He was looked upon as an old man when he served under Abercrombie at Ticonderoga in ’58, and believed of a surety he was as well informed in military affairs as Isaac Rice, his ardent disciple, fancied him to be.
Ever ready to give advice on important matters; not backward about criticising the alleged mistakes of his superiors, and holding himself as with the idea that during the late troubles with the French he had learned all the art of warfare; but yet with such possibly disagreeable qualities, Corporal ’Lige had shown himself to be a brave soldier, willing at any time to do more even than was his duty.
The old man was sitting outside the door of a tiny log building which he called home, smoking peacefully, much as he might have done had the committee from Connecticut never passed that way, and this apparent indifference surprised the boy.
“Why, corporal, don’t you know what’s going on in the town? Haven’t you heard that they are talking of taking the fort at Ticonderoga, and running the king out of the country?”
“First and foremost, Isaac lad, are you so ignorant as to think the king is here in this ’ere province to be run out? An’ then agin, can’t you realize that talkin’s one thing an’ doin’s another?”
“Yes; but, corporal, haven’t you heard the news?”
“If you mean so far as concerns the committee from Connecticut, Isaac, I have heard it, and what’s more, Master Noah Phelps talked with me before ever he went to see Colonel Easton. He knew where he could get information about Ticonderoga, for bless your soul, lad, wasn’t I there in ’58? An’ would you find a stick or stone around the place that I can’t call to mind?”
“Did Master Phelps come to see you first?”
“Well, yes, lad, it ’mounted to much the same thing. I was down the road when he come into town, an’ seein’ me he acted like 7 as if a great load had been lifted off his shoulders, ’cause he knowed I could tell him a thing or two if I was minded. ‘Good-evenin’ to you, Corporal ’Lige,’ he said sweet as honey in the honeycomb, and I passed the time of day with him, kind of suspicionin’ something of this same business was goin’ on. ‘Want to take a little trip up through the country?’ he asked friendly-like, and do you know, lad, the whole plan come to me in a minute, an’ I says to him, says I, ‘Master Phelps, you can count me in, if it so be yo’re goin’ toward the lakes.’ ‘That’s where we’re bound for, Corporal ’Lige,’ says he, ‘and I’ll put your name down.’ I said, says I, ‘It’s rations, an’ somethin’ in the way of pay, I reckon?’ an’ he allowed as that part of it would be all fixed, especially with me, ’cause you see, lad, it wouldn’t be much good for these people what never knew anything 8 ’bout war, to start out leavin’ me behind. Why, bless your heart, I allow that’s why they come through Pittsfield, jest for the purpose of seein’ Corporal ’Lige.”
The old man ceased speaking to puff dense volumes of smoke from his pipe, and Isaac Rice gazed at him in wonder and amaze.