r regiment some months ago, but I only
heard the news on my arrival at New York last week."

"Oh, you are Walsham!" the young officer said. "My name is Edwards. I
am glad to meet you. We have been wondering when you would join us, and
envying your luck, in seeing so much of the fighting out here. Our
regiment is encamped about half a mile from here. If you will let me, I
will go back with you, and introduce you to our fellows."

James thanked him, and the two walked along talking together. James
learned that there were already five ensigns junior to himself, his new
acquaintance being one of them, as the regiment had been somewhat short
of officers, and the vacancies had been filled up shortly before it
sailed.

"Of course, we must call on the colonel first," Mr. Edwards said. "He
is a capital fellow, and very much liked in the regiment."

Colonel Otway received James with great cordiality.

"We are very glad to get you with us, Mr. Walsham," he said, "and we
consider it a credit to the regiment to have a young officer who has
been, three times, mentioned in despatches. You will, too, be a great
service to us, and will be able to give us a good many hints as to this
Indian method of fighting, which Braddock's men found so terrible."

"It is not formidable, sir, when you are accustomed to it; but,
unfortunately, General Braddock forced his men to fight in regular
fashion, that is, to stand up and be shot at, and that mode of
fighting, in the woods, is fatal. A hundred redskins would be more than
a match, in the forest, for ten times their number of white troops, who
persisted in fighting in such a ridiculous way; but, fighting in their
own way, white men are a match for the redskins. Indeed, the
frontiersmen can thrash the Indians, even if they are two or three to
one against them."

"You have been in this last affair on the lake, have you not, Mr.
Walsham? I heard you were with Johnson."

"Yes, sir, I was, and at the beginning it was very nearly a repetition
of Braddock's disaster; but, after being surprised and, at first,
beaten, the column that went out made such a stout fight of it, that it
gave us time to put the camp in a state of defence. Had the Indians
made a rush, I think they would have carried it; but, as they contented
themselves with keeping up a distant fire, the provincials, who were
all young troops, quite unaccustomed to fighting, and wholly without
drill or discipline, gradually got steady, an