** Father Ralle resided among the Norridgewocks twenty-six years, and possessed great influence over them. He was considered an enemy to the British settlers in Massachusetts, and an expedition was planned against him and the settlement. A party fell upon them suddenly, and killed and scalped the priest and thirty of the Indians. This event occurred in 1724, and when Colonel Arnold was there, in 1775, the foundations of the church and altar were still visible, but the red men had forever departed. Father Ralle left a manuscript dictionary of the Abenake language (the dialect of the Norridgewocks), which is preserved in the library of Harvard University. Voyage up the Kennebec.--The Dead River.--Elevated Country.--A Freshet. Return of Enos.--His Trial and Acquittal 192Desertions and sickness reduced their number to about nine hundred and fifty effective men when they arrived at the great carrying-place, twelve miles below the junction of Dead River with the Kennebec. So rapid was the stream, that the men waded more than half way, pushing the bateaux against the current; yet they were in good spirits, and seemed to partake of the enthusiasm of their leader. Arnold now examined his muster-roll and commissariat. The troops, though somewhat reduced in number, were strong and enthusiastic, and he ascertained that he had twenty-five days' provisions in store. The Chaudière, on which were French settlements, he estimated to be at a distance of ten days' travel. The weather was fine, and the prospect so encouraging that they pushed forward with alacrity. The great carrying- place was a portage of fifteen miles, broken by three ponds. Oxen dragged the bateaux part of the way on sleds, and the baggage and stores were carried on the shoulders of the men. Over craggy knolls and tangled ravines, through deep morasses, creeks, and ponds, they pursued their journey, sometimes carrying their vessels and the vessels sometimes bearing them, until they reached the Dead River. The ponds afforded an abundance of delicious salmon-trout, and want of food had not yet been among their privations. The surface of the Dead River was smooth, and the waters flowed on in a gentle current in the midst of the magnificent forest, now rendered gorgeous by the brilliant hues imparted to the foliage by early frost. Occasional falls interrupted their progress, but the labors of the men were far less severe than hitherto. Suddenly the monotony of the vast forest was broken by the appearance of a lofty mountain covered with snow, at the foot of which Arnold encamped three days, raising the Continental flag over his tent. * A small hamlet called Flag-staff, in commemoration of the event, is upon the camp- ground, and the lofty eminence bears the name of Mount Bigelow. **