tting by
the fire. She got me some broth, and after I had drunk it brought a
flax-wheel and sat down by it. I was sick and weak, but the joy of
Michael Wigglesworth's saints in heaven was nothing compared to mine.
That is, until the dreadful thought occurred that she might have been
already sought and won by some one else. But I said: "Keep your courage
up, Ben. She isn't over seventeen. I'm sick, and she's here, and I won't
get well in a hurry."

[Sidenote: RUTH]

How well I remember her, sitting by the flax-wheel, spinning,--even the
pepper and salt homespun dress, the blue and white checked apron, the
little shoes with the silver buckles, and the glimpse of gray stocking.

"Will you please tell me your name?"

"Ruth. Ruth Elliot."

"Ruth? That's the sweetest name of all. It suits you too. But where am
I, and what good fortune brought me here?"

"You are at Fort No. 4, or Charlestown as they call it now. You were
with Rogers in the woods, and floated down the river with Sergeant Munro
and Amos Locke. You have been out of your head with a fever for nearly a
month."

"Yes, yes. I remember now. How many of the Rangers got back?"

"About one hundred. They came in at different places. Twelve days after
you arrived, Rogers came down with those who were at the Ammonusuc. Some
were insane, and some had died before he reached them. It was good to
see them back again. But they were terribly wasted and worn. After they
had been here a few days, they started for Crown Point, over the road
which Captain Stark has just cut through the woods."

"One hundred out of one hundred and forty-five? Well, it might have been
worse. And what news is there of General Wolfe and his army? When I last
heard of them, they were on their way up the St. Lawrence to Quebec."

"Quebec is taken."

"That's good. General Wolfe will get great praise and reward for that."

"If he were alive, he might, but there was a desperate fight, and Wolfe
was killed in it, and Montcalm too."

"Both dead? They were brave men and skilful soldiers. Cut off in their
prime like Lord Howe. And what is Amherst doing?"

[Sidenote: BEN TELLS HIS ADVENTURES]

"Amherst is rebuilding the fort at Crown Point. He will do nothing more
this year. It is too late. In the spring he will go down and take
Montreal, and end the war."

"And the Rangers--what about them?"

"Most of them have gone home. Sergeant Munro and Mr. Locke passed
through here a few days ago. They