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diff --git a/30952.txt b/30952.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b547ce9 --- /dev/null +++ b/30952.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7468 @@ +Project Gutenberg's With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga, by W. Bert Foster + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga + +Author: W. Bert Foster + +Illustrator: F. A. Carter + +Release Date: January 13, 2010 [EBook #30952] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank, D Alexander and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +WITH ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA + +by + +W. BERT FOSTER + +Author of + +"With Washington at Valley Forge" etc + +Illustrated by F. A. Carter + +THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + +PHILADELPHIA + +MCMIV + + + + +Copyright 1903 by The Penn Publishing Company + +With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga + + + + +[Illustration: "FORWARD!" HE SHOUTED] + + + + +CONTENTS + CHAPTER PAGE + I A Boy of the Wilderness 5 + II Enoch Harding Feels Himself a Man 19 + III The Ambush 31 + IV 'Siah Bolderwood's Stratagem 45 + V The Pioneer Home 60 + VI The Stump Burning 76 + VII A Night Attack 94 + VIII The Traitor's Way 107 + IX The Otter Creek Raid 127 + X The Warning 139 + XI An Unequal Battle 160 + XII Backwoods Justice 174 + XIII The Wolf Pack 191 + XIV The Testimony of Crow Wing 208 + XV The Storm Cloud Gathers 220 + XVI The Westminster Massacre 236 + XVII The Cloven Hoof 251 + XVIII "The Cross of Fire" 270 + XIX The Rising of the Clans 284 + XX The Rival Commanders 298 + XXI The Escape of the Spy 313 + XXII The End of Simon Halpen 330 + XXIII The Dawn of the Tenth of May 343 + XXIV The Guns of Old Ti Speak 355 + + + + +WITH ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A BOY OF THE WILDERNESS + + +The forest was still. A calm lay upon its vast extent, from the +green-capped hills in the east to the noble river which, fed by the +streams so quietly meandering through the pleasantly wooded country, +found its way to the sea where the greatest city of the New World was +destined to stand. The clear, bell-like note of a waking bird startled +the morning hush. A doe and her fawn that had couched in a thicket +seemed roused to activity by this early matin and suddenly showered the +short turf with a dewy rain from the bushes which they disturbed as they +leaped away toward the "lick." The gentle creatures first slaked their +thirst at the margin of the creek hard by and then stood a moment with +outstretched nostrils, snuffing the wind before tasting the salt +impregnated earth trampled as hard as adamant by a thousand hoofs. The +fawn dropped its muzzle quickly; but the mother, not so well assured, +snuffed again and yet again. + +In the wilderness, before the white man came, there were to be found +paths made by the wild folk going to and from their watering places and +feeding grounds, and paths made by the red hunter and warrior. Although +hundreds of deer traveled to this lick yearly, they had not originally +made the trail. It was an ancient Indian runaway, for the creek was +fordable near this point. The tribesmen had used it for generations +until it was worn almost knee-deep in the forest mould, but wide enough +only to be traveled in single file. Along this ancient trail, and +approaching the lick with infinite caution, came a boy of thirteen, +bearing a heavy rifle. + +Although so young, Enoch Harding was well built, and the play of his +hardened muscles was easily observed under his tight-fitting, homespun +garments. The circumstances of border life in the eighteenth century +molded hardy men and sturdy boys. His face was as brown as a berry and +his eyes clear and frankly open. The brown hair curled tightly above his +perspiring brow, from which his old otter-skin cap was thrust back. His +coming to the bank of the wide stream was attended with all the care and +silent observation of an Indian on the trail. He set his feet so firmly +and with such precision that not even the rustle of a leaf or the +crackling of a twig would have warned the sharpest ear of his approach. +The wind was in his favor, too, blowing from the creek toward him. The +doe, which he could not yet see but the patter of whose light hoofs he +had heard as she trotted with her fawn to the drinking place, could not +possibly have discovered his presence; yet she continued to raise her +muzzle at intervals and snuff the wind suspiciously. + +The dark aisles of the forest, as yet unillumined by the sun whose +crimson banners would soon be flung above the mountain-tops, seemed +deserted. In the distance the birds were beginning their morning song; +but here the shadow of the mountains lay heavy upon wood and stream and +the feathered choristers awoke more slowly. The two deer at the lick and +the boy who now, from behind the massive bole of a tree, surveyed them, +seemed the only living objects within view. + +Enoch raised his heavy rifle, resting the barrel against the tree trunk, +and drew bead at the doe's side. He was chancing a long shot, rather +than taking the risk of approaching any nearer to the animals. He had +seen that the doe was suspicious and she might be off in a flash into +the thicker forest beyond unless he fired at once. Had he been more +experienced he would have wondered what had made the creature +suspicious, his own approach to the lick being quite evidently +undiscovered. But he thought only of getting a perfect sight and that +the larder at home was empty. And this last fact was sufficient to make +the boy's aim certain, his principal care being to waste no powder and +to bring down his game with as little loss of time as might be. + +The next moment the heavy muzzle-loading gun roared and the buckshot +sped on its mission. The mother deer gave a convulsive spring forward, +thus warning the poor fawn, which disappeared in the brush like a flash +of brown light. The doe dropped in a heap upon the sward and Enoch, +flushed with success, ran forward to view his prize. In so doing, +however, the boy forgot the first rule of the border ranger and hunter. +He did not reload his weapon. + +Stumbling over the widely spread roots of the great tree behind which he +had hidden, he reached the opening in the forest where the tragedy had +been enacted, and would have been on his knees beside the dead deer in +another instant had not an appalling sound stayed him. A scream, the +like of which once heard is never to be forgotten, thrilled him to the +marrow. He started back, casting his glance upward. There was a rustling +in the thick branches of the tree beneath which the doe had fallen. +Again the maddened scream rang out and a tawny body flashed from +concealment in the foliage. + +"A catamount!" Enoch shouted, and seeing the creature fairly over his +head in its flight through the air, he leaped away toward the creek, his +feet winged with fear. Of all the wild creatures of the Northern +wilderness this huge cat was most to be avoided. It would not hesitate +to attack man when hungry, and maddened and disappointed as this one +was, its charge could not be stayed. At the instant when the beast was +prepared to leap upon either the doe or her fawn, Enoch's shot had laid +the one low and frightened the other away. His appearance upon the scene +attracted the attention of the cat and had given it a new object of +attack. Possibly the creature did not even notice the fall of the deer, +being now bent upon vengeance for the loss of its prey, for which it had +doubtless searched unsuccessfully all the night through. + +The young hunter was in a desperate situation. His gun was empty and the +prospect of an encounter with the catamount would have quenched the +courage of the bravest. And to run from it was still more foolish, yet +this was the first thought which inspired him. The creek was beyond and +although the ford was some rods above the deer-lick, he thought to cast +himself into the stream and thus escape his enemy. The beast, possessing +that well-known trait of the feline tribe which causes it to shrink from +water, might not follow him into the creek. + +A long log, the end of which had caught upon the bank, swung its length +into the stream, forming a boom against which light drift-stuff had +gathered; the swift current foamed about the timber as though vexed at +this delay to its progress. Upon the tree Enoch leaped and ran to the +further extremity. His feet, shod in home-made moccasins of deer-hide, +did not slip on this insecure footing; but his weight on the stranded +log set it in motion. The timber began to swing off from the shore and +one terrified glance about him assured the boy that he was at a most +deep and dangerous part of the stream. + +Although so shallow above at the ford, the bed of the creek directly +below was of rock instead of gravel, and ragged boulders thrust +themselves up from the depths, causing many whirlpools which dimpled the +surface of the water. About the boulders the current tore, the brown +froth from the angry jaws of rock dancing lightly away upon the waves. +Although even with his clothing on he might have swum in a quiet pool, +to do so here would be almost impossible. The boy was between two +perils! + +He turned about in horror to escape the flood, and was in time to see +the huge cat gain the end of the log in a single bound as it was torn +from the shore by the current. There the beast crouched, less than +twenty feet away, lashing its tail and snarling menace at the victim of +its wrath. The situation was paralyzing. As for loading his rifle now, +the boy had not the strength to do it. The fascination of the beast's +blazing eyes held him motionless, like a bird charmed by the unwinking +gaze of a black snake. + +And Enoch Harding knew, if he knew anything, that the beast would not +give him time to reload the clumsy gun. At his first movement it would +spring. And if he leaped into the water, it might follow him, +considering its present savage mood. He beheld its muscles, which +slipped so easily under the tawny skin, knotting themselves for a +spring. The forelegs were drawn up under the breast the curved, +sabre-sharp claws scratching the bark on the floating timber. In another +instant the fatal leap would be made. + +Never had the boy been in such danger. He did not utterly lose his +presence of mind; but he was helpless. What chance had he with an empty +gun before the savage brute? He seized the barrel in both hands and +raised the weapon above his head. It was too heavy for him to swing with +any ease, and being so would fall but lightly on the creature, did he +succeed in reaching it at all. He could not hope to stun the cat at a +single blow. And beside, the tree, rocking now like a water-logged +canoe, made his footing more and more insecure. In a moment it would be +among the boulders and at the first collision be overturned. + +But he could not drag his eyes from those of the catamount. With a +fierce snarl which ended in a thrilling scream, the brute cast itself +into the air! At the moment it rose, exposing its lighter colored breast +to view, a gun-shot shattered the silence of river and forest. The +spring of the cat was not stayed, but its yell again changed--this time +to a note of agony. + +"Jump, lad, jump!" shouted a voice and Enoch, as though awaking from a +dream, obeyed the command. He leaped sideways, and landed upon a +slippery rock, falling to his knees, yet securing a hand-hold upon a +protuberance. Nor did he lose hold of his gun with the other hand. + +The body of the catamount landed just where he had stood; but then +rolled off the log and disappeared in the rushing stream, while the +timber itself crashed instantly into one of the larger boulders. Enoch +staggered to his feet, his hand bleeding and also his knee, where the +stocking had been torn away by the rock. The log swung broadside to the +current again, and seeing his chance, the boy ran along its length and +leaped from its end into comparatively shallow water under the bank. + +His rescuer was at hand and dragged him, panting and exhausted, to the +shore, where he fell weakly on the turf, unable for a moment to utter a +word. The man who leaned over him was lean, as dark as an Indian, and in +a day when smoothly shaven features were the rule, his face was marked +by a tangled growth of iron-gray beard. His hair hung to the fringed +collar of his deerskin shirt, and straggled over his low brow in +careless locks, instead of being tightly drawn back and fastened in a +queue; and out of this wilderness of hair and beard looked two eyes as +sharp as the hawk's. + +He was so tall that there was a slight stoop to his shoulders as though, +when he walked, he feared to collide with the branches of the trees +under which he passed. Erect, he must have lacked but a few inches of +seven feet and, possessing not an ounce of superfluous flesh on his big +bones, his appearance was not impressive. The deerskin hunting shirt, +worked in a curious pattern on the breast with red and blue porcupine +quills, fitted him tightly, as did his linsey-woolsey breeches; and his +thin shanks were covered with gray hose darned clumsily in more than one +place. He would have been selected at first sight as a wood-ranger and +hunter, and carried his long rifle with more grace than he ever held +plough or wielded reaping-hook. + +Indeed, Josiah Bolderwood was one of that strange class of white men so +frequently found during the pioneer era of our Eastern country. He +seemed to have been born, as he often said himself, with a gun in his +hands. His mother, lying on her couch behind the double wall of a +blockhouse in the Maine wilderness, loaded spare guns for her husband +and his comrades while they beat off the yelling redskins, when Josiah +was but a few days old. He was a ranger and trapper from the beginning. +He had slept under the canopy of the forest more often than in a bed and +beneath a roof made by men's hands. From early youth he had hunted all +through the northern wilderness, and had been no more able to tie +himself to a farm, and earn his bread by tilling the soil, than an +Indian. Indeed, he was more of an Indian than a white man in habits, +tastes, and feelings; he lacked only that marvelous appreciation of +signs and sounds in the forest, in which the white can never hope to +equal the red man. + +"Lad, that was a near chance for you!" he said, when he saw that Enoch +was practically unhurt. "The Almighty surely brought me to this lick +jest right. I knowed you was here when I heard the shot; but as your +marm said you'd gone for a deer, I didn't s'pose you'd be huntin' for +catamounts, too! Howsomever, somethin' tol' me ter run when I heard your +gun, an' run I did." + +"I didn't shoot at the wild-cat, 'Siah," said the boy, getting upon his +feet. "See yonder; there's the doe I knocked over. But the critter was +after her, too, and it madded him when I fired, I s'pose." + +"And ye didn't git your gun loaded again!" exclaimed Bolderwood. + +His young friend blushed with shame. "I--I didn't think. I ran over to +look at the doe, and the critter jumped at me outer the tree. Then I got +on the log and he follered me----" + +"Jonas Harding's boy'd oughter known better than that," declared the old +ranger, with some vexation. + +"I know it, 'Siah. Poor father told me 'nough times never to move outer +my tracks till I had loaded again. An' I reckon this'll be a lesson for +me. I--I ain't got over it yet." + +"Wal," said Bolderwood, "while you git yer breath, Nuck, I'll flay that +critter and hang her up. I'm in somethin' of a hurry this mornin'; but +as the widder's needin' the meat, we won't leave the carcass to the +varmints." + +"You've been to my house, 'Siah?" cried Enoch, following him across the +little glade. + +"Yes. Jest stopped there on my way down from Manchester. That's how I +knew you was over here hunting." + +"But if you're in a hurry, leave me to do that," said the boy. "I'm all +right now." + +"You're in as big a hurry as I be, Nuck," returned the ranger, with a +grim smile. "I'm going to take you with me over to Mr. James +Breckenridge's. Ev'ry gun we kin git may count to-day, lad." + +"Did mother say I could go, 'Siah?" cried the youngster, with undoubted +satisfaction in his voice. "You're the best man that I know to get her +to say 'yes'!" + +Bolderwood looked up from his work with much gravity. "This ain't no +funnin' we're goin' on, Nuck. It's serious business. You kin shoot +straight, an' that's why I begged for ye. This may be the most turrible +day you ever seen, my lad, for the day on which a man or boy sees +bloodshed for the fust time, is a mem'ry that he takes with him to the +grave." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ENOCH HARDING FEELS HIMSELF A MAN + + +Although Enoch Harding had not grasped the serious nature of the matter +which the ranger's words suggested, there was something he had realized, +however, and this thought sent the blood coursing through his veins with +more than wonted vigor and his eyes sparkled. He was a man. He was to +play a man's part on this day and the neighbors--even the old ranger who +had stood his friend on so many occasions already--recognized him as the +head of the family. + +Bolderwood saw this thought expressed in his face and without desiring +to "take him down" and humble his pride, wished to show him the serious +side of the situation. To this end he spoke upon another subject, +beginning: "D'ye remember where we be, Nuck? 'Member this place? Seems +strange that you sh'd have such a caper here with that catamount after +what happened only last spring, doesn't it?" He glanced keenly at young +Harding and saw that his words had at once the desired effect. Enoch +stood up, the skinning-knife in his hand, and looked over the little +glade. In a moment his brown eyes filled with tears, which rolled +unchastened down his smooth cheeks. + +"Aye, Nuck, a sorry day for you an' yourn when Jonas Harding met his +death here. And a sorry day was it for me, too, lad. I loved him like a +brother. He an' I, Nuck, trapped this neck of woods together before the +settlement was started. We knew how rich the land was and naught but the +wars with the redskins an' them French kept us from comin' here long +before the Robinsons. Jonas wouldn't come 'less it was safe to bring +your mother an' you--an' he was right. There's little good in a man's +roamin' the world without a wife an' fireside ter tie to. I was sayin' +the same to neighbor Allen last week, an' he agreed--though he's wuss +off than me, for he has a family back in Litchfield an' is under anxiety +all the time to bring them here, if the Yorkers but leave us in peace. +As for me--well, a tough old knot like me ain't fit to marry an' settle +down. I'm wuss nor an Injin." + +It is doubtful if the boy heard half this monologue. He stood with +thoughtful mien and his eyes were still wet when Bolderwood's words +finally aroused him. "Do you know, Nuck, there's many a time I stop at +this ford and think of your father's death? There's things about it I'll +never understand, I reckon." + +Enoch Harding started and flashed a quick glance at his friend. "What +things?" he asked. + +"Well, lad, mainly that Jonas Harding, who was as quick on the trail and +as good a woodsman as myself, should be worsted by a mad buck; it seems +downright impossible, Nuck." + +"I know. But there could be no mistake about it, 'Siah. There were the +hoof-marks--and there was no bullet wound on the body, only those gashes +made by the critter's horns. Simon Halpen----" + +Bolderwood raised his hand quickly. "Nay, lad! don't utter evil even +about that Yorker. We all know he was anigh here when your father died. +He was seen at Bennington the night before, and later crossed James +Breckenridge's farm on his way to Albany. Black enemy as he is to you +and yourn, there's naught to be gained by accusing him of Jonas' death. +It would be impossible. There was not, as you say, a bullet wound upon +your father's body. There was not a mark of man's footstep near the lick +here but your father's own. How else, then, could he have been killed +but by the charge of the buck?" + +"You say yourself that father was far too sharp to so be taken by +surprise," muttered the boy. + +"Aye--that is so. But the facts are there, lad. I s'arched the ground +over--I headed the band of scouts who found him--remember that! Nobody +had been near the lick but Jonas. There wasn't a footmark for rods +around. Even an Injin couldn't have got near enough to strike Jonas down +with his gun-butt----" + +"You believe that wound on his head, then, was made by no deer's +antler?" exclaimed Enoch, eagerly. + +"Tut, tut! You jump too quick," said Bolderwood, turning his face away. +"That's never well. Allus look b'fore ye leap, Nuck. My 'pinion be that +your father struck his head on a stone in falling----" + +"Where is there a stone here?" demanded the boy, with a speaking gesture +of his disengaged hand. "I saw that deep wound in father's skull. I +never believed a buck did that." + +"And yet there was naught but the prints of the buck's hoofs in the soil +here--be sure of that. The ground was trampled all about as though the +fight had been desp'rate--as indeed it must have been." + +"But that blow on the head?" reiterated Enoch. + +"Ah, lad, I can't understand that. The wound certainly was mainly like a +blow from a gun-stock," admitted Bolderwood. + +"Then Simon Halpen compassed his death--I am sure of it!" cried the boy. +"You well know how he hated father. Halpen would never forget the +beech-sealing he got last fall. He threatened to be terribly revenged on +us; and Bryce and I heard him threaten father, too, when he fought him +upon the crick bank and father tossed the Yorker into the middle of the +stream." + +Bolderwood chuckled. "Simon as well might tackle Ethan Allen himself as +to have wrastled with Jonas," he said.... "But we must hurry, lad. We +have work--and perhaps serious work--before us this day. It may be the +battle of our lives; we may l'arn to-day whether we are to be free +people here in Bennington, or are to be driven out like sheep at the +command of a flunkey under a royal person who lives so far across the +sea that he knows naught of, nor cares naught for us." + +"You talk desp'rately against the King, Mr. Bolderwood!" exclaimed +Enoch, looking askance at his companion. + +"Nay--what is the King to me?" demanded the ranger, in disgust. "He +would be lost in these woods, I warrant. We're free people over here; +why should we bother our heads about kings and parliament? They are no +good to us." + +"You talk more boldly than Mr. Ethan Allen," said the boy. "He was at +our house once to talk with father. Father said he was a master bold man +and feared neither the King nor the people." + +"And no man need fear either if he fear God," declared the ranger, +simply. "We are only seeing the beginnings of great trouble, Nuck. We +may do battle to Yorkers now; perhaps we shall one day have to fight the +King's men for our farms and housel-stuff. The Governor of New York is a +powerful man and is friendly to men high in the King's councils, they +say. This Sheriff Ten Eyck may bring real soldiers against us some day." + +"You don't believe that, 'Siah?" cried the boy. + +"Indeed and I do, lad," returned the ranger, rising now with the carcass +of the doe flayed and ready for hanging up. + +"But we'll fight for our lands!" cried Enoch. "My father fought Simon +Halpen for our farm. I'll fight him, too, if he comes here and tries to +take it, now father is dead." + +"Mayhap this day's work will settle it for all time, Nuck," said the +ranger, hopefully. "But do you shin up that sapling yonder, and bend it +down. We wanter hang this carcass where no varmit--not even a +catamount--can git it." + +The boy did as he was bade and soon the fruit of Enoch Harding's early +morning adventure was hanging from the top of a young tree, too small to +be climbed by any wild-cat and far enough from the ground to be out of +reach of the wolves and foxes. "Now we'll git right out o' here, lad," +Bolderwood said, picking up his rifle and starting for the ford. "We've +got to hurry," and Enoch, nothing loath, followed him across the creek +and into the forest on the other bank. + +"Do you r'ally think there'll be fightin', Master Bolderwood?" he asked. + +"I hope God'll forbid that," responded the ranger, with due reverence. +"But if the Yorkers expect ter walk in an' take our farms the way this +sheriff wants ter take Master Breckenridge's, we'll show 'em diff'rent!" +He increased his stride and Enoch had such difficulty in keeping up with +his long-legged companion that he had no breath for rejoinder and they +went on in silence. + +The controversy between the New York colony and the settlers of the +Hampshire Grants who had bought their farms of Governor Benning +Wentworth, of New Hampshire, was a very important incident of the +pre-Revolutionary period. The not always bloodless battles over the +Disputed Ground arose from the claim of New York that the old patent of +King Charles to the Duke of York, giving to him all the territory lying +between the Connecticut River on the east and Delaware Bay on the west, +was still valid north of the Massachusetts line. + +In 1740 King George II had declared "that the northern boundary of +Massachusetts be a similar curved line, pursuing the course of the +Merrimac River at three miles distant on the north side thereof, +beginning at the Atlantic Ocean and ending at a point due north of a +place called Pawtucket Falls, and by a straight line from thence due +west till it meets with his Majesty's other governments." Nine years +later Governor Wentworth made the claim that, because of this +established boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the +latter's western boundary was the same as Massachusetts'--a line +parallel with and twenty miles from the Hudson River--and he informed +Governor Clinton, of New York, that he should grant lands to settlers as +far west as this twenty-mile line. Therewith he granted to William +Williams and sixty-one others the township of Bennington (named in his +honor) and it was surveyed in October of that same year. But the +outbreak of the French and Indian troubles made the occupation of this +exposed territory impossible until 1761, when there came into the rich +and fertile country lying about what is now the town of Bennington, +several families of settlers from Hardwick, Mass., in all numbering +about twenty souls. + +But there had been an earlier survey of the territory along Walloomscoik +Creek under the old Dutch patent and in 1765 Captain Campbell, under +instructions from the New York colony, attempted to resurvey this old +grant. He came to the land of Samuel Robinson who, with his neighbors, +drove the Yorkers off. For this Robinson and two others were carried to +Albany where they were confined in the jail for some weeks and afterward +fined for "rioting." At once the settlers, who had increased greatly +since '61, saw that they must present their case before the King if they +would have justice rendered them; so Captain Robinson went to England to +represent their side of the matter. Unfortunately he died there before +completing his work. + +On the part of the governors of New Hampshire and New York it was merely +a land speculation, and both officials were after the fees accruing from +granting the lands; whereas the settlers who had gone upon the farms, +and established their families and risked their little all in the +undertaking, bore the brunt of the fight. The speculators and the men +they desired to place on the farms of the New Hampshire grantees, +hovered along the Twenty-Mile Line, and occasionally made sorties upon +the more unprotected farmers, despite the fact that the King had +instructed the Governor of New York to make no further grants until the +rights of the controversy should be plainly established. This settled +determination of the New York authorities to drive them out convinced +the men of the Grants that they must combine to defend their homes and +when, early in July, 1771, news came from Albany that Sheriff Ten Eyck +with a large party of armed men was intending to march to James +Breckenridge's farm and seize it in the name of the New York government, +the people of Bennington in town-meeting assembled determined to defend +their townsman's rights. + +Sheriff Ten Eyck started from Albany on the 18th of July with more than +300 men and at once the settlers began to gather near the threatened +farmstead. 'Siah Bolderwood having no farm of his own, was sent through +the country raising men and guns for the defense of the Breckenridge +place. On his way back he had stopped for Enoch Harding and learning +that the boy had gone hunting before daybreak, the ranger followed him, +arriving at the deer-lick in time to render important assistance in the +dramatic scene just pictured. After crossing the creek at the spot where +the boy's father had met his frightful and mysterious death a few months +before, the two volunteers, while still the day was new, reached the +place of the settlers' gathering. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE AMBUSH + + +The house of James Breckenridge was built at the foot of a slight ridge +of land running east and west, which ridge was heavily wooded. It was +only a mile from the Twenty-Mile Line and therefore particularly open to +attack by the New York authorities. Once before had an attempt been made +by the grasping land speculators of the sister colony to oust its +rightful owner, but at that time naught but a wordy controversy had +ensued, whereas the present attack bade fair to be more serious. +Breckenridge had sent his family to the settlement in expectation of +this trouble, while he and his neighbors made ready to meet the sheriff +and his army. Some of the Bennington men had arrived at the farm the +evening before when news went forth that the invaders were only seven +miles away, at Sancock. But the greater number of the defenders came, as +did 'Siah Bolderwood and young Enoch Harding, soon after sun-up. + +This gathering of Grants men was a memorable one. Heretofore, the +clashes with the Yorkers had been little more than skirmishes in which +half a dozen or a dozen men on both sides had taken part. Ethan Allen, +Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and others of the more venturesome spirits, +had seized some of the land-grabbers and their tools, and delivered upon +their bared backs more strokes of "the twigs of the wilderness," as +Allen called the blue beech rods, than the unhappy Yorkers thus treated +would forget in many a day. + +Ethan Allen was not as long in the settlement as many of the other men +about him; but he was a born leader, and entering heart and soul into +the cause of the Grants was soon acknowledged the most fiery spirit +among the settlers. He was born in Litchfield, Conn., January 10, 1737, +and probably came to the Hampshire Grants some time in '69. Although but +thirty-four years old at this time he carried his point in most +arguments regarding the well-being of the settlers, and the Green +Mountain boys, as his followers came to be called, fairly worshipped +him. He was singularly handsome, with ruddy face, a ready wit, bold, +unpolished, brave and almost a giant in size, for though not so tall as +Seth Warner he was a much heavier and broader man. + +With this company of armed men, too, was Remember Baker and his +flint-lock musket, which seldom left his side waking or sleeping. Baker +was the best shot on the northern border and performed feats of +marksmanship with this musket that could scarce be equaled by any of our +famous marksmen to-day with their improved weapons. Like the stories +told of Robin Hood and his cloth-yard shafts, Baker could split a wand +with a bullet and always filed the flint on his musket to a sharp point. + +Other men there were in this early morning assembly destined to be heard +from later in the affairs of the struggling community, but none so +filled young Enoch Harding's eye as did these two. Remember Baker lived +not far from the Harding farm and Enoch often went there to visit young +Robert Baker, or had Robert to stay all night with him at his home. But +Enoch's closest boy friend was James Breckenridge's nephew, Lot, who was +two years young Harding's senior and bore arms on this morning with the +older youths and men. At once when the two spied each other they found +opportunity to step aside and hold such confidences as boys are wont. +Yet they were so excited by the prospect of the forthcoming battle with +the Yorkers that even Nuck's adventure with the catamount was lightly +passed over. + +Meanwhile the settlers were divided into several bands, each captained +by an efficient officer who, as 'Siah Bolderwood expressed it, "had +snuffed powder." Bolderwood himself was given command of the larger +number and arranged his men along the top of the ridge behind the house, +where they would be concealed by the brush but could draw bead upon any +person passing along the road or approaching the farmhouse. One hundred +and twenty under a second leader were hidden beside the road while +eighteen and an officer were stationed inside the house itself. + +These arrangements had scarce been made when a figure was descried +approaching at top speed. It was a messenger to warn the settlers of the +coming of the enemy. "Run down to the house, Nuck," commanded 'Siah, +"and get the news for me. Keep your heads down, lads! Let them Yorkers +when they come, think there ain't nobody to home!" + +Enoch crept through the brush and descended the slope, appearing before +the house just as the runner reached it. Coming so suddenly from behind +the dwelling Enoch startled the newcomer, who sprang back and placed his +hand on the hunting knife at his belt. Then, with a contemptuous grunt, +the messenger passed Enoch by and lifted the latch-string which had been +left hanging out. Enoch followed him into the Breckenridge house. + +The runner was a tall Indian lad with a keen face and coal-black eyes +and hair. Enoch knew him, for his people had camped for several years +near the Harding place. But Jonas Harding had had that contempt for the +red race which characterized many of the pioneer people and was the +foundation for more than half the trouble between the whites and reds; +and he had often expressed this contempt before young Crow Wing, who was +a chief's son although his tribe was scattered and decimated by disease. +Crow Wing had hated Enoch's father for his taunts and unkind words, and +now that the elder Harding was dead the young Indian considered his son +cast in the same mould and worthy of the same hatred which he had borne +Jonas. Naturally Enoch would have shared his parent's contempt for the +Indians; but 'Siah Bolderwood, although he had camped, hunted and fought +with Enoch's father for so many years, did not share the latter's +opinion of the Indian character, and from him Enoch had imbibed many +ideas of late which changed his opinion of the red men. There was a +time, however, when the white boy had ridiculed Crow Wing and the latter +had not forgotten. + +Enoch watched him now with admiration. The young brave had run for +several miles, having been sent out toward Sancock by one of the +settlers for whom he sometimes worked, but he breathed as easily as +though he had walked instead of run. When one of the men in the +Breckenridge kitchen spoke to him he answered in a perfectly even voice +which showed no tremor of fatigue. + +"Him sheriff march now," he said. "Mebbe t'ink um t'ree mile off." + +"Where did you leave them?" asked the man in command of the house. The +Indian youth told him. "And how many are there, Crow Wing?" asked +another. + +"Many--many!" cried the Indian, his eyes flashing. He held up both hands +and spread all his ten fingers rapidly seven times. "Seventy!" cried one +of the white men. "He means seven hundred," declared the leader. "That +so, Crow Wing, eh?" + +The Indian nodded. "Many white men--many guns," he said. + +"It's not true," growled one man. "You can't believe anything an Injin +says. Where would the New York sheriff get seven hundred men?" + +Crow Wing's eyes flashed and he drew himself up proudly. "Me no lie--me +speak true. Injin not two-tongue like white man!" he declared, with +scorn, and turning his back on his traducer, stalked out of the house. + +The settlers, however, paid little attention to his departure. Enoch +scuttled back to the ridge where 'Siah was waiting to hear the news. +There he lay down beside Lot Breckenridge and the two boys talked +earnestly as the men about them smoked or chatted while waiting for the +coming of the Yorkers. Seven hundred seemed a great number to oppose. +The odds would be more than two to one. Despite the ambush which had +been so carefully laid for them, the sheriff and his men might fight as +desperately as the settlers themselves. + +"Tell ye what!" whispered Lot to Enoch, "I ain't fixin' to git shot. +Marm didn't want Uncle Jim to let me come, but he said ev'ry gun'd count +this mornin', so she 'lowed I'd hafter. But she says if I git shot +she'll larrup me well." + +Enoch chuckled. Although Lot was his senior he was more of a child than +young Harding. The experiences of the last few months had aged Enoch a +good deal. "My mother won't whip me if I git shot; but I mustn't run +into danger, for she wouldn't know what to do without me," he said, +proudly. "Bryce ain't much use yet, you know." + +"Zuckers!" exclaimed Lot, "I wisht my marm was like yourn. I ain't got +no father neither; but Uncle Jim don't let me do nothin', an' marm's +allus wearin' out a beech twig on me." + +"Guess you do somethin' for it," said Enoch, wisely. + +"She'd do it jest th' same if I didn't," declared Lot, yet with perfect +good-nature, as though the Widow Breckenridge's vigorous applications of +the beech wand was a part of existence not to be escaped. "Gran'pap says +I might's well be hung for an ole sheep as a lamb, so in course I do +somethin' for it--mostly." + +"If the Yorkers fight we'll hafter stay right here and shoot like the +men," said Nuck, reflectively. "It'll be like the Injin fights my father +and 'Siah were in. I s'pose we'll take trees, an' scatter out so't the +Yorkers can't git up around us here----" + +"An' we'll raise the warwhoop an' shoot jest as fast as we kin!" +exclaimed Lot, excitedly. "Crow Wing taught me the warwhoop last year. +An' I know how to scalp, too." + +"Oh, I wouldn't do that!" exclaimed Enoch, in horror. + +"Umph! Yorkers ain't no better'n Injins, an' I'd scalp an Injin," +declared Lot, blood-thirstily. + +"I wouldn't. My father never did that, an' he was in the war. He said +that was why the Injins warn't no better'n brute-beasts, an' didn't have +no souls--'cause they scalped their enemies." + +"Be still there, you youngsters!" growled 'Siah, coming down the line. +"If you want to be men, l'arn to keep yer tongues quiet. Voices carry +far on a day like this. What'd they say down ter the house, Nuck, 'bout +the signal?" + +"When they want help, or want us to sail into 'em, they're goin' to +raise a red flag through the chimbley," replied the boy. + +"Wal, I'm hopin' they won't fight," said the ranger, squinting along the +road below the ridge. + +"Oh, I wanter see a fight--zuckers, I do!" exclaimed Lot. + +"Be still, you bloodthirsty young savage!" commanded 'Siah. "You wanter +shoot down men of your own color, do ye? Beech-sealin' an' duckin' is +all right; but it's an awful thing to draw bead on another white man, as +ye'll l'arn some day." + +"But you fought the Frenchmen with the Injins," declared Lot. + +"Huh! Them's only half-bred. Frenchmen ain't no more'n savages," said +'Siah, gloomily. + +An hour passed--a long, long time to the excited boys. Then, far down +the winding road quite a piece of which they could observe from the +summit of the wooded ridge, was seen the sudden glint of sunlight on +metal. "They're coming!" the message went round and the settlers in +ambush crouched more closely behind their screens and even the hearts of +old Indian fighters beat faster at the nearing prospect of an +engagement. James Breckenridge, Ethan Allen, and several others advanced +slowly from the direction of the house to the bridge across which the +Yorkers must pass. Sheriff Ten Eyck spurred forward with his personal +staff to meet them. With him came the infamous John Munro who, as a +justice of the peace under commission from New York, was such a thorn in +the flesh of the settlers. The sheriff was a very pompous Dutchman who +believed without question in the validity of New York's jurisdiction +over the Grants, and who, despite his bombastic manner, was personally +no coward. + +"Master Breckenridge," he said to the man whom he had come to evict from +his home, "we have heard that you and your neighbors are armed to oppose +the authority vested in me by His Most Gracious Majesty's colony of New +York. If there be blood shed this day, it will be upon your head, for I +here command you to leave this neighborhood and give over the possession +of this land to its rightful owners." + +[Illustration: "I COMMAND YOU TO LEAVE THIS NEIGHBORHOOD"] + +"I cannot do that, Master Sheriff," said Breckenridge, quietly. "As for +blood being upon my head for this day's work, you can see that I am +unarmed," and he spread his hands widely. "Besides, I have nothing to do +with this grant at the present time. The township of Bennington has +taken the farm upon its own hands, and it will oppose your entrance with +armed resistance. I have nothing to do with it." + +"What is the township of Bennington?" demanded Ten Eyck. "This land +belongs to the colony of New York under the crown. There is no town of +Bennington. What legal rights have a parcel of squatters to this +territory?" + +Then Allen spoke. "The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the +hills, Sir Sheriff. You on the other side of the Twenty-Mile Line may +acknowledge the Governor of New York as your master; we on this side are +a free people. We have bought our lands from the government to which +they were granted by the King, and you shall not drive us from them!" + +The colloquy ended and the settlers went back toward the house. After +the main body of his army came up, and their numbers seemed quite as +formidable as Crow Wing had reported, the sheriff pressed forward across +the bridge and approached the Breckenridge dwelling. Every settler had +disappeared by now and even those inside the house were still. Neither +the sheriff nor his men suspected that quite three hundred guns were +turned upon them and that, at the first fire, the carnage would be +terrible. + +"Open in the name of the law!" exclaimed Ten Eyck, thundering at the +stout oak door of the house. "I demand admittance and that all within +come peaceably forth. Open, or I shall break down the door!" + +There was silence for a moment, and then a voice said clearly from +within: "Attempt it and you are a dead man!" + +The reply angered the doughty sheriff. He was being flouted and the +majesty of the law scorned. That was more than he could quietly bear. +"Come out and deliver up your arms in the name o' the King!" he cried. +"Ye rebels! I'll take the last of ye to Albany jail if ye do not +surrender!" + +At this a chorus of derisive groans issued from behind the barred door +and shutters, and these sounds were echoed by other groans from the men +in ambush, until the very forest itself seemed deriding the Yorkers. The +knowledge that he and his men had fallen into a trap did not balk the +sheriff; his rage rose to white heat and calling for an axe he advanced +to the attack. The moment was freighted with peril. If the Yorkers +attacked the house a withering fire would spring from the guns in the +bushes and on the ridge and blood would flow in plenty in that +heretofore peaceful vale of the northern forest. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +'SIAH BOLDERWOOD'S STRATAGEM + + +Sheriff Ten Eyck was a man of determination and although he had before +tested the mettle of the Grants men, he felt a burden of confidence now +with this army behind him. The ridicule of the party in ambush stung his +pride, and although warned that a considerable number of settlers were +hidden in the wood, he was not disposed to temporize. But the men who +had accompanied him on his nefarious mission were far differently +impressed by the situation. They had followed the doughty sheriff in the +hope of plunder, it is true; if the settlers of the Hampshire Grants +were to be driven incontinently from their homes as Ten Eyck and the +Governor declared, somebody must benefit by the circumstance, and the +sheriff's men hoped to be of the benefited party. But this armed +opposition was disheartening. When the chorus of groans rose from the +surrounding forest, his men as well as himself, knew that they had +fallen into ambush, and this thought troubled the Yorkers greatly. + +From the top of the ridge 'Siah Bolderwood had heard much of the +controversy at the door of the Breckenridge house and as the really +serious moment approached the old ranger was blessed with a sudden +inspiration. He sprang forward and seizing Enoch Harding by the collar +dragged him to his knees and whispered a command in his ear. "Quick, you +young snipe you!" he exclaimed, as Enoch prepared to obey. "Run like the +wind--and don't let 'em see you or you may get potted!" + +Enoch was off in an instant, trailing his gun behind him and stooping +low that the passage of his body through the brush might not be noted. +He got the house between him and the sheriff's column and soon reached +the side of the road where the other settlers in ambush were stationed. +He found their leader and whispered Bolderwood's message to him. +Instantly the man caught the idea and the word was passed down the +straggling line. Enoch did not return but waited with these men, who +were nearer the enemy, to see the matter out. + +The sheriff was on the verge of giving the command to break down the +door of the besieged house when suddenly a wild yell broke out upon the +ridge above and was taken up by the settlers in the brush by the +roadside. It was the warwhoop--the yell which originally incited the red +warriors to action and was supposed to strike terror to the hearts of +their enemies. The shrill cry echoed through the wood with startling +significance. At the same instant every man's cap was raised upon his +gun barrel and thrust forward into view of the startled Yorkers, while +the settlers themselves showed their heads, but nearer the ground. Only +for a moment were they thus visible; then they dropped back into hiding +again. + +But the effect upon the sheriff's unwilling army was paralyzing. The +Yorkers thought that twice as many men were hidden in the forest as were +really there, for the hats on the gun barrels had seemed like heads, +too. They thought every man in Bennington--and indeed, as far east as +Brattleboro and Westminster--must have come to defend James +Breckenridge's farm, and they clamored loudly to return to the +Twenty-Mile Line and safety. + +In vain the sheriff fumed and stormed, threatening all manner of +punishment for his mutinous troops; the army was determined to a man to +have no conflict with the settlers of the Disputed Ground. Like "the +noble Duke of York" in the old catch-song familiar at that day, Sheriff +Ten Eyck had marched his seven hundred or more men up to James +Breckenridge's door only "to march them down again!" 'Siah Bolderwood's +idea had taken all the desire for fight out of the Yorkers, and after +some wrangling between the personal attendants of the sheriff and the +volunteer army, the whole crew marched away, leaving the farm to the +undisputed possession of its rightful owner. + +When the Yorkers departed the little garrison of the house appeared and +cheered lustily; but the men in the woods did not come out of hiding +until the last of the enemy had disappeared, for they did not wish the +invaders to know how badly they had been deceived regarding their +numbers. By and by Bolderwood and his men marched down from the ridge +and 'Siah was congratulated upon his happy thought in bringing about the +confusion of the Yorkers. + +"You've a long head on those narrow shoulders of yours, neighbor," +declared Ethan Allen, striking the old ranger heartily on the back. +"That little wile finished them. And this is the boy I saw trailing +through the bushes, is it?" and he seized Enoch and turned his face +upward that he might the better view his features. "Why, holloa, my +little man! I've seen you before surely?" + +"It is poor Jonas Harding's eldest lad, neighbor Allen," Bolderwood +said. "He's the head of the family now, and bein' sech, had to come +along to fight the Yorkers." + +"I remember your father," declared Allen, kindly. "A noble specimen of +the Almighty's workmanship. I stopped a night with him once at his +cabin--do you remember me?" + +As though Nuck could have forgotten it! His youthful mind had made Ethan +Allen a veritable hero ever since, placing him upon a pedestal before +which he worshipped. But he only nodded for bashfulness. + +"You'll make a big man, too," said the giant. "And if you can shoot +straight there'll be plenty of chance for you later on. This is only the +beginning, 'Siah," he pursued, turning to Bolderwood and letting his +huge hand drop from Enoch's head. "There will be court-doings, +now--writs, and ejectments, and enough red seals to run the King's court +itself. But while the Yorkers are red-sealing us, we'll blue-seal +them--if they come over here, eh?" and he went off with a great shout of +laughter at his own punning. + +The men were minded to scatter but slowly. All were rejoiced that the +battle had been a bloodless one; yet none believed the matter ended. The +fiasco of the New York sheriff might act as a wet blanket for the time +upon the movements of the authorities across the line; but the land +speculators were too numerous and active to allow the people of the +Grants to remain in peace. Parties of marauders might swoop down at any +time upon the more unprotected settlers, drive them out of their homes, +destroy their property, and possibly do bodily injury to the helpless +people. Methods must be devised to keep these Yorkers on their own side +of the disputed line. Those settlers, such as the widow Harding, who +were least able to protect themselves, must have the help of their +neighbors. The present victory proved the benefit to be derived from +concerted action. Now, in the flush of this triumph, the leaders went +among the yeomanry who had gathered here and outlined a plan for +permanent military organization. In all the colonies at that day, +"training bands," or militia, had become popular, made so in part by the +interest aroused by the wars with the French and Indians. Many of the +men who joined these military companies did not look deeply into the +affairs of the colonies, nor were they much interested in politics; but +their leaders looked ahead--just as did Ethan Allen and his conferees in +the Grants--and realized that an armed yeomanry might some time be +called upon to face hirelings of the King. + +"Even a lad like you can bear a rifle, and your mother will spare you +from the farm for drill," Allen said, with his hand again on Enoch's +shoulder, before riding away. "I shall expect to see Jonas Harding's boy +at Bennington when word is sent round for the first drill." And Enoch, +his heart beating high with pride at this notice, promised to gain his +mother's permission if possible. + +Bolderwood had already gone, and Lot Breckenridge detained Enoch until +after the dinner hour. Lot would have kept him all night, but the latter +knew his mother would be anxious to see him safe home, and he started an +hour or two before sunset, on the trail which Bolderwood and he had +followed early in the morning. Being one of the last to leave James +Breckenridge's house, he traveled the forest alone. But he had no +feeling of fear. The trails and by-paths were as familiar to him as the +streets of his hometown are to a boy of to-day. And the numberless +sounds which reached his ears were distinguished and understood by the +pioneer boy. The hoarse laugh of the jay as it winged its way home over +the tree-tops, the chatter of the squirrel in the hollow oak, the sudden +scurry of deer in the brake, the barking of a fox on the hillside, were +all sounds with which Enoch Harding was well acquainted. + +As he crossed a heavily shadowed creek, a splash in the water attracted +his particular attention and he crept to the brink in time to see a pair +of sleek dark heads moving swiftly down the stream. Soon the heads +stopped, bobbed about near a narrow part of the stream, and finally came +out upon the bank, one on either side. The trees stood thick together +here, and both animals attacked a straight, smooth trunk standing near +the creek, their sharp teeth making the chips fly as they worked. They +were a pair of beavers beginning a dam for the next winter. Enoch marked +the spot well. About January he would come over with Lot, or with Robbie +Baker, stop up the mouth of the beaver's tunnel, break in the dome of +his house, and capture the family. Beaver pelts were a common article of +barter in a country where real money was a curiosity. + +But watching the beavers delayed Enoch and it was growing dark in the +forest when he again turned his face homewards. He knew the path well +enough--the runway he traveled was so deep that he could scarce miss it +and might have followed it with his eyes blindfolded,--but he quickened +his pace, not desiring to be too late in reaching his mother's cabin. +Unless some neighbor had passed and given them the news of the victory +at James Breckenridge's they might be worried for fear there had +actually been a battle. Deep in the forest upon the mountainside there +sounded the human-like scream of a catamount, and the memory of his +adventure of the morning was still very vivid in his mind. He began to +fear his mother's censure for his delay, too, for Mistress Harding +brought up her children to strict obedience and Enoch, man though he +felt himself to be because of this day's work, knew he had no business +to loiter until after dark in the forest. + +He stumbled on now in some haste and was approaching the ford in the +wide stream near which he had shot the doe, when a flicker of light off +at one side of the trail attracted his attention. It was a newly kindled +campfire and the pungent smoke of it reached his nostrils at the instant +the flame was apparent to his eyes. He leaped behind a tree and peered +through the thickening darkness at the spot where the campfire was +built. His heart beat rapidly, for despite the supposed peacefulness of +the times there was always the possibility of enemies lurking in the +forest. And the settlers had grown wary since the controversy with the +Yorkers became so serious. + +Enoch was nearing the boundaries of his father's farm now and ever since +Simon Halpen had endeavored to evict them and especially since Jonas +Harding's death, the possibility of the Yorkers' return had been a +nightmare to Enoch. Lying a moment almost breathless behind the tree, he +began to recover his presence of mind and fortitude. First he freshened +the priming of his gun and then, picking his way cautiously, approached +the campfire. Like a shadow he flitted from tree to tree and from brush +clump to stump, circling the camp, but ever drawing nearer. With the +instinct of the born wood-ranger he took infinite pains in approaching +the spot and from the moment he had observed the light he spent nearly +an hour in circling about until he finally arrived at a point where he +could view successfully the tiny clearing. + +Now, at once, he descried a figure sitting before the blaze. The man had +his back against a tree and that is why Enoch had found such difficulty +at first in seeing him. He was nodding, half asleep, with his cap pulled +down over his eyes, so that only the merest outline of his face was +revealed. It was apparent that he had eaten his own supper, for there +were the indications of the meal upon the ground; but it looked as +though he expected some other person to join him. The wind began to moan +in the tree-tops; far away the mournful scream of the catamount broke +the silence again. The boy cast his gaze upward into the branches, +feeling as though one of the terrible creatures, with which he had +engaged in so desperate a struggle that very morning, was even then +watching him from the foliage. + +[Illustration: A HAND WAS PRESSED OVER HIS LIPS] + +And he was indeed being watched, and by eyes well nigh as keen as those +of the wild-cat. While he stood behind the tree, all of half a gun-shot +from the camp, a figure stepped silently out of the shadows and stood at +his elbow before the startled lad realized that he was not alone. A +vice-like hand seized his arm so that he could not turn his rifle upon +this unexpected enemy. Before he could cry out a second hand was pressed +firmly over his parted lips. "No speak!" breathed a voice in Enoch +Harding's ear. "If speak, white boy die!" + +It was Crow Wing, the young Iroquois, and Enoch obeyed. He found himself +forced rapidly away from the campfire and when they were out of ear-shot +of the unconscious stranger, and not until then, did the grasp of the +Indian relax. "What do you want with me?" Enoch demanded, in a whisper. +The other did not reply. He only pushed the white boy on until they came +to the ford of the creek where Enoch and 'Siah Bolderwood had crossed +early in the day. There Crow Wing released him altogether and pointed +sternly across the river. "Your house--that way!" he said. "Go!" + +"Who is that man back yonder?" cried Enoch, angrily. "You can't make me +do what you say----" + +Crow Wing tapped the handle of the long knife at his belt suggestively. +"White boy go--go now!" he commanded again, and in spite of his being +armed with a rifle while the Indian had no such weapon, Enoch felt +convinced that it would be wiser for him to obey without parley. +Although Crow Wing could not have been three years his senior, he was +certainly the master on this occasion. With lagging step he descended +the bank and began to ford the stream. He glanced back and saw the +Indian, standing like a statue of bronze, on the bank above him. When he +reached the middle of the stream, however, he felt the full ignominy of +his retreat before a foe who was not armed equally with himself. What +would Bolderwood say if he told him? What would his father have done? + +He swung about quickly and raised the rifle to his shoulder. But the +Indian lad had gone. Not an object moved upon the further shore of the +creek and, after a minute or two of hesitation, the white boy stumbled +on through the stream and reached the other bank. He was angry with +himself for being afraid of Crow Wing, and he was also angry that he had +not seen the face of the stranger at the campfire. It must have been +somebody whom Crow Wing knew and did not wish the white boy to see. +Enoch Harding continued his homeward way, his mind greatly disturbed by +the adventure and with a feeling of deep resentment against the Indian +youth. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PIONEER HOME + + +Enoch arrived feeling not of half so much importance as he had on +starting from the Breckenridge farm. His adventure with Crow Wing had +mightily taken down his self-conceit. Like most of the settlers he had +very little confidence in the Indian character; so, although Crow Wing +had rendered the defenders of the Grants a signal service that very day, +Enoch was not at all sure that the red youth was not helping the +Yorkers, too. + +But when he came out of the wood at the edge of the great corn-field +which his father had cleared first of all, and saw the light of the +candles shining through the doorway of the log house, he forgot his +recent rage against Crow Wing and hurried on to greet those whom he +loved. The children came running out to meet him and the light of the +candles was shrouded as his mother's tall form appeared in the doorway. +Bryce, who was eleven years old, was almost as tall as Enoch, although +he lacked his elder brother's breadth of shoulders and gravity of +manner. Enoch was deliberate in everything he did; Bryce was of a more +nervous temperament and was apt to act upon impulse. He was a +fair-haired boy and was forever smiling. Now he reached Nuck first and +fairly hugged him around the neck, exclaiming: + +"We thought you were shot! However came you to be so long comin' back, +Nuck? Mother's quite worritted 'bout you, she says." + +Katie, the fly-away sister of ten, hurled herself next upon her elder +brother and seized the heavy rifle from his hands. "Look out for it, +Kate!" commanded Nuck. "It's been freshly primed." But Katie was not +afraid of firearms. She shouldered the gun and marched bravely toward +the house. Mary, demure and curly headed, and little Harry, remained +nearer the door, and lifted their faces to be kissed in turn by Enoch +when he arrived. Then the boy turned to his mother. + +"Come in, my son," she said. "I have saved your supper for you. I could +not send the children to bed before you came. They were a-well nigh wild +to see you and hear about the doings at farmer Breckenridge's. You are +late." + +This was all she said regarding his tardiness at the moment. She was a +very pleasant featured woman of thirty-five, with kind eyes and a +cheery, if grave, smile; but Enoch knew she could be stern enough if +occasion required. Indeed, she was a far stricter disciplinarian than +his father had been. They crowded into the house and Mrs. Harding went +to the fire and hung the pot over the glowing coals to heat again the +stewed venison which she had saved for Enoch's supper. + +"Tell us about it, Enoch, my son," she said. "Did the Yorkers come as +friend Bolderwood said they would--in such numbers?" + +"In greater numbers," declared the boy, and he went on to recount the +incidents of the morning when Sheriff Ten Eyck had demanded the +surrender of the Breckenridge house and farm. The incident had appealed +strongly to the boy and he drew a faithful picture of the scene when the +army of Yorkers marched up to the farmhouse door and demanded admission. + +"And Mr. Allen was there and spoke to me--he did!" declared Enoch. "He's +a master big man--and so handsome. He asked me if I remembered his +coming here once to see father, and he told me to be sure and go to +Bennington when the train-band is mustered in. I can, can't I, mother?" + +"And me, too!" cried Bryce. "I can carry Nuck's musket now't he shoots +with father's gun. I can shoot, too--from a rest." + +"Huh!" exclaimed his elder brother, "you can't carry the old musket +even, and march." + +"Yes I can!" + +"No you can't!" + +But the mother's voice recalled the boys to their better behavior. "I +will talk with 'Siah Bolderwood about your joining the train-band, +Enoch. And if you go to Bennington with Enoch, Bryce, who will defend +our home? You must stay here and guard mother and the other children, my +boy." + +Bryce felt better at that suggestion and the argument between Enoch and +himself was dropped. The widow soon sent all but Enoch to bed in the +loft over the kitchen and living room of the cabin. There was a bedroom +occupied by herself partitioned off from the living room, while Enoch +slept on a "shakedown" near the door. This he had insisted upon doing +ever since his father's death. + +"You were very late in returning, my son," said the widow when the +others had climbed the ladder to the loft. + +"Yes, marm." + +"You did not come right home?" + +"No, marm. I stayed to eat with Lot Breckenridge. And then I wanted to +hear the men talk." + +"You should have started earlier for home, Enoch," she said, sternly. + +"Well, I'd got here pretty near sunset if it hadn't been for somethin' +that happened just the other side of the crick," Enoch declared, +forgetting the fact that he had stopped to watch the beavers before ever +he saw the campfire in the wood. + +"What was it?" she asked. + +"There's somebody over there--a tall man, but I couldn't see his +face----" + +"Where?" + +"Beyond the crick; 'twarn't half a mile from where father was killed at +the deer-lick. I saw a light in the bushes. It was a campfire an' I +couldn't go by without seein' what it was for. So I crept up on it an' +bymeby I saw the man." + +"You don't know who he was?" asked the widow, quickly. + +"No, marm." + +"Did he have a dark face and was his nose hooked?" + +"I couldn't see his face. He was sittin' down all the time. His face was +shaded with his cap. He sat with his back up against a tree. I was a +long while gittin' near enough to see him, an' then----" + +"Well, what happened, my son?" + +"Then that Crow Wing--you know him; the Injin boy that useter live down +the crick with his folks--Crow Wing come out of the forest an' grabbed +me an' told me not to holler or he'd kill me. I wasn't 'zactly 'fraid of +him," added Enoch, thinking some explanation necessary, "but I saw if I +fought him it would bring the man at the fire to help, and I couldn't +fight two of 'em, anyway. The pesky Injin made me walk to the crick with +him an' then he told me to go home and not come back. I wish 'Siah +Bolderwood was here. We'd fix 'em!" + +"The Indian threatened you!" cried the widow. "Have you done anything to +anger him, Enoch? I know your father was very bitter toward them all; +but I hoped----" + +"I never done a thing to him!" declared the boy. "I don't play with him +much, though Lot does; but I let him alone. I useter make fun of him +b'fore--b'fore 'Siah told me more about his folks. Crow Wing's father is +a good friend to the whites. He fought with our folks ag'in the French +Injins." + +"But who could the man have been?" asked the widow, gravely. "The +children saw a man lurking about the corn-field at the lower end to-day. +And when I was milking, Mary came and told me that he was then across +the river at the ox-bow, looking over at the house. If it should be +Simon Halpen! He will not give up his hope of getting our rich pastures, +I am afraid. We must watch carefully, Enoch." + +"I'll shoot him if he comes again!" declared the boy, belligerently. +Then he closed and barred the door and rapidly prepared for bed. His +mother retired to her own room, but long after Enoch was soundly +sleeping on his couch, the good woman was upon her knees beside her bed. +Although she was proud to see Enoch so sturdy and helpful, she feared +this controversy with the Yorkers would do him much harm; and it was for +him, as well as for the safety of them all in troublous times, that she +prayed to the God in whom she so implicitly trusted. + +The next day 'Siah Bolderwood came striding up to the cabin with the +carcass of the doe Enoch had shot across his shoulders, and found the +widow at her loom, just within the door. She welcomed the lanky ranger +warmly, for he had not only been her husband's closest friend but had +been of great assistance to her children and herself since Jonas' death. +"The children will be glad to see you, 'Siah," she said. "I will call +them up early and get supper for us all. I will have raised biscuit, +too--it is not often you get anything but Johnny-cake, I warrant. The +boys are working to clear the new lot to-day." + +"Aye, I saw them as I came along," said Bolderwood, laughing. "There was +Mistress Kate on top of a tall stump, her black hair flying in the wind, +and Nuck's old musket in her hands. She said she was on guard, and she +hailed me before I got out of the wood. Her eyes are sharp." + +"She should have been a boy," sighed the widow. "Indeed, this wilderness +is no place for girls at all." + +"Bless their dear little souls!" exclaimed Bolderwood, with feeling. +"What'd we do without Kate an' Mary? They keep the boys sweet, mistress! +And Kate's as good as a boy any day when it comes to looking out for +herself; while as I came through the stumpage Mary was working with the +best of 'em to pull roots and fire-weed." + +"The boys want a stump-burning as soon as possible. Jonas got the new +lot near cleared. There's only the rubbish to burn." + +"Good idea. Nuck and Bryce are doing well.... But what was the sentinel +for?" + +"It isn't all play," said the widow, stopping her work and speaking +seriously. "Yesterday the children saw a strange man hanging about the +creek yonder. And last night on his way back from Master Breckenridge's, +Enoch saw a campfire in the forest and a man sitting by it. An Indian +youth whom perhaps you have seen here--Crow Wing, he is called--was with +the man. Crow Wing drove Enoch off before he could find out who the +white man was." + +"Crow Wing, eh?" repeated 'Siah, shaking his head thoughtfully. "I know +the red scamp. If he was treated right by the settlers, though, he'd be +decent enough. But he got angry at Breckenridge's yesterday, they tell +me. Somebody spoke roughly to him. You can ruffle the feathers of them +birds mighty easy." + +This was all the comment the ranger made upon the story; but later he +wandered down to the new lot which the Hardings were clearing, and +instead of lending a hand inquired particularly of Enoch where he had +seen the campfire the night before. Learning the direction he plunged +into the wood without further ado and went to the ford, crossing it with +caution and going at once to the vicinity of the fire which Enoch had +observed. But the ashes had been carefully covered and little trace of +the occupation of the spot left. At one point, however, 'Siah found +where two persons--a white man and a red one--had embarked in a canoe +which had been hidden under the bank of the creek. Evidently Crow Wing +had expected the place would be searched and had done all in his power +to mystify the curious. + +When 'Siah returned Mistress Harding had called up the children and +supper--a holiday meal--was almost ready. A lamb had been killed the day +before and was stuffed and baked in the Dutch oven. There were light +white-flour biscuits, Enoch had ridden to Bennington with the wheat +slung across his saddle to have it ground, and there was sweet butter +and refined maple sap which every family in the Grants boiled down in +the spring for its own use, although as yet there was little market for +it. It was a jolly meal, for when 'Siah came the children were sure of +something a bit extra, both to eat and to do. He taught the girls how to +make doll babies with cornsilk hair, and begged powder and shot of their +mother for Bryce and Enoch to use in shooting at a mark. Under his +instructions Enoch had become a fairly good marksman, while Bryce, by +resting his gun in the fork of a sapling set upright in the ground, did +almost as well as his elder brother. + +After supper Bolderwood talked with the widow while he smoked his pipe. +"We need boys like Enoch, Mistress Harding," he said. "While he's young +I don't dispute, he's big for his age and can handle that rifle pretty +well. You must let him go up to Bennington next week and drill with the +other young fellows. There will be no need of his going on any raids +with the older men. We shall keep the boys out of it, and most of the +beech-sealin' will be done by the men who hain't got no fam'blies here +and are free in their movements. But the drill will be good for him and +the time may come when all this drillin' will pay." + +"You really look for serious trouble with the Yorkers, Master +Bolderwood?" she asked. + +"I reckon I do. With them or--or others. Things is purty tick'lish--you +know that, widder. The King ain't treatin' us right, an' his ministers +and advisers don't care anything about these colonies, 'ceptin' if we +don't make 'em rich. Then they trouble us. And the governors are mostly +all alike. I don't think a bit better of Benning Wentworth than I do of +these 'ere New York governors. They don't re'lly care nothin' for us +poor folk." + +So the widow agreed to allow Enoch to go to Bennington; and when the day +came for the gathering of those youths and men who could be spared from +the farms, to meet there, he mounted the old claybank mare, his shoes +and stockings slung before him over the saddle bow that his great toes +might be the easier used as spurs, and with a bag of corn behind him to +be left for grinding at the mill, trotted along the trail to the +settlement. Before he had gone far on the road he saw other men and boys +bound in the same direction. Remember Baker passed him, with Robbie, his +boy, perched behind on the saddle, and clinging like a leech to his +father's coat-tails as the horse galloped over the rough road. Enoch saw +Robbie later, however, and invited him to the stump burning which was to +take place the following week. He saw Lot Breckenridge, too, at the +Green Mountain Inn, and invited him to come, and sent word to other boys +and girls in the Breckenridge neighborhood. + +Lot's mother would not let him carry a gun, but he had come to look on +and see the "greenhorns" take their first lesson in the manual of arms. +Stephen Fay, mine host of the "Catamount" Inn as the hostlery had come +to be called--a large, jocund individual who was a Grants man to the +core and earnest in the cause of the Green Mountain Boys--made all +welcome and the old house was crowded from daylight till dark. In the +gallery which ran along the face of the inn, even with the second story +windows, the ladies of the town sat and viewed the maneuvres of the +newly formed train-band. Before the door stood the twenty-five foot post +that held the sign and was likewise capped by a stuffed catamount, in a +very lifelike pose, its grinning teeth and extended claws turned toward +the New York border in defiance of "Yorker rule." + +The leaders of the party which had suggested these drills--all staunch +Whigs and active in their defiance of the Yorkers,--met together in the +inn that day, too, and laid plans for a campaign against certain +settlers from New York who had come into the Grants and taken up farms +without having paid the New Hampshire authorities for the same. In not +all cases had these New York settlers driven off people who had bought +the land of New Hampshire or her agents; but if it was really the +property of that colony the Yorkers had no right upon the eastern side +of the Twenty-Mile Line, or on that side of the lake, at all. As far +north as the opposite shore from Fort Ticonderoga, that key to the +Canadian route which had been wrested from the French but a few years +before, Yorkers had settled; and the Green Mountain Boys determined that +these people must leave the Disputed Ground or suffer for their +temerity. + +After the failure of Ten Eyck to capture the Breckenridge farm, New York +began a system of flattery and underhanded methods against the Grants +men which was particularly effective. The Yorkers chose certain more or +less influential individuals and offered them local offices, gifts of +money, and even promised royal titles to some, if they would range +themselves against the Green Mountain Boys. In some cases these offers +were accepted; in this way John Munro had become a justice of the peace, +and Benjamin Hough followed his example. Some foolish folk went so far +as to accept commissions as New York officers, but hoped to hide the +fact from their neighbors until a fitting season--when the Grants were +not afflicted with the presence of the Green Mountain Boys. But in +almost every case such cowardly sycophants were discovered and either +made ridiculous before their neighbors by being tried and hoisted in a +chair before the Catamount Inn, or were sealed with the twigs of the +wilderness--and the Green Mountain Boys wielded the beech wands with no +light hand. + +Almost every week the military drills were held in Bennington and Enoch +attended. But before the second one the "stump burning" came off at the +Harding place and that was an occasion worthy of being chronicled. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE STUMP BURNING + + +Enoch and Lot Breckenridge, with Robbie Baker, had completed all the +plans for the stump burning that first training day at Bennington. Lot, +who lived so far from the Harding cabin, agreed to come over the night +before if his mother would let him, and Robbie was to remain with Enoch +the night after. The stumps and rubbish would be pretty well piled up +and fired by afternoon, and then the boys could run races, and play +games, and perhaps shoot at a mark, until supper-time. Mrs. Harding had +already promised if the boys worked well to make a nice supper for them. + +"An' we'll have the girls," said Lot. + +"Oh, what good'll they be at a stump burnin'?" demanded young Baker, +ungallantly. + +"Lots o' good. They allus want good times, too," said Lot, standing up +for his sisters manfully. "You have no sisters, an' that's why you don't +want 'em." + +"They'll be in the way. Their frocks'll git torn if they help us, an' +they'll git afire--or--or somethin'!" + +"Nuck's sisters will be there. They'll want other girls," said the wise +Lot. "An' b'sides, Mis' Harding'll be lots better to us if the girls is +there. She allus is--my marm is. Mothers like girls, but boys is only a +nuisance, they says." Lot had drawn these conclusions from the remarks +of his own mother, who was troubled by many children and lacked that +"faculty," as New England folk used to term it, for bringing them up +cheerfully. + +"I guess we'll get a better supper if the girls are there," admitted +Nuck, quietly. + +"But what'll they do?" demanded Robbie, the embryo woman-hater. + +"I'll get mother ter be layin' out a quilt, or something, an' the girls +can help about that." + +"Zuckers!" cried Lot. "We'll have the finest time ever was. I'll be sure +an' tell ev'rybody down my way. An' we'll all bring powder an' shot; it +won't matter so much about guns, for them that don't have 'em can borry +of them that has, when it comes to shootin'." + +"And I'll get Master Bolderwood to come an' be empire," declared Nuck, +no farther out in his pronunciation of the word than some boys are +nowadays. + +So the girls were allowed to come, and an hour or two after sun-up on +the day in question the Harding place was fairly overrun with young folk +of both sexes. Those boys who came from a goodly distance brought their +sisters with them; but the greater number of the girls, living within a +radius of a few miles of the Harding cabin, did not come until after +dinner, having to remain at home to help their own mothers before +attending the merrymaking. + +And what a merrymaking it was! Truly, all work and no play makes Jack a +dull boy, and in a country and at a time when all young people had to +work almost as hard as their parents, the pioneer fathers and mothers +encouraged the young folk to mix pleasure well with their tasks. Indeed, +it was a system followed by the older folks as well on many occasions. +Corn-shuckings, apple-parings, log-rollings, sugaring-off--all these +tasks even down to "hog-killings"--were made the excuse for social +gatherings. The idea of helping one another in the heavier tasks of +their existence on the frontier was likewise combined in this. Many +hands make light work, and a cabin which would have kept one family busy +for a fortnight was often put up and the roof of drawn shingles laid in +a day's time, by the neighbors of the proprietor of the new structure +all taking hold of the work. + +So in this stump burning, which usually followed upon the clearing of a +new piece of ground. More than a year before Jonas Harding had begun on +this lot, with the intention of clearing it entirely and in the end +having a handsome piece of grass-land along the edge of the creek. In +the fall a fire had run over the piece and now the stumps were mostly +dead, although the fire-weed was waist high. Some of the stumps had +already been pulled up, but many were too large for the muscles of the +young Hardings and it was the help of their companions to pull these +stumps to which they looked forward to-day. + +With patience remarkable in such youngsters, Enoch and Bryce had dug +around the base of all the big stumps, had cut off the long side roots, +and when possible had dug beneath and cut the tap-root of the tree, thus +making the final extraction of the big stumps all the easier of +accomplishment. They were piled up and set burning, and round these +bonfires the boys danced like wild Indians and kept the fires fed up to +noon-time. Between the sunshine and the flames the youngsters were all +pretty well scorched by then. + +But before the horn was blown for dinner there were two arrivals on the +scene, one joyfully welcomed by all and the other rather unexpected but +not less welcome to many of the boys. 'Siah Bolderwood entered the +clearing from a forest-path at almost the same instant that a lithe +young figure appeared from the direction of the creek. Enoch ran to his +old friend and hugged him in his delight. "Ain't I glad you've come, +'Siah! We got most of the work done; we're goin' to get lots of nice +ashes, too. We're goin' ter have races and a wrastling match after +dinner." + +"Hullo! who's this?" said 'Siah, pointing across the clearing. + +Enoch turned to see the Indian youth, Crow Wing, striding up from the +water's edge. A good half of the boys had turned with shouts of welcome +to meet him, for he was popular with them. Ordinarily Crow Wing was a +very social fellow and taught the white boys to make arrows, string +their bows, build canoes, and set ingenious snares. "I don't want him +here!" declared Enoch to the ranger. + +"Tut, tut, what do you care? There's no need in your making an enemy of +that fellow, Nuck. Let him be." + +"But think how he used me the other night when I was trying to find out +about that man in the woods! I don't like him." + +"Well, we can't like everybody in this world," said Bolderwood, +philosophically. "We gotter take folks as we find 'em--that's my motter. +You let the Injin stay. He's come to help and to have the fun arterward; +you sent 'round the invitation pretty promisc'us like, an' I calkerlate +you can't ask him to leave 'thout makin' yerself mighty onpop'lar. Take +my advice an' let him stay." + +So, much against his will, Enoch did so. But he and the Indian lad +avoided each other and nothing Crow Wing did could gain any word of +approbation from his young host. However, Crow Wing and Bolderwood were +in time to help do the heaviest of the work and soon the last stump was +out of the soil and piled upon a flaming pyre. The several bonfires +could not spread to the underbrush, so the boys were able to leave them +for the time and rush away to the creek for a swim before dinner. After +they had washed off the smut and smoke, they engaged in races and in +diving matches until the horn blew to recall them to the house. In all +aquatic sports Lot Breckenridge was the master, for even Crow Wing could +not perform the tricks that he could, nor could the Indian swim so far +nor so fast. + +Mistress Harding had arranged two long tables outside the cabin, making +them of planks and "horses," and spreading her unbleached sheets over +them for table-cloths. The girls had picked flowers and decorated the +tables very prettily. There were all kinds and conditions of dishes for +use--earthen, tin, pewter, and even wooden bowls carved out of "whorls." +And as for spoons and knives and forks--well, they were very scarce +indeed. But every boy carried a pocket or hunting knife, and some had +even been thoughtful enough to bring a knife and fork from home. +Nevertheless, despite the lack of articles which we now consider the +commonest of possessions, the table manners of these pioneer boys and +girls were very good. They were on their best behavior while visiting, +and the presence of the girls had a good influence on the boys. + +The dinner was not to be the great meal of the day, for the boys did not +wish to eat too much before the activities of the afternoon. Mistress +Harding and the big girls had promised several dainties for supper, +among which was a berry pudding, the girls having picked the berries +that morning while their brothers were clearing the stumpage. The day +before Enoch had shot a quantity of wood-pigeons, too, and there was to +be a huge pigeon pie baked in the Dutch oven. There could be no stuffed +lamb on this occasion, however; sheep were too hard to raise and the +pioneers tasted mutton but seldom, for the fleece was too valuable for +them to kill the animal which supplied it. But Bolderwood had brought in +a fawn which he had hung until it was of the right flavor, and this was +dressed and roasted like a young kid. When the boys heard of these good +things it almost took their appetites away at the dinner table, for they +did not wish to eat more than was absolutely necessary before the +holiday supper. + +They were quickly back in the new lot, raked the fires together, flung +the last root and chip on the blaze, and then repaired to the level +meadow by the riverside where the games were to take place. The meadow +had been mown some days before (they always got two mowings a season off +the rich creek bottoms) and the new grass had sprung up just enough to +be soft and velvety to the feet. Off came the shoes and stockings of +those boys who had been trammeled by such articles of attire--all except +Crow Wing. He still wore his moccasins. The foot-races were to come +first, and Bolderwood and Lot carefully measured the distance along the +bank where the land was almost level, setting stakes at either end of +the course. It was not a long run and everybody lined up for the first +trial and they charged down upon the further stake like a gang of wild +colts. Crow Wing, Enoch, Lot, and Robbie Baker were easily ahead of the +others, and they with two more who had shown promise, were lined up for +a second trial. This was really to be the contest and the six prepared +to do their best, while the onlookers, girls and all, cheered their +favorites. + +Bolderwood lined up the half dozen youths very carefully. The white boys +had thrown aside their outer shirts so as to give the freer play to +their muscles. Crow Wing wore but one upper garment anyway, and he made +no change in his dress excepting to pull his belt a little tighter. When +the ranger had them placed to his satisfaction and all had signified +that they were ready, he started them off with a shout. This time the +race was to be down to the further post and back again, each contestant +being obliged to go around the post before turning back, and a watch was +set there that no one should make a mistake in this. There was a swift +patter of feet on the sod for a minute and then Crow Wing and Enoch +forged ahead. They rounded the stake almost together and came down the +home stretch far in the lead of the other contestants. First the white +boy was ahead, then the Indian, and finally when the race ended they +were elbow to elbow and one not an inch in advance of the other! + +The spectators cheered lustily, but the race must be run over by these +two to learn who really was the winner. Bolderwood allowed them a few +minutes between the trials; but the Indian did not seem to need the +rest. He still breathed easily, while Enoch lay panting on the sod. The +white boy finally went to the line with the assurance in his own heart +that he should be beaten; but he was too plucky to give up the fight +without trying again. This race was even more hardly contested than the +others had been and although it was apparent that Crow Wing ran more +easily than did Enoch, the latter worked so hard that it was doubtful +for a time whether the Indian could win after all. Enoch ran until his +knees almost gave under him and his breath came in great gasps from his +chest. Had he been a less healthy and active boy he might have +permanently injured himself from the overstrain of the contest. As it +was, Crow Wing managed to cross the line first and was pronounced +champion. + +Enoch had just strength enough to shake the winner's hand before he fell +upon the grass, and there he lay exhausted while the other boys held a +"potato race" and jumped hurdles. It provoked young Harding terribly to +see how seemingly fresh Crow Wing still was, while he was nearly dead +with fatigue. He began to take interest in the proceedings, however, +when his brother Bryce won the potato race after a close contest with +Robbie Baker; and rejoiced when Lot beat Crow Wing in jumping. "That red +rascal ain't goin' to beat everybody here," thought Enoch, and he got up +and ceased sulking. + +The wrestling match was the last of the day's sports. Bolderwood paired +the boys off to the best of his judgment for the first bout; but the +winners drew lots to see who they should wrestle with the second time. +Lot had Crow Wing for an antagonist on this occasion, and Enoch was +paired with Smith Hubbard, a hulking great fellow, bigger and taller +than any other boy in the crowd. But he was also slower and more awkward +than most, having won his first throw by sheer weight rather than skill. +Enoch threw him fairly at the second trial, while the Indian lad quite +as easily worsted young Breckenridge. + +The winners drew again and Enoch had quite a tug with another +contestant; but Crow Wing put his antagonist on the ground three times +in succession, and with apparent ease. It was plain that the match was +to end with another contest between the Indian and Enoch Harding and the +interest waxed high. Enoch was determined to keep his head and control +his temper this time. Crow Wing was nominally his guest and he played +fair; there was no reason why he should not bear off all the honors if +he could do so. But the white boy determined to give the red the fight +of his life for the honor of champion wrestler. + +Enoch had long been considered the best wrestler among the boys of his +age. Although Lot was older and taller than him, he threw the bigger boy +easily. Crow Wing had quite as easily worsted young Breckenridge; but +when the Indian and Enoch finally faced each other in the ring the +latter gritted his teeth and determined to put forth every ounce of +strength, and use every legitimate trick he knew, to beat his +antagonist. + +He had recovered his wind now and felt fresh and strong. He measured the +lithe form of Crow Wing before the word was given and saw that, although +the Indian was doubtless stronger than he in the legs and through the +loins, where much of the strain comes in a wrestling match, his own arms +and shoulders were much better. Crow Wing ran a great deal, or walked. +He was on the trail almost continually, and thus his leg muscles were +splendidly developed. Whereas the white boy swung an axe or wielded a +hoe almost every day and the upper part of his body was in excellent +condition. He saw that if he could seize Crow Wing quickly and with a +first effort overpower him, the victory would be his. + +So he went into the wrestling match with the intention of getting a +"down" at once, and the first round was over almost before Crow Wing +knew what Enoch was about. "A fair fall! a fair fall!" cried the boys, +and danced about the pair as it was seen that both Crow Wing's hips and +his shoulders were squarely on the turf. The Indian rose slowly, +evidently much surprised by the white boy's tactics. If he was angry he +did not show it. His face was as passive as ever. + +"Quick work that," said Bolderwood. "You'll have to wake up, Crow Wing, +if you want to get the best of Nuck." + +"Hurrah for Nuck!" shouted the boys. + +But the second trial was another matter. Crow Wing approached warily. He +feinted several times and then leaped away when Enoch tried to seize him +as he had before. He had felt the power of the white boy's muscles, and +he did not propose to allow a second quick stroke. Enoch followed him +around the ring and finally clutched him, but at arms' length. It was +not a good hold; he knew it on the instant. But he had as good a chance +as Crow Wing and there they were, swaying to and fro, and panting for +several minutes, before either obtained the advantage. + +Finally the Indian lad forced Enoch over his leg and slowly, yet +determinedly, pushed him backward to the ground. When they fell Crow +Wing was on top, but it was several moments ere he managed to force +Enoch's shoulders and hips to the earth together. The second round was +declared won by Crow Wing and the boys took a rest before the third and +final one. Enoch was glad to see that his antagonist suffered as much as +he did this time, laboring for breath and with his face and arms covered +with perspiration. When Bolderwood called them for the third round the +Indian flung off his hunting shirt, thus showing that he considered the +white boy a worthy antagonist indeed. + +Enoch was more confident than before. He saw that he could not repeat +his first quick throw; but he would not be deceived again into getting +any uncertain hold. Crow Wing continued his former tactics, but Enoch +simply followed him about, feinting as well as the Indian, and at last, +when Crow Wing ran in, thinking he had a chance for an under hold, he +caught him like a young bear and hugged him to his chest until the +breath was fairly forced from the other's lungs. Although taller than +the white boy the Indian was not so heavy and this display of muscle +startled him. With one arm caught between his own body and Enoch's he +could do little to help himself and Enoch squeezed hard before he let +him go. Then, with a quick toss, stooping as he made it, Enoch flung +him, long legs and all, over his shoulder, and before Crow Wing could +rise he was upon him and held him down. The Indian was so breathless +that it was a small matter for Enoch to get the "four points" necessary +to win the fall and he rose at last triumphant. + +The boys and girls cheered him and Bolderwood said he was a good +wrestler, and then Crow Wing, who had slipped into his shirt again, came +to him and said, with a still impassive face: "Umph! white boy big +wrestler--beat Crow Wing fair!" He held out his hand gravely and, after +shaking Enoch's, stalked away while the others were busy, his absence +being unnoticed until it came time to go up to the house for supper. +"Guess he didn't like being licked," said Robbie Baker to Enoch. "You +better look out for him, Nuck. My pa says them Injins is as treacherous +as wolves." + +But somehow Enoch felt that Crow Wing was a better friend to him than he +had been before. Something in the Indian's handshake seemed to have told +him this. The supper was quite as good as the boys had expected. After +the meal they shot at a target under 'Siah Bolderwood's direction and +Robbie Baker, son of the greatest shot in the settlement, as was +expected, bore off the honors. The company went home through the forest +trails by moonlight and thus ended a long and happy day, in which much +that was useful had been accomplished as well as a "good time" enjoyed. + +As Enoch stood at the door of the cabin and watched the red glow from +the fires in the newly cleared lot, he went over in his mind the +incidents of the day. Such holidays were not plentiful in his life. It +was mostly work and little play, and he would remember this occasion for +many months. He did not suspect how many months would elapse, and how +many momentous happenings would occur, before he saw all his young +friends together once again. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A NIGHT ATTACK + + +Not often did the Harding children enjoy such a day as that of the +stump-burning. Life was very real indeed to pioneer folks, although the +fact that every family in the community had to work hard left no +loophole for complaint on any side. There were no very poor people then, +and there were no immensely rich. It is only by comparison that human +beings become discontented with their lot. + +The widow's children had to work little harder than their neighbors. +Their mother labored with them in the fields, as well as paying full +attention to her household duties. She could swing an axe with most men +in the township, and was no mean shot with the rifle. She led the corn +hoeing and taught the older boys to do those things which were needful +about the farm. The crops during this summer prospered well, and after +clearing up and barreling the ashes made during the stump-burning, Enoch +and Bryce ploughed and harrowed the new piece along the creek's edge. +They sowed it to winter grain and hung "scare-crows" all about the field +to keep the wild birds from pulling up the tender shoots when they +appeared above the mold. + +Besides leading her children in the work of the farm, Mistress Harding +paid more attention to their education than most parents of the +settlement could. There was a school in Bennington during the winter +months; but it was too far away for any of the Hardings to attend. But +the widow had been a school-teacher before her marriage and she had +brought some books with her from her old home. So part of almost every +day she taught her children. The girls and little Harry, who was just +learning his letters and "a-b, abs," studied during the daytime; but the +older boys did their lessons by the light of the candle dips, or lying +on the hearth before the dancing fire. Both summer and winter these +studies were kept up and therefore Enoch and his brothers and sisters +were rather farther advanced in learning than the other children of the +scattered community. + +To this study Enoch took rather kindly; but to Bryce, who possessed more +of his father's roving disposition, the school hour was distasteful. +Bryce, too, complained more than a little because he was not allowed to +go to Bennington on training days. He was growing rapidly and was well +nigh as big as his brother, and he felt that he should be counted a +member of the military company. + +This drilling in the manual of arms had become a very serious matter to +the Grants people. The Green Mountain Boys, which nickname had before +the end of the summer become fixed upon the bands, were divided into +four companies of which Seth Warner, 'Member Baker, Robert Cochran and +Gideon Warner were the captains. Ethan Allen was elected colonel +commanding by acclamation and plans were made to watch over many of the +outlying districts liable to be troubled most frequently by the Yorkers. +With all his impulsiveness, Allen was long-headed and something of a +strategist; yet he leaned to some extent upon Captain Warner's good +sense. Warner was a man of much finer mould than the chief of the Green +Mountain Boys, was well educated and had a personal following of his own +in the Grants, second only to Allen's. But there was never any jealousy +between them. Allen's was a nature too frank and generous to harbor such +a despicable feeling, while Warner was too deeply interested in the +cause to do so. + +Nuck Harding was a proud boy indeed, for he was nigh the youngest among +those who drilled. Such raiding as was done by the Green Mountain Boys +that year was the work of small parties under Allen, Warner, or Cochran, +and no general engagement occurred between the Grants settlers and the +New York authorities, so Nuck saw no real service. At home, however, he +and Bryce frequently talked over what they would do if Simon Halpen +should visit them. That he had been scouting about the farm on the day +of Sheriff Ten Eyck's fiasco at James Breckenridge's place, the older +boy was sure. He was certain that the man he had seen beside the +campfire in the wood, and whom Crow Wing seemed to befriend, was the +Yorker who, twice before, had tried to drive the Hardings from their +home. But neither the man nor the Indian youth appeared in the +neighborhood as the summer waned and the autumn harvests approached. + +Nevertheless, after harvest, when the farm work was well cleared up, the +boys put into practice a plan which, after much thought they had +evolved. Many a frontier home of that, and an earlier day, had connected +with it an underground passage, or room which, although usually devoted +to the simple storage of potatoes and roots, could in time of need be +used as a refuge for the family. Of an Indian attack there was little +danger; but they did not know to what length the Yorkers might go when +once they did appear. Nuck believed Simon Halpen to be a man without +compassion or mercy, and that the house might be attacked and burned +over their heads. + +So, while still the frost held off, they constructed beneath the +fireplace a deep stonewalled apartment nearly eight feet square--large +enough to hold the entire family if need should come. When finished the +entrance was gained by raising a large flat stone which was a part of +the hearth. But the winter came without any alarm to the Hardings, and +drew its slow length across the green hills and valleys like some albino +monster of prehistoric times. The firs were snow-crowned and the white +mantle lay deep in the hollows. Bryce and Enoch added generously to the +family larder by the fruit of their hunting-trips, for there was plenty +of time for such sport now. They had learned to weave snow-shoes in +Indian fashion, too, and Bolderwood taught Enoch to tan and "work" the +deer hides so well that their mother was able to use the pliable leather +for moccasins for the family. "Boughten" shoes they had; but they were +kept for best, for the money to purchase them with came hard indeed to +the widow. + +Not until the sap began to flow from the maples was winter counted +broken. Robbie Baker rode over about the middle of March and begged so +hard that Mrs. Harding allowed Enoch to return with him to help at the +Baker's "sugaring." There were plenty of fine maples near the Baker +house and Nuck was promised a share of the refined sugar. There was no +need of a hut at the sugar orchard, for they slept at Baker's house, and +only a shelter was built over the great kettle in which the sap was +boiled. Captain Baker made the incisions in the generous trees, and +fitted the troughs; but Robbie and Nuck collected the sap and brought +it, bucket by bucket, to the fire which Mrs. Baker tended. It was hard +work but there was some fun connected with it, too, and Nuck enjoyed his +week's visit--or would have done so had it not been for the incident +with which the outing closed. + +Through the winter the people of the Grants had lived almost entirely at +peace with their troublesome neighbors over the border. But there were +certain active spirits among the Yorkers who were waiting only for the +coming of spring to continue their persecutions. Because of the raids by +the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys, there were warrants out for +several, and Captain Baker was one of these who was wanted by the Albany +authorities. The infamous John Munro who had accepted the office of +Justice of the Peace from the New York party, gathered ten or twelve +choice spirits on the night of March 22d, and feeling the security of +numbers approached the home of the Grants' remarkable marksman, his mind +fixed firmly upon the reward that had been offered for the apprehension +of "the outlaw, Baker." + +The Green Mountain Boy was not a man to be attacked without due +consideration, and the Yorkers came to the house in the dead of night, +breaking in without warning, and capturing Captain Baker in his bed. +Even thus handicapped Baker fought with desperation and, overpowered by +numbers and cruelly wounded, only gave over the struggle when he saw +that the Yorkers were beating his wife and son as well. + +"I surrender to ye, ye dogs!" he cried. "But let the woman and child +alone," and at that they ceased to belabor Mrs. Baker and Robbie and set +about removing the captive as expeditiously as possible. Robbie had been +asleep in the loft with his guest when the attack was made and had run +down the ladder to get at the guns; but this last was impossible. +Enoch's rifle was likewise down-stairs and he was unable to help his +friends; but instead of showing himself to the enemy he lifted a corner +of the bark roof and crept outside. It was dark, and although there was +a watch kept without the house, he was not observed and managed to reach +the ground by climbing down the corner logs. + +By this time Captain Baker was a prisoner. They allowed him to partly +dress and then securing him with thongs, brought him forth and threw him +into a sledge which was in waiting. Their haste was obvious. Even in the +night, and at this distance from any succor, the cowardly justice and +his friends feared that members of the Green Mountain company would be +aroused, and they had no wish to face Baker's comrades. Their idea was +to get him across the Hudson and to Albany as swiftly as possible. + +But Enoch, though unable to render his friends any assistance in the +fight, had not been idle. Keeping the house between him and the Yorkers +at the door, he reached the stable. Mrs. Baker's voice rose above the +general din, begging the Yorkers to spare her husband--to at least allow +her to bind up the wound in his head before they took him away. But they +merely laughed at her request. It made Enoch grit his teeth in rage, and +pulling open the door of the stable he quickly entered and flung the +captain's saddle upon the horse. Buckling the girth tightly he backed +the steed out of the hovel and was astride it before the enemy observed +him. + +With a smart slap on the creature's flank Nuck sent the horse tearing +down the road to Bennington and was almost out of rifle shot before the +Yorkers realized his escape and the meaning of it. Several shots +followed him, so reckless were the justice's companions, but there was +no pursuit. Instead, the villains tumbled into the sledge and upon the +backs of their own steeds, and amid the cries of the woman and Robbie, +took the way to the Twenty-Mile Line and Albany. The prisoner's wife and +son scarcely realized what Nuck's escape meant; it looked as though the +guest had fled when peril threatened the helpless family. But Nuck very +well knew what he was about. + +It was still several hours before dawn, but the moon brilliantly +illumined the forest road and as the way was fairly well beaten, Nuck +set the horse at his fastest pace. He knew that he could find men at +Bennington--particularly at the Green Mountain Inn--who would consider +no hardship too great to assist the captured settler. Many of Remember +Baker's own company of Green Mountain Boys would be in town and Stephen +Fay, the host, would be able to tell him where to find these men +quickly. It was a long ride to the Hudson and the hope of overtaking the +Yorkers and their prisoner spurred the boy on. + +On and on flew the horse and rider until at last the scattered houses of +the hamlet came into view. The settlement lay lifeless under the cold +winter sky; not a spiral of smoke rose from the broad-topped chimneys, +for the fires in every house were banked during the night, and it was +too early for the spryest kitchen-maid to be astir. The horse thundered +up to the door of the Catamount Inn and Nuck's wild halloa brought a +night-capped head to the window instantly--that of the innkeeper. + +"What might be the news, neighbor?" he demanded. + +"Captain Baker has been carried off by the Yorkers!" shouted Nuck, and +his words were heard by other night-capped heads at other windows about +the inn. "'Squire Munro and some others came and got him out of bed. +They've driven off toward the Line." + +"'Member Baker's captured!" The word was taken up by a dozen voices and +the settlers dressed hurriedly and ran forth from their houses. +Meanwhile Master Fay had aroused certain men who happened to be in his +hostelry, as well as the stablemen in the yard. There was a great bustle +about the inn. "Boy!" cried the innkeeper to Nuck, who still bestrode +Captain Baker's horse, "do you go and call Isaac Clark and Joe Safford. +They'll have their horses handy--and good horses, too, I'll be bound. +Tell them to come here with saddle and rifle." + +These two men lived at the other end of the village. Nuck routed them +out and in fifteen minutes was back with them at the inn. By that time +quite a crowd had collected and ten men beside Nuck were found to be +mounted and ready to set forth after the Yorkers. Each was a tried Green +Mountain Boy and eager to take satisfaction for the attack upon their +leader. Ten men were considered ample to attack the Yorkers, and with a +promise to the bystanders to recapture 'Member Baker, even though they +followed him to Albany, the cavalcade galloped away from the Green +Mountain Inn, Enoch riding in their train. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE TRAITOR'S WAY + + +Remember Baker lived at Arlington, and the distance from that new +settlement, it could hardly be called a village, to Bennington was about +two and a half miles. Enoch Harding might have given the alarm to the +neighbors of the captured man, but he knew that they would not be able +to pursue the Yorkers, for good horse flesh was scarce outside of +Bennington. And Robbie would doubtless rouse them, anyway, as soon as he +was recovered from his fright. As he saw it, Enoch believed his duty to +point to the Catamount Inn, and we have seen how quickly a company was +formed there for the chase of the Yorkers and their prisoner. + +Enoch had ridden Baker's horse hard into town and now he followed behind +the ten rescuers, urging the animal to still greater efforts. The +hard-packed snow rang merrily under the hoofs of the steeds. Fortunately +the boy's mount had been well "sharpened" by the local smith shortly +before, or riding recklessly as he did the horse might have suffered a +fall, and Enoch been flung off. Nevertheless he could not keep up with +Isaac Clark and his companions, so gradually fell behind. His steed's +wind was sound, however, and he pursued the trail steadily. + +The rescuers showed no hesitation in choosing their route. There were +but a few beaten trails and they knew the road John Munro and his party +would take with the prisoner to the bank of the Hudson. They could not +miss it. The road from Arlington broke into this main trail at a point +not far beyond the confines of Bennington and there it was at once +apparent that the sledge and horsemen had passed that way not long +before. There were plain marks of the runners and the ice and snow were +cut up by the feet of the flying horses. The fact that the Yorkers +numbered as many--if not more--than themselves, did not disturb the +Green Mountain Boys in the least. "A Grants man who is not good for two +or three of the scurvy Yorkers, is no good at all!" Stephen Fay had +declared when they set forth, and probably the only emotions the ten +felt as they rode on were eagerness and wrath. + +Meanwhile, behind them raced Enoch Harding, desiring mightily to "be in +at the death," as the fox-hunters say. His heavy farmhorse could not +compete with the mounts of the posse, however, and with tears in his +eyes he saw them increase the distance between themselves and his +animal. But he doggedly pursued the road, while the clatter of hoofs +grew mellow in the distance. The morning was very still; the moon had +sunk now and the stars were fading before the gray light of the coming +day. In the east behind him the sky was even streaked with pink above +the mountain-tops; the wind blew more keenly and he suddenly awoke to +the fact that he was almost perished with the cold, for he had stopped +for neither greatcoat nor mittens. + +Finally arriving at the top of a ridge of land he saw before him--at +least two miles along the road and just mounting another ridge--a group +of flying horses with a sledge in their midst, the prisoner and his +captors. At first he did not see the Green Mountain Boys at all; but as +his own horse plunged down the slope he suddenly observed the squadron +which had left the Bennington Inn, come out of the dip of the valley +where the trees were thickest, and begin the ascent of the further +ridge. The two parties were less than half a mile apart. + +But from the elevation he was on Enoch had seen something else. The +second ridge was lower than this and over it and not very far beyond he +had caught a glimpse of the frozen Hudson! The river was not far away. +Would the settlers catch the scoundrelly New York justice and his +companions before they reached the river? + +And this must be done if they would rescue Captain Baker. It was all +very well to talk of following the party to Albany; but that would +simply result in the imprisonment of all in the jail. Once at the river +the Yorkers would be among friends and would find plenty of people to +help them beat off the Green Mountain Boys. The latter understood this +well enough. They did not need young Enoch Harding to tell them, and it +was quite evident to the boy that his friends were spurring their horses +desperately up the farther slope in a last grand burst of speed to +overtake the fugitives. + +On and on they sped and finally, when Enoch reached the dip of the vale, +Clark and his party were over the hill and had disappeared. The boy +dared not urge his horse up the ascent too rapidly and he lost much +precious time before reaching the summit. But once here he had a broad +outlook over the slope and plain beyond and if he could not be present, +at least he had an unobstructed view of the end of the chase. The Green +Mountain Boys had spurred down the hill madly and gained upon the sledge +so rapidly that the faint-hearted Yorkers were thrown into a panic. The +horses attached to the sledge gave out and one of them slipped and fell +in the harness. Instead of stopping to help Munro get the animal on its +feet, the horsemen, with the fear of punishment from the angry pursuers +before their eyes, rode on and scattered in the thick woods beyond, +leaving the doughty justice to meet the posse alone. Munro was not a +physical coward and he felt that with the majesty of the law--New York +law--behind him, he could face Baker's friends. + +They bore down upon him with threatening cries, but he stood his ground +and warned them at the top of his voice neither to shoot nor to try to +rescue his prisoner. There was no need of firearms, of course, for they +were ten to one now. But they laughed his authority to scorn. What! +allow him to carry 'Member Baker to Albany to be tried by a judge who +was himself interested in land speculations, and by a jury antagonistic +to the settlers of the Grants? It was preposterous! + +Baker, who suffered sorely from his wounds, was untied and placed upon +one of the horses which could carry double. The posse felt ugly, but +they did not harm the justice and after some wordy warfare rode away +again, leaving Munro to get his horse up and harnessed again to the +sledge without their help. His threats of future punishment for the +entire party were unnoticed. Their wild ride had been crowned with +success, for they had recovered their wounded comrade within a mile of +the Hudson River, and they took him home without any molestation. + +But Captain Baker was weak from the loss of blood and terribly shaken by +the experience and was in bed and under the care of a surgeon for some +days. The news of the Yorkers' raid spread throughout the Grants and the +settlers whose fears had been lulled to sleep by the peace of the +winter, were roused to a realization of the fact that the land grabbers +intended to be quite as active in the future as they had been in the +past. The next training day the conversation of the Green Mountain Boys +who were present in Bennington was bitter indeed. Cochran, and such +reckless spirits, were for retaliating with fire and bullet on the New +York border. Nevertheless Warner and other more moderate men counseled +forbearance. + +"We overawed the sheriff's army last year, it is true. But at that time +we had given the people of New York no reasonable excuse for attacking +us," declared Warner. "We've beech-sealed more than one surveyor and +warned New York settlers off the farms they had stolen since then. We've +been obliged to use force and now force will be used against us. But I +find that many of these New York settlers have been brought here under a +misapprehension. They did not understand the controversy before they got +the farms, and believed that the land-grabbers really owned the property +of which they are in possession. To visit our righteous wrath upon +helpless women and children will not help the cause of the Grants." + +Many of his hearers, however, were not convinced. "'Member Baker's been +beaten and his wife and boy ill-treated. What are we going to do about +it?" was the demand. + +"Complaint has already been made to Governor Tryon of New York, and John +Munro may be punished by his own side for what he did the other night." + +"And there's 'Member's gun," spoke up another ill-affected partisan. +"Munro stole it and has got it to his house. I'm told so by a neighbor +of his. 'Member thinks a deal of that gun." + +"I'll get that," said Warner, quickly. "'Member shall have his property +back before next training day." + +And with that promise the disaffected spirits were satisfied for the +time being. When Enoch rode away from Bennington on his return home that +afternoon, the Connecticut giant overtook him on the road. Warner was a +fine-looking man, younger even than Ethan Allen and idolized by the +women and children of the community as Allen was by the men. But there +was nothing effeminate about Warner. He was of the better class of +borderers, possessing more education than most of his neighbors and with +that measure of refinement and cultivation which placed George +Washington above the majority of his associates. Warner had no patrician +bearing, however, but entered into the work, sports and pursuits of his +fellows. He was a superb horseman and rode on this day a mount which the +governor of New York himself might covet. + +Enoch Harding had grown used, by this time, to seeing these prominent +leaders of the Grants and had spoken with Captain Warner before. "Master +Harding, your road lies my way for some distance," declared Warner, +smiling on the boy. "We will go together." + +"You do not ride this way frequently, sir," said Enoch. + +"Nay. But you heard my promise to-day. I must get 'Member's gun. That +rascally Munro may have to be taught a lesson, too." + +"But will you go alone?" cried the boy. + +Warner laughed. "Why, it is a peaceful mission. See--I have not even my +rifle--only my sword as captain of our military company. A show of force +might only make matters worse--and dear knows they are bad enough as it +stands." + +"Munro will be among his friends, sir. Ought you not to have somebody +with you?" + +"There might be some doubt regarding that, Master Harding. A man like +Munro is never blessed with an overabundance of friends. He may have +minions that, for wage, would help him in his nefarious deeds. But I +shall meet him when he least expects to see a Green Mountain Boy and I +fear no serious trouble. But if you have doubt as to my safety," and he +smiled again, "you may ride with me and see that the doughty 'Squire +does not capture and run away with me as he attempted to with Captain +Baker." + +Enoch's eyes sparkled at this permission and he spurred on after Captain +Warner although the direction was one which carried him some distance +out of his way. A two hours' ride brought them to the settlement where +the New York justice lived. Before they reached the place the figure of +Warner was spied and recognized and Munro met the Green Mountain Boy in +the roadway before his own house, surrounded by several of his +neighbors. Enoch kept in the rear and as they rode up the boy unslung +his gun and laid it across his saddle. Warner smiled as he noted this +act, and then his face grew stern again as he drew rein before the +much-hated Yorker. + +"Master Munro," he said, without parley, "it has been brought to my +attention that, upon your late evening visit to Captain Remember Baker, +you carried away from his house a certain weapon which Captain Baker +highly prizes. You mistook it for your own, I presume, and the duties of +your office have doubtless been so onerous since then that you have not +had opportunity to return it. Happening to be in this neighborhood I +have stopped to request the return of the gun." + +"Ha, ye rebel!" exclaimed Munro. "Dare ye put yourself in the lion's +jaws in this way? I'll show ye----" + +"Whether I have put myself in the jaws of a lion or a jackal may be a +question which is aside from our present discussion," interrupted +Warner, scornfully. "I have come for Captain Baker's property." + +"Baker is an outlaw--as are you," declared Munro, wrathfully, "and as +such I took away his arms. An' I shall keep the gun." + +"Now, 'Squire, if you had stated the reverse of that proposition I +should have the more easily believed you," cried Warner, with flashing +eyes. "Even a New York justice of the peace may not rob his neighbor +with impunity in the Grants. I shall carry that gun away with me to-day. +So, sir, deliver it without further ado!" + +[Illustration: HE WHIPPED OUT HIS SWORD] + + +"Ye threaten me, do ye?" cried Munro, lashing himself into a rage. +"Seize this villain, neighbors! I call on ye to assist in the capture of +Seth Warner, the outlaw!" He seized the bridle of Warner's horse, which +reared with him and struck out angrily. But the justice hung on, still +calling to the bystanders to interfere and help him. Enoch urged his own +horse forward; but there was no fear of the neighbors aiding in Seth +Warner's capture. They refused to do so, and perhaps as much out of fear +of the Connecticut man himself, as out of dislike for the justice. + +Warner's horse was a mettlesome beast and Munro's act in seizing the +bridle angered it. The Green Mountain boy had all he could do to handle +his steed for a moment and, as Munro continued to cling to the bridle, +Warner suddenly whipped out his sword and whirling it about his head +brought the flat of the weapon down upon the officer's pate! The blow +caused Munro to relax his hold and knocked him to the ground, where he +lay, roaring with pain and anger. Warner rode over him and approached +the open door of the house to which Mrs. Munro, frightened by her +husband's overthrow, quickly brought the gun in question and handed it +to the victor. + +"Many thanks, 'Squire Munro!" cried Warner, waving the gun above his +head and holding in his charger. "And when next ye seek to impound me, +come in force, sir--come in force!" and letting his mount go, he and +Enoch rode away at a swift canter. + +Young Harding went home that night full of the afternoon's doings, and +loud in his praise of Captain Warner's prowess. He and Bryce made many +plans for the reception of the Yorkers if they came to their farm; but +after this matters were quiet for some weeks and the settlers were +enabled to begin the spring work and get the seed into the ground in +peace. On May 19th Governor Tryon sent a letter to the Grants proposing +a conference and promising amnesty to all those who had taken an active +part in the raids of the Green Mountain Boys excepting Ethan Allen, Seth +Warner, Baker and Robert Cochran. The King had commanded that New York +do nothing further toward surveying or settling the lands east of Lake +Champlain and the Twenty-Mile Line until the difficulty could be +properly adjusted, and Tryon promised that the land-grabbers should be +kept away from the Grants. + +The farmers were delighted with this letter. They had been living in +continual fear of dispossession since the first attack on the +Breckenridge farm in '69. Now they felt that they would be free to +follow the peaceful pursuits of their calling and began to improve their +possessions, believing that, after all, the right would prevail. None +were more pleased at this turn of affairs than the widow Harding and +Enoch. Bryce, it must be confessed, felt a little disappointed that he +had seen no active service; but they were all happy in their work and +the Harding place bade fair to be one of the most profitable farms in +the township that year. + +The boys labored well and after the second corn hoeing in August the +work was so far along that Enoch was able to accompany 'Siah Bolderwood +on a hunting trip. The old ranger, lacking any regular abiding place of +his own, often visited the Hardings and helped in the work of the farm. +But he was a wanderer by nature and could not stay in one place long at +a time. So, being off to the northward, the widow allowed Enoch to join +him for a week or two. + +It was not wholly game that Bolderwood was after, however. At least, not +game for present killing. He was mapping out his next winter's campaign +against the wild creatures of the forest. His strings of traps and +dead-falls would be laid along the route which he and his young comrade +traversed. Reaching the southern extremity of Lake Champlain Bolderwood +found a canoe which, well hidden in a hollow log--all that remained of a +monster king of the woodland--had lain untouched since his last visit to +the lake. In this light bark they set sail upon that beautiful body of +water on the shores of which the French and English had so often met in +battle. It has been well said that the Champlain Valley was the school +grounds of the early colonists, and that here were largely unfolded the +elements of character which became of supreme importance in the +Revolutionary struggle. + +On the west bank of this lower, and narrower, portion of the lake, stood +the frowning walls of Fort Ticonderoga--"Old Ti" as the settlers called +it--wrested not long since from the French backed by their Huron and +Algonquin allies. That promontory signalized a more ancient landmark of +history even than the Pilgrim stone at Plymouth, and one quite as +important to our country at large. Eleven years before the Mayflower +began her voyage to America, Champlain met the Iroquois in battle on the +site of Ticonderoga, and this battle made the Iroquois the friends of +the English and the enemies of the French for generations. Ticonderoga +was an important link in the chain of French posts extending from the +St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, which was designed to shut the English +colonists into that narrow strip of the continent east of the +Alleghanies. + +From the beginning Fort Frederick (Crown Point) and Ticonderoga were a +menace to the English. From these points the red allies of the French +descended upon the border settlements to the south and burned and +pillaged at pleasure. Two fearful campaigns were needed to reduce +Ticonderoga and place the command of the Champlain in the hands of the +British. Since its capture Ticonderoga had fallen somewhat into decay, +for with the changing of the Canadian government from French to English, +danger of attack, even by Indian bands, from the north was little to be +expected by the settlers who had flocked into the rich lands near the +lake after the close of the war. + +Bolderwood and his young comrade passed Old Ti and, continuing up the +lake, paddled by Crown Point and reached the mouth of the Otter. Here +they encamped for several days, hunting and fishing, and living in a +nomadic fashion that charmed Enoch. But when they were about to return +another party of hunters came to the spot--men whom Bolderwood +knew--bound for the upper end of the lake and into the wilderness lying +east of that point. Enoch could not go so far because of the work on the +farm; but he urged Bolderwood to accompany this party, as he knew very +well he could find his way home in safety by either the land or water +route. In fact, he rather coveted the chance to make his way home alone, +for he wished to prove to the ranger his ability to do for himself. + +It was therefore arranged that the boy should take Bolderwood's canoe +and go up Otter Creek to a certain settler's house, there to leave the +canoe and make his way overland to Bennington, and the next day they +separated. The hunters did not start until afternoon on their northern +journey, however, and Enoch left at the same time. Not far up the creek +was a settlement of Hampshire farmers who on one occasion had been +driven out by Yorkers in the employ of a Scotchman named Reid. But the +Yorkers who had taken these farms stayed but a short time and the real +owners of the property had come back the year before. Here Enoch +expected to remain the first night of his lonely journey. + +He did not arrive until late, however, and the houses were in +darkness--indeed they seemed deserted. The mill (built by Colonel Reid's +followers) stood silent, the stones having been broken by the Green +Mountain Boys on the occasion of the driving out of the New York +settlers. Enoch, having heard such good accounts of this settlement, was +astonished by the appearance of inactivity. + +Nevertheless he landed and soon found a stockade surrounding a +blockhouse, which was evidently occupied. The people seemed to live +under this single roof as though they were in fear of an Indian raid, +and the boy approached the place cautiously. He was not molested, +however, for no watch was being kept; but when he rapped smartly on the +door he knew by the sudden hush of voices within that the occupants of +the dwelling were startled. There was the clatter of arms and a sudden +command. Fearing that he might be treated as an enemy, Enoch knocked +again and was about to raise his voice in the "view halloa" of the +settlers, when the door was snapped open for an instant and the sharp +blade of a sword thrust out of the darkness, the light of the candles +having been quenched at his first summons. + +The boy sprang back with an exclamation of fear, and only his agility +saved him from serious injury, for the point of the sword cut a slit in +his hunting coat. And the attack, so utterly unexpected, quite deprived +him of speech or further motion as the heavy door slammed in his face. +Such a welcome was, to say the least, disconcerting. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE OTTER CREEK RAID + + +The late visitor at the Otter Creek settlement shrank away from the door +and, dumbfounded by the sword-thrust which was evidently meant for his +heart instead of his coat, waited to see what the next move of those in +the blockhouse would be. He heard low voices and words which sounded +like military commands. Suppose the occupants of the wooden fort should +fire upon him? + +At this idea he dropped upon all fours and it is perhaps well that he +did so, for one bullet did come from a loophole, singing viciously above +his head. Then an angry voice of command rose on the night air: "Haud +yir hand, mon! Let's see an' it be fri'nd or foe." The tone and accent +were broadly Scotch, and this, too, added to Enoch's amazement. He had +not heard of Scotch people coming to Otter Creek since those placed +there by Colonel Reid had been driven forth. At once his suspicions were +aroused, but he cried aloud: + +"I am a friend and am alone. I only came for a night's lodging." + +"'Tis a laddie, mon! There's naught t' fear," declared the voice within, +as though answering some objection which Enoch could not hear. The +candles were lighted and in another moment the door was opened again, +revealing a tall, raw-boned Scot with a shock of red hair and beard. He +grasped a bared sword, almost as big as a two-handed claymore, and he +looked sternly upon the boy as the latter approached. + +"Ha! 'tis wrang for a laddie t' be oot this time o' night," he declared. +"Air ye sure alone?" + +"Quite alone," Enoch replied. "I have been hunting west of here and we +camped at the mouth of the creek. My comrades have gone northward and I +was returning home by way of the creek. I did not know that the settlers +here were in fear of Indians----" + +"Ha! 'tis little we think o' them rid chiels. There's war nor they in +yon forest-land, an' well we ken that." + +"Who do you mean?" demanded Enoch, now stepping within the open door. + +"Why, the robber Allen, an' his followers. We do oor wark wi' guns in +oor han's for fear of them same outlaws. Eh, mon! but they're a bold +mob." + +Enoch made no reply, but advanced to the gun rack and stood up his rifle +and dropped his pack. He knew now what had occurred at the settlement. +The land-grabber Reid had come back to the Grants, ousted the Hampshire +settlers, and again established minions of his own in their places. The +boy glanced about and saw at least a dozen hardy looking Scots. Every +one of them had doubtless served in Colonel Reid's regiment of +Highlanders. They were descended from men almost as wild and +bloodthirsty as the red Indians themselves, and although ordinarily they +might be harmless enough, that thrust of the sword had shown Enoch that +they were likely to fight first and inquire the reason for it afterward. +They had come to Otter Creek in force this time, and evidently +determined to battle for their master's holdings under the New York law. + +But the man who had let him in, and who was a Cameron, was evidently +bent upon treating hospitably the guest which he had so nearly run +through with his sword. "Jamie Henderson," he said to one of the solemn +faced Scots, "speir ane o' the wimmen t' gie us a bite for the lad," and +the repast which was prepared and put before him was generous and kindly +given. While he was eating and John Cameron sat by to watch him enjoy +the food, Enoch gathered courage to ask a few questions. + +"We heard down Bennington way that Colonel Reid's people had left this +land and the settlers who formerly owned it had come back," he said, +suggestively. The Scot's eyes contracted as he looked at the visitor. +"Aye, aye?" he said, questioningly. "How long have you been here?" +queried the boy. + +"Sin' June. The men ye call settlers were nae proper holders o' their +titles. Lieutenant-Colonel Reid bought this land and put fairmers here +first." + +"But he did not get his title from New Hampshire," Enoch said. + +"Nae--w'y should he? New York owns the land to yon big river--th' +Connecticut call ye it? Our fri'nds settled here in '69. The titles +these auld settlers held wes no guide--na, na! But Colonel Reid is a +guide mon--'deed yes." + +"How do you make that out?" demanded Enoch. He wanted to tell the Scot +what he thought of this business, but he dared not. He knew Ethan Allen +and the other leaders of the Green Mountain Boys should know of it, and +as he, perhaps, was the first to learn of the return of the Scotch, he +must get away early in the morning and reach Bennington in the quickest +possible time. While the Grants men were resting in supposed safety and +peace because of Governor Tryon's letter promising inactivity on the +part of the land speculators, the latter were hurrying their minions +over the line, evicting the rightful owners of the Grants, and stealing +their farms. The boy's heart swelled with anger; but he was wise enough +to hold his tongue and say nothing to rouse the suspicions of the Scots. + +In reply to his question regarding Colonel Reid's "guideness" Cameron +told how he, with other Scots, had landed in New York early in June and +had been engaged by the Colonel at once to go and occupy his land in the +Disputed Territory. Reid came with them to the settlement, being at +considerable expense to transport them, their wives, children and +baggage. The day after their arrival while viewing the land covered by +Reid's title, they observed a crop of Indian corn, wheat, and garden +stuff, and a stack of hay belonging to two New England men who, +according to Cameron, had squatted on the land without right or title. +Reid paid these two men $15 for their standing crops and the hay and +made over the same to his new tenants. This was a novel way of telling +how the owners of the titles to the farms received from the New +Hampshire governor years before, were evicted. But Enoch held his peace. +He had considerable doubt in his own mind regarding Colonel Reid's +"guideness," nevertheless, and rose early in the morning and left the +settlement in Bolderwood's canoe. Instead of keeping on up the Otter he +turned back to the lake. The route by which he and the ranger had come +from Bennington would be far shorter than the one he had started upon; +so he went back that way. News of the return of Reid's people must be +conveyed to Ethan Allen and the other leaders of the Green Mountain Boys +as quickly as possible. + +He scarcely stopped for food, so anxious was he to get home. He met +nobody on his trip until he reached Manchester and there his story was +hardly believed, for the letter of the New York governor in May, +inviting the Grants representatives to a council, had made a strong and +favorable impression upon public sentiment. This council had advised +that all legal processes against the Grants settlers cease and even now +the echoes had not died away of the jubilation of the deluded people +over what was considered the end of the bitter controversy. + +But when he arrived at home and told his mother of his discovery she, +like the truly patriotic woman she was, became vastly disturbed. "You +may not rest idly here, Enoch, while such wrong is being done. Colonel +Allen should know of it at once. He rode past here but yesterday on his +way to Bennington, and gave us a cry. He asked for you, too," she said, +with pride, "and told me how well you carried yourself at training. +There is a council being held in town to-day, I believe, for I suspect +that Colonel Allen and Captain Warner have not been deceived by the +false promises of Governor Tryon. And this business at the Otter Creek +will wake up many of those who would cry 'Peace!' when there is no +peace. Bryce will saddle the horse for you, Enoch," she added, "and +while you eat I will prepare your best breeches and coat. You cannot +appear at the inn before the gentlemen in your old clothing." + +The careful woman bustled away and laid out her son's Sabbath suit and +his boughten shoes and, tired as Enoch was, he rode away toward +Bennington an hour after reaching the ox-bow farm. + +As his mother had declared, Colonel Allen and several other leaders were +in conference in Stephen Fay's private parlor, and when he had whispered +his story to the innkeeper, the latter brought him at once before the +gentlemen, rightly considering the matter of such importance as to brook +no delay in the telling. Never before had Enoch seen Ethan Allen in any +capacity but that of a leader in action. In the boy's mind he had ever +been connected with scenes of riot, or in the capacity of a commander on +training day. But it was a very serious looking group which surrounded +the table now, and the man at the head of the board lacked nothing in +dignity and stern bearing in comparison with the other members of the +committee. + +It was Allen, however, who turned from the subject under discussion and +beckoned Master Fay and Enoch nearer. "What have we here?" he asked. +"Something of moment, I warrant, from the look on Stephen's face. And +there is young Nuck Harding. Is aught amiss in your district, lad?" + +"Nay, Colonel," Enoch replied; "but I have been in the north and bring +back news that my mother was sure you would wish to hear at once. So I +rode over without delay to tell you, sir." + +"God bless the woman!" Allen exclaimed, heartily. "She's fighting away +there in the wilderness with her pack of babies in a way to make grown +men blush. I was by there but yesterday.... And what's the news you +bring, Nuck?" + +"The Yorkers have come back to the mill on Otter Creek." + +"What, sir?" cried Allen, leaping from his chair. + +"That's not to be believed," cried one of the others. "How know ye this, +boy?" + +Enoch told them, using few words; but the tremor in his voice showed the +depth of his feeling. The injury done the settlers--the treachery of the +Yorkers--had affected him as it had his mother. Allen listened with +marked attention, having dropped back into his wide-armed chair, but he +watched the boy's countenance the while. "Egad!" cried he when the story +was done, "there's a boy after my own heart. He knows when he sees a +snake in the brush!" Then he turned instantly to his companions. "We +will postpone this other matter, gentlemen. What we may do in the event +of his Majesty's placing other and more onerous burdens upon these +colonies, affects us not so nearly as what these New York Tories do to +us now. We have no standing either with the colonies or with the King; +we are outlaws, forsooth; our hand is against every man's and every +man's hand against us. Yet, belike in time the trouble between the King +and the colonies may be the salvation of the Hampshire Grants. + +"We have other business now. I am away at once, friends," he said, +rising again. "Do so to me and more also, if I allow more time than is +necessary to pass before I fall upon those Scotch scoundrels and smite +them hip and thigh! Send the word around, Stephen Fay. Let them that +will gather here. Be sure Warner knows of this; I will send for 'Member +myself. His company will be first ready, I have no doubt. 'Member's +wound is scarce yet healed, and the sting of it needs dressing," and he +laughed, knowing Captain Baker's fiery temper and his hatred of the +Yorkers who had served him so evilly that very spring. "Let it be known +that we start from Bennington by sunrise." + +Enoch returned home, more than a little puffed with pride because of +Colonel Allen's commendation and although he was too young to join the +party which, under Allen and Captain Baker, marched to punish the Scots +at Vergennes, he knew that his fortunate discovery would make him +something of a hero in the eyes of his mates. The Green Mountain Boys +fell upon the Scots unexpectedly, burned the cabins, pastured their +horses in the standing corn, broke the millstones to pieces, and drove +the New York settlers to Crown Point where they took shelter until the +land-speculator, Reid, could gain them transportation to other and more +honestly acquired lands. As for Reid himself, had he been overtaken by +the Grants men he certainly would have been "viewed"--a phrase used by +the Green Mountain Boys, meaning to be whipped. The settlement was, +however, for the time being abandoned by both parties, for it was so +deep in the wilderness that neither could properly defend it from +attack. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE WARNING + + +After his return from this hunting trip, Enoch Harding was forced to +neglect the training days on several occasions because of the increased +work at home. The harvest was soon upon them and nobly had the fields of +the ox-bow farm borne for the widow and her children. While they were +hard at work getting under cover, or in stack, the last of their crops, +the Manchester Convention was held, from which James Breckenridge and +Captain Jehiel Hawley were sent to London to represent the struggling +settlers, their former minister to the king, Samuel Robinson, having +died before accomplishing the work which he had so well begun. + +With the discovery that Governor Tryon's declaration of an armistice had +been an act of treachery, and that the Yorkers were likely to continue +their raids and seize the honestly purchased lands of the New Hampshire +settlers, as Colonel Reid had at Vergennes, the Hardings began to fear +the return of Simon Halpen again. But the summer and fall passed without +the little family being alarmed. With the snow came hog-killing, and +among pioneer people this season was usually one of rejoicing. In the +old times it had been a sort of festival, for with the first fall of +snow all danger from marauding bands of red men ceased. The Indians +would not send out war parties when every footstep would be plainly +visible to the white settlers. The pioneers longed for the snow as soon +as their scanty crops were out of the field, for they were safe then +until the spring. So instead of celebrating "harvest home" they rejoiced +at "hog killing time." + +The Hardings had quite a drove of hogs which ran wild in the forest +during the summer and fed on the mast in the fall. But every few days +the widow fed them near the hovel, so as to keep them in the habit of +coming home, and particularly to teach the youngsters where to come if +the old swine should be killed by bears or wild-cats. Now the whole +drove was brought up and "folded" and for two weeks every member of the +family was busy. During that time the bulk of their winter's meat was +salted down, the toothsome sausage made, and all the other delicacies +which old-fashioned folks knew so well how to prepare from the pig. +Somebody has said that at our present day abatoirs they can put to some +use every part of the animal but the pig's squeal; pioneer housewives +were almost as economical. + +When the hard work was over Mistress Harding allowed the children to +invite some of the neighborhood youngsters for an evening frolic and +such a gathering had not been enjoyed since the famous stump burning. +Enoch was nearly sixteen now and although Bryce was almost as tall as +his elder brother, the first named was broadening out wonderfully. Few +young men of Bennington under nineteen could have thrown Enoch in a +match of strength, and he had really become the head of the household. +But he was still enough of a boy to enjoy the party to the full. + +There was an old hovel near the house, but nearer the river bank, which +their father had first erected--even before building the house +itself--when he came to the ox-bow, and for years this hovel had +sheltered the cattle. But the fall before he died the pioneer had +erected a new and better stable and shed, quite handy to the house. The +children, therefore, had long considered this hovel their own especial +playhouse. At spare moments Enoch and Bryce built a stone and clay +chimney and laid a good hearth in the old structure, and now they +planned to have the party here, where they could do quite as they +pleased. + +The girls had scoured the woods for beech, hazel, and hickory nuts, and +Robbie Baker came over on his horse with nigh a bushel of peeled +chestnuts which his father brought him from Manchester way after the +first frost. Then, there were potatoes to roast and a wild turkey which +Nuck had shot two days before and hung in the smoke-house. The bird was +not plucked, but after being entrailed was stuffed with chestnuts to +give it a flavor and then rolled in the tub of sticky clay brought up +from the creek bottom. This great ball was put in the fire early so that +by supper-time it would be done to a turn. The pigs' tails had all been +saved and cleaned, too, and being likewise rolled in clay were baked in +the ashes. + +The girls had brought flour bread and made Johnny-cake, and although +there was no tablecloth, the long board table was roomy and fairly +groaned under the good things heaped upon it. The ball of mud, all hard +and red now and cracked like a badly burned brick, was rolled out upon +the hearth and Enoch broke it with one blow of the axe. The hard shell +fell apart and to the burned clay adhered every feather and pin-quill of +the great gobbler which would not have weighed an ounce less than +twenty-five pounds. And the flesh was done to a turn. + +In the midst of the good time, while the fun waxed furious, the door of +the hovel opened and there stood in the opening the tall, slim figure of +Crow Wing. As he had come unbidden to the stump burning, so he came now +unexpectedly to this frolic. The white children welcomed him +boisterously, for his people had moved away from the Walloomscoik and +for months he had not been seen near Bennington. But Crow Wing had +evidently not come to join in the merrymaking. His face was impassive +and much older in expression than it had been the year before. And in +his hair was a bunch of eagle feathers which showed that, to his own +people even, he was now a brave and no longer a boy. + +"Umph!" he grunted, drawing the blanket draped from his shoulders more +closely around him. "Harding--me talk to you!" He looked boldly at +Enoch, and the latter waving the others back, followed the Indian out of +the hovel. Without speaking or looking behind him Crow Wing led the +white boy to the riverside, and some distance from the hovel. There he +halted and pointed suddenly across the stream in the direction of that +place in the forest where Enoch had once seen the mysterious white man +sitting beside the campfire. + +"'Member?" asked Crow Wing, flashing a keen glance at the white boy. + +"The man in the woods!" exclaimed Enoch. "You wish to tell me something +about him?" + +"Umph! He come again. Look out. Crow Wing tell you, because white boy +strong--know how to fight. Watch 'em sharp!" and with this brief +declaration the Indian youth strode away and the astonished Enoch +watched him disappear in the tall brush along the creek bank. He went +back to the merry party at the hovel with a heavy heart and not until +after the last of the visitors had gone home--the boys swinging pine +torches and giving the warwhoop to scare off any lurking wolves or +catamounts--did Enoch find opportunity to tell his mother of Crow Wing's +warning. + +"Simon Halpen is surely coming to evict us," he declared. "I am sure it +was he I saw in the forest last year. And now, taking advantage of our +being lulled by hopes of peace, he will try to strike an unexpected blow +as Colonel Reid did." + +"The neighbors will help us," the widow said. + +"But suppose he comes with a big force? And we cannot expect the +neighbors to neglect their own homes," said Enoch. "I will try and see +Captain Baker, if you think it best, mother." + +"Captain Baker will help us. He knows how hard it would be if the +Yorkers stripped us of our all. He is a kind-hearted man, though often +rude and fretful." + +"Well, marm, he has cause to be fretful," said Enoch. "Perhaps we can +get a few of the boys to stay with us nights for awhile." + +And this they did, for Captain Baker sent three or four sturdy Green +Mountain Boys around to the widow's farm every night for a week. But the +Yorker and his crew did not appear. At this time, when he might have +been of such assistance to them, 'Siah Bolderwood was away. He had +recently bought a track of land on the lake shore not far from Old Ti +and had gone to look it over and build some sort of a camp there, thus +utilizing his time to good advantage before the trapping season began. + +Even after their fears were lulled, either Enoch or Bryce remained +always in sight of the house. But about a fortnight after the +hog-killing frolic an incident occurred which served to take both Bryce +and Enoch away from the cabin. There had been a second fall of snow and +the nights were becoming very cold. But all the wild animals had not yet +sought their winter sleeping quarters, for there descended upon the +Hardings' hog-pen an old bear who evidently desired one more meal of +succulent pork before retiring to his burrow. The remaining swine were +shut up now in a close yard of logs; but the bear got over that fence +with ease. + +The trouble occurred in the early morning and aroused by the clamor +Enoch, despite the inch or two of snow on the ground, grabbed the rifle +and ran out just as he got out of bed and without shoes or stockings. +But when he saw the huge bear seeking to climb out of the enclosure, +hugging a lively shote to his furry breast, the boy was not likely to +notice the cold and snow. He climbed the end logs of the hog-pen himself +so as to get a shot at the marauder, and rested the rifle on the top +rail; but the logs were slippery and just as he pulled the trigger he +went down himself and the charge flew high over the bear's head, while +Enoch sprawled most ungracefully on the ground. + +The old bear uttered a wild "oof-oof!" and without trying to climb the +barrier again, flung his huge body against it and a length of the fence +went down with a crash. By this time Bryce, who had kept the old musket +by his side since Crow Wing's warning, and slept in the loft, was +aroused by the disturbance, and he pushed up the corner of the bark roof +and blazed away at the beast just as it scrambled through the wreck of +the hog fence. The bear had continued to cling to the squealing and +kicking shote, for bruin is a strangely perverse and obstinate creature, +unwilling to give up what he has once set his mind upon. There was a +wild shriek of agony from the poor pig and when the bear moved clumsily +away still clinging to the porker there was a broad trail of blood on +the snow. + +"I shot him! I shot him!" yelled Bryce, dodging down into the loft and +beginning to hastily pull on his breeches. But when he came down-stairs +Enoch had returned to the house and was calmly dressing. "Why didn't ye +foller him?" demanded the younger boy. "He's bad wounded. He'd dropped +that shote in a minute." + +"You killed the shote all right," said Enoch in disgust. "Neither of the +shots touched the bear at all. There's no use chasing after the critter +now. We'll wait till after breakfast. He won't go far, lugging that +shote." + +The bear was fat and in the best possible condition for salting down for +winter use. So even Mrs. Harding had no objection to make when the boys +started after breakfast to follow the trail. She herself, with the help +of the younger children, collected the hogs in the pen again and put up +the log fence. Meanwhile Nuck and Bryce found that the bear had made for +a piece of swamp about two miles away. The swamp was close grown with +saplings and brush, while here and there a monster tree shot skyward. +Some of these big trees were so old that they had become hollow and +without doubt there was more than one lair of wild creatures in the +swamp. + +But it was easy enough to follow the early morning visitor to the cabin. +After carrying the shote into the edge of the swamp, bruin had stopped +and made a hasty meal upon the porker. Indeed the boys, who started on +his trail scarcely two hours after the raid had been committed, +undoubtedly disturbed him at his repast. The shote was not completely +eaten when they found the bear's breakfast-table. "It is a mighty big +bear anyway," Bryce declared, looking at the marks of the marauder's +feet. "He couldn't have brought that pig so far if he hadn't been." + +"He warn't big enough for you to hit," said Nuck, slyly. + +"Huh! guess you can't crow any," responded the younger boy. "You missed +him good and wide, too." + +They hurried on then, easily tracking the big, human-like spoor of the +bear in the soil which here was not frozen. Indeed, in some places they +"slumped in" rather deeply. The bear seemed to have picked out his path +by instinct. But he could not hide his trail and before long the hunters +came to a huge tree standing amid a clump of brush on the top of a +hillock. The high ground was surrounded by water and rather hard to come +at; but the boys were determined to get the bear after chasing it so +far. They approached with caution, however, Enoch making Bryce remain in +the rear. + +"If I fire and don't kill him you must be in reserve with your gun," he +whispered cautiously. "He'd be an ugly customer if he turned on us. He's +as big as a steer." + +"Huh! who's afraid?" demanded Bryce. + +"Jest you remember how father was killed," Enoch said, gravely. "Who'd +ha' believed a bull-deer could kill an old hunter like him? You do as I +say!" + +So Bryce dropped behind and watched his brother crawl up the side of the +hummock with infinite caution, parting the brush with the barrel of his +rifle, which he held in readiness to use at any instant. Suddenly, from +the heart of the brush clump, there sounded an angry growl. The bear was +not to be taken unawares. And when a big bear growls in anger the sound +is hair-raising to the uninitiated. Bryce felt a chill in the region of +his spine and if his old cap did not actually rise off his head, it +certainly felt as though it would. He was to one side of Nuck's position +so as not to get his brother between him and the bear should the +creature come forth, and suddenly he saw the shaggy head and shoulders +of the beast rise up over the brush. It looked enormous and when the +bear opened its jaws, and displayed its great teeth and blood-red gums, +it was indeed a fearsome spectacle. + +"Shoot him! shoot him!" exclaimed Bryce, excitedly. But Nuck remained +comparatively cool--at least, to all appearance. He stood up, too, with +the rifle at his shoulder. The bear stretched wide his great fore-paws +and plunged forward to seize the boy; but the rifle spoke and the smoke +of the piece hid the creature for a moment. + +When the cloud passed there was a great commotion in the brush, and +Bryce saw that Nuck had darted back several paces and was rapidly +loading his gun again. The younger boy could not see the bear; but it +was badly wounded without doubt. The thrashing in the brush told that. +Recovering his courage he pushed forward and finally saw the huge brown +body on the ground, writhing in the muscular activity which follows +death. The charge of Nuck's rifle had reached a vital spot. + +But something more Bryce saw. A second bear had followed the dead one +from the hollow tree, and the boy observed this one whisk back into the +dark opening between two roots. The tree was all of a dozen feet in +circumference and there was doubtless a good-sized cavity in the tall +trunk. "Come on! come on!" cried Bryce, excitedly. "Here's another, +Nuck." + +"Have a care, boy!" responded the older lad. "Don't go too near. It may +turn on us." He hastily finished the loading of his rifle and came up +the hill again. They could see the entrance to the lair plainly; but no +sight could they get of the second bear. Bryce brought a handful of +clods and flung one after another into the hole in the tree. The bear +did not even growl, so they were pretty sure that the missiles had not +reached it. "He's climbed up inside," declared Nuck. "I warrant that +tree's holler up to the first crotch." + +"What'll we do?" demanded Bryce. "You shot that one, Nuck. Now I wanter +git the other, before we go home." + +"We'll smoke him out," declared the elder brother. "You stay right here +and watch, and I'll get some wood." Nuck had brought a tomahawk which, +with his skinning knife, was thrust into his belt. With the hatchet he +obtained dry branches from the lower limbs of some spruce-trees which +grew near, and packed a big fagot through the mire to the hillock where +Bryce stood guard. This wood he flung into the mouth of the lair, +started the fire with his flint and steel, and when the flames began to +wreathe the branches hungrily, he flung on leaves and grass to make a +"smudge." His suspicions regarding the hollowness of the tree proved +true, for the draft through the hollow hole acted like a chimney and +sucked the smoke upward. It began to wreathe out between the first +limbs, some thirty feet or more from the ground. + +Suddenly there was a great clatter and scraping of claws inside the tree +and then there popped out between the branches the head and shoulders of +a smaller bear than the one which now lay still in the bushes. "Wait +till he gits out!" shouted Nuck, as the excited Bryce raised his musket. +"If you shoot him there he'll tumble back into the hole." + +Bryce was cool enough to see the wisdom of this advice and stay his +hand. But in a moment the bear was completely out and then he fired. The +bullet struck home and the bear lost its hold upon the limbs and dropped +to the ground, landing with fearful force at the roots of the tree. But +it was not dead and after a moment's struggle, got upon its feet again. +But the shock had dazed it and for a little it could neither see its +assailants nor find any means of escape. Nuck ran in, placed the muzzle +of his rifle within a foot of the creature, and finished it off with +despatch. + +Bryce was dancing about and yelling like a wild Indian; but it was not +for joy over the death of this second bear. He was pointing on high and +Nuck looked upward to see a third bear in the tree-top. This one had +followed the second out of the hollow trunk and was mounting among the +branches with great agility. The smoke pouring up through the hollow had +driven the whole family into the open air. The Hardings reloaded their +guns with despatch and then, on either side of the tree, fired at the +remaining bear. Both bullets went true, but in falling the bear became +wedged in the crotch of a big limb and Nuck, throwing aside his shoes +and stockings, essayed to climb the trunk to push the dead beast off to +the ground. + +This was no simple matter, for all he had to cling to were the knots and +"warts" on the side of the trunk. It was almost like climbing up the +wall of a house. But he reached the first crotch finally and after +resting a spell, found the remainder of the climb easy enough. Before he +pushed the carcass of the bear out of its resting-place he took an +observation of the forest, for he was high above the swamp here and +could see beyond the creek. In some way they would have to get the +carcasses to the creek bank and transport them to the cabin by canoe. It +would be no easy task. + +And as he scanned the stretch of river which he could see from his high +perch he suddenly observed something which almost caused him to lose his +hold upon the tree and fall, like the bear, to the ground. Coming up the +stream were two canoes, each paddled by a couple of Indians, and with +three white men in each craft. Even at that distance Enoch knew them to +be strangers, and they were not a hunting party. Naturally his mind +reverted to the warning Crow Wing had brought him a fortnight before, +and without stopping to dislodge the dead bear, he descended the tree in +utmost haste. + +"Why don't you push the bear off?" shouted Bryce from below. + +Nuck leaned over and placed his finger on his lips, shaking his head +warningly. Then he slid down the remainder of the way, falling in a heap +on the carcass of the second bear. "Quick!" he gasped, seizing his shoes +and stockings. "They're coming." + +"What's coming?" + +"The Yorkers. I seen 'em on the river. Two canoes full." + +"Simon Halpen!" exclaimed the younger boy, his face blanching. + +"I don't know. Couldn't tell any of 'em so far away. But they be'n't +Bennington men, that's sure." Nuck was hastily pulling on his stockings. +"You run back and tell mother. I'll watch 'em till they land and see +what they intend to do." + +"But the bears----" began Bryce. + +"We'll have to leave 'em. That one in the tree will be all right for a +while for sure. Now hurry." + +Bryce obeyed at once and a moment later the elder boy started off in the +other direction for the bank of the creek. He ran carefully, however, so +as not to make any noise and thus warn the canoe party of his presence. +In half an hour he was abreast of the boats, for they progressed but +slowly up the stream. Here he had a good view of the men. In the first +canoe he saw Crow Wing and another young Indian of his tribe, while the +paddlers in the second were likewise Iroquois. The white men were +Yorkers he was sure, and all were heavily armed. + +As he scrutinized the whites his eyes rested finally on one man in the +leading canoe whom he was sure he had seen before. He could not mistake +that lean, dark face and hooked nose. Whether or not it was the person +he had seen in the wood the day of Sheriff Ten Eyck's fiasco at the +Breckenridge farm, he was certain of the man's identity. It was Simon +Halpen who, under a New York patent, claimed territory on the +Walloomscoik, a part of which the Harding farm was. + +Dodging from tree to tree, the boy followed the canoes and finally, +before they came in sight of the Harding house, saw the party land. The +Indians remained with the canoes; but the white men disembarked with +considerable baggage. One of the men carried a surveyor's instrument, +while a second bore a chain. Halpen led them and when he had seen the +party strike into the forest in the direction of the house, Enoch sped +away on a parallel trail and headed them off, arriving first at the +destination. + +He found that his mother and the children had already put up the +shutters and made ready to receive the Yorkers. The cattle were shut in +the yard surrounding the barn and the smaller children were put in their +mother's bed to be out of the way. Bryce went into the loft where he +could watch for the appearance of the enemy; but Enoch remained outside +the door, his rifle in the hollow of his arm, ready to parley with the +Yorkers who soon were reported by Bryce as coming through the lower +fields. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AN UNEQUAL BATTLE + + +A masterful spirit had entered into Enoch Harding during the past few +months. He was no longer a child; he thought and acted as a man in many +things. Now, with this danger threatening them all, he did not shrink +from the ordeal, and none might know his inmost feelings from the +expression of his face. He did not speak to his mother, nor did she seek +to advise him. Long before they had talked this emergency over, and it +had been agreed that the homestead must and should be defended even to +the point of firing on the Yorkers who might come to dispossess them. +The legal authority claimed by Simon Halpen was not recognized in the +Grants and did the Hardings put themselves in Halpen's power by agreeing +to let the New York authorities arbitrate the matter, they would lose +all that they had toiled and suffered for during the past ten years. + +The widow saw that the windows of the cabin were shuttered and that +Bryce had both powder and bullets beside him in the loft. Then she went +into her own chamber and falling upon her knees prayed as only a mother +can whose children are in bodily and imminent danger. How far the +Yorkers would dare go--to what lengths Halpen might force the fight for +the ox-bow farm--it was impossible even to imagine. He was a cruel and +unscrupulous man, but he had already had a taste of the temper of the +Bennington settlers and perhaps the remembrance of the beech-sealing +which had been dealt out to him two years and more before, would make +him chary of coming to blows. + +Soon the six Yorkers appeared around the corner of the log fence which +enclosed the cattleyard. Four of them, including Halpen, were armed with +guns. The surveyor and his assistant carried their tools only, and +walked in the rear of the more warlike quartette. Their leader, his +lean, black face clouded by a threatening scowl, strode across the home +lot and approached the cabin door. His beady eyes glittered and when he +was enraged his hooked nose seemed to glow a dull red beneath the dusky +skin, like a half-heated iron. + +Simon Halpen was much better dressed than the citizens of Bennington +were apt to be, and he carried himself haughtily. His hair was done +carefully and the queue tied with a silk ribbon. His rifle was +silver-mounted and his powder-horn was partly of silver filagree work. +In every way--dress, accoutrements and manner--he bore out the account +the Hardings had received of him, that he was a wealthy and proud man. +The three other armed men were fellows of the baser sort, hired at +Albany for the purpose of driving the widow and her children from their +home. + +[Illustration: THE BOY STOOD LIKE A STATUE] + +Enoch Harding thought this as he saw the party approach, and his heart +beat faster while his cheeks were dyed with crimson. Should these men +march up and deprive his mother and brothers and sisters of their home? +Not as long as he held a gun and had powder and shot with which to load +it! The fearful thought of shooting down one or more of these men in +cold blood did not shock him now. The bitterness which filled his heart +against Simon Halpen overbore any other emotion. He raised his rifle +threateningly and cried aloud: "Halt there--halt I say! What d'ye want +on our land?" + +The three retainers of Halpen, as well as the surveyor and his +'prentice, halted instantly, but Simon strode on, his eyes blazing and +his great nose growing ruddier as his rage increased. "Your land--your +land, forsooth!" he exclaimed. "I'll teach ye better than that, ye young +viper!" + +Instantly Enoch had his rifle to his shoulder and had drawn bead upon +the Yorker. The muzzle of the weapon covered Halpen's heart. The boy +stood like a statue--there was no trembling to his young arms. "Back! If +you come a yard nearer I will fire!" he cried. He did not recognize his +own voice, but Halpen heard him plainly and was impressed with his +earnestness. He stopped suddenly, half raising his own gun. "Don't do +that!" cried Enoch, instantly. "Keep your gun down. Why, I have but to +press this trigger and you will drop where you are! Be warned." + +"Hi, captain," growled one of his supporters, "the little varmint means +it. Have a care." + +"You--you----" Halpen only sputtered for a moment. He could not find +words to properly express his rage. "I believe on my life, he would +shoot me." + +"I certainly will, Master Simon Halpen, if you come nearer. You are +quite near enough. You have come here for no good purpose. We own this +land--my father paid for it and has improved it. He may be dead, but we +will show you how we can defend the place from you Yorkers." + +"You crow loud, my young cock-o'-th'-walk!" exclaimed Simon Halpen, yet +seeking to come no nearer the boy. "But you cannot hope to stand before +his Majesty's officers--though some of you vagabond Whigs have become +bold of late. Know ye that I bear authority from the loyal governor of +his Majesty's Colony of New York, to turn you off this land, which is +mine and has been mine for these six years." + +"And I have told you that you cannot come here and drive us off, for we +shall fight ye!" declared Enoch, his anger rising. "And what be more, +Master Halpen, though ye might succeed in driving us off, ye could not +hold this land. It is too near Bennington, and ye know well what sort of +men Bennington folk are, and what they would do to you." + +At this reminder of his former embarrassment, when caught by the +neighbors and "viewed," Simon Halpen flew into a towering rage. He shook +his rifle in the air as he berated the fearless youth. "Have a care with +that gun, Master Halpen," said Enoch, "for it might go off by accident. +And if such a thing should happen I would shoot you down--'deed and I +would!" + +This warning cooled the man's ardor somewhat. For a full minute he stood +silent eyeing Enoch from under his shaggy brows. "Would you dare flout +me to my face?" he demanded. + +"I dare keep my rights here, Master Halpen, as my father did before me," +said Enoch, his voice trembling for the first time. And at the mention +of the dead and gone Jonas Harding more than Enoch were moved. Halpen's +manner changed; his face paled perceptibly; the fire died out of his +eyes and his nose no longer glowed. He dropped his head and half turned +as though to leave the spot. + +But suddenly one of his retainers stepped forward and whispered in his +ear. The whisper brought the leader to his old mind. His head came up +and he flashed a look of bitter hatred at Enoch. He nodded to the man +who had spoken and instantly the three armed retainers began to quietly +spread out as though to surround the house. "I'll parley no longer with +you, my lad," Halpen said, shortly. "This land is mine and you are +naught but squatters on it. And as such you shall be put off, or my name +is not Simon Halpen!" + +Quick as thought Enoch darted backward to the house, for he had noted +the action of the three men. "It is fighting you want, then, Master +Halpen?" cried the boy, shrilly. "And you will get bullets instead of +fair words if you press us--now I tell ye that! This is our home and we +shall fight for it." + +"Stop the young rascal!" roared Halpen, raising his gun now in earnest, +when he saw that Enoch no longer had him "covered." But the boy dodged +into the house and slammed to the heavy door. As he did so a bullet +buried itself in the door frame. Halpen had actually fired. + +The widow herself dropped the bars into place, for she had come out of +her chamber and heard the conversation between her son and the Yorker. +Now Enoch ran to one of the loopholes from which he could observe the +movements of the man who had shot at him in so cowardly a manner. He saw +that the surveyor, who had thus far kept in the background, was +expostulating with the angry man. He could not hear what they said, but +it was evident that the surveyor was a man of some conscience and could +not see such murderous actions without striving to put Halpen in better +mind. But the latter shook him off in rage and loaded his gun again. The +house was now surrounded by the four armed men and the three +understrappers were only waiting Halpen's command to fire. + +"Shall I shoot him? shall I shoot him?" cried Bryce, from the loft. + +"Hold your fire!" commanded Enoch. "You may have blood on your hands +yet, if you be not careful." + +"But he fired at you." + +"And a poor job he made of it. We will not fire unless we are forced +to." + +His mother said never a word. She went into her chamber again and with +the girls and little Harry crouched upon the bed. But she glanced +frequently from the loophole to observe the movements of the Yorker upon +that side of the clearing. + +By and by Halpen raised his voice and addressed the besieged. "Open the +door and come out, or we will batter it down. And it will go hard with +you then, I warrant! If you give up the place peaceably you may cart +away your household stuff and the cattle and hogs. I'll not be too hard +on you." + +"If you come near this door I will send a bullet through your black +heart!" was Enoch's reply, poking the muzzle of his rifle through the +loophole beside which he stood. + +The widow came running from the chamber. "Enoch! Enoch!" she cried, in +horror. "Would you kill him?" + +"He killed my father!" cried the boy, before he thought what explanation +of his secret suspicions that remark might necessitate. + +"The child is mad!" she murmured, after staring at him a full minute. +"You do not know what you say, Enoch. Master Halpen had naught to do +with your poor father's death." + +But Enoch had not to reply. A cry came from Bryce in the loft. "Look at +that! Look at that!" he shouted, with excitement. "I just will shoot +him!" + +And then his old musket spoke. There was a yell from without. Enoch +thought Simon Halpen himself had been shot, but the Yorker only ran +around the end of the cabin to where one of his men stood howling like a +wolf, and holding on to his swinging arm. + +"I've broke his arm!" declared Bryce, proudly, coming to the head of the +ladder. "He was flinging blazing clods on the roof." + +"What shall we do?" gasped the mother. "My boys will be murderers." + +"I'll kill them all before they'll harm you, mother," declared young +Bryce, very proud indeed that he had hit the mark, but secretly +delighted as well that he had done the villainous Yorker no serious +damage. + +But the moment after, he shrieked aloud and came again to the top of the +ladder. His face was blanched. "Oh, oh! they've done it--they've done +it!" he cried. "The roof is afire. Don't you smell it?" + +Enoch could not believe that this horror was true until he had run up to +the loft. The red flames were already showing at the edge of the house +wall, and the crackling without told him that the bark and binders of +the roof were burning fiercely. "Tear it off!" he shouted, and dropping +his rifle he seized a length of sawed scantling which his father had +brought from the mill, and began to break up the burning roof and cast +it off. But as it fell to the ground against the house, soon the logs +outside were afire. The dwelling was indeed imperiled. + +"Come out! come out!" shouted Simon Halpen's voice. "The hut will burn +to the ground an' ye'll burn with it. Ye'll go to Albany jail for this, +every last one of ye!" + +"Let me shoot him, mother!" cried Bryce, doubly excited now. "He'll +never take you to jail." + +"Come down from the loft, Bryce," the widow commanded, calmly. "Nothing +can save the cabin now." + +The children were crying with fear. The red flames began to lick the +edges of the shutters and the door frame was afire. If they escaped they +must pass through a wall of flame. The men outside, frightened by the +result of their awful act, were shouting orders and berating each other +madly. Yet none dared come too near, for they feared the guns of the +defenders of the homestead. Enoch for the moment completely lost his +head and stood as one daft. + +But his mother was not so. Swiftly did she sweep aside the ashes on the +hearth. Then of her own exertions she lifted on its edge the flat stone +which covered the underground apartment. There was the ladder the boys +had made leading down into the cool depths. "Down with you--all!" she +commanded, seizing little Harry first and thrusting his feet upon the +ladder. + +"Oh, we'll smother down there, mother!" cried Kate. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed the widow, yet with shaking voice. "Do you think +mother would tell you to do anything that would hurt you?" + +But though she encouraged them to descend, in her own mind she was +simply choosing the lesser of two terrible evils. The girls and Harry +descended quickly; but she had to fairly force Bryce down. He wanted to +stay and fight, and he clung to the old musket desperately. Although the +tears were running down his face, he was made of the stuff which holds +the soldier, though frightened, to his post. + +"Go down yourself, mother," Enoch said, recovering his presence of mind +and speaking calmly now. "I will follow you and drop the stone into +place. But first I want to look out----" + +He ran to the loophole, through which the smoke was now pouring. But +after a moment there was a break in the cloud and he saw the group of +frightened Yorkers plainly. They stood not many rods away and poking his +rifle through the hole, he aimed at the villainous Halpen and, pulling +the trigger, ran back to the hearth before the echo of the shot died +away. Down the ladder he darted, dropping the heavy hearthstone into +place, and leaving the cabin which for so many years had been their +home, to be consumed above their heads. But his heart sank when he found +how closely the six packed the tiny room and realized how little air +reached them down here in the earth. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BACKWOODS JUSTICE + + +At daybreak on this very morning when the Yorkers attacked the Harding +place, 'Siah Bolderwood returning from the direction of Old Ti, suddenly +came upon a little glade on the bank of the Walloomscoik Creek. With the +instinct long gained by his life as hunter and woodsman, he never +crossed an open space in the forest without examining it well. In this +glade he saw, at first glance, the signs of recent occupancy. The +smouldering ashes of a campfire and the marks on the creek bank told him +that a canoe party had camped there during the night and that they had +been under way but shortly. Making sure that they were now out of sight +he more closely examined the spot. The party numbered at least half a +dozen, and there had been two canoes. He had come up the creek bank +himself; therefore, not having seen the strangers, they had gone on +ahead of him. Five miles or so up the stream lay the ox-bow at which his +old friend Jonas Harding settled when he came into the Disputed Grounds, +and where the widow and her brood now lived. After examining the camp he +quickened his step toward the Harding place. + +A mile further on, however, he heard the stroke of paddles and the sound +of men's voices. He would have gone to the fringed river bank and peered +out upon the stream had not a figure suddenly risen before him as though +from the ground itself and barred his way. "How d'ye, Crow Wing!" he +exclaimed, yet showing no surprise at the Indian youth's appearance. The +latter bore a brace of rabbits on his gun and Bolderwood guessed that he +belonged to the canoe party and had left them to get this game for their +dinner. + +"Umph!" returned the Indian and looked at him stolidly. + +"Your people?" asked the ranger, with a gesture toward the river. + +"Umph!" was the reply. It might have meant yes or no. Crow Wing seemed +undecided. "Why you no at Hardings?" he demanded finally. + +"I'm bound that a-way now," said the white man. + +"Hunting?" grunted Crow Wing. + +"Been up to Old Ti. Bought some land up there." + +Crow Wing seemed about to pass on. But over his shoulder he said: "You +go to Hardings' farm. They want you--mebbe." + +"What for?" + +The Indian shrugged his shoulders and walked on. But Bolderwood strode +after him. "What's going on?" he asked, anxiously. "Who's that out +yonder?" nodding again toward the creek. + +"Umph! Men hire Crow Wing to paddle canoe. They go to Hardings'." + +"Yorkers!" exclaimed Bolderwood. + +But the Indian youth said no more and quickly disappeared in the bushes +which overhung the creek. The ranger hesitated a moment, appeared to +think of following him, and then turned abruptly and plunged into the +forest on a course diagonal from the river. Therefore, when Nuck and +Bryce were fighting the bears in the swamp he did not hear their guns, +being by that time some miles away and striding rapidly toward +Arlington. He had suspected the truth and instead of wasting time +observing the party of which Crow Wing was a member, he had it in his +mind to rouse the neighbors to go to the aid of the widow and her +children. After the affair at Otter Creek, which he was sorry indeed to +have missed, Bolderwood had expected something like the present raid. +He, like the Hardings, believed that Simon Halpen would find the time +ripe for the carrying out of his nefarious designs. + +It was the season of the year when the farm work having been completed, +the pioneers felt free to go about more, and hunting was popular. Many +men were off with their rifles; but Bolderwood picked up some half dozen +determined fellows and hastened back to the Harding place. While yet +some distance away they heard a rifle shot and so disturbed was the +ranger by this, that he started on the run for the ox-bow farm, and was +far ahead of his friends when he broke cover at the edge of the forest +and beheld the cabin. + +His horror and despair when he saw the house wrapped in flames and the +Yorkers running across the fields toward the river, knew no bounds. Yet +even then he did not suppose that the widow and her family were within +the burning dwelling. He presumed they must be hiding in the +outbuildings and he ran on after the fleeing Yorkers, thinking only to +take vengeance upon them for their wanton cruelty in burning down the +poor woman's house at the beginning of winter. + +One man kept turning back to look at the blazing structure which was now +more than half consumed; and this fellow the ranger quickly overtook. It +was the surveyor and he was wringing his hands and weeping as he ran. +Bolderwood dashed past him without a word, seeing plainly that he was +not armed and was sore frightened. "I'll attend to your case later," the +ranger muttered, and spurred on after the rest of the party. But they +were too quick for him, and having reached the bank of the creek leaped +into their canoes and the Indians pushed off. The fear of what they had +done pressed them hard and they had run like madmen from their single +pursuer. Now at an order from Halpen the Indians stolidly paddled down +the river again and were quickly out of sight around the nearest bend in +the stream. + +Bolderwood went back and found the surveyor prone upon the ground and +weeping like a woman. "Get up, you great ca'f!" cried the ranger. +"Nobody'll kill you for your part in this matter though you desarve +little mercy.... Was that Simon Halpen?" + +"It was indeed--the demon!" gasped the fellow, dragged unceremoniously +to his feet by the borderer. + +"If he ever comes into this colony again I doubt but he'll be hung as +high as Haman," Bolderwood declared. "And you were the surveyor, eh? One +of Duane & Kempe's men? Well, sir, your back will be well tickled, or my +name's not 'Siah Bolderwood! But bear up, man--'tis no killing +punishment." + +"What, sir?" cried the fellow. "Do you think I weep because of your +promised punishment? I fear you not--I am a leal subject of the King and +peaceful. You cannot touch me. But I weep because of the work that +dastard has done this day." + +"What do you mean?" cried Bolderwood, fiercely. "Where is the woman and +her bairns?" + +The surveyor pointed a shaking finger at the cabin, the smoking walls of +which were now all that were standing. "They are there. Wait! let me +tell you. I had nothing to do with the dreadful work. Nor, indeed, did +Simon Halpen mean to destroy the house and the poor woman and children. +They meant to burn the roof off to scare them out, and one man threw +burning clods on it. But those inside tore off the flaming roof and it +fell all around the cabin and set the walls afire. They dared not run +out through that wall of flame and smothered to death they were--God +pity them!" and he began to weep aloud again. + +Bolderwood was speechless--well-nigh overcome, indeed, with the horror +of this. He saw his friends appear from the wood on the other side of +the house and he walked toward them like one in a dream. But still he +clung to the surveyor's arm and forced him to approach the cabin. The +roof had, of course, been completely consumed, and the outside of the +walls was blackened and still blazed fiercely at the corners. The window +shutters and door were burned away and the interior of the place was +badly demolished. + +"Where's the widder and the boys?" shouted one of the newcomers to +Bolderwood. The old ranger did not answer, but his hand tightened upon +the surveyor's arm. Suddenly the latter shrieked and would have fallen +to the ground had not the grasp upheld him. In the door of the burning +cabin stood the figure of Enoch Harding, his face covered with smut and +his clothing half burned off his back. For a moment the surveyor +believed the dead had risen and he covered his face with his hands to +shut out the sight of the boy. + +"Are ye all alive, lad?" shouted Bolderwood, dropping the surveyor and +running forward. + +"We're all right, but well-nigh smothered," returned Enoch, hoarsely. +"Bring--bring some water!" + +He staggered out of the cabin and fell upon the ground. In a moment the +surprised neighbors were running with buckets and pans from the well, +for Mistress Harding's milk vessels had been left to dry outside the +springhouse. Bolderwood took it upon himself to revive the +half-strangled Enoch, while the others dashed water over the smouldering +interior of the cabin, putting out the fire on the floor which was +burning briskly, and finally being able to draw the widow and the +smaller children from the secret room under the hearth and carry them to +the outer air. Here they quickly revived and Mistress Harding with the +girls and little Harry took shelter in one of the hovels. + +The destruction of the cabin was practically complete. There was not a +log that was not charred, and the interior furnishings of the house were +ruined. The kind-hearted neighbors saved the chests of bedclothing and +the family's best garments, for the flames had not gotten at them. But +everything was sadly smoked. And the house would have to be torn down +and rebuilt with new timber throughout. It was a sad spectacle indeed +for Enoch and Bryce to look upon. "I wish I had shot them all!" cried +the latter in a rage. But Enoch said nothing. He would not whisper how +his anger had made him aim to kill Simon Halpen. Now, in cool blood, he +was glad that the bullet had not sped true. + +But the condition of the house filled him with despair. Winter was at +hand and it would be next to impossible to build a good house before +spring, although the timbers could be drawn and squared while the snow +was on the ground. What would they do for a shelter until then? "We'll +make yonder hovel that you boys play in, all tight and warm for the +winter, Nuck," Bolderwood observed, seeing the tears running down the +boy's cheeks. "Don't cry about it. And we'll have up a better house than +this in the spring, lad. The neighbors will all help ye." + +Meanwhile, however, Bolderwood had kept his eye upon the surveyor. The +latter, seeing that the family had been so miraculously saved from the +fire, sought to get away while the men were saving those goods which +were unconsumed. But Bolderwood was after him with mighty strides and +dragged him back, a prisoner. "Nay, friend, you'll be needed here as a +witness," he said, grimly. "We don't allow such gentry as you in the +Hampshire Grants without presenting you with a token of our respect and +consideration. Ha!" he added, suddenly, "whom have we here?" + +A horseman rode quickly out of the wood and approached the burned cabin. +Before he pulled in his steed the men welcomed him vociferously, for it +was Captain Baker. "Look at this, 'Member!" cried Bolderwood, dragging +the trembling surveyor forward. "What a sight this is to blister the +eyes of decent men! A poor widder's house burned about her ears and only +by the mercy of God were she and her youngsters saved." + +"The villains!" roared Baker. "And is that one of them?" + +"He was with the party. But I truly believe that he had little to do +with this dastardly work. He's only a poor surveyor body." + +"We'll find shelter with some neighbor for Mistress Harding and the +little ones," said Baker, "and then attend to his case without delay." + +But the widow was not minded to leave her homestead. It was not yet very +cold and the hovel in which the children had had their frolic a +fortnight before was easily made comfortable for the family. She set +about this at once while Captain Baker and the neighbors sat in judgment +upon the trembling surveyor. These impromptu courts held by the Green +Mountain Boys when they happened to capture a Yorker guilty of meddling +with the settlers, were in the nature of a court martial. Sometimes the +sentences imposed were doubtless unjust, for the judges and juries were +naturally bitter against the prisoners; but the punishment seldom went +beyond a sound whipping, and in this case the surveyor, still sputtering +and objecting to the illegal procedure, was sentenced to two score +lashes, save one, and Enoch and Bryce selected the blue beech wands with +which the sentence was to be carried out. + +The surveyor was taken behind the log barn, his coat and shirt stripped +from his back, and Bolderwood and one of the other neighbors fulfilled +the order of Captain Baker as judge of the military court. Bolderwood, +remembering the tears the prisoner had shed when he thought the family +burned alive, could not be too hard upon him, and although the woodsman +made every appearance of striking tremendous blows, he scarce raised a +welt upon the man's back. But when the other executioner laid on for the +last nineteen strokes, the surveyor roared with pain and without doubt +the lesson was one which did him good. It would be many a day before he +ventured to survey the lands east of the Twenty-Mile Line--at least, not +until his back stopped smarting. Finally he was given his clothing, and +part of the band marched him across country to the New York border and +turned him loose. + +The attack of Simon Halpen upon the Hardings had practically failed. Yet +the loss of their home was a sore blow. In a couple of days, with the +help of Bolderwood, the old hovel was made very habitable. But it was +small and so many of their possessions had been burned that even Bryce +cried about it. Nevertheless their supply of food was all right, and the +cattle had not been injured. Also, with Bolderwood's assistance, the +three bears which the boys had so happily killed, were brought home, the +hams smoked, some of the meat salted, and the pelts stretched and dried +for winter bed coverings. By the time the snow lay deep upon the earth +the Hardings were once more comfortable. + +The boys did very little trapping and hunting that winter of '72-'73 for +they could not attend to traps set very far from the ox-bow, and the +Walloomscoik country was becoming scarce of game. 'Siah Bolderwood did +not go back to Old Ti, either, but contented himself with making short +hunting trips around the lower part of the lake, for he spent all the +time he could spare in helping the widow and her boys to get the timber +ready for their new abode. Enoch and Bryce were determined that this new +structure should be much better than the log cabin which their father +had erected ten years before, and every timber dragged to the site by +the slow moving oxen was squared with the broad ax and carefully fitted +so as to "lock" at the corners. Some planks were sawed at the mill and +sledded to the ox-bow on the ice, too, and when the plaintive call of +the muckawis--the Indian name for the "whip-poor-will,"--ushered in the +spring, a noble company of Green Mountain Boys gathered to build the +widow's house again. + +Although the new house was put up and made habitable in about ten days, +it took some time to fit window-frames, build two partitions, for there +were to be two sleeping chambers on the ground floor in this house, +which was larger than the old structure, and lay the floor of the loft, +build bunks to sleep in, make a new meal chest and dresser, and +construct other articles of furniture which were needed to replace the +stuff burned in the fire. Enoch had a mechanical turn of mind and Bryce +made an able assistant. Between them they turned out a new table, +several chairs with hide backs and seats, and even essayed a "rocker" +for their mother which, although rudely built and with its rockers not +exactly even, was declared by Mrs. Harding to be a marvel of +workmanship. + +All these things had to be done besides the regular work of the farm +during the spring and summer, and the studies of the older boys were +rather neglected that year, greatly to the delight of Bryce. Indeed, +several of their mother's precious books had been destroyed by the +flames, and had it not been for the sorrow he knew she felt at their +loss, Bryce would have openly expressed his satisfaction. He was born +for the woods and fields, and although he made no objection to farmwork, +it was plain that his father's roving disposition had entered strongly +into the make-up of the lad. + +He still felt injured--indeed, the feeling grew with his own +growth--because he was not allowed to join the military companies; but +Mistress Harding had finally promised that if he could trap enough game +the next winter to pay for a new gun--a rifle instead of the old musket +which had once been Nuck's and which their father had brought with him +on his return from the French wars--he should be allowed to attend the +Bennington drills. That was putting the privilege a year ahead, but +Bryce was partially contented with it. + +Lot Breckenridge had finally been allowed to join the Green Mountain +Boys and so Enoch had somebody in his company near his own age. On +several occasions there were frolics in the neighborhood to which the +young people foregathered, and before the new house was built Lot and +Enoch had gone on a very brief hunting trio. But as fall again +approached the two friends, Lot and Enoch, planned to go trapping on the +upper waters of the Otter and its branches as soon as harvest and +hog-killing should be over and the winter really set in. Lot had several +steel traps which had belonged to his father, and Enoch was likewise +supplied. Both had canoes, but they agreed to use Enoch's only, as one +was all they cared to "pack" over the portage to the upper Otter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE WOLF PACK + + +Meantime throughout the Grants the line between the Whigs and Tories had +become more distinct. Although it had been forbidden for any person to +hold office or issue writs under advice from New York, in certain +sections where the Tory sentiment was strong, New York justices +continued to write papers of ejectment against the Hampshire settlers, +and other Yorkers were found to serve the documents and on occasion to +drive helpless farmers and their families from their homes. These +affairs went on openly in the town of Durham, which was a Tory +stronghold. + +Justice Benjamin Spencer was the principal official who dealt out the +New York brand of justice in this town, and he resided in the village of +Clarendon. Early in the fall Ethan Allen and a force of Green Mountain +Boys, appeared at Clarendon and read to the people the resolutions +passed by the Bennington Council to the effect that no person should do +any official act under New York authority, and that all lands should be +held under title from New Hampshire. The Durhamites were threatened +that, if they refused to comply with these orders within a reasonable +time, they would be made to suffer for their temerity. At this visit +Judge Spencer absconded, remaining away from home until he was sure "the +awful Green Mountain outlaws" had decamped. + +Enoch and Lot planned their start into the woods in November, and they +were nearly ready when the second raid on Durham was proposed. The boys +knew that the matter had been discussed by Colonel Allen and the other +leaders for some time, for Justice Spencer still continued to disobey +the orders of the Council of Safety, and the matter could not be +ignored. It was past the middle of November when the commander of the +Green Mountain Boys and some of his followers set out in the direction +of Durham, and Lot and Enoch hurried their own going, determined to hide +their canoe when once they reached the Otter and join in the descent +upon Clarendon village. + +It was eleven o'clock at night, November 20th, that Colonel Allen, +Captain Baker, and more than a score of their friends, entered the +settlement with all the care and circumlocution of Indians. Nuck and Lot +Breckenridge had joined the party at supper time in a certain rendezvous +of Allen's in the woods, having hidden their canoe and traps on the bank +of the Otter several miles away. The attacking force of Green Mountain +Boys was heavily armed and might have been bound upon an expedition +against Fort Ticonderoga itself, one might imagine. But a show of force +was thought to be necessary to overawe the Yorkers who made up more than +half the population of the village. + +The Green Mountain Boys awakened nobody in their approach to the house +of Justice Spencer, until the leader himself thundered at the door and +demanded that the New York official come down. After some parley, and +seeing that there was no help for his case, Spencer descended and, as +the next day was Sunday and nothing could be done then, the prisoner was +hidden in the house of Mr. Green, some mile and a half from the +settlement, until Monday morning. Early on that day, a still larger +force of Grants men having gathered, as well as settlers whose titles +had been derived from New York, Justice Spencer was taken to the door of +his own house and tried. + +The inquest, with Allen, Warner, Baker, and Cochran, sitting in +judgment, was carried forward with all due formality, although the +judges were the principal accusers of the prisoners, and the sentence +was finally pronounced that the prisoner's house be burned and he +himself give his bond to not again act as a New York justice. At this +the doughty justice broke down, for he plainly saw that his captors were +quite able, and in the mind, to carry out the sentence. He told the +court that if his house were burned his store of dry goods and all his +property would be destroyed and his wife and children made destitute. + +"And have you and your like not made many of our friends destitute?" +cried some of the crowd. But more showed some heart for the justice, +notably Captain Warner. Warner finally suggested that as the dry goods +store was a public benefit and was one of the few stores in the +township, it should be saved if possible; and it would be too hard at +that time of year to turn the man and his family out of their home. He +declared for taking off the roof of the prisoner's house and then +putting it on again, providing that Spencer acknowledged that it was put +on under a New Hampshire title, and that he would purchase the same at +once. Spencer, who might have felt some gratitude by this time, promised +compliance in every particular, and with great shouting and good-nature, +the roof of the house was lifted off and then put on again. And the +lesson to the Durhamites was a salutary one. + +Enoch Harding and his chum left immediately after the settlement of the +case and returned to their canoe. They feared the approach of a storm +which threatened, and were desirous of building their winter camp and +getting their traps set before the forest would be full of snow and the +streams completely frozen. Both boys were very good woodsmen by this +time, for Bolderwood had been Enoch's mentor and Lot's uncle was an old +ranger who knew every trick of the forest and trail. They selected a +heavily wooded gulley not far from the Otter and built there a log +lean-to against the rocky side-hill, sheltered from the north and open +to such sunshine as might penetrate the forest. The traps were set along +the bank of the stream, some of them in the water itself, where the +boys' sharp eyes told them that the fur-bearing game of which they were +in search, were wont to pass. + +A fortnight after the Durham riot, as the Yorkers were pleased to call +the visit of the Green Mountain Boys, the two friends were very cozily +fixed in the gully. One heavy snow had fallen, and their traps had begun +to repay their attention most generously. Then the Otter froze over +solidly and they had to keep the ice open about their traps with the +axe. They were in a lonely piece of wood and day after day saw nor heard +nobody but themselves. The bears had taken to their long winter sleep; +but the fierce catamount was still abroad, and at night the howling of +the wolf-pack as it followed some hard-pressed doe or decrepit buck, +reached the boys' ears. And at that day the timber-wolf of the Green +Mountains--a long, lean, gray creature as big as a mastiff--was much to +be feared. + +The traps stretched so far along the creek that if one went out alone to +examine and bait them, almost the entire day was consumed. The boys did +not possess ice-runners, or skates, with which they might have skimmed +over the frozen creek and visited the traps in a couple of hours. Each +had brought a pair of snow-shoes, but these were of no use on the creek. +So baiting the traps was no easy task. Usually they divided the work +between them and thus got it over and had time to stretch and scrape +their pelts in the afternoon. One day, however, Lot remained at camp to +make some repairs on his clothing, and Enoch set out early to go the +rounds by himself. + +It had been a very cold night and the ice was frozen solidly about the +traps. The catch had been good, too, and both of these facts delayed the +young trapper more than common. There were fish lines to examine, also, +for some of the traps were baited with fish which was considered +particularly tempting food for certain of the beasts they wished to +catch. It was long past noon when Enoch got back to the camp for dinner, +and then he had gone over but half the line of traps. When he started in +the other direction after hastily eating the meal, he knew he should be +out until past moonrise, and told Lot so. + +"I'll come and meet you," said his campmate. + +"No need. Reckon I can find my way back alone," said Enoch. "The moon'll +be up by seven and it's nigh full." + +It was so, yet Enoch had no thought when he left the camp that he would +be as long delayed as he was. It was full moonrise, before the boy had +examined the last trap. He had a goodly load on turning his face +campward and was glad of the company of his rifle as he heard the wolves +clamoring in the forest. The bitter cold would make them ravenous by +now, for many of the more easily caught animals had retired for the +winter, while the strong crust on the snow enabled the deer to +outdistance their shaggy enemies. While still three miles or more from +camp he heard the beasts howling so savagely that he really became +alarmed and would have thrown down his pack and run had he not shrunk +from so betraying his fear to Lot. + +He knew, too, by the nature of the wolves' cries that they were close on +the track of some quarry, and that it could not be his trail they were +following, for they were approaching the creek through the timber on the +western side of the stream. But the sound of the chase drew rapidly +nearer, and desperately as Enoch hurried he could not distance the pack. +The western bank was high and sloping just here and with anxious eyes +the boy looked up the white incline, where the trees stood rather far +apart, to catch the first glimpse possible of the wolves and their prey. +Suddenly there came into view several dark objects moving swiftly over +the snow. One was ahead, flitting from tree to tree, its identity almost +indistinguishable at first. Then, with almost a shriek of horror, Enoch +recognized the wolves' quarry as a human being! + +The pursued was on snow-shoes and coming to a steeper part of the creek +bank, at once slid down to the ice. After him, their red tongues hanging +to their breasts, and baying at every leap, came a round dozen of the +ravenous creatures. Enoch saw that the unfortunate man was armed with a +gun, but that evidently the weapon had been injured in some way, for he +did not make use of it to beat off the wolves. He limped as he ran, too, +and the young trapper saw plainly that the pack would overtake and pull +him down in a very few moments. + +Once upon the ice the beasts spread out and almost surrounded him. While +he limped on most awkwardly, the strong, sharp claws of the wolves +helped them over the surface and soon the leader--a gaunt, gray monster +with cropped ears and scarred back--leaped to seize the prey. Enoch, +without a thought of his own danger, had hurried on, re-priming his +rifle as he ran; but he was scarcely within fair gun-shot when the wolf +leaped. The beast caught the fugitive by the shoulder, and its weight +dragged the man down. He tripped upon his snow-shoes and in an instant +was falling face-downward on the ice with the pack of hungry beasts +fighting above him! + +Enoch fired his rifle into the midst of the pack as he ran, but although +one of the wolves rolled over, kicking convulsively upon the ice, the +others scarcely noticed the attack. So eager were they to get at the +quarry which they had followed far, that the shot did not frighten them. +But the boy was among them in a moment, his gun clubbed, and a fierce +desire in his heart to slay the horrid beasts. + +He really thought the fallen man was killed, and his attack was inspired +wholly by a desire for revenge. He laid about him with the gun-stock in +a most furious fashion, and the wolves were soon cleared from above +their prostrate victim. His attack quelled the courage of the pack for a +little, and even the leader shrank away, howling dolefully. But the +respite was not sufficient to allow Enoch to reload his gun. + +When the brutes fell back, the man upon the ice showed that he was by no +means dead, though his exhaustion was plain. He struggled to his knees, +and reaching up seized the hunting-knife from Enoch's belt, and the +small axe with which the latter had cut the ice away from his traps. +With one of these weapons in each hand he crouched in readiness to +defend himself when the wolves should renew their attack. + +And he had not long to wait, for both hunger and natural ferocity urged +them on. Suddenly the leader, with a savage snarl which fairly turned +the blood cold in Enoch's veins, cast itself full at him! + +Raised upon his hind legs the old timber-wolf, the hero of a thousand +fights with other pack-leaders, or with the young upstarts of his own +tribe, was fully as tall as his antagonist. The sight of its wide red +jaws, from which the froth flew as it does from the lips of a mad dog, +the gleaming yellow teeth, the capacious throat which seemed fairly to +steam with the fetid breath expelled from the beast's lungs, almost +overcame young Harding. For the moment he was enthralled by the +terrifying appearance of the wolf, and his arms lacked the strength +necessary to swing his gun. + +[Illustration: THE WOLF SPRANG AT HIS THROAT] + +The charge would surely have overborne him had Enoch not slipped upon +the ice as he shrank back, and providentially he fell upon one knee. The +wolf had sprung at his throat and the pioneer lad's sinking to the ice +caused the beast to leap clear over both the human actors in the drama. +But as its lean gray body flashed past, the stranger reached up and with +Enoch's keen hunting-knife slit a great wound in the exposed body. A +wild yell rose above the clamor of the pack and the old wolf rolled over +and over on the ice in the agonies of death, the blood spurting from the +wound at every pump of its heart. + +Instantly half the pack sprang upon the dying leader, every male +desiring to be master, and all doubtless bearing upon their own bodies +marks of the wounded beast's displeasure. This change of front enabled +Enoch to recover both his equilibrium and his presence of mind; and when +the other beasts gathered courage to attack him in turn, he was ready to +beat them off with his gun and to ably assist his companion in +continuing the slaughter. The wolf he had first shot was attacked by its +comrades, too, for at the smell and taste of blood the creatures showed +all the characteristics of cannibals. + +Nevertheless, Enoch and the man crouching at his feet, had all they +could do to defend themselves from the charges of the remaining wolves. +If the beasts sprang high the boy met them with long-arm swings of his +rifle; if they fell short the axe or the knife flashed and the wolves +limped away with savage howls, their blood dyeing the frozen surface of +the creek. For yards about the besieged the ice soon had the appearance +of a mighty strife and although he had only received a scratch or two +himself, Enoch was well spattered with blood. + +Hunger and the issue from their own veins drowned the natural cowardice +of the canines. They charged blindly, and as fast as one went down +beneath the blows of Enoch's gun, or was seriously wounded by his +companion, another wolf sprang to the attack. Three already lay dead on +the ice, torn limb from limb by their comrades, and three others limped +upon the outer edge of the circle, seriously wounded; but still the +fierce brutes sprang at their prey, and sprang again! + +Involuntarily Enoch shouted aloud at every blow he struck, but his +companion maintained a desperate silence. The boy did not cry out +because he expected any aid; yet assistance was within call. A figure +came running over the ice from up stream and the sharp crack of a rifle +announced the approach of Lot Breckenridge, who had come out to meet his +friend. Another wolf rolled over in the throes of death, to be seized by +its companions and torn to pieces with horrid cries. Lot came on with +shouts of encouragement and together with Enoch laid about him with +clubbed rifle until the remaining wolves, their cries now turned to +yelps of fear, stampeded from the scene of the battle and sought safety +in the forest, from the edge of which they howled their disappointment +at their antagonists. + +It was Lot who first regained his breath and spoke. "Zuckers! but that +was a great fight," he cried, hugging Enoch in his joy at finding him +practically unhurt. "But you look as though you had been killin' beeves, +Nuck. And who's this with you?" The individual in question rose stiffly +to his feet with a significant "Umph!" "Why!" exclaimed Lot, "it's an +Injin--it's Crow Wing! Where'd you pick him up, Nuck?" + +Enoch was vastly astonished to see whom he had befriended. "I had no +idea who it was," he said. "How came you in this country, Crow Wing?" + +The Indian, now grown to be a tall and magnificent looking warrior, was +breathing heavily and had some difficulty in answering for a moment. He +stood, too, on one foot, holding up his left one like a lamed stork. +"Umph!" he grunted at last, "White boys in good time. Save Injin sure!" +He gravely offered his hand first to Enoch and then to Lot. "Crow Wing +lame. Hurt foot--break gun--wolves come howl, howl, howl! No can scare +'em; no can make fire; no can run good. Umph!" + +"You'll have to go to our camp," said Enoch. "You can't travel on that +foot. You've sprained or broken it." + +Crow Wing nodded. He made no sign that the foot hurt him, excepting by +holding it off the ice. "Some wolf pelts good," he remarked, +sententiously. + +Lot had already turned away to examine the dead beasts. Only two skins +were fit to be stripped from the carcasses and added to the pelts Enoch +had brought from the traps. The two white boys quickly obtained these +and then, with the Indian hobbling between them, and leaning on their +shoulders, the trio made their way to camp through the moonlight, while +the remaining wolves slunk back to the scene of the battle and devoured +their dead comrades. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE TESTIMONY OF CROW WING + + +The natures of the white man and the red are so opposed that it was +impossible from the beginning of our North American history that either +should really understand the sentiments and desires of the other. In the +eyes of the Indian the most stoical and repressive white man was little +better than a garrulous old woman. The "Yenghese," as the Indians called +the English, were less criticised on this point than were the French; +but the latter, being an imitative race, more easily adapted themselves +to the manner and life of the red man, and therefore won his confidence +if not his respect. + +Crow Wing displayed neither astonishment at finding the two white boys +here, nor pain at the serious accident which had overtaken him. And it +would have been a waste of time to urge him to explain more fully his +being in this neighborhood. When he was ready to speak he would do so, +and long after Lot Breckenridge was asleep, rolled up in his blanket and +with his feet to the fire which blazed at the opening of the hut, did +Enoch wait for the story. Crow Wing waited until he had slowly smoked +out the little brass-bowled pipe which he carried with tobacco in a +pouch at his belt. This pouch of tobacco and another of parched Indian +corn, were all the provisions the ordinary Indian carried when on the +march. The forest must supply his larder from time to time as he had +need; and if game was scarce the red man went uncomplainingly with empty +stomach. + +"Harding and Lot found much pelt?" he said, questioningly, waving his +hand at the bales of furs in the back of the shelter. + +"So-so. We can't complain, Crow Wing. You were trapping, too?" + +"Yonder," replied the Indian, pointing to the west. "Crow Wing look at +trap; wolves met him; wolves very hungry; make much mad when hungry. +Umph!" + +"And they attacked you right away?" + +"Umph! Me shoot; then club gun. Hit tree first time; break gun; then run +some more. Catch foot and fall; much hurt. That all." + +"Are you alone at your camp yonder?" + +"Umph!" said the Indian, nodding affirmatively. + +"You had better stay here till your foot's well. I reckon that gun can +be repaired, too. Only the stock is broken." + +The Indian's eyes gleamed, showing that this statement pleased him +vastly. Crow Wing's "fire-tube" was his most precious possession. "Me +thought no good," he said. + +"I know of a man in Bennington who can fix it," declared Enoch. "Have +you many pelts at your camp?" + +On his fingers Crow Wing showed how many beaver skins, otter pelts, wolf +hides, and other and less worthy furs, he had obtained. He also stated +that he had three steel wolf traps and two beaver or otter traps which +he had obtained from a farmer for whom he had worked. + +"We can bring 'em all over here. Lot and I will go for them. You can't +get around on that foot much for several weeks. It's bad. You 'tend camp +and stretch pelts, while Lot and I look out for the traps. Then, when we +go home, you take one third of the pelts." + +Crow Wing thought of this silently for a moment and then held out his +hand with gravity. "Good! Crow Wing go to Bennington with Harding and +Lot; sell pelts there and get gun fixed. Umph!" + +Although Enoch had suggested this scheme upon his own responsibility he +knew Lot would agree to it. Really, it was a good thing for all three. +Crow Wing's gun was useless, and his lame foot made traveling next to +impossible for a while. But he could keep camp all right and look after +the pelts. The traps the Indian had would be of much service to the +white boys and would increase their own gains not a little. So upon this +amicable basis the Indian joined the party and the next day Lot and +Enoch, directed by Crow Wing, traveled to the Indian's camp and packed +back both the traps and the skins. + +The boys learned that Crow Wing's people now resided in New York colony, +on the shores of Lake George, and that the young warrior had not been +east of the Twenty-Mile Line since the raid of Simon Halpen upon the +Widow Harding's cabin. By patient questioning Enoch learned that Halpen +had lived for months at a time with the tribe, but that he was not an +adopted member of it, and was not altogether trusted by Crow Wing's +people. + +"When burn cabin, old chief--my father--be told. Injins friends with +Bennin'ton men; friends with York men, too. But Hawknose," the Indian's +sobriquet for Simon Halpen, "sent away. He never come back." + +"You have hunted with him?" said Enoch, with some eagerness. "You were +with him that day--you know--long ago; the day the Yorkers came up to +James Breckenridge's farm?" + +Crow Wing made no reply for some time, gazing with gloomy eyes into the +fire. Finally he said, speaking in an oracular manner, yet brokenly as +he always did, for the English tongue was hard to him: "Jonas Harding +not friend to Injin; Injin not friend to him. You friend to Crow Wing. +You fight Crow Wing; fight 'um fair; when foot well we fight once more? +Umph!" + +Enoch laughed. "I'll wrastle you any time you like, Crow Wing. But you +can beat me running." + +The Indian, undisturbed, went on: "You not like father; you not speak +Injin like he be slave-man; Injin free!" and he said it proudly, for the +redskins looked down upon the negroes because they were the slaves of +the colonists. "Hawknose no like Jonas Harding; he own your land; he buy +it from Great Father of York and he buy it from Injin. All land Injin's +once," he added, with a cloud upon his face. "Injin come with Hawknose +to measure land; white man bring little thing to measure it; Jonas +Harding throw Hawknose in creek and more white men beat him. White man, +like Injin, feel he squaw when beat. Hawknose mad; tell Injin he kill +Jonas Harding; drive you from land." + +"But father was killed by a buck in the forest," said Enoch, carefully +hiding the emotion he felt. + +"Umph!" grunted Crow Wing, and would say nothing further at the time. + +Lot, although he had been often a companion of the Indian when the +latter lived near his uncle's farm, looked upon him just as he did upon +Sambo, Breckenridge's slave boy. He had played with him, swam with him, +learned to use the bow and arrow under Crow Wing's instruction, and had +gained something of forest lore from the Indian youth; but he had no +respect for him, or for his peculiarities. He had not learned at 'Siah +Bolderwood's knee of the really admirable qualities of these people whom +the whites were pleased to call "savages." Lot made no objection to Crow +Wing's joining them, for his presence, and the use of his traps, was a +very good thing for them. He patronized the Indian, however, and was not +above suggesting that, as the redman was so ignorant, it would not +really be necessary to divide the pelts in even thirds at the end of the +season. + +"The trader won't give him but about so much for them, anyway, no matter +how many he offers," he said to Enoch. "You know how it is with them. +Injins can't count and the traders fool 'em and cheat 'em. We'd better +take some of his ourselves and so get some good out of them." + +"That isn't honest, Lot!" cried Enoch, hotly. + +"Huh! it's honest enough. We won't be cheating the Injin, for they'll do +him no good. And there's no use in the traders makin' so much on him." + +"Then we'll go with him and see that the traders treat him honestly," +declared young Harding. + +"Zuckers!" exclaimed the careless Lot. "Catch me putting myself out that +way for a redskin." + +"You're glad enough to use his traps, Lot!" cried Enoch. And the two old +friends came very near having a falling out over the matter. Lot simply +followed the example of the older settlers whom he knew. It was no +particular sin to cheat an Indian. They were too much like children to +look out for themselves in a bargain, anyway. + +But as week followed week, Crow Wing's manner toward Enoch Harding +showed that he had adopted him, Indian fashion, as "brother." Not that +the red youth displayed any affection; that was beneath a brave. But he +appreciated Enoch's respectful treatment of him. Crow Wing treasured +this in his mind and, when the spring came, and they packed their bales +of furs by canoe and hand-sled to Bennington, and Enoch took pains to +make the traders pay the Indian quite as liberally as they did Lot and +himself for his furs, his gratitude blossomed in its fulness. + +Lot went home to see his mother; but Enoch took Crow Wing to the Harding +house with him and gave him an old canoe in which the red youth could +make his way by water and portage to his home on the shores of Lake +George. Crow Wing did not go near the house when Enoch met his mother +and the younger Hardings after his long absence; but he sat down to +dinner with them and if he used his fingers oftener than his hunting +knife to prepare his food it was not remarked, for forks were not always +used by the settlers themselves at that day. His gravity awed the +younger children, while Bryce admired his proportions openly. The Indian +youth was certainly a magnificently built fellow. + +Before he went away he sat beside the creek and silently smoked a +farewell pipe while his white friend waited for his last words. Enoch +believed Crow Wing had something to tell him regarding Simon Halpen and +that the time for speech had come; but knowing his nature the white +youth had not tried to hurry this confidence. + +"Hawknose come here once more--what you do?" Crow Wing asked, when the +pipe was finished. + +"Simon Halpen is my enemy. If you have an enemy what do you do?" +returned Enoch, with some emotion. + +The Indian nodded. "Hawknose, Jonas Harding's enemy. No deer kill Jonas +Harding. Hawknose yonder then," and he waved his hand toward the +deer-lick at which the dead settler had been found three years before. + +"How does Crow Wing know that?" queried the white boy, eagerly. + +"Crow Wing there, too." + +"You saw him----" began Enoch, but the Indian cut him short with an +emphatic "Umph! No see. Hear shot. Shot kill doe. Jonas Harding kill +doe. Gun empty." + +"Yes, we found the gun and the dead doe. And there were marks of a big +buck all about the place and father--was dead." + +"Hawknose there," said the Indian, gravely. "Crow Wing see him--running. +Pass him--so," with a gesture which led Enoch to believe that the +running Halpen had crossed the Indian's path within a few feet. "He no +see Crow Wing. He run fast--look back over shoulder. And blood--blood on +shirt--blood on hands--blood on gun! Go wash 'em in river. Then run +more." + +"You saw him running away from the lick?" gasped Enoch. "But there were +no footprints but father's near the place. Only the hoof prints of the +big buck." + +"Umph! Crow Wing no see big deer; no hear 'um. But see Hawknose run," +said the Indian significantly. + +"But I can't understand how Halpen could have killed him, Crow Wing. He +did not shoot him, and if he had been near enough to strike father down, +why did his moccasins leave no mark?" + +The Indian rose gravely. "Some time we see. Crow Wing come back here. +Harding go with him to deer-lick. Look, look--find out, mebbe." + +"But after three years how can anything be found?" demanded Enoch, in +despair. + +"Will see," returned Crow Wing, and, without further word, entered the +canoe and pushed out into the river. Nor did he turn about to look at +the white youth once while the canoe was in sight. But he left Enoch +Harding stirred to his depths by the brief and significant conversation. +The youth did not understand how Simon Halpen could have compassed his +father's death; yet Crow Wing evidently suspected something which he had +not seen fit to divulge. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE STORM CLOUD GATHERS + + +Enoch scarce knew Bryce after his winter's absence. The younger boy had +felt the responsibility of his position as head of the family pro tem +and although he had lost none of his cheeriness and love of action, he +had gained some cautiousness. His care for little Henry and the girls +was delightful and Mrs. Harding was undoubtedly proud of him. Although +kept at home almost continually by his duties, Bryce had been able to +trap enough beavers to buy the rifle which he had long wanted and on the +first training day after the roads dried up in the spring, he went with +Enoch to Bennington and was enrolled in Captain Baker's company. + +And during this year of '74 the train bands became of more importance +than ever before. While in Boston and in other cities of the colonies, +meetings were held in secret and companies of minute men were drilled by +stealth, here in the Grants the Whigs trained openly, and the reason for +it was known, too. The course of the foolish King and his ministers was +widening the breach between the mother country and the American colonies +until, when the Continental Congress met on September 5th of this year, +royal authority was suspended almost everywhere but in the New York +Colony. Within its confines were the strongest and most influential +Tories, while the Dutch, who made up a goodly share of the population, +although becoming good patriots in the end and warmly supporting the +struggling nation which was born of that Congress, were phlegmatic of +nature and slow to rouse. + +During these months so pregnant with coming trouble, the controversy +between the land jobbers and the Grants waned but little. The Yorkers +had received so many sharp lessons, however, that they were careful to +attack no settlers who were within reach of assistance from any body of +Green Mountain Boys. And as Allen, Warner, and Cochran had many +"hide-outs" in the hills, where they kept munitions of war and to which +they summoned their followers by means which actually seemed to savor of +the Black Art to their enemies, it was difficult for the Yorkers to know +where it was really safe to carry on their attacks against the peaceful +grantees. Being "viewed" became a most serious matter indeed, and many a +luckless surveyor or other underling of the sheriff of Albany, carried +the blue-seal of the Green Mountain Boys upon his person for months +after an unexpected meeting with those rangers of the forest. + +But the Yorkers kept away from Benningford and the surrounding district. +More farms had been taken up there by Hampshire grantees than in other +parts of the disputed ground and the reign of the Green Mountain Boys +was supreme. The Hardings had been very happy since the building of the +new house, and, as there had been a school established in the vicinity, +the girls and Harry attended for six months in the year. Kate had grown +to be a tall girl and looked like her mother, while Mary and Harry were +becoming of considerable use outside of, as well as in, the house. + +Enoch and Bryce cleared a piece of woodland that year and late in the +fall there was another stump-burning. 'Siah Bolderwood came down from +his "farm" near Old Ti to join in the festivities; but several of the +young people who had attended the stump-burning three years before were +not present. Robbie Baker was up north with his father, and Lot +Breckenridge had moved away from the vicinity of Bennington; Crow Wing +did not come to try his skill at wrestling with Enoch, so the latter sat +by with 'Siah as one of the judges, for he was older than the other +contestants. Lot's mother had married a man named Lewis who owned and +worked a farm much nearer the Connecticut River, in the town of +Westminster, and after his return from their winter's trapping the +spring before, Lot had gone across the mountains to work for his +stepfather. + +Lot had always been his dearest friend and Enoch missed him sorely, and +as he could not go trapping with him this winter, he agreed to visit +Westminster for a fortnight or so, some time during the idle months. It +was March when he started to cross the range and although the roads were +still full of snow, he went horseback. A sleigh was a luxury that few +Bennington people owned, although Nuck might have hitched the old +wood-sled to Dobbin. He spent one night at a farmer's on the road, and +was welcomed at supper time the next evening at the Lewis house. + +"Zuckers!" exclaimed Lot, running out to drag his friend off his horse, +"I tell ye, I'm glad to see ye! And so'll marm be--if the young uns +don't bother her too much. There's three Lewis young uns, too, besides +the baby, and I tell ye, they're a wild lot. I'd rayther tackle them +wolves that you'n Crow Wing got mixed up with last winter. Seen the +Injin since?" + +"Not since I sent him home with more money than he had ever seen before +in his life," replied Enoch. + +"Very foolish of you! We might have had some of his pelts just as well's +not." + +"You don't mean that, Lot," said Enoch, who knew that young Breckenridge +talked a deal more recklessly than he really felt. + +"Well, never mind all that," said Lot. "Tell me the news. What's goin' +on 'tother side the mountings? Did ye know that lots more red-coats had +come to Boston? And they say--leastways, a pedlar that come through here +told us so last week--that the Boston folks have got a lot of guns and +ammunition stored in the country towns and the minute men are drilling +day and night. Do you s'pose there'll be war there, Nuck?" + +"If the Massachusetts people feel like we do here in the Grants, +there'll be fighting," said Enoch, his eyes flashing. "What d'you +suppose would happen if troops were quartered on us?" + +"I'm goin' to Boston if there's a fight," declared his friend. "Mr. +Lewis says I can. He's a nice man--marm's second husband--and he's +strong for the Grants, too. He's got a Hampshire title. But there's lots +of Tories around here. The court's goin' to sit next week an' there'll +be trouble then, mark my word. Lots of the cases these Tories have +hatched up against our people are goin' to be tried, an' the Whigs ain't +goin' to stand it. Judge Chandler ain't so bad a man; but Judge Sabin +and the others are dead set ag'in all our folks. They say the sheriff +has sworn in a big lot of deperties. Mebbe you'll see some fun before +you go back to Bennington, Nuck." + +As Lot's idea of "fun" was pretty sure to be a scrimmage of some kind, +it can be easily seen how strained the relations were then between the +Whigs and the Tory court of the district. Whereas Tories and Whigs had +lived at peace before, now they became bitter in controversy and even +families were divided upon the questions of the hour. + +Enoch found Lot's stepfather to be a very quiet, pleasant man, who made +it a point to be at harmony with all his neighbors, yet whose personal +feelings and opinions as a Whig were well known. Lot delighted in being +where the older men of the community discussed the trend of public +affairs and it was due to him that Enoch, the second night after his +arrival, gained some little notoriety in Westminster by an encounter he +had at the Royal Inn, kept by one John Norton. + +The tap-room and parlors of the inn were occupied every evening at this +time by the men of Westminster, and by certain visitors who had, for +some days, been gathering for the meeting of the General Court. And all +these visitors were not attorneys, or plaintiffs and defendants in the +several cases which would come up for hearing before their Worships the +justices. The sheriff was already at Westminster and there were more +armed men about the town than had ever been seen there before at one +time. Until the closing hour earnest discussions were carried on in the +inn, for although the Royal, or "Norton's house" as it was called, was +the headquarters of the Tories, many Whigs frequented it, too. +Naturally, the young men and half-grown boys wished to listen on the +outskirts of these groups, and Lot Breckenridge was desirous of hearing +all that went on. Enoch went with him to the inn rather against his +will. Mistress Harding did not approve of such places for youths and +Enoch had not grown so old or so big as to wish to disobey his mother, +or even to believe that she was less able to guide him than she had +formerly been. + +The inn was well filled, indeed, that night and Master Norton was +bustling about from group to group, dropping a word here and another +there, determined to keep all his guests pleased as maybe; for despite +his Tory principles, the innkeeper was first for his own pocket and +would not antagonize any man knowingly. Mine Host was particularly +attentive to a party of ten or a dozen gentlemen who, having eaten, now +sat grouped before one of the fires engaged in earnest, and somewhat +noisy, conversation. The figure of the sheriff was the centre of this +group. + +Lot and Enoch stood with other young men within ear-shot and heard many +remarks which plainly showed the affiliation of the sheriff and his +friends to the Tory cause; and the party had dined so well that they +were not particularly careful to modulate their voices so that others in +the vicinity who might be of a different mind, should not overhear them. +The sheriff was a pompous man who, when he spoke, commanded the +attention of all about him. The dignity of his office rode him hard and +his companions deferred to him almost servilely, for at that day such an +officer was held in great reverence, especially by the King's adherents. + +"These malcontents who would question the right of the King to govern +them, should be punished, every man Jack of them!" the sheriff declared, +looking about fiercely at his auditors. "I care not who they are, nor +how high they stand. That Dr. Warren and Mr. Otis of Boston are +gentlemen of education and position I grant ye; but they should feel the +heavy hand of the law nevertheless--yes, sir! And some of these fellows +who have gone to Philadelphia and are making such a rumpus there--they +should be taught their place!" + +"That they should, Master Sheriff!" cried one of his supporters. + +"The King's men treated that Otis just right some months back," growled +another--a man who sat back in the shadow of the high mantel and wore a +cloak, the high collar of which half muffled his face. At the speech of +this one Enoch, who had been dragging at the sleeve of his companion to +get him away, ceased this and pushed forward himself. Something in the +tone of the last speaker's voice had attracted his attention and he +strove to see his features. + +"They should be whipped--every man Jack of them!" cried the sheriff, +repeating his favorite expression. + +"Better let Ethan Allen and his boys beech-seal them, eh, Sir Sheriff?" +cried some Whig on the outskirts of the group, and a laugh was raised +among those of like feeling. + +"We shall settle that villain Allen--we shall settle him, sir!" declared +the sheriff, angrily. "The Honorable Court will punish these fellows who +retain their lands without proper authority from the King and our +Governor. There will be an overturn in these Grants ere long--mark my +word, sir!" + +"The dogs should be driven back to Massachusetts and Connecticut--where +they came from," growled the man with the cloak. + +"That's true!" exclaimed several of the group. + +"Aye, and the time approaches when it may be done," cried the sheriff. + +"But what think you Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, 'Member, and the rest of +the boys will be doing, Sir Sheriff?" demanded the same Whig who had +before spoken. + +"They'll be clapped into Albany jail--that's what will become of them!" +declared the sheriff. + +"And a right good place for them," said he of the cloak. Enoch was still +maneuvring to get a sight of this man, but the shadow of the high mantel +was cast across his face. All the boy could see was the gleam of his +eyes as he turned with an angry gesture toward the audience. "The +boldness of these outlaws is astonishing." + +"That Allen appears to have many followers," suggested a mild mannered +man beside the sheriff. + +"He is a bully; they fear him!" declared the former speaker, vigorously. + +"How is that, John Norton?" cried the Whig, who evidently was a bold man +to so flout the sheriff and his friends. "You know Colonel Allen +personally. Should you call him a bully and say that he governs men by +fear?" + +"Not I!" exclaimed the innkeeper. "And saving your presence, sheriff, it +would be a man of some stomach who would dare say that to Ethan Allen's +face. As for these same Green Mountain Boys, it is not fear that keeps +them together." + +"I tell you they are a set of masterless villains!" cried the dark man, +turning angrily about so that at last the collar of his cloak fell back. +"They should be driven out of the colony and their houses burned to the +ground----" + +Suddenly he stopped. His harsh voice died to a whisper and his +astonished companions looked at him in amazement. For a moment he seemed +to have been frozen in his chair, and their eyes following his glance +fell upon the white and angry face of Enoch Harding who had pushed +through the ring of listeners. "And it is you who would set the torch to +their homes!" exclaimed the youth, his voice shaking. "You already have +one count of the kind against you, and if you ever come to Bennington +again there'll be more than a beech-sealing awaiting you--you villain!" + +Some of the crew sprang up in astonishment, and some in anger. "Who is +that bold rascal, landlord?" demanded the sheriff. "Bring him here." + +But Lot had fairly dragged the angry Enoch to the door and now pushed +him out of the inn. "What's the matter with you, Nuck?" he demanded. +"D'you want to get us all into trouble?" + +"That's Simon Halpen!" exclaimed Enoch, panting with excitement. "I'd +have flown at his throat in another moment." + +"Zuckers!" exclaimed Lot. "The feller that burned down your marm's +house? Don't blame ye for bein' mad. But ye don't wanter stir up a fuss +here. Our game is ter lay low and let the Tories start the row if +they're minded to. You'll see. Mr. Lewis an' some others is goin' to see +the judges to-morrow an' try to keep the court from sittin'. They'll +sure be trouble if the Tories bring our people before the court. We +can't git no fair trial, so we won't be tried at all." + +Enoch was very silent on the way back to Lot's house. The shock of +seeing Simon Halpen again after all this time, had stirred the youth +greatly. Despite the fact that the villain was so far away from the +Walloomscoik, and would probably not dare go near Bennington, Enoch +could not help feeling troubled by the circumstance of his presence +within the borders of the Grants. And he was glad that 'Siah Bolderwood +had promised to remain at or near the Hardings' home while he, Enoch, +was at Westminster. + +Under Lot's advice the two boys said nothing of the little scene at the +inn and the next morning Mr. Lewis went with other stable men of the +town to call upon the justices who would preside at the court when it +met. The feeling between Whigs and Tories was so strong that all +peace-loving men feared bloodshed. At the first blow a terrible civil +war might begin--a war in which neighbor would engage with neighbor and +the community be utterly ruined. And if the court sat and tried the +cases against those settlers who refused to purchase New York titles to +their lands, or to leave their homes at the order of the sheriff and his +deputies, the battle would begin. Nobody could doubt that. + +Despite the fact that the offices were held by the Tories, the Whigs +were greatly in the majority. And this majority declared the will of the +people should be upheld, and that will was that no court should sit +until matters quieted down and the heat had gone out of the political +veins of the community. They presented this matter strongly to the +judges and warned them of what might be expected if the court undertook +to sit at Westminster. Although staunch Tories, the judges were +impressed by what was told them by the committee; Justice Chandler, +indeed, gave his word that nothing should be done toward convening the +court until time had been given the people to cool down. It was +promised, too, that the sheriff and his men should not be given a free +hand in the town. + +With these assurances from Judge Chandler the committee of Whigs +returned. To make sure that the sheriff, who with his men were spending +every day and night at the Royal Inn, did not seize the court-house in +defiance of the people's will, the Whigs sent a guard to that building +on the evening of the 13th--the day before that set for the convening of +the court. This guard, however, was armed only with clubs, and was set +to keep the troublesome factions of both parties in order, and was +recruited from among the better affected families of the town. Lot +Breckenridge and Enoch were allowed by Mr. Lewis to join these +volunteers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE + + +What March 5, 1770, had been to the people of Boston and the Colony of +Massachusetts, March 14, 1775, was destined to become to the patriot +citizens of Vermont. That date reminds them to-day of the first blood +shed in the great struggle within the borders of the Grants--the first +pitched battle between American yeomanry and the minions of a cruel and +tyrannical king. Before the martyrs were shot down at Lexington was the +Westminster Massacre--an incident which set the torch to the passions of +the Whigs throughout the Grants. + +Despite the efforts of Judge Chandler, who really was honestly bent on +peace, the associate Judge Sabin and the fire-eating sheriff brought +about that clash of arms, the stain of which was to be wiped out by +nearly eight years of bitter war. The Tory officials and their henchmen +gathered about the court-house when it was known that the Whigs had +seized it, and threatened an attack early in the evening of the 13th; +but apparently willing to abide by the decision of the chief justice, +they dispersed after that worthy had promised the Whigs that nothing +should be done to oust them from the premises until the following day. +Chandler doubtless went to his repose, believing that his partisans +would uphold him in his promise. + +But the sheriff had other views. He had gathered a noble army at John +Norton's inn. There were no Whigs there that night. They sought other +houses of entertainment, or their own homes, for their leaders had +counseled moderation. But the wily sheriff finally gave his orders, and +those orders were inspired by Judge Sabin and other rank Tories. +Separating as they issued from the inn into three bodies, the sheriff's +men approached the guarded court-house from as many directions and were +thundering at the doors before the Whigs were aware that such treachery +was intended. There was not a fire-arm in the court-house, but when +called upon to surrender the guard refused and strove to barricade the +entrance. + +Although the young men had expected nothing like this, they had not +taken their duty lightly. They were of the best Whig families of the +neighborhood and had not accepted the responsibility as a lark. Enoch +became acquainted with one of his companions early in the evening who, +because of his open face, free and gentle manner, and earnest +conversation impressed the Bennington boy as being a youth of better +parts than were most of the backwoods people. Lot told his guest that +this individual was William French, the son of a Mr. Nathaniel French, a +man well known and respected highly by his neighbors. Like Lot, young +French was deeply interested in the affairs of the colonies, especially +in what was occurring in and about Boston. He had planned to go to the +Massachusetts colony and offer his services to the Committee of Safety +there if war really became imminent, though he would go, Enoch saw, in a +much different spirit from Lot's. Lot was eager for a fight for the +fight's sake; but French realized the root of the trouble and espoused +the cause of the persecuted colonists from principle. + +It was eleven o'clock at night when the sheriff and his men attacked the +Whig guards, and many of the latter were asleep. The uproar was great as +the besieged tried to keep the Tories out of the building; but the +latter were reckless and knew that they had to do with a practically +helpless enemy. They forced an entrance, though the Whigs rallied well +and delivered some telling blows with their clubs. These blows doubtless +had much to do with what followed, for the sheriff's men became greatly +incensed. All the lights in the house were put out and for several +moments the antagonists fought in the dark. Enoch was not behind in the +battle and was one of those in the front rank which strove to beat the +sheriff's men back to the door. William French fought next him, while he +could hear his friend Lot shouting encouragement not far away. + +The Tories were under a disadvantage in the dark and some of those still +without ran with torches and thrust them in, that the battleground might +be illumined. At that the sheriff, spurred by rage and the smart of a +blow he had received, cried to his men: "Fire! Fire at the rascals who +defy the law's authority!" + +Some of his men took him at his word and putting their pieces to their +shoulders, they had been using them as clubs, shot blank-point into the +group of opposing Whigs! + +It was a terrible scene that followed. Several men fell about Enoch, and +groans and cries rose from the wounded. A bullet had sent Enoch's cap +spinning into the air, but he did not notice that. Young William French +had fallen beside him and the Bennington boy stooped and caught the +young man's head and shoulders from the floor that he might not be +trampled upon. + +Shouts and imprecations deafened him. The Whigs still fought, but some +had already tried to escape by a side passage and were being brought +back by the sheriff's men. That wicked man was calling upon the Whigs to +surrender, and more than one shot was fired after that first volley. + +Enoch, with the head of the bleeding youth in his arms, cried to those +about him to move aside and bring a light. All were too much inflamed by +passion to heed him for a time; but suddenly one man sprang forward and +thrust a huge, brass-locked pistol into his own face. The boy was +frightened, and strove to throw himself backward out of range; but the +pistol snapped! + +Providentially the weapon was either unloaded, or the powder was damp. +Otherwise that moment would have ended Enoch Harding's earthly career. +And in the flash of torchlight which was an instant later cast upon the +scene, the startled boy recognized the dark features and hawk nose of +Simon Halpen. The villain had sought him out and had striven to pay off +old scores in that moment of confusion and uproar. + +But the confusion helped Enoch to escape, too. Lot seized his shoulder +and dragged him up from his knees. "Let him alone, poor chap!" he +whispered hoarsely in his friend's ear, and Enoch saw that he was +crying, "Let him alone. He is dead. Oh, these villains shall be punished +for this--they shall be punished! War has begun, Nuck--and we have seen +its beginning!" In his horror and despair Lot Breckenridge was +prophetic. War had begun; the first blood of the revolution--antedating +in its sacrifice the Battle of Lexington--had been shed. + +Indeed, Lot and Enoch were fortunate to escape from the building, for +ten of the Whigs had been wounded beside poor French, and seven of the +remaining were taken prisoner. The town was roused and a great concourse +of people gathered in the streets. The sheriff and his men were loudly +execrated, and even some of the Tories expressed their indignation. The +men who had done the deed were forced to remain under cover for the rest +of the night while the alarm went into all the countryside and by +daybreak the patriot farmers were pouring into Westminster--a horde of +indignant citizens before whom the Tory officials trembled. + +The very judges themselves were taken into custody and had not the +better counsel of the staid and solid men prevailed, the sheriff and +those who aided him might have been hung to a gibbet erected in the +court-house yard. On the fifteenth Captain Cochran and forty Green +Mountain Boys, who had been apprised of the terrible affair, marched +over the mountain to arraign themselves upon the side of the Whigs if +the matter should come to real warfare. But fortunately further +bloodshed was averted, and never again did a Tory judiciary hold court +in Eastern Vermont. + +Enoch went back to Bennington with some of Robert Cochran's company. +News of the Westminster affair had preceded him and the Catamount Inn +was thronged with earnest men discussing the matter and various other +news-packets which had lately come from other colonies. War with the +mother country seemed inevitable and Ethan Allen and men of his stamp +looked forward to it not without some eagerness. It was not that they +were reckless and irresponsible, or did not understand the terrible +situation in which the colonies might find themselves should the mother +country send across the sea a great army. But in the coming struggle +they beheld the salvation of their own people and of the Hampshire +Grants. + +Therefore, perhaps even previous to this time, immediately following the +Westminster Massacre, these leaders had earnestly discussed the +possibilities of war and what the Green Mountain Boys could do to +further the cause of the colonies. On the shores of the beautiful lake +which was the colonists' boast, were two of the strongest fortresses--or +two which had been and could be made again the strongest--of the New +World, Ticonderoga and Crown Point. At Old Ti were many stores and +munitions of war and the place was held by a comparatively small guard +of red-coats who had a great contempt for, and therefore small +appreciation of, the valor of the colonials. + +With these circumstances in mind Old Ti was already an object of the +conferences of Vermont's leading men. Possessing that fortress, Crown +Point, and Skenesboro, the lake would be free of British and the way to +Canada open; and at that early date it was strongly believed by the +patriots that the French descendants of the early settlers of Canada +would join the Colonies in their fight for freedom. + +Young Enoch Harding did not see the leaders as he passed through +Bennington; but he was waylaid there a dozen times, and upon his road +home, to satisfy the curiosity and interest of his neighbors in the +Westminster trouble. Letters from Boston had roused them to the highest +pitch, too. Nor were his mother and Bryce any less anxious to hear and +discuss the news. Mistress Harding had lived within a few miles of +Boston and felt a deep interest still in the people and the affairs of +the Massachusetts Colony. That a foreign soldiery should have been +landed on her shores fired even this good and gentle woman with anger, +and when Bryce said he'd go to Boston, too, along with Lot Breckenridge, +if there was war, she did not say him nay. + +But the Hardings had little time to waste upon politics. The boys had to +drop the drilling soon, too, for it came ploughing and seed time. 'Siah +Bolderwood remained about the settlement rather later than usual that +year; and mainly for the reason that public affairs were so strained. He +said his own crop of corn which he intended putting into the lot near +Old Ti upon which he "had let the light of day" could wait a bit, under +the circumstances, for there might be occasion to "beat his ploughshare +into a sword" before corn-planting time. + +Therefore he was still with the Hardings that day late in April when +Ethan Allen, riding out of Bennington into the north to carry a torch +which should fire every farm and hamlet with patriotic fervor, reined in +his steed at the door of the farmhouse. The children saw the great man +coming and ran from the fields with Bolderwood, while the widow appeared +at her door and welcomed Colonel Allen. + +"Will you 'light, sir?" she asked him. "It has been long since you +favored us with a visit." + +"And long will it be ere I come again, perhaps, Mistress Harding. I am +like Sampson--I have taken an oath. And mine is not to rest, nor to give +this critter rest, until I have spoken to as many true men in these +Grants as may be seen in a week. The time has come to act!" + +"Reckon I'd better be joggin' erlong toward Old Ti, heh, Colonel?" +remarked the ranger, leaning an elbow on the pommel of the saddle. + +"You had, 'Siah, you had. We can depend upon you, and those red-coated +rascals there must be kept unsuspicious and their fears--if they have +any--lulled to sleep. I have one man already who proposes to put his +head in the Lion's mouth and return--providing the jaws do not close on +him--to tell us in what state the old pile of stone is kept." + +"But what has started you out so suddenly, Colonel Allen?" demanded the +widow. + +"What! have ye not heard? There was a packet came from Boston +yesterday." + +"We have seen nobody this week," declared Enoch. + +"There has been blood shed, friends," said the giant, earnestly, his +eyes flashing and the color in his cheek deepening. "American freemen +have been shot down like sheep in the slaughter!" + +"Where? Who were killed? What was the cause? Who did it?" were some of +the queries hurled at their informant by the little group. + +"Fifty men, they say, were murdered. At Lexington, in Massachusetts. +There were munitions stored there belonging to the militia. The British +got word of it and marched from Boston to destroy the goods. They fired +on our people at the bridge and when the poor fellows broke and ran they +followed and potted them like rabbits! War has begun, friends. Nothing +under the blue canopy can stop it now. American blood has been shed and +I tell you it is but the beginning of the flood which must pour from our +veins until these colonies are free!" + +"Oh, Colonel! you do not believe that?" cried the widow. "Surely this +trouble can be averted. Calmer and more honest men will gain control and +prevail. War is an awful thing." + +"True, Widow Harding. And well may you say it who have two sons to give +for freedom. But mark my words, madam! Those two boys of yours will be +needed, and if the Almighty spares them they will be some years older +before either side in this controversy gives in.... Now friends, I must +away. You know what is expected of you, 'Siah. Young Nuck, you'll be +wanted at Bennington to-morrow." + +"Oh, shall our people really attack Ticonderoga?" cried Kate. "The +schoolmaster says that is the strongest fortress in the Colonies." + +"Your schoolmaster is a bit of a Tory, I fear, miss," said Allen, +smiling down upon her. "We shall have to 'view' him if he tells such +tales in school," and waving his gauntleted hand he rode swiftly away +from the homestead. + +"I am off at once, folks," said 'Siah, beginning to make his pack for +the journey. "I'll see you up near Old Ti, Nuck, for the Colonel means +business sure! We may have some such doin's up there as your father and +I had under Rogers and Old Put years ago." + +He went away shortly and there was little the Hardings could do that day +but talk over the wonderful news and let their fancy run upon the +future. The widow saw that coming which she had feared for months, but +she was cheerful. Nuck must go on this expedition to Lake Champlain, and +she said it with unshaken voice. Bryce was to remain to guard the home, +for there was no knowing what the result of the attack on Old Ti might +be. + +The alarming intelligence brought by Colonel Allen had its effect upon +the younger members of the family as well as on the older, for late in +the afternoon Harry came running to his mother with the information that +there was a man lurking in the forest across the creek. The child had +seen the stranger twice and being fearful that the man was there for no +good purpose was much troubled. The older boys were in the field at +work, but when the widow blew the horn Enoch came up to learn the cause, +for it was not yet supper time. Hearing Harry's report he seized his +rifle and went to the creek bank, approaching the spot very carefully, +for he feared at once that their enemy, Simon Halpen, might have dared +follow him from Westminster. + +He had scarcely reached the creek, however, when he was apprised of the +identity of the visitor. A head, in the black locks of which a tuft of +eagle feathers was fastened, appeared above the bushes, and the next +moment the person thus betrayed came out into full view and beckoned +him. It was Crow Wing who had approached the Harding place through the +forest. Enoch leaped into his own boat and paddled across, remembering +the Indian's promise the year before to visit him at some time for the +purpose of examining the vicinity of the spot where Jonas Harding had +been slain. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CLOVEN HOOF + + +The grave face of the young Indian brave was undisturbed by a smile as +he greeted the white youth whom he had not seen for more than a year. +But he shook Enoch's hand with an emphatic "Umph!" when the latter +sprang ashore. + +"Crow Wing!" exclaimed young Harding. "I thought you had forgotten us in +these parts. You've been away a long time." + +"Umph! Injin no forget friends," remarked Crow Wing, sententiously. + +"And you've come here to see me--'way from Lake George?" + +"Umph!" was again the non-committal answer. "Harding and Crow Wing go +hunt,--shoot deer? Crow Wing need new moccasins," and he thrust forward +one foot on which was a ragged covering. But Nuck knew well enough the +Indian had not traveled through the wilderness from Lake George merely +for the pleasure of going on a deer hunt with him. But he said, +doubtfully: "We're pretty busy just now, Crow Wing. Can't go far with +you." + +"Not go far. Plenty deer yonder," and he pointed in the direction of the +lick where Jonas Harding had been killed. Nuck understood. "I'll go with +you. Will you come across and eat supper with us?" + +But the Indian shook his head vigorously. "Will eat yonder. Have meat. +Harding get rifle and blanket. Will make fire." + +He turned about instantly and plunged into the forest. Enoch was +astonished by his manner and words, familiar as he was with the +peculiarities of the red race. Crow Wing had never refused to eat with +them before; he had always seemed to enjoy the "white squaw's" cooking. +But Enoch had no fear that his one-time enemy was playing him a trick. +He paddled across the creek for his blanket, told his mother that he was +going on a torchlight hunt, with whom he was going, and without further +explanation returned to follow his red friend. He had noted the +direction the young brave had taken. The way led directly to that little +glade where, nearly four years before, he had spied upon Simon Halpen, +the Yorker, and Crow Wing had driven him so ignominiously home. There +was a fire here now, but the Indian was alone. + +An appetizing odor of broiling flesh greeted the white youth, for it was +already growing dark in the forest and Crow Wing was preparing supper. +Enoch did not open the conversation, but busied himself with making a +couple of bark platters out of which they might eat the meat when it was +cooked. He was anxious enough to broach the subject uppermost in his +mind; but he knew Crow Wing better than to do that. Anxiety, or +curiosity, were emotions which only squaws gave way to, and Enoch would +not exhibit his feelings and so disgust his red brother. + +Crow Wing was evidently a man of importance in his tribe now, and his +gravity was far beyond his years. While they ate Enoch asked a question +or two about his people, and if the decimated tribe, which had never +recovered numerically from a scourge of smallpox, still resided near +Lake George. He learned then that the Indians had struck their lodges +and were journeying toward the northern wilderness. The old chief, Crow +Wing's father, was dead, and the youth himself aspired to be the leader +of his people. From a word or two he let drop and from his manner of +speaking, Enoch judged that the older men of the tribe had some doubt of +Crow Wing's ability to govern the braves; but evidently the youth had +strong hopes of gaining their confidence--and that by some act in the +near future. What his plan for advancement was, Enoch could not get his +friend to tell. + +"Why do your people leave the shores of the pleasant water?" asked the +white boy. + +"Injin not 'lone there now. Red-coat come; then white farmer. Push, +push; crowd, crowd; no game. Injin starve." + +"And where are you going?" + +"To the hunting grounds of the Hurons." + +"But then there will be war between your people and the Hurons." + +"No; no war. Hurons be squaws--children; Iroquois master 'em. Then, +war-hatchet buried between Hurons and Six Nations. Buried when French +and Yenghese bury hatchet--long time 'go." + +Enoch, with more than curiosity, yet speaking in a careless manner, +continued his questioning: "What would the people of Crow Wing do if +there was another war?" + +The Indian flashed a sudden sharp glance at him. "How could be?" he +asked, craftily. "Yenghese got many red-coats--much gun. French no fight +more." + +"Suppose we should fight the red-coats?" + +"Umph! Me hear Long-guns" (the Virginians) "talk fight to Six Nations. +No. Yenghese send too many big chiefs over water." + +"Those big chiefs aren't always good," returned Enoch, quickly. "Your +people remember General Abercrombie. He did not know how to fight in +these forests. And there was Braddock; he was no good at all. He +wouldn't have been beaten if he'd taken Colonel Washington's advice. I'd +give a lot more when it comes to a fight for our Major Putnam, Mr. +Washington, and Ethan Allen." + +The Indian's face was gloomy. He had finished eating now and leaned back +against a tree while he puffed the tobacco in the little copper pipe +which was his constant companion. Not until the pipe was smoked out did +he speak. "Harding my friend," he finally said, in his grave tone, +repeating a formula which he had used so many times since the night Nuck +had saved him from the wolves. "Harding my friend. Crow Wing know what +is in his mind. He thinks to fight the red-coats--to take their great +stockades; he is not afraid of their many guns. But he is foolish; he is +as a child; he does not understand. Let him open his ears and listen to +his friend." + +The young chief had assumed that oracular tone and manner so dear to the +red man in his counsels. His earnestness, however, impressed Enoch. "The +white youth and his friends are angry with the great King across the +water; they would kill his red-coats. But the red-coats are like leaves +when the frost comes; they fall to the ground and so cover the earth; +and it is thus with the red-coats for numbers. And the Six Nations will +be with the red-coats; Crow Wing's people will be with them. If there is +war we will take many scalps; we will come here," with a gesture, +sweeping in the Bennington country, "and then Crow Wing and Harding not +be friends. So Crow Wing come now to say to Harding, 'Good-bye.'" + +"But why do not the Indians help us instead of the red-coats?" demanded +Enoch, striving to speak calmly. + +"The great King give us blankets; he give us powder for scalp; he give +us gun. The red-coats let Injin fight his own way. And Crow Wing be +great war chief!" he exclaimed, with some emphasis. It was plain that he +expected to make his position with his tribe secure by his valor in +battle, should the settlers and the British come to a rupture. He +refrained from speaking longer, however, rising soon and covering the +fire which he had kindled. Then, seizing a bundle of torches and his +rifle, he motioned Enoch to follow and they set off through the forest +toward the deer-lick. + +Although he felt the utmost confidence in the fact that Crow Wing had +not come clear from Lake George simply to give him this warning and to +bid him good-bye, Enoch still remained silent upon that subject which +the Indian's appearance had brought so forcibly to his mind. Through the +darkened forest, in which the owls now hooted mournfully, the white +youth followed the red without a word; every step was taking them nearer +to that place where his father had been found dead so long ago. Crow +Wing had spoken with some confidence the year before of being able to +find, even at this late day, some sign which should disprove the +generally accepted belief in the manner of Jonas Harding's death. + +The brave soon reached the deeply worn runway which Enoch, on the +morning he was introduced to the reader, followed to the creek, and soon +the two came upon the little glade where the saline deposits in the +earth had attracted the deer and other animals since such creatures +inhabited the forest. Dark as it was Enoch could even distinguish the +very tree out of which the catamount had sprung at him, and the murmur +of the hurrying waters down the rocky bed reached his ear. Here 'Siah +Bolderwood and the other neighbors had found the dead body of the elder +Harding, apparently trampled and gored to death by the huge buck whose +hoofprints marked the ground all about. Enoch had seldom passed the spot +without a shudder--especially since he had so nearly lost his own life +there. + +Still the Indian made no comment, nor mentioned the real reason for +which they had come to the lick. He wet his finger and held it up so as +to get the direction of the wind. Then circling the lick and getting +between it and the creek-bank, he flung down the bundle of torches and +motioned Enoch back into the deeper shadow. With his own flint and +steel, and using a bit of tinder from the leather pouch he carried, he +lit one of the resinous torches. This he stood upright some little +distance away, yet not too near the piece of ground where the creatures +of the forest were accustomed to obtain their salt. Then, crouching +beside his white friend, the Indian remained motionless and speechless +for the next three hours. Once Enoch crept out and renewed the torch +which had burned low; then he returned to Crow Wing's side. + +All the sounds of the forest at night are not to be distinguished with +ease. Even Enoch, bred in the wilderness and possessing much knowledge +of wood-ranging, heard only the coarser sounds. Therefore he lay half +dreaming for some moments after the Indian raised his head and lent an +attentive ear to some noise which came from far away. The night-owl's +hoot was intermittent; a lone wolf howled mournfully on the hillside; in +the swamp a catamount screamed as it pounced upon its prey. But it was +none of these sounds which had attracted the Indian's attention. Enoch +suddenly roused to see Crow Wing softly reach for his gun and bring the +weapon slowly to his shoulder. + +The white youth already had his own weapon in hand. He tried to pierce +the darkness beyond the flickering torch with his eyes, seeing naught at +first but shapeless shadows. At length, however, the sound that had +warned Crow Wing of the approach of their game, was audible to Enoch's +much less acute ear. It was that of a steady grinding of a ruminant +animal feeding. The creature was coming slowly nearer and soon the +hunters could plainly hear it cropping the leaves and twigs along the +path; then, having gained a choice mouthful, the grinding of the molars +recommenced. + +Suddenly the thick brush across the glade parted and the animal halted +with a surprised snuff--one might almost say gasp of astonishment. The +crash in the bushes betrayed that the creature had flung itself half +around in its contemplated flight; then it hesitated; the flaming torch +spurred its curiosity and, there being no movement in the glade, except +of the shadows caused by the dancing flame from the fragrant pine, the +startled creature was tempted. + +And being tempted to the point of hesitation, it was lost! Slowly, +blowing as it came yet drawing nearer and nearer to the light, the beast +moved out of the brush into the open. Suddenly Enoch saw it--the +branching antlers, the fawn-colored breast, the pointed, outstretched, +eager muzzle, the great eyes in which the torch reflected a glint of +fire. It was a magnificent buck, the largest specimen of the deer tribe +the youth had ever seen. Suddenly Crow Wing jogged his elbow. A glance +passed between them. Each understood the other's intention. The Indian +fired, his ball entering just above the buck's breast and ploughing +slantingly upward through the throat. With a snort of terror the buck +swerved to one side and might have gotten away had not Enoch's shot +found a more vulnerable spot behind the foreleg. The heart of the great +deer was punctured, and it fell in the agony of death. + +"Umph! Now Crow Wing have new moccasins," the Indian grunted, without +emotion. But Enoch went forward, lighting a second torch the better to +view the great buck. It was still now and outstretched on the earth +looked even larger than when in life. The thought flashed through his +mind: "Ah! perhaps this was the very brute--this enormous fellow with +his hoofs bigger than those of a steer and his terrible horns--that +killed my father here. Could it be possible?" + +Looking upon this huge buck, noting its power and its fierce aspect, +though the brute's eye was glazed by death, he wondered if, by any +chance, he had been accusing an innocent person? This brute would have +been perfectly able to kill a man. Naught but the hoof-marks of the deer +were found about the body of his father. How, then, could Simon Halpen +be in any wise guilty of his enemy's death? + +But Crow Wing brought the white youth to a realization of present +things. The Indian knew that their hunting was over for that night. No +other deer would approach the lick, for the smell of the blood from the +slain buck would warn its mates away. Only the creatures of prey would +be attracted now. So he was down on his knees and had already begun to +flay the dead carcass, and Enoch, seeing this, began to help him. It was +near midnight, and when the hide was off, the tongue and the most tasty +parts removed, Crow Wing built another fire, wrapped his blanket about +him, and lay down to sleep. + +But Enoch could not sleep. He had cut off and hung up near the camp a +haunch of the venison to take back with him in the morning. They had +removed so far from the lick that certain preying beasts dared quarrel +over the remains of the noble buck until daylight; but the youth sat +with his back against a tree and his rifle across his knees until the +dimpling water of the creek was kissed by the first beams of the sun +which shot over the distant range of hills. His thoughts were sufficient +to keep him wide awake. + +Enoch was not the first to stir; but Crow Wing, possessing the hunter's +faculty of awaking at any desired hour, sat up and threw back his +blanket. "My brother did not sleep," he said, looking upon the white +youth with gloomy brow. + +"No; I couldn't do that, Crow Wing," Enoch returned, sadly. + +The Indian got upon his feet, threw wood upon the fire, and prepared to +cook the deer meat he had reserved. They ate in silence as they had the +night before. Never had young Harding seen the redskin act so strangely, +for during the winter Crow Wing had spent with Enoch and Lot on the +Otter, he had by no means been silent or morose. The white youth could +not fail to see that something--something beside what troubled +Enoch--bore heavily upon Crow Wing's mind. + +After eating the Indian scattered and covered the embers of the fire and +prepared to leave the spot. He went toward the lick where the deer had +been torn to pieces by the prowling animals Enoch had heard. At the edge +of the clearing he halted and attracted his companion's attention by a +commanding gesture. "Harding's father found here by the tall white man," +he said, simply. + +"Yes. 'Siah Bolderwood found him," Enoch sadly admitted. + +"Then we look--see how Hawknose kill him." + +"But Crow Wing, it was four years ago----" + +The Indian stopped him with a gesture of disdain. "Does my brother think +we look for trail? No, no! The white man not find trail?" + +"Of course not. There were only marks of the buck's hoofs." + +Crow Wing pointed to the spoor of the dead buck made the night before. +"Trail big as that?" he asked. + +"Yes. It might have been this buck." + +"No buck," declared the other, emphatically and then began to move about +the open glade, examining each tree trunk as he went. Enoch did not +understand his actions but he followed him. The Indian gazed upon each +tree scrutinizingly, and no knothole in the rough boles escaped his +attention. + +When the tree proved to be hollow at its base the searcher experimented +with his gun barrel, poking it into the farther extremity of the cavity +and rattling out the decayed wood and the debris of squirrel nests and +owl lairs. In several cases these creatures themselves were disturbed, +the lively squirrels to run chattering up the higher branches, the owls +lumbering away into the forest, bumping against the trees in their +blindness, and hooting mournfully at the disturbers of their peace. All +this time Crow Wing continued with an unmoved face. Not an interstice in +the roots of the trees escaped his eye and to Enoch, who could not +imagine what he was looking for, his actions seemed without reason. But +he knew better than to ask him the nature of his search. + +For two hours Crow Wing circled about the little glade. There was not a +tree which escaped him, nor did any hollow go unexamined which was +within reach of the tallest man. Crow Wing's face betrayed neither hope +nor disappointment and therefore his companion could not tell how +important this search was. The patience displayed by the Indian was all +that suggested the object of his examination to be of any moment. + +At length, in poking the barrel of his gun into the hollow at the base +of a big tree Crow Wing disturbed some object which fell out upon the +ground. Enoch, who looked over his shoulder could not at first imagine +what it was. He saw several rotting straps attached to the thing, +however, and as his companion with a grunt of evident satisfaction, +began poking into the hollow still further, the white boy picked the +object up and knocked the dirt and decayed wood off it. It was so +strange an object that at first Enoch saw no connection between it and +the matter which he and Crow Wing had discussed--Jonas Harding's death. + +It was the dry and broken hoof of some ruminant animal--an ox, perhaps, +for it was too large for any deer that Enoch had ever seen. It was even +larger than the hoof of the buck he and Crow Wing had recently shot. And +when the boy thought of that he was reminded of the hoof prints which +had been found all about the lick when his father's body was discovered +lying there. He uttered a stifled exclamation and drawing up one foot +fitted the cloven hoof against the sole of his moccasin. The rotten +straps or thongs would once have bound the thing to a man's foot. He +might have stood upon it--walked upon it, indeed; and the impression +left by this cloven hoof would naturally lead one to suppose that a big +deer had been that way! + +Enoch turned with sweating brow and shaking hands toward the Indian. +Crow Wing stood upright again and now held a second hoof, likewise +supplied with thongs, in his hand. They looked at each other. + +"Umph!" grunted Crow Wing. "Now Harding know? See moose hoofs. Crow Wing +know where moose killed--see moose killed. Hawknose kill much that +winter; Hawknose hunt with Injins up north; then come back to crick. +Harding 'member what Crow Wing tell him when trapping on Otter Crick? +See Hawknose running; blood on clothes; blood on hands and on gun. Now +Harding know how father be killed." + +Enoch's eyes blazed with wrath. "I know, Crow Wing. I believe what you +tell me. I see no other explanation of the affair. Give me those hoofs, +Crow Wing." + +"Harding keep them till he punish Hawknose?" queried the Indian. + +"Yes." + +The young brave pulled his belt tighter and prepared to depart. +"Hawknose never Crow Wing's brother," he said. "Harding been brother. +But now the hatchet will be dug up. The Long-guns cannot get the Six +Nations to fight the red-coats. And the friends of my white brother will +be beaten. They will become the squaws of the red-coats and of the great +King across the sea. So my people will go north and join the red-coats." +He shook Enoch's hand gravely. "Crow Wing and Harding been brothers; but +when they meet again be enemies. Umph?" + +"I hope we'll never meet again, then, Crow Wing," declared the white +youth. "I hope there will be no war. More than that, I hope your people +will not join the British if there is war." + +But without further speech, or a glance behind him, the Indian brave +strode away into the forest and was quickly lost to view. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"THE CROSS OF FIRE" + + +Having at length been assured beyond peradventure that his suspicions +were true, a desire for vengeance upon Simon Halpen sprang to life in +Enoch's heart. He forgot the momentous matter which had filled his mind +before the appearance of Crow Wing the evening before. He thought only +of his father's murderer, the man who had tried to injure them all, even +to the point of destroying their home and attempting to shoot himself. + +As he tramped back to the house with the haunch of venison on his +shoulder, he determined to tell nobody there of the finding of the moose +hoofs which explained the mystery of his father's death. The hoofs he +saved to show Bolderwood, and for evidence against Simon Halpen if the +opportunity ever arose to punish that villain. It was easy to see with +this evidence before him, how the awful deed had been accomplished. With +the moose hoofs strapped upon his feet the Yorker had crept through the +forest on the trail of the unconscious Jonas Harding; had seen him shoot +the doe; and then falling upon him suddenly had beaten him to the earth +with his clubbed rifle and had bruised and mangled him so terribly that +the neighbors, at first glance, pronounced the poor man killed by a mad +buck. Hurrying from the vicinity, dress and hands covered with blood as +Crow Wing had seen him, Halpen had hidden the deer hoofs in the hollow +of the tree, and escaped to Albany, his vengeance accomplished. + +"But he shall suffer for this yet," thought the youth, with compressed +lips. "God will punish him if the courts do not. And sometime he may be +delivered into my hand, and if he is----" + +The implied threat frightened him, and he did not follow it even in his +thoughts, but by again turning his attention to the matter which Ethan +Allen's visit the day before had suggested, he strove to bring his mind +into better tone before meeting his mother. He feared that the +expression on his features would betray something of his horror and +determination to her sharp eyes. When he reached home, however, he found +the family so greatly excited that nobody thought to either ask +questions or to notice his behavior. A drill had been called at +Bennington and Enoch was forced to saddle the horse and hurry away at +once. Under the present conditions it was thought best for Bryce to +remain at home, for if the Green Mountain Boys marched upon Ticonderoga +the younger Harding could not be spared to accompany the expedition. + +The Council was in session and the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys +remained in Bennington for more than a week. Couriers had arrived from +the south and east and it was known that the British were rapidly being +shut up in Boston. The Massachusetts Colony was afire with wrath because +of the Lexington massacre. The Grants people were quite as rebellious +against the King's authority, with the sad affair at Westminster fresh +in their minds. The proposal to capture the British strongholds on the +lake met with favor everywhere. Small bodies of armed men began to come +in and a camp was planned at Castleton. It was said that a large body of +troops was to march from Western Massachusetts and Connecticut to aid +the expedition. When Ethan Allen returned and heard of these +reinforcements he immediately desired to bring in more of his own people +for the work proposed. + +"This is our work," he declared. "We have planned to lead this campaign +and lead it we shall. We must show the southerners that we are one in +heart and intention and therefore every able-bodied man in the Grants +must come in. It isn't enough for us to have some men; we must have the +most men and thereby control the expedition. We want the honor of it!" + +"You must lead us, Colonel!" exclaimed Warner, who, although he had no +such following as did Allen, was sure of a goodly company of determined +men to join the expedition. "We'll follow you into Old Ti or anywhere +else; but no stranger must command." + +"Then I must have more men to my following than anybody else," declared +Allen, vigorously. "I have seen a great many myself, but there are +districts I haven't been able to reach." + +"We must send out a cross of fire to rouse the clans," Captain Warner +said, with a smile. "But who shall go? Bolderwood?" + +"'Siah has reached his own land--where he's let the light in upon some +acres, I understand--near Old Ti. And he's got his work cut out for him +there. No; I have the chap in mind to send up along the Otter. There's +only one thing I fear. I understand that a plaguey Yorker has been seen +about Manchester for a week past. Just what he's so attentive to certain +people for at this time bothers me, Seth." + +"But if he's only a surveyor, or speculator----" + +"A Yorker means a King's man these times," exclaimed Allen. "I got a +sight of him--a lean, hook-nosed fellow with a face puckered like a +walnut; but we didn't pass the time o' day. I think he's spying on us." + +"If he is----" began Warner, wrathfully. + +"I'm sorry for him, that's all," declared the Green Mountain leader. "If +I catch him and it's proven against him, I'll hang him to the highest +limb in this neck of woods." + +"But the person you will send out with the warning, Colonel?" cried +Warner. "Whom have you in your mind?" + +"I see him coming now," declared the leader, laughing. "I sent word to +him last evening. He should have been to Castleton ere this; but the +widow----" + +"It's young Harding!" cried Captain Warner. "I recognize him. And, +Colonel, from what I have seen of the young man, he'll bear out your +confidence in him." + +Enoch had approached near enough to hear this last and he flushed +deeply. "I was told you wanted to see me, Colonel Allen," he said, +saluting awkwardly. + +"I do indeed," said Allen. "You're ready for campaigning, I see. Leave +your traps--even to your blanket and gun--with Master Fay here. You'll +want to travel light where I send you," and he proceeded to explain the +mission he wished the youth to perform. + +"I am ready, Colonel," declared Enoch, throwing off his knapsack. + +"Good! Away with you at once. Use yonder horse till you get to +Manchester. Beyond that there will scarcely be bridle paths, so a horse +will be in your way. Take the word around that the time has come to +strike. And have them rendezvous at Castleton. Be off, my boy, and may +success go with you!" + +The horse in question was a fine steed that Allen had ridden into town +that very morning. The youth sprang into the saddle and, understanding +that haste and cautiousness were the two things most desired of him, +trotted the animal easily out of the town and then put the spurs to him +along the road to Manchester. He spared neither the horse nor himself +until he reached the latter place and had left the steed in the keeping +of a loyal man to be returned at the first opportunity to Colonel Allen. +Of course, all the men in this section of the Grants had been warned of +the proposed expedition against the fortresses on Champlain; it was +those who dwelt deeper in the wilderness to whom young Enoch Harding had +been sent. + +He knew what was expected of him. And he knew, too, how most of the +Grants people would receive the news. Colonel Allen was beloved by them +as were few leaders. This Connecticut giant who had given up his desire +for a college education and a life among books because duty called him +to the work of supporting his family, who had been by turn a farmer, an +iron forger, had tried mining and other toilsome industries, but who +nearly always worked with a book in his hand or beside him where he +could read and study--this man with his free, jovial air and utterly +reckless courage, was become as one of the heroes of old to the people +of Vermont. The men on his side of the controversy in which Allen had +taken such a deep interest, loved him devotedly; those who espoused the +New York cause hated him quite as dearly, for they feared him. + +So when Enoch set out from Manchester to go from farmstead to farmstead +and from clearing to clearing, he was not in much doubt as to whom he +should send to Castleton and whom he should pass by without speaking to +regarding the proposed expedition. There would be no doubtful settlers. +The line between Tories and Whigs was drawn too sharply; and every Whig +stood by Ethan Allen. + +Enoch had learned something of the paths and runways of this part of the +Grants. It had been near here that Lot Breckenridge and himself, with +Crow Wing, had spent a winter trapping. Lot had now gone, so he had +heard, to Boston as he said he should if fighting began. He had gone to +help Israel Putnam and the other New England leaders pen the British +into the city and aid in that series of maneuvres which finally drove +the red-coats into their ships. As for himself, Enoch was only eager to +be one of those who should storm the walls of Ticonderoga, and glad as +he was to have been singled out for this present duty, he was determined +to husband his strength so as to get back to Castleton before the army +gathering there should move against the British fortifications. + +He walked rapidly; more often he ran. In the pouch at his belt he +carried parched corn, like an Indian on the warpath. Occasionally at a +clearing, where some hardy borderer was scratching a living from the +half-cleared soil, he would stop long enough to eat. But usually he +halted only to give the good man of the house the message from Ethan +Allen and, as he passed on and entered the forest on the further side he +looked back to see the settler, his gun on his shoulder, bidding his +family good-bye preparatory to setting out for the rendezvous appointed +for the American troops. + +But nature revolts when a certain point of exhaustion is reached. +Refusing to remain the night at one kindly settler's home, Enoch finally +found himself in the forest a goodly distance from any other house. The +path could be followed quite easily, the woods being open; but he was +footsore and thoroughly wearied. He shrank from lying down beside the +trail, however, for more reasons than one. On several occasions that +afternoon he had heard of the presence of another traveler in the +vicinity, and the identity of this man he could not learn. The settlers +who had mentioned him, however, declared they believed him to be a New +York agent, or a spy from the British across the lake, who was going +through the region to discover just how the people felt regarding the +rising trouble between the Colonials and the mother country. Such, at +least, had been the trend of his conversation with the loyal Americans +to whom he had been unwise enough to speak. + +The appearance of the man, too, rather troubled Enoch. He was said to be +tall and lean, with a very black face, a huge nose and fiery eyes. The +youth remembered how Simon Halpen looked a few weeks before when he saw +him at Westminster, and this pretty well described the scoundrel. Halpen +was in the Grants--or had been recently. Perhaps he had dared come +across the mountains toward the lake on some errand for the Tory party, +and the thought that the man who had murdered his father and who had +tried to take his own life, might be within rifle shot, troubled the +youth exceedingly. He could not drive away this thought and when finally +he was forced to stop for rest he trembled to think that perhaps the +light of his campfire would attract an enemy more to be feared than +either the wolves or catamounts. + +But he built his fire, broiled a piece of meat which the last settler he +spoke to had given him, ate his supper, and then prepared to sleep for a +few hours. The moon would rise late, and he desired to set forward on +his journey again as soon as it was light enough in the forest. Just at +present the darkness shrouded all objects. But when he lay down with his +feet toward the blaze and his head upon a heap of moss for a pillow, he +could not sleep, tired though he was. His nerves were all alive. His +limbs twitched so that he could not keep them still. Every sound of the +forest smote upon his ear with insistence. Although his muscles were +wearied his eyes would not close. + +Who was the Yorker that had crossed his path so many times during the +past few hours? What did he desire here in the Otter country? Was he a +spy for the British? or was he upon his own business? And, above all, +was he, Nuck Harding, in danger? The stranger might be roaming the +forest even then, hunting for the messenger of the Green Mountain +chieftain. He had likely heard that Nuck was going from farmer to +farmer, as Nuck had heard of his presence, and the man might contemplate +stopping him. It would be easy for him to creep upon and shoot the +defenseless youth as he lay before the fire. + +Nuck's only weapons were his knife and the hatchet stuck in his belt. +Lying there within the circle of light cast by the flames he would be an +easy mark for any enemy. As minute after minute passed it seemed utterly +impossible for him to quench this fear and he finally rose to his feet +and got out of the fire light. He stood in the deep shadow of a tree +trunk and cast searching glances around the tiny clearing in which he +had established his camp. Not a living thing did he observe. + +But if there was an enemy on his trail, and he should come near the camp +and see it deserted he would suspect a trap at once. Either he would +circle about so as to finally find Enoch, or he would fly from the +ambush at once. "I expect I am very foolish,--losing good sleep that I +need, too!" muttered the young fellow. "But still----" + +He could not explain the strange unrest that possessed him. He was not +of a particularly nervous temperament; therefore his present mood +troubled him the more. There was danger menacing him; he felt it, if he +could not see nor understand it. The only possibility of peril which +reason suggested was through the agency of that stranger. "I must have +things here so that he will not suspect that I am on my guard," the +youth muttered. + +Forthwith he dragged a piece of a broken tree-trunk to the fire, wrapped +his coat about it and placed his cap at the end of the stick farthest +from the blaze. He was careful to place the rude dummy far enough away +from the fire so that its flickering light should not be cast upon it +too strongly. It really looked, when he was through, as though some +person lay there asleep. He did not feed the flames too generously, but +left burning some hardwood sticks, the glowing coals of which would lend +but little light to the scene. Then he retired again to the shadow of +the tree where, crouching between two huge exposed roots, he waited with +sleepless eyes for that which was, perhaps, merely the phantom of his +fears. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE RISING OF THE CLANS + + +As still as the shadow of the tree itself, Enoch lay with his face +toward the camp. Truly, had the forest not been so dark outside the +radiance of the fire, he would have set out again upon his journey, and +left this spot which seemed to his troubled mind the lurking place of +some serious danger. The minutes grew to an hour, however, without a +suspicious sound reaching his ears. The usual noises of the forest--the +hooting of the owl, the wolf's cry, the whimper of the wild-cat--were +all that disturbed the repose of the wilderness. + +But suddenly a dry twig snapped somewhere near him. The sound went +through the anxious youth like a shock of electricity. Its direction he +could not fathom; yet he was sure that the branch had crackled under the +pressure of a foot. Somebody--or something--was approaching his fire, +which now threw a dull red light across the forest glade. Enoch's eyes +were fastened first upon one blot of shadow and then another. +Occasionally, too, he darted a glance over his shoulder, that the +approaching enemy might not come upon him unawares. Just at that time +Enoch would have given much for his rifle. Its presence would have +inspired him with a deal of courage. The very fact that the danger, +which intuition rather than reason assured him was threatening, came +from an unknown source, increased his fears. Perhaps Simon Halpen was +not within a hundred miles of that identical spot. He who was visiting +the Tories and New York sympathizers of this region was possibly nothing +worse than the agent of a land speculator. The youthful Green Mountain +Boy might be the only human being within five miles. + +But suddenly that happened which shattered this fallacious web of +thought in an instant. In the deep shadow of a thick clump of brush upon +the other side of the fire, the youth observed a movement--rather, a +flash or glint of light. The fire, increasing unexpectedly by the +falling apart of one of the logs, had sent a penetrating ray of light +into the thicket and there it glittered upon some polished piece of +metal. Nothing else could have sent forth this answering gleam; it was +not a pair of eyes; Enoch was confident of that. + +"He is there!" whispered the youth, and he crouched lower between the +roots. His eyes, sharp as they were, could not penetrate the gloom of +the brush clump, and the glittering metal had now disappeared. But he +was sure that the intruder was still there, reconnoitering the camp. +Would he suspect the ruse? Would he observe that the body lying by the +fire was simply a dummy? The youth was glad to see that the log with his +jacket and cap upon it lay almost entirely in the shadow and that one +coat-sleeve was stretched out upon the ground in a very natural manner +indeed. + +The moments that passed then were really terrible to young Harding. He +knew himself to be in no immediate danger from this mysterious +individual who had crept near his camp. Surely, the man could not see +him where he lay shrouded in the darkness. Yet the thought that he was +being dogged by a deadly enemy possessed him, and the doubt as to what +the unknown would do next, brought the sweat to his brow and limbs and +set him trembling like one with an ague. Not a breath disturbed the +bushes, yet he felt that the man was there--there across the opening in +the forest with his eyes fixed upon the supine figure near the fire. Had +he not been warned by that mysterious feeling which had kept his eyes +open and his nerves alert he, Enoch Harding, might now be lying +unconscious with a deadly weapon trained upon him! + +And then the shot was fired! Enoch expected it, yet the explosion almost +betrayed him to the enemy. A gasp of terror left his lips. Incidental +with the explosion he heard the thud of the ball as it penetrated the +log, and the shock of the impact actually stirred the dummy. It leaped +upon the uneven ground! + +This fact was an awful accessory to the attempted murder. The inanimate +object had moved as a human being would if suddenly shot through a vital +part. Perhaps the very gasp of horror Enoch had uttered reached the ears +of him who had fired from ambush. At least the enemy did not seek to +come nearer. Indeed, the youth heard a crash in the brush and then the +retreat of rapid footsteps. Having done, as he supposed, the awful deed, +the murderer fled from the spot. Enoch had half risen to his feet. Now +he sank upon his knees, clasped his hands, and thanked God for his +preservation. + +But he did not leave the sanctuary of the forest's shadow until he was +fully convinced that the villain who had made the attempt upon his life +was far away. Then, still shaking from the nervous terror inspired by +the incident, he crept to the dying fire, secured his cap and coat, and +went back to the roots of the tree again until the growing glow above +the tree-tops announced the rising of the moon. The sky grew bright +rapidly and soon the moonbeams wandered among the straight, handsome +trees and lay calmly upon the earth. He could once more see objects +about him with almost the clearness of full daylight. + +Enoch arose and crossed to the clump of brush from which the treacherous +shot had been fired. Through a break in the branches a flood of +moonlight now silvered the earth at this point. He dropped upon one knee +and examined the ground closely. There were the marks of the feet of him +who had tried to shoot a helpless and sleeping human being. Enoch +shuddered and placed his fingers in the impression of the moccasins. The +incident that had just transpired was very real to him now. + +But he had not come here merely to assure himself of this fact. The +bullet in the log and the hole through his coat were sufficient, if he +had indeed doubted his eyes and ears before. He glanced down at the +coat. Oddly enough the bullet had torn its way through the stout +homespun directly over his heart! + +He glanced keenly now from side to side and saw that the enemy who made +the treacherous attack had come from the trail he had followed that +afternoon, and had returned in the same direction. He followed the +footsteps which led away from the brush clump. In doing this he was +quickly assured that the man who had shot at him was a white man. An +Indian walks with his toes pointed inward; this individual, even as he +ran, pointed his toes out. He was certain, therefore, that his enemy was +no wandering redskin. + +"It was Halpen--I am sure of it!" muttered the youth, striking into the +trail at last and continuing the journey upon which the darkness had +overtaken him. "He believes that he has killed me. I only hope he will +not be undeceived. But if he is ever in my power he shall suffer! What a +villain the man is to follow our family and seek to murder and injure +us! Oh, I hope this war which Colonel Allen says is surely beginning, +will give us folks of the Grants our freedom from New York as well as +from England. I fear men like Halpen more than I do the soldiers of the +King." + +Although he had not slept, Enoch was rested in body and he traveled +quite rapidly. Before dawn he had aroused two settlers from their +slumbers, delivered Colonel Allen's message, and gone on his way. He +observed no signs of his enemy of the night and was confident that the +man had not continued on this trail, and was not, therefore, ahead of +him. But he determined not to sleep in the forest during the remainder +of his journey. He spent the day in alarming the farmers, circling +around into the mountains before night and stopping at last with a +distant pioneer who, with his two grown sons, promised to go back with +him to the rendezvous of Allen's army at Castleton in the morning. + +Enoch's mind was burdened with the mystery of Halpen's presence in the +Grants at this time, however. Surely the Yorker could not be upon +private business. He must have a mission from either the land +speculators, the New York authorities, or from those even higher. The +plans of the Colonials to attack Old Ti and seize the munitions of war +stored there, might have been whispered in the ears of the British +commander, De la Place. Perhaps he had sent this man, who knew the +territory so well, to spy upon the Green Mountain Boys and their +friends. Simon Halpen could do the cause afoot much harm by returning +swiftly to the lake and warning the commander of Fort Ticonderoga. Enoch +believed Colonel Allen should know of Halpen's presence as soon as +possible; and he was determined to return at once, although he certainly +deserved rest and refreshment after his arduous journey through the +wilderness. Therefore he urged the hurried departure of these three +pioneers and before dawn the quartette started for Castleton. + +Meanwhile, at the camp of the Green Mountain Boys much was transpiring +of importance to the expedition. The honor of capturing Ticonderoga +history gives unconditionally to Ethan Allen and his handful of +followers; but the suggestion and preparations for the momentous task +was divided between the Colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the +Hampshire Grants, or Vermont, as it was now beginning to be called. In +April the authorities of Connecticut raised three hundred pounds for the +expense of this expedition and Samuel H. Parsons, Silas Deane (afterward +one of America's representatives in Paris, but an arch enemy of +Washington) and Benedict Arnold, raised a handful of troops to send +north as a nucleus of that army which was expected to fall upon one of +the strongest British forts in the country. + +At Pittsfield, in western Massachusetts, Colonel Easton had recruited a +larger band of earnest patriots, and these, joined with the company from +the more southern colony, made a very respectable force to march through +the country to Bennington, where they arrived on May third. In the +meantime at Albany Messrs. Halsey and Stephens had been pleading with +the New York Congress to grant permission for troops to be raised for, +and money devoted to, the capture of the same fortresses as the New +England leaders had in mind. But, as we have seen, New York was at that +time lukewarm in the uprising of the colonies. Beside, the Continental +Congress was to meet in seven days and it was judged better by the +cautious Yorkers to wait and see what that body of representatives would +do before any direct act of war was indulged in. Therefore New York lost +her opportunity of joining in one of the most glorious campaigns of the +entire Revolutionary period. + +The Committee of Safety in Massachusetts, on the other hand, had decided +to act against Old Ti. Benedict Arnold, after stirring up the people to +fever pitch in his own colony, Connecticut, went post-haste to Cambridge +and demanded a commission and authority to raise and lead the troops +against the Champlain forts. This first move of this much-hated man in +the Revolution savored of intrigue and self-seeking--as did most of his +other public acts. He desired the honor of commanding this expedition, +and he was personally courageous enough to march up to the mouths of Old +Ti's guns if need be; but he had no personal following and could not +hope to recruit men himself for the expedition. Nevertheless, he +proposed to have the backing of a regular commission from the +Massachusetts committee and thus supersede Colonel Easton. This desire +on his part might have become a fact had it not been for one person whom +Benedict Arnold did not take into consideration. + +The Massachusetts and Connecticut forces were guided to the camp of the +Green Mountain Boys while the leaders held a conference at the Catamount +Inn in Bennington. Colonel Easton was a truly brave man, and as such was +not disturbed by petty jealousy. It was left to fate to decide who +should command the expedition, and Ethan Allen having the largest +personal following, was acclaimed commander. Greatly to Captain--now +Major--Warner's disappointment his own men did not number as many as the +Massachusetts troops; but he gracefully yielded second place to Easton +and accepted third himself. Plans for the march through the wilderness +were then carefully discussed and the leaders rode to Castleton and +reviewed the raw recruits whose valor was, at a later day, to be so +noised abroad. + +The Green Mountain Boys, after four years of training, presented much +the better appearance. And every man was practically a sharpshooter. +What their rifles and muskets could do against the thick, if crumbling, +walls of Ticonderoga, might with good judgment be asked; but they lacked +neither courage nor faith in their leader. They would have followed +Ethan Allen through a wall of fire if need be to the line of the British +fortifications. In their eyes he was invincible. + +On the morning of the start from Castleton the army was paraded--a few +hundred meagrely armed men to march against a fortress, to capture which +had cost the British two expensive campaigns and the loss of some three +thousand men. Their leaders harangued them, and Ethan Allen's promises +of glory and honor inspired quite as much enthusiasm as the commander of +any expedition could have wished. There had gathered to observe the +departure many gentlemen of the countryside, and not a few of those +individuals who, at a time like this, always occupy a prominent position +"on the fence"--that is, they having not yet decided which cause to +espouse, waited to see whether the King's troops or the earnest patriots +would win. + +Among these spectators was a well set up man of military bearing, indeed +garbed in a military coat, with a cockade in his hat and his hair +carefully dressed. He was quite a dandy, or a "macoroni" as the +exquisites of that day were called both in London and in the Colonies. +His dark visage and hawk-like eye commanded more than a passing glance +from all and when, just before the troops started, he was observed to +walk across the parade and calmly approach the group of officers +standing at one side, all eyes became fixed upon him. + +"Who is that haughty looking man yonder?" asked one spectator of his +neighbor who happened to be better informed than his friend, "and what +does he here?" + +"What he does here I know not," declared the individual thus addressed, +"but his name I can tell you, having seen him in Hartford on several +occasions. It is Benedict Arnold, a name quite well known--and not +altogether honorably--in that part of Connecticut." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE RIVAL COMMANDERS + + +At this time Benedict Arnold was thirty-five years of age, a restless, +ambitious man who had sought frequently for an opportunity to +distinguish himself in life, but who had never been willing to pay the +world's price for real success. He looked for a short-cut to power and +fortune, and because of his impatience of restraint and the small +chances of promotion, he had once deserted from the British army. When +the Revolution broke out he was living in Hartford, Connecticut, where +his business was that of druggist, and where his reputation was not of +the most savory among the more respectable merchants of the town. His +character, however, contained those elements of recklessness and +personal daring which stand for bravery with many people, and he was +something of a hero in the eyes of his thoughtless associates. + +It seemed a peculiar fatality that both Arnold and Allen, coming from +the same colony, should go to Bennington and be thrown together at just +this time. It was a great moment in Ethan Allen's life; the time was +likewise pregnant with the elements which so influenced the after +existence of Benedict Arnold. Ethan Allen's mind was filled with a +desire to help the Grants, and despite the military glory he craved, he +entered into the scheme for the capture of Ticonderoga with a real hope +of assisting the patriot cause. He was, indeed, a patriot from the +bottom, ready to sacrifice his own interests as well as his life for the +general good. Arnold saw in this rising of his fellow-Americans the long +sought chance to distinguish himself and gain that power and influence +which his nature craved. He saw in the proposed expedition to +Ticonderoga a quick road to prominence. For him to see this chance was +to grasp it. + +Having no following of his own he planned to seize the troops gathered +at Castleton and thus have his name go before the Continental Congress +as the leader of the expedition. If it was successful the honor would be +his; if it failed, his name would be quite as prominent and the affair +might gain him advancement which he could hope for in no other way. He +had no thought nor care for the men who, after weeks of toilsome effort, +had gathered the little army together. Their feelings in the matter, or +their standing with their followers, did not enter into his +calculations. + +That, indeed, was the secret of Benedict Arnold's life. He never thought +of others. He was ever for self. As a boy we read that he was cruel to +those smaller and weaker than himself, being the "bully" of the school +and of the town in which he lived. He was ever utterly reckless of his +reputation and his greatest pleasure seemed to be found in some form of +malicious mischief. Personally, however, he did not lack boldness and +physical courage. It is told of him that, being dared by other boys, he +once seized the arms of a waterwheel and followed its revolutions half a +dozen times, being completely submerged in the millrace at every turn. +The danger to a handful of illy-armed troops attacking a fortress like +Ticonderoga appealed strongly to the man's reckless daring. + +Although Allen and Warner came from the same colony as the newcomer, +neither knew nor recognized Arnold as he approached the group of +officers at this important moment. But Arnold was not a man who could be +for long ignored. His military bearing, his dress, and the hauteur of +his countenance attracted the attention of the three leaders. "Sir," +said Allen, courteously, "you evidently have some communication to make +to us?" + +"I have, sir," replied Arnold, calmly. "But not having the pleasure of a +personal acquaintance with you----" + +"I am Colonel Allen, commander of this expedition," interrupted the +other, brusquely. "This is Colonel Easton; this Major Warner. What is +your desire?" + +"I am Colonel Benedict Arnold," said the newly arrived officer, "and +bear a commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety with +authority to take command of the troops here gathered, or which shall be +gathered, and proceed against Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point," and he +drew the commission from his pocket and presented it to the company. + +Allen's ruddy face paled for an instant and his eyes flashed. "Do I +understand you aright?" he exclaimed, and his voice was sharp enough to +be heard by many of the troops near by. "You have come to take command +of these men?" and his gesture took in the lines of waiting patriots. + +"I have, sir. There is my commission." + +Allen's wrath got the better of his politeness and he struck the +offending paper from Arnold's hand. Warner stooped hastily and secured +it. He and Easton examined the document with angry scrutiny. Both had +given way with cheerfulness to Ethan Allen's superiority in the matter; +but this affront was personal to them as well as to their beloved +leader. Allen, with his arms akimbo and fire flashing from his eyes +faced the suave and cold intruder. "Sir!" he exclaimed, "I do not care +to see your commission, nor do I acknowledge your authority. I bear a +commission from a higher court and recognize an authority higher still." + +"What do you mean, Colonel Allen?" demanded Arnold, for the moment +fearing that the Green Mountain leader had indeed received some +appointment from the Continental Congress, perhaps, which would +invalidate his own. + +"I mean, sir, that my authority is based upon some slight precedence in +this matter--a prior claim which dates back some years now, Colonel +Arnold. I have led some of these men in defending their homes on more +than one occasion and by their free act of will they have made me their +leader now." + +"Your commission, sir? Where is it?" inquired Arnold, cool again, upon +finding that his antagonist's rights were based upon a matter of +sentiment. + +"It is there, sir!" cried Allen, furiously, turning and pointing to the +lines of waiting men. "It is there, sir,--writ on the hearts of those +Green Mountain Boys. And a higher commission than any Committee of +Safety can seal." + +The words were heard by the files of waiting troops and already they had +begun to murmur. That their beloved leader should be displaced by any +person--no matter how high his office--was more than distasteful to +them. At once they were in revolt. + +"Ethan Allen forever!" arose the cry. "We'll not march without he +commands us!" and more than one threw down his arms. Arnold found +himself facing the possibility of marching upon Ticonderoga alone, for +the mutiny seemed general. + +"Sir, sir!" exclaimed Warner, in anxiety, addressing Arnold. "You see +the feeling of these true-hearted men. No person can come here and take +command of them in this way. We are not regular troops. We are banded +together for the good of all, but we do not yet acknowledge the +authority of a sister colony. We desire to be a commonwealth of our own +here in the Grants and have already been disturbed enough by usurpers +from outside. Reconsider this, I beg of you. For if you persevere the +expedition must fail and that which might result in great good to our +struggling brethren, will end in harm because of this folly." + +Arnold, if ambitious and unfeeling, already saw that he was beaten. He +was not obstinate enough to do that which would be sure to redound to +his own hurt and discredit. He had not expected such opposition, for he +did not know the veneration in which the Green Mountain Boys held Ethan +Allen. Now, seeing himself undone, he did that which for the time +endeared him to all. His countenance cleared; a frank emotion played +upon his features and advancing a step toward Ethan Allen he said in a +clarion voice, heard by all: + +"Colonel Allen, you have precedence here after all. I was mistaken in my +premises. Give me a musket and let me march in the ranks. I shall be +proud to be led by so gallant a commander." + +Instantly a volley of cheers broke out among the soldiery, and Allen +who, above all men, could appreciate such generosity, offered his hand +cordially. "Egad, sir!" he cried, "you are a man after my own heart. +When there are so many jealous cattle running about the woods, it is a +pleasure to meet with a man. Give me your hand, Colonel Arnold! There is +glory enough in this campaign for all, and you shall share the command +with me, if you will." + +He turned then to his followers. "Men of the Green Mountains!" he cried, +"we are to march at once. Fall in! And with your courage and the help of +Jehovah we shall succeed in our undertaking. To your places, gentlemen," +to the minor officers, "and Colonel Arnold and I will lead you." + +Amid cheers the column moved forward into the forest and took up its +line of march toward the shore of Lake Champlain. Never had the Green +Mountain wilderness echoed to the tread of such a body of men. And they +were worth more than a passing glance for they represented the spirit +which made the American Revolution one of the greatest struggles of the +ages. Like the campaigns of Joshua of old, the battles of the American +yeoman with the trained military of King George proved that, when guided +by the God of Battles, the weak can overcome the strong. These men, +fighting for their homes and firesides, were inspired with a confidence +that overcame even impossibilities. They possessed a faith in their +cause and in their leader like that which threw down the walls of +Jericho and defeated the allied armies of Canaan. + +Even had De la Place and his garrison been informed of their approach, +and of their numbers, he would doubtless have laughed at the possibility +of their successfully attacking his fortress. And one there was among +the Green Mountain Boys who feared that news of the expedition had +already gone to the British commander. Upon his return from the Otter, +Enoch Harding had sought and obtained an audience with Colonel Allen, +and to him had related his adventure with the Yorker whom he believed to +be his deadly enemy, and told his suspicions regarding the man's +business in the region. But Ethan Allen was not to be shaken in his +confidence, or in his intentions. + +"I have an honest man at Ticonderoga now, Master Harding," he said. "If +spies were through the country we should hear of them from other +sources. But you did right to come to me with this, and if Simon Halpen +falls into our hands I will hang him for his past offenses, if not for +this attempt on your life." + +The appearance of the American troops was welcomed along the route with +acclamation. Many settlers, knowing the course the army would take, had +waited to join it as it passed their own doors. Shopkeepers and +mechanics left their work and fell into the ranks; the farmer left his +plow in the furrow, seized his rifle, and joined his neighbors; a +woodsman who was "letting sunlight" into the gloom of the virgin forest, +hid his axe under a fallen log and with a deadlier weapon on his +shoulder followed in the train; the hunter on the trail of the +frightened buck saw the column coming through the forest road and +allowed his prey to escape while he turned his attention to matters of +graver moment. Thus the army of Americans was swelled from hour to hour +by new recruits. + +To camp at night was a small matter to these hardy pioneers. The scouts +sent out upon either flank acted as hunters and fresh meat was abundant. +Besides, every man was fairly supplied with provisions brought from +Castleton. Inspired by the energy of Ethan Allen the column rapidly +approached the shore of the lake. While some miles away, however, the +group of officers riding ahead of the main body, suddenly descried a +tall woodsman striding through the forest toward them. "Who is this +chap, Major?" demanded Allen of his friend Warner. "Had I not sent 'Siah +Bolderwood to watch Old Ti like a cat at a rathole, I'd declare this to +be he." + +"And so it is, Colonel!" returned the other. "Something of moment must +have sent our lengthy friend this way, for he is a man who knows how to +obey orders," and he spurred forward to meet the footman. + +"Wall, Captain," was 'Siah's greeting, squinting around the horseman at +the long column of marching men, "you look like you had a slather of +folks yonder. I guess there'll be something in the wind around Old Ti +'fore long, hey?" + +"And how is it you are not there, Bolderwood?" demanded Warner. + +"Wall, I got an idee into my noddle an' leavin' Smith and Brown to watch +Old Ti, for it might run away 'fore ye git there, ye know, I trotted +down this way ter see the Colonel. Ev'rything is safe there so fur, but +there's one thing we've neglected." + +"What is that, Bolderwood?" cried Allen, riding up and hearing this last +sentence. + +"Why, Colonel, although I count you as purty near ekal to 'most +anything, an' them fellers behind ye seemed armed to deal with any foe, +still I calkerlate you ain't expectin' ol' Champlain ter open for ye to +pass over dry shod, hey?" + +Allen smote his thigh with his gauntleted hand and the expression on his +face changed. "Right, 'Siah! I can't forgive myself for my +thoughtlessness. We must have boats--and plenty of them--to cross to the +fort." + +"That's what struck me last night, Colonel. So I left the others ter +watch the fort--an' a sarpint that wriggled into aour han's +yesterday--and come kitin' down here for orders." + +"A serpent, 'Siah?" said Warner. "Who is it?" + +"One o' them Yorkers, an' one that I've not had my eyes on--let alone my +hands--for a good many months. An' I see a chap behind you there that'll +be some interested in meeting the rascal, too." + +'Siah had looked past the officers and, in the very front rank, caught +sight of his young friend Enoch. The latter waved his hand to the tall +woodsman and Bolderwood, knowing that discipline was lax on the march, +beckoned Enoch forward. "Come here, youngster, and hear what news I've +got for ye," he cried. But Allen caught at the matter instantly, and +understood to whom Bolderwood referred by his appellation of "the +serpent." + +"You mean to say you've got Simon Halpen?" he asked. + +"That's the identical sarpint, Colonel," declared the ranger. "We caught +him tryin' ter cross to Old Ti and thought it was best, under the +sarcumstances, ter keep him close till this leetle business is over. +What he was doin' riskin' his carcass on this side of the line is more'n +I can tell----" + +"The boy was right, Major!" exclaimed Allen, turning to Warner. "Harding +met the fellow while he was stirring up our folks in the Otter country +last week. He thought he was up to some rascality then, and the fellow +did try to take his life." + +"Tried it again, did he?" cried 'Siah, as Enoch approached. "Is that so, +Nuck?" + +Enoch repeated his adventure with the murderous Halpen. "If I'd knowed +this," the ranger declared, "I'd saved the grub the scoundrel is +eating." + +"We'll make an example of him when we reach the lake, 'Siah," declared +the leader of the Green Mountain Boys. "But now for this other matter. +It is most important. Every bateau within reach must be secured." + +"I know where there are three of 'em. And there may be others down the +lake furder." + +"You shall have charge of this, Bolderwood!" the commander cried. "I +make you our captain of scouts. Take any reasonable number of men with +you and hurry ahead. Every moment is precious." + +"Good!" said the ranger. "With Smith and Brown I won't need but eight or +ten more. And I'll begin by taking young Nuck here. He's a good oar." + +"Take whom you wish. We depend on you," replied Allen, and within the +hour the ranger and his party, including Enoch Harding, set off on their +mission ahead of the more slowly moving army. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE ESCAPE OF THE SPY + + +In sixteen hours 'Siah Bolderwood had traveled from his camp on the +shore of Lake Champlain opposite the frowning walls of Fort Ticonderoga; +when the long ranger was in a hurry he did not spare himself. Perhaps no +other man in the Vermont wilderness could have covered so much ground +afoot as he, within the time. But he set off now on his return journey, +with nearly a dozen men at his heels, as fresh as though he had rested +for a night instead of for an hour. His muscles were seemingly of steel +and his limbs of iron. He led at such a pace that Enoch Harding, who +came first behind him, could scarcely keep up with his stride and place +his feet, Indian fashion, in the prints of his friend's moccasins. + +The company of scouts traveled in single file and, having no need to +follow the wood-road on which the army was marching, they soon left that +out of view. 'Siah found an Indian path which suited him far better than +the broader trail, for it would bring them much sooner to the lake, and +for hour after hour he strode on with scarce a look behind him to see +how his companions kept up. The men he had chosen, save Enoch, were +tried and trained woodsmen, with powers of endurance second only to his +own. And as for the lad whom he loved, he knew his high spirit and +pride. Enoch Harding would not fall behind until the last ounce of his +strength had been expended. + +Finally the party reached a little stream and here the leader gave the +signal to halt. Enoch flung himself down on the short sward and fell +asleep almost instantly. 'Siah looked down upon him in some pride. +"That's the stuff we make men of in this country," he said aloud. "I +knew his father as well as I know myself. The lad will be another Jonas +Harding." + +"He'll hold us back if we've to keep up this pace, 'Siah," said one of +the others, doubtfully. + +"Nay, you're mistaken there, neighbor. You and I will travel until we +feel that it ain't best for us to go any furder. Enoch'll keep up till +he drops. He won't hold us back." + +And it was true. Others of the party cried "enough!" before the +afternoon was over; but the youth, his lips pale and compressed and the +perspiration fairly pouring from his limbs, would have died before he +acknowledged that the pace was too great for him. At night 'Siah called +another halt and they ate heartily of such provisions as they carried +and then lay down to rest. But 'Siah arranged for a guard. They were +nearing the lake now and some ill-affected settler (there were several +families of Tories near Champlain) might see them and wonder what such a +large party of armed men was doing here. If the news of the approach of +the main army did not travel ahead, it would be more because of good +fortune than good management. + +The party broke up into groups of two and three in the morning and went +different ways to the shore. It was agreed that, where the settlers who +owned boats were known to be staunch Whigs, it would be safe to tell +them for what purpose their crafts were needed. But several boats were +owned by Tories and royalist sympathizers and these people must be +deceived for, although the scouts were doubtless well armed and +determined enough to take the boats without saying "by your leave," such +a proceeding might be disastrous to the expedition. + +'Siah Bolderwood chose Enoch as his companion and went himself toward +the home of a farmer who stoutly upheld the King and his ministers and +who had, in fact, held the title of his land from New York through all +the years of trouble between his neighbors and the Albany courts. His +homestead, however, was in such an out-of-the-way place and so secluded +that the Green Mountain Boys had left him unmolested. Now Bolderwood was +determined to have the roomy canoe and a large bateau which he was known +to possess. + +"But if the pesky critter gits an inkling of what we're up to, he'll +start for Old Ti--that he will!" the ranger said to Enoch. "We gotter +get around him somehow. An' you leave it ter me. Ye better keep aout o' +sight, I reckon, anyway; numbers might make the ol' codger suspicious." + +So Enoch hid in the wood surrounding the clearing on the lake shore +while his tall friend went toward the Tory's door. The old man, who +depended upon his nephew and a slave or two to do his work, was sitting +looking out across the lake. He was too far away to distinguish the +battlements of Ticonderoga, but he happened to be looking in that +direction when Bolderwood presented himself. "Neighbor!" said the +latter, in a most friendly tone, "ye look hearty. What's the news?" + +"Humph!" grunted the old man, staring at the Yankee shrewdly, "you're +the feller that's been clearin' land above us yander, ain't ye?" + +"That I can't deny, sir," responded the ranger. "An' jest for the sake +o' bein' neighborly, I'm down here ter arsk a favor." + +"What is it?" grunted the old man, doubtfully. + +"Why, my partner an' me have got a job to do, an' we're wantin' ter +borry one or both o' your boats," and he pointed down to the water +where, at the end of a little dock, the big flatboat and a long canoe +were both moored. The old man could not see the boats without rising, +but this he did as though to make sure that they were in their places. +"What ye want 'em for?" he asked. "An' howsumever, I can't lend ye more +than one o' them. We might want the other ourselves." + +"What for?" asked Bolderwood, with the usual freedom of the community, +and likewise proving himself a true Yankee by responding to one question +with another. + +"Might wanter go acrosst," said the farmer. "They say there's goin' ter +be a lot o' reinforcements come up to Old Ti an' my nevvy and I want to +see 'em when they come." + +"That's what we're wantin' the boats for--to go acrosst to the fort," +said 'Siah, with apparent frankness. "We've got some things to take over +an' it's too fur to swim." + +"I sh'd say it was!" exclaimed the Tory. "Then I take it the report that +reinforcements air comin' is true? Captain De la Place is buyin' cattle +to feed the garrison?" + +"I reckon he'll need a good many to feed all that's comin'," returned +Bolderwood, non-committingly. + +"Wall, I can't lend ye both, sir," declared the old man. "The canoe +wouldn't do ye much good, though 'tis a master big one. Seems ter me +there's a good deal o' boatin' on the lake to-day. I seen two barges go +along north a'ready. Folks goin' fishin' I s'pose." + +"Like enough--like enough," declared 'Siah hastily. "I'll git right down +and take the bateau." + +"Ain't ye got no one ter help ye?" + +"I'll find my partner somewhere up the lake. He was lookin' for boats, +too," returned the ranger. + +He started to descend the bank and the old farmer arose and hobbled +after him. The instant he reached the brink where he could again see his +little dock, he gave voice to an exclamation of disgust and anger. +"There it be! That Pomp is the most no 'count critter that ever eat +smoked hog. He was a usin' that canoe this mornin', an' now look at it!" + +Seemingly the big canoe had slipped her moorings and was floating +rapidly around the wooded point near the dock. 'Siah might have been +astonished a little himself had he not had sharper eyes than the Tory. +He saw that several articles of apparel lay in the canoe and he +recognized Enoch Harding's old otter-skin cap. "Hold on, sir!" he cried. +"No matter about calling your hands from the field to git it. I'll have +that canoe in a jiffy." + +He ran down the steep bank, unfastened the bateau, and with a powerful +shove sent it out into the lake. There were two long sweeps aboard and +with one of these 'Siah quickly propelled the heavy craft in the same +direction as the canoe--down the lake. The latter craft was scarcely out +of sight of the old man when the bateau came along side. There was +nothing showing of the swimmer but his head and one hand which clutched +the painter. + +"Come aboard here, ye young rascal!" exclaimed the woodsman, with a +chuckle. "You'll have that whole spatter of Tories arter us. Couldn't +you hide your clothes better 'n that? Might have left 'em ashore. If the +old gentleman hadn't been blinder'n a bat at midday, he'd seen 'em." + +"I didn't think of that," Enoch admitted, rather ruefully, climbing over +the bow of the canoe and then passing the thong to 'Siah, who fastened +it to the stern of the bateau. "I heard him say you couldn't have both, +and I thought it too bad. This canoe will hold a dozen men." + +"Wall, grab that sweep. Never mind your clothes just now. I warrant +ye'll keep warm enough till we git to the camp." + +The newly made captain of scouts and his young companion were by no +means the first to reach the rendezvous on the shore opposite +Ticonderoga. Nor is it to be supposed that the boats being there +collected were brought boldly up in daylight. They were hidden in little +coves near by, which could be reached by the scouts without attracting +attention from the fort, to be brought after dark to the landing from +which Ethan Allen expected to embark his troops. There were but two +craft moored opposite the camp which Bolderwood and his companions had +occupied for more than a week. Bolderwood held the title of a long strip +of land along the lake shore, but he had never built a cabin. A shack, +or hut, of branches was all the shelter the trio enjoyed. + +Here the ranger and Enoch found several of their friends beside Smith +and Brown in waiting. The shore of the lake on this side had been fairly +scoured for bateaus. They dared not cross to the New York side to obtain +boats, for by so doing they would be sure to excite suspicion. With +those already obtained and some which their companions were now gone +for, the expedition must be content. The one mistake of their bold +leader might bring about failure to the enterprise; yet so confident +were they in Ethan Allen's ability that they firmly believed he would +find some way to overcome the lack of transportation. The forced march +of the scouts the day before, and for a good share of the night as well, +had brought them to the lake long before the expedition itself could +possibly reach the landing. Besides, the leaders would hold back until +after dark. The attack upon the fortress must be accomplished under the +cover of night. Bolderwood hoped, when he saw the meagre provision he +was able to make for transportation, that the army would arrive early +enough to allow of two, and even three, voyages to be made from shore to +shore, that the entire force might take part in the attack. + +To Enoch, however, there was another matter of grave interest to be +attended to when he and his tall friend arrived at the temporary camp. +He wished to see the spy whom Bolderwood had mentioned to Ethan Allen. +The ranger, too, looked sharply about the camp for the man. "Where's +that slippery critter we captured the other night?" he asked. "If he +gits away before Colonel Allen comes there'll be trouble for some of +us." + +"We'd better have hung him up and so saved his food," grunted Brown, +who, because the Yorkers had burned his house and driven his wife and +children into the forest, had no love for anybody from the west side of +the lake. + +"You haven't let him go?" demanded Bolderwood. + +"Nay, 'Siah. He's safe enough," returned Smith. "He's yonder behind the +camp. He'd be an eel or a sarpint to wriggle out of them thongs." + +"A sarpint he is," declared Bolderwood, and strode away to look at the +prisoner. Enoch followed him. There, sitting with his back against a +tree, his ankles fastened together and a strong deer thong wrapped about +his body and about the tree itself, was Simon Halpen. When he saw the +ranger he scowled. When he observed the boy, however, his eyes flashed +and the blood rushed to his face. "I reckon he knows ye, Nuck," said the +ranger. + +"What are you going to do with me?" demanded the Yorker, with bravado. +"You'll all suffer for this outrage, I promise ye! Wait until I get to +Albany----" + +"And you ever see Albany again you're a lucky man," said Bolderwood, +satisfying himself that the bonds were tight. "The Colonel will see to +ye, my fine bird." + +Enoch still remained before his enemy when the ranger went back to the +camp. The villain returned his glance boldly. "You are satisfied now, I +suppose?" he muttered. + +"Not yet," replied young Harding. + +"I shall be avenged!" declared Halpen, with a burst of wrath. "If I am +injured I have powerful friends who will punish you. I care nothing for +Ethan Allen----" + +"A power higher than Colonel Allen will punish you," Enoch said, +gravely. + +"Pooh! I care nothing for your Whig courts. You had best do what you can +for me, Master Harding." + +"I will leave you to the punishment you deserve. And you will receive +it." + +"What have I done, I'd like to know?" exclaimed the prisoner. "It was +not my fault that your house was burned and your mother and you placed +in danger of your lives. It was a mistake." + +"Was it a mistake when you crept to my camp the other night and fired at +me as I lay sleeping beside the fire?" demanded the boy, sternly. + +The red flush left the prisoner's cheek then. "What--what do you mean?" +he gasped. + +"You know well what I mean. See here!" Enoch showed him the hole in the +breast of his coat. "That was made by your bullet." + +"The boy's life is charmed!" muttered Halpen. + +"You had much better have used your gun-stock, Master Halpen. You would +have been surer to kill me then." + +At this an expression of positive terror came into the prisoner's +features. "I am not a murderer," he exclaimed. "You are mistaken if you +think that I fired at you." + +"It is true I cannot prove it," Enoch replied. "But something else I can +prove." He advanced a step nearer to the man. "Do you remember where you +hid the moose hoofs, Simon Halpen?" + +The prisoner shrank back against the tree and his eyes fairly glared up +at the youth. "You--you----" he gasped. + +"Yes. They are found. We now know how my poor father was killed. And you +were seen running from the place with his blood upon your clothes and +upon your gun. Even your Albany courts would punish you for that!" Then +the boy, unable to trust himself longer in the presence of the man who +had so injured him, hastily left the spot. + +[Illustration: PUNISHMENT WAS NEAR AT HAND] + +And the prisoner--how did he feel while tied to that tree, waiting for +the judgment which was to fall upon him for his crimes? No human being +but the criminal himself can ever appreciate half the agony of the +condemned. It was long since discovered that the gift of speech was +given man to conceal his thoughts. To the man of strong will the face is +a mask to conceal his feelings. And Simon Halpen was not a weakling. He +may have betrayed some emotion when accused by Enoch; it was a small +part only of what he felt. + +He saw now, as plainly as he saw the lengthening shadows about him, that +punishment for his crimes was near. These stern woodsmen, whose plan for +attacking Ticonderoga he had discovered, were in no mood to trifle with +him. And what Enoch had told him was an assurance that though he might +live to be brought before a court of justice, he must stand trial for +his crimes. Neither political influence nor his wealth could save him +from the result of his offenses against the laws of man and God. He was +made desperate by these thoughts. + +He could see from his uncomfortable position the company of scouts busy +with their supper. The ordinary observer would not have imagined that +these men were the pioneers of two hundred and thirty Green Mountain +Boys and the Massachusetts and Connecticut troops. But Halpen knew the +army of Americans was coming, and the object of their approach. +Unwarned, Captain De la Place and his garrison might be surprised and +overwhelmed by these backwoodsmen. Halpen had no particular love for the +King, nor for the royal government; but he hated these men who had +defended their farms for so many years from the aggressions of his own +party. Fear of punishment was reinforced by a desire to worst the Green +Mountain Boys. He began to struggle against his bonds. + +He had done that early in the day when he was first fastened to the +tree; and the thongs had cut into his arms and breast. But now he felt +these abrasions not at all. He was mad to be free, and free he would be! +The scouts paid him no attention. The sun was set and the forest grew +dark. Would he escape he must accomplish the matter soon, or likely +Bolderwood or young Harding would come to examine him again, and then +the chance would be past. + +At last, his flesh cut so deeply that blood ran from arms and body, he +stretched the hide rope until he was able to wriggle out of it. There +were then his ankles to untie. This he did in a very few moments. He was +free! Rising to his knees, his limbs were so paralyzed by inaction that +he could not yet stand upright, he crept into the brush and, like the +serpent that Bolderwood declared to be his prototype, glided away from +the camp and down toward the brush-bordered shore of the lake. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE END OF SIMON HALPEN + + +As they are to-day, the surroundings of Fort Ticonderoga were most +picturesque. Nor is the country about the fortifications, and across the +lake where the camp of Bolderwood's scouts was established at the time +of our story, and later where the Grenadier Battery was raised, much +more thickly settled to-day than it was then. Mt. Defiance, south of the +Lake George outlet on the west side of Champlain was a heavily wooded +eminence. Behind the scouts' camp a rugged shoulder of ground, later +called Mount Independence, raised its bulk out of the surrounding +forest. The formidable promontory on which the French had built +Ticonderoga twenty years before, commanded a great sweep of the lake. +For mere foot-soldiers, without artillery or explosives, to attack these +fortifications seemed utterly preposterous. + +Where Bolderwood and his companions were waiting they had an excellent +view of the fort. At sunset the garrison was paraded and one gun boomed +resonantly across the calm lake. Just before it became too dark to see +the other shore, the Americans observed a man come out of the covered +way by which the fortifications were entered and approach the shore. +There was a light canoe moored there and into this he stepped and +paddled out into the lake, evidently aiming his craft for a cove near +the scouts' position. Bolderwood and his comrades were so deeply +interested in the maneuvres of this man that Simon Halpen was for the +time forgotten. + +"We'll have to take that feller in and hold him for the Colonel to talk +to," suggested one of the scouts when it became apparent that the +stranger from the fort was coming ashore near at hand. "He'll see them +boats an' suspicion something." + +"We'll meet him," said Bolderwood; "but I'm reck'ning that he'll be as +glad to see the Colonel as the Colonel is ter see him. I know that +somebody was over there in the fort to find out how the land lies and +what sort o' shape them red-coats is in, an' 'twouldn't s'prise me if +this was the chap." + +They all followed 'Siah down to the cove--even Enoch--and met the +stranger as he came ashore. The latter seemed in nowise troubled by +seeing so many armed men and after mooring his canoe came at once to the +group of Americans. "Friends, I presume, sirs?" he asked, glancing +keenly from man to man. + +"Reckon so," admitted Bolderwood. + +"Where is Colonel Allen?" + +"If you don't mind waitin' with us I shouldn't be s'prised if ye see him +'fore long," declared the long-legged scout. "Wanter see him +pertic'lar?" + +"I do," the stranger admitted. "You are the advance guard of our boys, I +presume?" + +"Well, as you don't know us, an' we don't know you, we'd better not +discuss private matters till we're interduced, as ye might say. I +sh'dn't be astonished ter see the Colonel come along here 'most any time +now." + +"Very well, sir. I am at your service," was the response, and the +newcomer walked back to the camp with them. But Enoch had gone on ahead, +remembering that the captive had been left alone for nearly half an +hour. Suddenly his voice rose in a shout of anger and surprise. "He has +escaped!" cried Bolderwood, the instant he heard his young friend, and +plunged at once into the wood toward the spot where Halpen had been +tied. Truly, the spy was gone. + +"The rascal was sharper than I thought," gasped the ranger. "And--and +what will Colonel Allen say?" + +"That isn't the worst of it," declared the youth. + +"Yes; you think it is worse that a villain like him should escape +without punishment. I doubt not that Ethan Allen would have hung him." + +"He may have deserved hanging," Enoch returned, with a shudder. "But I +am not thinking of that. I fear that he will yet do us harm. If he gets +across the lake and warns the folks at Old Ti, I'll never forgive myself +for not sitting down here and watching him all the time." + +"He sartainly should have been watched," admitted 'Siah. "But I didn't +b'lieve he had the pluck to git away. See here! The thongs are wet with +the man's blood. He must ha' cut himself badly." + +"We must find him, 'Siah! If he secures a boat and crosses the lake the +expedition will be ruined. This man who has just come across declares +Captain De la Place knows nothing about our army as yet. But if Simon +Halpen reaches the fortifications----" + +'Siah rushed back to his company and sent them to search the bank of the +lake. He ordered, too, one man to remain with each group of boats so +that the escaped spy might not secure one and get such a start across +the lake that he could not be overtaken. But it had now grown quite dark +and the scouts were unable to find Halpen in the vicinity of the camp. +'Siah was confident that he and his men had obtained every craft on this +eastern shore for miles up and down the lake, so he did not believe +Halpen could really get across to the fort in time to warn the garrison. +He was naturally too tender-hearted to wish to see the fellow hung to +the nearest tree, which might be his fate had Ethan Allen examined him +and found him guilty of spying upon the patriotic settlers. + +Now that night had come and the darkness would have covered the +movements of the American troops, as the head of the column did not +appear, Bolderwood and his comrades began to fear that something had +detained their friends and that the attack upon Ticonderoga might be +postponed until the night of the tenth. How the fleet of bateaus and +canoes could be held in the vicinity for many hours without suspicions +being aroused as to their proposed use, was a question hard to answer. +The captain of the scouts sent two of his men out upon the trail by +which they expected Ethan Allen and the troops under him to advance. + +Meanwhile Enoch Harding had not given up the search for the escaped spy. +He feared what the fellow might yet do to weaken or utterly ruin the +hopes of the American troops. Halpen was not armed, so the youth had no +fear of being attacked by him; but he spent his time creeping through +the brushwood up and down the lake shore, hoping to stumble upon the +Yorker. He did not believe that Halpen had gone far from the encampment. +Finally, in his wanderings, he came to the cove where the scout who had +spent the day inside the fort, had landed. The bateaus were on the other +side of the cove; the canoe the scout had used was alone in the shadow +of a big oak, although a sentinel watched the bateaus. This sentinel had +neglected to remove the canoe to his side of the cove and as Enoch came +down the hillside he observed something moving in the shadow of the oak. +A moment later, before he was really sure whether this something was a +man or an animal, the canoe left the bank. The trees threw their shadows +upon the water and it was almost impossible to observe the moving craft +clearly; yet he was pretty sure that there was a figure in it and that +it had been unmoored. + +The youth was too far away to risk a shot; the sentinel was much farther +from the point of embarkation. If Simon Halpen had found and seized this +canoe it looked for a moment as though he would surely escape. + +Enoch ran down to the edge of the water, but when he reached the point +at which the canoe had been moored it was almost out of sight. He could +not see the figure in the boat clearly enough to shoot. Indeed, he +shrank from committing what seemed like murder. Simon Halpen was +defenseless. "But he must not escape!" the boy exclaimed and started +around the shore of the cove. The fugitive kept the canoe within the +deep shadow of the trees which bordered the inlet. He did not paddle out +into the centre; there he might have been seen by the sentinel on the +other side. + +The boy ran along the edge of the cove, stumbling over the tree roots +and fallen logs, yet endeavoring to follow the course of the canoe as +quietly as possible. There was a chance of his passing the fugitive and +reaching the mouth of the cove first. Then, he thought, Halpen would be +at his mercy. The better to do this unobserved he made a detour into the +woods and finally, after ten minutes of rapid work, came out upon the +extreme point which guarded the inlet. As he reached this place his +quick ear distinguished the splash of a paddle not far away. Straining +his eyes he soon observed through the gloom the canoe moving amid the +shadows. The spy had very nearly escaped from the cove. Once out in the +open lake it would be impossible to overtake him. + +Then Enoch wished he had aroused his comrades; at least the sentinel +guarding the bateaus would have heard his cry and come to his +assistance. But now if the spy was to be stopped it must be by his +individual effort. Throwing down his rifle and removing his outside +garments, he slid into the water with scarcely a ripple of its surface +and finding the lake deep at this point, began to swim at once. The +canoe was almost upon him when suddenly, with a muttered exclamation, +the fugitive turned the craft by one swift stroke of the paddle and sent +it darting away from the shore. Enoch had been seen or heard, and Halpen +feared what was the fact--that one of his enemies was striving to +overtake him. + +Enoch flung himself forward in the water and with a strong overhand +stroke took a diagonal course to intercept the canoe. He could see the +man bending to his paddle. Every stroke of the blade sent the +phosphorescent water flying about the frail bark. The next few moments +were of vital importance to both pursued and pursuer. + +Enoch's plunge into the water had driven Halpen to paddle away from the +shore. Now he was heading the craft across the cove and therefore toward +the station of the sentinel. If he pursued this course for many rods he +would be within rifle shot. And once out of the shadow of the trees the +light on the water would make him an easy mark. To pass Enoch before the +latter reached the edge of the line of shadow was therefore Simon +Halpen's object. + +But the American youth was determined that Halpen should not do this. He +was a strong swimmer and spurred by both the desire to recapture his +enemy and to save the cause to which he was bound--the capture of +Ticonderoga--he put forth every atom of his strength to overtake the +canoe. The paddle flashed first upon one side, then on the other of the +craft, which fairly darted through the water. But suddenly a hand and +arm rose from the lake and seized the paddle just back of the blade. +Enoch had dived under the surface and come up beside the canoe as Halpen +was speeding past. + +"Ha! would you do it?" gasped the spy, striving to tear the paddle from +the youth's grasp. The canoe rocked dangerously. The man flung himself +to the other side and his superior strength wrenched the paddle away. +Not contented to use the instrument in an attempt to escape, however, he +tried to strike the youth with it. The canoe was all but overturned, +although its momentum carried it on, and once out of Enoch's grasp the +spy could have easily gotten away. Whether he recognized his enemy or +not, Halpen was inclined to deliver a second blow. He rose to do this +and Enoch, fairly leaping forward, seized the stern of the canoe with +both hands. + +"Throw down your paddle, Simon Halpen!" he commanded. + +"It is you, then?" cried the spy, now sure of the identity of the youth. +He aimed a fearful stroke at the boy's head. But instantly the latter +tipped the canoe first one way, then the other, and the spy, losing his +balance, plunged with a resounding splash into the lake! + +The canoe turned completely over. This was not what Enoch wished, but +the shock of Halpen's fall was so great that he could not help it. The +boy's desire had been to pitch the man out, get in himself, and then +have the spy at his mercy. But chance--nay, Providence, for the man's +sins had deserved death--willed otherwise. + +Simon Halpen could not swim. In falling into the lake he even lost his +grip upon the paddle. So, when he rose to the surface, he had nothing to +cling to, but struggled wildly and cried out in fear. "Help! I am +choking! I will drown!" His voice rose to a screech. An answering shout +came from the distant shore where the sentinel was stationed. But the +latter was too far away to render aid. If the spy was to be saved it +depended upon the efforts of the youth whose father had died under +Halpen's hand, and whose own life the scoundrel had twice sought. + +At that fearful cry, however, Enoch launched himself at the sinking man. +His head was already under water when the boy reached down and seized +his collar. He brought him to the surface. The water gurgled from his +throat and he breathed again. Had he been content to abandon himself to +his rescuer then he would have been saved. + +But terror rode him like a nightmare. He feared drowning; he feared, +too, the enemy whom he would have killed had he been able the instant +before. He could not appreciate the generous spirit which had prompted +Enoch to come to his assistance. He thought the boy strove only to force +him beneath the lake and he fought and screamed with passion and horror +of imminent death. + +"Be still! be still!" cried Enoch, well-nigh overcome himself by the mad +actions of the man. "Lie quiet or I cannot save you. Be still!" + +Halpen did not hear him; or, if he heard, he would not believe. He tore +himself from Enoch's grasp, and as the youth tried to seize him again he +struck out wildly and his fist found lodgment against Enoch's jaw. The +blow stunned the latter and he sank. Halpen strove to reach the +overturned canoe. It was too far away. He felt himself going down for a +third time and his lungs were already half filled with water. A fearful +scream rent the night--the last cry of a terrified soul going to its +end--and he sank. He never rose to the surface after that third plunge +beneath the lake. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DAWN OF THE TENTH OF MAY + + +Enoch Harding, after a moment of breathless agony beneath the water, +struggled to the air again. The blow he had received so dulled his +senses that, had the canoe not fortunately been within the reach of his +arm, he would have a second time gone down into the depths of the lake +and possibly shared the fate of his enemy. But when his hand, flung out +in that despair which is said to make a drowning person catch at even a +straw, came in contact with the boat he seized it with a grip that could +not be shaken. He had not the strength necessary to turn it over and to +climb into the craft; but fortunately rescue was near. + +The sentinel had heard the voices out upon the water, and Simon Halpen's +despairing scream as he went down for the last time, echoed from the +wooded bluffs and reached the ears of the other Green Mountain Boys in +the neighborhood. The sentinel leaped into the big canoe which Enoch had +that morning secured from the Tory farmer up the lake, and paddled +rapidly toward the mouth of the cove. He suspected at once that the +escaped spy was trying to cross the lake and that some one of his +brother scouts had discovered him. + +Suddenly the rescuer saw the upturned canoe and the almost exhausted boy +clinging to it. He drove his own craft alongside and reaching quickly +seized Enoch's shoulder, bearing him up as the youth's own hands slipped +from their resting-place on the keel of the canoe. "Courage--courage!" +cried the scout, heartily. "You are not goin' down yet, Nuck Harding! +Where's the other?" + +"Gone--gone!" gasped Enoch, horrified by the death of Simon Halpen. + +"Who was it?" + +"The spy." + +"Ah! I thought so. Well, we can't help the poor wretch now. Can you aid +yourself at all? Brace up, man!" + +"I'm--I'm all right," the youth declared, finally shaking off the +feeling which had numbed him. "Let me get a grip on your boat--there! +Now you can paddle ashore. I'll not lose my hold this time." + +"Right it is, then." The rescuer paddled slowly toward the bateaus. When +he came to the shore with the boy dragging behind him, Bolderwood and +several other members of the company had arrived in answer to the +expiring scream of the drowned Yorker. Upon hearing the explanation of +the affair the chief scout's face became grave indeed. "The poor wretch +has gone to his just desarts, I don't doubt," he said. "But so +sudden--so sudden! It seems a turrible thing, friends, for a man to live +the life he lived and then to go before his Maker without no +preparation. He murdered poor Jonas Harding as sure as aigs is aigs, an' +he tried twice ter kill the boy here, an' burned the widder's home. Yet +I'd wished him time to make his peace with God. It's an awful affair.... +But come!" he added, recovering himself, "there's something else to do +now. We've got word from Colonel Allen. The troops are almost here. An' +as good as we've done, there ain't ha'f enough boats to transport our +boys across the lake." + +"There may be more comin' from the north, 'Siah," suggested Brown. "Y' +know ye sent some of the boys up that way this arternoon." + +"Small hope o' their gettin' anything----" + +The chief scout's words were interrupted by a shout from one of the +others. Around the point which defended the little cove a boat was +appearing--or, rather, a lantern which betrayed the approach of a boat. +"Here's another!" was the cry. "Here's Major Skeene's big bateau--an' +Major Skeene's nigger, too!" as the loud and angry voice of a black man +was heard across the calm water. + +"The boys are having a hard time with our black-and-tan friend," said +Bolderwood with a chuckle. Then he held up his hand for silence. "Hark! +there's the ring of a horse's hoof--and the tramp of feet. The troops +are coming." + +With a rattle of accoutrements a cavalcade of horsemen descended the +bluff to the tiny cove. Enoch recognized Colonel Allen, Major Warner, +the stranger, Arnold, and Colonel Easton, the commander of the +Massachusetts and Connecticut forces. "Praise the Lord, 'Siah!" cried +the hearty voice of the Green Mountain leader. "We're arrived at last. +'Twas like a task of Hercules to get here. And the night is already far +gone. Where are your boats, man?" + +"The bulk of 'em are right here, Colonel. We ain't got what I wished; +but we've taken 'em from friend and foe, and here comes the last of my +boys with Major Skeene's big raft and, if I ain't mighty mistaken, with +a bag o' charcoal aboard that must ha' caused 'em consider'ble trouble." + +The voice of the negro, who was the property of one of the wealthiest +royalists on the lake, became more and more vociferous as the bateau +approached the shore. "Wot de goodness youse shakaroons doin' yere? We +ain't goin' land yere--no, sir! Dis ain't no place fur us. Who yo' t'ink +capen ob dis craft, anyway?" + +"Oh, come along, old man! we wanter see ye!" shouted Bolderwood from the +shore. "We won't eat ye up." + +"Dis ain' no place for us, I tells yo'!" cried the darky, and as the +outline of the bateau and the objects upon it were now visible, they +could see the whites of his rolling eyes. "I ain' got nuttin' ter do wid +yo' shakaroons." + +"Come on, there!" shouted Allen. "Gag that black rascal if he doesn't +talk less and use his sweeps well." + +"Who dat say fur ter gag me?" demanded the black, his teeth chattering. +"D'you knows who I is, sah? I'se Major Skeene's nigger, an' dis Major +Skeene's bateau, an' we gotter load o' freight fo' de castle." + +"We've got another sort of freight for you, my man," said the Green +Mountain leader. "So come ashore here and have no more words about it." + +"But dese yere gemmen say dey goin' fishin' an' git me ter lend 'em +passage!" cried the darky, in despair. + +"And so we are going fishing," cried Ethan Allen. "And you shall go, +too, my black friend. But it will be different fishing from any that +you've experienced before. Out with you, now!" he added, as the bateau +grounded on the shore. "Get that freight off, men. What boats we have we +must use at once. Perhaps they can be returned for another party to +cross after us. I'll never forgive myself if this oversight makes a +wreck of our expedition." + +At that moment the man who, earlier in the evening, had crossed the lake +from the fort, came and spoke to Ethan Allen. The leader of the +Americans listened attentively, slapping his thigh now and again with +evident satisfaction as he heard the report of this faithful patriot +who, as Allen had previously said, dared enter the lion's jaws. He had +gone to Ticonderoga as a trader, had spent parts of two days in the +fort, learning much that encouraged Allen in this desperate game he was +playing. Although expecting additions to the garrison, Captain De la +Place had not yet received the reinforcements. The buttresses of the +fort, too, were in a sad state of repair. Indeed, since the British had +swept the French from the lake, and with them driven the Hurons and +Algonquins into the northern wilderness, few if any repairs had been +made upon Ticonderoga. The British had simply held it as a storehouse +and the garrison was small. If the American troops now gathering upon +the eastern shore of Lake Champlain could once cross the water and +approach the fort unperceived, there was hope in the hearts of all that +the stronghold would be captured and the garrison overcome without any +great loss of life. + +"The God of Battles has been with ye!" exclaimed Allen, when the man had +finished his report. "And if He is with us, as I believe, yonder fort +and all it contains shall be ours before sunrise.... But hasten! Tell +Baker to bring up his troops. Bolderwood, you and your scouts must go +over first with us. Colonel Arnold, you will come in my boat if you +wish. Major Warner, I leave you to assist our good friend Easton. The +boats shall return as soon as we have landed. Count the men who enter +these boats, gentlemen. The lake is calm; but do not overload the craft. +We desire no accident to delay our landing on the other side." + +Enoch Harding kept close to his friend, the old ranger, and was +therefore in one of the foremost boats. He was near Colonel Allen when +word was passed to that brave leader that those in the boats numbered +but eighty-three. "Eighty-three!" exclaimed the Green Mountain hero. +"And every man worth three red-coats. Once we get within those walls and +I'll answer for them. Yet, sirs, I would that we had not been so long +delayed on the road, or that there were more bateaus to our hand." + +"Shall the attack be given up--postponed till a more fitting +occasion--if we cannot get more across?" asked Arnold. + +"Postponed!" cried Allen, his face darkening. "And pray tell me, sir, +how can it be postponed? With the dawn our troops will be observed upon +both sides of the lake by those in the fort, or by Tories who will +gladly run with warning to the red-coats. A blind kitten could see what +we are about. Nay, Colonel Arnold; we have put our hands to the plough +and we'll cut a deep furrow or none at all!" + +The bold courage of their leader inspired the handful of men with actual +belief in the successful outcome of the attack. There were no doubts +expressed during the voyage across the lake. But when the landing was +made, at the foot of the bluff on which the fort was built, the east was +already streaked with pink. The dawn of the tenth of May, 1775--a day as +marked in American history as any which we celebrate--was at hand. Less +than a hundred patriotic Green Mountain Boys had disembarked from the +boats under the shadow of Ticonderoga. With the rising of the sun their +presence would be discovered by the garrison of the fort, and once +warned of their approach, the British could easily defend the works from +any attack of infantry. Circumstances seemed to presage at that moment +the defeat of the cause and utter humiliation of the participators in +the proposed attack. + +The boats had left the shore and were no longer to be descried, for a +light fog covered the water. There was no retreat. To hide this party on +the New York shore of the lake would be impossible. There were too many +Tories about. Allen turned to his men. His voice was low, but intense, +so that not only those around him, of which Enoch was one, but those at +a distance heard every word uttered. + +"Friends! we have come here for a single purpose. It is to advance upon +yonder fortifications and capture them. We already outnumber the +garrison; I have certain information upon this point. But our companions +await on the other shore to be transported to this spot and join in our +glorious work. In the east, however, is a warning we can all read. +Before our friends can join us it will be day. We shall be observed +here; the garrison will be called to arms; our opportunity be lost. So, +my brave companions, we cannot wait. + +"I shall attack the fort at once. I force no man to an act which caution +forbids. If any of you doubt, fall out of the ranks and make good your +escape. But I am going forward and those who trust in God and to my +leadership will advance at once!" He drew his sword and advanced a long +stride before the column of anxious patriots. "Forward!" he cried, and +inspired by the same spirit which animated their gallant leader, every +Green Mountain Boy obeyed the command. They would have cheered, but the +moment for anything of that kind was not opportune. The rising mist +scarcely concealed the fortress above them. + +With Colonel Arnold by his side the indomitable Allen climbed the slope +and approached the covered way which led into the fort. Not a word was +spoken. The sullen tramp of the column was all that broke the stillness +of the dawn. The sentinel placed here to guard the entrance--a matter of +military rule rather than of precaution--leaned half asleep upon his +musket. Had he been alert the approach of the troops must have been +discovered ere they were visible. But Providence willed that he, +together with all the garrison, should be totally unsuspicious of the +planned attack of the provincials. + +Suddenly, through the curling mist, appeared the head of the column. The +sentinel started from his dream and, scarce understanding what he saw, +advanced his musket, crying: "Halt! who goes there?" + +The Americans accelerated their pace while Ethan Allen, whirling his +sword above his head, shouted: "Forward!" The attacking force reached +the mouth of the covered way at a double-quick. Repeating the command to +halt the sentinel darted back, raised his weapon to his shoulder, and +aiming full at the head of the commander of the Green Mountain Boys, +pressed the trigger! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE GUNS OF OLD TI SPEAK + + +The fate of more than a brave man hung in the balance at that moment. +The ultimate happiness and secure footing of a state was at stake when +the sentinel pressed the trigger of his weapon. Had the ball reached its +mark, the establishment of Vermont as a free state might have been +postponed for many years. Ethan Allen's diplomacy in later dealing with +the British agents who sought to wean Vermont from her federation with +the struggling colonies, doubtless saved the Green Mountains from being +overrun by a horde of Hessians and Indians who would have brought death +and disaster to the patriotic settlers. + +But Providence had other work for the leader of the Green Mountain Boys +to do. The musket missed fire and flinging down the piece the sentinel +turned and ran through the passage into the fort, shrieking that the +enemy was at hand. With a cheer the little band of patriots followed, +and before the garrison was awake to its situation, the Green Mountain +Boys had reached the parade. Instructed by their captains what to do, +the men ran hither and thither to seize the guns whose threatening +muzzles peered through the embrasures of the walls, and to guard the +entrances to the barracks where the garrison slept. + +'Siah Bolderwood, seizing an axe, attacked the door of the ammunition +cellar; for the American spy who had spent the previous day within the +works had explained to the ranger the situation of this important +compartment. The ringing blows of the woodman's axe doubtless awakened +many of the sleeping soldiery. In half a minute the stout oak door was +down. "There, Nuck Harding!" cried the long ranger, "I leave you to +guard that 'ere. If they show fight, fire your rifle into the place. If +so be, we'll all go up together; but Old Ti is ourn and if we're driven +forth we'll wreck the fortifications as we go." + +Meanwhile Ethan Allen, knowing well the sleeping quarters of Captain De +la Place, having received his information from the same source as +Bolderwood, leaped up the stairway to the apartment of the commander of +the fort. His shoulder burst in the door without the loss of an instant, +and he found the astounded captain sitting up in bed. "What is this, +sir? Who are you?" cried the British officer. + +"I call on ye to surrender, Captain De la Place!" cried the Green +Mountain leader. + +"In whose name do ye make this demand, sir?" + +"In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" replied +Allen, sternly. Then, describing a circle about his head with his sword, +he added in a tone not to be mistaken: "I demand the surrender of your +fort and all the stores and goods it may contain; and, sir, unless you +comply with my demand and parade your men without arms at once, I'll +send your head, sir, spinning across this floor!" and the whistling +steel blade was advanced until the British officer shrank in fear. + +"I surrender! I surrender!" he cried, and word was passed at once to +both the garrison and the Americans on the parade below. And thus the +strongest British fortress within the borders of the disaffected +colonies, capitulated to the American arms without a gun being fired. +What if, when the news of the remarkable feat reached Philadelphia where +the Continental Congress was in session, the act of Ethan Allen and his +brave Green Mountain Boys was deplored, and a considerable party was for +returning the stronghold to the king, while others wished to withdraw +the American garrison, believing that the Champlain forts were too far +on the frontier to be held successfully against the enemy? These +suggestions were but the result of over-cautiousness on the part of some +members of Congress. Happily their wishes were overborne and Ticonderoga +remained an American fort until the cowardly St. Clair abandoned it +before the advance of Burgoyne. + +At the moment, however, the satisfaction of Ethan Allen and his brave +companions was unbounded. While the British soldiers were being paraded +without their weapons before their conquerors, a second body of Green +Mountain Boys under Major Warner entered the fort. The tall Connecticut +man came to Allen with considerable chagrin expressed in his +countenance. "Colonel, you have selfishly seized all the honors this +time!" he cried, yet congratulating his friend with a warm handclasp. +"You are a regular Achilles; there is nothing heroic for the rest of us +to do." + +"Nonsense--nonsense, Seth!" cried Ethan Allen, yet unable to hide his +delight at the outcome of the attack. "There is glory enough for every +officer and every man Jack in the ranks. There is yet Crown Point to +capture and you, Major, shall command that expedition. Take Bolderwood +and some of his scouts with you and approach the other fortress by +water--and good fortune and my blessing go with you!" + +A moment later the great guns of Old Ti began to speak. And they spoke a +new tongue that morning. The Voice of Liberty as expressed by the +resonant thunders of the old cannon echoed and reechoed from height to +height. The promontory which had been the scene of the bloody struggle +between Champlain and the Iroquois, and the site of two fearful battles +of the British and French, was at length sanctified by the presence of +this band of liberty loving men destined, through the next few years, to +offer their lives and possessions on the altar of their country. + +Then Warner and his men again embarked in the boats and sailed down the +lake. Enoch Harding went with the expedition and saw the bloodless +capitulation of the other British stronghold. Later, Benedict Arnold +with a small command captured a British corvette farther down the lake +and with that act the supremacy of the Americans on Champlain was +assured. A garrison was placed in each fortress and then the Green +Mountain Boys dispersed to their homes having accomplished the object +for which they had been gathered by their leader. Enoch and the old +ranger returned to the ox-bow farm where their welcome can be better +imagined than narrated. + +Yet the Widow Harding during the struggle which followed the capture of +Ticonderoga made many sacrifices more noble even than that of allowing +her eldest son to join in this expedition, but pioneer mothers were +called upon so to do. Lot Breckenridge's mother had allowed her son to +march away to Boston where, under Israel Putman, he saw most active +service during the campaign which finally drove the red-coats out of the +Massachusetts capital. Robbie Baker was with his father when, while +reconnoitering outside St. Johns, the Green Mountain sharpshooter was +killed by an Indian ally of the British. + +Enoch Harding, too, joined that ill-fated expedition into Canada where +the rash attempt of Ethan Allen and his followers before Montreal +resulted in the capture and imprisonment of the intrepid leader. Enoch, +returning with the broken columns of the American army, but with a +lieutenant's commission, was sent south and took no further part in the +struggles about Lake Champlain. But Bryce, two years after the capture +of Ticonderoga, well sustained the family name and honor while fighting +with Stark at Bennington. + +The girls and young Henry became their mother's sole support in her work +of tilling the farm which Jonas Harding had cleared, and throughout the +uncertain years of the Revolution the family continued to sow and reap, +like so many other patriotic folk, that the army might be clothed and +fed while fighting the King's hirelings. Perhaps the part played by the +"non-combatants" in the Revolution was not the least loyal nor the least +helpful to the cause of liberty. + +The war between the confederated states and Great Britain did not end +the controversy regarding the rights of the settlers in the Hampshire +Grants; it simply postponed the vexing matter. But in the end the +freedom of Vermont as a state was brought about. After the war, and +while the Thirteen States were endeavoring to bring order out of the +chaotic conditions which had been the legacy of the great struggle, it +was really New York herself that urged the admittance of Vermont into +the Union. Even at that early date the supremacy of the South was +feared, and when Kentucky applied for entrance to the Union, Vermont was +made a state also to counteract the addition of another of southern +sentiment. + +During the war, however, the condition of Vermont was very precarious. +It was due to Ethan Allen, as much as to any one man, that the Green +Mountains and the Champlain Valley were not overrun with foes both white +and red. While imprisoned in the hulks in New York Bay Allen was +approached by agents of the crown who strove to buy his good-will by +presents and promises. They did not understand the rugged honesty of the +Green Mountain Boy; but he, knowing the exposed situation of his friends +and neighbors, craftily led his captors to believe that they might +obtain Vermont and her sturdy people on their own side. + +When Ethan Allen was exchanged and came back to the Green Mountains, he +still, with other leaders, carefully watched the British agents and thus +saved the rich farming lands of the Otter and Wonooski from bloodshed, +that the patriot farmers might continue to plant and reap the grain +which was truly "the sinews of war." It is true therefore that few +leaders of the Revolution deserve greater commendation, for none +displayed more consecrated courage, nor was more beloved by his +followers, than the hero of Ticonderoga. + + + + +HISTORICAL STORIES FOR BOYS + +THE EVE OF WAR + +By W. Bert Foster. Illustrated by F. A. Carter. + +A story of the critical days just before the Civil War, when every hour +made history. Joe Ransom learns of the plan to assassinate President +Lincoln on the way to his inauguration, and is sent by the United +States Government officials to warn the President-elect. His mission is +accomplished, and largely as a result of his services the plot comes to +naught. Historical facts are closely followed, but this nowhere +interferes with the interest in the story. + + +WITH ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA + +By W. Bert Foster. Illustrated by F. A. Carter. + +A vivid picture of the struggles of those heroic New Englanders, the +Green Mountain Boys, against the Tory residents. That dramatic +character in revolutionary history, Ethan Allen, with whom the young +hero is continually in touch, is the central figure of the narrative, +and the incidents which lead up to the capture of Fort Ticonderoga are +told in a wonderfully interesting manner. + +WITH WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE + +By W. Bert Foster. Illustrated by F. A. Carter. + +The hero, a boy of sixteen, is an enthusiastic patriot. He soon enlists +his services with his country, and performs many heroic deeds in the +capacity of a courier in the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, and at +the Paoli massacre. He renders great service to our forces at Valley +Forge, and participates in the hardships which the struggling American +army endured during that memorable winter. + +Cloth Binding--Illustrated--Each, $1.25 + +THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + +923 ARCH STREET--PHILADELPHIA + + + + +UNCROWNING A KING + +By Edward S. Ellis, A. M. Illustrated by J. Steeple Davis. + +A tale of the Indian war waged by King Philip in 1675. The adventures +of the young hero during that eventful period, his efforts in behalf of +the attacked towns, his capture by the Indians, and his subsequent +release through the efforts of King Philip himself, with a vivid +account of the tragic death of that renowned Indian chieftain, form a +most interesting and instructive story. + +AT THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC + +By James Otis. Illustrated by F. A. Carter. + +Two boys living on the Kennebec River join Benedict Arnold's expedition +as it passes their dwelling en route for the Canadian border. They, +with their command, are taken prisoners before Quebec. The terrible +march through the wilderness, the incidents of the siege, and the +disastrous assault, which cost the gallant General Montgomery his life, +are in the highest degree thrilling, and true in every particular. + +WITH PURITAN AND PEQUOT + +By William Murray Graydon. Illustrated by Clyde O. Deland. + +There is a swing of martial spirit and a spice of bold enterprise in +this story of colonial times. Rufus Jennicom, the impetuous Puritan +boy, finds fighting Indians more to his taste than raising Indian corn. +It is his rare good fortune to have for his friend Roger Williams and +to meet with Captain Miles Standish. The incidents that go to make up +this stirring tale have much to do with the struggles of the early New +England colonies. + +Cloth Binding--Illustrated--Each, $1.25 + +THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + +923 ARCH STREET--PHILADELPHIA + + + + +IN THE DAYS OF WASHINGTON + +By William Murray Graydon. Illustrated by J. C. Claghorn. + +The story opens in Philadelphia just prior to its evacuation by the +British in 1778. Nathan Stanbury, a bright lad of seventeen, joins the +Continental Army, which is then suffering the hardships of the winter +at Valley Forge. A short time later the Battle of Monmouth is fought, +and in this the young hero figures quite prominently, as he does +afterward at the Massacre of Wyoming. + +THE BOER BOY OF THE TRANSVAAL + +By Kate Milner Rabb. Illustrated by F. A. Carter. + +The career of the Boer boy is one series of exciting adventures. In the +gallant service for his country he comes face to face with President +Kruger, General Cronje, and General Joubert. Much interesting +information pertaining to this country and its people is introduced, +and the reader will understand as never before the cause of the intense +hatred of the Boers for the British. + +ON WOOD COVE ISLAND + +By Elbridge S. Brooks. Illustrated by Frederic J. Boston. + +A trio of bright New England children are given an island on which to +spend their summer vacation. Here they establish a little colony, the +management of which gives them a large amount of amusement and at times +causes some seemingly serious difficulties. In the solution of their +perplexing problems the young people receive much encouragement and +counsel from the poet Longfellow, whose delightful acquaintance they +form in a very unexpected and amusing manner. + +Cloth Binding--Illustrated--Each, $1.25 + +THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + +923 ARCH STREET--PHILADELPHIA + + + + +UNDER THE TAMARACKS + +By Elbridge S. Brooks. Illustrated. + +An interesting and healthful story for boys and girls, representing a +summer's outing of young people among the Thousand Islands. It is timed +to include the visit of General Grant at Alexandria Bay, and several +interesting conversations between one of the boys and the hero of the +Rebellion shed pleasing side lights upon the great General's character. + +Cloth Binding--Illustrated--Each, $1.25 + +THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + +923 ARCH STREET--PHILADELPHIA + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga, by W. 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