cowardly St. Clair abandoned it
before the advance of Burgoyne.

At the moment, however, the satisfaction of Ethan Allen and his brave
companions was unbounded. While the British soldiers were being paraded
without their weapons before their conquerors, a second body of Green
Mountain Boys under Major Warner entered the fort. The tall Connecticut
man came to Allen with considerable chagrin expressed in his
countenance. "Colonel, you have selfishly seized all the honors this
time!" he cried, yet congratulating his friend with a warm handclasp.
"You are a regular Achilles; there is nothing heroic for the rest of us
to do."

"Nonsense--nonsense, Seth!" cried Ethan Allen, yet unable to hide his
delight at the outcome of the attack. "There is glory enough for every
officer and every man Jack in the ranks. There is yet Crown Point to
capture and you, Major, shall command that expedition. Take Bolderwood
and some of his scouts with you and approach the other fortress by
water--and good fortune and my blessing go with you!"

A moment later the great guns of Old Ti began to speak. And they spoke a
new tongue that morning. The Voice of Liberty as expressed by the
resonant thunders of the old cannon echoed and reechoed from height to
height. The promontory which had been the scene of the bloody struggle
between Champlain and the Iroquois, and the site of two fearful battles
of the British and French, was at length sanctified by the presence of
this band of liberty loving men destined, through the next few years, to
offer their lives and possessions on the altar of their country.

Then Warner and his men again embarked in the boats and sailed down the
lake. Enoch Harding went with the expedition and saw the bloodless
capitulation of the other British stronghold. Later, Benedict Arnold
with a small command captured a British corvette farther down the lake
and with that act the supremacy of the Americans on Champlain was
assured. A garrison was placed in each fortress and then the Green
Mountain Boys dispersed to their homes having accomplished the object
for which they had been gathered by their leader. Enoch and the old
ranger returned to the ox-bow farm where their welcome can be better
imagined than narrated.

Yet the Widow Harding during the struggle which followed the capture of
Ticonderoga made many sacrifices more noble even than that of allowing
her eldest son to join in this expedition, but pioneer mothers were
called