Ben Comee : $b A tale of Rogers's Rangers, 1758-59Canavan, M. J. (Michael Joseph)
History
Ben Comee : $b A tale of Rogers's Rangers, 1758-59
Canavan, M. J. (Michael Joseph)
United States -- History -- French and Indian War, 1754-1763 -- Fiction
"We were out in the wet, soaking. When the French had gone to sleep, I
walked to the f-fence which was round our pasture, and waited for the
sentinel to pass. Then I crept under the fence, and crawled along till I
got to the swamp, and went into the edge of it and walked toward the end
of the breastwork. The f-fall of rain had made the swamp worse than
usual.
"As I walked along in the mire, I felt that I was sinking, and caught
hold of a t-tree and pulled myself out, but left my shoes behind. Then I
kept close to the edge of the swamp, and went along carefully, t-till I
got near the breastwork.
[Sidenote: A STROLL THROUGH THE WOODS]
"I heard the sentinel c-coming my way, and lay down till he t-turned and
walked away from me.
"I passed by the end of the breastwork, and kept along the edge of the
forest, t-till I felt there was an opening, which I knew must be the
path we travelled over on our way from Lake George. It was blind going,
p-pitch dark. Every now and then I found myself wandering from the path,
b-but luckily the passage of our large army had t-trodden it down into a
road, so that I k-kept my way, though it was with great d-difficulty.
"As it began to grow light, I reached a point where a ledge came down to
the road; and I thought this would be a good place to leave the path,
because if the Indians searched for me, they would lose my trail on the
r-rocks.
"I walked on the rocks for over an hour, t-till the sun rose, and the
rain ceased. I came across a blueberry patch, and ate my fill. It was
good to be free and to have something to eat.
"I found a hollow where I would not be seen, and where the sun would
shine on me, and I lay down and slept. When I w-woke up, and was
thinking what to do, a rabbit came hopping along, feeding. I kept quiet
until he had passed me, and rose up and c-cried out, Hooh! He sat up on
his hind legs, pricked up his ears, and I knocked him over with a stone
and ate him. Then I came to the brook where we had our f-first fight,
but it was so full from the rain that I had to wait a day before I could
cross it. It ran like a m-mill-race. My feet were all cut up, and I tore
off the arms of my shirt and bound the cloth round my feet. I didn't
d-dare to follow the paths, but kept through the woods t-till I struck
the lake. I only travelled in the morning and afternoon, for when the
sun was overhead I c-couldn't tell where I was going; so I ate berries
and slept at midday. I reached the lake above the Narrows and went back
to the path. I didn't care m-much if I were caught or not. I don't want
to eat another b-berry in my life. Several times I saw boats on the lake
and tried to get their attention, but c-couldn't. D-Didn't I feel happy
when I saw you coming toward me! And when I knew who it was, I felt as
if I were at home again m-milking the cows or up on old B-Bull Meadow
shooting fifty-two pigeons at a clip. Have you heard anything from Davy
Fiske?"
[Sidenote: NEWS FROM WEAVER DAVID]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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