h alive?" Sergeant Corney
said as if to himself, and the commandant replied, quickly:

"In such case, without means of knowing what has happened to you, we shall
make the sortie and shed much blood uselessly. Is there anything I can do
for you before you start?"

The old soldier hesitated, as if unable to think of anything we needed,
and I, remembering the hunger which had assailed us while we lay hidden in
the thicket, replied:

"If it so be you could spare us a bit of corn bread, we would be the
better able to make a hurried journey."

"That you shall have, and in plenty," the commandant said, as if relieved
at knowing our wants could be gratified with so little trouble, and
Sergeant Corney added:

"Only so much as we can put in our pockets, for this is not the time to
encumber ourselves even with provisions."

Some of the soldiers who had been standing near by hurried away, returning
a few moments later with as much bread as would have served to satisfy our
hunger for a week at least.

When such a quantity as we needed for one meal had been pushed out between
the logs of the stockade, my companion whispered to the commandant:

"We shall strike into the thicket to the westward, making a circle to the
south around the fort, until coming to the road leading to Oriskany,
crossing the river just below here, and now, sir, if you have no further
demands, we will go."

"May God have you in His keeping," the colonel said, fervently, and
without waiting to hear more the old soldier set off, this time leaving
it for me to bring up the rear.

Now it was I came to understand that the rain was beginning to fall; the
wind came in spiteful gusts, betokening a storm, and I could have hugged
myself with glee at the thought that the elements were favoring us in the
attempt which, at the outset, had seemed doomed to failure.

Before we had traversed half the distance from the fort to the thicket on
the westerly side, the rain was falling heavily, and the wind whistling at
such a rate as to have drowned any ordinary noise we might make in forcing
our way through the foliage.

Never had a storm, which promised much bodily discomfort, been so warmly
welcomed by me; never had one been more sadly needed by those who fought
against the king and his savage followers for the cause of American
liberty.

It is well known that Indians, like cats, are averse to exposing their
bodies to rain, and when we set out on the return I had b