“Where Joe is now I don’t know.”
“He must have sent word to the commander about the attack on General Herkimer,” Ira said half to himself.
“How do you know? Have you heard anything about the battle?” Late asked eagerly.
“Yes, I met two or three of the soldiers who had been separated from the main body during the fight. Because you failed to see the general, he knew nothing about the ambush, and walked directly into it. A hand to hand fight followed, and the general himself was wounded; but with his back against a tree, he lighted his pipe, and, puffing away, directed his men in what seemed a hopeless struggle. Then came reinforcements, the men who told me did not know where from, that attacked the British forces in the rear, driving them back. It was then that the soldiers I saw became separated from their companions, and all they could guess was, that our army, having dispersed the red-coats, went on to the Fort.”
“The reinforcements must have come from there,” Late declared, “and it shows that Joe gave the warning. We’ll know about it later. But now tell me how you happen to be here.”
“I’ll go back to the time you left me,” Ira said, and related all the incidents already known to the reader, down to the defeat of Colonel Baum at Bennington.
“When I got back to Fort Edward, I found General Burgoyne in an ugly frame of mind. Baum’s defeat deprived him of the stores he so sadly needed. No word had come from Clinton, and nothing had been heard from St. Leger. In his desperation he decided to send me up here to hurry the colonel down the valley. He is afraid to attack our forces at Bemis Heights until he receives reinforcements. Of course I got word to General Schuyler before beginning the journey, and he suggested a plan which, judging from the flight of those Indians, will prove a success.”
“What did you say to them?” Late interrupted. “I never saw redskins run as they did after your speech.”
“I told them,” his friend replied, “that Colonel Arnold was coming with a large force, and would capture them all if they did not run away. The cross was proof to them that my message was true. Before to-morrow morning the entire Indian force will hear the news, and vanish like fog before the rising sun. In two days St. Leger will have only his regulars to confront our men.”
“And we’ll whip him as the patriots whipped Baum at Bennington,” Late cried with a laugh.