John Brown, a young lawyer of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was the cause of Ethan Allen's long, terrible captivity. That alone justifies our curiosity to know all about him. In March, before the war, he made an eventful trip to Montreal, going along our borders, crossing the lakes, visiting Bennington, engaging two pilots, contracting with the foremost men there, spending days investigating the status of affairs in Canada as to the coming struggle. Reporting to his employers, Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren, he says that after stopping about a fortnight at Albany he was fourteen days journeying to St. John's, undergoing inconceivable hardships; the lake very high, the country for twenty miles each side under water; the ice breaking loose for miles; two days frozen in to an island; "we were glad to foot it on land;" "there is no prospect of Canada sending delegates to the Continental Congress." He speaks of his pilot, Peleg Sunderland, as "an old Indian hunter acquainted with the St. Francis Indians and their language." The other pilot was a captive many years ago among the Caughnawaga Indians. This last was Winthrop Hoit, of Bennington. These two men were famous for their familiarity with Indian ways and speech, as well as for general prowess, and their exploits in "beech-sealing" the Yorkers. Several days Sunderland and Hoit were among the Caughnawagas, studying their manifestations of feeling toward the colonists. Brown gave letters to Thomas Walker and Blake, and pamphlets to four curés in La Prairie. He was kindly received by the local committee, who told him about Canadian politics, that Governor Carleton was no great politician, a man of sour, morose temper, and so forth. Brown wrote Adams and Warren he should not go to Quebec, "as a number of their committee are here," but "I shall tarry here some time." "I have established a channel of correspondence through the New Hampshire Grants which may be depended on." "One thing I must mention, to be kept as a profound secret. The fort at Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possible should hostilities be committed by the King's troops. _The people on New Hampshire Grants have engaged to do this business._" This letter was dated three weeks before the Lexington and Concord fights electrified the continent. CHAPTER X. WARNER ELECTED COLONEL OF THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS.--ALLEN'S LETTER TO GOVERNOR TRUMBULL.--CORRESPONDENCE IN REGARD TO THE INVASION OF CANADA.--ATTACK ON MONTREAL.--DEFEAT AND CAPTURE.--WARNER'S REPORT. On July 27th committees of towns met at Dorset to choose a lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, and thus of those Green Mountain Boys for whose organization Allen had been so active and efficient with both the Continental and New York Congresses. Seth Warner received forty-one of the forty-six votes cast. Deep was Allen's chagrin and mortification, as appears in the following letter to Governor Trumbull: TICONDEROGA, August 3, 1775.