HISTORY OF VERMONT. 433 



Their sufferings now began to be se\ere, not 

 only from the excessive fatigues they had un- 

 dergone, but from hunger. Their provisions 

 were expended, and they were yet at a distance 

 from any place of relief. Some were lost in the 

 woods, raid others perished at Coos, beiPig un- 

 able to hold out any further.* But Rogers, 

 with the most of his men, persevered amidst ail 

 their sufferings, till they arrived at Number 

 Four, now Chariestown. This enterprise prov- 

 ed extremely dangerous and fatiguing to the 

 men, who had been engaged in it ; but it made 

 a deep impression on the enemy. It carried a- 

 larm and consternation into the heart of Canada, 

 and convinced the Indians that the retaliation of 

 vengeance was now come upon them. 



While Rogers was thus employed in hum- 

 blhig the Indians on the river St. Lawrence, 

 general Amherst was preparing to carry his ar- 

 my against the forts and settlements in Canada. 

 The naval force of the enemy, as yet gave them 

 the command of the lake ; the first business of 

 the English general was, to obtain a superiority 

 there. Captain Loring had for some time been 

 employed to superintend the building of vessels 

 at Ticonderoga. Having obtained information 

 of the situation and force of the enemy at the Isle 

 Aux Noix, Amherst directed Loring to build, 

 with the greatest expedition, a sloop of sixteen 

 guns, and a radien, eighty four feet in length, 

 capable of carrying six large cannon. By the 

 eleventh day of October, these, together with- a 

 briganti«e were finished, victualled and manned i 



* Belknap. Mi. 



