skates.

We waited till the end of January, when Rogers marched into town with
five companies of men whom he had collected in New Hampshire. Most of
them were rough, stern frontiersmen from the Amoskeag Falls, skilled in
Indian fighting.

The recruits from Middlesex were distributed among these companies, and
Edmund had us placed in his squad. On my right in the ranks was
McKinstry, a grizzled old trapper, and to the left was John Martin, a
hardy fellow a few years older than myself. Both of them had served
before with Rogers.

[Sidenote: ROGERS INSTRUCTS THE RANGERS]

Four of the companies set sail from Boston for Cape Breton, to take part
in the siege of that place, and our company, under Rogers, started on
the march for Fort Edward. The snow was deep, and we travelled on
snowshoes. Rogers made us march in single file, with a man some distance
ahead, and another behind. On either side were flankers to detect the
enemy. As we shuffled along over the snow he taught us how to act in a
hostile country.

"Don't crowd up together. Keep several paces apart. Then if the enemy
fires at you, one shot will not hit two men. When you come to low,
marshy ground, change the order of your march and go abreast, for if you
went in single file, you would wear a path in the ground that the enemy
could follow. If you are to reconnoitre a place, make a stand in a safe
spot when you get near it, and send a couple of men ahead to look the
ground over. If you have to retreat and come to a river, cross it
anywhere but at the usual ford, for that is where the enemy would hide
on the farther side ready to pick you off. If your march is by a lake or
river, keep at some distance from it, that you may not be hemmed in on
one side and caught in a trap. When you go out, always return by a
different way, and avoid the usual travelled paths."

Thus, as we marched along, Rogers kept talking to us, instructing us in
the methods of wood-fighting.

We went through Worcester, Brookfield, and Northampton to Pontoosuc
Fort, where a party of Mohegan Indians from Stockbridge joined us, under
their chief Jacob. Then to a Dutch settlement called Kinderhook, and to
the Hudson River. The weather was very cold, and the river was frozen
over. Rogers told us to put on our skates, and we skated up the river to
Fort Edward.

This was a very strong fort, with much artillery. The fort was on the
left shore, and a very strong blockhouse was on the right bank. Th