attacked the house a withering fire would spring from the guns in the
bushes and on the ridge and blood would flow in plenty in that
heretofore peaceful vale of the northern forest.

CHAPTER IV

'SIAH BOLDERWOOD'S STRATAGEM

Sheriff Ten Eyck was a man of determination and although he had before
tested the mettle of the Grants men, he felt a burden of confidence now
with this army behind him. The ridicule of the party in ambush stung his
pride, and although warned that a considerable number of settlers were
hidden in the wood, he was not disposed to temporize. But the men who
had accompanied him on his nefarious mission were far differently
impressed by the situation. They had followed the doughty sheriff in the
hope of plunder, it is true; if the settlers of the Hampshire Grants
were to be driven incontinently from their homes as Ten Eyck and the
Governor declared, somebody must benefit by the circumstance, and the
sheriff's men hoped to be of the benefited party. But this armed
opposition was disheartening. When the chorus of groans rose from the
surrounding forest, his men as well as himself, knew that they had
fallen into ambush, and this thought troubled the Yorkers greatly.

From the top of the ridge 'Siah Bolderwood had heard much of the
controversy at the door of the Breckenridge house and as the really
serious moment approached the old ranger was blessed with a sudden
inspiration. He sprang forward and seizing Enoch Harding by the collar
dragged him to his knees and whispered a command in his ear. "Quick, you
young snipe you!" he exclaimed, as Enoch prepared to obey. "Run like the
wind--and don't let 'em see you or you may get potted!"

Enoch was off in an instant, trailing his gun behind him and stooping
low that the passage of his body through the brush might not be noted.
He got the house between him and the sheriff's column and soon reached
the side of the road where the other settlers in ambush were stationed.
He found their leader and whispered Bolderwood's message to him.
Instantly the man caught the idea and the word was passed down the
straggling line. Enoch did not return but waited with these men, who
were nearer the enemy, to see the matter out.

The sheriff was on the verge of giving the command to break down the
door of the besieged house when suddenly a wild yell broke out upon the
ridge above and was taken up by the settlers in the brush by the
roadside. It was the warwhoop--the y