Toward noon the hunters returned, bringing with them two deer and considerable small game, after which Stephen Morley took it upon himself to go back into the thicket with a haunch of venison, that he might roast it where a fire could be built with little danger of its being seen from the other side of the river. We ate heartily when the meat was cooked, despite the heaviness of our hearts, for it had been a long while since any of us tasted warm food, and then came the question of when we should take possession of the stockade, all of us knowing only too well that within a very short time after doing so, it would be necessary to defend ourselves against the open attacks of those savages who defied John Butler’s authority. There could be but one answer to such a question; it was necessary for the safety of those who were coming to us for protection that we be prepared to receive them at any moment, therefore must we move quickly, and when Master Bartlett asked if I was willing to make another change of quarters as soon as night should come, I replied heartily: “The sooner the better, lest some of the red curs settle down in the stockade before we can do so. I believe it is well for us to keep secret the existence of this tunnel, however, so that at the last extremity these women and children have a hiding-place not known to others.” There is no good reason why I should spend many words in telling of our entering Wyoming Fort, from which we might never come alive. As soon as the friendly darkness settled over the land, we left the tunnel, carrying all our little store of food and ammunition, and within an hour our sentinels were stationed on the walls. The Minute Boys were on duty again, and my forebodings as to the future were not so gloomy but that I felt a certain thrill of joy because we had at last come out openly against the enemy. “From this on, until our valley is freed from such as John Butler has brought into it, and the colonies are free and independent, we will hold together, if so be our lives are spared,” I said to Giles March, and he replied, fervently: “It is as you have said, Jonathan Ogden. We do not make much showing as soldiers just now; but if our hearts remain true, the time will come when we may hold up our heads with any in the colonies, so far as military service is concerned.” We talked much that night concerning what we would do, and how it might be possible to supply ourselves with all that was lacking, for neither of us was in the mood for slumber, and when the day dawned I went here and there inside the stockade to see how the women, to whom the task was entrusted, had provided for our welfare.