These great scouting expeditions saved the five from much
impatience. It takes a long time for an army to gather and then
to equip itself for the march, and they were so used to swift
motion that it was now a part of their nature. At last the army
was ready, and it left the lake. Then it proceeded in boats down
the Tioga flooded to a sufficient depth by an artificial dam
built with immense labor, to its confluence with the larger
river. Here were more men, and the five saw a new commander,
General James Sullivan, take charge of the united force. Then
the army, late in August, began its march upon the Iroquois.
The five were now in the van, miles ahead of the main guard.
They knew that no important movement of so large a force could
escape the notice of the enemy, but they, with other scouts, made
it their duty to see that the Americans marched into no trap.
It was now the waning summer. The leaves were lightly touched
with brown, and the grass had begun to wither. Berries were
ripening on the vines, and the quantity of game had increased,
the wild animals returning to the land from which civilized man
had disappeared. The desolation seemed even more complete than
in the autumn before.
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