"What is it, Eben?" "If you please--I--have--news----" "What is it?" "I--have been--across--the lake. I----" "Sit down and get your breath; you will be able to talk plainer. No danger threatens us?" "No--I--don't think so." Eben fanned himself and gradually became calmer. But he was so eager to tell his news that he could not wait long enough to be quite coherent. "News from Boston," he jerked out; and at once Ethan Allen was as much excited as Eben. "What news? Who brought it? Quick, Eben; don't you see how anxious I am to hear all about it?" "All the English army has landed at Boston, and they have hanged the men we loved. At least, I think so; I was in so great a hurry that I did not wait to hear all." "Who brought the news?" "No one yet. They are riding like the mischief, but I jumped in my boat and paddled across, and then ran like the wind to be first. They are here now." Two men were admitted into the presence of Ethan Allen and Seth Warner. After the usual salutes and the presentation of a short letter from Sam Adams, telling Allen that he could believe all the men told him, they were asked to tell their story. "On the twenty-fifth we saw the great gunboats and the men-of-war in the harbor getting ready for some move. We wondered what they could be doing, but only for a few minutes, for we saw other vessels moving into the harbor, and then the cannon belched forth in salute. The noise deafened us, and the jarring broke lots of windows. We soon knew that ten thousand men had arrived in the harbor, and that England was going to crush us----" "You mean to try and crush us." "Yes. Three generals had come over with reinforcements; they were Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne. Gage was like a mad creature. He danced and shouted like a boy getting an unexpected vacation. Then he said he would hang Adams and Hancock with his own hands on Boston Common, but Burgoyne stopped him and suggested trying an offer of pardon----" "Of pardon?" "Yes. There is a proclamation signed by Gage, offering pardon to all who will surrender and acknowledge that they have done wrong, except Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and these are said to be guilty of treason and must die; that is, when Gage catches them." "Well, what say the people?" "That we will fight it out." "Good!" "And that if Adams and Hancock are traitors, so are they all." "Well?" "Gage heard of the defiance, and at once gave notice that he should sally out of Boston and burn all the neighboring towns and devastate the country." "He did, eh?" "Yes, and the people say they will give him a warm reception." "Warner, shall we join the men at Boston?" "You are commissioned to hold Ticonderoga," said the messenger, "and so prevent the British using it against us." "That we will do. Warner, give orders that all the cannon and the ammunition we can spare be sent as rapidly as possible to the patriots. We must help them all we can."