"Think so?" "Why, look! Baker, come here. What are those men doing over there?" Remember Baker shaded his eyes with his hand and looked for several minutes before speaking. "'Pears like as though they were trying to ambush by the side of the road and stop us." "Just what I thought. Ask Sunderland to come here." Peleg Sunderland was a good scout. He was a hunter from Wayback, and could find the trail of a deer or a bear quicker than any man in the Green Mountains. "Colonel, we are in for it. Them fellows are waiting for us." "Dismount!" The order was obeyed, though many of the men wondered what could be the reason. "We will have lunch----" "But, colonel, I----" "We will have lunch." "Eben, get onto the trail, my boy. Find out who those men are about a mile ahead of us, and report quickly. Take care you are not seen." The boy started off in a direction which was at right angles with the road by which the men were camped. Ethan Allen bade the men appear to eat, whether they were hungry or not. He told them that he feared a surprise. The mountaineers rather liked the idea of a fight, though the odds were against them. Every man had his musket ready for use and awaited the order to move. Eben returned and reported that there were twenty-two men, well armed and apparently waiting for the Vermonters. "They are led by that man who wanted to fight you, captain." "Are you sure?" "I took his measure when he was at the inn and I cannot be mistaken." "Then they are Yorkers." "That is just what they are. And, colonel, would it not be better to pass them on the road to the right, and then return and fight?" "No, Eben. If we pass them we will not return. If we are attacked we shall give as good as we receive." "Fight it will be." "Yes, Seth, and we shall have tough work before we are through." "We are ready to follow you." "Boys, are you all ready?" "Ay, Allen." "I think they will let us reach them before they emerge, and they will fire at us from each side; so, Seth, you take half our men and I will look after the others. You give back good answers to the men on the right; we will take notice of those on the left." "All right, sir." "Mount!" The men swung themselves in the saddles as unconcerned as though they had been partaking of lunch and suspected no enemy to be on the lookout for them. They rode forward, and were within a few yards of the enemy, when the Yorkers leaped from their ambush and massed themselves on the road. "In the name of the king, surrender, Ethan Allen!" "In the name of common sense, who are you? A lot of clowns from a country fair?" "We are the king's good subjects, and command you to surrender yourself a prisoner." "Stand out of the way, you fool, or I will have to teach you a lesson." Allen had spoken sharply, for he was sick of the formality which prefaced the fight which was to come. Both sides were well matched. All were on good horses, and every man possessed a heavy musket.