BACKWOODS JUSTICE
At daybreak on this very morning when the Yorkers attacked the Harding
place, 'Siah Bolderwood returning from the direction of Old Ti, suddenly
came upon a little glade on the bank of the Walloomscoik Creek. With the
instinct long gained by his life as hunter and woodsman, he never
crossed an open space in the forest without examining it well. In this
glade he saw, at first glance, the signs of recent occupancy. The
smouldering ashes of a campfire and the marks on the creek bank told him
that a canoe party had camped there during the night and that they had
been under way but shortly. Making sure that they were now out of sight
he more closely examined the spot. The party numbered at least half a
dozen, and there had been two canoes. He had come up the creek bank
himself; therefore, not having seen the strangers, they had gone on
ahead of him. Five miles or so up the stream lay the ox-bow at which his
old friend Jonas Harding settled when he came into the Disputed Grounds,
and where the widow and her brood now lived. After examining the camp he
quickened his step toward the Harding place.
A mile further on, however, he heard the stroke of paddles and the sound
of men's voices. He would have gone to the fringed river bank and peered
out upon the stream had not a figure suddenly risen before him as though
from the ground itself and barred his way. "How d'ye, Crow Wing!" he
exclaimed, yet showing no surprise at the Indian youth's appearance. The
latter bore a brace of rabbits on his gun and Bolderwood guessed that he
belonged to the canoe party and had left them to get this game for their
dinner.
"Umph!" returned the Indian and looked at him stolidly.
"Your people?" asked the ranger, with a gesture toward the river.
"Umph!" was the reply. It might have meant yes or no. Crow Wing seemed
undecided. "Why you no at Hardings?" he demanded finally.
"I'm bound that a-way now," said the white man.
"Hunting?" grunted Crow Wing.
"Been up to Old Ti. Bought some land up there."
Crow Wing seemed about to pass on. But over his shoulder he said: "You
go to Hardings' farm. They want you--mebbe."
"What for?"
The Indian shrugged his shoulders and walked on. But Bolderwood strode
after him. "What's going on?" he asked, anxiously. "Who's that out
yonder?" nodding again toward the creek.
"Umph! Men hire Crow Wing to paddle canoe. They go to Hardings'."
"Yorkers!" exclaimed Bolderwood.
But the Indian youth said no more and quickly disappeared in the bushes
which overhung the creek. The ranger hesitated a moment, appeared to
think of following him, and then turned abruptly and plunged into the
forest on a course diagonal from the river. Therefore, when Nuck and
Bryce were fighting the bears in the swamp he did not hear their guns,
being by that time some miles away and striding rapidly toward
Arlington. He had suspected the truth and instead of wasting time
observing the party of which Crow Wing was a member, he had it in his
mind to rouse the neighbors to go to the aid of the widow and her
children. After the affair at Otter Creek, which he was sorry indeed to
have missed, Bolderwood had expected something like the present raid.
He, like the Hardings, believed that Simon Halpen would find the time
ripe for the carrying out of his nefarious designs.
It was the season of the year when the farm work having been completed,
the pioneers felt free to go about more, and hunting was popular. Many
men were off with their rifles; but Bolderwood picked up some half dozen
determined fellows and hastened back to the Harding place. While yet
some distance away they heard a rifle shot and so disturbed was the
ranger by this, that he started on the run for the ox-bow farm, and was
far ahead of his friends when he broke cover at the edge of the forest
and beheld the cabin.
His horror and despair when he saw the house wrapped in flames and the
Yorkers running across the fields toward the river, knew no bounds. Yet
even then he did not suppose that the widow and her family were within
the burning dwelling. He presumed they must be hiding in the
outbuildings and he ran on after the fleeing Yorkers, thinking only to
take vengeance upon them for their wanton cruelty in burning down the
poor woman's house at the beginning of winter.
One man kept turning back to look at the blazing structure which was now
more than half consumed; and this fellow the ranger quickly overtook. It
was the surveyor and he was wringing his hands and weeping as he ran.
Bolderwood dashed past him without a word, seeing plainly that he was
not armed and was sore frightened. "I'll attend to your case later," the
ranger muttered, and spurred on after the rest of the party. But they
were too quick for him, and having reached the bank of the creek leaped
into their canoes and the Indians pushed off. The fear of what they had
done pressed them hard and they had run like madmen from their single
pursuer. Now at an order from Halpen the Indians stolidly paddled down
the river again and were quickly out of sight around the nearest bend in
the stream.
Bolderwood went back and found the surveyor prone upon the ground and
weeping like a woman. "Get up, you great ca'f!" cried the ranger.
"Nobody'll kill you for your part in this matter though you desarve
little mercy.... Was that Simon Halpen?"
"It was indeed--the demon!" gasped the fellow, dragged unceremoniously
to his feet by the borderer.
"If he ever comes into this colony again I doubt but he'll be hung as
high as Haman," Bolderwood declared. "And you were the surveyor, eh? One
of Duane & Kempe's men? Well, sir, your back will be well tickled, or my
name's not 'Siah Bolderwood! But bear up, man--'tis no killing
punishment."
"What, sir?" cried the fellow. "Do you think I weep because of your
promised punishment? I fear you not--I am a leal subject of the King and
peaceful. You cannot touch me. But I weep because of the work that
dastard has done this day."
"What do you mean?" cried Bolderwood, fiercely. "Where is the woman and
her bairns?"
The surveyor pointed a shaking finger at the cabin, the smoking walls of
which were now all that were standing. "They are there. Wait! let me
tell you. I had nothing to do with the dreadful work. Nor, indeed, did
Simon Halpen mean to destroy the house and the poor woman and children.
They meant to burn the roof off to scare them out, and one man threw
burning clods on it. But those inside tore off the flaming roof and it
fell all around the cabin and set the walls afire. They dared not run
out through that wall of flame and smothered to death they were--God
pity them!" and he began to weep aloud again.
Bolderwood was speechless--well-nigh overcome, indeed, with the horror
of this. He saw his friends appear from the wood on the other side of
the house and he walked toward them like one in a dream. But still he
clung to the surveyor's arm and forced him to approach the cabin. The
roof had, of course, been completely consumed, and the outside of the
walls was blackened and still blazed fiercely at the corners. The window
shutters and door were burned away and the interior of the place was
badly demolished.
"Where's the widder and the boys?" shouted one of the newcomers to
Bolderwood. The old ranger did not answer, but his hand tightened upon
the surveyor's arm. Suddenly the latter shrieked and would have fallen
to the ground had not the grasp upheld him. In the door of the burning
cabin stood the figure of Enoch Harding, his face covered with smut and
his clothing half burned off his back. For a moment the surveyor
believed the dead had risen and he covered his face with his hands to
shut out the sight of the boy.
"Are ye all alive, lad?" shouted Bolderwood, dropping the surveyor and
running forward.
"We're all right, but well-nigh smothered," returned Enoch, hoarsely.
"Bring--bring some water!"
He staggered out of the cabin and fell upon the ground. In a moment the
surprised neighbors were running with buckets and pans from the well,
for Mistress Harding's milk vessels had been left to dry outside the
springhouse. Bolderwood took it upon himself to revive the
half-strangled Enoch, while the others dashed water over the smouldering
interior of the cabin, putting out the fire on the floor which was
burning briskly, and finally being able to draw the widow and the
smaller children from the secret room under the hearth and carry them to
the outer air. Here they quickly revived and Mistress Harding with the
girls and little Harry took shelter in one of the hovels.
The destruction of the cabin was practically complete. There was not a
log that was not charred, and the interior furnishings of the house were
ruined. The kind-hearted neighbors saved the chests of bedclothing and
the family's best garments, for the flames had not gotten at them. But
everything was sadly smoked. And the house would have to be torn down
and rebuilt with new timber throughout. It was a sad spectacle indeed
for Enoch and Bryce to look upon. "I wish I had shot them all!" cried
the latter in a rage. But Enoch said nothing. He would not whisper how
his anger had made him aim to kill Simon Halpen. Now, in cool blood, he
was glad that the bullet had not sped true.
But the condition of the house filled him with despair. Winter was at
hand and it would be next to impossible to build a good house before
spring, although the timbers could be drawn and squared while the snow
was on the ground. What would they do for a shelter until then? "We'll
make yonder hovel that you boys play in, all tight and warm for the
winter, Nuck," Bolderwood observed, seeing the tears running down the
boy's cheeks. "Don't cry about it. And we'll have up a better house than
this in the spring, lad. The neighbors will all help ye."
Meanwhile, however, Bolderwood had kept his eye upon the surveyor. The
latter, seeing that the family had been so miraculously saved from the
fire, sought to get away while the men were saving those goods which
were unconsumed. But Bolderwood was after him with mighty strides and
dragged him back, a prisoner. "Nay, friend, you'll be needed here as a
witness," he said, grimly. "We don't allow such gentry as you in the
Hampshire Grants without presenting you with a token of our respect and
consideration. Ha!" he added, suddenly, "whom have we here?"
A horseman rode quickly out of the wood and approached the burned cabin.
Before he pulled in his steed the men welcomed him vociferously, for it
was Captain Baker. "Look at this, 'Member!" cried Bolderwood, dragging
the trembling surveyor forward. "What a sight this is to blister the
eyes of decent men! A poor widder's house burned about her ears and only
by the mercy of God were she and her youngsters saved."
"The villains!" roared Baker. "And is that one of them?"
"He was with the party. But I truly believe that he had little to do
with this dastardly work. He's only a poor surveyor body."
"We'll find shelter with some neighbor for Mistress Harding and the
little ones," said Baker, "and then attend to his case without delay."
But the widow was not minded to leave her homestead. It was not yet very
cold and the hovel in which the children had had their frolic a
fortnight before was easily made comfortable for the family. She set
about this at once while Captain Baker and the neighbors sat in judgment
upon the trembling surveyor. These impromptu courts held by the Green
Mountain Boys when they happened to capture a Yorker guilty of meddling
with the settlers, were in the nature of a court martial. Sometimes the
sentences imposed were doubtless unjust, for the judges and juries were
naturally bitter against the prisoners; but the punishment seldom went
beyond a sound whipping, and in this case the surveyor, still sputtering
and objecting to the illegal procedure, was sentenced to two score
lashes, save one, and Enoch and Bryce selected the blue beech wands with
which the sentence was to be carried out.
The surveyor was taken behind the log barn, his coat and shirt stripped
from his back, and Bolderwood and one of the other neighbors fulfilled
the order of Captain Baker as judge of the military court. Bolderwood,
remembering the tears the prisoner had shed when he thought the family
burned alive, could not be too hard upon him, and although the woodsman
made every appearance of striking tremendous blows, he scarce raised a
welt upon the man's back. But when the other executioner laid on for the
last nineteen strokes, the surveyor roared with pain and without doubt
the lesson was one which did him good. It would be many a day before he
ventured to survey the lands east of the Twenty-Mile Line--at least, not
until his back stopped smarting. Finally he was given his clothing, and
part of the band marched him across country to the New York border and
turned him loose.
The attack of Simon Halpen upon the Hardings had practically failed. Yet
the loss of their home was a sore blow. In a couple of days, with the
help of Bolderwood, the old hovel was made very habitable. But it was
small and so many of their possessions had been burned that even Bryce
cried about it. Nevertheless their supply of food was all right, and the
cattle had not been injured. Also, with Bolderwood's assistance, the
three bears which the boys had so happily killed, were brought home, the
hams smoked, some of the meat salted, and the pelts stretched and dried
for winter bed coverings. By the time the snow lay deep upon the earth
the Hardings were once more comfortable.
The boys did very little trapping and hunting that winter of '72-'73 for
they could not attend to traps set very far from the ox-bow, and the
Walloomscoik country was becoming scarce of game. 'Siah Bolderwood did
not go back to Old Ti, either, but contented himself with making short
hunting trips around the lower part of the lake, for he spent all the
time he could spare in helping the widow and her boys to get the timber
ready for their new abode. Enoch and Bryce were determined that this new
structure should be much better than the log cabin which their father
had erected ten years before, and every timber dragged to the site by
the slow moving oxen was squared with the broad ax and carefully fitted
so as to "lock" at the corners. Some planks were sawed at the mill and
sledded to the ox-bow on the ice, too, and when the plaintive call of
the muckawis--the Indian name for the "whip-poor-will,"--ushered in the
spring, a noble company of Green Mountain Boys gathered to build the
widow's house again.
Although the new house was put up and made habitable in about ten days,
it took some time to fit window-frames, build two partitions, for there
were to be two sleeping chambers on the ground floor in this house,
which was larger than the old structure, and lay the floor of the loft,
build bunks to sleep in, make a new meal chest and dresser, and
construct other articles of furniture which were needed to replace the
stuff burned in the fire. Enoch had a mechanical turn of mind and Bryce
made an able assistant. Between them they turned out a new table,
several chairs with hide backs and seats, and even essayed a "rocker"
for their mother which, although rudely built and with its rockers not
exactly even, was declared by Mrs. Harding to be a marvel of
workmanship.
All these things had to be done besides the regular work of the farm
during the spring and summer, and the studies of the older boys were
rather neglected that year, greatly to the delight of Bryce. Indeed,
several of their mother's precious books had been destroyed by the
flames, and had it not been for the sorrow he knew she felt at their
loss, Bryce would have openly expressed his satisfaction. He was born
for the woods and fields, and although he made no objection to farmwork,
it was plain that his father's roving disposition had entered strongly
into the make-up of the lad.
He still felt injured--indeed, the feeling grew with his own
growth--because he was not allowed to join the military companies; but
Mistress Harding had finally promised that if he could trap enough game
the next winter to pay for a new gun--a rifle instead of the old musket
which had once been Nuck's and which their father had brought with him
on his return from the French wars--he should be allowed to attend the
Bennington drills. That was putting the privilege a year ahead, but
Bryce was partially contented with it.
Lot Breckenridge had finally been allowed to join the Green Mountain
Boys and so Enoch had somebody in his company near his own age. On
several occasions there were frolics in the neighborhood to which the
young people foregathered, and before the new house was built Lot and
Enoch had gone on a very brief hunting trio. But as fall again
approached the two friends, Lot and Enoch, planned to go trapping on the
upper waters of the Otter and its branches as soon as harvest and
hog-killing should be over and the winter really set in. Lot had several
steel traps which had belonged to his father, and Enoch was likewise
supplied. Both had canoes, but they agreed to use Enoch's only, as one
was all they cared to "pack" over the portage to the upper Otter.