General Gage does not appear to have sufficiently felt the importance of fulfilling the portion of the great scheme which fell to his lot; doubtless the difficulties in his path were many and formidable, but it was to overcome difficulties that he was selected for the proud post of leader to thousands of gallant men. His first duty, assuredly, was to fulfill the task confided to him, upon which, perhaps, the success or failure of the campaign, and his country's glory might depend. One object lay distinctly before him; in accomplishing that object, he could not have been too cautious, or too precious of his men; but rather than abandon the enterprise, and fail in his share of the combination, far better would it have been for England's cause and his own honor had he dared the worst dangers of the trackless wilderness and of the stormy lake. Meanwhile General Amherst sent Captain Kennedy with a flag of truce to the warlike Indians of St. François, offering them peace and amity: their populous village lay at the western extremity of Lake St. François. The savages, however, detained the British officer and his party as prisoners, and returned no answer to their communications. Amherst promptly determined to inflict the severest chastisement for the insult. The expedition undertaken for this purpose was perhaps the most daring and extraordinary of any during the progress of the war. Early in October, 200 men were sent against the Indians of St. François, under the command of Major Rogers, an officer already distinguished for courage and ability. His orders were to inflict condign punishment on the warriors of this tribe for a long arrear of cruelties and atrocities committed upon the unprotected British settlers, but to spare all women and children. A glance at the map of North America will show the great distance of the point of attack from Amherst's head-quarters. The route lay through one vast forest, utterly a wilderness, and untrodden by human foot, except where the invaders' deadly enemies lay in wait, or scoured the country for their destruction. The casualties and hardships of the march reduced Rogers's small detachment by more than a fourth of its strength; the survivors, however, came in sight of the Indian village on the evening of the 22d day. The leader left his men in a place of concealment, and went forward alone, with necessary caution, to observe the enemy. For several hours he hovered about, now approaching close to the dangerous scene, now again falling back into the darkness of the night, and still darker shades of the forest, until he had at length fully informed himself of the situation and state of the village. It so chanced that the savages were engaged in celebrating some of their wild and mysterious rites: they danced and shouted furiously, and devoured the war-feast with ravenous zeal. At length they lay down to sleep, exhausted by fatigue and repletion. Major Rogers, satisfied with