E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Barbara Kosker, Linda McKeown, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustration. See 27920-h.htm or 27920-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/9/2/27920/27920-h/27920-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/9/2/27920/27920-h.zip) BEN COMEE A Tale of Rogers's Rangers 1758-59 by M. J. CANAVAN [Illustration: "HE FIRED, BUT MISSED ME."--PAGE 117] New York The MacMillan Company London: MacMillan and Co., Ltd. 1922 All rights reserved Copyright, 1899, by the MacMillan Company. Set up and electrotyped October, 1899. Reprinted November, 1899; February, 1908; October, 1910; September, 1913; November, 1916. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I Ben is born in Lexington 1737--Schools and Schoolfellows 1 CHAPTER II They trap Muskrats--Bishop Hancock and his Grandson John 14 CHAPTER III In which are Details of a Great Fox Hunt 30 CHAPTER IV Trading in those Days--Ben is apprenticed--The Enlisting Sergeant--Court Day at Concord 51 CHAPTER V Pigeon Tuesday and its Exploits 64 CHAPTER VI A Pauper's Funeral--Ben's Friend the Minister, and Ben's Victory in Wrestling 74 CHAPTER VII Tales from the Frontier--Mr. Tythingman and his Services 88 CHAPTER VIII Ben and Amos join Rogers's Rangers and march to the West 100 CHAPTER IX In which the Rangers engage with the French and Indians 110 CHAPTER X Lord Howe and his Death--The Loyalty of John Stark 120 CHAPTER XI Fort Ticonderoga and the Assault 131 CHAPTER XII The Fight at Fort Anne, and the Escape of Amos 142 CHAPTER XIII Ben Comee Heap Big Paleface--Trapping Bob-cats in Primeval Woods 163 CHAPTER XIV A Scouting Expedition in the Dead of Winter 187 CHAPTER XV Camp Discipline--Amherst's Angels--A Brush with the French, and the Loss of Captain Jacob 197 CHAPTER XVI The Rangers to the Front--Captain Stark's Tale of Capture-- To attack the St. Francis Indians 208 CHAPTER XVII March to the Village--The Retreat 224 CHAPTER XVIII Starvation--Drifting down the Ammonusuc--Fort No. 4, and Good Fortune at Last 241 BEN COMEE CHAPTER I BEN IS BORN IN LEXINGTON 1737--SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLFELLOWS