Part I

THE DECEIT

Bright and early in the morning, as they were breaking their fast with eggs and corn cakes, a knock came at the door of their private dining room. The three exchanged glances and Will nodded decisively at his sisters. Cora smiled proudly at him and called out, "Enter."

The door opened and a tall well formed man stepped through and the innkeeper shut the door behind him. He wore a rather pinched expression about his mouth and looked altogether disapproving.

"Duncan!" Alice gasped, rising suddenly from her place.

What followed next was a flurry of confusion and happy greetings as Captain Duncan Hayward stepped forward with an involuntary smile as he kissed the ladies hands and shook Will's. When he had sat down at the table though his face lost all its previous joy.

"I did not expect to find you here, Colonel Webb left a message here with the Earl that I was to escort certain ladies at this address to Fort William-Henry but through some clerical error the Earl had misplaced the letter and could not inform me of their names. Miss Monro," he appealed to Cora, "let me counsel you against this move. There is trouble brewing in the north and a camp of soldiery is no place for women such as you. Forget this mad scheme and give way to reason, the road is perilous, more so than it has been in some time. Only recall the ambush just days ago of the Jersey Provincials. The French are moving down the lake, or so it is rumoured, and a general call to muster has been made throughout the area."

With as much dignity as she could muster, Cora replied, "Captain, we do not make this journey on our own behalf but rather go upon our father's orders. There seems to have been some confusion of mail for we did not receive any more warning of this than you yourself. I can only speculate that my father has some reason."

"My God, you really mean to go," Captain Hayward cried. He looked about the room as though the mantle might lend him some better argument than those he had already articulated. "Miss Monro, Miss Elise, by all that is holy, do not go on this fool's journey! It—" and here he stopped for Cora had sent him such a glare paired with such a pointed glance at her young brother that he shut his mouth immediately. He lifted his hand to his head as though to run it through his hair only to remember it was heavily powdered and abandoned the movement.

Silently Cora handed over the heavily creased letter and he read it with a scowl. When he had finished he set it down on the table and addressed them again resignedly. "I suppose you are ready then? You have horses?"

"You might doubt if it were only I, but with Cora here we are more at a danger of being too prepared," Alice teased. That broke the tension and Captain Hayward smiled ruefully, conceding the point.

He drew in a deep breath and decided, "Then you had best finish your breakfast quickly and we shall meet my Company at the North Gate.

This was done, and at eight of the clock the column moved left the protection of the log barricade and deep entrenchment which surrounded Albany. Just as Alice had predicted, the column moved slowly and the day grew progressively warmer. The column was a loud and sweat-drenched animal that wended through the North American Wilderness along the dusty dirty road. It moved mostly without speech. Every now and again a man's voice could be heard shouting an order over the rattle of feet and equipment. This was almost always accompanied by a great thunder of drums.

About noon they came to the ferry, where it took an hour for the whole company to cross the river. Hayward rode with the Monros, but he wore a grim look for the whole ride to Still Water, which they reached by nightfall, and he had no patience for Will's questions.

At Still Water, the column pitched tents and rested for the night. The menservants pitched the single tent that Cora had been able to procure, and the women and Will spent the night within, tired, sore, and hot.

Morning came too soon with little time for breakfast, and they reached Fort Edward late in the night on the first of August after a long and arduous ride and a second fording, this time of the Hudson River at Saratoga.

When they arrived, there was all the bustle of activity that there might have been during the day. There were torches and bonfires lit 'round about which men stood in clumps to escape the mosquitoes. It was a very different sort of place than it had been in the spring. The reality of the war was very present there in every face and in the urgency and tone of every shouted order. The Monros were ushered to a secluded place where Billy pitched their tent while Dennis saw to the horses. No sooner did Alice's and Will's heads touch their pillows than they instantly fell asleep, but for Cora, sleep did not yet come.

This was the state in which Captain Hayward came upon them when he returned far past midnight to bring the news that they would set out at dawn with the 60th Regiment of the 3rd Battalion of Royal Americans. Dennis was asleep across the entrance to the tent when the captain approached and he woke stiffly when the younger man shook him.

"Dennis, the Miss Monros, are they awake? I have come from the Colonel's cabin."

The older man heaved a tired sigh. "The ladies and the young gentleman are asleep, sir, and I will not let you wake them." His voice dropped away, and the next thing Cora heard was him saying, "...the man in charge of the place ought to be ashamed to provide so little for the daughters of one of his colleagues."

She stirred and turned so that she faced the front of the tent.

She heard Captain Hayward's deep voice reply, "I ought to reprimand you, but I can not. Colonel Webb has lost much of my respect tonight. I hoped to persuade him that this fool's journey was too dangerous but he would not listen. He insists that they go to William-Henry with the column in the morning."

"Keep your voice down, they are sleeping," Dennis grumbled.

Captain Hayward lowered his voice accordingly so that Cora had to strain her ears to catch his words. "It will not do!" He said, "I cannot take them by the highroad. He is a madman, and the Lieutenant-Colonel Monro too! His own daughters and son, I cannot by any stretch of the imagination explain why he has called for them. War is brewing on the lake, just yesterday his lake scouts engaged with the French."

There was a shuffle and then: "You are a good lad, and a brave one," Dinnis' voice said gruffly. He said more too, but it was too soft for Cora to make out above the buzz of the camp.

Finally, when she had given up and was about to lay back, Hayward's voice once more raised to an audible level. "I will do my duty," he was saying, "but God forbid I think it right. I will find another way. To follow the column…" his voice dropped once more.

Then she heard Dennis settle back onto his bed roll and the sounds of the captain's heavy footfalls as he walked off muttering under his breath. For a moment all was still except for the continued hum and occasional shout from the camp. In the darkness of the tent Cora let out a shaky breath. She bit her knuckles and turned her face into her arm. She knew something was not right but could not place her finger on it.

Being so near the Canadian Front of the war had brought many buried memories and fears back to the forefront for her mind. To take her mind from the past, Cora looked over at her sister and brother as they slept. She could not see their features in the dark, but the two faces were slack in sleep and so trusting. Cora bit her knuckle again and silently prayed that God would watch over them and protect them all in the coming days. Then she turned over and fell fast asleep.

~‹›~

Early in the predawn darkness, the bugler played First Post. The soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Americans and several of the Provincial regiments and militias stirred and began readying themselves for the coming march. The kitchen fires were lit and wood smoke curled up into the humid air. A horse neighed. Three dogs barked at the northern end of the fort feuding over a scrap. Dennis and his son Billy awoke and began to ready the eight horses that had carried their mistresses, young master, and their baggage from Albany.

Anna dressed and began preparing the morning meal. As Billy passed her he teasingly tweaked her shoulder but she swatted him away with half a smile.

From within the tent Cora listened to the muted talk of the servants. Smiling fondly to herself as she heard Billy flirt with Anna—the young man had lost his heart to the maid and had not yet realised it, and Anna refused to enlighten him—she rubbed her weary eyes. She had slept fitfully for several hours before the general call had sounded for the army to be up and she had thought it best to prepare herself for the coming day. Folding back the light coverlet, she sat up and quietly dressed.

Leaning over her still slumbering sister, she whispered, "Alice, Alice, wake."

Alice stirred.

"Is it morning?"

"Yes, dearest."

As the sisters sat together in the dark, fumbling with their bodice laces and buttons they traded knowing smiles which referenced past jokes and happier times. Both women's hair fell down their backs unbound by customary pins. When they were both fully buttoned into their riding habits, Alice woke Will.

He grumbled sleepily, but finally let them pull away the blanket. Cora handed him his jacket and neckerchief and then combed his hair as he dressed.

"May I go out now, Cora?" he begged when he was put to rights.

"You may; be back in a half hour for your breakfast and prayers."

"Yes'm," he called as he tumbled from the tent in his hurry to explore.

When he was out of sight, Anna left her fire in the care of Mr. Fuller and slipped into the tent to pin up the women's hair. The three of them worked in silence until Anna asked timidly, "Is the road to Fort William-Henry as dangerous as some make it out to be?"

Cora handed the girl a pin as she answered, "The road cuts through the forest and is an unguarded track of about seventeen miles. Having spoken with Captain Hayward yesterday, I believe there is a great chance that there might be French Indians lurking along it, but I greatly doubt that they will be gathered in any great number. The French scouts were only sighted on the twenty-eighth and you can hear no cannon in the air; if the fort had been attacked they would have shot the warning guns as a signal to the men here. We will be safe enough following the column."

Alice nodded. Her hair was finished and her hat was pinned so she was folding the blankets. "There have been runners through recently, did you not hear the clamour a little while back?—that was a runner, he will have brought some news. If he came through it ought to be safe for a time, long enough for us to get through I hope."

The other two women agreed and the matter was put to rest. When they left the tent to eat the menservants struck it and packed it away. Breakfast was a sombre affair. Captain Hayward joined them just as they were finishing and the sky was beginning to lighten in the east.