“I have been longing to see the Rangers ever since I arrived at Ticonderoga; but they declared they were terrible fire-eating men, worse than the wild Indians, and that they would kill me if I adventured myself near to them—­kill me or carry me away captive.  But I said ‘No!’” (and the girl threw back her head in a gesture of pride and scorn); “I said that the Rangers were Englishmen—­English gentlemen, many of them—­and that they did not war with women!  I was not afraid; I knew they would not lay a finger upon me.

“I am not wrong, am I, sirs?  You would not hurt a maiden who trusts your chivalry and honour?”

“I would slay the first man who dared so much as to lay a finger upon you, lady,” answered Stark impetuously, “even though he were my own comrade or brother!  We are Rogers’ Rangers, as you have rightly guessed; and we are here scouting round Fort Ticonderoga, ready to intercept its inmates when we may catch them.  But you are right:  we war not with women; we fight with men who can fight us back.

“But tell us, fair lady, how comes it that you are here alone in the forest?  It is scarce safe in these troubled times of warfare, with Indians all around, and rude soldiers prowling the woods and lurking in its fastnesses.”

“Ah, but my escort is close at hand.  I did but stray away a little in search of flowers.  They said the forest was free from peril today.  The Indians have gone off yonder on some enterprise of their own, and the English are lying within their lines far enough away.  I begged and prayed, and at last they gave way.  My brother and the men are after a fine young deer they sighted.  I bid them leave me.  I was not afraid.  I thought the worst that could happen would be that I came face to face with a party of Rangers, and that was exactly what I have longed to do ever since I arrived.”

The girl looked up smiling into the faces of the bronzed, stalwart men standing before her; then she seated herself upon a fallen tree and motioned them to be seated likewise.

“I want to talk,” she said; “let us sit down and be sociable.  I daresay they will be some time in killing their quarry.  We will enjoy ourselves till they come back.  They shall not hurt you; I will ensure that.”

Stark smiled a little at the girl’s assurance.

“More likely they may suffer at our hands, lady.  There are more of us scattered about the forest.  But our aim is not to slay, but to obtain prisoners who shall give us news; so you need not fear that harm will befall your brother—­least of all if he speaks the English tongue as you do.  If I might make bold to ask you of yourself, how comes it that an English girl is in such a wild spot as this, and amid the soldiers of France?”

“I am not English,” answered the maiden, with a smile; “I am French upon my father’s side, and my mother was a Scotchwoman.  I have lived in Scotland, where I learned your tongue; and I always spoke it with my mother so long as she lived.  It is as easy to me as my father’s French.”