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diff --git a/35080.txt b/35080.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1773106..0000000 --- a/35080.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3231 +0,0 @@ - A HERO OF TICONDEROGA - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: A Hero of Ticonderoga - -Author: Rowland E. Robinson - -Release Date: January 25, 2011 [EBook #35080] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HERO OF TICONDEROGA *** - - - - -Produced by Darleen Dove and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net. - -This file was produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive. - - -A HERO OF TICONDEROGA - -By - -Rowland E. Robinson - -Burlington, VT. -Hobart J. Shanley & Co. -Publishers -1898 - - - - -Copyright, 1898, by -HOBART J. SHANLEY & CO. - - - - -Contents - - - - CHAPTER I--COMING INTO THE WILDERNESS - - CHAPTER II--THE NEW HOME - - CHAPTER III--A VISIT TO THE FORT - - CHAPTER IV--THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS - - CHAPTER V--THE EVERGREEN SPRIG - - CHAPTER VI--THE YORKERS - - CHAPTER VII--THE "JUDGMENT SEAT" - - CHAPTER VIII--A NOVEL BEAR TRAP - - CHAPTER IX--A FRONTIER TRAGEDY - - CHAPTER X--REBELLION - - CHAPTER XI--ESCAPE - - CHAPTER XII--A FREE LIFE - - CHAPTER XIII--FOREBODINGS OF STORM - - CHAPTER XIV--GABRIEL'S GOOD SERVICE - - CHAPTER XV--LEADERS AND GUIDE - - CHAPTER XVI--TICONDEROGA - - CHAPTER XVII--HOME COMING - - - - -CHAPTER I--COMING INTO THE WILDERNESS - - -The low sun of a half-spent winter afternoon streaked and splashed the -soft undulations of the forest floor with thin, infrequent lines, and -scattered blotches of yellow light among the thickening shadows. - -A solitary hunter, clad in buckskin and gray homespun, thridded his way -among the gray trunks of the giant trees, now blended with them and -their shadows, now briefly touched by a glint of sunlight, now casting -up the powdery snow from the toes of his snowshoes in a pearly mist, now -in a golden shower, yet moving as silently as the trees stood, or -shadows brooded, or sunlight gleamed athwart them. - -Presently he approached a narrow road that tunnelled, rather than -seamed, the forest, for the giant trees which closely pillared its sides -spread their branches across it, leaving the vast forest arch unbroken. - -In the silence of the hour and season, which was but emphasized by the -outcry of a suspicious jay and the gentler notes of a bevy of friendly -chickadees, the alert ear of the hunter caught a less familiar sound. -Faint and distant as it was, he at once recognized in it the slow tread -of oxen and the creak of runners in the dry snow, and, standing a little -aloof from the untrodden road, he awaited the coming of the possibly -unwelcome invaders of the wilderness. - -A yoke of oxen soon appeared, swaying along at a sober pace, the breath -jetting from their nostrils in little clouds that arose and dissolved in -the still air with that of their driver, who stood on the front of a -sled laden with a full cargo of household stuff. Far behind the sled -stretched the double furrow of the runners, deep-scored lines of darker -blue than the universal shadow of the forest, a steadfast wake to mark -the course of the voyager till the next snow-storm or the spring thaw -cover it or blot it out. As the oxen came opposite the motionless -hunter, his attendant jay uttered a sudden discordant cry. - -"Whoa, hush! Whoa haw, there! What are you afeard of now? That's nothin' -but a jay squallin'." The strong voice of the driver rang through the -stillness of the woods, overbearing the monotonous tread of the oxen, -the creak of the sled, and the responsive swish and creak of the snow -beneath feet and runners. - -Unmindful of his voice, the oxen still swerved from the unbeaten track -of the forest road and threatened to bring the off runner against one of -the great trees that bordered it. The driver sprang from his standing -place, and, running forward alongside the cattle, quickly brought them -to a halt with a few reassuring words, and a touch of his long, -blue-beech gad across their faces. - -Looking into the woods to see what had alarmed them, he became aware of -the man standing a little way off, as motionless as the great tree -trunks around him. Seeing the oxen were now under control, the latter -advanced a little and spoke in a low, pleasant voice: - -"I didn't go to skeer your oxen, stranger, and was standin' still to let -'em pass, but thet jay squalled at me, an', lookin' this way, I s'pose -they ketched a glimpse of my fur cap an' took it for some varmint. -Cattle is always lookin' for some sech, in the woods. Your load's all -right, I hope," he said, coming into the road and looking at the sled, -which, though tipped on some hidden obstruction, was yet in no danger of -upsetting its freight. - -"Why, you've got women an' childern," and his face lighted up with an -expression of pleased interest. "You're comin' in to make a pitch. How -far might you be goin', stranger?" - -"A little beyond Fort Ti, on this side," the driver of the oxen -answered. "I made a pitch there last year. My name's Seth Beeman, and I -come from Salisbury, Connecticut, and them on the sled are my wife and -children." Seth Beeman knew that, according to the custom of the country -and the times, this information would presently be required of him, and -the hunter, for such the stranger's dress, long gun and snowshoes -proclaimed him to be, had such an honest face he did not hesitate to -forestall the inevitable questions. - -"I want to know! A Beeman from ol' Salisbury," cried the other. "An' now -I wonder if you be akin to my ol' comrade in the Rangers, 'Zekiel -Beeman?" - -"My father's name was Ezekiel, and he served in Roger's Rangers." - -"Give me your hand, friend," cried the hunter, drawing off his mitten -with his teeth, and extending his hand as he came near to the other. -"Well, I never thought to meet an ol' friend here in these lonesome -woods, to-day. Yes, an ol' friend, for that's what a son of 'Zekiel -Beeman's is to me, though I never sot eyes on him afore. You've maybe -hearn him speak of Job Carpenter? That's my name." - -"Carpenter? Yes, the name sounds familiar, but you know father wa'n't a -man of many words and never told us much of his sojerin' days." - -"You're right, he wa'n't. We all larnt to keep our heads shut when we -was a-scoutin' an' a loud word might cost a man his'n an' many another -life." - -Seth wondered how long since the hunter had forgotten the lesson, yet he -noticed the voice of the other was never high pitched and he never made -a sudden, abrupt movement. - -"An' so these is your wife an' childern, be they?" said Job, passing -toward the sled, whose occupants were so muffled in bed-quilts and -blankets that nothing of their forms, and but little of their features, -were visible. - -"How dedo, marm. How dedo, little uns. Tol'able comf'table, I hope?" - -Ruth Beeman answered his kind salutation as audibly as she could out of -her mufflings, and the children, a boy of twelve and a girl of three -years younger, stared at him with round, wondering eyes. - -"It's a hard life that lies afore women an' children in this -wilderness," he said to himself, and then, in a louder tone: "Wal, I'm -glad you're goin' to be nigh the Fort. There's always a doctor there, -an' it's sort o' protection, if the garrison be reg'lars. Now, Seth, -start up your team, an' I'll boost on the sled till it's square on the -road again." - -So saying, he set his shoulder to one of the sled stakes, while Seth -carefully started the oxen forward. With a heaving lurch and prolonged -creak, the sled settled upon evener ground without disturbance of its -passengers or its burden of house gear and provisions, which, till now, -had hidden from view of the hunter a gentle little cow in lead close -behind it. - -"How far be we from the Fort?" Seth asked. - -"Nigh onto five mile," the hunter answered, after considering their -whereabouts a moment. "After a spell you'll come to a better road on the -ice of the crik, if you take the first blazed path beyend here, to your -left. It'll fetch you to my cabin, where you'd better stop till morning, -for you can't no ways git to your pitch till long arter nightfall. I -know where it is, for I come across it, last fall, when I was trappin' -mushrat up the crik. My shanty's the first thing in the shape of a -dwelling that you'll come to, an' can't miss it if you foller the back -track of my snowshoes. It hain't so great, but it's better'n no shelter, -an' you're more'n welcome to it. Rake open the fire an' build you a -rouster, an' make yourselves to home. I've got some traps to tend to, -but I'll be back afore dark," and, almost before they could thank him, -he disappeared among the trees. - -Seth took his place upon the sled, and, as it moved forward, the forest -again resumed its solemnity of silence, that was rather made more -apparent than at all disturbed by the slight sounds of the party's -progress. It was a silence that their lonely journey had long since -accustomed them to, but had not made less depressing, for, in every -waking moment, it reminded Seth and his wife how every foot of it -withdrew them further from old friends and old associations, and how -long and wearisome the days of its endurance stretched before them. - -The remainder of the day was made pleasanter by the chance finding of a -friend in a strange land, and with a prospect of spending a night under -a roof, for, however it might be, it could but be better than the almost -shelterless bivouac that had many times been their night lodging since -they entered the great Northern Wilderness, that, within a few years, -had become known as the New Hampshire Grants. - -More than once, when they had fallen asleep with only the mesh of netted -branches between them and the serene stars, they had been awakened by -the long howl of the wolves answering one another, or by the appalling -scream of a panther. Then, with frequent replenishment of the fire, they -had watched out the weary hours till morning, alarmed by every falling -brand or sough of the breeze, or resonant crack of frost-strained trees. - -Seth looked eagerly for the promised trail and was glad to discover the -blazed trees and the netted imprint of snowshoes, that, if but briefly, -as certainly, identified the path. He turned his oxen into the diverging -road, which, though narrow, gave ample room for the sled. After a little -it led to the winding channel of a creek crawling through a marsh, whose -looped and matted sedges were in turn bordered by the primeval forest -and its bristling abatis of great trees, prostrate and bent in every -degree of incline. - -At last, as the long shadows began to thicken into the pallid gloom of -winter twilight, a little cabin was discovered in a notch of clearing, -as gray and silent as the gray woods around it. A thin wisp of smoke -climbed from the low chimney against the wall of forest, and a waft of -its pungent odor came to the travellers. Even as they drew near, its -owner also arrived, and gave them hospitable welcome to his hearth, and -presently the little room was aglow with light and warmth. - -Here Ruth and little Martha thawed away their cramps and chilliness by -the big fireplace, while Seth and his son Nathan, with the hunter's -help, unhitched the oxen from the sled. From this they brought the -rations of hay and corn, and made the oxen and their comrade, the cow, -contented with their roofless lodging behind the cabin. - -Then the pork and Indian meal were taken inside. Ruth mixed a -johnny-cake with hot water and salt, and set it to bake on its board, -tilted before the fire. The frying-pan was filled with pork, and slices -of moose meat contributed from Job's larder. - -The little party, ranged on rude seats about the fireplace, so great as -to be out of all proportion to the room, chatted of things near and -afar, while they grew hungry with every sniff of appetizing cookery. - -Nathan was all agog at the peltry that hung from innumerable pegs on the -rough log walls. There were skins of many animals that had long been -rare, if not extinct, in the old colony where he was born. - -There were the broad, round shields of beaver skins, the slenderer and -lighter-hued skins of otters, besides the similarly shaped but smaller -and darker-colored fisher, with a bundle of the lesser martins, that Job -called "saple," and no end of muskrats and minks. There were, also, half -a dozen wolf skins, and, conspicuous in size and glossy blackness, were -three bear skins, and beside them hung a tawny panther hide, the huge -hinder paws and long tail trailing on the puncheon floor, while the -cat-like head seemed to prowl, as stealthily as in life, among the upper -shadows and flickerings of the firelight. - -Quickly noting the boy's interest in these trophies, Job made the round -of them all, explaining the habits of each animal, the method of its -capture, and giving brief narrations of encounters with the larger ones. -He exhibited, with the most pride, a beautiful silver-gray foxskin, and -an odd-looking spotted and coarse-haired skin, stuffed with moss into -some semblance of its form in the flesh. This he brought to the -fireside, and set on its fin-like hinder feet, for the inspection of his -guests. - -"What on airth is it?" Seth Beeman asked. - -"'Tain't of the airth, but of the water," Job answered, with a chuckle. -"I killed it on the ice of the lake airly in the winter. One of the -sojers at the Fort see it, an' he says it's a seal fish belongin' to the -sea, where he's seen no end on 'em. But them sojers to the Fort is an -ign'ant set like all the reg'lars, that we rangers always despised as -bad as they did us, an' it don't look no ways reasonable that sech a -creatur' could come all the way up the St. Lawrence, an' the Iriquois -River, an' most the len'th o' this lake. My idee is, it's a fresh-water -maremaid, an' nat'ral to this lake." - -If Seth had any doubt of this theory, he gave it no expression, and the -hunter went on: - -"An ol' Injin told me that there's always ben one o' these cretur's seen -in this lake a spell afore every war that's ever ben. But I hope the -sign'll fail this time. I've seen enough o' war an' I don't see no -chance of another, all Canady bein' took an' the Injins in these parts -bein' quilled." - -The johnny-cake, having been baking for some time in its last turn on -the board, was now pronounced done. The mixed contents of the frying-pan -were turned out on a wooden trencher, and conversation was suspended for -the more important matter of supper. Not long after this was disposed -of, the host and his guests betook themselves to sleep in quilts and -blankets on the puncheon floor, with their feet to the blazing backlog -and glowing bed of coals. - - - - -CHAPTER II--THE NEW HOME - - -The light of a cloudless March morning pervaded the circumscribed -landscape when the inmates of the cabin were astir again. Not many -moments later, a sudden booming report broke the stillness and rolled in -sullen echoes back and forth from mountains and forested shores. - -"The sunrise gun to Fort Ti," Job said, in reply to the questioning look -of his guests. "They hain't no other use for their powder now." - -A fainter report, and its fainter answering echoes, boomed through the -breathless air. - -"An' that's Crown P'int Fort, ten mile furder down the lake. They help -to keep us from getting lonesome up here in the woods." And, indeed, -there was a comfortable assurance of human neighborhood and helpful -strength in these mighty voices that shook the primeval forest with -their dull thunder. - -"I don't sca'cely ever go nigh the forts," Job continued. "I don't like -them reg'lars an' their toppin' ways." - -After fortifying themselves with a breakfast, in no wise differing from -their last meal, the travellers set forth on the last stage of their -journey, Job volunteering to accompany them upon it, and see them -established in their new home. They had not gone far on their way down -the narrow channel of the creek when it brought them to the broad, -snow-clad expanse of the lake, lying white and motionless between its -rugged shores, bristling with the forest, save where, on their left, was -a stretch of cleared ground, in the midst of which stood, like a grim -sentinel, grown venerable with long years of steadfast watch, the gray -battlements of Fort Ticonderoga. - -Here and there could be seen red-coated soldiers, bright dots of color -in the colorless winter landscape, and, above them, lazily flaunting in -the light breeze, shone the red cross of England. The old ranger gave -the flag the tribute of a military salute, while his heart swelled with -pride at sight of the banner for which he had fought, and which he had -followed almost to where it now waved, in the humiliation of -Abercrombie's defeat, and here had seen it planted in Amherst's -triumphant advance. - -In Seth Beeman's breast it stirred no such thrill. It had no such -associations with deeds in which he had borne a part, and to him, as to -many another of his people, it was becoming a symbol of oppression -rather than an object of pride. To Nathan's boyish eyes it was a most -beautiful thing, without meaning, but of beauty. His heart beat quick as -the rattling drums and the shrill notes of the fife summoned the -garrison to parade. - -The oxen went at a brisker pace on the unobstructed surface of the lake, -and the travellers soon came to a little creek not far up which was the -clearing that Seth Beeman had made during the previous summer. In the -midst of it stood the little log house that was henceforth to be their -home, the shed for the cattle, and a stack of wild hay, inconspicuous -among log heaps almost as large as they, looking anything but homelike -with the smokeless chimney and pathless approach. Nor, when entered, was -the bare interior much more cheerful. - -A fire, presently blazing on the hearth, soon enlivened it. The floor -was neatly swept with a broom fashioned of hemlock twigs by Job's ready -hands. The little stock of furniture was brought in. The pewter -tableware was ranged on the rough corner shelves. Ruth added here and -there such housewifely touches as only a woman can give. The change, -wrought in so brief a space, seemed a magical transformation. What two -hours ago was but a barren crib of rough, clay-chinked logs, was now a -furnished living-room, cozy with rude, homelike comfort. - -Then the place was hanselled with its first regularly prepared dinner, -the first meal beneath its roof at which a woman had presided. Job, -loath to leave the most humanized habitation that he had seen for -months, set forth for his own lonely cabin. Except the unneighborly -inmates of the Fort, these were his nearest neighbors, and to them, for -his old comrade's sake, he felt a closer friendship than had warmed his -heart for many a year. - -Though it was March, winter lacked many days of being spent in this -latitude, and, during their continuance, Seth was busy with his axe, -widening the clearing with slow, persistent inroads upon the surrounding -forest, and piling the huge log heaps for next spring's burning. Nathan -gave a willing and helpful hand to the piling of the brush, and took -practical lessons in that accomplishment so necessary to the -pioneer--the woodsman's craft. Within doors his mother, with little -Martha for her companion, plied cards and spinning-wheel, with the -frugal store of wool and flax brought from the old home. So their busy -hands kept loneliness at bay, even amid the dreariness of the wintry -wilderness. - -At last the south wind blew with a tempered breath. Hitherto unseen -stumps appeared above the settling snow, the gray haze of woods purpled -with a tinge of spring, and the caw of returning crows pleased their -ears, tired of the winter's silence. - -Seth tapped the huge old maples with a gouge, and the sap, dripping from -spouts of sumac wood, was caught in rough-hewn troughs. From these it -was carried in buckets on a neck-yoke to the boiling place, an -open-fronted shanty. Before it the big potash kettle was hung on a tree -trunk, so balanced on a stump that it could be swung over or off the -fire at will. Sugaring brought pleasure as well as hard labor to Nathan. -There were quiet hours spent in the shanty with his father, with little -to do but mend the fire and watch the boiling sap walloping and -frothing, half hidden beneath the clouds of steam that filled the woods -with sweet odor. - -Sometimes Job joined them and told of his lonely scouts in the Ranger -service, and of bush fights with Indians and their French allies, and of -encounters with wild beasts, tales made more impressive in their -relation by the loneliness of the campfire, with the circle of wild -lights and shadows leaping around it in the edge of the surrounding -darkness, out of which came, perhaps from far away, the howl of a wolf -or the nearer hoot of the great horned owl. - -Sometimes Martha spent part of a day in camp with her brother, helping -in womanly ways that girls so early acquired in the training of those -times, when every one of the household must learn helpfulness and -self-reliance. But the little sister enjoyed most the evenings when the -syrup was taken to the house and sugared off. The children surfeited -themselves with sugar "waxed" on snow, and their parents, and Job, if he -chanced to be there, shared of this most delicious of the few backwoods -luxuries, and the five made a jolly family party. - -One morning, when the surface of the coarse-grained old snow was covered -with one of the light later falls, known as "sugar snow," as Seth and -his son were on their way to the sugar place, the latter called his -father's attention to a large track bearing some resemblance to the -imprint of a naked human foot, and tending with some meandering in the -same direction that they were going. - -"Why," said Seth, at the first glance, "it's a bear, an' if he's been to -the camp, I'm afraid he's done mischief, for they're meddlesome -creatur's. But there wa'n't much left there for him to hurt," he added, -after taking a brief mental inventory of the camp's contents. - -"I can't think of nothing but the hunk of pork we had to keep the big -kittle from b'ilin' over," said Nathan, "and a little mite of syrup that -we left in the little kittle 'cause there was more'n we could carry home -in the pails." - -"He's welcome to that if he's left the pork; we hain't no pork to feed -bears." - -Now, as they drew near the camp, they heard a strange commotion in its -neighborhood; a medley of smothered angry growls, impatient whines, -unwieldy floundering, and a dull thud and clank of iron, the excited -squalling of a party of jays, and the chattering jeers of a red -squirrel. Running forward in cautious haste, they presently discovered -the cause of this odd confusion of noises to be a large black bear. - -His head was concealed in the pot-bellied syrup kettle, held fast in -that position by the bail, that, in his eagerness to lick out the last -drop of stolen sweet, had slipped behind his ears. His frantic efforts -to get rid of his self-imposed muzzle were so funny that, after their -first moment of bewilderment, the two spectators could but shout with -laughter. - -Now upreared, the blindfolded bear would strike wildly at the kettle -with his forepaws; then, falling on his back, claw it furiously with his -hinder ones; then, regaining his feet, rush headlong till brought to a -sudden stand by an unseen tree trunk. Recovering from the shock, he -would remain motionless for a moment, as if devising some new means of -relief, but would presently resume the same round of unavailing devices, -with the constant accompaniment of smothered expressions of rage and -terror. - -But there was little time for laughter when a precious kettle and a fat -bear might at any moment be lost by the fracture of one and the escape -of the other. Seth had no weapon but his axe, but with this he essayed -prompt attack, the happy opportunity for which was at once offered. In -one of his blind, unguided rushes, the bear charged directly toward the -camp, till his iron-clad head struck with a resounding clang against the -great boiling kettle. As he reeled backward from the shock, half stunned -by it, and bewildered by the unaccustomed sound that still rang in his -ears, Seth was beside him with axe uplifted. - -Only an instant he deliberated where and how to strike; at the skull he -dared not with the axe-head, for fear of breaking the kettle, and he -disliked to strike with the blade further back for fear of disfiguring -the skin. But this was the preferable stroke, and in the next instant -the axe-blade fell with a downright blow, so strong and well aimed that -it severed the spinal column just forward of the shoulders. The great -brute went down, paralyzed beyond all motion, to fall in a helpless heap -and yield up his life with a few feeble gasps. - -"Oh, father," cried Nathan, the first to break the sudden silence, with -a voice tremulous in exultation, "to think we've got a bear. Won't -mother and Marthy be proud? and won't Job think we're real hunters?" - -Waiting but a moment to stroke the glossy fur and lift a huge inert paw, -but such a little while ago so terrible, he sped home to bring his -mother and sister to see the unexpected prize, while the jays renewed -their querulous outcry, and the squirrel vociferously scoffed the fallen -despoiler of his stolen nuts. - -The flesh made a welcome addition to the settler's scanty store of meat, -the fat furnished a medium for frying the hitherto impossible doughnut, -and Job promised to bring them a handsome price for the skin, when he -should sell it with his own peltry to the fur traders. But the praise he -bestowed upon Seth's coolness in the strange encounter was sweeter to -Nathan than all else. - -As the days went on the advance of spring became more rapid and more -apparent. Already the clearing was free from snow, and even in the -shadow of the forest the tops of the cradle knolls showed the brown mats -of last year's leaves above the surface, that was no longer a pure -white, but littered with the winter downfall of twigs, moss, and bits of -bark, and everywhere it was gray with innumerable swarming mites of snow -fleas. Great flocks of wild geese harrowed the sky. Ducks went whistling -in swift flight just above the tree tops, or settled in the puddles -beginning to form along the border of the marsh. Here muskrats were -getting first sight of the sun after months of twilight spent beneath -the ice. - -In the earliest April days of open water, when the blackbirds, on every -bordering elm and water maple, were filling the air with a jangle of -harsh and liquid notes, and the frogs, among the drift of floating -weeds, were purring an unremitting croak, Job took Nathan out on the -marshes, and instructed him in the art of shooting the great pickerel -now come to spawn in the warm shallows. - -"Never shoot at 'em," said he, when a shot from his smooth-bore had -turned an enormous fellow's white belly to the sun, and he quickly -lifted the fish into the canoe; "if you do, you won't hit 'em. Always -shoot under, a mite or more, accordin' to the depth o' water." - -Powder and lead were too precious to waste much of them on fish, so the -old hunter made his pupil a hornbeam bow and arrows with spiked heads. -With these weapons the boy soon became so skilled that he kept the table -well supplied with this agreeable variation of its frugal fare. - -Song-birds came in fewer numbers in those days of wide wildernesses than -now, but there were bluebirds and song sparrows enough to enliven the -clearing with sweet songs, and little Martha found squirrel cups -blooming in the warmest corners of the field. As the days grew longer -and warmer they grew busier, for Seth was diligently getting his crops -in among the black stumps. - -Job, having foreseen his friend's need of some sort of water craft when -the lake should open, had fashioned for him a log canoe from the trunk -of a great pine, and modelled it as gracefully as his own birch, though -it was many times a heavier, as it was a steadier, craft. - -One pleasant afternoon in early May, when the lake was quite clear of -ice, Seth and his son, with Job as their instructor in the art of canoe -navigation, made a trip in the new boat. They paddled down the creek, -now a broad bit of water from the spring overflow. When they came to the -lake, rippled with a brisk northern breeze, they found their visit well -timed, for a rare and pretty sight was before them, so rare and pretty -that Job paddled back with all speed for the mother and daughter that -they, too, might see it. - -A mile below the mouth of the creek a large vessel was coming, under all -sail, with the British flag flying bravely above the white cloud of -canvas. They could hear the inspiring strains of martial music, and, -when the noble vessel swept past not half a mile away, they could see -the gayly dressed officers and the blue-jacketed sailors swarming on her -deck. - -"It's the sloop from St. Johns," said Job. "She comes two or three -times, whilst the lake's open, with stores for the garrison to the Fort. -It's an easier trail than the road from Albany. Pretty soon you'll hear -her speak." - -Almost at his words a puff of smoke jetted out from her black side, and, -as it drifted across her deck, it was followed by the loud, sullen roar -of the cannon. In response a smoke cloud drifted away from the Fort, and -a moment later a roar of welcome reinforced the failing echoes. Again -and again the sloop and the Fort exchanged salutes, till the new -settlers ceased to be startled by such thunder as they had never before -heard under a cloudless sky. - -"They hain't nothin' to do with their powder nowadays, but to fool it -away in sech nonsense," said the Ranger, as the sloop came to anchor in -front of the Fort. "Arter all it's a better use for it than killin' -folks, erless," he deliberately excepted, "it might be Injins." - - - - -CHAPTER III--A VISIT TO THE FORT - - -The summer brought more settlers to these inviting lands of level, -fertile soil, and when the woods were again bright with autumnal hues, -their broad expanse of variegated color was blotched with many a square -of unsightly new clearing. Job Carpenter looked with disfavor upon such -infringement of the hunter's domain, but it was welcomed by the Beemans. -Though Seth's active out-door employment and the constant companionship -of nature made him less lonely than his wife, yet he was of a social -nature and glad of human companionship; while Ruth, sometimes lonely in -the isolation of her new home, rejoiced in the neighborhood of other -women. - -Only a mile away were the Newtons, a large and friendly family, and -within three miles were four more friendly households, and another at -the falls of the turbid Lemon Fair. At this point a saw mill was being -built and a grist mill talked of. With that convenience established so -close at hand, there would be no more need of the long journey to the -mill at Skeenesborough, a voyage that, in the best of weather, required -two days to accomplish. - -The settlers at first pounded their corn into samp, or finer meal for -johnny-cake, by the slow and laborious plumping mill, a huge wooden -mortar with a spring pole pestle. - -"Oh, mother," said Nathan, one summer afternoon, as for a while he -stopped the regular thump, thump of the plumping mill to wipe his hot -face and rest his arms that ached with the weary downpull of the great -pestle, "when do you s'pose the folks to the Fair will get the gris' -mill done?" - -"Afore long, I hope, for your sake, my boy," she answered, cheerily, -through the window. "Let me spell you awhile and you take a good rest." - -Laying her wool cards aside, she came out and set her strong hands to -the pestle, while Nathan ran out to the new road to see what ox-teamster -of unfamiliar voice was bawling his vociferous way along its -root-entangled and miry course. Presently the boy came back, breathless -with the haste of bearing great news. - -"Oh, mother, they're carryin' the stones and fixin's for the new mill, -and the man says they'll be ready for grindin' before winter sets in. -Then it'll be good-by to you, old 'Up-an'-down,' and good riddance to -bad rubbage," and he brought the pestle down with energy on the -half-pounded grist of samp. - -"Don' revile the plumpin' mill, Nathan. It's been a good friend in time -o' need. Mebby you'll miss the trips to Skeenesborough with your father. -You've always lotted on them." - -"Yes, but I'd rather go to the Fort and play with the boys, any day, and -I'll have more time when samp poundin' is done and ended." - -He had been with his father twice to the Fort to see its wonders, and, -brief as the visits were, they sufficed to make him acquainted with the -boys of the garrison, and, for the time, a partner in their games. -Before the summer was out, the little Yankee became a great favorite -with the few English and Irish boys whose fathers were soldiers of the -little garrison. He taught them how to shoot with his hornbeam bow and -spiked arrows, and many another bit of woodcraft learned of his fast -friend Job, while they taught him unheard-of games, and told him tales -of the marvellous world beyond the sea, a world that was as a dream to -him. - -His Yankee inquisitiveness made him acquainted with every nook and -corner of the fortification, and he was even one day taken into the -commandant's quarters, that the beautiful wife of that fine gentleman -might see from what manner of embryo grew these Yankees, who were -becoming so troublesome to His Majesty, King George. She was so pleased -with his frank, simple manner and shrewd answers that she dismissed him -with a bright, new English shilling, the largest sum that he had yet -possessed. - -"Really, William," she afterwards remarked to her husband, "if this be a -specimen of your terrible Yankees, they be very like our own people, in -speech and actions, only sharper witted, and they surely show close -kinship with us in spite of such long separation." - -"You little know them," said Captain Delaplace, laughing. "They are a -turbulent, upstart breed. I fear only a sound drubbing, and, perhaps, -the hanging of a score of their leaders, will teach them obedience to -His Majesty." - -"I would be sorry to have this little man drubbed or hanged," said she, -with a sigh; "surely he is not of the stuff rebels are made of." - -"The very stuff, my dear. Bold and self-reliant, and impatient of -control, as you may see. If ever there comes an outbreak of these -discontented people, I warrant you'll find this boy deserving the -drubbing and getting it, too, for His Majesty's troops would make short -work of such rabble." - - - - -CHAPTER IV--THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS - - -A year later, the dispute of the Governors of New York and New -Hampshire, concerning the boundaries of the two provinces, was at its -height, and the quarrel between claimants of grants of the same lands, -under charters from both governors, became every day more violent. The -disputed territory was that between the Connecticut River and Lake -Champlain, and was for a long time known as the New Hampshire Grants. - -If a New York grantee found the claim which he had selected, or which -had been allotted to him, occupied by a New Hampshire grantee, when the -strength of his party was sufficient he would take forcible possession -of the land, without regard to the improvements made upon it, and -without making any compensation therefor. He was seldom left long in -enjoyment of possession thus gained, for the friends of the New -Hampshire grantee quickly rallied to his aid and summarily ousted the -aggressor, who, if he proved too stubborn, was likely to be roughly -handled, and have set upon his back the imprint of the beech seal, the -name given to the blue-beech rod wherewith such offenders were -chastised. The New Hampshire grantees were as unscrupulous in their -ejectment of New York claimants who had first established themselves on -the New Hampshire Grants. Surveyors, acting under the authority of New -York, were especially obnoxious to settlers of the other party, and -rough encounters of the opposing claimants were not infrequent. Seth -Beeman and his neighbors had all taken up land under a New Hampshire -charter, without a thought of its validity being questioned. - -One bright June morning, Nathan was watching the corn that, pushing its -tender blades above the black mould in a corner of the clearing, offered -sweet and tempting morsels to the thieving crows. It was a lazy, -sleep-enticing occupation, when all the crows but one, who sat biding -his opportunity on a dry tree top, had departed, cawing encouragement to -one another, in quest of a less vigilantly guarded field. There was no -further need for beating with his improvised drumsticks on the hollow -topmost log of the fence, to the tune of "Uncle Dan, Uncle Dan, Uncle -Dan, Dan, Dan," which would not scare the wise old veteran from his -steadfast waiting. - -The indolent fluting of the hermit thrushes rang languidly through the -leafy chambers of the forest, and the wood pewees sang their pensive -song on the bordering boughs, too content with song and mere existence -to chase the moth that wavered nearest their perch. The languor of their -notes pervaded all the senses of the boy, and, with his body in the -shade of the log fence and his bare feet in the sunshine, he fell into a -doze. - -Suddenly he was awakened by an alarmed outcry of the crow, now sweeping -in narrow circles above some new intruder upon his domain. Then he -became aware of strange voices, the tramp of feet, the swish of branches -pushed aside regaining their places, a metallic clink, and occasional -lightly delivered axe strokes. Mounting the topmost log of the fence, -and shading his eyes with his hands, he peered into the twilight of the -woods. To this his eyes had hardly accustomed themselves, when he saw -what sent flashes of anger and chills of dread chasing one another -through his veins. But a few rods away, and coming towards him, were two -men, one bearing the end of a surveyor's chain and a bundle of wire -rods, the other carrying an axe and gun. A little behind these were two -men similarly equipped, and still further in the rear, half hidden by -the screen of undergrowth, more figures were discovered, one of whom was -squinting through the sights of a compass, whose polished brass -glittered in a stray sunbeam. Nathan was sure this must be the party of -the New York surveyor of whom there had been a rumor in the settlement, -and he felt that trouble was at hand. - -"Hello, here's a clearin'," the foremost man, as he ran to the fence, -called back to the one at the other end of the chain. "Jenkins, tell Mr. -Felton there's a fenced clearin' here,--and boy," now deigning to notice -so insignificant an object. - -"Stake," cried Jenkins. - -As the first speaker planted one of the wire rods beside the fence, -Jenkins pulled up the last one stuck in the woods, at the same time -shouting the news back to the surveyor. - -"Hold on, boy," the first speaker said, as Nathan jumped from the fence. -"You stay here till Mr. Felton comes up." - -"I'm going home," Nathan answered boldly; "if Mr. Felton wants me he can -come there." - -"You sassy young rascal," cried one of the men, who carried a gun, -bringing his weapon to a ready; "you stand where you be or I'll--" and -he tapped the butt of his gun impressively. - -"You wouldn't dast to," Nathan gasped defiantly, but he went no further, -and stood at bay, grinding the soft mold under his naked heel while he -cast furtive glances at the intruders, till the remainder of the party -came up. The surveyor, impressed with the dignity of his position, -maintained a haughty bearing toward all the members of his party save -one, a swarthy, thick-set, low-browed man, whom he addressed as Mr. -Graves. - -"A fine clearing, indeed," said Mr. Felton when he came to the fence. "I -wonder what Yankee scoundrel has dared to so seize, hold and occupy the -lands of the Royal Colony of New York." - -"Mayhap this younker can tell you, sir," said the man guarding the boy, -and lowering his gun as he spoke. - -"Boy, what scoundrel has dared to steal this land and establish himself -upon it without leave or license of His Excellency, the Governor of New -York? Yes, and cut down the pine trees, especially reserved for the -masting of His Majesty's navy," and he tapped the top log impressively. - -"It's holler, Mr. Felton," Jenkins suggested, satisfying himself of the -fact by a resonant thump of his axe. - -"Who stole this land? Where's your tongue, boy?" Mr. Felton demanded -sharply. - -But the boy, out of mind an instant, in that instant was out of sight. -Many a time he had heard Job recount the manner of retreat practised by -the Rangers, and now the knowledge served him well. While the -surveryor's party was engaged with the pine, he slipped down on the same -side of the fence, gained the veiling of a low bush, wormed his way a -few feet along the ground, reached the protection of a large tree trunk, -when he leaped to his feet, and, fleet and noiseless as a Ranger -himself, fled from tree to tree in a circuitous route to his father. - -Seth Beeman was hard at work on an extension of his clearing to the -westward when Nathan came up, panting and breathless. - -"Oh, father, there's a whole lot of Yorkers come and they're runnin' a -line right through our clearin'." - -Seth listened attentively until the men and their work had been -described minutely, and then, without a word, resumed the trimming of -the great hemlock he had just felled. As Nathan waited for some -response, he knew by his father's knitted brow that his thoughts were -busy. At length, breaking off a twig of hemlock, he came to his son and -said, handing the evergreen to him: - -"Take this to Newton's and show it to the men folks, and say 'There's -trouble to Beeman's,' and then go on and do the same at every house, -'round to Job's, and show it to him and tell him the' same, and do -whatever he tells you. Be spry, my boy; I must stay here and ta' care of -mother and Sis. Keep in the woods till you get clear of the Yorkers, -then take the road and clipper." - - - - -CHAPTER V--THE EVERGREEN SPRIG - - -Understanding the importance of his errand and guessing its purpose, -Nathan skulked stealthily along the heavily-wooded border of the highway -till past all chance of discovery, when he took the easier course of the -road. The ecstatic melody of the thrushes' song and the pensive strain -of the pewee had not changed, yet now they were instinct with cheer and -acceleration, as was the merry drumbeat of the flicker on a dry branch -overhead. - -Presently, as he held his steady pace, splashing through puddles and -pattering along firmer stretches, he heard sharp and loud footfalls in -rapid approach. Before his first impulse to strike into the ready cover -of the woods was carried into effect, a horseman galloped around the -turn, and he was face to face with a handsome stranger, whose tall, -well-knit figure, heightened by his seat on horseback, towered above the -boy like a giant. - -"Hello," said the man, reining up his horse, "and where are you bound in -such a hurry, and who might you be?" His clear gray eyes were fixed on -Nathan, who noticed pistols in the holsters, a long gun across the -saddle bow, and, in the cocked hat, a sprig of evergreen. - -"I'm Seth Beeman's boy," Nathan answered, pointing in the direction of -his home, "and I'm goin' to neighbor Newton's of an arrant." - -"Ah,--Beeman,--a good man, I'm told. And what might take you to neighbor -Newton's in such a hurry? Has that hemlock twig in your hand anything to -do with your errand?" demanded the stranger, in an imperative but kindly -voice. "Speak up. You need not be afraid of me." - -Nathan looked up inquiringly at the bold, handsome face smiling down on -him. - -"Did you ever hear of Ethan Allen?" asked the stranger. - -"Oh, yes; only yesterday father told about Ethan Allen's throwing the -Yorker's millstones over the Great Falls at New Haven." - -"Right and true! Well, I am Ethan Allen." As he gave his name in a -deep-toned voice of proud assurance, it seemed in itself a strong host. -"Your father sent you with that twig to say there's trouble at Beeman's, -didn't he?" - -Nathan looked up in wonder, admiration, and gladness, and then, with the -instinctive, unreasoned confidence that the famous chieftain of the -Grants was wont to inspire, told unreservedly his father's troubles and -directions. When Allen had heard it, he wheeled his horse beside the -nearest stump and bade Nathan mount behind him. - -"My horse's feet will help you make your rounds quicker than yours, my -man. We've no time to lose, for there's no telling what those scoundrels -may be at. Eight Yorkers! Well, we'll soon raise good men enough to make -short work of them." - -Nathan mounted nimbly to his assigned place, and, clasping as far as he -could the ample waist of his new friend, was borne along the road at a -speed that soon brought them to the log house of the Newtons. A man of -the herculean mould so common to the early Vermonters came out of the -house to meet the comers, with an expression of pleased surprise on his -good-humored face. - -"Why, colonel, we wa'n't expectin' on you so soon, but we hain't no less -glad to see you. 'Light and come in. Mother'll hev potluck ready to -rights. Why, is that the Beeman boy stickin' on behind you? Anything the -matter over to Beeman's?" - -"No, we can't 'light," Allen replied; and then, looking down over his -shoulder, "Do your errand, my boy, and we'll push on." - -Nathan held out the carefully kept sprig of evergreen and repeated his -message. - -"Trouble to Beeman's, now." - -"Yea, verily," said Allen to Newton, whose face flashed at the boy's -words. "Rise up and gird on your swords, you and your sons. The -Philistines are upon you even as it has been prophesied. Felton and his -gang of land thieves. The son of Belial was warned to depart from the -land of the elect, but he heeds not those who cry in the wilderness. -Confound the rascal! He must be 'viewed'! You and your two boys take -your guns and jog down that way, and as you go cut a goodly scourge of -blue beech, for verily there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing -of teeth. We'll rally the Callenders, and Jones, and Harrington, and -North, and my friend Beeman here will tell Job. We'll gather a good -dozen. Enough to mete out the vengeance of the Lord to eight Yorkers, -I'll warrant!" - -Strange and abrupt as were the transitions from Allen's favorite -Scriptural manner of speech to the ordinary vernacular, no one thought -of laughing. As the boy dismounted, Allen said: - -"You go straight to Job and do as he tells you;" and as he rode away -called back, "everybody lay low and keep dark till you hear the owl -hoot." - -Soon Nathan turned from the road into an obscure footpath that led in -the direction of Job Carpenter's cabin. The gloom and loneliness of the -mysterious forest, through which the narrow footpath wound, so pervaded -it that the song birds seemed awed to silence, and the woodpeckers -tapped cautiously, as if afraid of being heard by some enemy. No boy, -even of backwoods breeding, would care to loiter had his errand been -less urgent, and he gave but a passing notice to things ordinarily of -absorbing interest. - -A mother partridge fluttered along the ground in simulated crippledness -while her callow brood vanished among the low-spread leaves. A shy wood -bird disclosed the secret of her nest as he sped by. Against a dark pine -gleamed the fiery flash of a tanager's plumage. A wood mouse stirred the -dry leaves. His own foot touched a prostrate dead sapling, and the dry -top rustled unseen in the wayside thicket. There was a sound of long, -swift bounds, punctuating the silence with growing distinctness, and a -hare, in his brown summer coat, wide-eyed with terror, flashed like a -dun streak across the path just before him, and close behind the -terrified creature a gray lynx shot past, eager with sight and scent of -his prey, closing the distance with long leaps. Before the intermittent -scurry of footfalls had faded out of hearing they ceased, and a wail of -agony announced the tragical end of the race. The cry made him shiver, -and he could but think that the lynx might have been a panther and the -hare a boy. - -His heart grew lighter when he saw the sunshine showing golden green -through the leafy screen that bordered the hunter's little clearing. He -found Job leaning on his hoe in his patch of corn, looking wistfully on -the creek, where the fish were breaking the surface among the weeds that -marked the expanse of marsh with tender green, and where the sinuous -course of the channel was defined by purple lines of lily pads. The -message was received with a show of vexation, and the old man exclaimed: - -"Plague on 'em all with their pitches and surveyin' and squabblin'. Why -can't folks let the woods alone? There's room enough in the settlements -for sech quarrels without comin' here to disturb God's peace with -bickerin's over these acres o' desart. I thought I'd got done wi' wars -and fightin's, exceptin' with varmints, when the Frenchers and Injins -was whipped. But I guess there won't never be no peace on airth and good -will to men for all it's ben preached nigh onto eighteen hundred years. -Plague on your Hampshire Grants and your York Grants, the hul bilin'! -Wal, if it must come it must, and I'll be skelped if I'll see Yorkers a -runnin' over my own Yankee kin. Yorkers is next to Reg'lars for toppin' -ways. I never could abear 'em." - -While he spoke he twirled Nathan's hemlock sprig between his fingers and -now set it carefully in the band of his hat and led the way to his -cabin. - -"And Ethan Allen's in these betterments? Well, them Yorkers'll wish -they'd stayed to home. He's hard-handed, is Ethan." - -The two were now in the cabin, and Job set forth a cold johnny-cake and -some jerked venison that Nathan needed no urging to partake of. "'Tain't -your mother's cookin', but it's better'n nothin'," Job said, as between -mouthfuls he counted out a dozen bullets from a pouch and put them in -his pocket. Then he held up his powder horn toward the light after -giving it a shake, and, being satisfied of its contents, slung it over -his shoulder. Their hunger being satisfied, he took the long smooth-bore -from its hooks, examined the flint, and, nodding to Nathan to follow, -went down to his canoe, that lay bottom up on the bank. - -"It's quicker goin' by water'n by land," said Job, as he set the canoe -afloat and stepped into it, while Nathan took his place forward. -Impelled by the two paddles, the light craft went swiftly gliding down -the creek, and then northward, skirting the wooded shore of the lake. - - - - -CHAPTER VI--THE YORKERS - - -Though the presentation of claims, under the authority of the New York -government, to the land which Seth Beeman occupied by virtue of a title -derived from the Governor of New Hampshire, had for some time been -expected and resistance fully determined upon, Seth's heart was as hot -with anger and heavy with anxiety as if invasion had come without -warning. Tenacious of his rights, he yet hated strife and contention. -Nor could he foresee whether he must lose the home he had wrought with -toil and privation out of the savage wilderness, or whether, after a -sharp, brief contest, he would be left in peaceable possession of it, or -whether he could then hold it only by continued resistance. - -Nathan had not been long away when he shouldered his axe and hastened -toward the house. When it came in view, between the tall pillars of tree -trunks that paled the verge of the clearing, the rough-walled dwelling -had never looked more homelike nor better worth keeping. It had overcome -the strangeness of new occupancy and settled to its place. The logs had -begun to gather again the moss that they lost when they ceased to be -trees. Wild vines, trained to tamer ways, clambered about the doorway -and deep-set windows, beneath which beds of native and alien posies, -carefully tended, alike flourished in the virgin soil. The young garden -stuff was promising, and the broader expanse of fall-sown wheat, grown -tall enough to toss in the wind, made a rippling green sea of the -clearing, with islands of blackened stumps jutting here and there above -the surface. The place had outgrown its uncouth newness and transient -camp-like appearance and become a home to cling to and defend. - -"What is it, Seth?" asked Ruth, coming to greet him at the door, her -smile fading as she saw his troubled face. - -"The Yorkers have come." And then he explained Nathan's mission. "Our -folks'll come to help as soon as they can, but the Yorkers'll get here -first. Look a there," and, following his eyes, Ruth saw the surveyor's -party approaching the border of the clearing, just as the Beemans passed -into the house. - -"It won't come to that, will it?" she asked, in a low, awed voice, as -Seth took down his gun. - -"I hope not, but I want the gun out of their reach and where I can get -it handy. There ain't a bullet or buckshot in the house," he declared, -after examining the empty bullet pouch. "Give me some beans. They're -good enough for Yorkers." - -As he spoke he measured a charge of powder into the long barrel, rammed -a tow wad upon it, poured in a half handful of the beans that Ruth -brought him in a gourd, rammed down another wad, put priming in the pan, -clapped down the hammer, then mounted half way up the ladder that served -as a stair, laid the gun on the floor of the upper room, and was down at -the door when the surveyor led his party to it. He saluted the party -civilly, and, upon demand, gave his name. - -"Well, Mr. Beeman," began the surveyor, in a pompous tone, "I sent your -son to bring you to me, but it seems you did not please to come." - -"No," said Seth quietly; "it does not please me to leave my affairs at -the beck and call of every stranger that comes this way." - -"Well, sir, I'd have you understand that I am Marmaduke Felton, duly -appointed and licensed as a surveyor of His Majesty's lands within his -province of New York. Furthermore, be it known, I have come here in the -regular discharge of the duties of my office, to fix the bounds of land -purchased by my client, Mr. Erastus Graves," bowing to the person, "of -the original grantees, with patent from His Excellency the Governor, who -alone has authority to grant these lands. I find you, sir, established -on these same lands belonging to my client. What have you to say for -yourself? By what pretended right have you made occupation of lands -belonging to my client?" - -"I have to say for myself," Seth answered, in a steady voice, "that I -bought this pitch of the original proprietors, and I have their deed, -duly signed and sealed. They got their charter of His Excellency Benning -Wentworth, His Majesty's Governor of the Province of New Hampshire." - -"Your title is not worth the paper it's written on," scoffed Mr. Felton. -"Governor Wentworth has no more authority to grant lands than I have. -Not a whit. The east bounds of New York are fixed by royal decree at the -west bank of Connecticut River, as everybody knows, and Wentworth's -grants this side that limit are null and void. No doubt you have acted -in good faith, but now there's nothing for you but to vacate these -betterments forthwith; yes, forthwith, if you will take the advice of a -friend," and the little man regaled himself with a pinch of snuff. - -"I shall not go till I am forced to," Seth answered with determination. -"When it comes to force both parties may take a hand in the game." - -"Very well, very well! I have given you friendly advice; if you do not -choose to take it the consequences be on your own head. Come, Graves; -come, men, let us go about our present affairs;" adding, after some talk -with Graves, "We shall be back to spend the night with you, Mr. Beeman. -You cannot refuse Mr. Graves the shelter of his own house." - -Seth flushed with anger, but answered steadily: "I can't help it, but -you will not be welcome." - -The men who had been idling about, taking little interest in the parley, -now followed their employers back to the woods, trampling through the -young wheat in their course. - -"I wish you a pleasant night on't," said Seth under his breath, and -turned to reassure his wife. "Don't be frightened, my girl. They won't -get us out of here. Keep a stout heart and wait." - -With a quieter heart she went about her household affairs, while her -husband busied himself nearby, weeding the garden and giving to his -wife's posy beds the awkward care of unaccustomed hands. He often -stopped his employment to listen and intently scan the border of the -woods. The shadows of the trees were stretching far across the clearing -when an owl hooted solemnly in the nearest woods on the bank of the -creek, and, presently, another answered farther away. - -"Do hear the owls hootin', and it's clear as a bell," said Ruth at the -door, looking up to the cloudless sky. "It can't be it's a-going to -storm." - -"I shouldn't wonder if it did," said Seth with a mirthless laugh. "Where -was that nighest hoot?" - -As he spoke the solemn hollow notes were repeated, and some crows began -to wheel and caw above the spot, marking it plainly enough to the eye -and ear, and he set forth in the direction at a quick pace. - -"Why don't Nathan come home?" little Martha asked. "I hain't seen him -all day. I wish he'd come. He'll get ketched in the storm." - -"Oh, don't worry, deary," said her mother after she had watched her -husband disappear in the thickening shadow of the woods. "We might as -well eat, for there's no telling when father'll be back." They were not -half through the meal before he came, and, as he took his seat at the -table, he said with a deep sigh of relief: "I'm afeard our York friends -won't enjoy their lodgin's overmuch. The owls are round pretty thick -to-night." - -"Well, I guess they've ben talking to you," said Ruth, as her face -lighted with a comprehension of his meaning. - -"Can owls talk?" Martha asked, agape with wonder. - -"Well, the old knowing ones. Owls are turrible knowing creatur's," her -father said. - -The twilight possessing the woods had scarcely invaded the clearing when -the surveyor and his party came to the house, bringing in blankets, -provisions, guns, tools, and instruments, till the one small room was -crowded with them and the uninvited guests. Felton and Graves made -themselves offensively and officiously at home. The cook took possession -of the fire, and set two frying-pans of pork sputtering grease upon the -tidy hearth, to the disgust of the housewife, who sat with her husband -and child in a dark corner. At last Felton brought forth a bottle of -spirits from his leathern portmanteau and drank to Graves. - -"Here's to your speedy installment in your rightful possessions. Now, -help yourself, and give the men their tot." - -Graves stood filling his measure of grog in the tin cup, grinning with -satisfaction, when a loud knock came on the door. - - - - -CHAPTER VII--THE "JUDGMENT SEAT" - - -Without waiting to be bidden, a man of massive mould entered the room. -He strode into the firelight, and, wheeling on the hearth, faced the -company, his shadow filling half the room. - -"Good evening, gentlemen. Good evening, Mr. Felton and Graves." - -The latter stood with the untasted dram half way to his gaping mouth, -the other was as motionless, save as his face expressed successively -astonishment, anger, and exultation. - -"Colonel Ethan Allen," he said at last, emphasizing the title. "Most -happy to receive a call from so distinguished a person. A very fortunate -meeting." Then changing his tone of mock politeness to one of command: -"You are my prisoner. Men, lay hold of him! A hundred pounds are offered -for his head! It is Ethan Allen! Lay hold of him, I tell you!" - -There was a reluctant stir among the men. One advanced toward the corner -near the fireplace where the guns were set. With deliberate celerity -Allen drew his hands from the skirts of his coat, a cocked pistol in -each, and, with one of them, he covered the man skulking towards the -guns. - -"The first man that draws a pistol or raises a gun gets a bullet through -his carcass," he said with authority. - -At Allen's first words Seth had mounted the ladder and as quickly -reappeared with his gun. The movement was seen in the dancing shadows, -and he was covered by the other pistol, which was lowered as he was -distinguished to be helping a woman and child to mount to the chamber. - -"Down with your gun over there! Oh, it is our friend Beeman! All right!" -Then Allen called in a voice that made the pewter dishes ring on their -shelves: - -"Come in, men!" - -The door swung violently open, and Job Carpenter, with all the -arms-bearing men of the wide neighborhood, to the number of a dozen, -came marching in, in Indian file, with rifle or smooth-bore at a trail. -In the rear was Nathan, unarmed, but eager to see all that should -transpire. - -Felton and Graves lost their bold demeanor, yet held their places, while -their men slunk to the farther side of the room in dumb affright, save -Jenkins, the cook, who, dodging this side and that of Allen's burly -form, hovered near his frying-pans in a divided fear for his own safety -and that of his pork. - -"Keep every one of these men under close guard, my boys," Allen -commanded, "especially these two chief offenders. Now, Mr. Felton, -perhaps it is made plain to you that I am not your prisoner, and that -the gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills. Behold how riches -take to themselves wings and fly away even before they are possessed. In -witness whereof, consider the hundred pounds offered by your Governor -for an honest man. No wonder he longs for the sight of one, with such a -pack of thieves and land jobbers as he has about him." - -"An honest man?" cried Felton, trembling with rage. "A ruffian! A -rioter! A defier of law!" and he poured forth a torrent of opprobrious -names, and a full measure of curses, till out of breath. - -"Go on, Master Felton, go on," said Allen, smiling benignly upon him. -"Ease yourself. Unless it be prayer, which you rarely employ, I doubt, -there is nothing like good round cursing to relieve an overburdened -heart. Upon occasion I avail myself of the remedy. Pray go on, or give -your friend a chance. Mr. Graves, you have the floor," but the man -addressed only glowered savagely. - -"Well, if you have offered all your burnt offerings of brimstone, let -the men have their supper and make themselves strong for their journey. -Dish up the pork, cook, that you have been bumping my legs to get at, -and bring out your bread bag. Stir yourselves. We have weighty business -pending." - -The men ate their meat and bread with the appetite of those whom no -emotion can cheat of a meal, but Felton and Graves would have none of -it. The Green Mountain Boys sat apart, chatting in low tones, till the -smokers were filling their pipes after their meal, when Allen rapped the -table with the butt of his pistol, and his clear, deep voice broke the -silence that ensued. - -"Friends of the Grants, you all know we have come here to erect the -'Judgment seat' this night, and mete out such punishment as doth unto -justice appertain. Yea, verily, for wrongs done or sought to be done -upon the people of these New Hampshire Grants. We will at once elect a -judge. To save time, I will nominate Ethan Allen as a proper person for -that office. You that would elect him say 'Aye.'" - -There was a unanimous affirmative response, even Nathan, proud of the -opportunity of giving his first vote, made his piping treble heard among -the deep voices of the men. - -"Contrary minded, make the usual sign." - -There was only a sullen "No" from Felton. - -"You are not entitled to vote in this meeting, sir. I have a clear -majority and will take my seat." So saying, Allen seated himself upon -the table. - -"The plain facts of the case are these: This Mr. Felton and this Graves, -also, were taken by me, and certain other good men, about one month ago, -in the act of surveying, under the pretended authority of the tyrannical -New York government, lands already granted by His Excellency Benning -Wentworth, His Majesty's duly appointed Governor of New Hampshire. The -said persons were ordered to desist from such unlawful business and to -depart from these Grants, and were duly warned not to return for a like -purpose under pain of being 'Viewed.' Furthermore, they were suffered to -depart without bodily harm. Here the surveyor comes again, like a bad -penny as he is, bearing the King's mark, but a base counterfeit none the -less. And this Graves pretends to own this pitch by right of purchase -under York government. Other than them I do not recognize any among this -crew who have been 'Warned.' Now, friend Beeman, tell us your story." - -Seth told what had passed between him and the surveyor, and then Nathan -was called to relate his meeting the party in the woods, which he did in -a straightforward manner, except for his boyish bashfulness. - -"Now, you have it all. Felton and Graves are here, as you see, in -prosecution of their unlawful business, as the testimony of this boy and -his father shows. In further proof whereof, see the surveyor's -instruments here in view. What say you, men of the Grants, are they -guilty or not guilty?" - -"Guilty," said the various voices. - -"What shall be their punishment? That they be chastised with the twigs -of the wilderness?" - -There was general affirmative response, some answering loudly, others -faintly and hesitatingly. Then Job Carpenter stepped forward, and, -making a military salute, said: - -"I don't go agin these men a gittin' what they desarve, but I don't want -to have them skinned. Their skins hain't worth a-hevin' only for their -selves, and I hate to see white men whipped like dogs. If they was -Injins I wouldn't say agin it. But, bein' they hain't, I move they hev -jest nine cuts o' the Blue Beech apiece." - -"Forty, save one," was the customary award in such cases, and there were -a few dissenting voices, but the milder punishment was finally agreed -upon. - -If the two men under sentence felt any gratitude for the mitigation of -the severity, they expressed none. Graves maintained a sullen silence, -though his vengeful scowl expressed as much hatred of the prosecutors of -the informal trial as did the storm of oaths and abuse that Felton let -forth upon them in intermittent gusts. - -So the night passed, with snatches of sleep for some, with none for -others, while the prisoners were kept under constant guard. With -daylight came the summary infliction of the punishment awarded. It was a -scene so cruel that Ruth and Martha could not bear to hear, much less to -witness it, and Nathan, when an old man, said it was a horrible memory. -Yet, severe as was the chastisement inflicted by the Green Mountain Boys -upon their persecutors, it was no more cruel than the legal punishment -of many light offences in those days, when the whipping post was one of -the first adornments of every little hamlet. In conclusion, Ethan Allen -gave to Felton and Graves a "Certificate," written by himself, to the -effect: - -"This is to Certify that the Bearer has this day rec'd his Just Dues and -is permitted to pass beyond the New Hampshire Grants. He Behaving as -Becometh. In witness whereof, see the Beech Seal upon his back and our -Hands set Hereunto. Signed, Ethan Allen and others." - -Felton cast his upon the ground and stamped upon it, but Graves folded -and put his carefully in his pocket, glowering in silence upon his -enemies. Then Ethan Allen broke the surveyor's compass with his own -hands and tossed the fragments away. - -"Now," said he, in an awful voice, "depart, and woe be unto you, -Marmaduke Felton and Erastus Graves, if you ever set foot in the land of -the Green Mountain Boys. You other men, if you come in peace and on -honest business, you shall not have a hair of your heads hurt. But if -you ever venture to come on such an iniquitous errand as now brought -you, by the Great Jehovah, you shall repent in sackcloth and ashes! -Forward, march!" - -At the command, the surveyor and his men filed off, and the last of the -sullen and chap-fallen crew soon disappeared among the trees. They were -accompanied some distance by the Green Mountain Boys, when their beloved -chieftain rode away to redress wrongs of settlers in other parts. - -By noon the clearing was occupied by none but its usual tenants, and, -henceforth, though they suffered frequent apprehension of further -trouble, they were not molested by any New York claimants. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII--A NOVEL BEAR TRAP - - -"You don't know of anybody hereabouts that wants to hire a good hand, I -s'pose?" asked a stranger one August afternoon, as, without unslinging -his pack, he set his gun against the log wall beside the door, and -leaned upon his axe at the threshold. - -By degrees Seth Beeman had enlarged his clearing so far that he already -needed stronger hands than Nathan's to help him in the care of the land -already in tilth and in the further extension of his betterments, but he -scanned the man closely before he answered. Though unprepossessing, -low-browed, and surly looking, he was evidently a stout fellow, and -accustomed to work. At length a reply was made by asking such questions -as were a matter of course in those days, and are not yet quite obsolete -in Yankeeland. - -The stranger readily said his name was Silas Toombs, that he was from -Jersey way, and wished, when he had earned enough, to take up a right of -land hereabouts, in a region he had often heard extolled by his father, -who had served here in Captain Bergen's company of Rogers's Rangers. -Seth had previously ascertained that no grown-up son of any of his -neighbors could be spared to help him, so he finally hired this man, who -proved to be efficient and faithful, although not a genial companion, -such as an old-time farmer wished to find in his hired help. Ruth -treated him with the kindness so natural to her, though she could -scarcely conceal her aversion. This, if he understood, he did not seem -to notice any more than he did the undisguised dislike of Nathan. - -The remainder of the summer and half of the fall passed uneventfully, -till one day, when Ruth had been called to the bedside of Mrs. Newton, -who was ill of the fever so prevalent in new clearings, Nathan and his -sister were left in charge of the house, while their father and hired -man worked in a distant field. - -The children spent half the pleasant forenoon in alternate rounds of -housework and out-door play, now sweeping the floor with hemlock brooms, -now running out into the hazy October sunshine to play "Indians" with -Nathan's bow and arrows and Martha's rag doll. This was stolen and -carried into captivity, from which it was rescued by its heroic little -mother. Then they threw off their assumed characters and ran into the -house to replenish the smouldering fire, and to find that the sunshine, -falling upon the floor through the window, was creeping towards the -"noon mark," making it time to begin dinner. - -Nathan raised the heavy trap-door to the cellar and descended the -ladder, with butcher knife and pewter plate, to get the pork, but had -barely got the cover off the barrel when he was recalled to the upper -world by a loud cry from his sister: - -"Nathan, Nathan, come here quick!" - -He scrambled up the ladder and ran to her, where, just outside the door, -she was staring intently toward the creek. - -"Who be them?" she asked anxiously, as she pointed at two figures just -disclosed above the rushes, as they moved swiftly up the narrow channel -in an unseen craft. - -"I guess they're Injins," said Nathan, after a moment's scrutiny, "and I -guess they're a-trappin' mushrat. Let's run over to the bank and see." - -So they ran to the crown of the low bank, where they could command a -good view of the rushy level of the marsh, and the narrow belt of clear -water that wound through it, reflecting the hazy blue of the sky, the -tops of the scarlet water maples, the bronze and yellow weeds, and, here -and there, the rough dome of a newly built muskrat house. At each of -these the two men, now revealed in a birch canoe, halted for a little -space, and then, tying a knot in the nearest tuft of sedge, passed on to -the next. There was no mistaking the coppery hue of the faces, the -straight black hair, though men of another race might wear the dirty, -white blanket coats, and as skilfully manage the light craft. - -"Yes, they be Injins," said Nathan, "and I wish they'd let my mushrat -alone. But I s'pose there's enough for them and me." - -Presently the Indians passed quite near them, and one, speaking so -softly that the children thought his voice could never have sounded the -terrible war-whoop, accosted them: - -"How do? You Beenum boy?" - -"Yes," Nathan answered; and then, obeying the Yankee instinct of -inquiry, asked: "Be you gettin' many mushrat?" - -"No ketch um plenty," the Indian replied. "Ol' Capenteese ketch um mos' -all moosquas," and Nathan understood that he attributed the scarcity of -muskrats to Job, whose fame as a hunter and trapper was known to every -Waubanakee who visited this part of the lake. - -"Me come back pooty soon," the Indian said, pointing up the creek with -his paddle. "Den go house, see um Beenum. Buy um some pig eese.[1] -S'pose he sell um lee'l bit?" - - [1] Pork - -Nathan nodded a doubtful assent, and then, reminded of dinner-getting by -the mention of pork, caught Martha's hand and hurried homeward, while -the Indians resumed their way upstream. - -When the children entered the open door, they were for a moment dumb -with amazement at the confusion that had in so short a time usurped the -tidiness whereof they had left the room possessed. The coverlets and -blankets of one bed were dragged from their place, two or three chairs -were overturned, and the meal barrel was upset and half its contents -strewn across the floor. - -"What in tunket," cried Nathan, when speech came to his gaping mouth. -"Has that old sow got outen the pen?" Then he saw in the scattered meal -some broad tracks that a former adventure had made him familiar with, -and he heard a sound of something moving about in the cellar. - -"It's a bear," he cried, "and he's down cellar." - -As quick as the thought and words, he sprang to the open hatch, and -heaved it upright on the hinges, to close it. But just as it hung in -midway poise, the bear, alarmed by the noise overhead, gave a startled -"whoof," and came scrambling up the ladder. His tawny muzzle was above -the floor, when Nathan, with desperate strength, slammed down the hatch, -and its edge caught the bear fairly on the neck, pressing his throat -against the edge of the hatchway. The trap door had scarcely fallen when -the quick-witted boy mounted it and called to his frightened sister to -mount beside him, and with their united weight, slight as it was, they -kept him from forcing his way upward, till in his frantic struggles he -dislodged the ladder and hung by the neck helpless, without foothold. - -The children held bravely to their post, hand in hand, while to the -gasping moans of the angry brute succeeded cries of anger, that were in -turn succeeded by silence and loss of all visible motion but such as was -imparted to the head by the huge body still slowly vibrating from the -final struggle. When this had quite ceased they ventured off the trap -door, and, pale and panting, they stood before the ghastly head as -frightful now in death, with grinning, foam-flecked jaws, protruding -tongue, and staring, bloodshot eyes, as it had been in living rage. -Nathan caught his sister in his arms and hugged her, shouting: - -"We've killed him. We've killed a bear," while she, in the same breath, -laughed and cried, till they both bethought themselves of the -dinner-getting not yet begun. - -"I can't get down cellar," said Nathan, "for I dasn't open that door. -What be we goin' to do?" - -A grunt of surprise caught his attention, and, looking up, he saw the -two Indians at the door, staring with puzzled faces on the strange -scene. Then one, with a hatchet half uplifted, cautiously approached the -grim head, which, after an instant's scrutiny, he touched with his -hatchet and then with his finger. - -"He dead. You boy do dat?" And Nathan told him all the adventure. The -Indian gave the boy an approving pat on the head that made Nathan's -scalp shiver. - -"You big Nad-yal-we-no. Too much good for be Pastoniac. You come 'long -me to Yam-as-ka, I make you Waubanakee. Den be good for sometings. -Nawaa," he said to his companion, and the other coming in, the two -reached down and laid hold of the bear's forelegs, and when, by their -instructions, Nathan lifted the door, they dragged the limp, shaggy -carcass out upon the floor. - -When the full proportions of the huge brute were revealed, the boy's -rejoicings broke forth anew, just as his father and the hired man came -hurrying in, when he received fresh praise for his deed. The dinner was -bounteous, if late, and the Indians, Toksoose and Tahmont, had their -full share of it, with a big chunk of pork and as much bear's meat as -they cared to take, which was small, since they liked better the -daintier meat of the musquash, wherewith their trapping afforded them an -ample supply. - -When toward nightfall the mother returned, she was told the story by the -victors, and with equal delight was it rehearsed when Job happened to -come, and the unstinted praise of the old hunter was sweetest of all. -Many a day was the tale rehearsed for the benefit of new listeners. Even -when Nathan was an old man, and looked back on the many adventures of -his life, not one stood forth so clearly in the haze of the past as this -adventure with the bear, wherein he had borne the chief part. - - - - -CHAPTER IX--A FRONTIER TRAGEDY - - -One autumn day after the leaves had faded and fallen, Nathan was busy -husking corn, with less thought upon his task and the growing pile of -yellow ears than of a promised partridge hunt on the morrow with his -good friend Job. His father was chopping in a new clearing. Silas had -been sent with the oxen to take some logs to Lemon Fair Mill. His mother -grew uneasy at her spinning, for Seth did not come home to dinner, nor -yet when the afternoon was half spent. After many times anxiously -looking and listening in the direction of the clearing, and as often -saying to herself, "What does keep father so?" she called to Nathan. - -"I guess you'd better go and see what henders father so. I can't think -what it is. I hope it hain't anything." - -"Perhaps he's gone over to Callenders or some o' the neighbors," said -Nathan. "I hain't heard a tree fall for ever so long nor his axe a goin' -for a long time." - -"Mebby he's cut his foot or something," said Martha, beginning to cry. - -"I can't hear nothin' of him for all the air's so holler and everything -sounds so plain," said Ruth, listening again. "You'd better go and see -what henders him. Mebby he can't git home." - -As the boy anxiously hastened to the new clearing, the intense stillness -of the woods filled him with undefined dread. His ears ached for some -sound, the tapping of a woodpecker, the cry of a jay, but most of all, -for the sound of axe strokes or his father's voice. Silence pervaded the -clearing also. - -There, on a stump, was his father's blue frock, one bit of color in the -sombre scene. And yes, there was some slight flitting movement near the -last tree that had been felled and lay untrimmed just as it had fallen, -but it was only a bevy of chickadees peering curiously at something on -the ground beneath them, yet voiceless as if their perennial -cheerfulness was dumb in the pervading silence. So sick with dread he -could scarcely move, the boy forced himself to approach the spot, and -look upon that which he felt was awaiting him, his father lying dead -beneath the huge, prone tree, that had crushed him in its fall. - -The glowing sunset sky and the glistening waters of the lake grew black, -the earth reeled. With a piteous groan of "Father! father!" the boy sank -down as lifeless, for a space, as the beloved form that lay beside him -in eternal sleep. - -He awoke as from a terrible dream to the miserable realization that it -was not a dream. Then walking, as still in a dream, not noting how he -went nor by any familiar object marking his way, he bore home the woeful -tidings. - -Simple as were the funeral rites in the primitive communities, they were -not lacking in the impressiveness of heartfelt sorrow nor in the homely -expressions of sympathy for the bereaved and respect for the dead. So -Seth Beeman's neighbors reverently laid him to rest in the soil his own -hand had uncovered to the sunlight. They set at his head a rough slate -stone, whose rude lettering could be read half a century later, telling -his name and age, and the manner of his death. - -Ruth was left in a sorry plight, so suddenly bereft of the strong arm -she had leaned upon, without a thought that it could ever be taken from -her. Now she had only her son, a sturdy lad, indeed, but of an age to be -cared for rather than to care for others. Toombs had proved better than -he looked, kind enough, and a good worker, and familiar with the needs -of the farm. When his time was out she had no means to pay his wages nor -could she well get along without him. So he staid on, taking a mortgage, -at length, on the premises in lieu of money, and becoming more and more -important in Ruth's estimation, though regarded with increasing dislike -and jealousy by her son, who found himself less and less considered. - -Months passed, dulling sorrow and the sense of loss, and bringing many a -bitter change. The bitterness of Nathan's life was made almost -unbearable presently. His mother, of a weak and clinging nature, -inevitably drifted to a fate a more self-reliant woman would have -avoided. Worried with uncomprehended business, and assured by Toombs -that this was the only way to retain a home for herself and children, -yet unmoved by the kindly advice of Seth's honest friends and neighbors, -as well as the anger and entreaties of her son, she went with Toombs -over to the Fort, where they were married by the chaplain stationed -there. - -With such a man in the place of his wise and affectionate father, -Nathan's life was filled with misery, nor could he ever comprehend his -mother's course. Though bestowing upon Martha and his mother indifferent -notice or none at all, towards the boy the stepfather exercised his -recently acquired authority with severity, giving him the hardest and -most unpleasant work to do, and treating him always with distrust, often -with cruelty. - -"I hate him," he told Ruth. "He's sassed me every day since I come here, -and I've got a bigger job 'an that to settle, one that I'd ha' settled -with his father, if he hadn't cheated me by gettin' killed." - -"Oh, what do you mean?" Ruth gasped. "I thought you and Seth was always -good friends." - -"Friends!" he growled, contemptuously; "I hated the ground he walked on. -Look here," and Silas pulled out his leather pocketbook and took from it -a soiled paper which he held before her eyes. - -She read the bold, clear signature of Ethan Allen, and, with a sickening -thrill, that of Seth Beeman under it. - -"Yes, Ethan Allen and Seth Beeman and his neighbors whipped a man for -claimin' his own, and your boy went and gethered 'em in. Mebby you -re'collect it." - -"I couldn't help it," she gasped. "I didn't see it. I run and hid and -stopped my ears." - -"Well, 'Rastus Graves 'ould ha' settled his debts if he'd ha' lived. But -he died afore his back got healed over, and afore he died he turned the -job over to his brother, that's me, Silas Toombs, or Graves--they're the -same in the end." - -Ruth stared at him in dumb amazement and horror, while he proceeded, -pouring forth his long concealed wrath. - -"Well, I've got Seth Beeman's wife, and, what's wuth more, his farm, an' -his childern right 'nunder my thumb. I hope he knows on't. And now, -ma'am," lowering his voice from its passionate exultation, "you don't -want to breathe a word o' this to your nice neighbors or to your young -'uns. It wouldn't do no good and it might be unpleasant all round. You -don't want folks to know what a fool you be." - -After this disclosure, Ruth lived, in weariness and vain regret, a life -that seemed quite hopeless but for looking forward to the time when her -son could assert his rights and be her champion. Her nature was one of -those that still bend, without being broken, by whatever weight is laid -on them. - - - - -CHAPTER X--REBELLION - - -One day Nathan was gathering ashes from the heaps where the log piles -had been burned and storing them in a rude shed. Close by this stood the -empty leach-tubs awaiting filling and the busy days and nights when the -potash-making should begin. It was hard, unpleasant work, irritating to -skin, eyes, and temper. It was natural a boy should linger a little as -Nathan did, when he emptied a basket, and quickly retreated with held -breath out of the dusty cloud. He looked longingly on the shining -channel of the creek, and wished he might follow it to the lake and fish -in the cool shadows of the shore. He wished that Job would chance to -come through the woods, but Job lately rarely came near them, for he was -vexed with Ruth for mating with this stranger, and the new master gave -no welcome to any of the friends of the old master. His hands were busy -as his thoughts, when he was startled by his stepfather's voice close -behind him. - -"You lazy whelp, what you putterin' 'bout? You spend half your time a -gawpin. You git them ashes housed afore noon or I'll give ye a skinnin', -and I'll settle an old score at the same time," and Toombs switched a -blue beech rod he held in his big hand. After seeing the boy hurry -nervously to this impossible task, he went back to his chopping. - -The shadows crept steadily toward the north till they marked noontime, -and still one gray ash heap confronted Nathan. As he stood with a full -basket of ashes poised on the edge of the ash bin, Toombs appeared, with -his axe on his shoulder and the beech in his hand. "You know what I told -you, and Silas Toombs doesn't go back on his words; no, sir." - -"I couldn't do it. I tried, but I couldn't get 'em all done!" - -Silas strode toward him in a fury, when Nathan hurled the basket of -ashes full at his head, and dodging behind the shed was in rapid flight -toward the woods, when his assailant emerged from the choking, blinding -cloud, sputtering out mingled oaths and ashes. In a moment he caught the -line of flight and followed in swift pursuit. The boy's nimble feet -widened the distance between them, but he was at the start almost -exhausted with his severe work, so that when he reached the woods his -only hope lay in hiding. - -Silas, entering the woods, could neither see nor hear his intended -victim. Listening between spasms of rushing and raging, he heard a -slight rustling among the branches of a great hemlock that reared its -huge, russet-gray trunk close beside him. Looking up, he saw a pair of -dusty legs dangling twenty feet above him. - -"Come down, you little devil, or I'll shoot you." - -"I won't," said Nathan, half surprised at his own daring; "you can't -shoot with an axe." - -"I'm glad you made me think on't. Then come down or I'll chop you down!" -As an earnest of his threat he drove his axe to the eye into the boll of -the tree. - -The boy only climbed the higher, and disappeared among the dark foliage -and thick, quivering rays of branches. Parleying no more, Silas began -chopping so vigorously that the great flakes of chips flew abroad upon -the forest floor in a continuous shower, and soon paved it all about him -with white blotches. When the trunk was cut to the middle, he shouted up -another summons to surrender, but got no answer. Then his quick, strong -strokes began to fall on the other side, steadily biting their way -toward the centre, till the huge, ancient pillar of living wood began to -tremble on its sapped foundation. Standing away from it, he peered up -among the whorls of gray branches and broad shelves of leaves, but they -disclosed nothing. - -"Hello! Come down! Don't be a fool! An' I won't lick you. The tree's -comin' an' it'll kill you." Still no answer nor sound, save the solemn -whisper of the leaves, came down from the lofty branches. "You're a -plucky one, but down you come!" - -In a sudden blaze of passion at being thus scorned, he drove his axe -deep into the tree's heart. A puff of wind stirred the topmost boughs. A -shiver ran through every branch and twig. Fibre after fibre cracked and -parted. The trunk tremulously swayed from its steadfast base. The -sighing branches clung to the unstable air. A tall, lithe birch, that -had long leaned to their embrace, sprang from it as in a flutter of -fear, and then, with a slowly accelerating sweep, the ancient pillar, -with all its long upheld burden of boughs and perennial greenery, went -through its fellows to the last sullen boom of its downfall. Toombs -breathlessly watched and listened for something besides the shortening -vibration of the branches, some sound other than the swish of relieved -entanglement, but no sound or motion succeeded them. - -"Nathan, Nathan," he called again and again. - -He ran along the trunk looking among the branches. He felt under the -densest tangles, then cleared them away with quick but careful axe -strokes, dreading, in every moment of search, that the next would reveal -the crushed and mangled form of the boy. Not till the shadows of night -thickened the shadows of the woods did he quit his fruitless search. He -knew the boy was dead, and, if found, what then? Well, for the present a -plausible lie would serve him well enough. - -"Your boy has run off, Mis' Toombs. You needn't worry. He'll git starved -out 'fore long and sneak back. And he'll work all the better when he -does come. Boys has got to have their tantrums an' git over 'em." This -device served so well to quiet any graver apprehensions that Ruth -entertained, he the more insisted on it. "Like's not he's over to the -Fort. They'll make him stan' round, I tell ye." - -He intended in the morning to renew his search, but when it came he -dared not go near that fallen tree, the dumb witness and concealer of -his crime. When, from afar, he saw the crows wheeling above the spot, or -when at night he heard from that direction the wolf's long howl, he -shook with fear, lest they had discovered his secret and would in some -way reveal it. - - - - -CHAPTER XI--ESCAPE - - -When the accidental shaking of the branch disclosed his refuge, Nathan -wished he had taken the easier shelter of a hollow log or the tangle of -a windfall. The more so, when he caught brief, swift flashes of the axe -gleaming up through the dark foliage and felt the tree shiver at every -sturdy stroke. But he had no thought of surrender. The trunk of the -leaning birch, so slender that his arms and legs could clasp it, had -given him access to this coign of vantage and now offered a retreat from -it. - -Toombs was intent upon his work, with his back turned squarely toward -the foot of the birch, though barely six paces from it. Escape, if at -all, must be made while the chopper was on this side of the hemlock. -Very cautiously he regained the birch where it hid trunk and lithe -branches in the embrace of the great evergreen, and then worked -downward, with an eye ever on his enemy underneath, making swiftest -progress when the axe fell and its sound overbore the rustle of the -birch's shaggy, yellow mane, that his buttons scraped along. At last his -toes were tickled by the topmost leaves of a low, sprangling hobble -bush, then lightly touched by the last year's fallen leaves and the soft -mould. Then, as a flying chip struck him full on the cheek, he loosed -his hold on the trunk and stole stealthily to the shelter of the nearest -great tree. - -The axe strokes ceased, but a glance showed him that Toombs was only -wiping his sweaty brow on his sleeve, as he looked up into the tree and -addressed its supposed occupant. As the futile chopping was resumed, -Nathan crept off through the undergrowth till beyond sight and hearing, -when he ran upright so swiftly that he was a mile away when the roar of -the tree's fall came booming through the woods. - -He sat down to get his breath and determine where to go, for so far he -had only thought to escape his stepfather. Should he try for the Fort? -How was he to cross the lake without a boat, and, if there, on what plea -that he could offer was he likely to be harbored, for Toombs was on very -friendly terms with the commander! Not there could he find protection. -His old friend Job was the only one to whom he could look, and in his -secluded cabin he might hope to escape detection. - -With this determination he arose and went his way, too well skilled in -woodcraft, for all his youth, to lose it while the sun shone. Pushing -steadily on he saw at last the slanted sunbeams shining golden green -through the woodside leaves, then saw them glimmering on the quiet -channel of Job's creek, and following the shore upstream, presently -emerged in the little clearing. It was as quiet as the woods around it, -and seemed more untenanted, for through them the songs of the thrushes -were ringing in flute-like cadences, while here nothing was astir. - -Nathan made his way so silently to the open door that he stood looking -in upon the occupants of the cabin before they became aware of his -presence. Job was squatting before the fireplace engaged in frying meat, -and a great, gaunt, blue-mottled hound sat close beside him, intently -watching the progress of the cooking. Presently his keen nose caught a -scent of the intruder, and he uttered a low, threatening growl that -attracted his master's attention. - -"Be quiet, Gabriel; what is't troubles you?" Then seeing his visitor -hesitating at the threshold, "Why, Nathan, come in my boy, come in, the -hound won't hurt you. Ain't he a pictur'? Did you ever see such ears? -Did you ever see such a chest and such legs? And he's as good as he is -harnsome. I went clean to Manchester arter him and gin three prime -beaver skins for him. He's one o' Peleg Sunderland's breed and'll foller -anything that walks, if you tell him to, from a mushrat to a man. And as -for his voice, good land! You hain't never heard no music till you hear -it. That's what give him his name, Gabriel. But what's the matter with -you, Nathan?" when, withdrawing his admiring gaze from his new -acquisition, he noted the boy's wearied and troubled countenance. "You -look clean beat out. There hain't nothin' the matter with your folks?" - -Nathan told the story of his treatment since his mother's marriage to -Toombs, and his unpremeditated flight, and all the particulars of his -escape. - -"I'd ha' gin a dozen mushrat skins to seen him when he got the tree down -and didn't find you, and him like a fool dog a barkin' up a tree an hour -arter the coon'd left it. You done right to come to me, for he won't -come here to look for ye right off. And then when he's had time to cool -off and git ashamed of himself, you can go home." - -"No," said the boy quickly; "I'll never go back till I'm old enough to -lick him and make him sorry I come." - -"Oh, well, you think you will. But you won't never. The rough edge'll be -wore off afore you git round to it. Once I swore I'd thrash a -schoolmarster I hed, and when I went to do it we jes' sot down and -talked over old times, like ol' friends. But what'll your mother and sis -do without you?" - -"They'll be better off without me. I can't help mother any, nor she me, -yet awhile. Can't you let her know I'm safe some way?" - -"Oh, yes, I'll happen round there some day to rights. How in tunket did -she ever come to mate wi' that surly red-haired dog? You know I hain't -seen her since they was married. Women is onaccountable critters, -anyhow, an' I've been marcifully presarved from ever bein' tackled to -one on 'em;" yet he sighed, as he looked about the littered room, that -showed so plainly the lack of housewifely care. - -After the supper of fried venison and johnny-cake was eaten, they sat in -the twilight and firelight talking over the past and plans for the -future, till the boy, worn out with the events of the day, was given a -nest of furs in the loft, where he would be safe from detection by any -chance visitor, and Job, after barring the door and carefully covering -the fire, betook himself with the hound to their accustomed couch on the -floor. - - - - -CHAPTER XII--A FREE LIFE - - -The borders of the clearing were dimly defined in the dusk of the next -evening, and Nathan was beginning to feel lonely, though he had the -hound for company, when Job came in with his gun on his shoulder. - -"Well, what news?" Nathan asked, after a little impatient waiting for -Job's account of his trip abroad. - -"Well, I happened in just arter noon. Your nice stepfather sot by the -fireplace a smokin'. 'Where's Nate,' says I, an' he up an' answered -mighty quick, 'Run away, but he'll be back quick enough.' Your mother -was lookin' turrible worrited, an' it was quite a spell afore I could -git a chance to do my arrant with Toombs right in the room. Bimeby I -made out to have a turrible pesterin' sliver in my right hand an' got -your mother to pick it out wi' a needle. I'd ruther have a leg took off -'an to have a woman jabbin' at a sliver. Whilst she was at it, me wi' my -back towards Toombs, I whispered you was at my house and all right, an' -you'd ortu seen her face light up. Then we played the sliver was out, -an' arter I'd wished you was to home to go fishin' with me an' wondered -what on airth you'd run away f'm such a good home for, I come off. An' I -tell you, boy, that ere ol' scoundrel thinks he's killed you. When I -come off towards where he chopped that tree, he follered along to see if -I went nigh it, an' all the time I could see he was scairter'n he was -mad." - -"I don't care, I can't go back if you'll let me stay with you." - -"Sartainly, an' glad to have you." - -Nathan readily adapted himself to the ranger's way of living, helping -him in the cabin work and that of the clearing. At intervals, through -his friend, he sent his mother tidings of his welfare and learned of her -own. Through the same way, and his mother's ready assistance, he gained -possession of his other clothes--a tow shirt, a blue frock, a pair of -gray breeches, and two pairs of thick woolen stockings, as large a -wardrobe as most backwoods dwellers could boast of. - -"Your mother stuck this out of the loft winder as I come away," said Job -one day, handing him his father's cherished gun. - -"Oh, I am glad to get this, and see, it is longer'n I be yet. But I'm -growing, for I measured when Toombs put this up loft so't he could hang -his gun on the hooks over the fireplace. See, I can hold it at arm's -length long enough to see to shoot," and he stretched out the -long-barrelled gun with pride. - -"Toombs was out a burnin' log heaps," Job went on. "She says he's -dretful narvous an' jumps at every sound. I ruther guess he's gittin' -his pay as he goes along, my boy." - -In preparation for the fall trapping, which was the ranger's chief -dependence, the two, accompanied by Gabriel, made long ranges through -the forest, marking their line by blazed trees, to build deadfalls for -martens on the upland and for mink along the brook and larger streams, -and larger traps for martens, otters, fisher, and beaver, and when the -leaves began to fall they daily gathered their furry harvest. Day after -day, too, the woods rang with Gabe's deep, melodious voice as he drove -the deer to water. Many an adventure on lake or in forest spiced the -half wild life, and the loving trust of the old man so sweetened it that -time glided swiftly past. Many a lesson of woodcraft the boy also -learned, as well as the priceless one of love and charity to all created -things, if Indians and Toombs were excepted. Perhaps, in time, their -turn for forbearance would come. - -One day late in the fall Nathan ventured to the Fort, as much to visit -the garrison boys, for whose companionship he often longed in his -isolation, as to carry some fine partridges to the commandant's lady. He -had shot them himself with his father's gun, in the use of which he was -becoming expert. - -"Whativer has coom o' your redheaded stepfather? He didn't coom here sin -he coom marryin' your mother," said one of the English boys. - -After this information, visits to the Fort were more frequent, since -there was no fear of meeting Toombs. The sentinel, who, with his musket -shouldered high above his left hip and his clubbed queue bobbing in -unison to his slow, measured steps, always paced before the gate, made -but a show of challenging him, and Nathan was almost as free as the -inmates to every part of the Fort, excepting the officers' quarters and -the vigilantly guarded magazine. The drill and parade of the soldiers, -in their spotless scarlet uniforms and shining arms, though there were -less than fifty, rank and file, seemed a grand martial display, and he -was always thrilled with the stirring notes of drum and fife. -Occasionally he met the commandant's wife walking on the parapet, so -refined and different from the toil-worn women he had been accustomed to -see, that she seemed a being of another world. - -Once that fall Job and his young companion went far back into the -solitude of the primeval forest to hunt moose. Even the thunder of -Ticonderoga's guns was never echoed there, and from morning till night -they heard the sound of no human life but their own. At night the dismal -chorus of the wolves was heard far and near, and now and then, what was -a pleasanter sound, the call of a moose, soft and mellow, in the -distance. With a birch bark horn Job simulated this call, and lured a -moose into an ambuscade, where, within short range, the huge creature -was killed. When with much labor the meat was transported and safely -stored in the cabin, they were in no danger of a winter famine. Soon -winter came, with days of snowbound isolation, and its days of out-door -work and pleasant, healthful pastime. - -The gloom of a blustering, snowy February day was thickening into the -gloom of night, when a traveller and his jaded horse appeared at the -door of the little log house. - -"I've somehow missed my way on the lake," said he to Job, when the door -was opened. "I'm bound for Bennington. Can you give me and my poor beast -shelter till morning and then set me on the right road?" - -"Sartainly, come in, come in," was answered, heartily. "You're welcome -to such as I've got of bed an' board, an' your hoss'll be better off in -the shed wi' corn fodder'n he'd be a browsin' in the woods." - -When the stranger had seen his jaded horse cared for and had come in, -the firelight revealed a man in the prime of life, of fine face and -figure and of military bearing, though he was clad in the plain dress of -a civilian. He proved a genial guest, and amused his companions with -stories of his recent journey to Canada, and of his home in Connecticut, -and with relations of the stirring events in that and the other colonies -that portended a revolt against the mother country. In turn he was -interested in everything pertaining to the New Hampshire Grants, the -progress of the quarrel with New York claimants, the temper of the -inhabitants toward England, but, particularly, was he curious about the -condition of the adjacent fortress. Concerning its garrison and the -plans of the fortification he found Nathan well informed. - -"I like to remember such things about a place that has been so famous," -the stranger observed, as he made notes in a memorandum book. - -"I would like to visit the fort sometime. How many men did you count the -last time you saw them parade, did you say?" - -It was well into the night when the precious embers were covered and the -three betook themselves to sleep, with the wind roaring in the woods and -the snow driving gustily against the oiled-paper windows of the cabin. -When they awoke the storm was spent. Beneath the cloudless morning sky -the forest stood silent as the army of spectres that its snow-powdered -trunks resembled. After breakfast Job put on his snowshoes and led his -guest to the desired road to the southward settlements. This break in -the winter monotony was often dwelt upon by the fireside in the little -log house. A chance visit, if aught occurs by chance, yet it proved of -vast importance. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII--FOREBODINGS OF STORM - - -After many days of fair promises tardily fulfilled, spring had come. The -soft air was full of its sounds and odors, the medley of harsh and -liquid notes of the myriad blackbirds that swarmed in the trees along -the creek, the crackling croak of the frogs, the whimpering call of the -muskrats, the booming of bitterns, the splashing and quacking of wild -ducks, and the murmur of running waters. There were the spicy fragrance -of pine and hemlock, and the fresh smell of warming mould and bursting -buds, while the perfume of wild flowers added a moiety to the spring -time odor. The shad trees shone like snowdrifts in the gray woods, and -the yellow catkins were alive with humming bees. - -Amid the pleasant sights of nature's progress, Nathan and his friend sat -near the door, taking off and stretching on pliant bows the skins of the -last catch of muskrats. - -"It's about time to quit trappin' for this year," said Job, as he -slipped a skin onto the bow that he held between his knees. "They're -gettin' a leetle off prime, though better'n they be in the fall an' no -kits as there is then," and he fastened the skin in place, with a cut -near its edge, into each horn of the bow. "Good land! What's Gabe -hullabalooin' at now, I wonder?" - -Nathan peered cautiously around the corner and whispered: - -"It's neighbor Newton. I'll go up loft." Accordingly he climbed the -ladder and crept softly to the side of the loft above the door. Through -the wide cracks of the loose flooring he could see a patch of the chip -strewn, sunlit earth outside, with Job's long legs stretching across it -and his hands idle a moment as he called in the hound, who presently -appeared, and behind him the stout stockinged legs of neighbor Newton. - -"Job, have you heard the news?" Newton asked excitedly. - -"News? What news?" Job's knife stopped half-way in the slit it was -making along a muskrat's throat. - -"There's ben a fight down in the Bay Colony 'twixt our folks and the -king's troops and our folks whipped 'em." - -"Our folks a fightin' the king's troops?" said Job incredulously. - -The other hastily related such particulars of the momentous conflict as -he had learned. Nathan, whose heart was beating fast at the stirring -news, saw the muskrat drop to the ground. - -"I al'ys said them reg'lars, shootin' breast high at nothin', couldn't -stan' agin our bushfighters, aimin' to kill," Job said exultantly; "but -what next, Dan'l?" - -"War--it means war. The country's all a-risin'. Every man's got to -choose the side he'll take. Which side is yourn, Job?" - -There was a silence, and the answer came with slow deliberation. "I -hoped to end my days in peace. I've had enough o' fightin', the Lord -knows. When I've fit it was for the land I was born in--if it was under -the British flag--an' I shan't never fight for no other." - -"Every man in these clearin's is all right, so far as we know, exceptin' -that aire sour-faced Toombs. He hain't no good will towards our side. A -Tory in Seth's shoes, and him red-hot for liberty. He's got a Canuck -a-workin' for him, and I'd livser trust a wolf'n one o' them -pea-soupers. I hain't no patience wi' Ruth for marryin' that critter. -Where do you s'pose her boy is?" There being no reply the speaker went -on: "I b'lieve that devil has made way with him. He acts turrible -cur'us, scared and startin' at every sound," and the two walked off -towards the creek. - -Half an hour later when Job returned, he asked Nathan: "Well, what do -you think o' the news, my boy?" - -"Oh, is it true about the fight? How I wish I could go and help our -folks. Father'd go quick." - -"Well, well, stay where ye be. If it goes on, it's sure to strike the -ol' war-path," and the old ranger swept his arm towards the lake. -"There'll be work for us here. The sign o' that fresh water mairmaid is -comin' true agin." - -They passed a week in restless, impatient waiting, when, unheralded by -the hound, Newton again entered the cabin and chanced to come face to -face with the boy. - -"Well, here you be," he said, without surprise and smiling -good-humoredly; "I s'pected as much t'other day when I see the extry -knife an' pile o' mushrats. Say, Job, how is't? Can I speak out afore -him consarnin' the business we was talkin' on?" - -"To be sure. He's close-mouthed an' he's achin' to go an' jine our folks -down in the ol' Bay Colony." - -"Good; he's the same stuff as his father." He laid his friendly hand on -Nathan's shoulder and continued in a low, earnest voice: "There's a plan -all fixed to take Ti and Crown P'int. It seems a Connecticut feller -named Brown started the thing a-goin' some weeks ago. There's nigh ontu -two hunderd and fifty men in the Grants engaged to do the job. Ethan -Allen commands. We muster at Beeman's Crik, day after to-morrow night. -You'll be there?" Job stretched forth his hand to his friend, who warmly -clasped it. - -"Me, too; let me go, too." Nathan's heart swelled with pride, and he -felt himself suddenly leaping to manhood and a place among men. - -"He's a stout lad an' he handles a gun like a man. Let him come," said -Job. "But how be we goin' to git across the lake? There hain't boats -enough hereabouts to take more'n thirty men to oncet." - -"Colonel Skeene's is goin' to be borrowed, an' there's a plan to git -some more without askin' at Crown P'int; with them an' what we can pick -up we'll make enough. How many'll your birch carry?" - -"Six men that's used to such craft, but not one lummax." - -"Well, bring it along. Everything of the boat kind'll be needed. Toombs -troubles me most. He's on the fence, which means he ain't to be trusted. -He'll see our men a musterin' an' s'pect what's up, an' let the garrison -know some way. He and his Canuck has got to be watched." - -"Easy done! We can tie 'em, neck an' heels, an' leave 'em to take keer -o' theirselves." - -"Well, I'll send a guard an' see to that," Newton said as he hurried -away to warn other settlers of the projected enterprise. - -Those left began to clean their weapons carefully and prepare to mould -some bullets. Job rehearsed his long disused manual of arms, in which he -found Nathan familiar through his close observation of the soldiers' -drill at the Fort. - -"You don't want to aim that way," the old man said, when, at the -command, Nathan held his piece ready to fire with the butt end under his -elbow. "Lord, how I've heard Major Rogers swear to see the reg'lars -wastin' lead, shootin' int' the tree tops wi' the enemy fair afore 'em! -Fightin' hain't no foolin'. Aim to kill, jes' as ye would at a -pa'tridge. There--that's the talk," when Nathan, following his -instructions, laid his cheek to the stock and flashed the priming at the -breast of an imaginary foe. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV--GABRIEL'S GOOD SERVICE - - -On the afternoon of the 9th of May, 1775, Job and Nathan laid their guns -in the canoe and stood beside her ready to set her afloat in the brown -water, whose ripples softly lapped the drift of dried sedges along the -shore. Job looked anxiously about, and once more, as he had several -times previously done, he whistled a loud shrill note through his -fingers. - -"Where on airth is that dog? He mistrusted somethin' was up and run off. -He'd ortu be tied up, but we can't wait any longer, an' he'll hafter run -loose. Wal, le's be off." - -Lifting the canoe, they set her afloat, stepped lightly on board, and, -kneeling in the bottom, sent her flying down the creek. They skirted the -lake almost beneath the spreading branches of the maples, now already -dappled with the tender green of budding leaves. A little back from the -naked, western shore, with its crumbling ruins of the old French water -battery, uprose the gray battlements and barracks of Ticonderoga, and -the blazoned cross of England floating lazily in the breeze. - -"I've follered it for many a day," said Job sadly, "an' I never thought -to go agin it. But I b'lieve I'm right," and he turned his face -resolutely forward. - -The turmoil and horror of war seemed far removed from the serene sky, -the rippled water kissing the quiet shores, and the pervading sense of -the earth's renewing life, enforced by bursting buds and opening flowers -and songs of birds. Even the grim fortress seemed but a memento of -conflict long since ended forever. - -Sweeping into the broad mouth of the creek, they joined the motley crowd -already gathered there. The assemblage was composed of all who were -capable of bearing arms, from gray-headed veterans of the last war, to -the striplings who had not yet been mustered on a training field. Job -received hearty greetings from more than one old comrade whom he had not -seen since they ranged this region, then an unreclaimed wilderness, -under the leadership of the brave and wary Robert Rogers, and he was -soon in reminiscences of scouts and ambuscades, while Nathan watched and -noted everything, a most interested spectator of what was passing so -unobtrusively into history. - -Presently there was a stir and gathering together of the detached groups -and an expectant hush. Then he saw towering among them, in cocked hat -and military garb of blue and buff, the stalwart figure of Ethan Allen. - -"Fall in, men," said the deep-toned voice of Allen, and the groups -formed in line as best they could among the trees. - -As they moved forward to take their places Nathan noticed an unfamiliar -form skulking among the tree trunks near him--a swarthy little man -wearing a tasseled, woolen cap and gray coat unlike the Yankee garb. It -flashed across his mind that this was the Canadian employed by his -stepfather, and he tried to keep watch of his movements. But there was -much else to engage him, and just then he felt a touch on his leg, and, -turning, saw Gabriel's sorrowful face looking wistfully up to his own. -"Down, Gabe," he said in a low tone, and the hound crouched behind. Just -then Ethan Allen, having passed slowly down the line, accosting one and -another, broke the silence: - -"Friends of the Grants, we are already enough for this business in hand, -but there are more to come. There will be boats enough to cross us all -in good time. Keep quiet. Cook your rations and eat your supper. -To-morrow we'll eat our breakfast in Ticonderoga, or know the reason -why." - -As Nathan's entranced gaze was for a moment withdrawn from the beloved -commander, he caught a glimpse of the little unknown man stealing away -among the shadows. Being more accustomed to the rigid discipline of the -garrison than to the free and easy customs of volunteers, he did not -dare to leave the ranks till many of his comrades had straggled away. -Then he sought Job and told him his suspicions. - -"I thought Newton was goin' to tend to them critters. Newton," he called -to his neighbor, "didn't you put a guard over Toombs and his man?" - -"Toombs is safe in care of a good man, but his Canuck couldn't be found. -I guess he's too stupid to do any mischief, anyway." - -"Well, he's ben a sneakin' round here an' now he's gone, an' there's no -tellin' where. Where's Toombs's boat?" - -"Here," and Newton pointed to the landing, where it lay among many -others. - -"Gabe's round here somewheres," said Nathan inadvertently. - -"Jest the one I was a wishin' for," said the old man, aroused from his -troubled pondering. "He can help when nob'dy else can." He then sent one -of his shrill whistles into the woods, and then another, with such good -effect that Gabriel presently appeared, loping easily along. "Good -fellow, good fellow. Now, Newton, we'll ketch that skunk. Here, here, -old boy," and he hurried swiftly away with the hound at heel. - -Arrived at the house they found Toombs unconfined, but under the -vigilant guard of a lynx-eyed Green Mountain Boy. When Job inquired for -the Canadian, he detected a gleam of triumph in the glowering eyes of -the surly, half-defiant prisoner. - -"The fox has slipped," said Job; "but never mind. If he can fool Gabe -he's a smart 'un. Ruth, where's somethin' that 'ere Canuck has wore?" - -Ruth, who stood near her idle spinning wheel, half dazed at the unwonted -commotion and afraid of she knew not what, pointed covertly to a much -worn pair of moccasins hanging near the fireplace to dry. - -"Hisn? There couldn't be nothin' better. See here, Gabe." - -The hound snuffed eagerly at the soiled footgear, slowly wagging his -tail, and then looked inquiringly at his master. - -"Sarch him out, boy. Sarch him out," Job encouraged him, pointing along -the ground. - -The hound circled about the yard a little, and then, finding the trail, -followed it silently and steadily down to the creek to where the men -were mustered. There, on the much trodden ground, it baffled him for a -while. Resorting to his usual tactics, he made widening circles and -again found the trail and went off upon it in a steady, untiring pace -southward in the direction of Ticonderoga. - -"I knowed it," said Job to himself, "and I'll bet ye there'll be a -Canuck treed afore sundown." Guided by the deep, mellow baying of the -hound, he set off, with his gun at atrail, in rapid pursuit. - -The agile little Canadian had at least an hour's start, and made such -brisk use of it that he was on the shore opposite the Fort when he was -overtaken by the hound, who at once set furiously upon him. Being -unarmed, he was forced to scramble up a tree, from which, when he had -recovered his breath, he began lustily to hail the Fort, and at -intervals to curse the hound. His shouts, and Gabriel's insistent -deep-mouthed bayings, could scarcely fail to attract the attention of -the garrison, and Job, pushing forward at his best pace, presently -appeared upon the scene. - -"Hello de Forrt," the Canuck was shouting. "Hey! Hello de Forrt! Sacre -chien! Go home, Ah tol' you! Hello, Carillon. Tac-con-derrrque! All de -Bastonais was comin' for took you, Ah tol' you! Sacre chien! Stop off -you nowse so Ah can heard me spik." - -"Shut yer head an' come down out o' that mighty quick," Job commanded in -a low voice. - -"Me no onstan' Angleesh," and again the voice rang out over across the -water: "Hello de Forrt!" - -Peering through the overhanging branches, Job saw a group of red-coated -soldiers gathered on the other shore, and presently saw a boat putting -out from it. - -"Looka here," said he sternly, as he cocked his piece and aimed upward; -"I don't want tu be obleeged tu hurt you, but stop yer hollerin' an' -come right down." - -"Me no onstan', Ah tol' you! Hello--." The lusty hail was cut short by -the report of the long smooth-bore. The Canadian's cap went spinning -from his head, and he came scrambling down in a haste that threatened to -leave half his clothes behind. - -"Ah comin'! Ah comin'! Don't shot some more!" he cried in a voice -trembling with fright. - -Job arrested his descent till his gun was reloaded; then, when his -captive slid to the ground, he quickly tied his hands behind with a -fathom of cord, one end of which he held. Then he removed the woolen -sash from the Canadian's waist and bound it about his mouth. - -A glance upon the lake showed the boat half-way across, and approaching -as fast as two pairs of oars could impel it. Job hurried his man into an -evergreen thicket some twenty yards away, and, leaving him tied to a -tree in charge of the hound, he stealthily returned to ascertain if -possible whether the nature of the alarm had been comprehended by the -soldiers. The boat drew rapidly toward the place where he lay concealed, -and, at a little distance, the occupants lay upon their oars while they -held consultation, so near that he could hear every word of it. - -"Well, boys," said the sergeant in command, "whathiver it was, Hi don't -hear nothink more of it. But Hi'll 'ail the shore. 'Ello there, -whathiver is the row?" An answer was silently awaited till the echoes -died away. - -"Ah't was some o' thim Yankee divils huntin' just," said one of the -soldiers, "and that's all about it. Divil a word could I make out but -the dog yowlin' an' a man phillalooin', an' thin the shot. They kilt -whativer they was at an' thin wint away." - -"Hi believe you're right, Murphy, an' we'll no bother to go ashore, but -just pull back and report to the captain," and off went the boat to the -western shore. - -With a sigh of relief Job sped back to his prisoner, to whom he motioned -the homeward way, and set forth with him in front at a break-neck pace, -which was occasionally quickened by a punch of the gun muzzle in the -rear, and so was the captive driven to the camp. - -Ticonderoga's evening gun had long since boomed its vesper thunder, and -the shadows of evening were thickening into night in the forest, when -Job emerged from them into the glare of the camp fire with his hound and -prisoner, and received the warm commendations of Allen and his -associates for his promptly and skilfully performed exploit. - -"I don't claim no credit for't. It was all Gabe's doin's, an' if I'd -left him tied up to hum as I laid out to, our cake would all 'a' ben -dough." - -"Here, Newton, here's your man. Put him under guard with that Tory, -Toombs," said Allen. - -A tall man of noble, commanding presence, but of a quiet, modest mien, -stooped to caress the hound. "Why," he said, "it's one of Sunderland's -dogs, that haven't their equal in New England." - -"You've got an eye for houn' dogs, Capt'n Warner. He sartain is one o' -them dogs an'll foller anything he's told to, though 't ain't no gre't -trick to track a Canuck more'n an Injin. They're both strong-scented -critters." - - - - -CHAPTER XV--LEADERS AND GUIDE - - -Even while Nathan watched Gabe and his master depart into the forest -southward, he became aware the assemblage was moved by some new object -of interest. Turning, he saw Colonel Allen and another gentleman, -eagle-eyed, eagle-beaked, in handsome military dress, talking angrily in -the midst of an excited group. At length Allen turned his passionate -face toward the men and called in a loud voice: - -"Men, fall in for a moment. Here," waving his hand toward his companion, -as the men rapidly fell into line, "is Mr. Benedict Arnold. He bears a -colonel's commission from the Connecticut Committee of Safety, and -claims the right to command you to-night. Men of the Green Mountains, -whom do you follow--Arnold or Allen?" - -"Allen, Allen," came in response, loud and decided. - -The chosen chief turned a triumphant smile upon his rival, who strode -away in silence of restrained passion. Soon returning, however, he -addressed Allen in a clear, steady voice: - -"Sir, I submit to the will of these men, but let me be a volunteer in -this glorious enterprise. The Green Mountain Boys and their famous -leader are too generous to refuse this." - -Allen, touched at a vulnerable point, grasped the speaker's hand -heartily and answered: - -"Indeed, so brave a man as I well know you to be, is most welcome, and, -by the Great Jehovah, if the men don't object, you shall be second in -command." - -A shout of approval went up from the men, who gathered around their camp -fires again, while Allen and Arnold, together with Warner, walked apart -in amicable consultation. Soon the first called loudly for any -information concerning a lad named Nathan Beeman. At the sound of his -name, Nathan started, blushed, hesitated, and then stepped bashfully -forward, and was quickly recognized by Allen in spite of his added -stature. - -"Here, this is the youngster, Colonel Arnold, that Mr. John Brown tells -of in this paper, whom he saw and conversed with last winter about -Ticonderoga." - -The two colonels then asked the boy many questions about the Fort, its -entrance, the interior, the number of the garrison, and the disposal of -the sentinels. Evidently satisfied with his straightforward replies, -Allen said, low and impressively: - -"You have such a chance to serve your country as don't often fall to a -boy. Will you lead us into the Fort to-night? Will you do it -faithfully?" - -Nathan looked steadily into the earnest, searching eyes fixed upon him, -but did not answer. - -"Speak," cried Allen, sharply. - -"If the commandant's lady won't be hurt, I will," he said at last, his -left hand thrust into his pocket, fumbling his cherished shilling piece. - -Allen laughed good-humoredly. "So the lady is a friend of yours. Well, -never fear. We may disturb her morning nap, but she shall not be harmed. -We are not waging war in the wilderness against women and children. -Here, my boy, stick this twig of hemlock in your hat. Don't you see -we've all mounted it? There, now," as he himself put the evergreen sprig -in Nathan's hatband, "you wear the Green Mountain Boy's cockade. See -that you never disgrace it." - -The boy thrilled with pride as he walked with measured step behind the -stately chieftain and his lithely built companion. Presently the sound -of oars was heard and a large batteau swept into the landing, navigated -by two of Newton's sons, who gleefully related how, with a jug of rum, -they had lured Skeene's old negro with the coveted craft into their -toils, as he was voyaging homeward from Crown Point. It was capable of -carrying twenty-five persons and was a welcome prize. Though one by one, -and in little flotillas, boats continued to arrive, still, at two -o'clock in the early May morning, there were not enough to transport -half the men gathered. After brief consultation, it was determined that -as many as possible should at once cross to the other shore and there -await the coming of the others in the returning boats. - -Embarkation began at once under the superintendence of Allen, Arnold, -and Warner. Nathan found himself with the first two in the leading boat, -Warner being left in charge of the party remaining on the eastern shore. -At a low word of command, the flotilla swept out of the flickering glare -of the fire into the darkness. It passed down the creek and was soon -upon the lake, heading for the other shore, being guided to the chosen -landing by the mountain peaks that loomed black against the western sky. -The night was windless. The shrill piping of hylas, the monotonous trill -of toads, and the rush of running brooks filled the air. Such sounds -faded out as the middle of the lake was reached, where nothing was heard -but the light plash of muffled oars, to rise again in increasing volume -from the other shore. - -As the last boat grounded on the shelving beach, Nathan was startled by -the loud, hollow hoot of an owl, uttered thrice, almost in his ear. A -few moments later there came, like an echo from the distant creek, the -answer to this preconcerted signal of safe arrival. The men quickly -disembarked, and the boats returned to those who, under Seth Warner, -were eagerly awaiting their turn. - -Those who had made the passage tramped to and fro to stir their blood, -for there was a creeping chill in the night air. The first light of dawn -was stealing up the eastern sky, the woods and mountains showing in -sharp relief against it, yet no signs came to strained eyes and ears of -the returning boats. - -"The lazy-bones," growled Allen, forgetting the long distance. "What has -gone wrong? Daylight will betray us if we wait much longer. What do you -say, my men--shall we wait, and maybe lose our best chance of success, -or go on with what strength we have?" - -There was a murmur of universal assent, and Allen commanded: - -"Fall in, in three ranks!" - -Instantly the men formed in the order of the ranger service. "I want no -man to go against his will. You that wish to go with me, poise arms." -Every gun was brought to the position. - -"Shoulder arms! Right face! Forward, march!" - -Before the last word was fairly given, Arnold stepped in front of the -speaker. - -"I swear," he cried, shaken with his passion, "I will not yield my -right. I planned this enterprise. My money set it on foot. I swear I -will command, and not yield my right to Ethan Allen or the devil." - -There was a muttered growl of dissatisfaction among the men, and Allen -was raging. "What shall I do with this fellow? Put him under guard?" he -asked, turning to one of his captains. - -"Gentlemen," said Captain Callender, a staid and quiet man, "for the -sake of the good cause, don't quarrel. Yield a little, both of you. -Share the command equally, and enter the Fort side by side." - -Allen returned his half-drawn sword to its scabbard and said bluffly: -"For the sake of the cause I agree to this." The Connecticut colonel -sullenly assented, and the three columns moved briskly along the shore, -led by the two colonels marching side by side, till, through the -branches of the budding trees, the leaders saw close before them the -walls of Ticonderoga, looming dark and vague in the gray of the morning. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI--TICONDEROGA - - -A halt was silently signalled, and Job, the skilfullest scout of all -this band of woodsmen, was sent forward to reconnoitre. Silently, as a -ghost, his tall figure melted into the obscurity of dawn, and presently -appeared, out of the blur of shadows, bearing whispered tidings that all -was quiet within the Fort, and only one sentinel carelessly guarding the -open wicket of the main entrance. - -A whispered word of command drifted back along the ranks and the troops -moved forward. They mounted a slight declivity and advanced to the right -toward the gate. Now the sentinel could be seen pacing his beat; now the -white cross-belts and the facings of his uniform made out, and still he -maintained his deliberate pace, unconscious of the enemy, while, -perhaps, his thoughts were far away in the green fields of merry -England, where the hawthorn was blooming and the lark singing "at -heaven's gate." - -The heads of the files were close upon him when his wandering thoughts -were suddenly recalled. Too much surprised to challenge or call an -alarm, he levelled his fusee at Allen's towering figure and pulled the -trigger. The life of the bold chieftain hung for an instant in the -trembling balance of fate, but not a spark followed the stroke of the -flint. The guard turned and fled through the open wicket with Allen and -Arnold, side by side, close upon his heels. After them came Nathan; and -the crowding files of men swarmed through the narrow gate in an -impetuous rush, and, guided by the boy, onto the parade. This was -enclosed on three sides by lofty stone barracks. Here they caught a last -glimpse of the flying sentry dodging into a bombproof, like a woodchuck -into a hole. Another sentinel made a bayonet thrust at Nathan, when -Allen's sword fell quick as a thunderbolt upon the man's head in a -downright blow that must have cleft the skull, had it not glanced on a -metal comb that held his hair in place. - -The assailants quickly formed in two ranks, facing outward upon the east -and west lines of barracks, and gave three cheers that made the gray -walls ring with quick, rebounding echoes. - -"Quick, my boy, show me the commandant's quarters," said Allen, and his -guide led to a flight of outer stairs arising to the upper story of the -south barracks. Ascending them, Allen shouted: - -"Come forth, commandant, come forth." But receiving no answer he -thundered on the door with the pommel of his sword and shouted still -louder: - -"Come out of your hole, you damned old skunk," and thereupon the door -was drawn a little ajar. Allen flung it wide open, and disclosed the -bewildered face and undignified figure of Captain Delaplace, clad only -in his shirt and nightcap, with his breeches in his hand. Behind him -stood his night-gowned wife, her pretty face pale with alarm. For a -moment the captain gaped at his unceremonious visitor. - -"Who are you and what do you want?" - -"I want the Fort and all it contains. Surrender, instantly." - -"Surrender? Is this a mad joke or treason?" - -"Neither; but honest men claiming their own. Surrender." - -"In whose name? By whose authority?" asked Delaplace, assured of the -earnestness of the summons. - -"In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." - -"I know no such authority." - -"Sir, do you deny the authority of the King of Kings? And Congress -seemeth to have some power here this morning. Waste no more time. We are -four to your one. Do you surrender?" - -"I see no choice. But it consoles me that you rebels will hang for -this." - -"You are welcome to the consolation of the hope, but it gives me no -uneasiness and I run no new risks. I am Ethan Allen. You may have heard -of me and have lusted for the shekels the sons of Belial offer for my -head. But get on your clothes and parade your men without arms. Madam," -bowing low to the lady, "pardon the intrusion, but my business is -urgent. Permit me to close the door." So doing he awaited the -reappearance of the commandant. - -"This is a pretty kettle of fish," the chopfallen captain groaned. -"Courage, my dear; this handsome giant has something of the manners of a -gentleman, and will not let a lady be maltreated by his rebel band." - -"Oh, William, the Fort surprised, and we prisoners, and not a blow -struck for defense." - -"There could be no defense with such numbers. Well, there's no use -crying over spilt milk. Did you see that pet cub of yours with the big -rebel? What did I tell you?" said the captain, putting the finishing -touches to his hasty toilet. - -He rejoined Allen and proceeded to the parade, where, presently, he -mustered his little force without arms and formally delivered them to -the captors, who marched them away to their quarters under guard. Two -days later, with an armed escort, they were on their way through the -wilderness to Connecticut, and Nathan saw the last of the lady of the -Fort. - -Warner and the remainder of the men arrived at Ticonderoga soon after -its surrender, disappointed that they had not participated in its -achievement. - -Still guided by the boy, the officers made a tour of investigation, -which revealed a wealth of guns and ammunition--supplies greatly needed -by the army of patriots then gathered at Boston. As the boy listened to -the rejoicings, his heart was full of proud thankfulness that he had -borne so important if humble a part in this service of his country. - -Warren and Sunderland and a hundred men set forth for the easy conquest -of Crown Point and its insignificant garrison, while, on Lake George, -another party took possession of Fort George and its garrison of a man, -his wife, and a dog. - -Arnold hastily fitted out a schooner taken at Skeenesborough, and, with -Allen in a batteaus filled with armed men, sailed down the lake to -capture the British sloop at St. Johns. Job's knowledge of the lake, -gained in years of ranger service upon it, made him valuable as pilot, -in which capacity he accompanied Allen; and where Job went there went -Nathan. The brisk south wind swiftly wafted Arnold's craft far in -advance of her sluggish consort, whose crew saw their chances of glory -lessening and fading with the white wings of the schooner. - -The voyage was a pleasant one to Nathan, for beyond the mouth of Otter -Creek everything was new to him, with strange and changing shores and -such an expanse of water as he had never seen. His old friend pointed -out to him notable landmarks and scenes of past adventure. Here was the -cleft promontory of So-baps-kwa and the opposite headland of -Ko-zo-aps-kwa, there the solitary rock of Wo-ja-hose. Then they passed -the isles of the Four Winds and Valcour, and Grand Isle's low, wooded -shore stretching along the eastward water line. At last, as they were -nearing the northern end of the lake and saw on their right the ruin of -an old French windmill, the only vestige of civilized occupation they -had seen except the ruins of Fort St. Anne on Isle la Motte, they -descried two sail rapidly bearing down toward them from the north before -the shifted wind. - -For a few moments they were in an excitement of alarm, not knowing -whether these were friends or foes. Soon Allen, who had been watching -through a glass, lowered it, and, waving his cocked hat above his head, -shouted: - -"Hurrah, boys, it's our friends with the British sloop. Give her three -cheers." - -While the last lusty cheer was scarcely uttered, an answering salute -from the cannon of the sloop and schooner was thundered forth. - -"Give 'em powder for powder, boys. Fire," Allen shouted, and a rattling -volley of muskets, rifles, and long smoothbores reawakened the echoes. - -The crew of the batteau was then transferred to the schooner and her -prize--the same armed sloop Nathan so well remembered seeing when she -brought supplies to the Fort he had just borne a part in surprising. -While amid loud rejoicings the story of her bloodless capture was told, -they went merrily bowling homeward with the clumsy batteau surging along -in tow at such speed as she had never known before. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII--HOME COMING - - -As the sloop swept past the massive battlements of Crown Point where -they guard the narrowing channel of the lake, Job said to his young -comrade: - -"We're getting towards home." - -"Yes, I've been thinking of home and mother and sis. Guess I needn't be -afraid of ol' Toombs any longer, but I don't know as I could keep my -hands off'n him. I always meant to give him a thrashing when I could." - -"Mebby you could, now, but he's a cordy critter and a soople one; but -mind what I tell you, you never will." - -Nathan's answer was a short, incredulous laugh, as he helped Job make -ready for disembarkation. As they marched in straggling ranks toward -Fort Ticonderoga, Nathan was accosted by one of the young Newtons, who -had remained there during the northern expedition. - -"Look a-here, Nate," he said, drawing him aside, "there's some trouble -to your mother's. She's sent word for you to come right home. Old Toombs -is dead or run off to Canerdy, or something. I don't know the rights -on't. But, anyhow, she wants you bad." - -Either the death or the absconding of his stepfather was too good news -to be true, and his first duty was to serve his mother. He and Job -readily obtained leave of absence, though it was scarcely needed, so lax -was the military discipline of the crudely organized forces. The two at -once set forth, and an hour's paddling of the light birch canoe brought -them to the landing in the creek. - -As they emerged from the shadow of the woods into the broad sunlight of -the clearing, their first glance sought the house standing in the midst -of green grass and springing grain. The scene was in such apparent peace -and quietude as it might have been lapped, if all the turmoil of war and -strife were a thousand miles removed. As Nathan's eyes ran over the -familiar fields in which he had spent so many hours in the companionship -of his father, his heart was softened with the sad and solemn memory. -Then it hardened in a fire of wrath that flamed up at the remembrance of -what he had suffered from his father's successor, and he felt if he -should meet the wretch he would wreak summary vengeance upon him. - -Soon they were at the open door and looking in upon the homely kitchen. -It was empty but for the figure of a man slouching inertly in an -armchair before the fireplace. There was no mistaking the shock of -grizzled red hair, nor the brawny shoulders, though they were stooped -and curved together. - -The light tread of Nathan's moccasined feet did not disturb the -melancholy figure, with its drooping head and vacant eyes staring into -the fire, nor did it move till he laid his hand on its shoulder. Then -the face turned upon him a slow, dazed stare, that as slowly kindled -into recognition, then froze into a rigid glare of inexpressible terror. -An inarticulate cry came from the white lips, while the helpless form -strove to arouse itself from the living death of palsy. - -Nathan cast upon Job a look of appalled, beseeching inquiry. As he met -its answer in the awed face of his friend, resentment of past injuries -faded out of his heart, as he realized that a mighty hand had -forestalled his revenge, and he felt nothing but pity for the abject -being that crouched before him. - -"It's come out about as I told you," said Job, "but I wan't expectin' -nothin' like this, poor critter. He thinks you're a spirit come to haunt -him." Then he called loudly to the figure, "It's the boy. It's Nathan, -alive and well. Don't be afeared, he won't hurt ye." - -There were footsteps at the threshold, and Ruth and Martha entered, -pausing a moment with wondering faces, which presently kindled with joy, -and Nathan was clasped in their arms. When the first flush of joyful -meeting was spent, Ruth explained in answer to her son's whispered -question and his nod toward the dumb figure: - -"He sort o' broke down after the guard went away, an' t'other day we -found him all of a heap down by a big hemlock log that he never got -round to cut up. He hain't seemed to sense much since. He's been -dreadful worried about you, Nathan, all along, ever since you went -away." - -She did not know the terrible cause of the speechless self-condemnation -the wretch had suffered, nor did she ever learn it. - -"I wouldn't tell her," counselled Job. "She'd feel bad, an' that -wouldn't pay any more'n it does to nurse a grudge. Vengeance don't -belong to us, poor critters." - -Thenceforth, till Silas Toombs sank from his living death to eternal -sleep not long after this, his stepson gave him thoughtful and kindly -care. - -At length the young frontiersman took his place among the defenders of -his country. By the side of his old comrade and guardian, he fought in -the losing fight of Hubbardton and helped to win the glorious victory of -Bennington. Yet he is best remembered by the descendants of the old -Green Mountain Boys as the guide who led their fathers in the conquest -of Ticonderoga. - - ---- - -Where once stood the pioneer's log house, spacious farm buildings now -stretch their comfortable quarters. From it, away to the southwest, -across meadows, thrifty homesteads, low woodlands, and the narrowed -waters of Lake Champlain can be seen rising against the foothills of the -Adirondacks the hoary ruins of Ticonderoga. Within the house, upon a -pair of massive moose horns, rests the old flintlock once filled with -beans, "good enough for Yorkers," and later loaded with a leaden death -message for Tory and Hessian. Cherished with as fond pride by its fair -possessor, is a worn pocket-piece--the silver shilling given her -ancestor by the beautiful lady of Fort Ticonderoga. - - - - -Transcriber's Note - - -Spelling and punctuation inaccuracies were silently corrected. -Archaic and variable spelling is preserved. -The author's punctuation style is preserved. -Hyphenation has been made consistent. - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HERO OF TICONDEROGA *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35080 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. 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