“The fighting spirit bottled up so long in our line has surely ample opportunity to break out in me,” said Wilton to Robert toward morning.  “As I’ve told you before, Lennox, if I have any soldierly quality it’s no credit of mine.  It’s a valor suppressed in my Quaker ancestors, but not eradicated.”

“That is, if you fight you fight with the sword of your fathers and not your own.”

“You put it well, Lennox, better than I could have stated it myself.  What has become of that wonderful red friend of yours?”

“Tayoga?  He has gone into the forest to see how soon we can expect Tandakora, De Courcelles and the Indian host.”

The Onondaga returned at dawn, saying that no attack need be feared before noon, as the Indian bands were gathering at an appointed place, and would then advance in great force.

“They’ll find us gone by a good six hours,” said Willet, “and we must make every minute of those six hours worth an ordinary day, because the warriors, wild at their disappointment, will follow, and at least we’ll have to beat off their vanguard.  It’s lucky all these people are used to the forest.”

Just as the first rim of the sun appeared they were ready.  There were six wagons, drawn by stout horses, in which they put the spare ammunition and their most valuable possessions.  Everybody but the drivers walked, the women and children in the center of the column, the best of the scouts and skirmishers in the woods on the flanks.  Then at the command of Colden the whole column moved into the forest, but Tayoga, Willet and a half dozen others ran about from house to house, setting them on fire with great torches, making fifty blazes which grew rapidly, because the timbers were now dry, uniting soon into one vast conflagration.

Robert and Colden, from the edge of the forest, watched the destruction of Fort Refuge.  They saw the solid log structures fall in, sending up great masses of sparks as the burning timbers crashed together.  They saw the strong blockhouse go, and then they saw the palisade itself flaming.  Colden turned away with a sigh.

“It’s almost like burning your own manor house which you built yourself, and in which you expected to spend the remainder of your life,” he said.  “It hurts all the more, too, because it’s a sign that we’ve lost the border.”

“But we’ll come back,” said Robert, who had the will to be cheerful.

“Aye, so we will,” said Colden, brightening.  “We’ll sweep back these French and Indians, and we’ll come here and rebuild Fort Refuge on this very spot.  I’ll see to it, myself.  This is a splendid place for a fort, isn’t it, Lennox?”

“So it is,” replied Robert, smiling, “and I’ve no doubt, Colden, that you’ll supervise the rebuilding of Fort Refuge.”

And in time, though the interval was great, it did come to pass.