Adventure Magazine Cover — page 33: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Lyman at Fort Edward as well as detailing a force to capture the foe. This taking of prisoners was as important as _ the harassing of supply-trains and the destruc- tion of enemy property. Both the English and French impressed upon their scouting-parties the imperative necessity of securing captives. It was largely through these that one antago- nist learned what the other was planning to do. Realizing the importance of capturing some of the trespassers, especially the officer, Put- nam snatched two hours of sorely needed sleep and undertook a lone hunt for the terrified band. He scouted much more rapidly than the squad from the fort and at last found the trail leading northwest. He followed it until it split up into several trails and decided the odds against success were too great to warrant a persistence in the task. The finding of Elizabeth Lidindick and the pre- vention of her sending information to Ticon- deroga was fully as vital as the capture of the French officer. Abandoning the chase, he turned his steps toward Fort Anne and traveled rapidly. His gaze constantly read the forest floor more from habit than because he expected to detect any enemy signs; and after covering several miles he was surprized to cut across a trail from the west. There were a dozen men in the party, he esti- mated, one beinga whiteman. Thelatter wore moccasins but was unable to disguise the white man’s fashion of walking. It dawned on Put- nam that this band, traveling rapidly and never pausing to hide their trail, was the same that had fled in terror from before the lodge of the dead sorcerer. Anticipating pursuit from the post, they had split up and separated only to come together again. Now they were eager to strike Wood Creek and follow it down to Ticonderoga. Their course promised to lead near Fort Anne, where they could follow Shone Creek to Wood, then on to South Bay, where doubtless they had canoes concealed. The remainder of the trip through the ““Drowned Lands” into Lake Cham- plain would depend entirely upon their caution and a certain amount of night travel. In the Spring of the preceding year Putnam had worked at chopping a road which was planned to follow Wood Creek down to Ticon- deroga, and over which the English army was to advance. Johnson had recalled the axmen after deciding that the Lake George route would be better. That experience and a full year of scouting back and forth on both sides of George permitted Putnam to carry an exact map of the country in hishead. __. At midday he reached Shone Creek, the west- ern tributary to Wood, a mile south of old Fort Anne. Here he madea discovery. Where the fleeing band had incautiously crossed the stream he observed that another trailer had cut in The Bushfighters 23 ahead of him, having come up from fhe south. The new imprint was much smaller than those it followed and trod upon. The new tracks were also very fresh, as they had collected hardly any moisture although made in soil that was almost ooze. One impression on a rock near the opposite bank had not had time to dry. tba Sp Putnam thought of the Lidindick girl. ages, perhaps to gain Ticonderoga under their escort. Either that or she purposed sending some messsage by them. Once away from the creek the signs were few and faint, and consisting of barely perceptible traces—a pebble partly dislodged from its She was hastening to overtake the sav- - earthy socket, or a twig scuffed from its matrix , in the forest mold. Tiny voices, yet loud enough to assure the ranger that he was hot on the scent. The course bore east of the creek, the signs being noticeable when the fugitives crossed any of the numerous rivulets. And always the small moccasins of the new trailer were to be found on top of the other tracks. When about a mile above the old fort Put- nam received his second surprize; another pair of moccasins cut in from the west and joined the others, treading upon the small tracks. A glance told him that this newcomer was a man of solid bulk, one who walked with the free, easy stride of the woodwise. He was inventorying this fact when a violent agitation of some alders in a marshy spot ahead sent him diving to cover. There came a gurgling sound as if some one were choking; then an angry voice snarled: “There! You young ——.cat!”’ forward, Putnam burst upon a strange scene. A slim Indian youth was writh- ing on the ground, trying to recover his breath, while Ephraim Willis sat on a log and tied his queue ribbon around a wound in his leg. At one side half-buried in the mire was a knife. Now the youth got back his breath, and with e SPRINGING to his feet and running the agility of a lynx leaped upon Willis and tore ° at him with his bare hands. With an oath coat seized him and lifted him high above his ead. “Halt,” cried Putnam, leaping into view. “Put him down.” ‘But the young hellion——” = “Put him down instantly. I vouch for im.’ bd Growling viciously, Willis dropped the boy, who promptly snatched a knife from Putnam’s belt and would have renewed his attack had not Putnam clutched his arm and wrenched the weapon from him, and demanded— “How long since Joseph Brant of the Mo- hawks has made war on the English, the friends of Sir William Johnson?” Go DNOOL|K (E@ . 3 3 »'