y had toiled so long and so faithfully that the work of watching and
scouting that night could be intrusted to others. Yet Henry could
not sleep for a long time. The noises of the night interested him. He
watched the men going about, and the sentinels pacing back and forth
around the camp. The sounds died gradually as the men lay down and sank
to sleep. The fires which had formed a great core of light also sank,
and the shadows crept toward the camp. The figures of the pacing
sentinels, rifle on shoulder, gradually grew dusky. Henry's nerves,
attuned so long to great effort, slowly relaxed. Deep peace came over
him, and his eyelids drooped, the sounds in the camp sank to the
lowest murmur, but just as he was falling asleep there came from the
battlefield behind then the far, faint howl of a wolf, the dirge of the
Iroquois.

CHAPTER XXII. LITTLE BEARD'S TOWN

The trumpets called early the next morning, and the five rose,
refreshed, ready for new labors. The fires were already lighted, and
breakfast was cooking. Savory odors permeated the forest. But as soon as
all had eaten, the army marched, going northward and westward, intending
to cut through the very center of the Iroquois country. Orders had come
from the great commander that the power of the Six Nations, which had
been so long such a terrible scourge on the American frontier, must be
annihilated. They must be made strangers in their own country. Women and
children were not to be molested, but their towns must perish.

As Thayendanegea had said the night before the Battle of the Chemung,
the power beyond the seas that had urged the Iroquois to war on the
border did not save them. It could not. British and Tories alike had
promised them certain victory, and for a while it had seemed that the
promises would come true. But the tide had turned, and the Iroquois were
fugitives in their own country.

The army continued its march through the wilderness, the scouts in front
and heavy parties of riflemen on either flank. There was no chance for
a surprise. Henry and his comrades were aware that Indian bands still
lurked in the forest, and they had several narrow escapes from the
bullets of ambushed foes, but the progress of the army was irresistible.
Nothing could check it for a moment, however much the Indian and Tory
chiefs might plan.

They camped again that night in the forest, with a thorough ring of
sentinels posted against surprise, although there was li