“Can I do anything for him?”
“No, we are doing all that can be done.”
“This is not a very nice place.”
“As soon as the weather moderates we will transfer him to a hospital on the Island of Orleans. There the accommodations will be much improved, and I will see to it personally that he has every attention.”
“If you will do that, sir, I shall be very thankful. He is one of my best and closest friends. I do not want to leave him unless I am certain he is in the best of hands.”
“Leave him? Do you mean you are going away?”
“I belong to the army at Fort Oswego, and my furlough is running out, so I must get back, if I possibly can,” answered Dave.
What he said was true. He had already remained at Quebec longer than intended. The very next day found him going back to Fort Oswego, in company with eight rangers and an English officer. The officer belonged to General Amherst’s staff, and from him Dave learned, later on, that Amherst himself was going to take charge of the expedition to move against Lévis at Montreal, by way of Lake Ontario and the rapids of the upper St. Lawrence.
The particulars of the trip back to Fort Oswego need not be given here, for nothing out of the ordinary occurred during the journey, which, because of one delay and another, lasted over two weeks. While still eight miles from the fort the little expedition was joined by forty Indians who were, much to Dave’s astonishment, under the leadership of White Buffalo.
“Why, White Buffalo, I thought your braves had deserted you!” cried the young soldier, after the first greeting was over.