Portions of
the journey they made upon sledges driven by poor _habitans_ dwelling
in the far-apart villages or solitary farmhouses. At other times they
profited by boats and canoes, propelled up the St. Lawrence by French
peasants, befringed hunters, or friendly red men. Their entertainment
and housing were sometimes from such people as I have mentioned;
sometimes of their own contriving, the woods furnishing game for food,
fagots for fuel, and boughs for roof and bedding.
They encountered no danger from human foes until they were in the
province of New York, and, having left the lakes behind them, were
footing it Southward along the now frozen Hudson. The Indians in
Northern New York had been won to our interest, by Sir John Johnson,
of Johnson Hall, in the Mohawk Valley, and were more than formerly
inclined to vigilance regarding travellers in those lonely regions.
Upon waking suddenly one night when camped in the woods, Philip saw by
the firelight that he was surrounded by a party of silent savages; his
sword and pistol, and Cornelius's rifle, being already in their
possession. The two soldiers were held as prisoners for several days,
and made to accompany their captors upon long, mysterious
peregrinations. At last they were brought before Sir John Johnson, at
one of his forts; and that gentleman, respecting Governor Carleton's
passes, and the fact that Captain Winwood was related by marriage to
the De Lanceys, sent them with a guide to Albany.
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