In the heat and fury of the combat the fleet of Rogers came under the
fire of the French and Indians on the island, many being wounded and
some slain. These reserves of St. Luc in their eagerness waded waist
deep into the water, and pulled trigger as fast as they could load and
reload.

A ranger in Willet's boat was killed and two more received hurts, but
the hunter kept his little command in the very thick of the battle, and
despite the great cloud of smoke that covered the fleets of both sides
Robert soon saw that the rangers and Mohawks were winning. One of the
larger boats belonging to St. Luc, riddled with bullets, went down, and
the warriors who had been in it were forced to swim for their lives.
Several canoes were rammed and shattered. Willet and Tayoga meanwhile
were calmly picking their targets through the smoke, and when they
fired they never missed.

The rangers, too, were showing their superiority as sharpshooters to the
French and Indians, and were doing deadly execution with their long
rifles. St. Luc, in spite of the great courage shown by his men, was
compelled to sound the recall, and, hurriedly taking on board all the
French and Indians who were on land, he fled eastward across the lake
with the remnant of his force. Rogers pursued, but St. Luc was still
able to send back such a deadly fire and his French and Indians worked
so desperately with the paddles that they reached the eastern rim,
abandoned the fragments of their fleet, climbed the lofty shore and
disappeared in the forest, leaving Rogers, Willet, Daganoweda and their
men in triumphant command of Andiatarocte, for a little while, at least.

But the victors bore many scars. More men had been lost, and their force
suffered a sharp reduction in numbers. The three leaders, still in their
boats, conferred. Daganoweda was in favor of landing and of pushing the
pursuit to the utmost, even to the walls of Crown Point on Champlain,
where the fugitives would probably go.

"There's much in favor of it," said Willet. "There's nothing like
following a beaten enemy and destroying him, and there is also much to
be said against it. We might run into an ambush and be destroyed
ourselves. Although we've paid a price for it, we've a fine victory and
we hold command of the lake for the time being. By pushing on we risk
all we've won in order to obtain more."

But Daganoweda was still eager to advance, and urged it in a spirited
Mohawk speech. Rogers him