Two young patriots; or, Boys of the frontier; a story of Burgoyne's invasion

Front matter

Copyright N° Z

COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS

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Preface

In the historical setting of this story I have made use of the works of Fiske, Dawson, Lossing, Stone, Drake, Neilson, Stedman, Wilkinson, Madame de Riedesel’s Letters, and also the various local traditions and histories. I have endeavored not only to give my young readers a story, but also a correct outline of the invasion itself.

For many of the incidents and adventures there is warrant in the local and family records. I have, however, made use of a story-teller’s license, and have ventured to modify and adapt some of these to the demands of this book. But although some of them are slightly varied in the use I have made of them, still I trust they will serve the purpose of imparting a true flavor to the narrative of the life and conditions of the region through which John Burgoyne passed with his army.

Above all, if this story shall deepen the love of country in the hearts of the oncoming generation, and teach them to place a higher value upon that for which so many of the “ men of ’76 ” (and ’77) were willing to give even their lives, the work will have gained its own reward. To uphold that which our fathers’ fathers strove to hold up, demands a patriotism as high as that which was manifested during the now famous invasion of John Burgoyne.

EVERETT T. TOMLINSON.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. On the Frontier 13

II. The Refuge in the Beech-Tree .... 23

Chapter I. On The Frontier

“We’ve lost another lamb. There are tracks all around the pen, and some pieces of wool on the bushes.”

“ That makes four we’ve lost in less than ten days, doesn’t it ? ”

“Yes. We’ve lost more than we have left. Probably the others will be gone in ten days more.”

“ I heard the wolves howling last night, but I hoped they wouldn’t be able to do any damage this time. It’s too bad, Jairus. You’ll have to try the trap again, I think.”

“ I’ll try it, but it won’t amount to much, I’m thinking. Where’s Sam ? ”

“ I saw him and Arthur go down towards the shore not long ago. I don’t just know where they are. You haven’t seen or heard anything more from Albany, have you ? ”

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“ Haven’t heard a word, mother. I guess it’s mostly talk, anyhow. Just now I’m a good deal more interested in the wolf question than I am in what General Burgoyne is doing, or what they say he’s doing. I guess General Philip Schuyler will be able to look after him. But I’ll look up the boys now, and see what we can do to put a damper on these wolves. They’re growing bolder every night.”

Thus speaking, Jairus Goodwin ran quickly out from the low log house which was his home, in search of his brother. He did not turn to see his mother, who was still standing in the doorway, evidently perplexed and sadly troubled over something. Just what it was could not be seen; for apparently on that June morning in 1777 there was nothing to alarm or vex her, unless it was the loss of lambs which the prowling wolves had carried away within the last ten days.

It did not appear, however, that her thoughts were of her loss; for long after Jairus had disappeared from sight she still remained in the doorway, looking out towards Lake Champlain as if she either was expecting some one to come from that direction, or was fearful that some one might come she did not wish to see.

But visitors at the Goodwin home were very few. Three years before this time the widow Goodwin, soon after the death of her husband, had crossed from the Vermont side to the New York side of Lake Champlain, and, almost the only settlers for

ON THE FRONTIER .

miles around, with her two boys, Jairus and Samuel, had made a new home in the wilderness. The other children in her family were grown and married, and had homes of their own.

A cordial invitation had been extended to Mrs. Goodwin to make her home with one of her daughters in Massachusetts, whence all the family had come a few years before ; but partly for the sake of her two boys, now sturdy young fellows of seventeen and nineteen, and partly because of her desire to be independent, she had chosen to remain in the home on the frontier.

Troubles, however, are not prone to come singly, and the widow Goodwin’s experience proved to be no exception to this rule. Her husband had not been dead three months before his brother laid claim to the land he had taken up and cleared. All considerations for the family, which ought to have appealed to him the more strongly in their time of need, were forgotten, and disregarding the protests of his own wife and children, and the pleadings of the widow and the fatherless, he had persisted in claiming what he insisted was his own.

And the laws had borne him out in his claim, as sometimes even the best of laws are found to be upon the side of the stronger. For a time the sorrowful woman did not know what to do. The daughter’s home was still open to her, but the thought of her boys increased her desire to be independent for their sake as well as for her own ; and after hesitating for a month, she finally yielded to the urgent words of the lads and crossed the lake with their few possessions and took up a claim on the New York side of the lake.

There, little difficulty had been experienced in establishing themselves, perhaps one reason being that there were so few settlers in the region, that no one cared to dispute her claim.

Two years of the hardest kind of work had followed, and at the time when our story opens the results were plainly manifest. The little log house had some marks of comfort about it. Flowers were in bloom, and vines were climbing over its rough sides. Wild flowers many of them were it is true, but none the less beautiful on that account, and quick to respond to the care which the widow Goodwin, in spite of the arduous duties of the pioneer life, had somehow found time to bestow upon them.

Nor had Jairus and Samuel been idle. They had built two barns and a sheep-pen, the latter at some distance from the house and near a spring which never failed in its supply of fresh cool water. Many of the trees of the forest had fallen by their hands, and little patches of corn and grain could be seen here and there as the results of their labors.

Difficult as the struggle with nature always is, there were some things which apparently were on the side of the settlers. The waters of the lake abounded in fish, and slight efforts were required to

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supply their table with bass, and pickerel, and perch. Many a time the boys had come home from their labors, and almost exhausted though they were, had found a relaxation in taking their rude skiff and pushing out a little distance into the lake, and there landing the hungry fish which eagerly seized the bait they offered.

Then, too, there were times when the forests would be darkened by immense flocks of pigeons, and frequently the boys had kept their table well supplied with the birds they had brought to the ground, simply by striking them with a pole.

The red deer were so plentiful and so little afraid of men that no difficulty was experienced in shooting all they needed for food, and beyond that the young frontiersmen never cared to go.

Killing for the sake of killing had no pleasure for them, and, indeed, was reserved for a later civilization, which sometimes boasts of its superiority and looks back condescendingly upon the rude pioneers to whom Jairus and Samuel undoubtedly belonged. For their hands were hard and horny, their clothing rough and home-made, and it is more than likely that their table manners and uncouth speech might have shocked some of the readers of this story could they have been placed, by some power, where they could have met these boys of the frontier.

But in nobility of purpose, in sturdy integrity, in the love of their mother and willingness to do their utmost for her, it is just possible that they might have compared quite well with some of the faultless young ladies and gentlemen who are privileged to see the closing years of one century and the opening of another.

It is true there was another side to all this. The tame red deer, the pigeons, which almost seemed to wait to be caught, the fish, which in the cool of the evening leaped almost constantly from the water, were not all that could be found in the region. Bears were frequently seen, the long, lonesome howls of the wolves could be heard almost every night, and more than once the shrill, whimpering, almost human cry of the hungry panther, or “ catamount,” as the pioneers called the fierce beast, also could be heard. Every rose has its thorn we are told, and even the exhilaration and freedom of the pioneer life had other drawbacks than its hard work and its loneliness.

One fact, however, must not be passed over in our story. Hard as were the feelings of the widow Goodwin towards her husband’s brother for his theft of her land, for so she virtually regarded it, her feeling towards his wife had been unchanged. For her, she cherished a tender regard, which even the loss of her home could not lessen, and many were the tokens of love that were sent her from her sister-in-law by the traders or the Indians as they went up the lake from St. John’s, where the other family now resided.

About a month previous to this June morning,

ON THE FRONTIER.

the cousin of the boys, Arthur Goodwin, a boy of their own age, had made his way up the river and the lake in his canoe, which he had fitted out with sails. The time of his visit was near its end now, and if the truth must be told, neither of his cousins feel much regret at the thought of parting; for Arthur Goodwin had inherited many more of his father’s qualities than he had of his mother’s, and, in addition to all that, he was so bitter in his words against the struggling colonies, that more than once he and the boys had come well-nigh to blows in their heated debates.

Mrs. Goodwin had done all in her power to keep peace; but although they were so far from neighbors and out of the path of travel, the intense feeling of the times was not unknown in this lonely home. And Jairus and Samuel were as ardent in their feelings towards the colonies, as ever Arthur had been for the mother country and His Majesty King George III.

He had, however, brought with him a report which had sadly troubled the widow Goodwin. In the preceding autumn, General John Burgoyne had sailed for England, to lay before the king his plan for conquering the colonies. And a well-conceived plan it was too ; but the planning is one thing, and executing is quite another, as many have found out long before this story was written, and sometimes to their sorrow.

Burgoyne was eager and ambitious, a fluent

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talker, and as he had been engaged in the battle of Bunker Hill and in the campaign of 1776-77, he was listened to with attention, his petition was heard, and his plan approved.

And what was his plan? To divide the colonies into two parts, by gaining possession of the Hudson, and so keeping the eastern and the southern men from acting together. General Clinton was to come up the Hudson with his army from New York, and at Albany meet Burgoyne, who was to come down the lakes from Canada. A part of Burgoyne’s army was to be given to St. Leger, who was to go from Montreal up the St. Lawrence river to Lake Ontario and take Oswego, and then also move on down the Mohawk valley to Albany, where he was to meet the other two generals, and if each should be successful, and not one of the three had a doubt of that, then the entire region would be brought under the control of the British, the American traders would be kept apart, and soon King George could dictate terms to all of his rebellious subjects in America.

Reports of all these plans young Arthur Goodwin had heard from his father, and he related them to his cousins with many boastings of what would soon be done.

The boys had laughed and replied with bantering words, but the widow Goodwin had been sadly troubled ; for she feared there was more than idle talk in the lad’s words.

ON THE FRONTIER.

If the British should attempt to carry out any such plan, it was more than likely that they would pass not far from her home. And what then ? Many times she found herself wondering what the outcome would be ; and as she stood in the doorway that summer morning, watching Jairus as he ran towards the shore of the lake, her thoughts were far more of the possible coming of redcoats than of the loss of the lambs, serious as that was.

The birds were twittering in the branches, and the very air seemed to be filled with their music and with the perfume of the wild flowers. The sunlight filtered through between the whispering leaves, and only peacefulness and quiet seemed to be pictured on every side. But the widow Goodwin, though she was never prone to borrow trouble, was insensible to the beauty of the June morning. Arthur’s boastful words were not forgotten, and her heart was heavy with a great fear.

Two hours later the three boys entered the house together. “ We’ve fixed the wolf-trap, mother,” said Jairus, “ and perhaps we can put a stop to this thieving.”

“ Not much use,” said Arthur. “ I tell you, Johnnie Burgoyne’s coming down here, and you’ll have to turn everything over to him, or else get out.”

“ He’s worse than the wolves, I’ll own,” said Jairus angrily; “but till he comes, we’ll fight the others.”

TWO YOUNG PATRIOTS .

There was • work to be done, however, and no time for quarrelling. Just before dusk the two cows must be milked, and the calves, which thus far had escaped the wolves and bears, must be cared for.

The next morning, as soon as the early chores were done and breakfast over, the three boys started for their traps. Again their mother stood in the doorway, watching them until they disappeared from her sight in the forest.

Then, turning about, she resumed her work with a sigh, but her sigh would have been deeper could she have foreseen that many a long day was to pass before the trio would reenter her home.

Chapter II. The Refuge In The Beech-tree

The sun had not been long above the horizon when the boys started on their errand. The sheep-pen was at some little distance from the house, and had been built on a sloping hillside where there was an open space in the forest, and the grass grew richer there than anywhere else about the clearing.

“ I heard a howl last night that seemed to raise the hair from my head,” said Jairus, as they walked on together. “ I had a mind to wake you both up, and go out to see what it meant.”

“ Lucky you didn’t,” laughed Samuel. “ I’ve no particular desire to face a pack of hungry wolves in the night. I don’t feel over bold as it is.”

“That’s because you are younger than we are,” replied Arthur. “ I used to feel that way when I was your age, but I’ve got all over it now.”

“ My venerable cousin,” said Samuel with a mock reverence, “ I’d forgotten that both you and Jairus are a year and a half older than I am. When I am as old as you are, I shall try to recall all your words 23

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of wisdom. It may be that I shall be as brave and bold then as you are now.”

“ Stop your nonsense,” said Jairus. “ We’re close to the pen now. There, you can hear the sheep ! Let’s creep up without making any noise. Maybe we’ve got something.”

“ Y ou won’t get anything,” growled Arthur. “ Y ou don’t know how to set a wolf-trap, to say nothing of baiting it. Now the way we do at St. John’s — ”

“ Bother you and St. John’s both ! ” replied Jairus sharply. “ Keep still, can’t you ? We don’t want to make any more noise than is necessary.”

The boys became silent, although Arthur muttered some word that sounded very like “ afraid ” ; but they were all too eager now to heed his disagreeable manners, and in a few moments the sheep-pen came within sight, and they all ran eagerly forward into the clearing.

The trap had been set on the farther side of the pen, near the place where the wolf, on the previous night, had broken in, and in a brief time the boys ran together around the corner and approached the spot.

“ There, I told you you didn’t know how to set a wolf-trap. Now at St. John’s we’d have — ”

“ Stop your noise, Arthur, and help us find the trap, will you? No wolf would have got very far away with that trap fast to one of his legs, I know,” said Jairus, looking ruefully at the place where the trap had been fastened.

There had evidently been a struggle of some kind, for the chain was broken and the piece that remained showed the marks of teeth upon it.

“ Must have been a gray wolf,” said Samuel, “ or else the chain was broken before you set the trap.”

“ I think the chain was all right, Sam,” replied Jairus, stooping and carefully examining the link. “Well, it’s gone, anyway, whatever took it away. Let’s look in the pen and see if the sheep and lambs are still there. Here, I’ll go in and you stay here,” he added as he flung back the rude door and entered the enclosure. “ They’re all there, but something’s frightened them,” he said as he soon rejoined the boys. “ They’re all huddled up together, and seem almost too scared to make a noise.”

“You’d have had it all right if you’d done as I told you with the trap,” said Arthur. “ They never fix ’em that way at St. John’s, I can tell you. Up there we always know how.”

“ Saint Arthur, if you don’t stop talking about St. John’s, I’ll fix a trap for you yourself,” said Samuel angrily.

He might quarrel with Jairus himself, but when it came to listening to another abuse him, that was a different matter entirely, and his loyalty was at once aroused.

“ Come on, boys,” said Jairus; “the fellow couldn’t have got far away. Let’s look for him, though perhaps we shan’t find anything but his bones.

TWO YOUNG PATRIOTS.

They’re regular cannibals, wolves are, and like nothing better than a good, fat, mutton-fed wolf for dinner, if he’s hurt so badly he can’t fight back. They’re most as big sneaks as the Tories ! ”

Arthur’s face flushed as he replied: “You wouldn’t talk that way if you weren’t two to one. I’d like to know which are the big sneaks, the men who come out squarely for the king, or those that try to dodge their honest debts ? Who furnished an army to keep the bloody Frenchmen out of this very country? Who furnished the guns, and boats, and ammunition? Who kept the Frenchers out of these lands ? ”

“ It wasn’t the Frenchers that got into our land,” said Jairus sharply.

The words were hardly spoken before Jairus regretted them. He had promised his mother that he would not make any reference to the deeds of Arthur’s father ; for, as she said, Arthur was not to blame for the sins of another, and she well knew how his mother sorrowed over the entire matter. Recalling all this, he was on the point of apologizing, but the expression of hatred on his cousin’s face kept him silent.

“ That’s about the way my father says it always is with paupers,” sneered Arthur. “ The more you do for them, the more you may. You let them live on your land, and they pretty soon think they own it. My father would have let you stayed there where you were, only he didn’t want all he’d put

THE REFUGE IN THE BEECH-TREE .

2 7 into the clearing to go over to you too. He’s had to work hard for what he’s got. But then, he says he doesn’t care. It’s all you can expect from some folks.”

Jairus turned sharply at the words of Arthur, and for a moment there were signs of serious trouble : but it had almost always happened whenever two of the boys had had any disagreement, the third had tried to be peacemaker.

And now Samuel broke in, and said : “ Oh, come on, boys ! The wolf and trap will both be gone if you don’t quit this. They may be as far as St. John’s now, for all I know. Perhaps he’s taking the trap up there to have it properly set ; or maybe it’s his leg. I don’t know.”

The brothers laughed, but the look on Arthur’s face still was one of hatred. The feeling of dislike had increased during his visit, until there was little prospect of the boys ever being friends again. The lad showed so many of the cruel and revengeful traits of his father, that Mrs. Goodwin knew the possibilities of future friendship between the cousins was very slight indeed, and she grieved the more because she knew it would be an added grief to Arthur’s mother. She had watched the boys day after day, and had done all that lay within her power to keep peace between them ; but the quarrels had multiplied, often growing out of very trivial matters, and this morning they had almost reached a climax near the sheep-pen.

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“ I’ll not say another word now,” said Arthur savagely. “ I hate you both. I despise you and I shall never sleep another night in your house. I only came down here because my mother wanted me to. My father told me just what I might expect, for he’d had the same thing to meet himself. We wouldn’t have treated you so at St. John’s if you’d been there.”

“ Oh, hold on, Arthur,” said Jairus quickly. “ Don’t go ; it’s only talk, you know.”

But Arthur Goodwin turned away as if he would not listen to any further words ; but he had taken only two or three steps before he suddenly stopped, and for a moment the quarrel and the bitter feelings were all forgotten.

“ Gre-a-t — ”

He did not complete his exclamation of surprise before both his cousins were by his side, and were gazing with him at the source of his alarm. Out from the bushes on the border of the little clearing there peered the head of a panther. His eyes were blazing with fury, and he snarled and hissed as if he were almost beside himself with rage.

For a moment not one of the boys moved or spoke. It was not the first time, by any means, that they had looked upon this terror of the frontier; but never before had they been face to face with one, and the first impulse now in the heart of each was to turn and run. But almost fascinated by the sight of the furious beast, they still stood where they had first seen him, not even glancing at each other.

The snarling panther, apparently, was more and more enraged by the sight of the motionless boys before him. A shrill scream followed his snarls, and they could hear the heavy strokes of his tail as he lashed the bushes near him. Once or twice he turned and snapped savagely at something behind him ; but when he attempted to move, it became apparent at once that he was held fast in his position.

“ He’s caught in the trap, boys,” said Jairus in a low whisper. “ That’s where our trap’s gone.”

A sigh, as of relief, escaped from his companions, as Jairus spoke, and the boys glanced at each other for a moment. All this had happened in a very brief time, and the words of Jairus served to recall them to themselves, and to the necessity of action.

“Get your guns, boys,” whispered Jairus again; for he was the only one who still retained his weapon, the others having laid theirs on the ground when they stopped to examine the broken chain of the wolf-trap. “ I’ll keep him covered with mine,” continued Jairus, “while you get yours. He can’t get away ; the trap’s fast in the bushes.”

The first movement on the part of the boys served to increase the fury of the panther. Almost beside himself with pain and anger, he struggled to free himself, and Jairus was almost tempted to shoot. He knew, however, that the guns were

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loaded only with slugs, and he was fearful that a single shot would only increase the danger, and arouse the beast still more.

He waited a moment for the boys to take their places again by his side, and then, without taking his eyes from the furious and struggling animal, he said, “ Now let him have it, boys.”

The report of the guns was followed by a scream that almost caused the boys to turn and run ; but, retreating only behind the corner of the sheep-pen, they waited for the smoke to clear and the true condition of affairs to be revealed to them.

The panther had sent forth the one long shrill scream, and that was all. For a moment there was a thrashing about among the bushes ; but that, too, soon ceased, and when the smoke had lifted, a silence rested over all. Still no one dared to venture forth, and all three hastily reloaded their guns, and waited.

The frightened sheep were bleating pitifully, but the boys were much too excited to heed them. They were all three watching the bushes to see whether the panther would free himself and spring out at them.

The minutes slowly passed, but the bleating of the sheep was all that could be heard. There was no movement within the bushes now, and when ten minutes had gone, Jairus said, “Come on, boys; he’s either dead or got away.”

Slowly and carefully the boys approached the

THE REFUGE IN THE BEECH-TREE.

place where their enemy had been ; but still no sign of danger appeared. Holding their guns in readiness, they drew nearer and nearer, and at last were close to the place in which they had seen the savage beast. “ There, he’s dead,” said Arthur quickly, as he caught a glimpse of a tawny body within the bushes.

Taking a long branch, he thrust it within, and slightly moved the body. As no response was made, the boys, satisfied that their enemy was dead, laid hold upon the broken chain, and with one strong pull drew forth the dead body of the panther.

Even then, when it lay stretched out motionless before them, their fears had not all ceased. What a savage-looking creature he was, even in death. The long claws, the half-closed eyes, the great jaws and teeth, were still there, though life was gone ; and for a moment no one spoke.

But the feeling of exultation soon prevailed, and they opened the jaws of the great trap which had shut together upon one of the legs of the panther and been the cause of his ill-fortune.

“ There, he’ll not kill any more of our lambs,” said Samuel.

“Up in St. John’s they say they always hunt in pairs,” said Arthur. “ Maybe this fellow’s mate is not far away.”

“ That’s so, Sam,” said Jairus quickly. “ She may be eying us this very minute.”

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The way in which all three of the boys picked up their guns and glanced swiftly about them was almost laughable ; but no signs of the mate could be seen, and they soon regained their composure.

“ She’ll be here, though ; you mark my words,” continued Arthur ; “ and you’d better get ready to meet her.”

“ Sam, you go up to the house and get some of those big bullets. We don’t want these slugs. They worked once, but the next panther won’t come with a trap fast to one leg,” said Jairus.

His brother quickly started for the house, and Jairus and Arthur began to prepare a hiding-place in one of the beech-trees, which stood on the border of the clearing. Jairus climbed the tree and Arthur tossed up to him some broken branches and two or three boards, which were all that could be found near the sheep-pen.