"Mary A. Turzillo - Ben Cruachan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Turzillo Mary A)

as the dark figure loomed nearer. Duncan'shair stood on end, and he smelled
the bitter, bright odor lightning makes in theair.The apparition stopped and
said: "Farewell, cousin! Since you will na revenge mydeath, I shall see you na
more till Ticonderoga."Duncan fell to his knees on the path, doubled over with
horror and guilt.Finally, he felt for his dirk in its sheath, but he had left
it beside Annie inthe cave.THE NEXT YEAR, Duncan smoothed over his quarrel
with Robert by saying that hehad cast the murderer out where she was sure to
die of cold, and so he was ableto marry Donald's sister Elizabeth. He was
perhaps too quick to forgive himselfthe sin of ill-advised swearing but
reasoned that he had been tricked.When his wife asked why he always wanted to
roam, to go with the soldiers, hesaid only that he feared his death at a place
called Ticonderoga. Since Donaldhad spoken of it, it must be a place nearby,
so he would rove far. Duncan andElizabeth had sons, fine military men, and
Duncan himself became a major in theForty-second Highlanders.Everywhere that
his regiment went, Duncan asked if one had heard this strangename,
Ticonderoga, and no one knew even what land it was in, though some avowedit
must be an Irish or a Scottish village so far set in the mountains that
nonehad heard of it.When Duncan was a man of forty-five, his Majesty sent the
Forty-secondHighlanders to serve under General James Abercromby, to take a
colonialfortification, Fort Carillon, from the French. With Duncan went his
eldest sonand young Albert, the piper whose father had served when Duncan was
young.Duncan was used to cold, and rain, and meager rations, but the colonies
imposeda different kind of hardship. When the Forty-second landed at Lake
George, hisbrogues, stockings, and legs were covered with mud after only a few
paces on thebank. Insects stung him, and in his Black Watch tartan the heat
made his skinitch. Instead of the fine vistas of his homeland, there seemed
only the endlesslake, stinking of mud and shadowed by an impassably thick
forest.The French who held Fort Carillon under Montcalm were known to be few
and poorlyprovisioned, but the French-allied Natives were fierce fighters who
torturedtheir captives. Their weakness, he understood, was whiskey, and
Duncan, like allhis men, carried with him a small flask of Scotch whiskey, a
possible barter forhis life.Duncan had private misgivings about Abercromby,
who was never an enterprisingcommander, and at the moment, he suspected, had
the flux from bad water.Fort Carillon, Duncan understood, was a gateway to
Lake Champlain and the otherfreshwater seas that the French held. Abercromby
did have the imagination torealize that the thick forest was enemy to those
who did not know the land. Amagnificent waterfall was near the site of the
fort, and yet the thunder of itswaters seemed to come from all directions. So
Abercromby determined that a smalladvance force, led by Lord Howe, his
charismatic second in command, should scoutthe land around the falls and the
fort, and should draw up maps for a plan ofbattle.Howe's men stumbled into a
French reconnaissance force and defeated it. ButHowe, who had always been more
popular than Abercromby, was killed, which muchdemoralized the entire
army.Abercromby determined that a smaller force should scout further, and
Duncan wasto lead this group.So at dawn, Duncan and a group of Forty-second
Highlanders, taking with them abagpiper for communication and morale, set out
toward the falls, led by theAmerican colonial scout, Horatio "Polecat"
Spotswood.The troop trudged through deep wood and meadow, Polecat pointing out
landscapefeatures. Near the falls, they encountered a deep ravine."By St.
Andrew, there must be a clearing beyond," Duncan announced, "A goodplace for