huntsman,
and kept their larder well stocked; and when they were ready to
travel, he was able to lead them safely through the forest, towards
the haunts where Rogers and his Rangers were likely to be met with.

It was upon a clear September afternoon that they first met white
men, or indeed human beings of any kind; for they had sedulously
avoided falling in with Indians, and the loneliness of the forest
had become a little oppressive to Pringle and Roche, although they
were eager to learn the arts of woodcraft, and were proving apt
pupils. They were both going to volunteer to join Rogers' bold band
of Rangers, for they had grown almost disheartened at the regular
army service, where one blunder and disaster was invariably capped
by another; and the life of the Rangers did at least give scope for
personal daring and adventure, and might enable them to strike a
blow now and again at the enemy who had wrought them such woe.

They heard themselves hailed one day out of the heart of the forest
by a cheery English voice.

"What ho! who goes there?"

"Friend to Rogers and his Rangers!" called back Fritz, in the
formula of the forest, and the next minute a bronzed and
bright-faced, handsome man had sprung lightly out of the thicket,
and stood before them.

He was a stranger to Fritz, but something in his dress and general
aspect proclaimed him to be a Ranger, and he grasped Fritz by the
hand warmly.

"You come in good time to give us news. We have been far
afield--almost as far as Niagara itself. We hear rumours of
disaster and treachery; but hitherto we have had no certain
tidings. Is it true that Fort William Henry has fallen?"

The tale was told once again, other Rangers crowding round to hear.
Pringle was naturally the spokesman, and Fritz, singling out from
the group a man whom he had known before, asked him who the
gallant-looking stranger was who seemed like the leader of a band.

"That is Lord Howe," was the answer. "He came out from England to
fight the French; but the expedition to Louisbourg came to nothing
through delay and mismanagement. He landed, and whilst waiting for
further orders from home he has joined the Rangers, in order to
learn their methods of fighting. Never was hardier or braver man,
or one more cheerful and blithe. Even the stern Rogers himself
unbends when he is near. He has been the very life of our party
since he has joined us."

Fritz soon found that this was no exaggeration. Howe