"But I would not set off against your wishes, because of the danger in the road, although I claim it would be quite as great if we attempted to enter the fort at once."
"Then it is decided you will return to General Herkimer," Colonel Gansevoort said, quickly, as if fearing lest we might repent of our decision. "Tell him that within five minutes after giving the signal we will make a sortie from the main gate in the direction of Oriskany."
"An' if it should be that we didn't get through alive?" Sergeant Corney said as if to himself, and the commandant replied, quickly:
"In such case, without means of knowing what has happened to you, we shall make the sortie and shed much blood uselessly. Is there anything I can do for you before you start?"
The old soldier hesitated, as if unable to think of anything we needed, and I, remembering the hunger which had assailed us while we lay hidden in the thicket, replied:
"If it so be you could spare us a bit of corn bread, we would be the better able to make a hurried journey."
"That you shall have, and in plenty," the commandant said, as if relieved at knowing our wants could be gratified with so little trouble, and Sergeant Corney added:
"Only so much as we can put in our pockets, for this is not the time to encumber ourselves even with provisions."
Some of the soldiers who had been standing near by hurried away, returning a few moments later with as much bread as would have served to satisfy our hunger for a week at least. When such a quantity as we needed for one meal had been pushed out between the logs of the stockade, my companion whispered to the commandant:
"We shall strike into the thicket to the westward, making a circle to the south around the fort, until coming to the road leading to Oriskany, crossing the river just below here, and now, sir, if you have no further demands, we will go."