utnam raised his tomahawk to
give the supposed hostile a deadly stroke, when Durkee fortunately
spoke. Thankful that he had escaped murdering his companion, Putnam
immediately leaped out of the pit, and followed by Durkee, groped his
way to some ledges, where they lay down behind a large log for the
remainder of the night. Before they lay down, the original narration
goes on to state, "Captain Putnam said he had a little liquor in his
canteen, which could never be more acceptable or necessary than on that
occasion; but on examining the canteen, which hung under his arm, he
found the enemy had pierced it with their bullets, and that there was
not a drop of liquor left. The next morning he found fourteen
bullet-holes in his blanket!"

His canteen was dry enough, but in falling into the clay-pit Putnam had
wet his gun, so that he could not return the fire of the Frenchmen, even
had he been so disposed. The tale as to the "fourteen bullet-holes in
his blanket" has often been held up to ridicule; but it is probably
true, for the blankets being rolled up, one ball alone might have cut
through many folds in its flight, and another have perforated his
canteen. At all events, he and his companion were in a most miserable
plight, all night in danger of being discovered. In the morning
(according to the official report by Captain Rogers) "they made the best
retreat they were able. Hearing the enemy close to their heels, they
made a tack and luckily escaped safe to our party."

"How he escaped a wound is passing strange," says one of Putnam's
biographers [Mr. J.T. Headley]; "but he was one of those men who seem
eternally seeking death without being able to find it. There are some
persons in the world who appear to bear a charmed life, which no amount
of daring or exposure can endanger. Foremost in the charge, and the last
to retreat, they are never found with the dead. Fate seems to delight to
place them in the most desperate straits, on purpose to make their
deliverance appear the more miraculous. Putnam was one of those favored
beings, and was not born to be killed in battle."

Another incident related of Captain Putnam shows his acute penetration
and acquaintance with Indian ways and wiles. It was in his second
campaign, when, after returning home for the winter, he had re-enlisted
and was again amid the scenes of his former adventures. He was stationed
at Fort Edward, the region immediately around which was infested with
sav