University of Virginia Library

6. CHAPTER VI.

One of the most considerable openings in the
wilderness in the northwestern part of the New
Hampshire Grants, at the period of our story, was
at the Lower Falls of Otter Creek, at the head of the
lake navigation of that stream, and on, and around
that fine and fertile swell of land, now occupied as
the site of the pleasant and flourishing village, to
which, as before mentioned, the more dignified
name of city has long since been legally applied;—
though not without sometimes eliciting, probably,
from the traveller, approaching the place with the
expectations which the appellation would naturally
raise, a feeling somewhat akin, perhaps, to that
which might be experienced on hearing the address
of My Lord, applied to some urchin scion of nobility,
at marbles, in his first jacket and trowsers. A
pitch had been made on this spot, some years before,

by one or more of the New Hampshire patentees, a
saw and grist mill erected, and a large piece of forest
felled, and partially cleared; when the whole
tract, embracing the falls and all the improvements,
was purchased of some of the York land jobbers by
one colonel Reed. Reed had been the commander
of a regiment of Scotch Highlanders, that came
over with general Wolf, and was engaged with his
army in that memorable battle which gave Quebec
and the Canadas to the British crown. This regiment
having been subsequently disbanded, the Colonel,
still continuing in the new world, and, in his
intercourse between Canada and New York, becoming
acquainted with the Vermont lands, entered
into the speculations then going forward, and made
the purchase as above stated. Finding his new purchase
already in the occupancy of the New Hampshire
grantees, and not inclining to be bothered with
the delays of a civil process by the York authorities
to put him in possession, what should this military
land speculator do, but repair immediately to Montreal,
and, collecting a file of his old disbanded soldiers,
go on, armed and provisioned, to conquer and
keep, and forcibly drive the occupants from the
ground, taking possession of the mills, lumber and
all other improvements? After making ample provisions
for continuing the improvement of his purchase,
he left it to be managed and defended by the
men who came on with him, placed under the command
of one of his old fear-naught Highlanders, by
the name of Donald McIntosh, formerly a brave
and trusty sargeant in his regiment, to whom he
now delivered written military instructions, setting
forth the manner in which the improvements were
to be conducted, and the post defended against any,
or all, who should offer to intrude on the premises.
The Colonel, being a shrewd man, and a close observer
of character, national as well as individual,
and well knowing that the inherent respect of
Scotchmen for discipline, and the orders of a superior,
would ensure him more determined defenders
of his possessions, as well as more faithful laborers
in their improvement, than all the rewards, bribes,
or other inducements he could offer, had thrown
over the whole transaction the apperrance of a military
service. And hiring his men at the monthly
compensation they had formerly received as soldiers,
and terming it an enlistment during the war, and
conducting them to their post under the discipline
to which they had been accustomed in the army, he
had the address to make these men, not the most
intelligent certainly, honestly believe that they were
acting under their old commander in a military capacity
only, and were really in the service of the
king, to whom this settlement, they were told, was
in a state of rebellion. And right faithfully and
rigidly did the straight going Donald, ever continuing
to act under these impressions, execute the trust
committed to his charge. Immediately proceeding
to throw up a large log house, and enclose a yard
around it with a heavy, compact fence of hewn timber,
he soon gave the post such an impregnable and
threatening aspect as effectually deterred the former
occupants from attempting, with any force they
could rally in the neighborhood, to dislodge the intruders.
And after watching awhile, and seeing no
diminution of the strength of their antagonists, or
relaxation of their caution, these ejected and plundred
settlers, who happened to be among the less
spirited of their countrymen, at length pretty much
relinquished the hope of regaining their possessions,
except in a favorable termination of the negociation
still going forward at intervals between the settlers
and the government of New York.

In this manner, for nearly two years, did the minions
of Reed hold, and manage these valuable possessions,
clearing land, raising crops and exporting
lumber and other products, without being at all molested
by the settlers, or the attending circumstances
being known, indeed, to those who had exercised
any general agency in resisting the aggressions of
the Yorkers. At length, however, the tranquility of
the intruders became accidentally endangered. Ira
Allen, the Green Mountain Metternich of after times,
and one of the cabinet council of those we are describing,
coming through this section on his return to
his residence in Bennington from an excursion to
the Winooski river, sought lodgings on a stormy
December night at the quarters of Mc Intosh and
his men—a call which came near costing the former
his life at the outset: For, while he was unsuspectingly
knocking, for admission, the wary Scotchman,
who had been accustomed to consider all his foes, who
did not give the watchword, noiselessly opened the
door wide enough to protrude one arm, and made
several desperate lunges at his body, hit or miss,
with a naked sabre. Providentially, however, the
weapon, missing the body, only wounded the great
coat of the traveller, who, at last succeeding in making
the other believe that he wanted nothing more
than a shelter for the night, was now admitted, and
entertained till next morning. This singular reception,
as well as the odd and warlike appearance of
every thing connected with the establishment, awakened
the curiosity and excited the suspicions of Allen,

who, from the information he obtained by
pumping the cautious Donald, and making inquiries
of the settlers before leaving the vicinity, returned
home in possession of the full history of the case.
And the consequence was, that before many months
a small hand of Green Mountain Boys came on
from the south, and finding no one about the premises,
were proceeding to clear the house and yard of
all they contained; when the occupants, who had
been at work in the woods, returned, and after holding
a council of war a short distance from the house,
made such a furious charge with fixed bayonets on
the new comers, that they, little dreaming of so warlike
an onsent, were fairly routed from the works, and
were compelled to decamp amidst the victorious shouts
of the elated Highlanders. Chagrined and vexed at
the result of this attempt, the Green Mountain Boys,
early the next spring, set on foot another expedition
for dispersing these military tenants of the usurping
Colonel. And for this, among other objects, Warrington
and his companions were now on their way
to the spot.

It was not till an advanced hour in the afternoon
of the day which commenced by the adventures related
in the last chapter, that our band arrived at
the outskirts of the singularly guarded possession just
described. Their force, swelled by the numbers who
had joined them on the last part of their rout, now
amounted to about a dozen men. They halted in
the woods, adjoining the clearing, for the purpose of
consultation with a view to fix on the best mode of
attacking the place, which they were not without hope
of carrying by surprise. They had scarcely commenced
discussing these points, however, before
their attention was arrested by two quickly successive

reports of fire arms, proceeding from a thicket on
the opposite side of the creek.

`What will you bate I don't know the bark of
that dog, Captain?' exclaimed Jones, tipping one of
his comical winks to his superior.

`Aha! who do you suspect, Jones?' asked Warrington
with a look of interest.

`Why I shouldn't like to make bodily oath of it,
besure,' replied the other, but unless my car lies like
the mischief, one of those popping noises over there
was the voice of an old acquaintance.'

`To the point, man, if you possibly can!' rather
impatiently spoke the leader: `what acquaintance do
you mean?'

`The one that I was introduced to, up on the
lake there last night, asking your pardon, Captain,'
replied Pete, lowering his tone a little under the
slightly rebuking manner of his commander.

`You are in the right, Mr. Jones,' said the other,
kindly, though a flash of anger passed over his face
at the discovery that now burst on his mind; `I see
it all, at last. Those were the reports of a pair of
pistols, and in the hands, too, of that traitorous Sherwood,
who has been hovering round us on our march,
and now fires his pistols as a preconcerted signal, to
give notice of our approach. It is well for the fellow
that he was wise enough to put the creek between
us and himself, before taking this last step.'

`That comes of suffering the scoundrel to go unhanged
last night,' grumbled Brown. `If I had been
the Captain, I would have strung him up to the
limb of a tree like a sheep-killing dog, and left him
kicking in the air.'

`It is not always,' said Warrington, `nor often, I
think, that we find cause to repent of the mercies

we have shown; but this fellow—let him beware!'
he added, knitting his brow, `let him beware how
he is taken again!'

All hope of taking the place by surprise being
now relinquished by our band, it was soon settled,
as the most probable way of accomplishing their object
without bloodshed, which they would gladly avoid,
that a feint should be made in the open field,
with a view of drawing out the enemy from their
works, while the part of their force, not thus to be
engaged, should go round in the woods, and, approaching
in the rear, endeavor to get possession of
the house and enclosure. In pursuance of this plan,
Warrington, taking Selden and two of the men
with him, started off for the purpose of carrying the
last part of the arrangement into execution, leaving
the rest of the force under the command of Jones,
whose genius, it was thought, was calculatad to conduct
the other part of the enterprise now intrusted
to his charge, with orders to advance through the
open grounds towards the house, and adopt such
measures on the way as circumstances might suggest
for bringing about the desired results.

After waiting a sufficient time to allow the other
party to gain a post in the woods in the rear of the
works, Pete, the new commandant, put his men in
motion, and emerging from the bushes, they commenced,
in a wide-spread platoon, their ostentatious
march through the field, in order to attract the attention
of the enemy, supposed to be concealed in
their enclosures at the house. It so happened that,
directly in the course of the advancing party, there
lay a series of large log-heaps, which, either by accident
or design, had been placed, in clearing the land,
very nearly in a straight line, at intervals of about a

dozen rods, beginning near the house and extending
almost to the woods. When the party had arrived
within a few rods of the first log-heap, their attention
was arrested by the sound of a human voice,
issuing from behind it, and, in an eager, suppressed
tone, giving off some brief orders, resembling those
of military command.

`A' ready? up then, an' gie til the louns!' exclaimed
the voice of the unseen leader, in broad
Scotch, as a platoon of armed men suddenly rose from
behind the logs, and, raising their guns breast high,
discharged them full in the faces of the Green Mountain
Boys.

`Noo, right aboot face! and rin as if the deevil
was after ye, as he is, an mair too,' resumed the military
Donald, for it was no other than he and his
men, who had thus been lying in concealment behind
the log-heap, patiently awaiting the approach of their
unsuspecting assailants.

The balls, just clearing the heads of our band,
whistled through the air, and struck with a crash among
the dry limbs of the forest behind them. As
soon as they had recovered from the surprize into
which they had been thrown by the suddenness of
this unexpected attack, they all sprang forward in
the screening smoke of the enemy's fire, and gained
the cover of the log-heap, just relinquished by the
latter for the next one in the line of their defences.

`Well, this is what I should call rather a curious
how-d'ye-do, boys,' coolly said Jones, when they had
gained their shelter; `who would have guessed the
scamps were packed away behind this old log-heap?
But one thing beats my philorsophy—if the bloody
dogs really wanted to give us the lead, (and they
shot dreadful careless if they didn't,) why in natur
didn't they take aim?'

`They are all regular sarvice men,' replied a settler
from the vicinity, `and breast-high is the rule of
firing in the army.'

`Then we may thank the rule for our lives, and
not the pesky fools who used it,' replied the former.
`It would not be a great deal more than right to send
our rifle bullets through the whole tote of 'em. But
I should some rather not kill the sarpents, if we can
get along without; and I guess as how we can, seeing
they were kind enough to sound their rattles before
trying to bite, as that queer old codger did, in
giving off word before they let drive at us. And if
they will go on as they have begun, we'll just be making
our manners when they fire, so that the balls may
pass over us, and then follow 'em up as before—but
hark! the old chap is at it again! going the motions
as regular as the night-mare; there! he has got to
`cock fire-lock!' Now, down with you, boys!'

Jones and his men had scarcely thrown themselves
on to their knees behind their log-heap breast-work,
before another volley of balls, discharged with the
same military precision, whistled over them; and
again the old dry hemlocks that skirted the woods
appeared to be the only sufferers. Again retreating
to their next post, these kilted defenders of the place
were followed up as at first by their crafty assailants,
who were now becoming highly delighted with the
fun of so unique a warfare. And in this manner the
fight, if fight it be called, continued through the
whole field—one party blazing away at random from
every log-heap they reached, and then scudding on
for the next, quite satisfied with this way of doing
their duty of defending these supposed possessions
of the king, since they were conducting their defence,
as they believed, according to military rule: while the

other party, occasionally discharging their pieces into
the air, to keep up the appearance of a hostile pursuit,
and sometimes raising their hats on their ramrods
just high enough above the logs, behind which
they were ensconced, to become visible to their foes
when they fired, that they might be thus encouraged
to continue the sport, were no less content with this
fashion of fighting, as it answered all the objects in
view, without putting them to the necessity of killing
others, and, what was quite as agreeable, without
running any risk of being killed themselves.

But, leaving these belligerents for the present, we
will now follow those who departed to execute the
other part of this novel enterprise.

Keeping within the border of the woods, Warrington
and his attendants soon made the circuit
round the clearing, and arrived at the bank of the
creek, in the rear of the buildings, before the attack
was made on the other detachment. They had scarcely
gained this position, however, before they were
aroused by the rattling of McIntosh's salutatory volley
on their companions, at the other extremity of
the opening. And though the rise of land, which
intervened between them and the scene of action,
prevented them from ascertaining by sight the exact
situation of affairs, yet readily concluding that the
enemy, in full force, had taken the open field, as
had been anticipated, they made for the house with
all possible speed, to get possession of the works before
the occupants could find time to return. On
reaching the enclosure round the house, Warrington,
leaving his men in the rear, went round to the front
side, and, after a moment spent in reconnoitering,
from behind a wood-pile, the parties in the field,
crept up and made an attempt to open the gate.—

But to his disappointment, he soon discovered that
it was securely barred on the inside; while the
noise of some slight movement within apprised him
that the place had not been left wholly unguarded.
On making these discoveries, he immediately retreated
to the rear, without being seen by the enemy.
There, standing beside the wall of the enclosure
and eagerly gazing through a small crevice between
the timbers, he found Selden, who, now turning
with an expressive look, silently beckoned him
to approach. Obeying the sign, Warrington carefully
stepped up to the spot and put his eye to the
aperture, which the other, now yielding the place,
pointed out with his finger; when all that part of
the arena within, which was in front of the house,
was opened to his view. And the object that there
met his eye struck him with scarce less surprise
than what had been just manifested by his more romantic
companion. Near the barricaded entrance
into the yard, instead of a bearded warrior, stood a
young and neatly dressed female, of striking beauty,
holding a musket, and apparently enacting the part
of a sentry to fire an alarm gun, or open the gate
on the signal of her friends. She had evidently
heard the movements of those without, and was
now standing, like a startled fawn, her bosom heaving
with suppressed alarm, her lips slightly drawn
apart, and her head turned in the attitude of intense
listening—all combining to give an air of
charming and picturesque wildness to her whole appearance.
A swarthy faced girl was timidly peeping
from the nearly shut door of the house, to
which, on hearing the noise, she had apparently just
retreated. From the dress and appearance of the
latter, Warrington was but at little loss in tracing
between these two females the relation of mistress
and maid. And now, with a rapid survey of the
situation of the whole interior, as far as could be
seen, he hastily quitted his stand at the crevice and
turned to Selden.

`Isn't she a vision of a creature?' eagerly whispered
the latter, his fine dark eyes sparkling with
animation; `what, in the way of feminine wonders,
will you show us next, Warrington? But
who, and what can she be?'

`I am scarcely wiser than yourself, in that respect.'

`If the other was a Juno, this, I suppose, must
be some warrior sylph of the Green Mountains.'

`Not of the Green Mountains, I suspect,' rejoined
Warrington; `but be she sylph, or satan in
heavenly guise, we must pay her a visit, and have
possession of the works, within ten minutes—the
enemy are on the retreat for the gate, and there is
no time to lose—advance, boys, and lend me your
shoulders for a stepping stone to scale this wall.'

The walls of the enclosure were about ten feet
high, exclusive of the pickets which surmounted
them, and which were formed of stakes three or
four feet long, sharply pointed at the top, and set
into large auger holes, bored in the upper layer of
timber.

Taking his men to a part of the wall in rear of
the house, which would screen them, in their attempt,
from the view of the inmates in front, and
thus afford them a better chance to get over unmolested,
and without causing an alarm to be given
too soon, the leader mounted the shoulders of one
of his men, leaped on to the top of the timbers, and
soon luckily, and without noise, succeeded in

wrenching out pickets enough to give him a ready
ingress. And taking up his rifle from the hands of
those below, and ordering two of them to follow,
and the other, who would have no means of getting
up, to act in concert with Jones, he now swung
himself down upon the ground. In another moment,
Selden and the man he had selected, having
been equally successful, they all three stood undiscovered
on the ground, in the narrow space between
the wall and the back side of the house.

`Well, Selden,' said Warrington, with a humorous
look; `in what manner shall we proceed with
this formidable garrison—by storm or parley?'

`The latter, certainly, unless the storm is to be a
storm of kisses,' replied the other, in the same spirit;
`but seriously, lest the appearance of all of us
at once occasion unnecessary alarm, I would propose
that one of us go forward alone, for this purpose.'

`Yours shall be the chance, then, of displaying
your bravery, gallantry or diplomacy, as the case
may require, in treating with the fair commander.'

`Thank'ee captain.'

`But have a caution, sir—remember, that other
things sometimes inflict wounds besides leaden bullets!'

`O, borrow no trouble on my account, on either
score,' gaily responded Selden, as he disappeared
round the corner of the house, on his delicate mission.

The merry boast of the last speaker, however,
had, but for his good fortune, been a vain one: For
the next moment after he passed out of the sight
of his friends, the stunning report of a musket saluted
their ears, while a bullet whistled by them and

buried itself in the wall of the enclosure, a few feet
from where they stood. Instantly springing forward
toward the scene of action, they found Selden
standing in mute surprise, but unhurt, a few
yards in front of the house, and as many rods
from the mad girl, who, in the suddenness of the
alarm and trepidation that seized her, as she accidentally
turned round and unexpectedly beheld an
enemy within the enclosure and approaching her,
had just committed the half involuntary, half frenzied
act of discharging at him a well loaded musket,
whose fatal contents he had but narrowly escaped.
For a moment there was a dead pause, during which
neither of the parties stirred from their respective
positions, being nearly invisible to each other in the
smoke which was rising in eddying whirls between
them. Soon, however, the light and airy form of
the warrior damsel became visible to her astonished
besiegers. There, pale, agitated, and almost frantic
with conflicting emotions, she still stood, as if
chained to the spot, holding with convulsive grasp
the yet smoking musket, and apparently scarcely
less frightened at what she had done than for her
own personal safety.

After gazing an instant with increasing consternation
and alarm as she beheld the now threbled
number of the enemy, she suddenly threw down
her gun, and made a desperate push to unbar the
gate.

`Nay, nay! lady,' exclaimed Warrington, leaping
forward to her side, and placing his hands firmly
upon the bars; `this we cannot suffer now,
though we intend you no harm,' he continued, in
a gentler tone; `but you had better retire—this is
no place for one of your sex. Mr. Selden, will
you conduct her into the house?'

`Touch me not!' half shrieked the baffled and
maddened girl, shrinking from the touch of Selden,
who now approached, and offered to lead her to
the house; `touch me not, villain—monster!'

`Be calm—calm your fears, dear lady!' said Selden,
in a soothing and respectful tone, `will you
hear me? Will you look me in the face? There!
do I appear like a villain? now hear me: although
we may try to restore these possessions to their former,
and, as we believe, rightful owners, yet, in doing
this, we would not willingly injure a single man
of the defenders—much less a female. Be prevailed
on, then, to retire, and I pledge myself, on the honor
of a gentleman, that no hair of your head shall
be injured.'

During this address, the kind and tender manner
of which seemed to strike unexpectedly on
her ears, she turned, and looking full upon the
manly and handsome face of Selden, a change
passed over her agitated countenance. Her over-tasked
nerves gave way, and her assumed nature
melting away into its original softness, like a storm of
March dissolving into the tears of April, she burst
into a fit of hysteric weeping, and now suffered herself
to be conducted unresistingly into the house.

By this time Donald and his men who, on hearing
the report of the musket just fired, as they were
making a stand behind the last logheap of their line
of defences, hastily discharged a parting round at
the enemy and fled for the works, had reached the
enclosure; and the former was now vociferating the
watchword, and rattling away at the gate, for admittance.
Meanwhile Jones with his detachment, being
apprised that his friends were in possession of the
works by a handkerchief which the latter had, as a preconcerted

signal, hung on a corner picket, rushed on
after the retreating Scotchmen on their way to the
gate, intending to follow them so closely that they
should have no time to reload their guns before they
could be compelled to surrender.

Looking round and seeing his foes close upon
him, McIntosh redoubled his clamor to get in.

`O, why dinna ye open the gaet?' exclaimed the
impatient and distressed Highlander, still ignorant
that any others were within than those he left there;
`thae feckfu' deevils are hard at our heels. Och!
oigh! Jessy, Jessy Reed! is it my ain colonel's
dochter that wad be doylt at sic a time? An' Zilpah,
is your mistress dead, or ye a' fear't an' fasht
thegither, that ye nae ken the coming o' us?'

`Your ladies are all safe in the house, my honest
friend,' cried out Warrington in reply, `but your
quarters are now in possession of other hands.
You had better surrender, Sir, as it will be of little
use to contend against those who are now too strong
for you, both within and without.'

The astonishment and dismay of the simple minded
Scotchman at the discovery, that his foes had
obtained a lodgment within his strong hold, was
unbounded; for having perceived nothing wrong about
his works at the time his attention was arrested
by the report of the musket within them, and soon
after seeing the man left outside by Warrington
running out into the field, he supposed the gun was
fired by the bold and wayward girl who had volunteered
for the service, only to apprise him that some one
was round the outside of the works. And he and
his men, having given a merry hurra! for the braw
lassee who frightened away the skulking tramper,
had come on and reached the gate in the confident

expectation that in another moment they should be
safely ensconced within their works, and beyond the
reach of all pursuers.

`Gude guide us!' he ejaculated, looking hurriedly
around him while his countenance exhibited the very
picture of perplexity and distress; `Gude guide us!
gor't by the rake-hells wi' in an' wi' out! O what
wad I do! what wad I do!'

`I'll just tell you what to do, you queer old divil!'
sung out Jones, catching the last part of these exclamations,
as he brought his men to a halt within two
rods of the Scotchmen, who now, mechanically facing
about, and presenting their fixed bayonets to
their opponents, stood glumly awaiting the commands
of their leader. `I will tell you what to do,' he repeated,
`you must knuckle to, old fellow. What's
the particular use in your standing out against these
six loaded rifles, to say nothing of the Captain and
his folks inside, if they should take a notion to wake
you up a little? so I take it the cunningest thing
you can do jist now is, for you all to throw down
your guns and surrender.'

`Hoot awa' mon!' exclaimed McIntosh, aroused by
this fresh summons to surrender; `an' I rede ye'll
find wese fight an' defend til the last drap o' our
bluide! attention there!' he continued, hastily turning
to his men, `prime an' load!'

Warrington now sternly repeated his demand for
an immediate surrender; but the obstinate Highlander,
knowing no way of obeying the military instruction
of his Colonel, `to fight and defend,' but to
fight on at whatever odds, or whatever the consequences
to him and his men, deigned no other answer
to this repetition of the summons than by urging
his men to despatch in loading their pieces.

`What is to be done, Captain,' coolly said Jones,
calling to his superior, and at the same time giving
a nod to his men, at which they all promptly cocked
their rifles and brought them to their shoulders;
`speak tolerable quick, if you've any orders, for they
are about loaded, and we some rather give than take
under all the circumstances.'

`Neither!' shouted Warrington, `do neither—
knock up their guns! disarm them! grapple with
them, and if too many for you, we will soon be
among you.'

A sudden, furious rush was now made by the
Green Mountain Boys on their astonished antagonists,
who, not dreaming of this mode of attack, and
being busily intent on loading their guns, were taken
by complete surprise, and to a great disadvantage to
themselves. And before they had recovered from
their astonishment sufficiently to put themselves in
a posture of defence, most of their guns were
wrenched from their hands, their bodies seized round
the waist, and some of them thrown to the ground;
while grappling man with man, all were instantly
involved better skelter in the tremendous scuflle that
now ensued. And although the Green Mountain
Boys were now in the exercise of their favorite athletics,
and notwithstanding their great strength and
suppleness of limb, they soon found that the entire
subjection of these brawny and resolute Highlanders
was no very easy task. Though thrown to the
ground, they had to be held there; though knocked
down, they again rose to the fight, and though beaten,
they yielded not. And the victory had perhaps,
been even doubtful, had not Warrington now thrown
open the gate, and come, with a fresh force, to the
rescue. Then, indeed, it was not till they saw their

leader lying bound and helpless on the ground, that
the pugnacious Scotchmen could be brought to say
that they yielded themselves prisoners.

`I have na yielded yet, ye hogshoutherin rap scallions!'
roared Donald, scornfully, as he lay on the
ground with scarcely a member of his body, except
his tongue, at liberty; `I hae na yielded, an' as muckle
victory as ye think to mak it, ye sal never say that
Donald McIntosh ca'd himsel prisoner wi'out first
settling the conditions o' the surrender.'

`What conditions would you have, brave Scot,'
asked Warrington, with great show of respect, as
soon as he could be heard amidst the shouts of laughter
that followed this ludicrous declaration of the
vanquished leader.

`What conditions? Why to be allowed to march
out wi' a' the honors o' war, an' a safe pasport for
thae women an' a' the gear, an' property,' replied
McIntosh, somewhat soothed by the respectful manner
of the other.

`And will you quietly yield up the place and depart,
if we will allow you these conditions?' rejoined
Warrington, evidently disposed to humor the fallen
warrior in his laughable demand.

`We wael bide thae terms of surrender,' replied
the other, `an' ye hae the word o' Donald McIntosh
til the bargain.'

`We will let the man have his way for the bravery
he has shown,' said Warrington, turning to his
men. `Take away their ammunition, but restore
them their guns, and unbind their leader. Now
Captain McIntosh, arise—parade your men, and
conduct the surrender in such manner as suits your
pleasure.'

Deeply impressed with a sense of what he deemed

the honor of his profession required in surrendering
so important a military post of the king, as he
considered this, McIntosh arose, formed his men,
marched into the enclosure, halted, faced about, sent
a corporal to bring out the ladies and place them in
the rear, marched out again, grounded arms, and,
with an air of great formality and consequence, pronounced
himself and followers prisoners of war, to
depart on parole, to serve no more on this coast during
the war.

Warrington, from his knowledge of the national
character of his prisoners, entertaining no doubts of
their fidelity in strictly observing all the stipulations
of their leader, now cordially invited them to remain
at the post through the night. And the invitation
being as cordially accepted, both parties within an
hour were commingling in the greatest amity and
good feeling, the Green Mountain Boys secretly elated
with their success in reducing this strong hold of
the Yorkers, and their late opponents resting satisfied
with the gallant efforts they had made in its defence.

The next day the vanquished, availing themselves
of the permission granted them by the victors, conveyed
all the moveable property of their master on
board several large batteaux, which had been kept
there for the purpose of exporting lumber or other
products of the farm, and set sail down the creek
for St. Johns, or some one of Colonel Reed's possessions
on the York side of the lake, near its northern
extremity.

Thus terminated this unique and curious contest,
which proved to be the last one of any magnitude
that occurred between the New Hampshire grantees
and the Yorkers, for the possession of the soil within

the disputed territory. The place being thus left
in the hands of the Green Mountain Boys, they immediately
reinstated the owners and former occupants,
and soon after, strengthening and enlarging
the defences into a more regular fortress, they posted
a small, permanent force there to prevent so important
a position from falling again into the hands
of the Yorkers, or any new set of minions which the
late military aggressor might see fit to send on for a
second forcible seizure. No further attempt, however,
was made to wrest the place from their hands;
nor did any of the late offenders ever make their appearance
in the place, except the brave and honest,
though strangely mistaken McIntosh, who, indeed,
after a while returned, but with views not a little altered:
For becoming by some means undeceived as
to the nature of his late trust, and being excessively
mortified at the development, which robbed him, in
his own estimation, of nearly all the glory he had
gained in defending it, he seemed to have foresworn
the military, for a more quiet profession. And purchasing
a farm in the neighborhood, he settled down
upon it, and, in the peacable pursuits of agriculture,
spent the remainder of an unusually long life, no less
respected for scrupulous honesty, than distinguished
for the whimsical obsurdities that occasionally marked
his conduct.

But there is one of the conquered band whom we
have no notion of disposing of in so summary a
manner—we mean the heroine of the party—the
spirited, wild, wayward and beautiful Jessy Reed,
who was, indeed, no other than the daughter of the
usurping Colonel. The singularity of the position
which our band found her occupying at this place, and
the attending circumstances, we will give her an opportunity

of hereafter explaining, and content ourselves
for the present with a few words respecting
her destination, and the manner of her departure
from the scene where she was introduced to the reader.
Instead of going with McIntosh and his men
to the north, she had expressed a wish to proceed
to the residence of a family with whom her father
was intimate, living near the south end of the lake.
But the large boats being all required to transport
the effects, and the hands needed to man them, an
open skiff, and one man to row it, were the only accommodations
that could well be afforded her. Still
she persisted in her determination. But should she
be permitted to embark with no more attendants?
The air of extreme novelty attending this singular
girl, together with her personal attractions, had from
the first made a strong impression on the mind of Selden.
He began with playing the soother—suceeded,
and became her attendant, the evening after
the affray, in a twilight walk along the banks of
the Otter, during which he was as much surprised at
the exhibition of intelligence and wit, into which he
had artfully drawn her, as charmed and interested
with her beauty, and a certain piquancy and dash
of romance which nature and a semi-military education
had thrown into her character. But how far
this interest was reciprocated, he had no means of
judging. And should he now offer to become her
attendant on her proposed voyage through the lake,
would the offer be received? Would she suffer to
attend her one of those who had wrested away her
father's possessions; one from whom she yesterday
recoiled as from the touch of a viper, branding him
with the epithets of villain and monster? Sudden
metamorphoses are no miracles in this changing
world, thought Selden, and a failure in this case
shall not happen from the want of an attempt. He
delicately made the proposal. She hesitated, blushed
a little, and accepted.