CHAPTER XIV
A SCOUTING EXPEDITION IN THE DEAD OF WINTER
One day about the end of February, Edmund came out of Rogers's hut, and said:—
"Rogers is going on a scout, boys, down to Ticonderoga, and will take your company. Johnson is going to send over fifty Mohawk Indians under Captain Lotridge, and there'll be a number of regulars, too. There will be about three hundred and fifty men in the party, so that there won't be much chance of your being treated as we were in our first expedition. An engineer lieutenant named Bhreems is going with you, and will make sketches of the fort. You are to try and take some prisoners to bring back information."
We set out on the third of March, 1759.
The snow was deep, and the Rangers and Indians were on snowshoes. The regulars followed us, plodding along heavily through the snow. We reached Halfway Brook that night, and the next day got over to Lake George. We waited till it was dark and then marched down the lake to the First Narrows, which we reached about two in the morning.
It was bitter cold, and already some of the men were so badly frost-bitten that twenty of them had been sent back to Fort Edward.
"Now, boys," said Rogers, "we must keep under cover all day and hide till night comes on. You can't have any fires. Get into sheltered spots and huddle together to keep warm, and shift round now and then to give every one a fair chance."