uing
Rangers were met by a compact force outnumbering them by four to
one, who sprang furiously upon them, trying to hack them to pieces.

Rogers, gallantly backed by Lord Howe, who had all the instinct of
the true general, recalled them hastily and formed them up on the
slope of a hill, where they made a gallant stand, and drove back
the enemy again and again. But outnumbered as they were, it was a
terrible struggle, and Ranger after Ranger dropped at his post;
whilst at last the cry was raised that the foe had surrounded them
upon the rear, and nothing was left them but to take to the forest
in flight.

"To the woods, men, to the woods!" shouted Rogers. "Leave me, and
every man for himself!"

Indeed it was soon impossible for any party to keep together. It
was just one dash from tree to tree for bare life, seeking to evade
the wily foe, and seeing brave comrades drop at every turn.

Rogers, Howe, and about twenty fine fellows were making a running
fight for it along the crest of the ridge. Pringle, Roche, and
Fritz were separated from these, but kept together, and by the use
of all their strength and sagacity succeeded in eluding the Indians
and hiding themselves in the snow-covered forest.

All was desolation around them. A heavy snowstorm gathered and
burst. They were hopelessly separated from their comrades, and
Fritz, who was their guide in woodcraft, was wounded in the head,
and in a strangely dazed condition.

"I can take you to Rogers' camp, nevertheless," he kept repeating.
"We must not lie down, or we shall die. But I can find the road--I
can find the road. I know the forest in all its aspects; I shall
not lose the way."

It was a terrible night. They had no food but a little ginger which
Pringle chanced to have in his pocket, and a bit of a sausage that
Roche had secreted about him. The snow drifted in their faces. They
were wearied to death, yet dared not lie down; and though always
hoping to reach the spot where Fritz declared that Rogers was
certain to be found, they discovered, when the grey light of
morning came, that they had only fetched a circle, and were at the
place they had started from, in perilous proximity to the French
fort.

Yet as they gazed at one another in mute despair a more terrible
thing happened. The Indian war whoop sounded loud in their ears,
and a band of savages dashed out upon them. Before they could
attempt resistance in their numbed state, they were surrounded and