Page 16 - A Hero of Ticonderoga

Almost at his words a puff of smoke jetted out from her black side, and, as
it drifted across her deck, it was followed by the loud, sullen roar of the

cannon. In response a smoke cloud drifted away from the Fort, and a
moment later a roar of welcome reinforced the failing echoes. Again and

again the sloop and the Fort exchanged salutes, till the new settlers ceased
to be startled by such thunder as they had never before heard under a
cloudless sky.

"They hain’t nothin’ to do with their powder nowadays, but to fool it away

in sech nonsense," said the Ranger, as the sloop came to anchor in front of
the Fort. "Arter all it’s a better use for it than killin’ folks, erless," he
deliberately excepted, "it might be Injins."