the fort to the
neighboring village, captured a prisoner, burned houses and barns,
killed fifty cattle, and returned without loss. At the end of the month
they went again to Crown Point, burned more houses and barns, and
reconnoitred Ticonderoga on the way back. Such excursions were repeated
throughout the spring and summer. The reconnoissance of Ticonderoga and
the catching of prisoners there for the sake of information were always
capital objects. The valley, four miles in extent, that lay between the
foot of Lake George and the French fort, was at this time guarded by
four distinct outposts or fortified camps. Watched as it was at all
points, and ranged incessantly by Indians in the employ of France,
Rogers and his men knew every yard of the ground. On a morning in May he
lay in ambush with eleven followers on a path between the fort and the
nearest camp. A large body of soldiers passed; the rangers counted a
hundred and eighteen, and lay close in their hiding-place. Soon after
came a party of twenty-two. They fired on them, killed six, captured
one, and escaped with him to Fort William Henry. In October Rogers was
passing with twenty men in two whaleboats through the seeming solitude
of the Narrows when a voice called to them out of the woods. It was that
of Captain Shepherd, of the New Hampshire regiment, who had been
captured two months before, and had lately made his escape. He told them
that the French had the fullest information of the numbers and movements
of the English; that letters often reached them from within the English
lines; and that Lydius, a Dutch trader at Albany, was their principal
correspondent.[459] Arriving at Ticonderoga, Rogers cautiously
approached the fort, till, about noon, he saw a sentinel on the road
leading thence to the woods. Followed by five of his men, he walked
directly towards him. The man challenged, and Rogers answered in French.
Perplexed for a moment, the soldier suffered him to approach; till,
seeing his mistake, he called out in amazement, "_Qui etes vous_?"
"Rogers," was the answer; and the sentinel was seized, led in hot haste
to the boats, and carried to the English fort, where he gave important
information.

[Footnote 459: _Letter and Order Books of Winslow_. "One Lydiass ...
whom we suspect for a French spy; he lives better than anybody, without
any visible means, and his daughters have had often presents from Mr.
Vaudreuil." _Loudon_ (_to Fox?_), _19 Aug. 1756_.]