Within twenty minutes after the alarm was first given, we could see the British and Tory soldiers forming in line, while to the southward, below the bend in the river, the Indians were crossing hurriedly, which last fact caused me to say to the sergeant:
"I am of the mind that the savages count on attacking the stockaded portion of the fortification," and the old man replied:
"Ay, lad, an' one might have guessed that without stopping to see from which direction they were comin'. Thayendanega may prate as much as he pleases about the bravery of his warriors, but he cannot find a corporal's guard among the whole crowd that would dare march up to a direct assault upon earthworks."
"What portion of the force is on duty in the stockade?" Jacob asked, but none of our company could answer him. It was reasonable to suppose Colonel Gansevoort had stationed there those of his men who were most experienced in savage warfare, and we whose duty it was to hold the walls in the vicinity of the sally-port had no need to trouble our heads concerning them.
The one thing which puzzled me was as to why St. Leger was making this attack, since he had begun to approach the fort by parallels. I was eager to have some expert opinion as to whether the British were apparently abandoning the slow method of reducing the fortification, or if, having learned perchance that we were running short of ammunition for the big guns, they were making an attack in order to provoke us to waste powder which would be more sadly needed at some later day. Therefore it was that I asked Sergeant Corney what his belief was regarding the matter.
"It looks to me much as if Colonel Willett an' Lieutenant Stockwell had been captured."
"How do you figure that out?"
"Because an assault is evidently about to be made. If they are not prisoners, the enemy has learned that they left the fort."
I was still in darkness as to why he arrived at such conclusion, but found the reason exceedingly plain when he said:
"If St. Leger knows that a man of Colonel Willett's rank was eager to take the chances of leaving the fortification to summon assistance, he must believe the garrison is in sore straits, an' therefore it is that I believe the mistake was made in allowin' him to go out when there were plenty of others here willin' to take the chances."