CHAPTER XXII
THE END OF SIMON HALPEN
As they are to-day, the surroundings of Fort Ticonderoga were mostpicturesque. Nor is the country about the fortifications, and across thelake where the camp of Bolderwood's scouts was established at the timeof our story, and later where the Grenadier Battery was raised, muchmore thickly settled to-day than it was then. Mt. Defiance, south of theLake George outlet on the west side of Champlain was a heavily woodedeminence. Behind the scouts' camp a rugged shoulder of ground, latercalled Mount Independence, raised its bulk out of the surroundingforest. The formidable promontory on which the French had builtTiconderoga twenty years before, commanded a great sweep of the lake.For mere foot-soldiers, without artillery or explosives, to attack thesefortifications seemed utterly preposterous.
Where Bolderwood and his companions were waiting they had an excellentview of the fort. At sunset the garrison was paraded and one gun boomedresonantly across the calm lake. Just before it became too dark to seethe other shore, the Americans observed a man come out of the coveredway by which the fortifications were entered and approach the shore.There was a light canoe moored there and into this he stepped andpaddled out into the lake, evidently aiming his craft for a cove nearthe scouts' position. Bolderwood and his comrades were so deeplyinterested in the maneuvres of this man that Simon Halpen was for thetime forgotten.
"We'll have to take that feller in and hold him for the Colonel to talkto," suggested one of the scouts when it became apparent that thestranger from the fort was coming ashore near at hand. "He'll see themboats an' suspicion something."
"We'll meet him," said Bolderwood; "but I'm reck'ning that he'll be asglad to see the Colonel as the Colonel is ter see him. I know thatsomebody was over there in the fort to find out how the land lies andwhat sort o' shape them red-coats is in, an' 'twouldn't s'prise me ifthis was the chap."
They all followed 'Siah down to the cove--even Enoch--and met thestranger as he came ashore. The latter seemed in nowise troubled byseeing so many armed men and after mooring his canoe came at once to thegroup of Americans. "Friends, I presume, sirs?" he asked, glancingkeenly from man to man.
"Reckon so," admitted Bolderwood.
"Where is Colonel Allen?"
"If you don't mind waitin' with us I shouldn't be s'prised if ye see him'fore long," declared the long-legged scout. "Wanter see himpertic'lar?"
"I do," the stranger admitted. "You are the advance guard of our boys, Ipresume?"
"Well, as you don't know us, an' we don't know you, we'd better notdiscuss private matters till we're interduced, as ye might say. Ish'dn't be astonished ter see the Colonel come along here 'most any timenow."
"Very well, sir. I am at your service," was the response, and thenewcomer walked back to the camp with them. But Enoch had gone on ahead,remembering that the captive had been left alone for nearly half anhour. Suddenly his voice rose in a shout of anger and surprise. "He hasescaped!" cried Bolderwood, the instant he heard his young friend, andplunged at once into the wood toward the spot where Halpen had beentied. Truly, the spy was gone.
"The rascal was sharper than I thought," gasped the ranger. "And--andwhat will Colonel Allen say?"
"That isn't the worst of it," declared the youth.
"Yes; you think it is worse that a villain like him should escapewithout punishment. I doubt not that Ethan Allen would have hung him."
"He may have deserved hanging," Enoch returned, with a shudder. "But Iam not thinking of that. I fear that he will yet do us harm. If he getsacross the lake and warns the folks at Old Ti, I'll never forgive myselffor not sitting down here and watching him all the time."
"He sartainly should have been watched," admitted 'Siah. "But I didn'tb'lieve he had the pluck to git away. See here! The thongs are wet withthe man's blood. He must ha' cut himself badly."
"We must find him, 'Siah! If he secures a boat and crosses the lake theexpedition will be ruined. This man who has just come across declaresCaptain De la Place knows nothing about our army as yet. But if SimonHalpen reaches the fortifications----"
'Siah rushed back to his company and sent them to search the bank of thelake. He ordered, too, one man to remain with each group of boats sothat the escaped spy might not secure one and get such a start acrossthe lake that he could not be overtaken. But it had now grown quite darkand the scouts were unable to find Halpen in the vicinity of the camp.'Siah was confident that he and his men had obtained every craft on thiseastern shore for miles up and down the lake, so he did not believeHalpen could really get across to the fort in time to warn the garrison.He was naturally too tender-hearted to wish to see the fellow hung tothe nearest tree, which might be his fate had Ethan Allen examined himand found him guilty of spying upon the patriotic settlers.
Now that night had come and the darkness would have covered themovements of the American troops, as the head of the column did notappear, Bolderwood and his comrades began to fear that something haddetained their friends and that the attack upon Ticonderoga might bepostponed until the night of the tenth. How the fleet of bateaus andcanoes could be held in the vicinity for many hours without suspicionsbeing aroused as to their proposed use, was a question hard to answer.The captain of the scouts sent two of his men out upon the trail bywhich they expected Ethan Allen and the troops under him to advance.
Meanwhile Enoch Harding had not given up the search for the escaped spy.He feared what the fellow might yet do to weaken or utterly ruin thehopes of the American troops. Halpen was not armed, so the youth had nofear of being attacked by him; but he spent his time creeping throughthe brushwood up and down the lake shore, hoping to stumble upon theYorker. He did not believe that Halpen had gone far from the encampment.Finally, in his wanderings, he came to the cove where the scout who hadspent the day inside the fort, had landed. The bateaus were on the otherside of the cove; the canoe the scout had used was alone in the shadowof a big oak, although a sentinel watched the bateaus. This sentinel hadneglected to remove the canoe to his side of the cove and as Enoch camedown the hillside he observed something moving in the shadow of the oak.A moment later, before he was really sure whether this something was aman or an animal, the canoe left the bank. The trees threw their shadowsupon the water and it was almost impossible to observe the moving craftclearly; yet he was pretty sure that there was a figure in it and thatit had been unmoored.
The youth was too far away to risk a shot; the sentinel was much fartherfrom the point of embarkation. If Simon Halpen had found and seized thiscanoe it looked for a moment as though he would surely escape.
Enoch ran down to the edge of the water, but when he reached the pointat which the canoe had been moored it was almost out of sight. He couldnot see the figure in the boat clearly enough to shoot. Indeed, heshrank from committing what seemed like murder. Simon Halpen wasdefenseless. "But he must not escape!" the boy exclaimed and startedaround the shore of the cove. The fugitive kept the canoe within thedeep shadow of the trees which bordered the inlet. He did not paddle outinto the centre; there he might have been seen by the sentinel on theother side.
The boy ran along the edge of the cove, stumbling over the tree rootsand fallen logs, yet endeavoring to follow the course of the canoe asquietly as possible. There was a chance of his passing the fugitive andreaching the mouth of the cove first. Then, he thought, Halpen would beat his mercy. The better to do this unobserved he made a detour into thewoods and finally, after ten minutes of rapid work, came out upon theextreme point which guarded the inlet. As he reached this place hisquick ear distinguished the splash of a paddle not far away. Straininghis eyes he soon observed through the gloom the canoe moving amid theshadows. The spy had very nearly escaped from the cove. Once out in theopen lake it would be impossible to overtake him.
Then Enoch wished he had aroused his comrades; at least the sentinelguarding the bateaus would have heard his cry and come to hisassistance. But now if the spy was to be stopped it must be by hisindividual effort. Throwing down his rifle an
d removing his outsidegarments, he slid into the water with scarcely a ripple of its surfaceand finding the lake deep at this point, began to swim at once. Thecanoe was almost upon him when suddenly, with a muttered exclamation,the fugitive turned the craft by one swift stroke of the paddle and sentit darting away from the shore. Enoch had been seen or heard, and Halpenfeared what was the fact--that one of his enemies was striving toovertake him.
Enoch flung himself forward in the water and with a strong overhandstroke took a diagonal course to intercept the canoe. He could see theman bending to his paddle. Every stroke of the blade sent thephosphorescent water flying about the frail bark. The next few momentswere of vital importance to both pursued and pursuer.
Enoch's plunge into the water had driven Halpen to paddle away from theshore. Now he was heading the craft across the cove and therefore towardthe station of the sentinel. If he pursued this course for many rods hewould be within rifle shot. And once out of the shadow of the trees thelight on the water would make him an easy mark. To pass Enoch before thelatter reached the edge of the line of shadow was therefore SimonHalpen's object.
But the American youth was determined that Halpen should not do this. Hewas a strong swimmer and spurred by both the desire to recapture hisenemy and to save the cause to which he was bound--the capture ofTiconderoga--he put forth every atom of his strength to overtake thecanoe. The paddle flashed first upon one side, then on the other of thecraft, which fairly darted through the water. But suddenly a hand andarm rose from the lake and seized the paddle just back of the blade.Enoch had dived under the surface and come up beside the canoe as Halpenwas speeding past.
"Ha! would you do it?" gasped the spy, striving to tear the paddle fromthe youth's grasp. The canoe rocked dangerously. The man flung himselfto the other side and his superior strength wrenched the paddle away.Not contented to use the instrument in an attempt to escape, however, hetried to strike the youth with it. The canoe was all but overturned,although its momentum carried it on, and once out of Enoch's grasp thespy could have easily gotten away. Whether he recognized his enemy ornot, Halpen was inclined to deliver a second blow. He rose to do thisand Enoch, fairly leaping forward, seized the stern of the canoe withboth hands.
"Throw down your paddle, Simon Halpen!" he commanded.
"It is you, then?" cried the spy, now sure of the identity of the youth.He aimed a fearful stroke at the boy's head. But instantly the lattertipped the canoe first one way, then the other, and the spy, losing hisbalance, plunged with a resounding splash into the lake!
The canoe turned completely over. This was not what Enoch wished, butthe shock of Halpen's fall was so great that he could not help it. Theboy's desire had been to pitch the man out, get in himself, and thenhave the spy at his mercy. But chance--nay, Providence, for the man'ssins had deserved death--willed otherwise.
Simon Halpen could not swim. In falling into the lake he even lost hisgrip upon the paddle. So, when he rose to the surface, he had nothing tocling to, but struggled wildly and cried out in fear. "Help! I amchoking! I will drown!" His voice rose to a screech. An answering shoutcame from the distant shore where the sentinel was stationed. But thelatter was too far away to render aid. If the spy was to be saved itdepended upon the efforts of the youth whose father had died underHalpen's hand, and whose own life the scoundrel had twice sought.
At that fearful cry, however, Enoch launched himself at the sinking man.His head was already under water when the boy reached down and seizedhis collar. He brought him to the surface. The water gurgled from histhroat and he breathed again. Had he been content to abandon himself tohis rescuer then he would have been saved.
But terror rode him like a nightmare. He feared drowning; he feared,too, the enemy whom he would have killed had he been able the instantbefore. He could not appreciate the generous spirit which had promptedEnoch to come to his assistance. He thought the boy strove only to forcehim beneath the lake and he fought and screamed with passion and horrorof imminent death.
"Be still! be still!" cried Enoch, well-nigh overcome himself by the madactions of the man. "Lie quiet or I cannot save you. Be still!"
Halpen did not hear him; or, if he heard, he would not believe. He torehimself from Enoch's grasp, and as the youth tried to seize him again hestruck out wildly and his fist found lodgment against Enoch's jaw. Theblow stunned the latter and he sank. Halpen strove to reach theoverturned canoe. It was too far away. He felt himself going down for athird time and his lungs were already half filled with water. A fearfulscream rent the night--the last cry of a terrified soul going to itsend--and he sank. He never rose to the surface after that third plungebeneath the lake.
With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga Page 22