Part 37 (2/2)

When we had come near the gate, the Tories now well sobered by fright, Colonel Gansevoort himself hailed, and again the sergeant replied, but this time in a respectful tone, after which we heard the command to open the port.

A throng of curious, laughing men crowded around as we marched in, and not until the uniforms of our prisoners could be seen did they believe we had really made a capture.

It was a squad of Johnson Greens which we had run across so fortunately and accidentally, and none of St. Leger's force could have been more welcome to our lads than they, for that organization was made up wholly of renegades from the Mohawk Valley, who needed such a lesson as we were now in position to give them.

With such proof as we had with us, Colonel Gansevoort could no longer doubt the report which had already been brought in by Jacob. He had not thought it possible the entire force of the enemy could be in a helpless condition, and it is hardly to be wondered at that he was incredulous.

The prisoners were speedily cared for in such a fas.h.i.+on that there could be no possibility of their escaping, and then the commandant summoned all three of us who had visited the British encampment, to his headquarters, that we might tell the story to himself and the officers.

No one could even make a guess as to what had happened within the enemy's lines; but there was not a man present who did not believe that now had come our time to raise the siege in such a manner that the fort would not be invested again for many days to come.

”When your messenger came in with his report, he admitted that you had seen but a small portion of the encampment, therefore I hesitated to accept it as a fact regarding the entire army; but now, after you have made a tour of the works, it would be worse than folly to delay,” the commandant said to the sergeant. ”If you who have so lately returned want to join in the sortie, it will be necessary to make your preparations quickly.”

And the old man replied, grimly:

”The advance can't be made any too soon to please us, sir.”

Chapter XIX.

The Pursuit

No more than three hundred men were sent out to take advantage of the singular state of affairs which we, the scouts, had reported as existing in the British camp, and when I expressed surprise because of the small number ordered on duty, Sergeant Corney replied, contentedly:

”If you an' I told the truth, lad, as we know we did, then a detachment of three hundred is way off more than enough to take care of all St. Leger's army in its present condition; but if we made a mistake, or if in some way it turned out to be a big trick intended for our undoin',--though I don't see how it _can_ be,--then have men in plenty been taken from the garrison here.”

”All of which means that you're entirely satisfied with everything this night?” I said, with a laugh, for the capture of the Tories had pleased me so thoroughly that my mouth was stretched in a grin nearly all the time.

”That's about the size of it, lad, though in this case I couldn't find anythin' to be disgruntled with, however soreheaded I might be. The colonel is sendin' out men in plenty.”

It was Captain Jackman who led the force, and I knew full well that if it was possible to punish the Britishers he was the one above all others to tackle the job, for a braver, more cool-headed man I have never seen.

It is well that I make the story short, so far as our own movements were concerned, for what we said or did before visiting the enemy's camp in force is of very little importance.

We set off within an hour after Sergeant Corney and I brought in the prisoners, and were marched boldly across the plain on a bee-line for the batteries without hearing a single note of alarm. It seemed to me that even the noises of the orgy had died away.

Arriving at the batteries, Captain Jackman ordered thirty of his force to take possession of the guns and hold them until the last possible moment, in case the enemy rallied sufficiently to do anything toward caring for their own safety.

A few yards farther on, at the redoubts covering the batteries, thirty more men were left, and, since there was an ample supply of ammunition for the big guns as well as the small arms, we who were entering the encampment would have a fine support in case of trouble.

All these precautions were proper, and the captain would have been a poor soldier indeed had he failed to take them; but, as was soon shown, they were needless.

When we arrived near General St. Leger's quarters we saw the last of the army fleeing as if panic-stricken in the direction of Oneida Lake, no longer preserving any semblance of military formation, but each man for himself, and, what was yet more puzzling, their Indian allies were in close pursuit, striking down laggards whenever the opportunity offered.

These so-called warriors of whom Thayendanega had been so proud, were taking Tory and British scalps as if they had been summoned for no other purpose, and during two or three minutes all our people stood as if suddenly turned into graven images, so much of astonishment and bewilderment was caused by the wonderful change in affairs.

Captain Jackman's first act, after understanding that the enemy was actually in retreat, with their former allies hara.s.sing the fleeing men to the best of their ability, was to send a messenger in hot haste to the fort with the word that he counted on taking his entire force, save those left to hold the batteries and redoubts, in pursuit, and advising that nearly all the British equipment could be seized upon without fear of interruption.

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