THE BATTLE OF THE LONG SAULT

Chapter 24: A Short Rest on the River. April 29th.

Why did I go? Why did I roam?

Why did I leave you alone at home?

There are no answers, no cause to say -

Just ancient laws that I must obey

So I go to the forest without delay.'"

The men sat listening, stupefied. Their mouths hung open, they were immobile. No one laughed. No one moved. No one spoke. They sat transfixed, watching Lecompte watching them. Gradually the men moved slightly. A hand came down from a chin; a head dropped to a chest; a head shook. Somebody stifled a laugh.

Lecompte said nothing. Other men looked around slowly trying to pick out something that would plausibly have drawn their attention from the figure with the birch bark.

"I'm not finished yet," Lecompte finally said.

Slowly, wordlessly, the men quietly turned their attention to other things until finally, no one was watching Lecompte anymore.

Lecompte took the silence to mean either that his companions were moved or that they failed to understand the poem. He felt too that some might not have liked it. But they usually laughed when they didn't like it. He returned to his poem.

Only Forges heard Robin's muttered comment as Robin got up and passed him:

"It's a crock of shit."

Dollard selected Forges and Hebert for the next scouting mission. The territory was rough, the footing treacherous. Rapids undulated mimicking terraced rocks and the land. A moderately high ridge of ground gave way to a steep gully. This ridge might lead up through a steeper ravine that, in turn, gave way to a small hill and then another gully, perhaps with a stream.

Forges was happy to get out of the camp with Roland Hebert on a scouting mission. They shook their heads, laughing about the poem. They had been gone only a few minutes, however, before they sank into the snow in the forest.

"We need snowshoes," said Forges and they went back to get them. Only a few pairs of snowshoes had been taken along, and it had proved a good decision as only the scouts ever found it necessary to use them.

The snowshoes, like the birch bark canoes, were an Algonquin invention and perfectly suitable for winter travel over all kinds of snow conditions. They were made of dried animal gut around which was rolled deer hide in the shape of a large flat spoon. Leather thongs kept the feet tied to the shoes and although they were unwieldy on the ground, over snow they gave tremendous advantage to the simple act of walking. The Neutral tribe near Lake Huron became so adept that they hunted deer wearing them.

Forges and Hebert wore the snowshoes over gullies and ravines where the snow was still deep. Climbing the steep embankments they took them off and slung them, with their muskets, over their shoulders, leaving their hands free for grabbing rocks, scrub bushes, and trees.

They spent two hours searching, found no recent trace of people and returned to camp. Three guards replaced them, and the took up positions one hundred yards from the camp and about sixty yards from each other.

"How far now?" said Nicholas Josselin.

"Two or three days," said Jurie.

"You mean nights -- five or six nights," retorted Josselin. "Look, I have good eyes, but I can't see in the dark. My eyes are starting to hurt. Can't we travel by day for the rest of the way?"

"No," said Jurie. "It might've been possible to do that the first couple of days but certainly not now. We're too close to the Long Sault. Besides, it's toughened you up," laughed Jurie.