12
The musketry shattered the silence, a hundred muskets firing at once with the muzzle flares destroying the night and the clouds of powder-smoke acrid and white.
“Scatter!” Lindsay shouted as men began to fall. “Fire back on my word!”
“Stand!” MacKim ordered his men. He could tell by the muzzle-flares that the French were all on the south side of the river. His men were all on the frozen river, exposed and vulnerable. “Extended order, boys. Move forward slowly and be prepared to support Captain Lindsay.”
The main body of Rangers was confused. Some tried to fire back, others ran to the nearest shore, and some stood still, waiting for coherent orders. Kennedy’s men began to fire, the disciplined volleys a sign that the lieutenant had them in hand.
“We must help them,” Ramsay nearly pl
