"I'll admit all that you claim for it." "And there's so much of it, Grosvenor, even allowing for the portion, the very big portion, the French claim." "But from which we are going to drive them very soon, Robert, my lad." "I think so, too, Grosvenor." Often Robert, Willet and Tayoga went far ahead on swift foot, searching the forest for ambush, and finding none, they would come back and watch the axmen, three hundred in number, who were cutting the road for the army.

They were stalwart fellows, skilled in their business, and their axes rang through the woods.

Robert felt regret when he saw the splendid trees fall and be dragged to one side, there to rot, despite the fact that the unbroken forest covered millions of square miles.
The camps at night were scenes of good humor.

Scouts and flankers were thrown out in the forest, and huge fires were built of the fallen wood which was abundant everywhere.

The flames, roaring and leaping, threw a ruddy light over the soldiers, and gave them pleasant warmth, as often in the hills the dusk came on heavy with chill.
Despite the favorable nature of the season some of the soldiers unused to hardships fell ill, and, more than a week later, when they reached a place known as the Little Meadows, Braddock left there the sick and the heavy baggage with a rear guard under Colonel Dunbar.