Bolderwood
said. "He's the head of the family now, and bein' sech, had to come
along to fight the Yorkers."

"I remember your father," declared Allen, kindly. "A noble specimen of
the Almighty's workmanship. I stopped a night with him once at his
cabin--do you remember me?"

As though Nuck could have forgotten it! His youthful mind had made Ethan
Allen a veritable hero ever since, placing him upon a pedestal before
which he worshipped. But he only nodded for bashfulness.

"You'll make a big man, too," said the giant. "And if you can shoot
straight there'll be plenty of chance for you later on. This is only the
beginning, 'Siah," he pursued, turning to Bolderwood and letting his
huge hand drop from Enoch's head. "There will be court-doings,
now--writs, and ejectments, and enough red seals to run the King's court
itself. But while the Yorkers are red-sealing us, we'll blue-seal
them--if they come over here, eh?" and he went off with a great shout of
laughter at his own punning.

The men were minded to scatter but slowly. All were rejoiced that the
battle had been a bloodless one; yet none believed the matter ended. The
fiasco of the New York sheriff might act as a wet blanket for the time
upon the movements of the authorities across the line; but the land
speculators were too numerous and active to allow the people of the
Grants to remain in peace. Parties of marauders might swoop down at any
time upon the more unprotected settlers, drive them out of their homes,
destroy their property, and possibly do bodily injury to the helpless
people. Methods must be devised to keep these Yorkers on their own side
of the disputed line. Those settlers, such as the widow Harding, who
were least able to protect themselves, must have the help of their
neighbors. The present victory proved the benefit to be derived from
concerted action. Now, in the flush of this triumph, the leaders went
among the yeomanry who had gathered here and outlined a plan for
permanent military organization. In all the colonies at that day,
"training bands," or militia, had become popular, made so in part by the
interest aroused by the wars with the French and Indians. Many of the
men who joined these military companies did not look deeply into the
affairs of the colonies, nor were they much interested in politics; but
their leaders looked ahead--just as did Ethan Allen and his conferees in
the Grants--and realized that an armed yeomanry might some time be