“You might have said an hour ago that we couldn’t have released the two lads who were being made ready for the torture, and yet we did it, Giles,” but, even while speaking, I said to myself that it wasn’t within the range of probability that he who was causing the movement among the branches could be our absent comrade. Then it was that Daniel Hinchman caught sight of the disturbance amid the foliage, and, seeing him raise his musket, I crept over to give warning; but before many minutes had passed, we knew beyond a peradventure that it must be a friend instead of an enemy who was thus coming up. No single Indian could have effected anything to his advantage by creeping so close to the stockade that it would have been impossible to shoot us down save by thrusting the muzzle of his musket between the logs. “Keep your wits about you,” I whispered to Daniel and Giles, “watching lest the savages make a dash, and I’ll open the gate for whoever has been so fortunate, or so skilful, as to come alive through the forest wherein are lurking so many of the enemy.” Master Bartlett came up while I was unbarring the gate, and, when I told him of what we had seen, he stood by in readiness to defend the entrance if by any chance we had been mistaken. Then, five minutes later, came a scratching upon the logs outside, and cautiously I swung the narrow gate open sufficiently wide to admit of one person entering at a time, when in crawled Elias Shendle. Not until the gate was barred again securely did I turn to greet the lad who had joined us at such great risk of his life, and, instead of welcoming him, I said that which first came to my mind: “Why did you come back, once having gained the security of Forty Fort?” “Because this is my place, Jonathan Ogden,” was the quiet reply, “and from what I have seen since noon, it strikes me that you need every musket here which can be mustered.” “What have you seen, lad?” Master Bartlett asked, anxiously. “Savages and Tories enough to make a full army, and all of them with their faces turned this way. It was near to noon when I came up within half a mile of Wintermoot’s, and since then have I made the best speed possible under the circumstances. Twenty times was I like to have run into a white cur or a red villain, and twenty times did I get off by the skin of my teeth.” “You succeeded in reaching Forty Fort?” I interrupted, not minded to hear more of information which was disheartening.