ht he had
never seen any thing so beautiful. In the enthusiasm of the moment, he
forgot his late illness, the still enfeebled condition of his
body,--all, save the glory of serving his country; and, mounting his
horse, he joined his brother-aides in their attendance on their
general, else far more fatal must have been the end of that bloody
day.

XVI.

BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT.

In my account of this battle, as well as all the others that will come
thundering in upon us from time to time in the course of our story, I
have thought it would suit our purpose best to touch upon those facts
only that are likeliest to leave the most lasting pictures of such
events on your minds; using the while no more words than may actually
be needed to give clearness and completeness to the same. And now,
Daniel, my young Herodotus, and Ned, my young Hannibal, bring in
another Christmas log, that we may have a more cheerful blaze; for our
story will be doleful enough for the next half-hour, without these
goblin shadows dodging and flitting about the room to make it more so.

At mid-day, Braddock's army came to the lower ford, where a halt was
called to allow of a few minutes' rest. Far in front, across the
river, the ringing of a hundred axes, followed at short intervals by
the crash of falling trees, could be distinctly heard; telling that
the pioneers were there, working might and main to clear a passage for
those behind. The road just opened, after leaving the ford, ran
across a heavily wooded bottom that skirted the river; and thence, for
a few hundred yards, up a rocky slope to the foot of a high range of
hills, about a mile distant, where it entered a narrow, bushy defile,
and went no further. The country, for miles and miles around, as far
as the eye could reach, was thickly wooded, save the rocky slope just
mentioned, and the neighboring ravines, which were overgrown with
long, coarse grass and whortleberry-bushes, so high as to sweep the
horses' bellies; with here and there a few scattering trees of some
size. It was the very place, of all others, that the wily Indian would
be most likely to choose for his ambuscade.

By two o'clock, the whole army had regained the northern bank of the
river. They were now within ten miles of Fort Duquesne, and a lucky
end to their present campaign seemed near at hand. In a few minutes,
artillery and baggage, foot and horse, regulars and rangers, formed
into separate and distinct columns,