A Little Maid of Ticonderoga Part 18

Aunt Prissy looked up in amazement.

"But how can you, Faithie, dear? We do not know where she is," she answered.

"We shall know some time. Of course we shall. And when we do, may I? I meant to ask you the day of the quilting," said Faith.

"Of course you may, child. I was sure that you would want to when Esther sent the beads. I only hope you may have a chance to give them to Louise at an early day," responded Aunt Prissy.

This decision proved a comfort to Faith. As the weeks went by, and no news of the shoemaker and his little daughter was received, she would often look at the string of blue beads which she meant to give her friend. "I wish I had given them to her on my birthday," she thought regretfully, "but she shall have them some time," for Faith was quite sure that it could not be very long before Louise would find a way to let them know where she was.

March came, "stirring the fire" vigorously from the day of its arrival. The ice in the lake broke up rapidly, the snow melted, and by the middle of the month Faith began to expect her father. Nathan Beaman, in his clumsy boat, had crossed from Sh.o.r.eham a number of times. He often teasingly reminded Faith of her plan to ask Ethan Allen to come and take possession of Fort Ticonderoga.

"You'd better hurry. The British will be sending men down from Canada by early summer, and then 'twill be of no use for the Green Mountain Boys to try to capture the fort," he said.

"How do you always know so much about what the English are going to do?" asked Faith.

The children were all in the shop. Nathan was helping Donald in the construction of a small boat, and Faith and the two younger boys had been filling a basket with chips and shavings to carry into the house.

"Can't help knowing," answered Nathan. "I hear the men at the fort talking about all their fine plans to own all this country every time I go there."

"Nathan," and Faith lowered her voice so that the other children would not hear, "you know I promised not to tell about the door at the fort?"

Nathan nodded; he was looking at her sharply, and half feared that she was about to tell him that she had broken the promise.

"Well, of course I shan't tell. But if my telling some American would help send the soldiers away, mayn't I tell then?" and Faith's face was very serious as she waited for his response.

"Yes. I meant you weren't to tell Louise Trent, or those Young girls,"

said Nathan. "And don't tell any one unless you are sure it will be of some use. You see I may tell, if it comes to that."

Faith drew a long breath. "Thank you, Nathan," she said, in so serious a tone that the boy laughed aloud.

"You are as grave about that old fort as my father and the Sh.o.r.eham men are. You ought to hear my father tell about the big fight here in 1758. He was a young man then, and the French held the fort, and the English were after it."

Donald had stopped his work, and he and Hugh were listening eagerly.

"Tell us, tell us about it," said Donald.

"Father says there'll never be anything like it again. All the Colonies sent men, and Lord Howe brought thousands of English soldiers. England was our friend then," said Nathan. "They had thousands of boats, and rafts to carry their big guns. They had big flags, and music; and they didn't lurk or skulk about. Their boats came right down the lake in fine shape; they landed, and marched toward the fort. But the French were ready for them, and beat them back. However, the next year the English and Americans drove the French out."

"I guess the English are brave," Donald ventured, returning to his work.

"Of course they are. Why, we're all English ourselves," declared Nathan, "and that's why we won't stand being treated so unfairly. We can't stand it."

"I'm not English. I'm an American," said Faith; "and when the Americans take Ticonderoga that will be American too."

"That's the way to talk, little maid," said a gruff voice, and the children turned quickly toward the door.

"I didn't mean to listen," and a tall man, dressed in deerskin jacket and trousers, with moccasins, and wearing a fur cap, stepped into the shop, resting his musket against the wall near the door. "Shouldn't have dared come in if I had not heard I was in good company," he said laughingly, his sharp eyes looking carefully about the shop.

Nathan, with a half-muttered word of good-bye to the children, had started toward the door; but the newcomer's hand grasped his arm.

"Wait a minute!" he said, swinging the boy about. "I'm not so sure about letting you start off so smart. You may head straight for the fort, for all I know. What's your name?"

Nathan stood silent. His face flushed, but he looked the newcomer steadily in the face.

"Let go of Nathan!" said Donald st.u.r.dily, clutching at the man's arm, and kicking at his legs. "This isn't your shop. You let go of him."

"I guess I'd better," laughed the man, taking a firm hold of Donald and looking at both his captives in evident amus.e.m.e.nt. "Well, Philip Scott, what sort of a hornet's nest have you here?" he called out, and Faith turned around to see her Uncle Philip standing in the doorway.

"I'll not let go these men until you promise to defend me," continued the stranger.

"You are safe, Phelps," responded Mr. Scott, coming forward and, as Nathan and Donald were released, giving the stranger a cordial welcome. Nathan vanished without a word, but on Mr. Scott's saying that he was the son of Mr. Beaman of Sh.o.r.eham, the stranger was rea.s.sured. It was evident he did not wish his arrival to become known at the fort.

Faith heard the stranger say that he had come from Hartford, and that he would cross to the New Hampshire Grants as soon as he could safely do so.

"I'd like to look in at Fort Ticonderoga if I could without the soldiers knowing it," she heard him say, and her uncle replied that it would be impossible.

Faith was sure that this stranger was on some errand to the Green Mountain Boys, for he spoke of Remember Baker, and Seth Warner.

"I'd like to take Colonel Allen a plan of the fort," she heard him say, as she helped Aunt Prissy prepare an early dinner for their visitor.

Faith wished that she was grown up. Then, she was sure, she would dare to tell this stranger of the way up the cliff to the unguarded entrance. "He could go up this evening, and then he could tell Colonel Allen all about it," she thought, and before dinner was over she had resolved to find a way to tell him. But after a talk with Mr. Scott the visitor had declared he must get a few hours sleep. He said that he had been on the trail since very early that morning, and must be off again soon after sunset.

"Run in the sitting-room, Faithie, and fix a cushion for Mr. Phelps,"

said Aunt Prissy, and the little girl started obediently.

"I'll tell him now," she resolved, and as the tall man followed her she said quickly: "I know how you can get into the fort and no one see you. It's a secret. I'll show you. But Uncle Phil won't let me if you tell him."

"I'll not tell him. You are a brave child. Tell me quickly," responded the tall stranger.

"There's a canoe under the big willow at the bottom of the field----"

began Faith, but he interrupted.

"Yes! Yes! I know. I am to cross the lake in it. But how can I get into the fort?"

"I could show you. I can't tell you," answered Faith.

"Then 'tis of small use. Harm might come to you, child," he answered, stretching himself out on the long settle with a tired sigh.

Faith went slowly back to the kitchen. Here was the very chance she had so long hoped for, and this stranger would not let her attempt it.

All that afternoon Faith was very quiet. She walked across the fields to the sh.o.r.e and looked at the big willow tree where the canoe was concealed. She looked off toward Mount Defiance, and Mount Hope, rising clearly against the sky, as if standing sentinels for Fort Ticonderoga.

"I'll try, anyway," she said to herself, as she turned toward home.

After supper she went early up-stairs. But she did not undress. She knew that her uncle would not go to the lake sh.o.r.e with his visitor, for that might attract the attention of some hunter or fisherman. It would not be long before Mr. Phelps would start. There was no time to lose. She put on her fur cap, and a knit jacket, and then peered out of the window. The sky was clear, and the moon made it almost as light as day. The sound of the falls came clearly through the quiet air.

"He could find his way up the cliff as plainly as if it were daylight," thought Faith, as she turned from the window.

She opened her door and closed it silently behind her. Her cousins were in bed, her uncle and aunt in the sitting-room with their visitor. Faith would have to pa.s.s the sitting-room door and go through the kitchen; the slightest noise would betray her. She had put on her moccasins, the ones Kashaqua had given her, and she stepped cautiously, without a sound. In a few moments she was safely out-of-doors and running across the field. She crouched down in the canoe and waited.