With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga

by W. Bert Foster

  CHAPTER II

  ENOCH HARDING FEELS HIMSELF A MAN

  Although Enoch Harding had not grasped the serious nature of the matterwhich the ranger's words suggested, there was something he had realized,however, and this thought sent the blood coursing through his veins withmore than wonted vigor and his eyes sparkled. He was a man. He was toplay a man's part on this day and the neighbors--even the old ranger whohad stood his friend on so many occasions already--recognized him as thehead of the family.

  Bolderwood saw this thought expressed in his face and without desiringto "take him down" and humble his pride, wished to show him the seriousside of the situation. To this end he spoke upon another subject,beginning: "D'ye remember where we be, Nuck? 'Member this place? Seemsstrange that you sh'd have such a caper here with that catamount afterwhat happened only last spring, doesn't it?" He glanced keenly at youngHarding and saw that his words had at once the desired effect. Enochstood up, the skinning-knife in his hand, and looked over the littleglade. In a moment his brown eyes filled with tears, which rolledunchastened down his smooth cheeks.

  "Aye, Nuck, a sorry day for you an' yourn when Jonas Harding met hisdeath here. And a sorry day was it for me, too, lad. I loved him like abrother. He an' I, Nuck, trapped this neck of woods together before thesettlement was started. We knew how rich the land was and naught but thewars with the redskins an' them French kept us from comin' here longbefore the Robinsons. Jonas wouldn't come 'less it was safe to bringyour mother an' you--an' he was right. There's little good in a man'sroamin' the world without a wife an' fireside ter tie to. I was sayin'the same to neighbor Allen last week, an' he agreed--though he's wussoff than me, for he has a family back in Litchfield an' is under anxietyall the time to bring them here, if the Yorkers but leave us in peace.As for me--well, a tough old knot like me ain't fit to marry an' settledown. I'm wuss nor an Injin."

  It is doubtful if the boy heard half this monologue. He stood withthoughtful mien and his eyes were still wet when Bolderwood's wordsfinally aroused him. "Do you know, Nuck, there's many a time I stop atthis ford and think of your father's death? There's things about it I'llnever understand, I reckon."

  Enoch Harding started and flashed a quick glance at his friend. "Whatthings?" he asked.

  "Well, lad, mainly that Jonas Harding, who was as quick on the trail andas good a woodsman as myself, should be worsted by a mad buck; it seemsdownright impossible, Nuck."

  "I know. But there could be no mistake about it, 'Siah. There were thehoof-marks--and there was no bullet wound on the body, only those gashesmade by the critter's horns. Simon Halpen----"

  Bolderwood raised his hand quickly. "Nay, lad! don't utter evil evenabout that Yorker. We all know he was anigh here when your father died.He was seen at Bennington the night before, and later crossed JamesBreckenridge's farm on his way to Albany. Black enemy as he is to youand yourn, there's naught to be gained by accusing him of Jonas' death.It would be impossible. There was not, as you say, a bullet wound uponyour father's body. There was not a mark of man's footstep near the lickhere but your father's own. How else, then, could he have been killedbut by the charge of the buck?"

  "You say yourself that father was far too sharp to so be taken bysurprise," muttered the boy.

  "Aye--that is so. But the facts are there, lad. I s'arched the groundover--I headed the band of scouts who found him--remember that! Nobodyhad been near the lick but Jonas. There wasn't a footmark for rodsaround. Even an Injin couldn't have got near enough to strike Jonas downwith his gun-butt----"

  "You believe that wound on his head, then, was made by no deer'santler?" exclaimed Enoch, eagerly.

  "Tut, tut! You jump too quick," said Bolderwood, turning his face away."That's never well. Allus look b'fore ye leap, Nuck. My 'pinion be thatyour father struck his head on a stone in falling----"

  "Where is there a stone here?" demanded the boy, with a speaking gestureof his disengaged hand. "I saw that deep wound in father's skull. Inever believed a buck did that."

  "And yet there was naught but the prints of the buck's hoofs in the soilhere--be sure of that. The ground was trampled all about as though thefight had been desp'rate--as indeed it must have been."

  "But that blow on the head?" reiterated Enoch.

  "Ah, lad, I can't understand that. The wound certainly was mainly like ablow from a gun-stock," admitted Bolderwood.

  "Then Simon Halpen compassed his death--I am sure of it!" cried the boy."You well know how he hated father. Halpen would never forget thebeech-sealing he got last fall. He threatened to be terribly revenged onus; and Bryce and I heard him threaten father, too, when he fought himupon the crick bank and father tossed the Yorker into the middle of thestream."

  Bolderwood chuckled. "Simon as well might tackle Ethan Allen himself asto have wrastled with Jonas," he said.... "But we must hurry, lad. Wehave work--and perhaps serious work--before us this day. It may be thebattle of our lives; we may l'arn to-day whether we are to be freepeople here in Bennington, or are to be driven out like sheep at thecommand of a flunkey under a royal person who lives so far across thesea that he knows naught of, nor cares naught for us."

  "You talk desp'rately against the King, Mr. Bolderwood!" exclaimedEnoch, looking askance at his companion.

  "Nay--what is the King to me?" demanded the ranger, in disgust. "Hewould be lost in these woods, I warrant. We're free people over here;why should we bother our heads about kings and parliament? They are nogood to us."

  "You talk more boldly than Mr. Ethan Allen," said the boy. "He was atour house once to talk with father. Father said he was a master bold manand feared neither the King nor the people."

  "And no man need fear either if he fear God," declared the ranger,simply. "We are only seeing the beginnings of great trouble, Nuck. Wemay do battle to Yorkers now; perhaps we shall one day have to fight theKing's men for our farms and housel-stuff. The Governor of New York is apowerful man and is friendly to men high in the King's councils, theysay. This Sheriff Ten Eyck may bring real soldiers against us some day."

  "You don't believe that, 'Siah?" cried the boy.

  "Indeed and I do, lad," returned the ranger, rising now with the carcassof the doe flayed and ready for hanging up.

  "But we'll fight for our lands!" cried Enoch. "My father fought SimonHalpen for our farm. I'll fight him, too, if he comes here and tries totake it, now father is dead."

  "Mayhap this day's work will settle it for all time, Nuck," said theranger, hopefully. "But do you shin up that sapling yonder, and bend itdown. We wanter hang this carcass where no varmit--not even acatamount--can git it."

  The boy did as he was bade and soon the fruit of Enoch Harding's earlymorning adventure was hanging from the top of a young tree, too small tobe climbed by any wild-cat and far enough from the ground to be out ofreach of the wolves and foxes. "Now we'll git right out o' here, lad,"Bolderwood said, picking up his rifle and starting for the ford. "We'vegot to hurry," and Enoch, nothing loath, followed him across the creekand into the forest on the other bank.

  "Do you r'ally think there'll be fightin', Master Bolderwood?" he asked.

  "I hope God'll forbid that," responded the ranger, with due reverence."But if the Yorkers expect ter walk in an' take our farms the way thissheriff wants ter take Master Breckenridge's, we'll show 'em diff'rent!"He increased his stride and Enoch had such difficulty in keeping up withhis long-legged companion that he had no breath for rejoinder and theywent on in silence.

  The controversy between the New York colony and the settlers of theHampshire Grants who had bought their farms of Governor BenningWentworth, of New Hampshire, was a very important incident of thepre-Revolutionary period. The not always bloodless battles over theDisputed Ground arose from the claim of New York that the old patent ofKing Charles to the Duke of York, giving to him all the territory lyingbetween the Connecticut River on the east and Delaware Bay on the west,was still valid north of the Massachusetts line.

  In 1740 King George II had declared "th
at the northern boundary ofMassachusetts be a similar curved line, pursuing the course of theMerrimac River at three miles distant on the north side thereof,beginning at the Atlantic Ocean and ending at a point due north of aplace called Pawtucket Falls, and by a straight line from thence duewest till it meets with his Majesty's other governments." Nine yearslater Governor Wentworth made the claim that, because of thisestablished boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, thelatter's western boundary was the same as Massachusetts'--a lineparallel with and twenty miles from the Hudson River--and he informedGovernor Clinton, of New York, that he should grant lands to settlers asfar west as this twenty-mile line. Therewith he granted to WilliamWilliams and sixty-one others the township of Bennington (named in hishonor) and it was surveyed in October of that same year. But theoutbreak of the French and Indian troubles made the occupation of thisexposed territory impossible until 1761, when there came into the richand fertile country lying about what is now the town of Bennington,several families of settlers from Hardwick, Mass., in all numberingabout twenty souls.

  But there had been an earlier survey of the territory along WalloomscoikCreek under the old Dutch patent and in 1765 Captain Campbell, underinstructions from the New York colony, attempted to resurvey this oldgrant. He came to the land of Samuel Robinson who, with his neighbors,drove the Yorkers off. For this Robinson and two others were carried toAlbany where they were confined in the jail for some weeks and afterwardfined for "rioting." At once the settlers, who had increased greatlysince '61, saw that they must present their case before the King if theywould have justice rendered them; so Captain Robinson went to England torepresent their side of the matter. Unfortunately he died there beforecompleting his work.

  On the part of the governors of New Hampshire and New York it was merelya land speculation, and both officials were after the fees accruing fromgranting the lands; whereas the settlers who had gone upon the farms,and established their families and risked their little all in theundertaking, bore the brunt of the fight. The speculators and the menthey desired to place on the farms of the New Hampshire grantees,hovered along the Twenty-Mile Line, and occasionally made sorties uponthe more unprotected farmers, despite the fact that the King hadinstructed the Governor of New York to make no further grants until therights of the controversy should be plainly established. This settleddetermination of the New York authorities to drive them out convincedthe men of the Grants that they must combine to defend their homes andwhen, early in July, 1771, news came from Albany that Sheriff Ten Eyckwith a large party of armed men was intending to march to JamesBreckenridge's farm and seize it in the name of the New York government,the people of Bennington in town-meeting assembled determined to defendtheir townsman's rights.

  Sheriff Ten Eyck started from Albany on the 18th of July with more than300 men and at once the settlers began to gather near the threatenedfarmstead. 'Siah Bolderwood having no farm of his own, was sent throughthe country raising men and guns for the defense of the Breckenridgeplace. On his way back he had stopped for Enoch Harding and learningthat the boy had gone hunting before daybreak, the ranger followed him,arriving at the deer-lick in time to render important assistance in thedramatic scene just pictured. After crossing the creek at the spot wherethe boy's father had met his frightful and mysterious death a few monthsbefore, the two volunteers, while still the day was new, reached theplace of the settlers' gathering.