lieutenant-general, and by the first of June a force of seven thousand
men was collected for him and mustered at St. John's at the foot of Lake
Champlain. Also the British Lieutenant-colonel St. Leger, was sent with
a force of seven hundred rangers up the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario to
Oswego. He was to gather the Indians, make friends with them, and get
them to act as his allies; then to sweep the valley of the Mohawk, with
the help of Johnson and his Tories, take Fort Schuyler, and afterward
join Burgoyne.

"Colonel Peter Gansevoort was at that time in command of Fort Schuyler.
The people of Tryon County, hearing of St. Leger's movement, and that a
descent was to be made upon them by the way of Oswego, were greatly
alarmed. In June a man from Canada was arrested as a spy and from him
the Americans learned that a detachment of British, Canadians, and
Indians was coming against them on their way to join Burgoyne at
Albany."

"But Burgoyne never got there--to Albany--until he went as a prisoner;
did he, sir?" asked Walter.

"No, my boy, he was defeated and made prisoner while on his way to the
city. The battle of Saratoga was a disastrous one to the invaders of our
land.

"The intelligence of which I just spoke as given by the spy was
afterward confirmed by Thomas Spencer, a friendly Oneida half breed
sachem, who was sent to Canada as a secret emissary and there became
acquainted with the plans of Burgoyne.

"For a time the loyal people, the Whigs, who were for their native land
and not for the English king who had been showing himself a tyrant and
oppressor, were almost paralyzed with alarm. Fort Schuyler was still
unfinished and the garrison feeble. But Colonel Gansevoort was hopeful,
vigilant, and active. He wrote urgently to General Schuyler for aid, and
the general made a like appeal to the Provincial Congress of New York,
and the General Congress. But it was too late for them to send him help
before the attack would be made.

"On the 2d of August Brant and Lieutenant Bird began the investment of
the fort, and on that very day Gansevoort and his little garrison of
seven hundred and fifty men received a re-enforcement of two hundred men
under Lieutenant-colonel Melon, and two bateaux loaded with provisions
and military stores; a most welcome addition to the scant supplies in
the fort.

"The next day Colonel St. Leger arrived with the rest of his troops. The
siege was begun on the 4th. The Indians, hiding i