[figure description] Page 032.[end figure description]

Leaving Woodburn to the hot and eager pursuit that patriotism
and private animosity had prompted him to undertake, we will
now precede him a few miles on the road, for the purpose of introducing
and accompanying another old acquaintance, who was
also destined to become an actor in the wild and stirring adventures
of the night.

Near the southern confines of Manchester, about nine o'clock,
the same evening, a youth of the probable age of twenty, of a
sandy complexion, and of a rather slight, but evidently tough,
wiry frame, with a short rifle on his shoulder, and powder-horn
and ball-pouch slung at his back, was making his solitary way
on foot along the main road towards the town just mentioned.
As he now reached the Batenkill, where the stream, here first
beginning to find a more peaceful flow, after its headlong descent
from the Green Mountains, intersected the road, he suddenly
paused and began to muse, with the air of one who has been
struck by some new thought tending to divert him from his
settled purposes; and, slowly passing on to the bridge, which,
after the rude construction of the times, had been thrown across
the river at this place, he took a seat on one of the side-timbers,
or binders, as they were usually termed, and, in accordance
with an old and inveterate habit, generated probably by the
peculiar circumstances of his early life, began to commune with
himself aloud.

“I wonder what this new business is they want you should do,
Bart? Harry said it was a secret matter when he handed over
the paper,” he continued, pulling out and abstractedly unrolling
a small wad of white paper, “a kinder private commission, or
something, which he would explain about, after I had gone and
got his letter to the girl, as he met me on my way back. But
why don't he meet me fore this time? It's pesky strange he

[figure description] Page 033.[end figure description]

should hang back in a woman affair so! Why, he would go —
like enough has gone — but then how could he miss me? O
Lord, Bart, what a stupid pup! He passed you when you was
napping it in the bushes at that cool spring! I'll bet my old hat
on't! Well, we shan't see much more of him to-night, likely,
seeing it is love he's doing, and such a moon as this holds the
candle; and we may as well be trying to find out this business
without him. So let's be digging out what the paper says.
Harry and the rest of 'em don't know I can read writing; but
I can, when driv to it; though I think we won't let 'em know
that, Bart; for no knowing what cunning things we may find out
if they don't mistrust it. Now let's look. Why, I can see as
plain as day!” he added, holding up the writing to the bright
moonlight, and beginning to spell out the well-known bold and
distinct characters of the secretary of the council, as follows: —

“To Bartholomew Burt: —

“You are hereby appointed by the Council of Safety to go
through this and the neighboring towns, bordering on the British
line of march; to spy out the resorts of the tories; to mark
and identify all inimical persons; to gain all the information
that can be obtained respecting the movements of the enemy at
large; and make report, from time to time, to this council or
some field officer of our line.*

“Good! grand!” exclaimed the excited soliloquist, starting
up and snapping his fingers in high glee. “This will be a great
thing for you, Bart. Yes, and then how gentlemanly and respectful-like
it sounds to be called Bartholomew, in that way!
Bart, we'll go it for them; and have a touch of the trade this
very night, if you please. But where shall we begin? Let's see,
now. Why, there's old mother Rose's haunt up the great road
here, where, I do think, she must hatch out tories, same as a
hen does chickens, they are so thick about there. Then there's

[figure description] Page 034.[end figure description]

Josh Rose courting that up and a coming sort of girl you saw
at Howard's tother day, when you called with Harry for a drink
of water. Now, wouldn't the fellow be apt to let out secrets
there that we could get hold of, and put us on some good scent?
Ah! that's it; so now up the river for Howard's, as a beginning,
hit or miss, Bart.”

While this singular genius is proceeding on his proposed destination,
in the hope of accomplishing something to show himself
worthy of the curious trust that had been so unexpectedly reposed
in him, we will occupy the breathing spot, thus afforded
in our narrative, in apprising the reader, more definitely than
we have yet done, of the main incidents that had marked the
checkered fortunes of the two adventurers whom we have now
again brought upon the scene of action, since we left them.

When Woodburn and Bart left the state, under the circumstances
described in the closing chapters of our first volume, they
proceeded directly to Cambridge, where the revolutionary army
was then gathering for the siege of Boston, enlisted, for two
years, into the continental service; and actively participated in
all the most important movements of the army in the campaign
that immediately succeeded. They were at Bunker Hill, on that
memorable day of fire and blood, so glorious for the yeoman
patriots of New England, and so fearful for her foes, —


“When first, as at Thermopylæ,
The battle shout of freemen rose;
Firm as their mountains, and as free,
They nobly braved encountering foes.”
And in the following autumn, they, in the same company, in
which Woodburn, for bravery and good conduct, had been made
a subaltern officer, marched with that division of the army which
Arnold, with almost unequalled energy and fortitude, and amidst
privation and suffering untold, led through the snow-clad wilderness
of morass and mountain, to the distant Quebec. And
there, in the onset, in which the high-souled Montgomery fell,
they were together cut off from their company and made prisoners;
when, after having, for nearly a year and a half, endured the
sufferings of a British prison-ship, they together escaped at Halifax,
wandered, half naked and starving, through the seemingly interminable
forests of Brunswick and Maine, to the American settlements,
and finally reached home; not there, however, long
to repose, but soon to repair, with yet unbroken spirit, to the
new scene of action, at which their countrymen were beginning

[figure description] Page 035.[end figure description]

to rally to meet the formidable invasion of the hitherto victorious
Burgoyne.

We will now resume the thread of our narrative. A walk
of twenty or thirty minutes brought Bart to the log-tenement of
Howard, who was a soldier in the continental service, now absent
on duty, having left his house and business in charge of his wife,
a woman no less noted, in her neighborhood, for energy in conducting
her domestic affairs, than for the patriotic spirit with
which she espoused the American cause. She and her daughter,
a rustic beauty of eighteen, of keen perceptions, and even rare
good sense, when her frolicsome disposition would allow her to
exercise it, were now the only permanent inmates of this secluded
cabin, which consisted of but two rooms, with a front entrance
leading through an entry into either of them, and another door at
the end of the house opening into the one usually occupied by
the family as both sitting-room and kitchen.

“A light in both rooms, by the pipers!” exclaimed Bart, as,
after having cautiously approached, he paused to reconnoitre the
house. “The fellow is there at his traps, as sure as a gun!
Now what's to be done, Bart? 'Twon't do to go in and show
yourself, and have that torified scamp carry away word that you
are mousing round the country nights, will it? No, but I'll tell
you what, if it want for the name of sneaking and evesdropping,
we would creep round back of the room where they be, and hark
through the cracks; like enough get a peep, and so learn something.
But such things they expected of you, didn't they, Bart?
Must be so, I think. Then suppose we throw the name and
blame of it on the council, and try it, mister?”

Taking a wide sweep round the house, Bart soon approached
that part of it, on the back side, in which he rightly conjectured
the young people were sitting; and gliding up to the wall with
steps as noiseless as those of a mousing fox, he discovered a
crevice between the logs, from which the moss calking had fallen
out so as to permit a small pencil of light to escape. Guided by
this, he quickly gained, after applying his eye to the aperture, a
distinct view of the couple within, and was enabled, at the same
time, to catch every word of their variously modulated conversation.
They were seated at different sides of a light-stand, on
which a candle was burning, she assiduously engaged, to all
appearance, with her needle on some light sewing work, and he
no less diligently, with his penknife, on a pine chip, which he
was essaying to shape into a human profile, that of his mistress,
as might be surmised from the sly glances with which he seemed

[figure description] Page 036.[end figure description]

occasionally to scan her features. Though now dressed in his
smartest fustian, he yet appeared awkward and ill at ease;
while the timid and hesitating air, with which he seemed to
regard his fair companion, indicated much conscious uncertainty
respecting the place he might hold in her affections. She, on
the contrary, seemed quite self-possessed, and wore the air of
one not particularly solicitous about pleasing, which gave her as
much advantage over him in her manner as she obviously possessed
in her person; for, besides a good form and a wholesome
roseate bloom, she had one of those polyglot countenances which
seem almost to supersede the necessity of speaking — a trait she
very prettily exhibited while listening to the forced hints and innuendoes
of her lover's conversation, as she occasionally lifted her
head, now with a blush, now with a smile, and now with a frown,
that caused his eyes to drop to the floor as quick as those of a
rebuked schoolboy. Thus far, she had not opened her lips; but
now, as her suitor, turning in his chair, brought a hitherto shaded
arm into view, and displayed upon his sleeve a common brass
pin, (usually denominated in those days the Canada pin, as this
article, then almost excluded from the toilet by the war, rarely
found its way into this section except through the intercourse of
the tories with that province,) her attention was suddenly excited;
and turning a sharp and searching look upon him, she said, —

“Where have you been lately, Josh?”

“Why?” he replied, evidently surprised at the question and
manner of the girl.

“That, sir,” she responded, significantly pointing to the pin.
“Such articles don't get here but in one way, in these hard
times, which compel us to put up with thorns for pins, and
half tories for beaux,” she added, with a meaning and roguish
look.

“Won't you accept it, Vine?” he said, obviously disconcerted,
but pretending not to understand her allusions.

“Not unless you tell me honestly how you got it, sir,” she
replied, decisively.

“O, picked it up somewhere; don't remember now,” he evasively
answered.

“That, now, is a thumper, I know,” she rejoined, with a pretty
toss of the head. “But you don't put me off so. The fact is,
Josh, I suspect you have been among the tories to-day. Now be
honest, and tell me, sir.”

And for the next ten minutes the determined girl plied her
reluctant and perplexed companion, by all the means which her

[figure description] Page 037.[end figure description]

ingenuity could invent, to accomplish her object; teasing, coaxing,
and threatening by turns, till, being unable to resist any
longer, he replied, —

“Well, I will tell you; and it can't do any hurt either, for
they will all be out of reach before morning.”

“Who will be out of reach?” eagerly demanded the other.

“The men that my brother Samuel enlisted. You knew he
had got a captain's commission in General Burgoyne's army, I
'spose.”

“We heard so; but has Captain Samuel Rose been in town
to-day?”

“Yes; for I may as well tell the whole, now I've begun.
The captain has been all day at the house of brother Asa Rose,
who lives out of the way, there, in the woods, over beyond the
great road, you know. Well, he had agreed to meet all he had
enlisted in this section there at sunset, and lead them off to the
British camp, after people were abed. I was there just before
dark, and saw them; sixteen in all, besides the captain, all armed
and equipped, and he in full uniform; and he looks complete in
it, too, I tell you.”

“But what was you among them there for?”

“O, I wanted to see Sam, and bid him good-by, you know, as
he was going off, never to come back, for aught I knew; that
was all, upon honor, now.”

“Perhaps it was; but one thing I wish you to understand, Josh
Rose, and that is, if you take up for that side of the question,
openly or secretly, your visits here —”

“O, I shan't; no notion on't, not the least in the world; so
don't worry; though candidly, Vine, I don't believe it's much
use for your folks to think of standing out any longer. Why,
hundreds are joining the British every day, and what will be left,
in a short time, can do nothing towards stopping such an army as
Burgoyne's.”

“What are left will be apt to try it, I think, sir.”

The subject was now dropped; and the girl, after a thoughtful
pause, commenced on a theme more agreeable to her suitor, and,
for a short time, was unusually sociable and gracious; when she
rose, and, carelessly remarking she must be excused a moment,
left the room, and passed out through the front door, with noise
enough in opening and closing it to leave the other in no doubt
as to the direction of her exit.

“Well, Bart, what do you think of that?” whispered our listener
to himself, as now, on the departure of the girl from the

[figure description] Page 038.[end figure description]

room, he withdrew from his peeping-hole. “Now, I pretend to
say, I wouldn't take a gold guinea for what we have got through
that crack, nor two either, if our legs will carry us to the village
and rally help quick enough to have that batch of tories nabbed
before they are off. But let's jest edge along against the mother's
room, and see if there is any discovery to be made there, before
we start.”

Being equally fortunate in finding an opening into the room to
which his attention was now directed, Bart cautiously peered in;
when his eye soon fell on the solitary occupant, a fine, resolute-looking
matron, quietly employed in knitting by the light of a
torch stuck in one of the stone jambs of the broad fireplace. He,
however, had scarcely time to note these circumstances before
the door was softly opened, and the girl who had just left the
other room entered on tiptoe, and whispered in her mother's
ear something that seemed to produce an instant effect on the
hitherto sedate and listless countenance of the latter; for, starting
to her feet, she stood gazing at the other with a flashing eye,
and listening with the keenest interest, as some further particulars
were added to the communication.

“Are you sure he was not fooling you?” said the mother.

“Very sure,” replied the daughter, significantly holding up the
Canada pin.

“Well, Vine,” rejoined the former, with the air of one whose
resolution is taken, “you whip back to your post the same way
you came; and see that you keep him here till — say about midnight,”
she added, exchanging a meaning glance with the daughter,
whose hand was already on the latch to depart.

No sooner had the intermingling tones of conversation in the
other room apprised the woman that her daughter had there joined
the unsuspecting suitor, than, hastily seizing bonnet and shawl,
she noiselessly left the house and glided out into the road. After
hesitating a moment here, respecting the course she should take,
apparently, she made up to the log-fence enclosing an adjoining
field, threw herself over it with the lightness of a boy, and, striking
off directly west, almost flew over the ground, till she reached
the boundaries of their little opening; when she fearlessly
plunged into the dark and pathless recesses of the wood lying
between her and the main road, to which she was evidently
directing her course.

“There! just as I told you,” muttered Bart, who, inwardly
vexed that the secret he had been hugging, as exclusively his
own, should be shared by another, for fear measures might be

[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

taken to deprive him of the sole honor and profit he had promised
himself of communicating it, had been jealously noting what had
occurred. “Just as I told, Bart; the old woman has got your
story, and there she goes, streaming off with it, like the house
afire, for the great road, through woods, swamp, and all! Well,
it's too late to try to stop her now, to save her the trouble of
going, cause you'd frighten her, likely; besides, she'd find out
you'd been listening. But we'll follow and keep track of her;
may be she'll get lost, and we can cut by her; or may be we
can seem to come kinder accidentally on her, and contrive to
get employed to do her errand, and so let her go back.”

With this resolution, he immediately gave chase; and by occasionally
pausing, after entering the forest, to listen to the rustling
of her garments as the intrepid woman rushed through the tangled
thickets on her way, or the cracking of dry twigs under her rapid
tread, he was enabled to trace her course and keep within hearing
distance, though not without exertions which drew forth many an
exclamation of surprise at the speed with which, at such a time
and place, she got over the ground. At length, they both reached
the opening on the other side of the forest opposite to a good-sized
house on the main road.

“I vags,” exclaimed Bart, pausing and wiping the perspiration
from his face with his sleeve, as he emerged from the wood,
“if the perlite Frenchman, they tell of, who thought women had
no legs, had followed this one through a mile-swamp at the rate
she has gone, he would think a little different about the matter, I
guess. But never mind the tramp, Bart, but still keep your eye
on her. There she goes smack into that house over yonder,
which is — let's see, now — Why, that is Major Ormsbee's, who, I
remember now, Harry told me, was her brother. Well, Bart,
seeing you are fairly beat in this business, let's work along over
into the road against the house, and see what comes of it.”

Scarcely had Bart gained his proposed situation in a nook of
the fence, before the major, followed by his son, came bustling
out into the yard.

“Jock!” he said, hastily turning to his son, “you run to the
barn, and saddle and bring out my horse, while I slip over to
Captain Barney's. But who have we here?” he added, espying
and approaching Bart. “Who are you, friend?”

“Well, you may call me any thing but a tory and I won't
complain, major.”

“That's right. O, I believe I know you now — the comical
chap I have seen with Woodburn, at Warner's encampment.

[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

All right. Glad you happen here just at this time — we have
business on hand.”

“I know it.”

“Know it! how? You didn't come with my sister?”

“No; after her; but got at the wrinkle about the gang down
yonder before she did; and am now on my way to the council,
or the camp, with the news.”

“That I propose to do myself. I have a fleet horse, and it
will be best I should go with the news myself. Besides, I wish to
put you, with the few others I can raise hereabouts, on the track
at once. You shall lose nothing by it; so turn in here, and go
with me.”

Content with this assurance of an officer known to be in the
confidence of the council, and quite willing to make one in the
expected affray, Bart cheerfully complied. And the two hurried
on to the house the major had named; where, fortunately, they
found not only the owner, but another fearless patriot, by the
name of Purdy, to both of whom the news just received was
communicated; when a hasty plan was devised among them for
the capture of Captain Rose and his band of recruits, who, it was
supposed, had not yet left the neighborhood, even if they had
started from their place of rendezvous.

The dwelling of Asa Rose, which had been selected by the
tory captain as a secluded and safe rallying-point for his band,
was situated in the wood, about three fourths of a mile west of
the main road, and the residence, thereon, of the old widow Rose,
who has been already mentioned, and who was the mother of a
hopeful brood of either open or secret loyalists, as their father,
an extensive land-owner, who died about the beginning of the
war, was before them. This old establishment of the Rose
family, well known through the country as the harboring-place
of the disaffected, was a little over a mile from the bridge over
the river, at the south, and about half that distance from the
residence of Major Ormsbee, at the north, where our handful
of spirited friends were now rallying; while from the road,
about half way between the two, diverged the path, which
wound round south-westerly to Asa Rose's, and from which the
tories were expected to emerge on their way out of the neighborhood.

“Here comes Jock with my horse,” said the major, taking
the reins from the boy, a sturdy youth of sixteen, who had not
forgotten to bring his gun with him. “Well, captain,” he continued,
leaping into his saddle, “you understand the

[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

arrangement; three of you to take the path to their rendezvous; one
to go on to old mother Rose's, and, if they are there, give the
signal; the long howl of a dog, remember; but if they are not
there, to join the rest, and scout round, watch and delay them;
while I, on my way, start out Pettibone and others, and send them
directly through the woods to Asa Rose's to get into the rear.
All understand, do you?”

“Ay, ay, major.”

“Well, then, God prosper you all, till I can get on with a
platoon of Warner's boys for the rescue.”

So saying, the major dashed off at full speed towards the
village; while Barney and his men, with no less spirit, hurried
on to their respective destinations, in the opposite direction. The
place where the latter were to separate being soon reached, appearances
examined, and no discoveries made, the captain, with
Purdy and young Ormsbee, struck off from the road, and proceeded
cautiously along the bushy outskirts of the path before
mentioned as leading to the supposed rendezvous, leaving to Bart
the task of going on and reconnoitring the old establishment on
the main road, at which, it was believed, the tories would be sure
to call, on their way out, to take a last treat from mother Rose's
ever-ready bottle, and perhaps some provisions from her cupboard,
to invigorate them for their long night march to the British
camp. A short walk now brought Bart in close vicinity to the
house he was appointed to reconnoitre; when, gliding silently
along under cover of the fences, tall weeds, and other screening
objects, he quickly made a circuit round the buildings, contriving,
as he did so, to peer into the barns, sheds, and even into most of
the rooms of the capacious old dwelling. He perceived, however,
no indications of the presence of any but females about the
establishment; though, from the movements of these, and especially
those of the old woman, who was busily engaged in cutting
up large quantities of bread and cheese, and in replenishing her
junk bottles, he became satisfied that the company, of whom he
was in search, were shortly expected. Having made these observations,
he retired from the house, crossed over the road into
the opposite field, and was marking out a course for himself
through the wood, which would intersect the path taken by his
companions, and enable him to join them somewhere near the
tory rendezvous, when his ear caught the clattering of horse-hoofs,
approaching, at a furious pace, up the road from the south.
And so rapid was the advance of the coming horseman, that
Bart had scarcely time to gain the covert of a clump of shrubbery

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

standing by the fence, over against the house, before the former
made his appearance, and, turning into the yard, galloped up to
an open window, and addressed a hasty inquiry to the mistress
of the house; when, hardly waiting for the negative reply that
appeared to be given, he suddenly wheeled about, and, regaining
the road, pursued his course with renewed speed.

“Why!” exclaimed Bart in surprise, as he caught a view of
the man's features; “as sure as a gun, it is Harry's old troubler,
that he thought he'd killed once, and felt so guilty about it, till
he heard he didn't. But what can the fellow be up to here, in
such a hurry, just at this time? Don't like the looks on't, exactly.
Bart, hasn't this tall tory got wind of our movement, somehow,
and come on to warn the gang, that, not finding here, he has
gone to meet? Let's be off and try to trace him. But hark!
Do you hear that? Another coming from the same quarter!
yes, and scratching gravel took, like Mars, I should think, by the
way his horse's feet strike the ground! Here he comes! What!
it is, by mighty — it's Harry and Lightfoot in full chase! Go it,
Lightfoot! Catch him, Harry! Stuboy! stuboy!” he added, in
low, eager shouts of exultation, as the recognized horseman
passed, like a flash, by his place of concealment.

Springing forward to a small elevation in the field, which commanded
a broken view of the road to the path before described,
and even a small portion of the latter, Bart tasked both eye and
ear to the utmost, in trying to trace the dimly-discerned forms
of the receding horsemen, now obviously but a short distance
asunder, his object being to ascertain whether Peters would keep
on in the main road, or, as he suspected his intention to be, strike
into the path to Asa Rose's, and try to reach the tories before
he should be overtaken. For one moment, in which he lost sight
of both pursuer and pursued, Bart stood in doubt; but the next,
the changing direction of the still audible sounds, and the slight
glimmerings of the sparks from the horse's hoofs, now seen
extending out in a line nearly at right angles to the course they
had been pursuing, sufficiently apprised him that his suspicions
were correct. Waiting, therefore, no longer than to ascertain
this, he turned and plunged into the wood on his left; and taking
the course he had already decided on for joining his companions,
and being now incited to his utmost exertions of speed by his
anxiety to reach the other road in time to warn Woodburn of the
trap into which his antagonist was doubtless intending to draw
him at the tory rendezvous, or to be ready to lend any needed
assistance in case a collision took place between them before

[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

reaching it, he made his way through the opposing obstacles of
the thickets with a rapidity, probably, that a wild Indian could
not have equalled, till he suddenly found himself in the path
of which he was in quest, within a few rods of the small opening
where stood the suspected log-tenement of Asa Rose. His first
act now was to stoop down and examine the soft ground in the
road, to ascertain whether Peters and his pursuer had passed the
place. A moment's inspection, however, confirming him in the
negative, he rose and bent a listening ear in the direction of their
expected appearance; but no sounds reached him indicative of
their approach. While standing here in doubt respecting the
course next to be pursued, his attention was attracted by a commotion
at the house; when, stepping forward towards the edge
of the opening, he caught a glimpse of the whole body of the
tories, with their leader at their head, just leaving the house and
moving silently, and with a quick step, in the road towards him.
Stealing softly away from his post of observation, he retreated
rapidly along the path, some hundred yards into the wood; when
he fortunately encountered Barney and his two men, to whom
he hastily communicated all the discoveries he had made since
he left them.

Fearing, from the non-appearance of Peters and his pursuer,
of whom, strangely, nothing had yet been seen or heard, that
the former had given the latter the slip in some by-path, which
would enable him to reach the tories in the rear, or otherwise
apprise them of the danger of proceeding, Barney instantly
adopted the bold resolution of attempting the immediate capture
of the whole band by stratagem, trusting to the firmness and
ingenuity of himself and his men to keep, or get them forward,
till the expected reenforcement should arrive.

“We must multiply ourselves, and then act according to circumstances,”
he said, after apprising his men of his project, which
they eagerly seconded.

“I will multiply into a platoon of ten, and be their orderly,
if you will let me have my own way in the managing of 'em,
captain,” said Bart, entering with great spirit into a plan in which
his peculiarities so well fitted him for taking a leading part.

“Well, then,” replied the other, “take a station in the bushes
five or six rods ahead; the rest of us will take our coverts here,
on different sides of the road. You must all act for yourselves,
and on the hints of the moment; but I will take the lead, and
give you such clews as the case may require.”

Scarcely had this fearless little band settled themselves in their

[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

respective stations, before the tories, marching in close Indian
file, made their appearance, and came forward wholly unsuspicious
of danger. They were permitted to advance unmolested,
till they were nearly all between the two points of ambush;
when Captain Barney, stepping partly out from his concealment,
presented his gun, and exclaimed, —

“Stand! Surrender, or die!”

“Halt!” cried the surprised, though not frightened, tory captain,
who was not only a fine-looking, but cool and capable,
young officer — “halt, till we see what all this means.”

“You will soon find out what it means, unless you surrender,”
rejoined Barney, in a bold and confident tone. “I give you one
minute to decide. Attention there!” he continued, as if addressing
a numerous band of concealed forces — “attention there,
right, left, and front platoons! Every man at his station and
ready for the word!”

Purdy and Ormsbee now made a simultaneous movement in
the bushes, on the different sides of the road, by stepping about,
hitting their guns against the trees, and thrusting out the muzzles
at various openings towards the enemy; while, at the same time,
the clicking sounds, as of the irregular cocking of a dozen muskets,
with as many distinct movements of men, apparently, were
heard in the direction of Bart's concealment in front.

“Stand to your arms!” exclaimed Rose, to his men, who now
began to show signs of fear and uneasiness.

“Don't all take aim at the captain, you fools!” shouted Bart,
from his covert, to his men of straw; “don't do that, I tell
you! There's enough of 'em to furnish each of you a separate
mark, nearly. There, that looks more like it! All cocked and
ready?”

“Hold up there, Sergeant Burt!” cried Barney; “don't fire
yet. Let us spare their lives if we can. Purdy,” he continued,
turning to the man concealed on his right, “you may give the
signal, now, for the reserve platoons, in front and rear, to advance,
and close up on the road. The minute is nearly out, and
I perceive we have got to make a demonstration before they will
surrender.”

The signal howl was then accordingly given, and, to the great
joy of the assailants, immediately answered by Pettibone, who,
having reached his destination in the rear of the house, and seen
the tories decamping, was now, with another man, cautiously
advancing towards the scene of action in the wood; while nearly
at the same moment, as it strangely happened, the sharp reports

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of three pistols, fired in quick succession, rang through the forest,
a short distance on the road to the north. The noise of fire-arms,
which, to the assailants, portended a rencounter between Peters and
Woodburn, and filled them with anxiety for the fate of the latter, was
taken by the tories as an answer of the signal from the pretended
corps in front, and so completed their dismay that some of them
threw down their arms, and began to cry out for quarter.

“The minute is out; shall we fire, Captain Barney?” exclaimed
Bart, in a tone of impatience.

“Your answer, Captain Rose,” sternly demanded Barney —
“your answer this instant, or —”

“I yield,” said the reluctant tory leader. “We surrender ourselves
prisoners of war.”

“'Tis well, sir,” responded the former. “Lay down your
arms, then, here in the road, advance twenty paces, and wait
further orders.”

While this order, which was thus given for the double purpose
of enabling the victors to get between the tories and their guns,
and to give time for Pettibone and his associate to come up, was
being carried into effect, Bart, who had been burning with impatience
for a chance to go to the assistance of his endangered friend,
Woodburn, slunk noiselessly from his post, and made his way,
with all possible speed, towards the spot from whence the noise
of the firing appeared to proceed.

But let us now return to note the issue between the belligerent
horsemen. Woodburn having come in sight of his antagonist
soon after crossing the river, and the latter then taking the alarm,
the chase had proceeded, as witnessed by Bart, till the parties
struck into the by-road leading to the tory rendezvous; when the
former, concluding that Peters would not have turned in here
without the expectation of finding friends and defenders near,
now redoubled his exertions to overtake him, and bring on an
encounter while it would have to be decided by individual prowess,
and before his foe should reach assistance to render the pursuit
futile or dangerous. But notwithstanding his efforts, he soon
lost sight of the other in the short turns of the winding and thicklyembowered
path which they soon entered. Expecting, however,
that the next turn in the road would reveal the object of his pursuit,
he dashed ahead some distance; when, becoming satisfied
that his antagonist had given him the slip by riding out of the
road into some nook or side-path in the wood, he retraced his
way nearly to the opening, vainly endeavoring to discover the
concealment of the fugitive. Vexed and disappointed at being

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thus balked, Woodburn was on the point of giving up the chase,
when he caught a glimpse of the other, emerging from a thicket
into the road, not a hundred yards distant, and setting off on a
gallop in the direction first taken. Incited to fresh exertion,
Woodburn now shot forward after his flying foe with a velocity
which none but a horse trained to the rough paths of the wood
could equal, and which, consequently, soon brought the parties in
close vicinity of each other. Peters, now seeing no further
chance to escape, suddenly pulled out a pistol, and, turning in
his saddle, discharged it at Woodburn, who, wholly unharmed by
the badly-aimed instrument, instantly returned the fire. The
bullet of the latter, grazing the person of the former, entered the
head of his startled and rearing horse, just back of the ears, and,
after two or three fearful plunges onward, brought him to the
ground. Leaping from his falling horse, the desperate loyalist
gained his feet and discharged another pistol at Woodburn; when,
perceiving his opponent still unhurt, and about to make a rush
upon him, he leaped over the body of his dying horse, still
floundering in the edge of the bushes, and, in the noise thus occasioned,
and in the screening smoke of his own fire, made good
his escape into the forest.

“Come back, miscreant! coward!” shouted Woodburn, dismounting,
and leaping forward to the place where the other had
disappeared — “come back, and decide your fate or mine.”

But the new-made tory colonel, who was more a coward from
conscience than nature, in the present instance, perhaps, did not
see fit to accept the challenge for a further personal combat. And
Woodburn, judging that any attempt to pursue him in the woods
would be useless, reluctantly gave up the chase, and turned to
go back to his horse; when Bart, running up and peering an
instant at the dying horse and then at his friend, rushed by the
latter, and, throwing himself on the neck of his loved pony, fell
to hugging and fondling her in an ecstasy of delight.

“O Lightfoot! Lightfoot!” he exclaimed; “lucky divil that
you are, not now to be sprawling and kicking, like your tory
brother there in the bushes! Yes, that you are, Lightfoot; and
you shall have an oat-supper to-night that would make a horse
laugh, for catching up with the rapscallion.”

“Bart!” said Woodburn, in surprise; “how did you get
wind of this? But no matter. You have come too late.”

“Know it — couldn't help it, though — had other fish to fry
first, that musn't cool. Captain Rose and sixteen other tory prisoners
are on the road here, just below.'

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“Prisoners! how? By whom taken?”

“O, Captain Barney, and Bart, and I, and Mr. Stratagem, and
one or two others.”

“What, only three or four of you to seventeen?”

“No; I was a flanking party of ten in the bushes, and sargeant
of 'em — cocked all their guns for 'em, by cocking and
uncocking my own — talked for 'em all, out of seven corners
of my mouth at once, and kept 'em from firing till the word, you
know. We heard your firing, and called you the front-guard;
and — and we took 'em — every dog of 'em.”

“Bravoes! and no fool of an exploit on your part neither,
Bart, if all this is so. But are the prisoners secured? Had we
not better hasten to join the escort?”

“No, two or three more came up just as I left, and there's
enough now to manage in that quarter; but the advance-guard
here must be kept up till we get 'em out to the great road, lest
the sneaks slink away into the woods as they pass along the road,
and slip through our fingers as your smart trooper did just now.
Let's see — about eight strong we will have this guard, I guess.
I will be rank and file, and you shall be the officer. Come,
mount! They'll be poking their heads along in sight in a moment.
Ay, there they come! Advance-guard!” he now added,
in a loud, commanding tone, as the slow tread of the prisoners,
advancing along the devious and closely-embowered path, became
audible — “advance-guard! Attention the whole! Prepare to
march! — march!”

And accordingly he then, as Woodburn mounted and rode
slowly on behind, commenced the enactment of his assumed part,
always keeping within hearing, but never within distinct view, of
the prisoners; now jabbering in as many voices as the most expert
ventriloquist, and now sternly commanding, “Silence in the
ranks!” — now getting up a seeming scuffle among his men, and
now driving them, with thwacks and curses, to their places; and
now again softening his tones and cracking jokes with his men, —
Smith, Johnson, &c., — who, in as many different tones, were heard
to return various sharp and comical retorts, which raised shouts
of laughter and made the forest ring with the sham merriment.
And thus he proceeded, to the secret amusement of the victors,
all of whom perfectly understood the artifice, till they emerged
from the woods into the open grounds on the main road, when
they were met by Major Ormsbee with a small detachment of
regular soldiers. The tories were then, for the first time, permitted
to know the smallness of the force that had captured them;

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when, amidst showers of gibes and shouts of laughter, at their expense,
from the Green Mountain Boys, the chapfallen creatures
were wheeled into the main road, and hurried on at a lively pace
to the village of Manchester, to be kept as prisoners of war, or
tried as spies, as the higher authorities there should see fit to
decide.*

“Captain Woodburn!” exclaimed the clear, animated voice
of one coming out of the door of the honored tavern before
described, in the village of Manchester, as the person thus
addressed, who had just arrived with those escorting the prisoners,
was describing the capture to a crowd gathered round him in the
yard — “Captain Woodburn, your most obedient! I am glad my
patience in waiting for your arrival is rewarded by the good news
which Powell, our landlord here, has just told us you bring. But
come, sir, a word in your ear, if you please.”

Woodburn turned and confronted the bright and smiling countenance
of Ira Allen, who was beckoning him from the crowd.

“Certainly, Mr. Allen; but why honor me with that appellation?”
responded the former, stepping aside with the ardent young
secretary.

“Because I have the warrant for so doing in my pocket — a
captain's commission for you, my dear sir, if you will believe me.”

“Indeed!”

“Yes, we have done something in the council at last worth
talking about — voted to raise a regiment of Rangers forthwith,
and appointed all the commissioned officers, Samuel Herrick heading
the list as colonel.”

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