were then drawn up before them, ranked six deep,—­the young unmarried men, as the most dangerous, being told off and placed on the left, to the number of a hundred and forty-one.  Captain Adams, with eighty men, was then ordered to guard them to the vessels.  Though the object of the movement had been explained to them, they were possessed with the idea that they were to be torn from their families and sent away at once; and they all, in great excitement, refused to go.  Winslow told them that there must be no parley or delay; and as they still refused, a squad of soldiers advanced towards them with fixed bayonets; while he himself, laying hold of the foremost young man, commanded him to move forward.  “He obeyed; and the rest followed, though slowly, and went off praying, singing, and crying, being met by the women and children all the way (which is a mile and a half) with great lamentation, upon their knees, praying.”  When the escort returned, about a hundred of the married men were ordered to follow the first party; and, “the ice being broken,” they readily complied.  The vessels were anchored at a little distance from shore, and six soldiers were placed on board each of them as a guard.  The prisoners were offered the King’s rations, but preferred to be supplied by their families, who, it was arranged, should go in boats to visit them every day; “and thus,” says Winslow, “ended this troublesome job.”  He was not given to effusions of feeling, but he wrote to Major Handfield:  “This affair is more grievous to me than any service I was ever employed in."[278]

[Footnote 278:  Haliburton, who knew Winslow’s Journal only by imperfect extracts, erroneously states that the men put on board the vessels were sent away immediately.  They remained at Grand Pre several weeks, and were then sent off at intervals with their families.]

Murray sent him a note of congratulation:  “I am extremely pleased that things are so clever at Grand Pre, and that the poor devils are so resigned.  Here they are more patient than I could have expected for people in their circumstances; and what surprises me still more is the indifference of the women, who really are, or seem, quite unconcerned.  I long much to see the poor wretches embarked and our affair a little settled; and then I will do myself the pleasure of meeting you and drinking their good voyage.”

This agreeable consummation was still distant.  There was a long and painful delay.  The provisions for the vessels which were to carry the prisoners did not come; nor did the vessels themselves, excepting the five already at Grand Pre.  In vain Winslow wrote urgent letters to George Saul, the commissary, to bring the supplies at once.  Murray, at Fort Edward, though with less feeling than his brother officer, was quite as impatient of the burden of suffering humanity on his hands.  “I am amazed what can keep the transports and Saul.  Surely our friend at Chignecto is willing to give us as much of our