"He'll have to give that up, too."
"It's a consarned shame the government can't send us some troops!" cried Sam Barringford, savagely. "Troops is our only salvation. I'd like to raise a company o' rangers myself, hang me ef I wouldn't!"
Barrington's ideas found ready indorsement, and a few days later thirty-six of the settlers formed themselves into a company, known as Pattersall's Rangers, because one Aubrey Pattersall was the captain. They drove the Indians from the vicinity of Fort Cumberland, and for the time being matters became a little more quiet in that vicinity.
Reports were now coming in thick and fast, and soon it became definitely known that every fort and settlement in the west and along the lakes had been attacked by the Indians, and only Niagara, Detroit, and Fort Pitt were still holding out. The attacks at Venango, Presque Isle, St. Joseph, Le Boeuf, and other points had been brutal in the extreme, and atrocities were committed which have few parallels in history. Where the whites were taken prisoners, they were tortured to death, and in some cases the Indian women and children took part in the barbarous proceedings.
From one old trapper Dave at last learned that his father and Henry, with some others, had reached Fort Pitt, and had attached themselves to the garrison at that stronghold. This trapper likewise told the commandant at Fort Cumberland that a large body of Indians had surrounded Fort Pitt and expected to capture the place, and this news was quickly forwarded to General Amherst, now in command of the English forces in America.
General Amherst was already doing all in his power to gather troops for a march against the red men. But soldiers were scarce, and all he could get were mere handfuls from here, there, and anywhere. Some of these he sent to reinforce Fort Niagara, and one expedition, under Captain Dalzell, was sent to Detroit. But Dalzell was surprised by Pontiac and defeated, while the gallant English officer himself was cruelly slain.
The commander of the English troops at Philadelphia at this time was Colonel Henry Bouquet, who, like Captain Ecuyer, of Fort Pitt, was a Swiss by birth, but had served for a long time under the banner of St. George. General Amherst now communicated with Colonel Bouquet ordering him to collect as large a force as possible, and move across the Allegheny Mountains, to the relief of Carlisle, Bedford, Fort Pitt, and other forts and posts along the old western army road.
Colonel Bouquet was a man of action, and without delay he gathered together a force of about five hundred men, principally Highlanders, who had come in from service in the West Indies. He also sent out orders, through his agents, to collect horses, carts, and supplies, and have them in readings upon his arrival at Carlisle and other points along the proposed line of march.
"Colonel Bouquet is coming from Philadelphia to fight the Indians!" was the announcement at Fort Cumberland one morning late in June. "He wants horses, wagons, and other things, and he is ready to take along any men who volunteer."
"I'm going!" cried Dave, as soon as this news reached him. "If he is going to march for Fort Pitt, that is just what I want."