Page 38 - A Hero of Ticonderoga

So the night passed, with snatches of sleep for some, with none for others,
while the prisoners were kept under constant guard. With daylight came the

summary infliction of the punishment awarded. It was a scene so cruel that
Ruth and Martha could not bear to hear, much less to witness it, and

Nathan, when an old man, said it was a horrible memory. Yet, severe as
was the chastisement inflicted by the Green Mountain Boys upon their
persecutors, it was no more cruel than the legal punishment of many light

offences in those days, when the whipping post was one of the first
adornments of every little hamlet. In conclusion, Ethan Allen gave to

Felton and Graves a "Certificate," written by himself, to the effect:

"This is to Certify that the Bearer has this day rec’d his Just Dues and is

permitted to pass beyond the New Hampshire Grants. He Behaving as
Becometh. In witness whereof, see the Beech Seal upon his back and our

Hands set Hereunto. Signed, Ethan Allen and others."

Felton cast his upon the ground and stamped upon it, but Graves folded and

put his carefully in his pocket, glowering in silence upon his enemies. Then
Ethan Allen broke the surveyor’s compass with his own hands and tossed

the fragments away.

"Now," said he, in an awful voice, "depart, and woe be unto you,

Marmaduke Felton and Erastus Graves, if you ever set foot in the land of
the Green Mountain Boys. You other men, if you come in peace and on

honest business, you shall not have a hair of your heads hurt. But if you
ever venture to come on such an iniquitous errand as now brought you, by
the Great Jehovah, you shall repent in sackcloth and ashes! Forward,

march!"

At the command, the surveyor and his men filed off, and the last of the
sullen and chap-fallen crew soon disappeared among the trees. They were
accompanied some distance by the Green Mountain Boys, when their

beloved chieftain rode away to redress wrongs of settlers in other parts.

By noon the clearing was occupied by none but its usual tenants, and,
henceforth, though they suffered frequent apprehension of further trouble,