Denonville, oppressed by the heat,
marched in his shirt. "It is a rough life," wrote the marquis, "to
tramp afoot through the woods, carrying one's own provisions in a
haversack, devoured by mosquitoes, and faring no better than a mere
soldier." [Footnote: _Denonville au Ministre_, 8 _Juin_, 1687.] With
him was the Chevalier de Vaudreuil, who had just arrived from France
in command of the eight hundred men left to guard the colony, and who,
eager to take part in the campaign, had pushed forward alone to join
the army. Here, too, were the Canadian seigniors at the head of their
vassals, Berthier, La Valterie, Granville, Longueuil, and many more. A
guard of rangers and Indians brought up the rear.
Scouts thrown out in front ran back with the report that they had
reached the Seneca clearings, and had seen no more dangerous enemy
than three or four women in the cornfields. This was a device of the
Senecas to cheat the French into the belief that the inhabitants were
still in the town. It had the desired effect. The vanguard pushed
rapidly forward, hoping to surprise the place, and ignorant that,
behind the ridge of thick forests on their right, among a tangled
growth of beech-trees in the gorge of a brook, three hundred ambushed
warriors lay biding their time.
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