The Hero of Ticonderoga

l Progress XXII. Eben's Adventures XXIII. Foraging XXIV. Secret Service XXV. Diplomacy XXVI. An Interesting Experiment XXVII. A Prisoner XXVIII. On the Gaspee XXIX. Arrival in England XXX. Irish Hospitality XXXI. A Daring Swim XXXII. How England Treated Prisoners of War XXXIII. Beverly Robinson's Offer *** an excerpt fromCHAPTER I: AT THE COURTHOUSE. It was a cold, bleak and freezing day, was that second day of the year 1764, in the good town of Bennington. The first day of the year had been celebrated in a devout fashion by nearly all the inhabitants of the district. Truly, some stayed away from the meeting-house, and especially was the absence of one family noticed. "It seems to me kind of strange and creepy-like that those Allen boys will never come to meeting," good old Elder Baker had said, and the people shook their heads, and were quite ready to believe that the Allen boys were uncanny. But after meeting, when the social celebration was at its height, the absence from the meeting-house was not thought of, and Ethan Allen and his brothers were welcomed as among the best farmers of the district. When the farmers separated on that New Year's Day they had no thought of trouble, and each and all were planning what crops they should plant that year, and how much land they should reserve for pasture. The snow was falling fast, and the Green Mountains looked grandly glorious as they, capped with the white snow, reflected into the valleys the feeble rays of the sun which were struggling through the clouds. The hour of noon had arrived, and the good farmers were sitting down to good boiled dinners, which were as seasonable as the weather, when the ringing of the crier's bell caused every man and woman and child to leave the hot dinner and hurry to the door to hear the news.