But, with his customary promptitude, Putnam ordered
his men into their single boat, himself taking the helm, and pushed off
just as the savages came within sight of the shore. The disappointed and
infuriated Indians sent a shower of balls after the boatmen, but none
took effect; though the fugitives seemed doomed to certain death by
drowning in the foaming rapids of the river. Calmly taking the helm,
Putnam steered the boat through the roaring rapids, avoiding the
half-hidden rocks and protruding ledges, and, while the Indians looked
on in amazement, in a few seconds brought his charge into smooth water
at the foot of the falls. Throughout all this turmoil and danger, he
maintained his self-possession, his customary placidity of countenance
even; and it is said that after that the Indians looked upon him as more
than human and under the special protection of the Great Spirit.
It was the misfortune of the Provincials to become the sport of fate in
the shape of inefficient commanders from England, who led them, not only
to defeat, but to death by wholesale, in their endeavors to carry out
plans insufficiently matured and schemes which would not have received
the sanction of military experts at all.
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