FOUNDER OF HIS RACE 117 



whistled through the trees above the horse, but he 

 neither flinched nor whinneyed as the scattered leaves 

 fell about him. After a while, quivering with subdued 

 excitement, he strained his neck forward with dilating 

 nostrils — he hoped it was a battle ! 



And it was — in a small way. 



A man, poised on the deck of the "Black Snake," 

 swayed and pitched head-first into the river and sank 

 beneath the dark water. There were oaths and cries, 

 then the "Black Snake" gathered sail and sped before 

 the rising wind down the river and out of sight, fol- 

 lowed by a volley of musketry. 



This was but one of the many episodes of that border 

 State, Vermont, which gave her an atmosphere of ad- 

 venture and filled her young men with courage and her 

 women with that quality of coolness which faces life 

 and its cares unflinchingly. 



A Httle later Goss saw several men advancing, tired, 

 silent and grim. They were mountain men and stern, 

 they had not much to say, but they bore between them 

 the lifeless body of the officer who had so lately been 

 the horse's pleasant rider. 



Goss shivered as they placed their burden across his 

 back. 



As they set out wearily toward Burlington between 

 crag and tree the dawn showed, coming over the moun- 

 tain, spreading long shafts of crimson on the placid lake. 

 Tahawas, towering above the former domains of the 

 Iroquois Indians, reared his lofty head dimly in the dis- 

 tance through the dispersing mists. 



Slowly they went through the forest over thick pine 

 needles which deadened their steps, through vague shad- 

 owy dells where ferns grew rank and cool streams 

 trickled ; on through the pathless woods until finally they 

 reached a farm-clearing, in the centre of which, set in a 



