ould have a bridle on his
tongue, and not be drinking too much of this nasty rum."

"They laugh at our ways of speaking, and say we speak through our noses.
You of the Black Watch talk differently from them. I heard a captain,
the other day, telling of pumpkins, which he called pompions. 'Yes,' he
said, 'the pompion is a good vegetable, and an excellent succedaneum to
the cabbage, in the latter part of the winter.' What do you think of
succedaneum, Donald?"

"'Deed, I think it's a fine word. I don't know what it means, but it has
a grand sound. I'll manage to bring it in, in the future, when I hear
people using big words. Benjamin, I'm obliged to you."

"A few days later, I heard this captain talking about the fogs in Nova
Scotia, which he said, 'are owing to the steamy breath of fish and sea
animals.' I put that down at once. If I could only hear him talk right
along, I think I'd learn a good deal about nature. How do you like it?"

[Sidenote: THE ARMY MARCHES TO LAKE GEORGE]

"He's a grand talker, Ben, and has an uncommon gude grip on the
language. But I think his philosophy's gone to his head. He never lived
among our Scotch mists, or he wouldn't be so befogged in his ideas."

When General Gage reached Fort Edward, he was sent over to Lake George
with part of the army. Three companies of Rangers, under Captain Stark,
went with him. The other three companies, under Rogers, remained behind.

On the 20th of June the rest of the army, under Amherst, marched to the
lake.

Our three companies of Rangers, under Rogers, formed the advanced guard,
and threw out flanking parties to scour the woods near by. The artillery
and baggage brought up the rear.

Then nearly a month was consumed in building boats and rafts to carry
the artillery, in raising boats which had been sunk the previous fall,
and in digging up cannon and stores that had been buried.

Amherst wished for information about the French, and Captain Jacob was
sent on a scout to Lake Champlain. At the same time Rogers, McKinstry,
Martin, and I set out to see what force the enemy had at Crown Point.

We put our birches into the water after dark. As I stepped into our
birch, Jacob said: "Good-by, Ben Comee! Never see you again. Heap
Canawaugha Indians at Crown Point. Gray Wolf's friends. All want Ben
Comee's scalp. Me heap sorry."

"Good-by, Jacob. Take care you don't lose your own hair."

The Indians went along the south shore, and we struck across for th