mined by the light from his eyes.

"I verily believe that your gallant soul speaks truth, Chevalier de
St. Luc!" he exclaimed. "I said once that we would stand and I say it
again. We'll put all to the hazard. Since they come without cannon
we do have our chance. Go, Langy, and take your needed rest. You have
served us well. And now we'll have the others here and talk over our
preparations."

The engineers Lotbiniere and Le Mercier were, as before, zealous
for battle at Ticonderoga, and their opinion counted for much with
Montcalm. De Levis, held back by the vacillating Vaudreuil, had not
yet come from Montreal, and the swiftest of the Canadian paddlers was
sent down Lake Ticonderoga in a canoe to hurry him on. Then the entire
battalion of Berry went to work at once with spade and pick and ax
to prepare a breastwork and abattis, stretching a line of defense in
front of the fort, and not using the fort itself.

* * * * *

Robert saw the Frenchmen attack the trees with their axes and the
earth with their spades, and he divined at once the news that
Langy had brought. The Anglo-American army was advancing. His heart
throbbed. Victory and rescue were at hand.

"Mr. Tilden," he said to the hunter, "listen to the ring of the ax and
the thud of the spade!"

"Aye, I hear 'em," was the apathetic reply; "but they don't interest
me. I'm a prisoner."

"But it may mean that you won't be a prisoner much longer. The French
are fortifying, and they've gone to work with so much haste and energy
that it shows an imminent need. There's only one conclusion to be
drawn from it. They're expecting our army and a prompt attack."

Tilden began to show interest.

"On my life, I think you're right," he said.

And yet Montcalm changed his mind again at the last moment. Two
veteran officers, Montguy and Bernes, pointed out to him that his
present position was dominated by the adjacent heights, and in order
to escape that danger he resolved to retreat a little. He broke up his
camp late in the afternoon of the next day, part of the army fell back
through the woods more than a mile, and the rest of it withdrew in
boats on the lake to the same point.

Robert and his comrades were carried with the army on land to the
fort. There he became separated from the others, and remained in the
rear, but luckily for his wishes, on a mount where he could see most
that was passing, though his chance of escape was as remo