“Here are the children,” said Mrs. Eldridge, as she turned toward the door; and then Esther saw that her father was waiting for Mr. Carew.
“Faithie dear, your father is going to Castleton,” said Mrs. Carew, fastening the knapsack, and in a moment Faith was held close in her father’s arms, and then the two men were off, striding down the trail.
“Are they going to take Ticonderoga?” Faith questioned eagerly.
The two women looked at her in surprise, but Mrs. Carew answered quickly:
“Of course they are. Americans are guarding the trail, so we are safe enough at present. But neither of you girls must go beyond the clearing.”
“When shall we know about the fort, mother? When will we know?” asked Faith.
“Soon, I hope, child. But talk not of it now,” responded her mother.
But after a little Mrs. Eldridge told them that a messenger had come from Bennington, summoning the settlers to Castleton to meet Colonel Allen. Faith and Esther listened to the story of the far-off battle of Lexington, in Massachusetts, the news of which had determined the Green Mountain Boys to make an immediate attack on the fort. These men were the settlers of the New Hampshire Grants, living long distances apart, and obliged to travel over rough trails, through deep forests, across rivers and mountains.
There were no smooth roads or fleet horses to help them on their way; there was little time for preparation when Allen’s summons came; they had no uniforms, no strains of music; but no truer soldiers ever faced danger than the Green Mountain Boys.
That night Faith told her mother the story of her adventure in the fort, when Nathan had rescued her and taken her down the cliff. She told of the evening in March when she had guided Mr. Phelps along the moonlit shore of the lake and told him of the entrance to the fort; and last of all she described her journey with Esther over the trail to Lake Dunmore, and the letter to Ethan Allen which she had given to Seth Warner.