"This shows what war will do," he said, to a comrade standing near. "Think of how prosperous a trading post Oswego was three years ago, and now look at this. Why even a wild animal would shun the spot--after those skeletons were picked clean."
"True for you, lad," was the answer. "But I don't think it will be that way again. General Prideaux means business, and so does General Johnson, and the French will have to do some tall fighting to win out now."
The first of the soldiers arrived on the site of Oswego about the middle of June, and it was only a few days later the remainder of the army came up from Lake Oneida bringing the stores and baggage, including a great many barrels of pork, which in those days formed a staple article of soldiers' diet.
Dave was anxious to see Henry and Barringford again, and when the last of the soldiers came up and went into camp not far from the lake and the river, he hurried in that direction as soon as he was off duty.
"Oh, Sam!" he cried, when he caught sight of the old frontiersman and saw the serious look on his face. "Where's Henry?"
"No, lad. After we went ashore at Lake Oneida he disappeared like as if the earth had opened and swallowed him up."
"Dave you oughter know better nor to ask sech a question. Look? Why, I tramped miles an' miles a-looking fer him,--an' fer them Injuns. But the redskins got away, and we couldn't find Henry, alive or dead."
"Then they must have taken him prisoner."
"Wall, I don't like to say, lad. Let us hope fer the best."
"You mean they might have killed him and thrown his body into the lake?"
Dave drew a long breath. The thought was a horrible one. He shook his head dismally.
"You didn't hear any shots, or any struggling?"
"Nary a sound, Dave. We went along as silently as ghosts and with our ears wide open. I know Henry was along when we moved up the lake, but I missed him jest as soon as we turned to come back. He had been next to the lake front and I walked over to find out if he had seen anything of the Injuns. But he was gone--and that was the end of it--although I and the others hunted around until we simply had to give it up and come back to report."
It was dismal news, and all Barringford could do did not cheer Dave up. "First it was little Nell and now it's Henry," he said, soberly. "If neither of them return what will Aunt Lucy say?"