There were six wagons, drawn by stout horses, in which they put the spare ammunition and their most valuable possessions.

Everybody but the drivers walked, the women and children in the center of the column, the best of the scouts and skirmishers in the woods on the flanks.

Then at the command of Colden the whole column moved into the forest, but Tayoga, Willet and a half dozen others ran about from house to house, setting them on fire with great torches, making fifty blazes which grew rapidly, because the timbers were now dry, uniting soon into one vast conflagration.
Robert and Colden, from the edge of the forest, watched the destruction of Fort Refuge.

They saw the solid log structures fall in, sending up great masses of sparks as the burning timbers crashed together.

They saw the strong blockhouse go, and then they saw the palisade itself flaming.
Colden turned away with a sigh.
"It's almost like burning your own manor house which you built yourself, and in which you expected to spend the remainder of your life," he said.
"It hurts all the more, too, because it's a sign that we've lost the border." "But we'll come back," said Robert, who had the will to be cheerful.
"Aye, so we will," said Colden, brightening.