l trees and lay them end to end to make a breastwork.
The rest of you range the waggons in a line behind, and lay the boats
up in the intervals. Carry the line from the swamp, on the right there,
to the slope of the hill."

In an instant, the camp was a scene of animation, and the forest
resounded with the strokes of the axe, and the shouts of the men as
they dragged the waggons to their position.

"I was a fool," Johnson exclaimed, "not to fortify the camp before; but
who could have supposed that the French would have come down from Crown
Point to attack us here!"

In a few minutes terror-stricken men, whites and Indians, arrived at a
run through the forest, and reported that they had been attacked and
surprised by a great force in the forest, that Hendrick and Colonel
Williams were killed, and numbers of the men shot down. They reported
that all was lost; but the heavy roll of fire, in the distance,
contradicted their words; and showed that a portion of the column, at
least, was fighting sternly and steadily, though the sound indicated
that they were falling back.

Two hundred men had already been despatched to their assistance, and
the only effect of the news was to redouble the efforts of the rest.
Soon parties arrived carrying wounded; but it was not until an hour and
a half after the engagement began, that the main body of the column
were seen marching, in good order, back through the forest.

By this time the hasty defences were well-nigh completed, and all the
men were employed in cutting down the thick brushwood outside, so as to
clear the ground as far as possible, and so prevent the enemy from
stealing up, under shelter, to the felled trees.

Three cannon were planted, to sweep the road that descended through the
pines. Another was dragged up to the ridge of the hill. Two hundred and
fifty men were now placed on each flank of the camp, the main body
stood behind the waggons or lay flat behind the logs and boats, the
Massachusetts men on the right, the Connecticut men on the left.

"Now, my lads," Johnson shouted, in his cheery voice, "you have got to
fight. Remember, if they get inside not one of you will ever go back to
your families to tell the tale, while if you fight bravely you will
beat them back sure enough."

In a few minutes, ranks of white-coated soldiers could be seen moving
down the roads, with their bayonets showing between the boughs. At the
same time, Indian war whoops rose loud in the