Read Online The Bully Boys by Eric Walters - Free Book Online

all had a sameness to them, and the tips of the tallest were lost in the night sky.
    It would be awful if I couldn’t find the path. I’d have let everybody down and there would be nothing left but to head back across the river . . . back over to Canada.
    I thought about my little piece of Canada: our cabin and the barn, the fields and forest and the stream running through . . . the stream! That was right, there was also a stream just past the entrance to the path, and we’d just crossed over a stream.
    â€œWe need to go back,” I said. “I think we’ve missed it.”
    FitzGibbon raised his hand and the column came to a stop. He turned to the men directly behind him. “First four men, proceed one hundred yards down the way and take up position.”
    They followed his directions.
    â€œAll others, rest and water. And I want those men with trinkets to secure them so you aren’t jingling like a sled ride.”
    The column split in two as men left the road, removed their packs and sat down, resting their backs against the bordering trees.
    â€œDid you hear that noise as we moved?” FitzGibbon asked.
    â€œI heard something, like metal rattling.”
    â€œGood-luck charms, lockets, all manner of trinkets. Everybody has a tale about somebody whose life was saved when he was shot at and the musket ball was stopped by a metal trinket he was wearing.”
    â€œThat’s incredible!”
    â€œIncredible, but in truth all those trinkets have cost more lives than they’ll ever save. Silence is more important than luck when attacking at night. How far back do you think the path is?” FitzGibbon asked.
    â€œNot far. I think it’s just ahead of the stream we crossed.”
    â€œThink or know?”
    â€œThink,” I reluctantly admitted.
    â€œLet’s go back then and try to locate it.”
    I moved as quickly as I could without looking desperate. I didn’t want everybody to know I’d made a mistake until they also knew I’d successfully found the right way. Most of the men had taken out their canteens, I could heard some talking, and a few had grabbed a bite from their rations. It was too dark to make out their faces clearly but I knew all eyes were trained on me as I moved past. The column was long. The sixty men were in pairs but they were well spread out.
    No sooner had I passed the last man than I came to thestream. Anxiously I searched the bush, looking for the opening or the stand of birch trees. Everything always looked so different in the dark. Then, practically right in front of me, I spied the opening. The way the trail angled into the road made it hard to see in the direction we’d been moving but almost impossible to miss coming back this way. My feet moved even faster on the way back to tell the Lieutenant that I’d found it!
    * * *
    SILENTLY OUR force spread out to surround the blockhouse where the supplies were kept. It was a large, wooden structure surrounded by a sizeable log wall, and it reminded me of a small fort. There was a gate at the front, closed now, slots in the walls from which muskets could be fired or the forest observed, and small covered areas on the roof that could conceal guards. There was no telling how many men were on guard or inside.
    Everybody was under orders to remain hidden in the forest unseen and unheard by those who might be watching and listening. I was now glad that FitzGibbon had ordered the men to secure their good-luck charms. The Lieutenant thought he might have enough men to launch an attack, coming at it from three sides, and we were dispersed for just such an offensive. But first he wanted to try something different. He was going to try to trick his way through the gate. If anybody could do it, it was FitzGibbon.
    I lay in the bushes, hiding behind tree and cover, andlooked down the roadway that connected Fort Niagara and Lewiston. Our route had crossed the road half a mile back, and at