swamp and forest extending west to the St. Lawrence.




CHAPTER VI.


SCOUTING.

A party of six men were seated around a fire in the forest which
covered the slopes of the northern shore of Lake Champlain. The spot
had been chosen because a great tree had fallen, bringing down
several others in its course, and opening a vista through which a
view could be obtained of the surface of the lake. The party
consisted of Peter Lambton, Harold, Jake, Ephraim Potter, another old
frontiersman, and two Indians.

The company under Captain Wilson had made its way safely to the St.
Lawrence after undergoing considerable hardships in the forest. They
had been obliged to depend entirely on what game they could shoot and
such fish as they could catch in the rivers whose course they
followed. They had, however, reached Montreal without loss, and there
they found that General Carleton had in all about 500 regulars and
about 200 volunteers who had recently been engaged.

It was clear that if the people of Canada were as hostile to the
connection with England as were those of the other colonies, the
little force at the disposal of the English general could do nothing
to defend the colony against the strong force which the Americans