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he imagining things? No, there it was again—a faint voice singing in the fog!
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We had a little ship
    and she sailed upon the sea,
And the name of that ship
    was the Golden Vanity . . .
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    The colonel held his breath and listened hard. He began to smile as he heard the voice again:
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And we thought she would be taken
    by the Spanish enemy,
As she sailed upon the lowland,
    lowland low,
Sailed upon the lowland sea!
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    Henry squinted through the gloom. A ghostly line of boats was creeping toward shore. He watched the oars rise and fall, rise and fall, as the convoy drew closer. The lead barge was listing badly, but he could see Will standing in the bow, baling water and singing in a loud tenor voice.
    One by one, the barges scraped up on the pebbly slope. As the weary men collapsed over their oars, William climbed ashore and came toward his brother. His face was haggard and there were dark circles under his eyes. With a big grin, he gave Henry a fancy salute and said, “Ticonderoga Navy, sir—reporting as ordered.”
    At that moment, Colonel Knox had never felt happier.

8
The Colonel Reports
    With the guns safely at Fort George, the next move was to start overland. The pilots who had volunteered for the lake passage were paid, thanked, and sent home. The brothers added a group of men who knew how to handle horses and oxen, and a platoon of soldiers was assigned to the convoy.
    General Schuyler had kept his word: Many carts and sleds had been sent from Albany, and more were on the way. The sleds were made of thick wooden planks, and the wooden runners were reinforced with iron strips. Some colonists also came to the fort to offer their own sturdy wagons.
    One of these was a farmer named Becker who brought his twelve-year-old son, John, with him. John—known as J. P.—had begged for the chance to go with his pa, and he became the youngest member of Colonel Knox’s team. Becker had signed on for the run to Springfield, Massachusetts—a distance of several hundred miles—and he and J. P. were put in charge of a big brass nine-pounder. It was called that because it could fire a cannonball weighing approximately nine pounds. Four strong horses were used to haul this gun on Becker’s wagon. But the heaviest weapons—the eighteen-pounders and twenty-four-pounders—needed the pulling power of eight oxen, yoked in pairs.
    The scene at the lakefront was chaotic, but there was order in the confusion. J. P., wide-eyed, watched in excitement as the men hoisted cannons onto the sleds, rolled carts into line, studied maps, bridled horses, loaded tools and supplies, and hitched oxen to vehicles. Through it all, Henry and Will were everywhere, shouting orders, helping to load, and keeping an eye on their precious cargo.
    It wasn’t until the next day that Henry could sit down and write to General Washington. His quill pen raced over the paper as he explained that the guns had finally reached Fort George. Then he went on:
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It is not easy to conceive the difficulties we had transporting them across the lake, owing to the advanced season of the year and contrary winds; but the danger is now past. Three days ago it was uncertain whether we could have gotten them until next spring but now, thanks be to God, we can go forward. I have had made 42 exceeding strong sleds, and have provided 80 yoke of oxen to drag them as far as Springfield, where I shall get fresh animals to carry them to camp. I expect to move on to Saratoga on Wednesday or Thursday next, trusting that between now and then we shall have a fine fall of snow, which will enable us to proceed further and make the carriage easy. If that shall be the case, I hope in sixteen or seventeen days’ time to be able to present to your Excellency a noble train of artillery
.
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    Henry sealed the note and handed it to a rider who had been standing by. He stepped outside for