Burgoyne saw, with deep anxiety, the rapid increase of the American forces, while his own were daily diminishing by desertion. Nearly one hundred and fifty Indian warriors, from the tribes of the Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Onondagas, and Mohawks, accepted the war-belt, partook of the feast, and joined the republican army within three days after the battle of the 19th. The Indians with Burgoyne were so dissatisfied with the results of that battle, and so disappointed in their hopes of blood and plunder, that they deserted him in large numbers in that hour of his greatest peril. It was their hunting season, too, and this was another strong inducement to return to their wives and children, to keep starvation from their wigwams. The Canadians and loyalists were not much more faithful. ** Burgoyne used every means in his power to transmit intelligence of his situation to Howe, and to implore his assistance either by co-operation or a diversion in his favor. But the American pickets, vigilant and wary, were planted in all directions; and it was by the merest chance that the British commander received a letter from Sir Henry Clinton, at New York, *** written in cipher on the 10th, informing him that he should make a diversion in his favor by attacking Forts Clinton and Montgomery, in the Hudson Highlands, on the 20th. This information raised the hopes of Burgoyne, for he supposed that the attack at those points would draw off large detachments from Gates for their defense, and render the belligerent forces at Stillwater nearly equal in numbers. He immediately dispatched two officers in disguise, and several other persons in different directions, to Sir Henry Clinton, with a letter, urging him to make the diversion without fail, and saying that he had provisions enough to hold out until the 12th of October. Time rolled on, and Burgoyne heard nothing further from Clinton. His provisions began to fail, and on the 1st of October he was obliged to put his troops on short allowance. Not a man or a biscuit was allowed to reach him from any quarter. The militia were flocking into Gates's camp from all directions, and perils of every kind were weaving their web around the proud Briton. At last he was reduced to the alternative to fight or fly. * "I do not believe either officer or soldier ever slept during that interval without his clothes, or that any general officer or commander of a regiment passed a single night without being upon his legs occasionally at different hours, and constantly an hour before daylight."-Burgoyne's "Review of the Evidence," p. 166. ** Marshall's Life of Washington. * General Howe had left Clinton in command at New York, and was then engaged against Washington on the Delaware, for the purpose of making a conquest of Philadelphia. Hostile Movements of the British.--Preparations of the Americans for Battle.--Second Battle of Stillwater. 060