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Updated: June 4, 2025
"What for?" asked Bolderwood, with the usual freedom of the community, and likewise proving himself a true Yankee by responding to one question with another. "Might wanter go acrosst," said the farmer. "They say there's goin' ter be a lot o' reinforcements come up to Old Ti an' my nevvy and I want to see 'em when they come."
The latter, seeing that the family had been so miraculously saved from the fire, sought to get away while the men were saving those goods which were unconsumed. But Bolderwood was after him with mighty strides and dragged him back, a prisoner. "Nay, friend, you'll be needed here as a witness," he said, grimly.
In the door of the burning cabin stood the figure of Enoch Harding, his face covered with smut and his clothing half burned off his back. For a moment the surveyor believed the dead had risen and he covered his face with his hands to shut out the sight of the boy. "Are ye all alive, lad?" shouted Bolderwood, dropping the surveyor and running forward.
He, like the Hardings, believed that Simon Halpen would find the time ripe for the carrying out of his nefarious designs. It was the season of the year when the farm work having been completed, the pioneers felt free to go about more, and hunting was popular. Many men were off with their rifles; but Bolderwood picked up some half dozen determined fellows and hastened back to the Harding place.
The voice of the negro, who was the property of one of the wealthiest royalists on the lake, became more and more vociferous as the bateau approached the shore. "Wot de goodness youse shakaroons doin' yere? We ain't goin' land yere no, sir! Dis ain't no place fur us. Who yo' t'ink capen ob dis craft, anyway?" "Oh, come along, old man! we wanter see ye!" shouted Bolderwood from the shore.
But when they were about to return another party of hunters came to the spot men whom Bolderwood knew bound for the upper end of the lake and into the wilderness lying east of that point. Enoch could not go so far because of the work on the farm; but he urged Bolderwood to accompany this party, as he knew very well he could find his way home in safety by either the land or water route.
Bolderwood himself was given command of the larger number and arranged his men along the top of the ridge behind the house, where they would be concealed by the brush but could draw bead upon any person passing along the road or approaching the farmhouse. One hundred and twenty under a second leader were hidden beside the road while eighteen and an officer were stationed inside the house itself.
The window shutters and door were burned away and the interior of the place was badly demolished. "Where's the widder and the boys?" shouted one of the newcomers to Bolderwood. The old ranger did not answer, but his hand tightened upon the surveyor's arm. Suddenly the latter shrieked and would have fallen to the ground had not the grasp upheld him.
When the chorus of groans rose from the surrounding forest, his men as well as himself, knew that they had fallen into ambush, and this thought troubled the Yorkers greatly. From the top of the ridge 'Siah Bolderwood had heard much of the controversy at the door of the Breckenridge house and as the really serious moment approached the old ranger was blessed with a sudden inspiration.
His homestead, however, was in such an out-of-the-way place and so secluded that the Green Mountain Boys had left him unmolested. Now Bolderwood was determined to have the roomy canoe and a large bateau which he was known to possess. "But if the pesky critter gits an inkling of what we're up to, he'll start for Old Ti that he will!" the ranger said to Enoch. "We gotter get around him somehow.
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