I could scarcely speak, so mortified was I that a gentleman of my own class could have so foully conducted. But I made out to say that Sir John, no doubt, was traveling toward Canada. "Certainly," said the Colonel; "but which route?" "God knows, sir. By the Sacandaga and the Lakes, no doubt." "Could he go by Saratoga and the top o' the Hudson?" "It is a pathless wilderness." "Yes. And still I think the rogue went that way. I have rangers out looking for signs of him beyond Ballston. Also, I sent half a battalion toward the Sacandaga. Of course Albany Royalists warned him of my coming; I couldn't prevent that, nor could Schuyler, no, nor the very devil himself! "And here am I at the Hall, and the fox stole away to the Canadas. And what now to do I know not.... Do _you_?" He shot the question in my face point blank; and I stood dumb for a minute, striving to collect and marshall any ideas that might bear upon so urgent a matter. "Colonel," said I, "unless the British hold Champlain, Sir John would scarcely risk a flight in that direction. No. He would prefer to plunge into the wilderness and travel by Oswegatchi." "Do you so believe, Mr. Drogue?" I considered a moment more; then: "Yet, if Guy Johnson's Indians have come down toward the Sacandaga to protect him--knowing that he had meant to flee----" I looked at Dayton, then turned to Nick. "What think you, Nick?" I demanded. "By God," he blurted out, "I am of that mind too! Only a madman would attempt the wilderness by Oswegatchi; and I wager that Sir John is already beyond the Sacandaga and making for the Canadas on the old Mohawk war-trail!" Colonel Dayton laid one hand on my shoulder: "Mr. Drogue," said he, "we have militia and partizans more than sufficient in Tryon. What we need are more regulars, too; but most of all, and in this crisis, we need rangers. God alone knows what is coming upon Tryon County from the North,--what evil is breeding there,--what sinister forces are gathering to overwhelm these defenceless settlements. "We have scarcely a fort on this frontier, scarcely a block house. Every town and village and hamlet north of Albany is unprotected; every lonely settler is now at the mercy of this unknown and monstrous menace which is gathering like a thundercloud in the North. "Regular regiments require time to muster; the militia have yet to prove their worth; partizans, minute men, alarm companies--the value of all these remains a question still. Damn it, I want rangers! I want them _now_!" He began to stride about the room again in his perplexity, but presently came back to where we stood. "How many rifles in your company from Fonda's Bush?" he demanded. I blushed to tell him, and further confessed what had occurred that very evening in the open fields before Johnstown.