make the sortie and shed much blood uselessly. Is there anything I can do
for you before you start?"

The old soldier hesitated, as if unable to think of anything we needed,
and I, remembering the hunger which had assailed us while we lay hidden in
the thicket, replied:

"If it so be you could spare us a bit of corn bread, we would be the
better able to make a hurried journey."

"That you shall have, and in plenty," the commandant said, as if relieved
at knowing our wants could be gratified with so little trouble, and
Sergeant Corney added:

"Only so much as we can put in our pockets, for this is not the time to
encumber ourselves even with provisions."

Some of the soldiers who had been standing near by hurried away, returning
a few moments later with as much bread as would have served to satisfy our
hunger for a week at least.

When such a quantity as we needed for one meal had been pushed out between
the logs of the stockade, my companion whispered to the commandant:

"We shall strike into the thicket to the westward, making a circle to the
south around the fort, until coming to the road leading to Oriskany,
crossing the river just below here, and now, sir, if you have no further
demands, we will go."

"May God have you in His keeping," the colonel said, fervently, and