A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

222 WAR AND POLITICS. [1747.— which, says the chronicle, " was reckoned a greatbooty for such beggarly enemies." ^But Massachusetts grew tired of defending landsthat had been adjudged to New Hampshire, and astheseason drew towards an end. Number Four wasleft again to its own keeping. The settlers saw nochoice but to abandon a place which they were toofew to defend, and accordingly withdrew to theolder settlements, after burying such of their effectsas would bear it, and leaving others to their fate.Six men, a dog, and a cat remained to keep the fort.Towards midwinter the human part ofalso withdrew, and thewere left alone.When the authorities ofthe garrisontwo uncongenial quadrupedsMassachusetts saw that aplace so useful to bear the brunt of attack was leftto certain destruction, they repented of their latewithdrawal, and sent Captain Phineas Stevens, withthirty men, to reoccupy it. Stevens, a native ofSudbury, Massachusetts, one of the earliest settlersof Number Four, and one of its chief proprietors,was a bold, intelligent, and determined man, wellfitted for the work before him. He and his bandreached the fort on the twenty-seventh of March,1747, and their arrival gave peculiar pleasure to itstenants, the dog and cat, the former of whom metthem with lively demonstrations of joy. The pair1 Saunderson, History of Charlestown, N. H. 29. Doolittle, Narrativeof ^[ischief done by the Indian Enemy, — a contemporarychronicle.