than to its
eastern margin, lay the extensive earthen ramparts and low buildings
of William Henry. Two of the sweeping bastions appeared to rest on
the water which washed their bases, while a deep ditch and extensive
morasses guarded its other sides and angles. The land had been cleared
of wood for a reasonable distance around the work, but every other part
of the scene lay in the green livery of nature, except where the limpid
water mellowed the view, or the bold rocks thrust their black and naked
heads above the undulating outline of the mountain ranges. In its front
might be seen the scattered sentinels, who held a weary watch against
their numerous foes; and within the walls themselves, the travelers
looked down upon men still drowsy with a night of vigilance. Toward the
southeast, but in immediate contact with the fort, was an entrenched
camp, posted on a rocky eminence, that would have been far more eligible
for the work itself, in which Hawkeye pointed out the presence of
those auxiliary regiments that had so recently left the Hudson in their
company. From the woods, a little further to the south, rose numerous
dark and lurid smokes, that were easily to be distinguished from the
purer exhalations of the springs, and which the scout also showed to
Heyward, as evidences that the enemy lay in force in that direction.

But the spectacle which most concerned the young soldier was on the
western bank of the lake, though quite near to its southern termination.
On a strip of land, which appeared from his stand too narrow to contain
such an army, but which, in truth, extended many hundreds of yards from
the shores of the Horican to the base of the mountain, were to be seen
the white tents and military engines of an encampment of ten thousand
men. Batteries were already thrown up in their front, and even while the
spectators above them were looking down, with such different emotions,
on a scene which lay like a map beneath their feet, the roar of
artillery rose from the valley, and passed off in thundering echoes
along the eastern hills.

"Morning is just touching them below," said the deliberate and musing
scout, "and the watchers have a mind to wake up the sleepers by the
sound of cannon. We are a few hours too late! Montcalm has already
filled the woods with his accursed Iroquois."

"The place is, indeed, invested," returned Duncan; "but is there no
expedient by which we may enter? capture in the works would be far