Our distress would have terminated fatally, had not a soldier cried out to those on shore to cut boughs of trees*, and throw them to us—­a lucky thought, which certainly saved many of us from perishing miserably; and even with this assistance, had we been burdened by our knapsacks, we could not have emerged; for it employed us near half an hour to disentangle some of our number.  The sergeant of grenadiers in particular, was sunk to his breast-bone, and so firmly fixed in that the efforts of many men were required to extricate him, which was effected in the moment after I had ordered one of the ropes, destined to bind the captive Indians, to be fastened under his arms.

[I had often read of this contrivance to facilitate the passage of a morass.  But I confess, that in my confusion I had entirely forgotten it, and probably should have continued to do so until too late to be of use.]

Having congratulated each other on our escape from this ‘Serbonian Bog,’ and wiped our arms (half of which were rendered unserviceable by the mud) we once more pushed forward to our object, within a few hundred yards of which we found ourselves about half an hour before sunrise.  Here I formed the detachment into three divisions, and having enjoined the most perfect silence, in order, if possible, to deceive Indian vigilance, each division was directed to take a different route, so as to meet at the village at the same moment.

We rushed rapidly on, and nothing could succeed more exactly than the arrival of the several detachments.  To our astonishment, however, we found not a single native at the huts; nor was a canoe to be seen on any part of the bay.  I was at first inclined to attribute this to our arriving half an hour too late, from the numberless impediments we had encountered.  But on closer examination, there appeared room to believe, that many days had elapsed since an Indian had been on the spot, as no mark of fresh fires, or fish bones, was to be found.

Disappointed and fatigued, we would willingly have profited by the advantage of being near water, and have halted to refresh.  But on consultation, it was found, that unless we reached in an hour the rivers we had so lately passed, it would be impossible, on account of the tide, to cross to our baggage, in which case we should be without food until evening.  We therefore pushed back, and by dint of alternately running and walking, arrived at the fords, time enough to pass with ease and safety.  So excessive, however, had been our efforts, and so laborious our progress, that several of the soldiers, in the course of the last two miles, gave up, and confessed themselves unable to proceed farther.  All that I could do for these poor fellows, was to order their comrades to carry their muskets, and to leave with them a small party of those men who were least exhausted, to assist them and hurry them on.  In three quarters of an hour after we had crossed the water, they arrived at it, just time enough to effect a passage.