The hound snuffed eagerly at the soiled footgear, slowly wagging his tail, and then looked inquiringly at his master.
“Sarch him out, boy. Sarch him out,” Job encouraged him, pointing along the ground.
The hound circled about the yard a little, and then, finding the trail, followed it silently and steadily down to the creek to where the men were mustered. There, on the much trodden ground, it baffled him for a while. Resorting to his usual tactics, he made widening circles and again found the trail and went off upon it in a steady, untiring pace southward in the direction of Ticonderoga.
“I knowed it,” said Job to himself, “and I’ll bet ye there’ll be a Canuck treed afore sundown.” Guided by the deep, mellow baying of the hound, he set off, with his gun at atrail, in rapid pursuit.
The agile little Canadian had at least an hour’s start, and made such brisk use of it that he was on the shore opposite the Fort when he was overtaken by the hound, who at once set furiously upon him. Being unarmed, he was forced to scramble up a tree, from which, when he had recovered his breath, he began lustily to hail the Fort, and at intervals to curse the hound. His shouts, and Gabriel’s insistent deep-mouthed bayings, could scarcely fail to attract the attention of the garrison, and Job, pushing forward at his best pace, presently appeared upon the scene.
“Hello de Forrt,” the Canuck was shouting. “Hey! Hello de Forrt! Sacre chien! Go home, Ah tol’ you! Hello, Carillon. Tac-con-derrrque! All de Bastonais was comin’ for took you, Ah tol’ you! Sacre chien! Stop off you nowse so Ah can heard me spik.”
“Shut yer head an’ come down out o’ that mighty quick,” Job commanded in a low voice.
“Me no onstan’ Angleesh,” and again the voice rang out over across the water: “Hello de Forrt!”
Peering through the overhanging branches, Job saw a group of red-coated soldiers gathered on the other shore, and presently saw a boat putting out from it.
“Looka here,” said he sternly, as he cocked his piece and aimed upward; “I don’t want tu be obleeged tu hurt you, but stop yer hollerin’ an’ come right down.”