in our proceedings.

For some time I was kept awake by having to talk and listen to my
friends; but at length my head began to nod.

"Just lean back, and make yourself comfortable," said my father.

I followed his advice, and was soon fast asleep. I was awakened by
feeling the boat run against the bank, and I found that we were about to
land. Dawn had just broken, and I could see the dark outlines of the
trees on the opposite side of the river against the brightening sky. A
crew of four hands were left in the boat, and charged to navigate her
back to Castle Kearney. They were provided with arms, and were directed
to allow no Indian canoe to come alongside on any pretext whatever. I
found that we now mustered thirty-six men, including Tim and myself. It
was, after all, but a small party should we encounter any large band of
Indians, who were not likely to attack us unless far superior to us in
force. Still, we possessed good rifles and plenty of ammunition, so
that we considered ourselves a match for three times our own number of
natives, many of whom were likely to be armed only with bows and arrows,
or should they have guns, with those of an inferior character. Twenty
of our party were soldiers under Captain Norton's command, the others
were volunteers. We had a few of my uncle's people, and the rest came
from Roseville. As the Indians would probably not have expected so many
white men to come up the river, we had hopes of taking them by surprise.

Captain Norton, my father, and Tim were the only old soldiers among us;
for even the regulars had had no experience of warfare. Tim, therefore,
found himself raised to the rank of third in command, the scouts being
placed under his orders--an honourable though dangerous appointment.

We remained only sufficient time to enable the men to eat what may be
called a breakfast, to strap on their knapsacks, and get themselves into
marching trim, when the order to advance was given; and Tim and his
scouts, six of the most active men, went ahead, having received
instructions never to get beyond hailing distance of each other, or get
too much in advance to be prevented from falling back quickly on the
main body. After going some distance, we marched across a pine-barren,
with a marsh on our left, over which Indians could scarcely make their
way, while here and there on our right were hummocks, thick bottoms in
which a whole army of natives might have concealed themselv