Produced by Roger Frank, D Alexander and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net WITH ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA by W. BERT FOSTER Author of "With Washington at Valley Forge" etc Illustrated by F. A. Carter THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA MCMIV Copyright 1903 by The Penn Publishing Company With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga [Illustration: "FORWARD!" HE SHOUTED] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I A Boy of the Wilderness 5 II Enoch Harding Feels Himself a Man 19 III The Ambush 31 IV 'Siah Bolderwood's Stratagem 45 V The Pioneer Home 60 VI The Stump Burning 76 VII A Night Attack 94 VIII The Traitor's Way 107 IX The Otter Creek Raid 127 X The Warning 139 XI An Unequal Battle 160 XII Backwoods Justice 174 XIII The Wolf Pack 191 XIV The Testimony of Crow Wing 208 XV The Storm Cloud Gathers 220 XVI The Westminster Massacre 236 XVII The Cloven Hoof 251 XVIII "The Cross of Fire" 270 XIX The Rising of the Clans 284 XX The Rival Commanders 298 XXI The Escape of the Spy 313 XXII The End of Simon Halpen 330 XXIII The Dawn of the Tenth of May 343 XXIV The Guns of Old Ti Speak 355 WITH ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA CHAPTER I A BOY OF THE WILDERNESS The forest was still. A calm lay upon its vast extent, from the green-capped hills in the east to the noble river which, fed by the streams so quietly meandering through the pleasantly wooded country, found its way to the sea where the greatest city of the New World was destined to stand. The clear, bell-like note of a waking bird startled the morning hush. A doe and her fawn that had couched in a thicket seemed roused to activity by this early matin and suddenly showered the short turf with a dewy rain from the bushes which they disturbed as they leaped away toward the "lick." The gentle creatures first slaked their thirst at the margin of the creek hard by and then stood a moment with outstretched nostrils, snuffing the wind before tasting the salt impregnated earth trampled as hard as adamant by a thousand hoofs. The fawn dropped its muzzle quickly; but the mother, not so well assured, snuffed again and yet again.