It seemed to me like a very long time before the sergeant joined us, and then I knew that the unfortunate men were out of their misery at last.
"They have paid a fearful price for their folly," the old man said, solemnly; "but by thus dyin' they've ensured the holdin' of this fort, for there's not a man within the walls who wouldn't delight in drawin' his last breath at the post of duty rather than take the chances of sich protection as St. Leger has shown he's ready to give. We'll have no more mutiny, an' all hands will be starved to death before the enemy gets possession of the fortification."
"What about the other three men?" Jacob asked, in a whisper, not daring to trust his voice lest it should betray the fear in his heart.
"I reckon their turn will come soon--perhaps to-morrow night. Thayendanega's 'noble red men' can't afford to waste their victims. But, hark ye, lads, it won't do for you to moon over what is enough to turn any man's blood to water. Take a brisk walk up an' down the parade-ground for half an hour, an' then come to bed. I'm thinkin' we may have a bit of work cut out for us within the next four an' twenty hours."
"Of what kind?" I asked, not inclined to follow the old man's advice so far as to venture out while the howling Indians were making night something of which to be afraid.
"It stands to reason that before the deserters were turned over to the painted wolves St. Leger got from them all the information concernin' this fort which they could give. The British general now knows that we haven't any too much ammunition for the cannon, an' it'll be odd if he don't give us a chance to spend a good bit more of it."
This seemed a plausible line of reasoning, and yet I was not in the lightest degree troubled by the possibility; I had known so much of horror during the past few hours that an assault, however desperate, was something to be courted rather than feared.
Sergeant Corney smoked his pipe long and furiously that night as he sat in the barracks, giving no heed as to whether we followed his advice, and we two lads sat side by side with little inclination to indulge in conversation.
One by one our boys, pale-faced and trembling, entered the sleeping-quarters, some even going so far as to lie down, but positive am I that never an eye was closed in slumber during all that night, and every one of us welcomed the first rays of the rising sun as if years had passed since he last showed his face.