wo
or three of the scurvy Yorkers, is no good at all!" Stephen Fay had
declared when they set forth, and probably the only emotions the ten
felt as they rode on were eagerness and wrath.

Meanwhile, behind them raced Enoch Harding, desiring mightily to "be in
at the death," as the fox-hunters say. His heavy farmhorse could not
compete with the mounts of the posse, however, and with tears in his
eyes he saw them increase the distance between themselves and his
animal. But he doggedly pursued the road, while the clatter of hoofs
grew mellow in the distance. The morning was very still; the moon had
sunk now and the stars were fading before the gray light of the coming
day. In the east behind him the sky was even streaked with pink above
the mountain-tops; the wind blew more keenly and he suddenly awoke to
the fact that he was almost perished with the cold, for he had stopped
for neither greatcoat nor mittens.

Finally arriving at the top of a ridge of land he saw before him--at
least two miles along the road and just mounting another ridge--a group
of flying horses with a sledge in their midst, the prisoner and his
captors. At first he did not see the Green Mountain Boys at all; but as
his own horse plunged down the slope he suddenly observed the squadron
which had left the Bennington Inn, come out of the dip of the valley
where the trees were thickest, and begin the ascent of the further
ridge. The two parties were less than half a mile apart.

But from the elevation he was on Enoch had seen something else. The
second ridge was lower than this and over it and not very far beyond he
had caught a glimpse of the frozen Hudson! The river was not far away.
Would the settlers catch the scoundrelly New York justice and his
companions before they reached the river?

And this must be done if they would rescue Captain Baker. It was all
very well to talk of following the party to Albany; but that would
simply result in the imprisonment of all in the jail. Once at the river
the Yorkers would be among friends and would find plenty of people to
help them beat off the Green Mountain Boys. The latter understood this
well enough. They did not need young Enoch Harding to tell them, and it
was quite evident to the boy that his friends were spurring their horses
desperately up the farther slope in a last grand burst of speed to
overtake the fugitives.

On and on they sped and finally, when Enoch reached the dip of the vale,
Clark and h