Marching on Niagara Part 35

In a little while the other rangers came up with the Rose twins, who were as delighted as little Nell to find themselves among friends once more. In the mean time the other unfriendly Indians and the French traders disappeared, and although White Buffalo and some of the rangers went after them, they could not be captured.

That evening, seated around a generous camp-fire, and after the best supper they had enjoyed for many a day, little Nell and her companions told the tale of their captivity,--how the Indians had at first carried them off, how they had been moved from one spot to another, and of how Jean Bevoir had finally taken charge of them. The little girls were too young to understand how the rascally trader had hoped to make money by having them ransomed, but the boys and the other soldiers understood, and they made up their minds that Bevoir should not escape them and that the whole matter should be laid before the proper authorities at the earliest possible date.

"But I am so glad to be with you again!" murmured little Nell, as she nestled down between Henry and Dave. "I hope the bad Indians never carry me off again!"

"They shall never do it if I can help it," answered Henry; and Dave echoed the sentiment.

Let me add a few words more and then bring to a close this story of two young soldiers' adventures while "Marching on Niagara."

On the day following the rescue of little Nell and the Rose twins all our friends took themselves to Fort Niagara, which was now occupied by French and English combined. With the party went Jean Bevoir, a thoroughly miserable prisoner of war. The trader begged hard to be given his freedom and offered all sorts of inducements to those having him in charge, but n.o.body would listen to him, and one ranger threatened to thrash him if he ever mentioned a bribe again. At the fort the matter was laid before Sir William Johnson, and Bevoir was placed under guard in the military hospital; and that was the last seen or heard from him for some time to come.

Little Nell was very anxious to get back home, to see her father and mother, as well as Rodney and her Uncle James, and it was finally decided that she should be sent back, along with the Rose twins and a number of other captives who had turned up. The party was placed in charge of a company of rangers including Hans Schnitzer, who in the siege of the fort had lost an ear, and of Barringford, who had given his word to Joseph Morris that if he found little Nell he would not leave her out of his sight until the miss was once again with her parents.

"But what will you boys do?" questioned the backwoodsman of Dave and Henry.

"We have decided to remain in the army and see this war to a finish,"

said Dave. "We've got the French and their Indian allies on the run, as they call it, and both of us feel that it's our duty to remain at the front."

"That feelin' does ye both credit," was Barringford's answer. "Well, I reckon you'll git fighting enough before you're done. If it keeps on very much longer I allow as how I'll be back with ye sooner or later."

What Barringford said about getting fighting enough was true, and the further adventures of our young friends will be related in another volume, to be ent.i.tled "At the Fall of Montreal; Or, A Soldier Boy's Final Victory." In this volume we shall meet all our old friends again and learn what they did toward establis.h.i.+ng a lasting victory over France in Canada.

It was not long after the taking of Fort Niagara that the boys received good news from home. Matters were going well with all those left behind, and they were delighted to learn that little Nell was safe and would soon be with them. Dave's father was likewise delighted to learn that Jean Bevoir was a prisoner and that the French hold on the Ohio River and its tributaries was broken. He felt certain that the French traders and the Indians under them would never regain that which had been lost, and that in another season at the latest he would be perfectly safe in re-establis.h.i.+ng his trading post on the Kinotah, and that by that time matters would be in proper shape for doing more trading than ever before.

"I hope what he says proves true," said Dave, as he and Henry read the letter on the subject. "I think we deserve whatever we can get out of that trading-post, seeing how hard we have worked to gain possession of our own."

"I am glad matters are going on so well at home," returned Henry. "My, but won't mother be glad to see Nell again! They'll hug each other to death." And he wiped something like a tear from his eye as he pictured the scene in his mind.

In the darkness of the evening Dave's hand stole into that of his cousin. "I am just as glad over it all as you, Henry," he said softly.

And then after a short silence he added: "There is no disputing it. G.o.d has been very good to us; don't you think so?"

For answer Henry gave his hand a tight squeeze. "We can be thankful we're alive, considering what we've gone through with. War is no holiday making."

"You're right it's not. But I'm glad I'm a soldier anyway--and I mean to do my duty to the end, no matter what comes."

A few minutes later both lay down to sleep, the hand of one resting in that of the other; and here for the time being let us leave them, kind reader, with our best wishes.