"God knows, sir. By the Sacandaga and the Lakes, no doubt."
"Could he go by Saratoga and the top o' the Hudson?"
"It is a pathless wilderness."
"Yes. And still I think the rogue went that way. I have rangers out looking for signs of him beyond Ballston. Also, I sent half a battalion toward the Sacandaga. Of course Albany Royalists warned him of my coming; I couldn't prevent that, nor could Schuyler, no, nor the very devil himself!
"And here am I at the Hall, and the fox stole away to the Canadas. And what now to do I know not.... Do you?"
He shot the question in my face point blank; and I stood dumb for a minute, striving to collect and marshall any ideas that might bear upon so urgent a matter.
"Colonel," said I, "unless the British hold Champlain, Sir John would scarcely risk a flight in that direction. No. He would prefer to plunge into the wilderness and travel by Oswegatchi."
"Do you so believe, Mr. Drogue?"
I considered a moment more; then:
"Yet, if Guy Johnson's Indians have come down toward the Sacandaga to protect him—knowing that he had meant to flee——"