Both Giles March and I said all we could by way of encouraging the others in making the place more habitable, for after what had occurred since those hot-heads at Forty Fort insisted upon doing exactly as John Butler would have them, it was more than reasonable to suppose this place would be their only shelter and refuge until the Tories and savages were minded to leave the valley. In other words, as we who knew the truth believed, many months must elapse before it would be safe for the women and children to venture out from the hiding-place. Before the new day was an hour old, Daniel Hinchman came in with a goodly supply of game, which had been taken in the snares, and it goes without saying that he was feverishly impatient to learn how the battle had terminated, therefore, acting upon the advice of Stephen Morley that the truth should not be told in the presence of the women, Giles March and I led him a short distance up the mountainside, where we related the terrible story. He was nearly overcome by astonishment and grief, and how could it be otherwise, for we had the same as told him that all his neighbors and friends, those whom he knew and loved, were dead, and yet, at that time we were ignorant of more than half the horrors which had come upon us of Wyoming since we, who had escaped from the retreat, entered the swamp to make our way alone. “And now what is to be done?” Daniel Hinchman asked, helplessly, when we were come to an end of the dreadful recital. “Are we to stay here?” “Where else, think you, will your sister be safe, unless peradventure you make the attempt to lead her across the mountains to the Delaware River?” Giles March asked, and I added: “Even though it were probable she could withstand all the fatigue and hardships of a long, perilous journey, Daniel Hinchman, are you warranted in leaving the other women? Seeing that we are come out, as if led by God, from all the horrors which have descended upon the valley, are we not bound together until such time as the entire party may go forth in peace, if, peradventure, that day shall ever come?” “I am not minded to leave you, lads, because, save for your company of Minute Boys, Esther would yet be a prisoner among the Mohawks, if they had allowed her to live, and I, most like, be among those who are slain. I was only questioning if we were to make of yonder cave our dwelling?” When we had come to this point in the conversation, Master Bartlett and Stephen Morley joined us, as if understanding that we were holding a consultation as to the future, and so did it become right speedily, for Master Morley took it upon himself to reply to Daniel’s question.