Part 14 (1/2)

”I am placed over you as a father and guardian, and shall not lead you into difficulties from which I may not be able to extricate you.”

Unless the soldiers of the command had been literally beside themselves, such words would have brought them to a proper frame of mind; but as it was, the temperate reply seemed to inflame their anger, and on the moment there was a very babel of outcries, amid which it was only possible to distinguish the demand that the force be led toward Fort Schuyler without delay, regardless of any message which the sergeant and I might have brought.

I could see, rather than hear, for the tumult was exceeding great, that the two colonels continued to demand that the commander follow their plans rather than adhere to his own, and it was a veritable fishwoman's squabble during twenty minutes or more, when General Herkimer apparently lost his temper for the first time, and cried, in a tone so loud that the words could be distinctly heard all over the encampment:

”I will give the command to march forward, and you shall soon see that those who have been boasting loudest of their courage will be the first to run on meeting the enemy.”

”I was afraid it would come to that,” Sergeant Corney whispered to me, with a sigh. ”It don't stand to reason that any man could hold his temper a great while under such a tongue-las.h.i.+n' as those curs gave the commander, an' I'm predictin' that every mother's son of 'em will rue this mornin's work.”

Immediately the unwilling permission for them to do as they pleased had been given, the men set about making ready for the advance as if each moment was of the greatest value, and in an incredibly short time after General Herkimer had been bullied into agreeing to that which his better judgment told him to be wrong, the company was ready for the march.

”Are we to go with them?” I asked of the sergeant, believing for the moment that it would be wiser for us to form an independent command of two.

”Ay, lad, I'm thinkin' that we had best stand by the general, for he may be needin' us before this mornin's work is done, an' we sha'n't be takin'

a great deal of time from Jacob, because, in case of arrivin' before Colonel Gansevoort is ready for us, the scrimmage will soon be over.”

The two colonels, who were responsible for this unsoldierly method of conducting a campaign, busied themselves with getting the men into lines, and all the while telling what it was possible for them to do to St. Leger and his force, as if anything of value could be done when the idiots did not have sufficient sense to make inquiries of those who could give them full information regarding the strength of the enemy whom they were so soon to meet.

Even had Sergeant Corney not decided to follow the commander before the line of march had been arranged, he would have done so later, because General Herkimer beckoned us to approach when he took his place at the head of the column.

”Are you counting on coming with me, despite the unnecessary danger which we know will be encountered?” he asked, and Sergeant Corney replied, promptly:

”Ay, sir, that we are, and had already settled it in our own minds.”

”Which portion of the besieging troops are we likely to meet first, if we follow the trail?” the general asked.

”Thayendanega's camp lies southeasterly from the fort; but how far it may be from the trail, I cannot say.”

At this moment the report of a rifle from the direction of where the outermost sentinels were stationed startled every one, including those bloodthirsty colonels, and for a moment all stood silent and motionless, waiting to learn the cause of the alarm.

Then it was that the sentinel with whom the sergeant and I had already spoken, came running into camp, for it seemed a favorite trick of his to desert a post of duty whenever inclination prompted.

It was Colonel c.o.x who asked, advancing:

”Did you fire that gun?”

”Ay, sir; I saw two Indians in the thicket, coming as if from the direction of this camp.”

”Did you kill either of them?”

”I do not think I even scratched 'em. The wood is too dense for much good shooting.”

Colonel c.o.x wheeled around as if the information was of no especial importance, when even a boy like me understood somewhat of its import, and, carelessly saluting the commander, reported that the troops were ready for the word to march.

The general, who was mounted, spurred his horse on to the head of the column, Sergeant Corney and I following as best we might, and once in the lead he gave the command.

”Is nothing to be done toward finding out whether the Indians whom the sentinel saw, succeeded in getting back to their own camp?” I asked of my companion, and he replied, grimly, with what was very like a smile of satisfaction on his wrinkled face: