ht find shelter. It was a hill near a large creek,
and the source of a small brook lay within the grounds they intended
to occupy, securing to them an unfailing supply of good water in case
of siege.

Now, the young soldiers entered upon one of the most arduous tasks of
the war, to build a fort, which was even more trying to them than
battle. Arms and backs ached as Colden, Wilton and Carson, advised by
Willet, drove them hard. A strong log blockhouse was erected, and then
a stout palisade, enclosing the house and about an acre of ground,
including the precious spring which spouted from under a ledge of
stone at the very wall of the blockhouse itself. Behind the building
they raised a shed in which the horses could be sheltered, as all of
them foresaw a long stay, dragging into winter with its sleet and
snow, and it was important to save the animals.

Robert, Willet and Tayoga had a roving commission, and, as they could
stay with Colden and his command as long as they chose, they chose
accordingly to remain where they thought they could do the most
good. Robert took little part in the hunting, but labored with the
soldiers on the building, although it was not the kind of work to
which his mind turned.

The blockhouse itself, was divided into a number of rooms, in which
the soldiers who were not on guard could sleep, and they had blankets
and the skins of the larger animals the hunters killed for
beds. Venison jerked in great quantities was stored away in case of
siege, and the whole forest was made to contribute to their
larder. The work was hard, but it toughened the sinews of the young
soldiers, and gave them an occupation in which they were interested.
Before it was finished they were joined by another small detachment
with loaded pack horses, which by the same kind of miracle had come
safely through the wilderness. Colden now had a hundred men, fifty
horses and powder and lead for all the needs of which one could think.

"If we only had a cannon!" he said, looking proudly at their new
blockhouse, "I think I'd build a platform for it there on the roof,
and then we could sweep the forest in every direction. Eh, Will, my
lad?"

"But as we haven't," said Wilton, "we'll have to do the sweeping with
our rifles."

"And our men are good marksmen, as they showed in that fight with
St. Luc. But it seems a world away from Philadelphia, doesn't it,
Will? I wonder what they're doing there!"

"Counting their gains in th