A Little Maid of Ticonderoga Part 21

"It would take all day to go and get back," said Esther, "and our mothers would never let us go; you know they wouldn't."

"One of us ought to go to-morrow," answered Faith, "but how can we plan it?"

"I know! I know!" declared Esther. "I'll ask your mother if you may come for a visit, and then you'll go home at night. Some time you can tell her all about it," concluded Esther as she noticed Faith's serious and doubtful expression.

"And what will you do? Don't you mean to go with me?" asked Faith.

"Oh, yes! I'll tell my mother I am going to spend the day with you.

Then we'll start off in good season, and we'll get home before our mothers miss us," said Esther.

"Faith! Faith!" and Mrs. Carew's voice sounded through the clear air.

"I must run back now. I'll write the letter to-night and be over near your house as early as I can in the morning," said Faith.

"Hide behind the big pine," said Esther, and the two friends, greatly excited over their project, separated and ran toward their respective homes.

It was not easy for Faith to write the letter, for she would have to ask her mother for the quill pen, and the bottle of ink, made from the juice of the pokeberry. But in the early evening, while her mother was busy, Faith secured the quill and ink and a sheet of the treasured paper and wrote her letter:

"Dear Mr. Colonel Ethan Allen," she wrote. "Will you please send the English soldiers away from Fort Ticonderoga? Nathan Beaman, who lives at Sh.o.r.eham, will show you how to get in. Please send them soon, or more will come.

"Respectfully your friend,

"FAITH CAREW."

She had time to fold and seal the letter with the big stick of red wax, softening the wax before the sitting-room fire. A moment later and her mother came in, saying she had best go to bed and get a good night's rest.

"May I spend to-morrow, all day, with Esther?" asked Faith, as her mother went up-stairs with her, and feeling her face flush with the consciousness of not telling her mother all the truth.

"Your very first day at home, dear child! Why, I should be running over to Mrs. Eldridge's every hour to make sure that you were really within reach," responded her mother.

"Oh, mother, you wouldn't!" said Faith, so earnestly that Mrs. Carew smiled rea.s.suringly and said:

"Well, perhaps not every hour. But if you want to spend the day with Esther you may. 'Tis not as if you were going back to Aunt Prissy in a week."

"And you won't come to Mrs. Eldridge's at all, will you, mother dear?"

pleaded Faith. "I'll be safe, and I'll come home early."

"You shall do as you like, dear child. I know you will do nothing but what will please me," and Mrs. Carew leaned over to kiss Faith good-night.

"Oh, dear," Faith whispered to herself guiltily, as her mother went down the stairs. "Here is another secret, the biggest of all. But I can't tell mother."

The song of the brook seemed louder than ever before to the little girl that night, as she lay watching the April stars shine through her window. She remembered that her mother had said that perhaps a little girl could help. "Mother dear is sure to be glad when she knows that Colonel Allen had to be told about Nathan," thought Faith; and then the brook's song grew softer and softer and she was fast asleep.

Faith was down-stairs the next morning almost as soon as her father and mother. She had on her brown dress and her moccasins, and the letter was safely hidden in her pocket. She could hardly keep still long enough to eat her breakfast.

"Esther wanted me to come early, mother dear, and I promised,"

she urged; so her mother bade her be off, and stood in the door and watched the little girl run down the slope, feeling a little disappointed that Faith should be so eager to be with Esther instead of remaining at home.

But early as it was Faith found Esther waiting for her.

"Did you bring anything to eat?" asked Esther.

"I never thought of it!" replied Faith, "and I don't believe I could, anyway."

"Well, I thought of it. I have a fine square of corn cake, a piece of cold venison, and a square of mola.s.ses cake," said Esther, holding up a small basket. "Now, creep along on the edge of the trail until we are well up the ridge. Then we can walk as we please."

Faith obeyed. She thought to herself how fortunate it was that Esther had come to live in the Wilderness, and that she was ready to help carry the message.

"Isn't it lovely in the woods!" said Esther, as they reached the summit of the ridge, and turned to look back down the winding trail.

"Father said this morning that the spring was early, and 'tis surely warm as summer."

As they rested for a little while on a bank of firm green moss Faith told Esther of "Nooski's" sudden appearance when she and Kashaqua were on their journey to the lake.

"Goodness!" exclaimed Esther, peering anxiously into the underbrush.

"I hope we shan't see any bears to-day, not even a tame one."

The sun was high in the April skies when the two little girls came in sight of Lake Dunmore. The trail led near the lake; and Esther was very sure that she knew just where to look for the cave.

"It's near a big pine tree, and you can only see rocks. Father showed me when we came from Brandon," she said.

The little girls were very tired and hungry, and Faith suggested that they should eat their luncheon and rest before searching for the cave.

"I wish I had brought more corn bread," said Esther, when they had finished the last morsel of the food.

"It's lucky you brought as much as you did," responded Faith. "We'd better begin looking for the cave now."

It was hard work climbing up the rocky hillside, and it did not seem such an easy matter to locate the cave as Esther had expected.

They peered under rocks, and climbed over ledges, and were nearly discouraged when a sudden noise made Faith grasp Esther's arm with a whispered "Hush"; for almost in front of them, apparently coming directly out of the hillside, appeared the head and shoulders of a man. But they were too near to conceal themselves or to try and run away.

"Great Caesar's Ghost!" exclaimed the man, crawling out from the cave.

"Two little maids! Where did you come from?"

Faith's hold on Esther's arm tightened. "Don't tell. Don't answer his questions," she whispered, remembering her mother's caution about strangers, and thinking perhaps this might be an English spy who had discovered the cave.

"Where are the others?" asked the man.

Esther looked questioningly at Faith, but neither of them spoke.

The man's stern face softened as he looked at the two little figures.

He realized they must be the children of some settler in the Wilderness--perhaps children who had wandered too far from home and lost their way.

"You need not be afraid to speak," he said smilingly. "Perhaps I know your fathers. Tell me your names."

Faith was quite sure that this was a question which could be safely answered, so both the little girls spoke their names, and instantly the man responded by saying:

"Then you," and he nodded to Faith, "are Miller Carew's daughter. I know your father well. Tell him Seth Warner has been in Salisbury and is now starting back to Bennington. But how come you this distance from home?"

Both Faith and Esther knew that Seth Warner was a friend of the settlers, and before he had finished speaking Faith was quite ready to tell him their errand and to give the note for Colonel Allen into his hands.