THE PIONEER HOME
Enoch arrived feeling not of half so much importance as he had on
starting from the Breckenridge farm. His adventure with Crow Wing had
mightily taken down his self-conceit. Like most of the settlers he had
very little confidence in the Indian character; so, although Crow Wing
had rendered the defenders of the Grants a signal service that very day,
Enoch was not at all sure that the red youth was not helping the
Yorkers, too.
But when he came out of the wood at the edge of the great corn-field
which his father had cleared first of all, and saw the light of the
candles shining through the doorway of the log house, he forgot his
recent rage against Crow Wing and hurried on to greet those whom he
loved. The children came running out to meet him and the light of the
candles was shrouded as his mother's tall form appeared in the doorway.
Bryce, who was eleven years old, was almost as tall as Enoch, although
he lacked his elder brother's breadth of shoulders and gravity of
manner. Enoch was deliberate in everything he did; Bryce was of a more
nervous temperament and was apt to act upon impulse. He was a
fair-haired boy and was forever smiling. Now he reached Nuck first and
fairly hugged him around the neck, exclaiming:
"We thought you were shot! However came you to be so long comin' back,
Nuck? Mother's quite worritted 'bout you, she says."
Katie, the fly-away sister of ten, hurled herself next upon her elder
brother and seized the heavy rifle from his hands. "Look out for it,
Kate!" commanded Nuck. "It's been freshly primed." But Katie was not
afraid of firearms. She shouldered the gun and marched bravely toward
the house. Mary, demure and curly headed, and little Harry, remained
nearer the door, and lifted their faces to be kissed in turn by Enoch
when he arrived. Then the boy turned to his mother.
"Come in, my son," she said. "I have saved your supper for you. I could
not send the children to bed before you came. They were a-well nigh wild
to see you and hear about the doings at farmer Breckenridge's. You are
late."
This was all she said regarding his tardiness at the moment. She was a
very pleasant featured woman of thirty-five, with kind eyes and a
cheery, if grave, smile; but Enoch knew she could be stern enough if
occasion required. Indeed, she was a far stricter disciplinarian than
his father had been. They crowded into the house and Mrs. Harding went
to the fire and hung the pot over the glowing coals to heat again the
stewed venison which she had saved for Enoch's supper.
"Tell us about it, Enoch, my son," she said. "Did the Yorkers come as
friend Bolderwood said they would--in such numbers?"
"In greater numbers," declared the boy, and he went on to recount the
incidents of the morning when Sheriff Ten Eyck had demanded the
surrender of the Breckenridge house and farm. The incident had appealed
strongly to the boy and he drew a faithful picture of the scene when the
army of Yorkers marched up to the farmhouse door and demanded admission.
"And Mr. Allen was there and spoke to me--he did!" declared Enoch. "He's
a master big man--and so handsome. He asked me if I remembered his
coming here once to see father, and he told me to be sure and go to
Bennington when the train-band is mustered in. I can, can't I, mother?"
"And me, too!" cried Bryce. "I can carry Nuck's musket now't he shoots
with father's gun. I can shoot, too--from a rest."
"Huh!" exclaimed his elder brother, "you can't carry the old musket
even, and march."
"Yes I can!"
"No you can't!"
But the mother's voice recalled the boys to their better behavior. "I
will talk with 'Siah Bolderwood about your joining the train-band,
Enoch. And if you go to Bennington with Enoch, Bryce, who will defend
our home? You must stay here and guard mother and the other children, my
boy."
Bryce felt better at that suggestion and the argument between Enoch and
himself was dropped. The widow soon sent all but Enoch to bed in the
loft over the kitchen and living room of the cabin. There was a bedroom
occupied by herself partitioned off from the living room, while Enoch
slept on a "shakedown" near the door. This he had insisted upon doing
ever since his father's death.
"You were very late in returning, my son," said the widow when the
others had climbed the ladder to the loft.
"Yes, marm."
"You did not come right home?"
"No, marm. I stayed to eat with Lot Breckenridge. And then I wanted to
hear the men talk."
"You should have started earlier for home, Enoch," she said, sternly.
"Well, I'd got here pretty near sunset if it hadn't been for somethin'
that happened just the other side of the crick," Enoch declared,
forgetting the fact that he had stopped to watch the beavers before ever
he saw the campfire in the wood.
"What was it?" she asked.
"There's somebody over there--a tall man, but I couldn't see his
face----"
"Where?"
"Beyond the crick; 'twarn't half a mile from where father was killed at
the deer-lick. I saw a light in the bushes. It was a campfire an' I
couldn't go by without seein' what it was for. So I crept up on it an'
bymeby I saw the man."
"You don't know who he was?" asked the widow, quickly.
"No, marm."
"Did he have a dark face and was his nose hooked?"
"I couldn't see his face. He was sittin' down all the time. His face was
shaded with his cap. He sat with his back up against a tree. I was a
long while gittin' near enough to see him, an' then----"
"Well, what happened, my son?"
"Then that Crow Wing--you know him; the Injin boy that useter live down
the crick with his folks--Crow Wing come out of the forest an' grabbed
me an' told me not to holler or he'd kill me. I wasn't 'zactly 'fraid of
him," added Enoch, thinking some explanation necessary, "but I saw if I
fought him it would bring the man at the fire to help, and I couldn't
fight two of 'em, anyway. The pesky Injin made me walk to the crick with
him an' then he told me to go home and not come back. I wish 'Siah
Bolderwood was here. We'd fix 'em!"
"The Indian threatened you!" cried the widow. "Have you done anything to
anger him, Enoch? I know your father was very bitter toward them all;
but I hoped----"
"I never done a thing to him!" declared the boy. "I don't play with him
much, though Lot does; but I let him alone. I useter make fun of him
b'fore--b'fore 'Siah told me more about his folks. Crow Wing's father is
a good friend to the whites. He fought with our folks ag'in the French
Injins."
"But who could the man have been?" asked the widow, gravely. "The
children saw a man lurking about the corn-field at the lower end to-day.
And when I was milking, Mary came and told me that he was then across
the river at the ox-bow, looking over at the house. If it should be
Simon Halpen! He will not give up his hope of getting our rich pastures,
I am afraid. We must watch carefully, Enoch."
"I'll shoot him if he comes again!" declared the boy, belligerently.
Then he closed and barred the door and rapidly prepared for bed. His
mother retired to her own room, but long after Enoch was soundly
sleeping on his couch, the good woman was upon her knees beside her bed.
Although she was proud to see Enoch so sturdy and helpful, she feared
this controversy with the Yorkers would do him much harm; and it was for
him, as well as for the safety of them all in troublous times, that she
prayed to the God in whom she so implicitly trusted.
The next day 'Siah Bolderwood came striding up to the cabin with the
carcass of the doe Enoch had shot across his shoulders, and found the
widow at her loom, just within the door. She welcomed the lanky ranger
warmly, for he had not only been her husband's closest friend but had
been of great assistance to her children and herself since Jonas' death.
"The children will be glad to see you, 'Siah," she said. "I will call
them up early and get supper for us all. I will have raised biscuit,
too--it is not often you get anything but Johnny-cake, I warrant. The
boys are working to clear the new lot to-day."
"Aye, I saw them as I came along," said Bolderwood, laughing. "There was
Mistress Kate on top of a tall stump, her black hair flying in the wind,
and Nuck's old musket in her hands. She said she was on guard, and she
hailed me before I got out of the wood. Her eyes are sharp."
"She should have been a boy," sighed the widow. "Indeed, this wilderness
is no place for girls at all."
"Bless their dear little souls!" exclaimed Bolderwood, with feeling.
"What'd we do without Kate an' Mary? They keep the boys sweet, mistress!
And Kate's as good as a boy any day when it comes to looking out for
herself; while as I came through the stumpage Mary was working with the
best of 'em to pull roots and fire-weed."
"The boys want a stump-burning as soon as possible. Jonas got the new
lot near cleared. There's only the rubbish to burn."
"Good idea. Nuck and Bryce are doing well.... But what was the sentinel
for?"
"It isn't all play," said the widow, stopping her work and speaking
seriously. "Yesterday the children saw a strange man hanging about the
creek yonder. And last night on his way back from Master Breckenridge's,
Enoch saw a campfire in the forest and a man sitting by it. An Indian
youth whom perhaps you have seen here--Crow Wing, he is called--was with
the man. Crow Wing drove Enoch off before he could find out who the
white man was."
"Crow Wing, eh?" repeated 'Siah, shaking his head thoughtfully. "I know
the red scamp. If he was treated right by the settlers, though, he'd be
decent enough. But he got angry at Breckenridge's yesterday, they tell
me. Somebody spoke roughly to him. You can ruffle the feathers of them
birds mighty easy."
This was all the comment the ranger made upon the story; but later he
wandered down to the new lot which the Hardings were clearing, and
instead of lending a hand inquired particularly of Enoch where he had
seen the campfire the night before. Learning the direction he plunged
into the wood without further ado and went to the ford, crossing it with
caution and going at once to the vicinity of the fire which Enoch had
observed. But the ashes had been carefully covered and little trace of
the occupation of the spot left. At one point, however, 'Siah found
where two persons--a white man and a red one--had embarked in a canoe
which had been hidden under the bank of the creek. Evidently Crow Wing
had expected the place would be searched and had done all in his power
to mystify the curious.
When 'Siah returned Mistress Harding had called up the children and
supper--a holiday meal--was almost ready. A lamb had been killed the day
before and was stuffed and baked in the Dutch oven. There were light
white-flour biscuits, Enoch had ridden to Bennington with the wheat
slung across his saddle to have it ground, and there was sweet butter
and refined maple sap which every family in the Grants boiled down in
the spring for its own use, although as yet there was little market for
it. It was a jolly meal, for when 'Siah came the children were sure of
something a bit extra, both to eat and to do. He taught the girls how to
make doll babies with cornsilk hair, and begged powder and shot of their
mother for Bryce and Enoch to use in shooting at a mark. Under his
instructions Enoch had become a fairly good marksman, while Bryce, by
resting his gun in the fork of a sapling set upright in the ground, did
almost as well as his elder brother.
After supper Bolderwood talked with the widow while he smoked his pipe.
"We need boys like Enoch, Mistress Harding," he said. "While he's young
I don't dispute, he's big for his age and can handle that rifle pretty
well. You must let him go up to Bennington next week and drill with the
other young fellows. There will be no need of his going on any raids
with the older men. We shall keep the boys out of it, and most of the
beech-sealin' will be done by the men who hain't got no fam'blies here
and are free in their movements. But the drill will be good for him and
the time may come when all this drillin' will pay."
"You really look for serious trouble with the Yorkers, Master
Bolderwood?" she asked.
"I reckon I do. With them or--or others. Things is purty tick'lish--you
know that, widder. The King ain't treatin' us right, an' his ministers
and advisers don't care anything about these colonies, 'ceptin' if we
don't make 'em rich. Then they trouble us. And the governors are mostly
all alike. I don't think a bit better of Benning Wentworth than I do of
these 'ere New York governors. They don't re'lly care nothin' for us
poor folk."
So the widow agreed to allow Enoch to go to Bennington; and when the day
came for the gathering of those youths and men who could be spared from
the farms, to meet there, he mounted the old claybank mare, his shoes
and stockings slung before him over the saddle bow that his great toes
might be the easier used as spurs, and with a bag of corn behind him to
be left for grinding at the mill, trotted along the trail to the
settlement. Before he had gone far on the road he saw other men and boys
bound in the same direction. Remember Baker passed him, with Robbie, his
boy, perched behind on the saddle, and clinging like a leech to his
father's coat-tails as the horse galloped over the rough road. Enoch saw
Robbie later, however, and invited him to the stump burning which was to
take place the following week. He saw Lot Breckenridge, too, at the
Green Mountain Inn, and invited him to come, and sent word to other boys
and girls in the Breckenridge neighborhood.
Lot's mother would not let him carry a gun, but he had come to look on
and see the "greenhorns" take their first lesson in the manual of arms.
Stephen Fay, mine host of the "Catamount" Inn as the hostlery had come
to be called--a large, jocund individual who was a Grants man to the
core and earnest in the cause of the Green Mountain Boys--made all
welcome and the old house was crowded from daylight till dark. In the
gallery which ran along the face of the inn, even with the second story
windows, the ladies of the town sat and viewed the maneuvres of the
newly formed train-band. Before the door stood the twenty-five foot post
that held the sign and was likewise capped by a stuffed catamount, in a
very lifelike pose, its grinning teeth and extended claws turned toward
the New York border in defiance of "Yorker rule."
The leaders of the party which had suggested these drills--all staunch
Whigs and active in their defiance of the Yorkers,--met together in the
inn that day, too, and laid plans for a campaign against certain
settlers from New York who had come into the Grants and taken up farms
without having paid the New Hampshire authorities for the same. In not
all cases had these New York settlers driven off people who had bought
the land of New Hampshire or her agents; but if it was really the
property of that colony the Yorkers had no right upon the eastern side
of the Twenty-Mile Line, or on that side of the lake, at all. As far
north as the opposite shore from Fort Ticonderoga, that key to the
Canadian route which had been wrested from the French but a few years
before, Yorkers had settled; and the Green Mountain Boys determined that
these people must leave the Disputed Ground or suffer for their
temerity.
After the failure of Ten Eyck to capture the Breckenridge farm, New York
began a system of flattery and underhanded methods against the Grants
men which was particularly effective. The Yorkers chose certain more or
less influential individuals and offered them local offices, gifts of
money, and even promised royal titles to some, if they would range
themselves against the Green Mountain Boys. In some cases these offers
were accepted; in this way John Munro had become a justice of the peace,
and Benjamin Hough followed his example. Some foolish folk went so far
as to accept commissions as New York officers, but hoped to hide the
fact from their neighbors until a fitting season--when the Grants were
not afflicted with the presence of the Green Mountain Boys. But in
almost every case such cowardly sycophants were discovered and either
made ridiculous before their neighbors by being tried and hoisted in a
chair before the Catamount Inn, or were sealed with the twigs of the
wilderness--and the Green Mountain Boys wielded the beech wands with no
light hand.
Almost every week the military drills were held in Bennington and Enoch
attended. But before the second one the "stump burning" came off at the
Harding place and that was an occasion worthy of being chronicled.