drivers walked, the women and children in the center of the column, the
best of the scouts and skirmishers in the woods on the flanks. Then at
the command of Colden the whole column moved into the forest, but
Tayoga, Willet and a half dozen others ran about from house to house,
setting them on fire with great torches, making fifty blazes which grew
rapidly, because the timbers were now dry, uniting soon into one vast
conflagration.

Robert and Colden, from the edge of the forest, watched the destruction
of Fort Refuge. They saw the solid log structures fall in, sending up
great masses of sparks as the burning timbers crashed together. They saw
the strong blockhouse go, and then they saw the palisade itself flaming.
Colden turned away with a sigh.

"It's almost like burning your own manor house which you built yourself,
and in which you expected to spend the remainder of your life," he said.
"It hurts all the more, too, because it's a sign that we've lost the
border."

"But we'll come back," said Robert, who had the will to be cheerful.

"Aye, so we will," said Colden, brightening. "We'll sweep back these
French and Indians, and we'll come here and rebuild Fort Refuge on this
very spot. I'll see to it, myself. This _is_ a splendid place for a
fort, isn't it, Lennox?"

"So it is," replied Robert, smiling, "and I've no doubt, Colden, that
you'll supervise the rebuilding of Fort Refuge."

And in time, though the interval was great, it did come to pass.