On the night of the 8th, it was known in the fort that a council of war
would be held in the morning, and that, undoubtedly, the fort would
surrender.
James, with his company, had, after escorting the cattle to the fort,
crossed the marsh to the intrenched camp, as the fort was already
crowded with troops. The company therefore avoided the horrors of the
siege. When the report circulated that a surrender would probably be
made the next morning, Nat went to James.
"What are you going to do, captain?"
"Do, Nat? Why, I have nothing to do. If Monro and his council decide to
surrender, there is an end of it. You don't propose that our company is
to fight Montcalm's army alone, do you?"
"No, I don't," Nat said, testily; "there has been a deal too much
fighting already. I understand holding out till the last, when there's
a hope of somebody coming to relieve you; but what's the use of
fighting, and getting a lot of your men killed, and raising the blood
of those redskin devils to boiling point? If the colonel had given up
the place at once, we should have saved a loss of 300 men, and Montcalm
would have been glad enough to let us march off to Fort Edward."
"But probably he will agree to let us do that now," James said.
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