Squire's credulity in suffering himself to be so foolishly lured from home, thought it would now do to begin to banter the obtuse justice a little, "never mind, Squire, you need n't look so streaked we belong to the right party, you know.”

"Yes, but if you would but jest inform me, gentlemen " said the other imploringly, and with visible perturbation-"only jest inform me".

"Oh, push ahead, man!" interrupted Jones, who purposely dropping in the rear, now urged on the reluctant Squire with a show of pettish impatience, as if detained by excuses too frivolous to merit a reply, "push ahead, my stomach is getting fairly wolfish for that breakfast. I'll be blessed if I don't almost think I begin to smell it at this distance!"

Somewhat assured by the other's manner of treating his scruples, and, though not quite satisfied, yet feeling a little ashamed of his fears, the Squire now passively suffered himself to be conducted forward, till, reaching the foot of the mountain, and turning closely round a projecting ledge of rocks, he suddenly, and to his utter dismay, found himself in the midst of a group of sturdy men, whom, from their appearance, he at once knew to be a band of Green Mountain Boys. Instantly comprehending the nature of their business with him, he stopped short, and stood confused, and trembling in mute alarm before them. Nor were his fears at all diminished by the array of well known names, which his conductor the next moment announced by way of introduction, the ceremonies of which the latter now commenced performing very formally with these nearest at hand.

Esquire Prouty, allow me to present you to Captain Remember Baker," began Selden, pompously waving his hand towards a keen-eyed, determined looking man, who stood in front of the others.

The confused Squire nodded his head mechanically, but his tongue refused to do its office, except by a half articulated "How'd do, sir," as he heard the name of one of that famous trio, who had so long been the terror of the New York authorities.

"Again, Esquire Prouty, will you permit me the pleasure of presenting you to Captain Charles Warrington?" proceeded Selden, as the latter advanced to favor the introduction.

"Warrington!" gasped the Squire, with increasing trepidation, "Warrington too!"

"And yet once more," continued the imperturbable Lieutenant, beckoning to our Herculean hero of the shag coat, who figured so conspicuously at Captain Hendee's, in his adventure with the

soldiers the night previous, and who was now here and came forward at the intimation, "once more, Esquire Prouty, shall I have the very great honor of introducing you to Colonel Ethan

Allen ?"

"God have mercy on me!" involuntarily burst from the lips of the affrighted justice, as the announcement of the last name capped the climax of his terror and despair, "Oh, God have mercy! I am a lost man!"

you will

"Pooh! you cowardly fool!" exclaimed Allen, with a look of mingled pity and contempt, "rouse up, and bear it like a man, and if you promise no more to betray your injured and bleeding country by becoming the tool of tyrants, it shall go the lighter with you. At all events, you need not fear that be punished to the extent of half your deserts. But come, boys, set on the breakfast. It might be hazardous to our prisoners, the Squire and surveyor here, to proceed with them, with the inward man in so ravenous a plight: for Hunger and Mercy never got near enough to each other to shake hands since the fall of Adam. And even the awards of Justice herself, might be of questionable rectitude, if made under the irritations of an empty stomach."

The breakfast, which consisted of a plentiful supply of roasted venison, partridges, and other small game, with such trimmings as the settlers living near, and in the secret of the encampment, had sent in, was served up on a rude kind of platform, composed of smooth white pieces cleft from the freely rifting bass wood, and supported on cross pieces laid upon forked stakes, or crotches, as they are usually denominated in the woodman's phrase. Around this temporary table, benches of an equally rude construction were placed sufficient for the accommodation of all the company, including the prisoners, now consisting of the Squire, the surveyor, and his assistant, all of whom were respectfully shown places at the table. The meal was generally partaken in silence, the officers seeming to fear that too much sociability might have a tendency to unnerve them for the task on hand, and the men respectfully following the example of their superiors, with the exception of Pete Jones, who could not forbear occasionally throwing a sly joke at the chop-fallen Squire.

"Now, gentlemen, for business," said Allen, rising from the table the moment their meal was finished, as ominously knitting his dark, heavy brows, he pulled from his pocket, and in a loud, commanding voice, commenced reading a decree of the Convention, forbidding "Each, and all, of the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants, to hold, take, or accept, any office of honor or

profit under the colony of New York" and requiring "All officers, and others, acting under the Governor or Legislature of that province, to suspend their functions, on pain of being viewed." He then produced a letter from a secret agent of the settlers at Albany, giving the date of Prouty's commission, and enclosing a letter from the Squire himself, accepting the office in question. He also presented a copy of a notice sent some weeks previous, to the surveyor, warning him to quit the Grants without delay.

"And now what have ye to say?" sternly demanded Allen, turning to the prisoners as soon as he had finished reading the documents: "What have ye to say, ye minions of York, why ye should not be viewed, to the full extent and meaning of the decree, made and provided for the like of ye?”

Quailing under the withering gaze of Allen, the justice could not muster courage to lift his head, or utter a single word in reply. But the surveyor, who was a man of more firmness, and bore himself quite collectedly on the occasion, attempted an argument with the leader of the Green Mountain Boys, denying all right of the settlers to arrest him, protesting against being tried by any but a court acting under the authority of New York, and appealing to that authority for his justification.

"The authority of New York!" scornfully exclaimed the other, "appeal to the authority of New York! Why not appeal, at once, to the chancery of hell, the fountain head of that stream of corruption, which comes to us under the name of New York law and justice? We, sir, we, the poor and insufferably abused settlers of these Grants, have often appealed to that source of justice appealed for protection against the lawless aggressions of your cormorant speculators, who have attempted to wrest from us our rightful possessions, to seize, with the grasp of plunderers, our hard earned pittances, and turn us out, houseless and destitute, into the wilderness. But we have appealed in vain, and only to learn our own folly in expecting that sin would ever be rebuked by Satan. No, sir, we will suffer no such appeal, but will ourselves give you a conclusive judgment in the premises; and such an one, too, as shall give you the wages of your iniquities. What say you, my merry mountaineers ?"

As soon as the hearty, but variously expressed responses, by which the men testified their approbation of the remarks of their leader, were over, Baker, Warrington, and Selden, who during the discussion, had been engaged in a low conversation apart from the rest, beckoned Allen to approach them. The latter, obeying the intimation, advanced, and, after listening attentively awhile

to some proposal or plan, which the others appeared to be imparting to him, snapped his fingers with delight, and exclaimed,

"Capital! capital, by Jupiter!" he repeated, bringing down his huge palm upon the snugly fitting buckskin, covering his broad thigh, with a slap that echoed through the woods like the report of a pistol. “'Member, you shall announce it to them, and I

will see that it is carried into execution."

Baker, accordingly stepping forward and addressing the surveyor, gravely informed him, that it had been determined to accede to the wish he had expressed, of being tried, if he was to be tried at all, by a court of his own colony. And that Justice Prouty, who had lately been commissioned by the government of New York, would therefore now immediately proceed with the trial.

"Oh, gentlemen, oh, sir!" began Prouty, beseechingly, as Allen now came forward to attend to the part he had proposed to assume in the business.

"Now don't, Justice Prouty, interrupted Selden, with provoking irony, "do n't, I beg of you, suffer your diffidence to deprive us of the aid of your acknowledged abilities in this important case. Having had the honor of introducing you to this company, I am very anxious that you should acquit yourself creditably on the occasion."

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Yes, sir, but then my situation again began to expostulate the troubled justice.

"Come, your worship," interrupted Allen, with a spice of the comic mingled with the determined expression of his countenance, “you are to try, and to sentence this York interloper, and no two ways about it, neither, I will swear to you. There! he continued, seizing the reluctant and trembling Squire, with one hand grasping the seat of his breeches, and the other his collar, and lifting and placing him on the side of the platform, with the apparent ease of one handling an infant: "There! sit on the edge of this table, for a King's Bench. You did not think to arrive to that honor so soon, did you, Squire ?"

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Now, Squire," said Peter Jones, with one of his mischievous looks, "May I be eternally happy, if I don't think you a considerable dabster of a prophet! Don't you see how cute it is all coming to pass what you told your old woman this morning about your getting to be a judge soon? Though I must axe your pardon, Squire, for listening under your bed-room window a little, before we rapped to come in."

"Well, is the court ready to proceed?" said Allen: "Now

for my opening, as the lawyers say I am for the prosecution, recollect."

"Now I do protest — I beseech you, sir” - once more began to stammer the confused and dreadfully perplexed justice.

"Shut up, sir!" fiercely exclaimed Allen. "Hell and Furies! who ever heard of a court before so despotic as to refuse to hear the statements of counsel? No, no, Mr. Court, that will never do, so now hear me."

The Squire, thus awed into silence, hung his head, and sat as still as his agitation would permit, while the other produced, and again read the documents by which he had first introduced the subject; and, after briefly summing up the evidence, demanded that a sentence be imposed upon the surveyor of forty lashes of the beech rod.

"I dispute the authority of your pretended Convention, and I protest against the whole of these proceedings as illegal and riotous," exclaimed the surveyor, with considerable spirit.

“Well, very well, sir," said Allen, with the utmost composure; you have had your say, and made your defence, as you had an undoubted right to do. I am always for liberty of speech when a man has really any thing to say, and also for allowing a fair hearing in all cases, though that is more than your infernal York tribunals will permit, in nine cases out of ten. But let us now attend to the decision of the court. Boys, you may as well be getting a brace of genteel beech-sealers; for I feel very confident of a decision in my favor. Now, Mr. Justice, proceed with your sentence. Forty stripes, with a green beech rod, is all I claim, recollect quite moderate, certainly; but it is always best. to lean towards the side of mercy. Proceed, sir!”

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Any thing else, gentlemen," groaned the distressed Squire, "I will do any thing else you say. But this, now, I cannot, and dare not do."

"Hark'ee, Mr. Court," rejoined the other, placing his arms akimbo, and looking at the justice with the air of one resolved to have no more words on the subject, "a sentence out of you I will have, as sure as the devil delays his coming for your soul long enough for you to pronounce it. Will you proceed, sir? No answer, eh? Well, we will soon see whether Ethan Allen has got to eat his own words, or not. Jones, bring me that surveyor's chain in the camp, there."

Allen, taking out his pocket handkerchief, very deliberately made a slip noose, and adjusted it round the neck of the trembling Squire. He next carefully tied the tail of this noose to one end