Hugh Pendexter

“ My men are no good in the woods. Putnam, you must——”
“Just a word, general,” begged Putnam. “It is best she goes through. She knows nothing of our orders to hold back an advance on Ticonderoga. She will tell Montcalm or Levis that we plan to attack in force. The news will halt the French till we can get our feet braced.”
“It's best she be caught. Better she be hung than that she reach Ticonderoga,” roared Lyman. “She talked but little with me, but taking her for your man I told my officers there would be no move against Ticonderoga, and she heard me. ”

“ The French must be whipped if the Iroquois were to continue at peace with the English.
He was measurably sure of his Mohawks, who guarded the eastern door, but the keepers of the western door, the Senecas, were independent and irritable under any dictation. Whoever won this war won the Iroquois. The nation that had the Long House behind it could dominate the continent.
For many, many years the Iroquois controlled the region from Albany to Lake Erie. Without the consent of the Five Nations travel on the upper Hudson, the Mohawk, the Delaware and upper Susquehanna was at the risk of life. ”

“ The occasional imprint of a moccasin in the forest mold suggested haste on the part of the Indian, as if he had observed the white man and wished to withdraw without being discovered. A friendly Indian would be scouting north of William Henry and not back here on the road to Fort Edward.
Putnam followed the trail along the east and northern borders of the clearing and soon concluded that the man had discovered he was being pursued. He was now taking pains to hide his trail, and only one equal in woodcraft to an aborigine could have followed it to and across Shone Creek, holding due west. ”

“ The French would live with them, marry their women, adopt their customs and be generous with presents. French goods were not as satisfactory as the Dutch and English wares, but French brandy was strong and French manners much more to the Indian's liking than the treatment received at the hands of the Anglo-Saxons. ”

“ His gun was found loaded just below the stockade. Just as if something reached down from the sky and snatched him up. Men are in a panic. And they're brave men, too.”
“I haven't the heart to draft a man for to-night, yet it must be done. However, I can throw a string of troops round the post.”
“General Lyman, let me volunteer. Let me act as sentinel tonight,” eagerly said Putnam.
“Major Rogers wouldn't thank me if I let you, one of his best captains, be killed while standing sentry duty at an outpost,” slowly reminded Lyman.
“This is Indian work. ”

“ Not one of the four men has fired his gun.
“The men have volunteered for the duty, but now the leftenant reports it'll be necessary to draft a man for each night, as no more are volunteering. It's bad for the men. They don't mind fighting against big odds but this business takes away their courage.” ”

“ Ahead of them was Fort Edward, so christened by William Johnson in honor of the King's grandson, although the New England provincials were better pleased with the original name of Lyman, the fighting Connecticut general. If they got no trace of the girl here they must trust entirely to luck as the lake with its thick forests was but fourteen miles away.
Once the girl got into the brush she could reach Ticonderoga by following either side of the lake or by stealing a canoe and traveling at night. ”

“ And the ——'s to pay if she gets through with that budget.”
“That's a hoss of different color,” slowly admitted Putnam. “No; she mustn't get through. She can't be far ahead. She doesn't know she's chased. She'll keep to the bush and move slowly to dodge the troops. Willis and I will cut her off.”
It was not until they were back in the Lake George road that Willis found his voice.
“Think of it! She passed herself off as me,” were his first words.
“And keen enough not to go to Lyman till candle-light,” sighed Putnam. “You know the country from here to Fort William Henry?” ”