Singlehanded , I could not have pursued better tactics , for the red men , convincedconvinceby sudden surprisesurprisethat not less than a regiment of regulars was upon them , turnedturnand fledfleein every direction for their bows , arrows , and rifles .
Although the firefirewas burning up briskly , she was surprisedsurpriseto seeseethat her visitor still wore his hat and coat , standing with his back to her and staringstareout of the window at the falling snowsnowin the yard .
One day he was at this game , and did not know that the master was in the next field ; but he was there , watchingwatchwhat was going on ; over the hedge he jumpedjumpin a snap , and catchingcatchDick by the arm , he gave him such a boxboxon the ear as made him roarroarwith the painpainand surprisesurprise.
CHAPTER I. Mrs. Rachel Lynde is Surprisedsurprise| MRS. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow , fringed with alders and ladies ’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place ; it was reputed to be an intricate , headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods , with dark secrets of pool and cascade ; but by the time it reached Lynde ’s Hollow it was a quiet , well-conducted little stream , for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde ’s door without due regard for decency and decorum ; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window , keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed , from brooks and children up , and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof .
After the first surprisesurpriseof the intelligence had a little abated , a rumor was spreadspreadthrough the entrenched camp , which stretched along the margin of the Hudson , forming a chain of outworks to the body of the fort itself , that a chosen detachment of fifteen hundred men was to depart , with the dawn , for William Henry , the post at the northern extremity of the portage .
Some half hour later I happened to glanceglancecasually across the valley and was much surprisedsurpriseto notenotethree little dots in about the same place I had last seenseemy friend and his two pack animals .