TELLS OF A RIDE THROUGH THE WILDERNESS AND OF HOW TICONDEROGA’S GUNS
BEGAN THEIR JOURNEY
For two days Ezra Prentiss was burdened with the thought of what he had
done. His friends wondered at his pale face and dejected manner; they
questioned him, but could get nothing but evasive replies.
But one morning as the lad arose he determined to have done with it all.
“If I have misserved the colonies,” said he, “I am not fitted to be at
liberty.”
Within an hour he was at the quarters of General Putnam; and a few
moments later found him in the presence of that bluff warrior.
“Well,” inquired Putnam, who was still at breakfast, “and what is it
now, Master Prentiss, that you should be so intent of face?”
Ezra, in as few words as possible, told his story. Putnam went on with
his breakfast, listening and making no comment. When the tale was done
he leaned back in his chair and looked at the lad with pursed lips.
“The situation was a pretty one,” said he. “It was do your stern duty
and send your grandsire to his death; or allow him to go free and those
two rascals with him. In the same position,” continued he, a twinkle in
his eye, “I should have been tempted to do as you have done, and no
doubt I should have done it.”
“But do you not see what danger I have placed this mission of Colonel
Knox in?” cried the lad.
“I must say that I do not,” said Putnam, good-humoredly, as he
recommenced upon his breakfast. “Ticonderoga and Crown Point are in the
hands of our people and are well guarded. There are not enough British
troops in Canada to make an advance upon them; and for Gage to do
anything is out of the question.
“The only thing that could be done would be a secret expedition by this
man Abdallah and any followers that he might have. And even that would
be so difficult as to make it all but impossible. So make your mind
easy, my lad. You have done no great harm.”
Ezra went surprisedly from the presence of Putnam. But he was not
satisfied, and at once sought Colonel Knox at Washington’s headquarters.
This young soldier listened to the boy’s frankly told story. When it was
done, he said with a smile:
“Perhaps this will hasten our departure a trifle, but that is all. Don’t
worry about what you have done. Under the circumstances your action was
perfectly natural. None of us is a Brutus. All of us would find it hard,
I hope, to give up those nearest to us to death.”
But for all that Colonel Knox thought that the advent of the spies would
hasten his movements, the start was not made until the following month.
During the interim, Ezra suffered keenly. A dozen times the delay seemed
more than he could endure. His imagination teemed with pictures of
happenings at the two strongholds in the wilderness; in his sleep he saw
parties of British take them a score of times; he witnessed the sinking
of the heavy guns in the depths of the lake; he saw Abdallah’s and Jason
Collyer’s grins of derision at his frantic, dream-heavy efforts to
prevent this; and always he’d awake crying out to his friends to come to
his aid.
More than once he reached the point, in his desperation, of saddling his
horse with the idea of setting out alone.
“If I ride on in advance, I may be able to spoil any plan that they may
have laid,” he told himself.
But each time, second thought showed him how profitless such an effort
would be. He must wait for Colonel Knox, if he was to be of any value.
Alone he could accomplish nothing.
His heart leaped one evening when he received word that the expedition
would start early next morning. At the time the intelligence reached him
he was standing within the Roxbury works, watching the cannonade of the
British, which had broken out from shore batteries and shipping a short
time before. The roar of the guns was in perfect harmony with the
exultation that filled the boy’s breast.
“At last,” he cried to Ben Cooper, who had brought the news, “at last
I’ll have a chance to do something.”
Ben, like the other boys, had heard nothing of Ezra’s experience upon
the night at “The Honest Farmer”; so now he stared in wonderment at his
friend’s display of feeling. But as Ezra made no explanation, the other
asked no questions; however, he now and then stole a curious look at the
flushed boy at his side.
“Something’s wrong,” Ben told himself. “I’ve noticed that he’s acted
very queerly of late. Whatever it is, it’s got a deep hold on him, for I
don’t remember ever seeing him look just this way before.”
At sunrise next morning a well-equipped troop of horse was drawn up
before Colonel Knox’s quarters. Beside Ezra, Nat, Ben, George and
Scarlett, there were a dozen hardy young fellows whose bold faces and
stalwart frames told of a willingness to face hardship and the power to
endure it. They were all armed with rifle and pistol; axes hung at their
saddles; heavy coats and blankets for use amid the rigors of the North
country were strapped securely behind them.
When Knox at last appeared and mounted, the troop rode to Washington’s
quarters. Here both the commander-in-chief and General Putnam reviewed
them.
After nodding his approval of both the party’s appearance and equipment,
Washington said:
“How long shall you be on the way?”
“I calculated some two weeks for the going, general,” replied the young
colonel. “But we shall be longer upon the return trip, for then we shall
have the guns.”
Putnam laughed at this confident answer. A flicker of a smile crossed
Washington’s grave face; but there was a light of satisfaction in his
eyes as he said:
“That you will have them, colonel, I feel sure.”
Following the example of the officers, the troop saluted; then at the
word, they wheeled and went at a swinging pace through the streets of
Cambridge.
The way north was rough—sometimes even trackless. But there was with the
party a youth of the name of Bennet, who had been one of Allan’s Green
Mountain Boys, and had been with that gallant leader at the taking of
the two strongholds of the North. He knew every mile of the way, was of
vast service in pointing out fords, locating towns, and picking short
ways through the forests and hills.
Sometimes they passed the nights at isolated villages; at others they
camped in sheltered spots and rolled themselves in their blankets upon
the ground. The air grew chiller as the days went by; and as they
approached the cold lake regions it grew more so. Their heavy coats and
warmer clothing felt very comfortable by the time the first snow fell.
“And now,” said Colonel Knox one morning to Ezra, as he surveyed the
wild, snow-covered stretch before him with no little satisfaction, “is
the time to collect our sledges. Horses or oxen we shall also want; and
men to drive them would not be at all amiss.”
The troop was that day split up into parties with orders to make a sweep
of the region for sledges and teams as they advanced. They covered a
good dozen miles of country in their progress and from the first luck
was with them. Sledges were to be had with gratifying frequency, also
teams of oxen and shaggy, powerful looking horses. Young backwoodsmen
willing to venture upon the journey as drivers were also to be found.
Faint echoes of the war had reached them in their remote villages; to
see a troop of uniformed men belonging to the army of their country gave
them a thrill of expectancy and filled them with a desire to go where
the issue of the battle was drawn, where blows were being struck, and
the far-off King defied.
Ezra Prentiss, Ben Cooper and Scarlett formed one party of sledge
hunters. The section given them to cover was rough and boulder-strewn,
with only here and there a dirt road or path. Houses were infrequent and
clearings in the thick woods rarer still. It was a country of trappers
and hunters rather than of farmers; now and then one of these hardy
fellows was seen making a tour of his traps or wading in a cold stream
with the fresh pelts of fur-bearing animals hanging from his belt.
Once, however, they heard the distant ring of an axe; they made their
way through a thick growth of timber and came upon a log house where a
young woman and child were visible. Some little distance off a young man
was seen cutting down a tree. When they approached him and made their
errand known, he looked surprised.
“You’ve been through this section before, haven’t you?” he asked.
“No,” replied Ezra.
The look of surprise upon the young man’s face deepened.
“That’s queer,” he said. “Tom Hadley, who lives down the creek aways,
was in Skenesboro a couple of weeks ago for provisions; and he met a man
who inquired about sledges and offered to buy up all that he could get.”
A shock ran through Ezra.
“Did Hadley say what kind of a man he was?” he asked.
“Yes; he was tall and well made. And Tom said he looked like some kind
of a foreigner.”
Ezra felt sure that it was Abdallah, but desired to make sure.
“He was a rough spoken kind of a man too, I suppose,” he insinuated.
But the backwoodsman shook his head.
“No,” he replied. “It was just the other way. Tom says the man was the
smoothest talker and had the softest ways of any man he ever struck.”
“They are ahead of us,” thought Ezra in a sort of panic. “They will have
secured all the sledges and horses—we will be left helpless to do
anything.”
But that night when the troop drew together at the point named for the
camp, the boy found Colonel Knox very well pleased indeed. Five drivers
had been picked up, three span of oxen and some half dozen heavy
sledges.
When Ezra told him what he had heard, Colonel Knox said:
“They seem very enterprising; but we have no occasion for worry, for
they seem to be meeting with little success. And even did they collect
all the sledges on the route, don’t forget that we could change our
route. Another thing; there is plenty of timber; we could build our own
sledges, if put to it.”
Ezra saw the truth of this. But still he could not help a feeling of
fear, for he knew that Abdallah was a man of resource and daring; and
what a person of that sort would do next was never to be guessed.
When they reached Shoreham, Colonel Knox had collected forty-two sledges
in all. These were at once hauled across the frozen lake to the fort and
the officer in charge made acquainted with the nature of the expedition.
No time was lost by the energetic Knox. The very next day he set to work
selecting what cannon he thought would be required, both at Ticonderoga
and Crown Point. His band of hardy adventurers, ably assisted by the
little garrison of the forts, loaded these securely upon the sledges. In
all there were thirteen brass and twenty-six iron cannon; eight brass
and six iron mortars. Also there were twenty-three hundred pounds of
lead for bullets, and a barrel of flints.
All was ready one night and as Colonel Knox desired to have nothing
delay him, he gave the order to move at once.
“To-night,” he said, “the ice upon the lake will bear us. To-morrow
morning it may be so that we could not venture across.”
[Illustration: NO TIME WAS LOST BY KNOX]
The oxen were being yoked and the horses harnessed to the sledges when
Ezra approached his commander with a salute.
“Colonel,” said he, anxiously, “would it not be well to send out an
advance? The ice, even now, may not be as safe as you think.”
There was something in his tone that attracted Knox’s attention.
“What has made you think that?” asked he.
Ezra flushed in the light of the pine torches.
“Since the night of which I told you,” said he, “I have been so anxious
that my nerves and senses often play me false. It may be so now, but a
while ago,” and his eyes went out across the frozen stretch of water,
striving to pierce the darkness that overhung it, “I thought I saw a
glimmer of light out there.”
“It was probably the ice throwing back the flashing of the torches,”
said Colonel Knox. “But,” kindly, “if you have any doubts in the matter
it would be as well to settle them at once. Suppose you take a few men
and look about before we start with the guns.”
“Thank you, colonel,” said the lad, gratefully, “I shall do so.”
He at once called together Nat, Ben Cooper, Scarlett and his brother
George.
“See to your arms,” he said, quietly. And as they examined the priming
of rifle and pistol, he continued: “We are going to cross the lake in
the most direct route. Let no one speak unless compelled to; and even
then, not above a whisper.”
All five left the circle of light and advanced across the ice. They had
pulled heavy moccasins over their boots upon approaching the lake in the
first place, in order to secure their footing upon the smooth surface;
these now deadened their footfalls as they carefully made their way
along.
Almost two-thirds of the distance had been traversed when Ezra suddenly
paused. His outstretched hands brought the others to a halt also.
“Hark!” said Ezra, softly.
All stood motionless for a time. At length Nat Brewster whispered:
“I fancied that I heard something, but I could not make out what it
was.”
Here Nat felt Ezra’s hand close over his arm in a powerful grip. At once
he became silent and all stood bending forward, listening once more.
From some distance across the ice came a faint, rasping noise. Now and
then a quicker and heavier sound reached them. It was as though blows
were being struck.
“Do you understand?” breathed Ezra. “Some one is cutting through the
ice! It’s a trap! The sledges are to cross this way.”
The sharp hissing of indrawn breaths told him that they appreciated the
situation.
“That rasping, now, is made by a saw,” said Scarlett, guardedly. “I can
see their plan, whoever they are. And a rarely pretty one it is. They
will saw, in part, a stretch of ice that we were almost sure to cross.
When we reached it, the ice would give way, and we, perhaps, but the
cannon surely, would go to the bottom of the lake.”
“Ready with your rifles,” whispered Ezra.
Softly they stole forward. Clearer and clearer grew the sounds, and
finally they were able to discern a dozen or more laboring forms in the
darkness.
“Now,” said Ezra, as he sank to one knee and threw his rifle forward,
“fire when I give the word.”
His comrades crouched beside him, their weapons leveled. And just then
there came the gentle voice of Abdallah through the dimness.
“I think this will be a surprise, Jason Collyer. What do you say?”
A chuckling laugh followed this, apparently from the ferret-faced young
man. And just then Ezra spoke the word, the five rifles rang out and a
chorus of shrieks rang out in the stillness. There was a huddle of
falling men, a scattering of others, then Ezra shouted:
“The pistols!”
Like lightning the heavy pistols were drawn; angrily they spat their
messengers into the darkness in the direction of the running feet. From
the direction of Ticonderoga came a swirl of moving lights. Then a score
of men hurried up, Colonel Knox at their head; and their flaring torches
lit up the scene.
“You were right, then,” said Knox as he took in the situation at a
glance. “And it was just such a trap as we would have walked into
blindly.”
A half hour later, the sledges, with their precious burden of guns,
crossed the lake at a point higher up; and away they trailed through the
wilderness, over the snow, while behind them, among the others, lay
Jason Collyer and Abdallah, their darkened eyes turned up toward the
starless sky.