With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga

by W. Bert Foster

Then Enoch wished he had aroused his comrades; at least the sentinel guarding the bateaus would have heard his cry and come to his assistance. But now if the spy was to be stopped it must be by his individual effort. Throwing down his rifle and removing his outside garments, he slid into the water with scarcely a ripple of its surface and finding the lake deep at this point, began to swim at once. The canoe was almost upon him when suddenly, with a muttered exclamation, the fugitive turned the craft by one swift stroke of the paddle and sent it darting away from the shore. Enoch had been seen or heard, and Halpen feared what was the fact–that one of his enemies was striving to overtake him.

Enoch flung himself forward in the water and with a strong overhand stroke took a diagonal course to intercept the canoe. He could see the man bending to his paddle. Every stroke of the blade sent the phosphorescent water flying about the frail bark. The next few moments were of vital importance to both pursued and pursuer.

Enoch’s plunge into the water had driven Halpen to paddle away from the shore. Now he was heading the craft across the cove and therefore toward the station of the sentinel. If he pursued this course for many rods he would be within rifle shot. And once out of the shadow of the trees the light on the water would make him an easy mark. To pass Enoch before the latter reached the edge of the line of shadow was therefore Simon Halpen’s object.

But the American youth was determined that Halpen should not do this. He was a strong swimmer and spurred by both the desire to recapture his enemy and to save the cause to which he was bound–the capture of Ticonderoga–he put forth every atom of his strength to overtake the canoe. The paddle flashed first upon one side, then on the other of the craft, which fairly darted through the water. But suddenly a hand and arm rose from the lake and seized the paddle just back of the blade. Enoch had dived under the surface and come up beside the canoe as Halpen was speeding past.

“Ha! would you do it?” gasped the spy, striving to tear the paddle from the youth’s grasp. The canoe rocked dangerously. The man flung himself to the other side and his superior strength wrenched the paddle away. Not contented to use the instrument in an attempt to escape, however, he tried to strike the youth with it. The canoe was all but overturned, although its momentum carried it on, and once out of Enoch’s grasp the spy could have easily gotten away. Whether he recognized his enemy or not, Halpen was inclined to deliver a second blow. He rose to do this and Enoch, fairly leaping forward, seized the stern of the canoe with both hands.

“Throw down your paddle, Simon Halpen!” he commanded.

“It is you, then?” cried the spy, now sure of the identity of the youth. He aimed a fearful stroke at the boy’s head. But instantly the latter tipped the canoe first one way, then the other, and the spy, losing his balance, plunged with a resounding splash into the lake!

The canoe turned completely over. This was not what Enoch wished, but the shock of Halpen’s fall was so great that he could not help it. The boy’s desire had been to pitch the man out, get in himself, and then have the spy at his mercy. But chance–nay, Providence, for the man’s sins had deserved death–willed otherwise.

Simon Halpen could not swim. In falling into the lake he even lost his grip upon the paddle. So, when he rose to the surface, he had nothing to cling to, but struggled wildly and cried out in fear. “Help! I am choking! I will drown!” His voice rose to a screech. An answering shout came from the distant shore where the sentinel was stationed. But the latter was too far away to render aid. If the spy was to be saved it depended upon the efforts of the youth whose father had died under Halpen’s hand, and whose own life the scoundrel had twice sought.

At that fearful cry, however, Enoch launched himself at the sinking man. His head was already under water when the boy reached down and seized his collar. He brought him to the surface. The water gurgled from his throat and he breathed again. Had he been content to abandon himself to his rescuer then he would have been saved.