Raymond nodded. Then he called aloud:
“Hullo, there, friends!”
The two frontiersmen started, and each raised his rifle.
“Who calls?” questioned the one named Chester.
“A lost soldier,” answered Raymond, and presented himself to view. “I take it you are English,” he added.
“We are. Where are you from?”
Raymond told them, and then Dave and Shamer also presented themselves. The two frontiersmen leaped the brook and listened to their story with keen interest.
“You’ve certainty had a tough fight of it,” said the man named Holden. “I held all along thet them Frenchmen would be over here nosin’ ’round an’ thet they’d bring some redskins with ’em.”
“Are you from Fort Oswego?” asked Dave.
“We are. We are attached to Cap’n Neely’s company o’ rangers. We came out lookin’ for a bit o’ fresh meat. But now I reckon the best thing we can do is to help you to git to the fort, ain’t thet so?”