"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 ma.s.sed 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.

"Do you refuse to surrender?"

"A Green Mountain Boy only surrenders to superiors."

"Then we shall have to make you, unless you acknowledge us as your superiors."

"Men of the mountains!" shouted Allen, "ride through these fellows--ride over them if they will not get out of the way."

Edwards ordered his men to resist and to fire upon the mountaineers.

"So you want to play the part of highwaymen, do you? Boys, return the fire."

One volley was fired by each party, and then the two opposing bodies became mixed up in inextricable confusion.

Muskets were clubbed and heads were cracked as the heavy b.u.t.ts descended on them.

Horses reared, and plunged, and knocked down those men who had become unhorsed.

The fight was furious for a few minutes.

Ethan and his brother, Ira, were in the thick of the struggle all the time, while Seth Warner seemed a very Trojan in valor.

Both sides fought well, and had the contest been a short one it would have been impossible to say which would have been the victor, but it was prolonged, and the mountaineers had the physical stamina which the men of the valleys lacked, and the longer the fight lasted the greater was the victory of the brave followers of Ethan Allen.

Edwards was taken prisoner, and on the understanding that he would reveal all he knew of the plot against the men of the grants, Allen allowed all the others to go free.

Two Yorkers were killed, while Allen's ranks had lost only one, and he only wounded, though severely.

In triumph the boys returned to the green hills of Vermont, and were received with many congratulations.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CONVENTION.

Edwards was brought to trial on the charge of leading an armed invasion of New Hampshire.

He declared that he alone was responsible for the foray, and doubtless his statement was a true one, though Allen did not believe it.

The district court condemned Edwards to death by hanging, for his act was one of high treason, and the sentence was sure to be confirmed by the king, to whom it had to be sent.

When Gov. Tryon heard of the fight and the capture of Edwards, and his subsequent trial and sentence, he resolved on two things. He would bring all the pressure to bear on the king that he could to prevent the sentence being confirmed, and he would capture Allen and his friends, no matter what the consequences might be.

A proclamation was printed and sent through all the grants, in which the governor of New York offered a reward of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling for the capture of Ethan Allen, dead or alive, and a further sum of fifty pounds each for the bodies, dead or alive, of Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Sylva.n.u.s Brown, Robert Cochrane, Peleg Sunderland, James Breakenridge and John Smith.

When the proclamation had been well discussed the people got another sensation in a counter proclamation, signed by Ethan Allen on behalf of the mountaineers, offering two hundred pounds for the capture of the attorney-general of New York.

Both proclamations started out with a command to the parties named to surrender themselves within thirty days under pain of the forfeiture of all their property, of conviction of felony and sentence of death without benefit of clergy.

These proclamations placed the two sections on a war footing, and Ethan saw that it was necessary to organize on a larger scale than had been done.

He consulted his trusty friend, Seth Warner, and as a result a convention was called at Bennington.

"It is no use calling on New Hampshire to aid us. We must rely on ourselves," Allen told all with whom he came in contact.

A larger number gathered at the convention than he expected, and his heart was full of joy.

He was the more pleased that he had called the men together, when, on the very morning of the gathering, he received a notice from Concord that the king had forbidden the colony to take an active part against New York in the matter of the grants.

In other words it meant that the king would protect New York and oppose all claims of New Hampshire to the lands.

"Men of the mountains," Allen commenced, "we are met to form laws to protect ourselves and our property. We must rely on ourselves alone.

I think that the time has come when we should declare ourselves independent of any colony, and apply to the king for a charter."

"Good!"

"That is talk of the right kind."

"Why cannot we have our own laws, our own governor and our own army?"