the war?"

"Were any of you at Quebec, with Arnold and Montgomery?" inquired one of
the veterans who had been an attentive and silent listener to the
preceding narratives.

"I accompanied Colonel Arnold on the expedition up the Kennebec,"
replied Davenport.

"Then tell us about it, won't you?" eagerly exclaimed one of the young
men.

"Ay, Davenport, tell us about it," added Kinnison. "I've never heard
anything I could depend on about that march through the wilderness. Old
Joe Weston tried to give me an account of it; but his memory was very
weak, and he hadn't the knack of talking so that a person could
understand him."

"Well, you see," began Davenport, "I was livin' up here on the Lexington
road, when I hear that General Washington had planned an expedition to
Canada by way of the Kennebec and the wilderness north of it, and that
Colonel Arnold had been appointed to command the troops who were to
undertake it. I was preparing to join the army at Cambridge; but I
thought that Arnold's expedition would suit me better than staying in
camp around Boston. So I furnished myself with many little knick-nacks,
shouldered my musket, and started off to offer my services. They placed
me in one of the companies of Major Bigelow's battalion. I believe there
was about eleven hundred men, in all, under Arnold's command, who
marched from Cambridge to Newburyport. There we embarked on board of
eleven transports, and, on the nineteenth of September, sailed for the