THE STORM CLOUD GATHERS
Enoch scarce knew Bryce after his winter's absence. The younger boy had
felt the responsibility of his position as head of the family pro tem
and although he had lost none of his cheeriness and love of action, he
had gained some cautiousness. His care for little Henry and the girls
was delightful and Mrs. Harding was undoubtedly proud of him. Although
kept at home almost continually by his duties, Bryce had been able to
trap enough beavers to buy the rifle which he had long wanted and on the
first training day after the roads dried up in the spring, he went with
Enoch to Bennington and was enrolled in Captain Baker's company.
And during this year of '74 the train bands became of more importance
than ever before. While in Boston and in other cities of the colonies,
meetings were held in secret and companies of minute men were drilled by
stealth, here in the Grants the Whigs trained openly, and the reason for
it was known, too. The course of the foolish King and his ministers was
widening the breach between the mother country and the American colonies
until, when the Continental Congress met on September 5th of this year,
royal authority was suspended almost everywhere but in the New York
Colony. Within its confines were the strongest and most influential
Tories, while the Dutch, who made up a goodly share of the population,
although becoming good patriots in the end and warmly supporting the
struggling nation which was born of that Congress, were phlegmatic of
nature and slow to rouse.
During these months so pregnant with coming trouble, the controversy
between the land jobbers and the Grants waned but little. The Yorkers
had received so many sharp lessons, however, that they were careful to
attack no settlers who were within reach of assistance from any body of
Green Mountain Boys. And as Allen, Warner, and Cochran had many
"hide-outs" in the hills, where they kept munitions of war and to which
they summoned their followers by means which actually seemed to savor of
the Black Art to their enemies, it was difficult for the Yorkers to know
where it was really safe to carry on their attacks against the peaceful
grantees. Being "viewed" became a most serious matter indeed, and many a
luckless surveyor or other underling of the sheriff of Albany, carried
the blue-seal of the Green Mountain Boys upon his person for months
after an unexpected meeting with those rangers of the forest.
But the Yorkers kept away from Benningford and the surrounding district.
More farms had been taken up there by Hampshire grantees than in other
parts of the disputed ground and the reign of the Green Mountain Boys
was supreme. The Hardings had been very happy since the building of the
new house, and, as there had been a school established in the vicinity,
the girls and Harry attended for six months in the year. Kate had grown
to be a tall girl and looked like her mother, while Mary and Harry were
becoming of considerable use outside of, as well as in, the house.
Enoch and Bryce cleared a piece of woodland that year and late in the
fall there was another stump-burning. 'Siah Bolderwood came down from
his "farm" near Old Ti to join in the festivities; but several of the
young people who had attended the stump-burning three years before were
not present. Robbie Baker was up north with his father, and Lot
Breckenridge had moved away from the vicinity of Bennington; Crow Wing
did not come to try his skill at wrestling with Enoch, so the latter sat
by with 'Siah as one of the judges, for he was older than the other
contestants. Lot's mother had married a man named Lewis who owned and
worked a farm much nearer the Connecticut River, in the town of
Westminster, and after his return from their winter's trapping the
spring before, Lot had gone across the mountains to work for his
stepfather.
Lot had always been his dearest friend and Enoch missed him sorely, and
as he could not go trapping with him this winter, he agreed to visit
Westminster for a fortnight or so, some time during the idle months. It
was March when he started to cross the range and although the roads were
still full of snow, he went horseback. A sleigh was a luxury that few
Bennington people owned, although Nuck might have hitched the old
wood-sled to Dobbin. He spent one night at a farmer's on the road, and
was welcomed at supper time the next evening at the Lewis house.
"Zuckers!" exclaimed Lot, running out to drag his friend off his horse,
"I tell ye, I'm glad to see ye! And so'll marm be--if the young uns
don't bother her too much. There's three Lewis young uns, too, besides
the baby, and I tell ye, they're a wild lot. I'd rayther tackle them
wolves that you'n Crow Wing got mixed up with last winter. Seen the
Injin since?"
"Not since I sent him home with more money than he had ever seen before
in his life," replied Enoch.
"Very foolish of you! We might have had some of his pelts just as well's
not."
"You don't mean that, Lot," said Enoch, who knew that young Breckenridge
talked a deal more recklessly than he really felt.
"Well, never mind all that," said Lot. "Tell me the news. What's goin'
on 'tother side the mountings? Did ye know that lots more red-coats had
come to Boston? And they say--leastways, a pedlar that come through here
told us so last week--that the Boston folks have got a lot of guns and
ammunition stored in the country towns and the minute men are drilling
day and night. Do you s'pose there'll be war there, Nuck?"
"If the Massachusetts people feel like we do here in the Grants,
there'll be fighting," said Enoch, his eyes flashing. "What d'you
suppose would happen if troops were quartered on us?"
"I'm goin' to Boston if there's a fight," declared his friend. "Mr.
Lewis says I can. He's a nice man--marm's second husband--and he's
strong for the Grants, too. He's got a Hampshire title. But there's lots
of Tories around here. The court's goin' to sit next week an' there'll
be trouble then, mark my word. Lots of the cases these Tories have
hatched up against our people are goin' to be tried, an' the Whigs ain't
goin' to stand it. Judge Chandler ain't so bad a man; but Judge Sabin
and the others are dead set ag'in all our folks. They say the sheriff
has sworn in a big lot of deperties. Mebbe you'll see some fun before
you go back to Bennington, Nuck."
As Lot's idea of "fun" was pretty sure to be a scrimmage of some kind,
it can be easily seen how strained the relations were then between the
Whigs and the Tory court of the district. Whereas Tories and Whigs had
lived at peace before, now they became bitter in controversy and even
families were divided upon the questions of the hour.
Enoch found Lot's stepfather to be a very quiet, pleasant man, who made
it a point to be at harmony with all his neighbors, yet whose personal
feelings and opinions as a Whig were well known. Lot delighted in being
where the older men of the community discussed the trend of public
affairs and it was due to him that Enoch, the second night after his
arrival, gained some little notoriety in Westminster by an encounter he
had at the Royal Inn, kept by one John Norton.
The tap-room and parlors of the inn were occupied every evening at this
time by the men of Westminster, and by certain visitors who had, for
some days, been gathering for the meeting of the General Court. And all
these visitors were not attorneys, or plaintiffs and defendants in the
several cases which would come up for hearing before their Worships the
justices. The sheriff was already at Westminster and there were more
armed men about the town than had ever been seen there before at one
time. Until the closing hour earnest discussions were carried on in the
inn, for although the Royal, or "Norton's house" as it was called, was
the headquarters of the Tories, many Whigs frequented it, too.
Naturally, the young men and half-grown boys wished to listen on the
outskirts of these groups, and Lot Breckenridge was desirous of hearing
all that went on. Enoch went with him to the inn rather against his
will. Mistress Harding did not approve of such places for youths and
Enoch had not grown so old or so big as to wish to disobey his mother,
or even to believe that she was less able to guide him than she had
formerly been.
The inn was well filled, indeed, that night and Master Norton was
bustling about from group to group, dropping a word here and another
there, determined to keep all his guests pleased as maybe; for despite
his Tory principles, the innkeeper was first for his own pocket and
would not antagonize any man knowingly. Mine Host was particularly
attentive to a party of ten or a dozen gentlemen who, having eaten, now
sat grouped before one of the fires engaged in earnest, and somewhat
noisy, conversation. The figure of the sheriff was the centre of this
group.
Lot and Enoch stood with other young men within ear-shot and heard many
remarks which plainly showed the affiliation of the sheriff and his
friends to the Tory cause; and the party had dined so well that they
were not particularly careful to modulate their voices so that others in
the vicinity who might be of a different mind, should not overhear them.
The sheriff was a pompous man who, when he spoke, commanded the
attention of all about him. The dignity of his office rode him hard and
his companions deferred to him almost servilely, for at that day such an
officer was held in great reverence, especially by the King's adherents.
"These malcontents who would question the right of the King to govern
them, should be punished, every man Jack of them!" the sheriff declared,
looking about fiercely at his auditors. "I care not who they are, nor
how high they stand. That Dr. Warren and Mr. Otis of Boston are
gentlemen of education and position I grant ye; but they should feel the
heavy hand of the law nevertheless--yes, sir! And some of these fellows
who have gone to Philadelphia and are making such a rumpus there--they
should be taught their place!"
"That they should, Master Sheriff!" cried one of his supporters.
"The King's men treated that Otis just right some months back," growled
another--a man who sat back in the shadow of the high mantel and wore a
cloak, the high collar of which half muffled his face. At the speech of
this one Enoch, who had been dragging at the sleeve of his companion to
get him away, ceased this and pushed forward himself. Something in the
tone of the last speaker's voice had attracted his attention and he
strove to see his features.
"They should be whipped--every man Jack of them!" cried the sheriff,
repeating his favorite expression.
"Better let Ethan Allen and his boys beech-seal them, eh, Sir Sheriff?"
cried some Whig on the outskirts of the group, and a laugh was raised
among those of like feeling.
"We shall settle that villain Allen--we shall settle him, sir!" declared
the sheriff, angrily. "The Honorable Court will punish these fellows who
retain their lands without proper authority from the King and our
Governor. There will be an overturn in these Grants ere long--mark my
word, sir!"
"The dogs should be driven back to Massachusetts and Connecticut--where
they came from," growled the man with the cloak.
"That's true!" exclaimed several of the group.
"Aye, and the time approaches when it may be done," cried the sheriff.
"But what think you Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, 'Member, and the rest of
the boys will be doing, Sir Sheriff?" demanded the same Whig who had
before spoken.
"They'll be clapped into Albany jail--that's what will become of them!"
declared the sheriff.
"And a right good place for them," said he of the cloak. Enoch was still
maneuvring to get a sight of this man, but the shadow of the high mantel
was cast across his face. All the boy could see was the gleam of his
eyes as he turned with an angry gesture toward the audience. "The
boldness of these outlaws is astonishing."
"That Allen appears to have many followers," suggested a mild mannered
man beside the sheriff.
"He is a bully; they fear him!" declared the former speaker, vigorously.
"How is that, John Norton?" cried the Whig, who evidently was a bold man
to so flout the sheriff and his friends. "You know Colonel Allen
personally. Should you call him a bully and say that he governs men by
fear?"
"Not I!" exclaimed the innkeeper. "And saving your presence, sheriff, it
would be a man of some stomach who would dare say that to Ethan Allen's
face. As for these same Green Mountain Boys, it is not fear that keeps
them together."
"I tell you they are a set of masterless villains!" cried the dark man,
turning angrily about so that at last the collar of his cloak fell back.
"They should be driven out of the colony and their houses burned to the
ground----"
Suddenly he stopped. His harsh voice died to a whisper and his
astonished companions looked at him in amazement. For a moment he seemed
to have been frozen in his chair, and their eyes following his glance
fell upon the white and angry face of Enoch Harding who had pushed
through the ring of listeners. "And it is you who would set the torch to
their homes!" exclaimed the youth, his voice shaking. "You already have
one count of the kind against you, and if you ever come to Bennington
again there'll be more than a beech-sealing awaiting you--you villain!"
Some of the crew sprang up in astonishment, and some in anger. "Who is
that bold rascal, landlord?" demanded the sheriff. "Bring him here."
But Lot had fairly dragged the angry Enoch to the door and now pushed
him out of the inn. "What's the matter with you, Nuck?" he demanded.
"D'you want to get us all into trouble?"
"That's Simon Halpen!" exclaimed Enoch, panting with excitement. "I'd
have flown at his throat in another moment."
"Zuckers!" exclaimed Lot. "The feller that burned down your marm's
house? Don't blame ye for bein' mad. But ye don't wanter stir up a fuss
here. Our game is ter lay low and let the Tories start the row if
they're minded to. You'll see. Mr. Lewis an' some others is goin' to see
the judges to-morrow an' try to keep the court from sittin'. They'll
sure be trouble if the Tories bring our people before the court. We
can't git no fair trial, so we won't be tried at all."
Enoch was very silent on the way back to Lot's house. The shock of
seeing Simon Halpen again after all this time, had stirred the youth
greatly. Despite the fact that the villain was so far away from the
Walloomscoik, and would probably not dare go near Bennington, Enoch
could not help feeling troubled by the circumstance of his presence
within the borders of the Grants. And he was glad that 'Siah Bolderwood
had promised to remain at or near the Hardings' home while he, Enoch,
was at Westminster.
Under Lot's advice the two boys said nothing of the little scene at the
inn and the next morning Mr. Lewis went with other stable men of the
town to call upon the justices who would preside at the court when it
met. The feeling between Whigs and Tories was so strong that all
peace-loving men feared bloodshed. At the first blow a terrible civil
war might begin--a war in which neighbor would engage with neighbor and
the community be utterly ruined. And if the court sat and tried the
cases against those settlers who refused to purchase New York titles to
their lands, or to leave their homes at the order of the sheriff and his
deputies, the battle would begin. Nobody could doubt that.
Despite the fact that the offices were held by the Tories, the Whigs
were greatly in the majority. And this majority declared the will of the
people should be upheld, and that will was that no court should sit
until matters quieted down and the heat had gone out of the political
veins of the community. They presented this matter strongly to the
judges and warned them of what might be expected if the court undertook
to sit at Westminster. Although staunch Tories, the judges were
impressed by what was told them by the committee; Justice Chandler,
indeed, gave his word that nothing should be done toward convening the
court until time had been given the people to cool down. It was
promised, too, that the sheriff and his men should not be given a free
hand in the town.
With these assurances from Judge Chandler the committee of Whigs
returned. To make sure that the sheriff, who with his men were spending
every day and night at the Royal Inn, did not seize the court-house in
defiance of the people's will, the Whigs sent a guard to that building
on the evening of the 13th--the day before that set for the convening of
the court. This guard, however, was armed only with clubs, and was set
to keep the troublesome factions of both parties in order, and was
recruited from among the better affected families of the town. Lot
Breckenridge and Enoch were allowed by Mr. Lewis to join these
volunteers.