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One of the earliest and most noted of the houses of public
entertainment in Vermont was that of Captain John Coffin, situated
in the north part of Cavendish, on the old military road, cut out,
in the French wars, by the energetic General Amherst, with a
regiment of New Hampshire Boys, and extending from Number
Four, as Charleston on the Connecticut was then called, to the
fortresses on Lake Champlain. This tavern, at the time of the
revolution, being on the very outskirts of the settlements on the
east side of the Green Mountains, was long the general resort
of the soldier and the common wayfarer for rest and refreshment,
before and after passing over the long and dreary route of mountain
wilderness lying between the eastern and western settlements
of the state. And to the soldier, especially, it was a favorite
haven; the more so, doubtless, from the congenial character
of its frank, fearless, patriotic, but blunt and unpolished landlord,
whose substantial cheer and hearty welcome, money or no money,
usually caused him to be looked upon as a friend, as well as a
good entertainer. To this then widely-known establishment we
will now repair, to note the occurrences next to be related in the
progress of our story.

On a dark and cloudy afternoon, about ten days after the events
related in the last chapter, a company of five persons were assembled
in the rudely finished bar-room of the inn just described.
Of these, three were strangers, or pretended strangers, to the
house and each other; having dropped in at different intervals
during the afternoon. Of the two others, one was the landlord,
whose burly frame, rough, open features, and fear-nought countenance
need have left none in doubt of either the physical or
moral traits which experience proved he possessed. The other,
a somewhat tall, thin, gaunt man, of a weather-beaten visage, and
a sort of sly, scrutinizing look, was an old acquaintance of the
reader. As of old, his large powder-horn and ball-pouch were
slung under his left arm, and his long, heavy rifle, standing by

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his side, was resting on the sill of the open window, beneath
which he had seated himself, so as to enable him to note what
might be passing without as well as within. The manner in
which the latter and the landlord occasionally exchanged glances,
implied a previous and familiar acquaintance, the usual manifestations
of which seemed to be repressed by the presence of the
three guests first named, who were evidently objects of the secret
suspicion of the former. But all this, for some time, might have
passed unheeded by any but close observers; for few remarks,
and those of the briefest and most common-place kind, were
offered; and an inclination for silence and reserve was manifest
among the company.

A circumstance at length occurred, however, which quickly
awakened the landlord from his apparent apathy, and brought
some of the leading characteristics of the man at once into view.
A very large and powerfully-made black dog, which belonged to
the house, had just marched into the room, and laid down to
sleep in the middle of the floor; when one of the strangers,
whom we have noticed, in returning from the bar, where he had
been for a drink of water, trod on the animal's tail, either through
accident or design — probably the latter; — at least the landlord
seemed to suspect so; for his countenance instantly flashed with
indignation, and, turning abruptly to the aggressor, he said, —

“What was that done for, sir?”

“Done for?” replied the other, indifferently. “Why, it was
done because the dog was in my way. If he don't want his tail
trod on, he must keep out from under foot; that's all.”

“Well, sir,” rejoined the former, in no gentle tones, “I don't
know who you are; but whether whig or tory, gentle or simple,
I shall just take the liberty to tell you, that if I was sure you did
that intentionally, I would pull your ears for you; for, if any
living being has a good right to remain undisturbed, and do as he
likes in this house, it is that dog. Roarer, come here, my old
friend,” he added, turning to fondle the creature, that now, dropping
the menacing attitude he had assumed towards the aggressing
stranger, came up and thrust his huge snout into his master's lap.
“Yes, old fellow, while I live, you shall never want a friend to
avenge your wrongs, though I have to fight a regiment to do it!
And aint I right in that, Dunning?” he still further remarked,
turning to the hunter.

“Der yes, if needful,” replied the latter; “but the ditter dog,
I'm thinking, would ask no favors, if you would give him leave
to der do his own work on meddlers.”

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“O, that wouldn't do, you know, Tom,” rejoined the former;
“for, if I but said the word, Roarer would tear him in shoe-strings,
as quick as you could say Jack Roberson! No; I'll settle
the hash myself. And I am now ready to hear the fellow's
explanation,” he added, again turning sternly to the aggressor.

But the last-named questionable personage, not relishing the
course matters were taking, now, in a subdued and altered tone,
promptly disclaimed any intention of touching the dog, and expressed
his regret at what had happened.

“O, that's enough,” said Coffin, instantly cooling off. “All
right now, Roarer. You may lie down again, sir,” he continued,
waving away the dog, that had faced round, and still stood suspiciously
eyeing the offender. “Yes, that's enough; we'll call
the matter settled. But by way of explaining to you, who are
strangers, what I have said about that dog's claims to my friendship
and protection, I must tell you a story, which will show you
how much the noble creature is deserving at my hands.

“Six years ago, the seventh day of last March, as I was returning
from the settlements on Otter Creek, a distance of from
twenty to thirty miles, through the then entire wilderness, with
the snow nearly five feet deep on a level, and the weather so cold
and stormy, that I was compelled to travel with great-coat on, as
well as snow-shoes, I undertook to cross one of the ponds in
Plymouth on the ice, which I supposed perfectly sound and safe
for any thing that could be got on to it. But for some reason or
other, there seemed to have been one place, concealed from view
by the snow, so thin and spongy, that the moment I stepped upon
it, I went down some feet below the surface into the water, while
the snow and broken ice at once closed over me. And although
I succeeded in forcing my way up through the slush, and getting
my head above water, yet I soon found it, hampered as I was
with snow-shoes and great-coat, impossible to get out. As sure
as I tried to raise myself by the treacherous support at the sides,
so sure was it to give way, and precipitate me back into the water.
But still I struggled on, till chilled to the vitals, so benumbed that
I could scarcely move a limb, and growing weaker and weaker
at every effort, I could do no more; and I saw myself gradually
sinking for the last time. O heavens! who can describe my
sensations — who conceive the thousand thoughts that flashed
through my mind at that horrible moment! But just as I was
on the point of giving up in despair, I caught a glimpse of my
dog (that had taken a circuit wide from me after some game)
coming on to the pond. I raised one faint shout — it was all I

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could do, — and, though nearly a half mile off, he heard it, and
came on, with monstrous bounds, to the spot. In a moment he
was there; and, after giving me one look, — I can never forget
that look, — he slid down to the very verge of the hole to try to
assist me. With a struggle, I made out to raise one hand out
of the water within his reach. He seized the cuff of my coat,
and, drawing back with the seeming strength of a draught-horse,
he, with one pull, brought me half out of the water. With a desperate
effort on my part, and another on his, the next instant I
was lying helpless, but safe, on the ice, while the dog fairly
howled aloud for joy! I said safe; for as hopeless as some
might have viewed my situation, even then, wet, benumbed,
nearly dead with cold and exhaustion, and many miles from any
human help or habitation, as I was, yet rallying every energy I
had left me, and rolling, kicking, and pawing, to put my blood in
motion, and regain the use of my limbs, I soon got on to my
feet; when, seizing my gun, that I had hurled aside as I went
down, I made for a dry tree in sight, fired into a spot of spunk I
luckily found on one side of it, kindled a fire, warmed and dried
myself, set forward again, and reached home that night; but
with feelings towards that dog, sir, that I can never know towards
any other created being — not even, in some respects, towards my
wife and children. Yes, sir; I will not only fight, but, if need be,
die for him.”

While the captain was relating his oft-told but truthful adventure
with his justly-prized dog, the quick eye of Dunning
caught, through the window, a glimpse of a recognized form,
approaching in the road from the east; and slipping out unnoticed
from the room, he beckoned the approaching personage
round the corner of the house, and when safely out of the
hearing and observation of those in the bar-room, he turned to
the other, and said, —

“Der devil 's in the wind, Captain Harry!”

“How so? Have you discovered the suspected rendezvous?”

“Der yes; and more too.”

“Indeed! where is it?”

“Ditter deep in the thickets, on the west side of the pond
nearest the great road over the mountains.”

“Ah, ha! but their numbers? any more, probably, than the
small club we supposed?”

“Der double, and then the ditter double of that, if it don't
make more than twenty.”

“You surprise me, Dunning. Are you sure?”

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`Sure as that I am der talking to Captain Woodburn.”

“Impossible! It must be some secret meeting of the disaffected
in this quarter.”

“Der not that, but a regularly armed force, and, with the ditter
exception of two or three about-home tories, may be, all strange
faces, including a sprinkling of red skins, brought along with
them for ditter decency's sake, I suppose.”

“But how could such a force get so far into the interior undetected?
How dare they venture on so hazardous a movement?
and what can be their designs in so doing?”

“Der here is something that ditter tells a rather loud story about
that; at least, as to the matter of intentions,” said the hunter,
by way of reply, taking a crumpled paper from his cap and
handing it to the other.

Woodburn took the paper, and eagerly ran over its contents;
which to his astonishment he found to be a copy of an order from
General Burgoyne to Colonel Peters, detailing the plan of an
expedition, to be conducted by the latter, with one hundred loyalists
and a company of Indians, by way of the head waters of
Otter Creek, across the mountains to Connecticut River, where
this force was to be joined by the loyal troops from Rhode
Island, and directing him “to scour the country, levy contributions,
take hostages, make prisoners of all civil and military
officers acting under Congress, collect horses, and, after proceeding
down the river as far as Brattleborough, return to the
great road to Albany.”*

“How did this get into your hands, Dunning?” demanded
the surprised and excited officer, as soon as he had mastered the
contents.

“Der well, having crept along near the edge of the pond
within ten or twelve rods of their camp, I was lying in the bushes
for discoveries; when ditter one of 'em — their leader, I suppose—
came down to the pond, for observation, likely; and, while

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peering up and down the shore, a gust of wind blew his hat off
into the water. But though he regained his ditter hat and disappeared,
I soon saw a piece of white paper blowing along in
the water towards me. After a while, it reached the sort of point
where I was, and lodging against a bush, I secured it, and found
it this same thing. What do you think of it, captain?”

“Why, it unfolds a plan too bold for credence.”

“Not too bold for my ditter credence, captain.”

“Then you think it no feint?”

“Der no, sir, but a regular bred expedition, which they mean
to push as soon as more force arrives. I have been ditter
watching things a little since I got at this wrinkle. They have
spies out in every direction. 'Tis not an hour since I espied a
fellow peering from the corner of the woods up yonder, who, I
think, must be that treacherous ditter devil, David Redding; and
there are three now in the bar-room of the same kidney.”

“Ah! well, all this may be. Such an expedition may have been
set afoot at the instigation of such fellows as Spencer, who,
having left the Council of Safety before any thing was done, and
while its distracted counsels seemed to preclude all prospect that
any thing would be done for the defence of the state. Ay, that
is it; and little dreaming of what has since transpired, Peters,
who is probably behind, with the main force, has sent forward
this as a sort of pioneer corps, who, coming over a route now
mostly deserted by our people, have penetrated here nearly to the
Twenty Mile Encampment, without once suspecting what is going
on through the rest of the state. But that is a secret, which,
thanks to the prompt patriotism shown by our young men in enlisting,
we shall now soon be able to teach them; for my company
is already nearly full; and, if you have notified the recruits
you enlisted, Sergeant Dunning, they will all be here for mustering
by to-morrow night.”

“All done, as in der duty bound, captain; and six of my men
said they would be here this evening.”

“Indeed! there will be almost enough of us, if your six recruits
all get in, to make a pounce upon this nest of vipers to-night.
Let's see; six — you, myself, and Captain Coffin, and —”

“And der Bart, if he comes; ditter don't you expect him
along here to-night?”

“I do. Miss Haviland, according to the letter of Mr. Allen,
who wrote some days ago, to apprise me of her coming, would
have started, I calculate, this morning; and Bart, whom I immediately
despatched to act as her guard on the way, will of

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course come with her. They will probably arrive before long,
now — unless —” and the speaker suddenly paused at the
new and startling thought that now seemed to occur to him.

“Unless,” said Dunning, guessing the thoughts of the other,
and taking up the supposition — “unless beset by some of this
crew, who are ordered to take prisoners and hostages. But der
stay; didn't I catch the glimmer of a distant horseman then?”
he continued, pointing along the partially wooded road to the
west. “There! that was a clearer view; and, by the ditter
darting kind of gait of the horse, I should think it might be
Lightfoot, and the short rider the critter we've been talking
about.”

The hunter's eye had not misled him; for in a few minutes
the horseman emerged from the forest into open view, and confirmed
the conjecture that had just been made respecting his
identity. As he neared the house, perceiving Woodburn and
Dunning beckoning to him from behind the buildings, he threw
himself from his saddle, leaped over the fence, and approached
them.

“The news, sir? What is it? Speak!” eagerly exclaimed
Woodburn, as Bart, with a downcast and troubled look, drew
near.

“Bad as need to be, consarn it!” replied the latter, with an
air of mingled vexation and self-reproach. “But I couldn't
help it.”

“Help what? What has happened? Where is the lady?”
rapidly asked the alarmed and impatient lover.

“Taken prisoner by the tories, as I guessed 'em. She and
Vine Howard, that come with her, and the boy that drove 'em.”

“How? when? where?”

“Why, as we were coming down this side the mountain, and
when nearly to the bottom, five or six fellows, with guns, rushed
out of the bush, seized the horse, pulled out the women, and
hurried them off with two of their number into the woods towards
the pond; while the rest made a push to take me, who
was riding just behind. But firing a pistol in their faces, and
giving Lightfoot my stiffest sign, we dashed through or over
them, and escaped, with their bullets whistling after us, one after
another, till we were out of reach.”

“These ladies shall be rescued before I sleep, or I will perish
in the attempt,” said Woodburn, with stern emphasis. “Let us
arm and set forward immediately with the best force we can
raise.”

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“There is a thing or two to be ditter done first, it strikes me,”
observed Dunning, with his usual coolness; “that is, if we don't
want enemies both before and behind us, on the way.”

“What is that, Dunning?”

“Secure those three chaps in the bar-room, or they'll be ditter
sure either to be on our heels, or get there before us to raise the
alarm of our coming.”

“Are they armed, think you?”

“With ditter knives only, I'm thinking — their guns may have
been left in the point of woods yonder, in charge of the spy I
named, who, now I ditter think on't, ought to be taken about the
same time, for fear of some secret signal being given.”

The suggestions of Dunning, who, as the reader will already
have inferred, had been made a sergeant in Woodburn's company
of Rangers, were at once approved by his superior, who accordingly,
as the first step, despatched him and Bart to the woods,
where the man conjectured to be in charge of the arms of his
comrades was supposed to be concealed. After waiting till the
two others might have had time to gain the woods in question,
Woodburn left his stand, and, passing round to the front of the
house, boldly marched into the bar-room, where the three suspected
personages still sat listening to the stories with which the
landlord, who suspected what was in progress, seemed intent on
amusing them. They, however, now seemed suddenly to lose
all interest in the recital going on, and, after exchanging uneasy
and significant glances, simultaneously rose to depart.

“You are my prisoners, gentlemen,” said Woodburn, stepping
before them and presenting a cocked pistol.

For a moment, the surprised tories stood mute in alarm and
doubt, alternately glancing from their armed opponent to the
landlord, and from the latter to the door and windows, as if
weighing the chances and means of escape. But, the next instant,
two of them suddenly turned, and drawing and flourishing their
knives behind them, sprang for the open windows, with the intention
of leaping through them.

“At 'em, Roarer!” exclaimed Coffin, seizing one escaping tory
by the leg, and hurling him back with stunning effect upon the
floor.

The dog was but little behind his master in drawing back, by
a grip in his clothes, the other to the floor, where he was glad to
lie without offering further resistance to the grim and growling
conqueror standing over him. The third, in the mean while, not
daring to stir lest a worse fate should befall him, standing as he

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was directly before the muzzle of Woodburn's pistol, and seeing
the situation of his comrades, immediately submitted; when all,
giving up their concealed arms, now quietly yielded themselves
as prisoners.

In a few minutes after the surrender of the tories, their guns
were brought in by Dunning and Bart, who found them at the
suspected place, though the traitor, Redding, whom they identified,
had just taken the alarm, and was seen retreating over a distant
knoll as they came up to the spot.

The prisoners being left in charge of the landlord's oldest boy,
who was armed for the purpose, and the dog Roarer, the rest of
the company now retired to another part of the house, to devise
measures for the rescue of the fair captives, for which a preliminary
step only had as yet been taken. Having at length fixed on
the plan of operations which they believed most promising of auspicious
results, they immediately commenced their hasty preparations
for the bold adventure. And Dunning's six recruits luckily
arriving in season, the whole company, now consisting of ten
resolute woodsmen, and led on by a man fully resolved to succeed
or perish, set forward, a little after sunset, for the scene of action,
which was several miles distant from the tavern. According to
the plan that had been adopted, two men were to proceed to the
eastern shore of the pond, take a log canoe, and, under cover of
the darkness, row silently over to some point beyond, but near
the tory encampment; and, after making what discoveries they
could respecting the situation of the captives, lie in ambush and
await the operations of the rest of the company, who were to proceed
round by the road, enter the woods, and gain a post on the
other side of the encampment, and, by a feigned attack, draw
off the tories, and thus afford the former a favorable moment to
rush from their concealment and release the captives. And if
they found this impracticable, they were then to shout aloud the
watchword, To the rescue! when both parties of the assailants
were to make an earnest and desperate onset on the foe. Dunning
and Bart, from their known sagacity and skill as woodsmen,
and coolness and intrepidity in action, were the two men selected
to undertake the more difficult and hazardous part first mentioned.

After a rapid and silent march of about an hour, the company
reached the vicinity of the pond, just as the last suffusions of an
obscured twilight disappeared in the west, and halted a few minutes,
that the different parts of the plan might be repeated and
clearly understood by all before separating.

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“Remember the arrangement, boys,” said Woodburn, addressing
Dunning and Bart, in a voice which betrayed the intense solicitude
he felt in the event at issue. “Recollect the first and main
object is to release and get off the ladies, and if this can be done
within the hour we will give you for the purpose, as it possibly
may be, before we make any demonstrations in front, so much
the better; if not, proceed in the manner agreed on. And may
Heaven favor the innocent, whose cause, remember, is mostly in
your hands.”

With this the company separated, and each party proceeded to
their different destinations. We will follow the two intrusted with
the most difficult part of the enterprise.

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