Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 2).djvu/67

 is not to suppose that his ancestors traversed those hills, or struggled with the same currents with equal facility. The transportation of a single heavy gun, was often considered equal to a victory gained; if happily the difficulties of the passage had not so far separated it from its necessary concomitants, the ammunition, as to render it no more than an useless tube of unwieldy iron.

The evils of this state of things pressed heavily on the fortunes of the resolute Scotsman, who now defended William Henry. Though his adversary neglected the hills, he had planted his batteries with judgment on the plain, and caused them to be served with vigour and skill. Against this assault, the besieged could only oppose the imperfect and hasty preparations of a fortress in the wilderness, to whose mounds those extended sheets of water, which stretched into the Canadas, bore no friendly aid, while they opened the way to their more fortunate enemies.

It was on the afternoon of the fifth day of the siege, and the fourth of his own ser-