overcome every dif-
ficulty; and it would seem, that in time, there was
Perhaps no district, throughout the wide extent of
the intermediate frontiers, can furnish a livelier pic-
ture of the cruelty and fierceness of the savage war-
fare of those periods, than the country which lies
between the head waters of the Hudson and the ad-
jacent lakes.
The facilities which nature had there offered to
the march of the combatants, were too obvious to be
neglected. The lengthened sheet of the Champlain
stretched from the frontiers of Canada, deep within
the borders of the neighbouring province of New-
York, forming a natural passage across half the dis-
tance that the French were compelled to master in
order to strike their enemies. Near its southern
termination, it received the contributions of another
lake, whose waters were so limpid, as to have been
exclusively selected by the Jesuit missionaries, to
perform the typical purification of baptism, and to
obtain for it the appropriate title of "Saint Sacré-
ment." The less zealous English thought they con-
ferred a sufficient honour on its unsullied fountains,
when they bestowed the name of their reign-
ing prince, the second of the House of Hanover.
The two united to rob the untutored possessors of its
wooded scenery of their native right to perpetuate
its original appellation of "Horican."
Winding its way among countless islands, and im-
bedded in mountains, the "holy lake" extended a do-
zen leagues still farther to the south. With the
high plain that there interposed itself to the fur-
ther passage of the water, commenced a portage
of as many miles, which conducted the adventurer
to the banks of the Hudson, at a point, where, with
the usual obstructions of the rapids, or rifts, as they
were then termed in the language of the country,
the river became navigable to the tide.
While, in the pursuit of their daring plans of an-
noyance, the restless enterprise of the French even
attempted the distant and difficult gorges of the Al-
leghany, it may easily be imagined that their prover-
bial acuteness would not overlook the natural advan-
tages of the district we have just described. It be-
came, emphatically, the bloody arena, in which most
of the battles for the mastery of the colonies were
contested. Forts were erected at the different points
that commanded the facilities of the route, and
were taken and retaken, rased and rebuilt, as victo-
ry smiled, or expediency dictated. While the hus-
bandmen shrunk back from the dangerous passes,
within the safer boundaries of the more ancient set-
tlements, armies larger than those that had often
disposed of the sceptres of the mother countries,
were seen to bury themselves in these forests,
whence they never re-issued but in skeleton bands,
that were haggard with care, or dejected by defeat.
Though the arts of peace were unknown to this fa-
tal region, its forests were alive with men; its glades
and glens rang with the sounds of martial music, and
It was in this scene of strife and bloodshed, that
the incidents we shall attempt to relate occurred,
during the third year of the war which England and
France last waged, for the possession of a country,
that, happily, neither was destined to retain.
The imbecility of her military leaders abroad, and
the fatal want of energy in her councils at home,
had lowered the character of Great Britain from the
proud elevation on which it had been placed by the
talents and enterprise of her former warriors and
statesmen. No longer dreaded by her enemies, her
servants were fast losing the salutary confidence of
self respect. In this mortifying abasement, the colo-
nists, though innocent of her imbecility, and too
humble to be the agents of her blunders, were but the
natural participators. They had recently seen a chosen
army, from that country, which, reverencing as a
mother, they had fondly believed invincible -- an
army led by a chief who had been selected from
a crowd of trained warriors for his rare military en-
dowments, disgracefully routed by a handful of
French and Indians, and only saved from annihilation
by the coolness and spirit of a Virginian boy, whose
riper fame has since diffused itself, with the steady
influence of moral truth, to the uttermost confines of
Christendom. A wide frontier had been laid naked
by this unexpected disaster, and more substantial
When, therefore, intelligence was received at the
fort which covered the southern termination of the
portage between the Hudson and the lakes, that
Montcalm had been seen moving up the Champlain
with an army "numerous as the leaves on the
But, under the influence of their degraded for-
tunes, both officers and men appeared better dis-
posed to await the approach of their formidable an-
tagonist within their works, than to resist the pro-
gress of their march, by emulating the successful ex-
ample of the French at Fort du Quesne, and striking
a blow on their advance.
After the first surprise of the intelligence had a
little abated, a rumour was spread through the in-
trenched camp, which stretched along the margin of
the Hudson, forming a chain of outworks to the body
of the fort itself, that a chosen detachment of
fifteen hundred men was to depart with the dawn
for William Henry, the post at the northern extre-
mity of the portage. That which at first was only
rumour, soon became certainty, as orders passed
from the quarters of the commander-in-chief to the
several corps he had selected for this service, to pre-
pare for their speedy departure. All doubt as to the
intention of Webb now vanished, and an hour or two
of hurried footsteps and anxious faces succeeded.
The novice in the military art flew from point to
point, retarding his own preparations by the excess
of his violent and somewhat distempered zeal; while
the more practised veteran made his arrangements
with a deliberation that scorned every appearance
of haste; though his sober lineaments, and anxious
eye, sufficiently betrayed that he had no very strong
professional relish for the, as yet, untried and dreaded
According to the orders of the preceding night,
the heavy sleep of the army was broken by the
rolling of the warning drums, whose rattling echoes
were heard issuing, on the damp morning air, out of
every vista of the woods, just as day began to draw
the shaggy outlines of some tall pines of the vicinity,
on the opening brightness of a soft and cloudless
eastern sky. In an instant, the whole camp was in
motion; the meanest soldier arousing from his lair
to witness the departure of his comrades, and to
share in the excitement and incidents of the hour.
The simple array of the chosen band was soon com-
pleted. While the regular and trained hirelings of
the king marched with ready haughtiness to the right
of the line, the less pretending colonists took their
humbler position on its left, with a docility that long
practice had rendered easy. The scouts departed;
strong guards preceded and followed the lumber-
ing vehicles that bore the baggage; and before
the gray light of the morning was mellowed by
the rays of the rising sun, the main body of the com-
batants wheeled into column, and left the encamp-
The deepest sounds of the retiring and invisible
column had ceased to be borne on the breeze to the lis-
teners, and the latest straggler had already disappeared
in pursuit, but there still remained the signs of ano-
ther departure, before a log cabin of unusual size and
accommodations, in front of which those sentinels
paced their rounds, who were known to guard the per-
son of the English general. At this spot were gather-
ed some half dozen horses, caparisoned in a manner
which showed that two, at least, were destined to bear
the persons of females, of a rank that it was not usual
to meet so far in the wilds of the country. A third
wore the trappings and arms of an officer of the
staff; while the rest, from the plainness of the
housings, and the travelling mails with which they
were encumbered, were evidently fitted for the re-
ception of as many menials, who were, seemingly,
already awaiting the convenience or pleasure of
those they served. At a respectful distance from
this unusual show, were gathered divers groupes of
curious idlers; some admiring the blood and bone of
the high-mettled military charger, and others gazing
at the preparations with the dull wonder of vulgar
The person of this remarkable individual was to
the last degree ungainly, without being in any parti-
cular manner deformed. He had all the bones and
joints of other men, without any of their proportions.
Erect, his stature surpassed that of his fellows;
though, seated, he appeared reduced within the ordi-
nary limits of our race. The same contrariety in
his members, seemed to exist throughout the whole
man. His head was large; his shoulders narrow;
his arms long and dangling; while his hands were
small, if not delicate. His legs and thighs were thin
nearly to emaciation, but of extraordinary length;
and his knees would have been considered tremen-
dous, had they not been outdone by the broader
foundations on which this false superstructure of blend-
ed human orders, was so profanely reared. The
ill-assorted and injudicious attire of the individual only
served to render his awkwardness more conspicu-
ous. A sky-blue coat, with short and broad skirts
and low cape, exposed a long thin neck, and longer
and thinner legs, to the worst animadversions of the
evil disposed. His nether garment was of yellow
nankeen, closely fitted to the shape, and tied at his
bunches of knees by large knots of white ribbon, a
good deal sullied by use. Clouded cotton stockings,
and shoes, on one of the latter of which was a plated
spur, completed the costume of the lower extremity of
this figure, no curve or angle of which was concealed,
While the common herd stood aloof from the
gathering group of travellers, in deference to the
sacred precincts of the quarters of Webb, the figure
we have described stalked into the centre of the
domestics, who were in waiting with the horses,
freely expressing his censures or commendations on
the merits of the latter, as by chance they displeased
or satisfied his judgment.
"This beast, I rather conclude, friend, is not of
home raising, but is from foreign lands, or perhaps from
the little island itself, over the blue water?" he said,
in a voice as remarkable for the softness and sweet-
ness of its tones, as was his person for its rare pro-
portions: "I may speak of these things and be no
Receiving no reply to this extraordinary appeal,
which, in truth, as it was delivered with all the vigour
of full and sonorous tones, merited some sort of no-
tice, he who had thus sung forth the language of the
holy book, turned to the silent figure to whom
he had unwittingly addressed himself, and found a
new and more powerful subject of admiration in the
object that encountered his gaze. His eyes fell on
the still, upright, and rigid form of the "Indian run-
ner," who had borne to the camp the unwelcome
tidings of the preceding evening. Although in a
state of perfect repose, and apparently disregarding,
with characteristic stoicism, the excitement and
bustle around him, there was a sullen fierceness
mingled with the quiet of the savage, that was likely
It is impossible to say what unlooked for remark
this short and silent communication, between two
such singular men, might have elicited from the
tall white man, had not his active curiosity been
again drawn to other objects. A general move-
ment amongst the domestics, and a low sound of gen-
tle voices, announced the approach of those whose
presence was wanted, in order to enable the
cavalcade to move. The simple admirer of the
war-horse instantly fell back to a low, gaunt, switch-
tailed mare, that was unconsciously gleaning the
faded herbage of the camp, nigh by, where, leaning
A young man, in the livery of the crown, conduct-
ed to their steeds two females, who, it was apparent
by their dresses, were prepared to encounter the
fatigues of a journey in the woods. One, and she
was the most juvenile in her appearance, though
both were young, permitted glimpses of her dazzling
complexion, fair golden hair, and bright blue eyes,
to be caught, as she artlessly suffered the morning
air to blow aside the green veil, which descended low
from her beaver. The flush which still lingered above
the pines in the western sky, was not more bright
nor delicate than the bloom on her cheek; nor was the
opening day more cheering than the animated smile
which she bestowed on the youth, as he assisted her
into the saddle. The other, who appeared to share
equally in the attentions of the young officer, conceal-
ed her charms from the gaze of the soldiery with a
studious care, that seemed better fitted to the expe-
rience of four or five additional years. It could
be seen, however, that her person, though moulded
with the same exquisite proportions, of which none
of the graces were lost by the travelling dress she
wore, was rather fuller and more mature than that of
her companion.
No sooner were these females seated, than their at-
tendant sprang lightly into the saddle of the war-
horse, when the whole three bowed to Webb, who,
in courtesy, awaited their parting on the threshold
