"Some o' your men tried to last night," said Dutton. "We've got 'em in the sawmill now, and we're going to take 'em down to Bennington pretty soon and see what the law there has to say about men who come around trying to steal other folks' property."
"Oh, you've got 'em, have you? We were wondering where they'd got to. Well, I guess there isn't much more for us to be doing round here then."
Dutton grinned. "No, Yorkers, I don't hardly think there is. Unless you want to hand over those guns and join the party that's going down to Bennington."
"Hardly think we'd enjoy that party, neighbor," said the Yorker leader.
"Well, some of us is going south with your friends," said "Big Bill," "but there'll be plenty left here at the Falls to give you a pleasant welcome any time you want to call."
The Yorkers conferred together for a few minutes. Then the leader sang out, "Good-bye, boys. Glad to have met you!"
"Good-bye," Dutton called back. "Come again any time!" shouted Snyder. The rest of the men of the Falls sent other messages flying across the river.
The Yorkers shouldered their muskets and marched back the road, while the Green Mountain Boys cheered until the last of their opponents was hidden by the trees.
Dutton's party, including the three boys, stayed at Beaver Falls the better part of that day, waiting to see if any more Yorkers would put in an appearance. But no more came, and that afternoon, leaving a sufficient number to guard the village, they set out with their prisoners for Bennington. They spent the night at another small settlement, where the people were only too glad to give them shelter when they learned what the band had done. Next day they reached Bennington, and turned their prisoners over to the sheriff there, to be dealt with as the officers should think fit.
In Bennington, which was a very primitive town, but the center of that part of the country, Jack and Sam heard much about the border strife. They heard that the governor of New York had offered rewards for the capture of certain Green Mountain Boys, one hundred pounds apiece for the arrest of Ethan Allen and Remember Baker, fifty pounds apiece for Seth Warner and five others. The governor also ordered that any people who should resist the commands of New York officers should be arrested and taken to Albany for trial. All of "Big Bill's" party, Jack and Sam among them, were therefore now liable to be arrested by New York officers.