ed to see me, Colonel Allen," he said,
saluting awkwardly.

"I do indeed," said Allen. "You're ready for campaigning, I see. Leave
your traps--even to your blanket and gun--with Master Fay here. You'll
want to travel light where I send you," and he proceeded to explain the
mission he wished the youth to perform.

"I am ready, Colonel," declared Enoch, throwing off his knapsack.

"Good! Away with you at once. Use yonder horse till you get to
Manchester. Beyond that there will scarcely be bridle paths, so a horse
will be in your way. Take the word around that the time has come to
strike. And have them rendezvous at Castleton. Be off, my boy, and may
success go with you!"

The horse in question was a fine steed that Allen had ridden into town
that very morning. The youth sprang into the saddle and, understanding
that haste and cautiousness were the two things most desired of him,
trotted the animal easily out of the town and then put the spurs to him
along the road to Manchester. He spared neither the horse nor himself
until he reached the latter place and had left the steed in the keeping
of a loyal man to be returned at the first opportunity to Colonel Allen.
Of course, all the men in this section of the Grants had been warned of
the proposed expedition against the fortresses on Champlain; it was
those who dwelt deeper in the wilderness to whom young Enoch Harding had
been sent.

He knew what was expected of him. And he knew, too, how most of the
Grants people would receive the news. Colonel Allen was beloved by them
as were few leaders. This Connecticut giant who had given up his desire
for a college education and a life among books because duty called him
to the work of supporting his family, who had been by turn a farmer, an
iron forger, had tried mining and other toilsome industries, but who
nearly always worked with a book in his hand or beside him where he
could read and study--this man with his free, jovial air and utterly
reckless courage, was become as one of the heroes of old to the people
of Vermont. The men on his side of the controversy in which Allen had
taken such a deep interest, loved him devotedly; those who espoused the
New York cause hated him quite as dearly, for they feared him.

So when Enoch set out from Manchester to go from farmstead to farmstead
and from clearing to clearing, he was not in much doubt as to whom he
should send to Castleton and whom he should pass by without speaking to
re