Eagle of Niagara [antikvár]

CHAPTER NE It was a cold, gray day. The bitter March wind rattled the bare hmbs of the trees. Blowing in ^atic gusts, it slashed tlie men's faces and probed into the folds of their clothing. Above the clearing, slate-gray clouds swept endlessly across the open patch of sky. Occasionally one of the men would hft his head and stare at the clouds, as if looking for the snow that usually came on a northeast wind. David Harper shivered as a gust of wind more violent than most swept across the clearing. Resting his musket in the crook of his arm, he pulled the collar of his Canadian blanket coat higher. The coat was wearing thin. He would need a new one next winter. It would be the kind with a drawstring hood, if the quartermaster could get them. A man could stand a lot of weather if his neck and ears were protected. Dave was used to the long, cold Mohawk VaUey winters, but he would be glad when this one was over. The soldiers in the Continental regiments of Washington's regular army were required to be out in weather that would drive wolves to shelter. Dave remembered the days before he'd enlisted in the Continental hne, when he'd been a member of the Tryon County