“I'll tell you what it is, Corny,” said Guert Ten Eyck, in a somewhat positive manner, “the less _we_ say about this campaign, and of our share in it, the petter. We are not soldiers, in the regular way, and if we keep quiet, nobody will know what a t'rashing we t'ree, in particular, haf receivet. My advice is, t'at we get out of this army as we got into it--t'at is, py a one-sided movement, and for ever after-holt our tongues about our having had anyt'ing to do with it. I never knew a worsted man any the more respected for his mishap; and I will own, that I set down flogging as a very material part of a fight.” “I am quite sure, Guert, I am as little disposed to brag of my share in this affair, as you or any one can possibly be; but it is much easier to talk about getting away from this confused crowd than really to do the thing. I doubt if any of these boats will take us in; for an Englishman, flogged, is not apt to be very good-natured; and all our friends seem to be killed or wounded.” “You want go?” asked a low Indian voice at my elbow. “Got 'nough, eh?” Turning, I saw Susquesus standing within two feet of me. Our consultation was necessarily in the midst of a moving throng; and the Onondago must have approached us, unnoticed, at the commencement of our conference. There he was, however, though whence he came or how he got there, I could not imagine, at the time, and have never been able to learn since. “Can you help us to get away, Susquesus?” was my answer. “Do you know of any means of crossing the lake?” “Got canoe. That good. Canoe go, though Yengeese run.” “That in which we came off to the army, do you mean?” The Indian nodded his head, and made a sign for us to follow. Little persuasion was necessary, and we proceeded at his heels, in a body, in the direction he led. I will confess, that when I saw our guide proceeding eastward, along the lake-shore, I had some misgivings on the subject of his good faith. That was the direction which took us towards, instead of _from_ the enemy; and there was something so mysterious in the conduct of this man, that it gave me uneasiness. Here he was, in the midst of the English army in the height of its confusion, though he had declined joining it previously to the battle. Nothing was easier than to enter the throng, in its present confused state, and move about undetected for hours, if one had the nerve necessary for the service; and, in that property, I felt certain the Onondago was not deficient. There was a coolness in the manner of the man, a quiet observation, both blended with the seeming apathy of a red-skin, that gave every assurance of his fitness for the duty.