“It’s all very well for you, who have been resting here, to say that,” Jones replied petulantly. “I’ve been making a road through the thicket for a matter of five miles 210 or more, and don’t propose to move again until after I’ve had a breathing spell.”
“Why didn’t you come back by the shore, as you went?”
“Because there are a hundred pair of eyes watching this side of the lake. I could see the rebels on the opposite shore before I gained the trail, and then it was necessary to keep well hidden in the bushes. Even though I had found a boat, it is doubtful if I should have been allowed to pull up this way, for Seth Warner and Ethan Allen are much too keen to let any one pass who is headed in the direction of Crown Point.”
“They are waiting for the wind to die away before setting out to take the fort, and if we would save it to the king it is time to be about the work,” Master Wentworth said half to himself, but his comrades gave no heed to the words.
Then ensued a long time of silence, and Isaac was well content, for each moment of delay lessened the danger, as he believed.
Thanks to the indolence of Masters White and Jones, it was nearly nightfall before they were ready to begin the journey, and then the latter intimated that he had recovered from his fatigue.
“If we fail to give the warning in time, you and White can take the fault to yourselves,” Master Wentworth said angrily, after which he ordered the prisoners on in advance once more.
“They have begun to quarrel among themselves, and perhaps our time will come before morning,” Isaac whispered to Nathan as they pushed on in advance, and young Beman appeared more willing to listen than when the subject was first broached; but yet he made no reply.
An hour later night had fully come, and the flying clouds so completely obscured the sky that it was difficult for the travelers to make their way even along the shore where was nothing, save here and there a point of rocks, to impede the progress.
More than once did the boys walk directly into the water, and twice Master White fell headlong over a fallen tree, despite all efforts to the contrary, and then it was Jason Wentworth who proposed a halt.