"True for you, lad; but General Herkimer was to begin an advance on the mornin' after we left camp, and he should be nearabout. To run upon his sentinels in the darkness might not be agreeable."
From that on, until half an hour had passed, we pressed forward cautiously, and well it was that we did so, for suddenly I came upon a levelled musket, which would have been discharged but for my crying out quickly, as I swerved to one side:
"We are messengers for the general! We are friends!"
"You come from an odd direction if that be true," was the reply, and at the same instant a vigorous hand seized me by the shirt-collar.
Then it was that Sergeant Corney stepped forward, as he asked:
"Are you of General Herkimer's force?"
"How much will it benefit you to get such information?"
"Nay, nay, friend; there is no need of bein' overcautious with us. We are two of the three messengers who left camp at Oriskany to go to Fort Schuyler, and are now returnin'."
"Returnin'?" the soldier said, for it was indeed one of General Herkimer's sentinels whom we had come upon. "It must please you to skulk around among the Tories and savages, if, after having once gained the fort, you come back."
"That is exactly what we have done, my friend," Sergeant Corney replied, gravely, "and for the good reason that Colonel Gansevoort had a message for us to deliver to the general. You are right in questioning us, for under such situations a soldier had best be overcautious than too credulous. But now we ask to be sent to the commander."