ny of the foe they did not
know. The smoke soon rose in clouds and added to the dimness and
obscurity of the forest.

"A great noise," shouted Tayoga in Robert's ear, "but it does not hurt
the enemy, who sees his target and sends his bullets against it!"

The soldiers were dropping fast and the bullets of the French and the
savages were coming from their coverts in a deadly rain. Robert,
Willet and Tayoga, with the wisdom of the wilderness, remained
crouched at the edge of the trail, but in shelter, and did not fire
until they saw an enemy upon whom to draw the trigger. Then a deeper
roar was added to the thundering of the big muskets, as Braddock
brought up the cannon, and they began to sweep the forest. The English
troops, eager to get at the foe, crowded forward, shouting "God save
the King!" and the cheers of the Virginians joined with them.

"We'll win! We'll win!" cried Robert. "They can't stop such brave men
as ours!"

But the fire of the French and the savages was increasing in volume
and accuracy. The bullets and cannon balls of the English and
Americans fired almost at random were passing over their heads, but
the great column of scarlet and blue on the trail formed a target
which the leaden missiles could not miss. Continually shouting the war
whoop, exultant now with the joy of expected triumph, the savages
hovered on either flank of Braddock's army like a swarm of bees, but
with a sting far more deadly. The brave and wily Beaujeu had been
killed in the first minute of the battle, but St. Luc, Dumas and
Ligneris, equally brave and wily, directed the onset, and the huge
Tandakora raged before his warriors.

The head of the British column was destroyed, and the three crept back
toward Gage's regulars, but the fire of the enemy was now spreading
along both flanks of the column to its full length. Robert remembered
the warning words of St. Luc. Every twig and leaf in the forest was
spouting death. Gage's regulars, raked by a terrible fire, and in
danger of complete destruction, were compelled to retreat upon the
main body, and, to their infinite mortification, abandon two cannon,
which the savages seized with fierce shouts of joy and dragged into
the woods.

"It goes ill," said Willet, as the terrible forest, raining death from
every side, seemed to close in on them like the shadow of
doom. Braddock, hearing the tremendous fire ahead, rushed forward his
own immediate troops as fast as possible, and meeti