e
Rangers' camp was on an island in the Hudson. Their barracks were made
of logs, with bark roofs, and their camp was not in bad condition.

[Sidenote: HATRED OF INDIANS]

The Rangers were mostly frontiersmen from New Hampshire, who had lived
in the woods all their lives, and had fought against wild beasts and
Indians. The life they were now leading was simply their old life on a
larger scale. Most of them were dressed in deerskin. They were rough,
stern men, who had been so much exposed to danger, and were so used to
it, that they seemed to have no fear. They looked upon the French and
Indians as a dire plague, to be wiped off the earth by any means. They
had heard the war-whoop at their own homes, and had seen their close
relatives scalped by Indians. No wonder they classed the redskins with
wolves and snakes, as a plague to be wiped off the earth. Living in the
woods so much, they seemed to have acquired the keen senses that wild
animals have. They were ever on the alert. Their eyes and ears noticed
all the signs and sounds of nature. They had fought savages for years,
and their own ways were savage. Many of them took scalps.

I do not believe that a bolder or more adventurous set of men than these
Rangers ever existed.

As I looked them over and saw what a lot of keen, fearless, and
self-reliant men I was among, I was very proud to think that I was one
of this chosen corps.

McKinstry said: "They're a tough set, Ben. But when you get in your
first fight, you'll be glad you're with a tough set. Not much school
learning among them; but they know all about the woods and Injun
fighting, and that's what we want here."

Every evening at roll-call we formed on parade, equipped with a
firelock, sixty rounds of powder and ball, and a hatchet, and were
inspected, that we might be ready at a minute's warning. The guards were
arranged and the scouts for the next day appointed.

After we had been at the camp a couple of days Rogers came out of his
hut and said to me:--

"Come, Comee, I'm going over to the fort and may want some one to bring
back a few things."

[Sidenote: THE BLACK WATCH]

We crossed the ice to the shore and went up to the fort. It was a great
sight for me to see the regulars in their bright scarlet coats, the
Scotch Highlanders with their kilts and tartans, and our own provincial
troops in blue, though there were not many of them, as they had mostly
gone home for the winter.

Rogers walked up to