the
power at your back."

CHAPTER VI.

BEFORE THE GOVERNOR.

Mr. Talbot knew not what to do.

Had he lived in the days of the electric telegraph he would have used
the wire to obtain instructions. But in those days only a horse was at
his disposal, and that was a slow means of travel.

He knew that he must act as he thought best.

If he offended the governor he might be removed from his position and
disgraced.

If he offended the mountaineers they might make terms with New York,
and New Hampshire might lose all the debatable land.

There was a degree of sturdy independence shown by the mountaineers
which, while commendable, was slightly awkward at times.

It is in the mountains that freemen are born, and, as Ethan Allen often
told the people of the valleys, the men of the hills were a race of
free men, who could never be enslaved.

Talbot thought over the difficulty and resolved to try diplomacy.

"You hold your farm under a grant from Gov. Wentworth?"

"I do?"

"You owe allegiance to him?"

"Certainly."

"You ought to obey his commands."

"Stay! I am a freeborn man. I willingly give service where service is
needed, I willingly obey laws which are for the good of all, but I
never yet agreed to obey any one man, whether he be governor or even
king."

"And yet you have no right to the farm, save such as you received from
the governor."

"You mistake the position. The original grant was for a tract of
mountain land. That land is now mine because I have improved it, made
it of value, and all I owe to the governor is the value of the
unreclaimed lands.

"Will you not go to Concord and obey the governor's mandate?"

"Not until the governor himself asks me. When he invites me I will go;
when he only commands I refuse to obey. Return and tell him so."

"I dare not."

"Then stay here and you will learn what freemen think, and see how they
act."

"I dare not stay."

"What a sorry specimen of a man you are. You dare not, forsooth! is
that the expression of a free man?"

"You taunt me."

"Taunt you? No, I only say that I dare do aught that does become a
man."

Seth Warner entered the house and was welcomed by Ethan.

The colonel told the farmer of the order received.

"Will you go?"

"No."

"I should say not, indeed. Let the governor come here if he wants to
talk with you."

Talbot could make no headway, so he left the house in disgust.

He went to Faithful Quincy, th