[Illustration: "An Indian strode gravely into the encampment"]
by
Author of "The Boys of Fort Schuyler," "The Boys of '98," "Teddy andCarrots," "Captain Tom, the Privateersman," "The Boys of 1745," "The SignalBoys of '75," "Under the Liberty Tree," "When Israel Putnam Served theKing," "The Minute Boys of the Green Mountains," Etc., Etc.
1911
It seems not only proper, but necessary, that I should explain how thematerial for this story was obtained, and why it happens that I can thusset down exactly what Noel Campbell thought and did, during certain timeswhile he was serving the patriot cause in the Mohawk Valley as few otherboys could have done.
At some time in Noel's life--most likely after he was grown to be a manwith children, and, perhaps, grandchildren of his own--he wrote manyletters to relatives of his in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, wherein he toldwith considerable of detail that which he did during the War of theRevolution, and more particularly while he and his friends were fightingagainst that wily Indian sachem, Thayendanega. These letters, togetherwith many others concerning the struggles of our people for independence,came into my keeping a long while ago, and from the lines written by NoelCampbell I have put together the following story after much the samefashion as he himself set it down.
When the work was begun I doubted if Thayendanega could have beenfrightened by a party of boys who were playing at being soldiers, andrefused to make such statement until, quite by chance, I found thefollowing in Lossing's "Field-Book of the Revolution":
"It was a sunny morning toward the close of May, when Brant and hiswarriors cautiously moved up to the brow of the lofty hill on the eastside of the town (Cherry Valley) to reconnoitre the settlement at theirfeet. He was astonished and chagrined on seeing a fortification where hesupposed all was weak and defenceless, and greater was his disappointmentwhen quite a large and well-armed garrison appeared upon the esplanade infront of Colonel C