Page 73 - A Hero of Ticonderoga

CHAPTER XVI

--TICONDEROGA

A halt was silently signalled, and Job, the skilfullest scout of all this band
of woodsmen, was sent forward to reconnoitre. Silently, as a ghost, his tall

figure melted into the obscurity of dawn, and presently appeared, out of the
blur of shadows, bearing whispered tidings that all was quiet within the

Fort, and only one sentinel carelessly guarding the open wicket of the main
entrance.

A whispered word of command drifted back along the ranks and the troops
moved forward. They mounted a slight declivity and advanced to the right

toward the gate. Now the sentinel could be seen pacing his beat; now the
white cross-belts and the facings of his uniform made out, and still he
maintained his deliberate pace, unconscious of the enemy, while, perhaps,

his thoughts were far away in the green fields of merry England, where the
hawthorn was blooming and the lark singing "at heaven’s gate."

The heads of the files were close upon him when his wandering thoughts
were suddenly recalled. Too much surprised to challenge or call an alarm,

he levelled his fusee at Allen’s towering figure and pulled the trigger. The
life of the bold chieftain hung for an instant in the trembling balance of

fate, but not a spark followed the stroke of the flint. The guard turned and
fled through the open wicket with Allen and Arnold, side by side, close
upon his heels. After them came Nathan; and the crowding files of men

swarmed through the narrow gate in an impetuous rush, and, guided by the
boy, onto the parade. This was enclosed on three sides by lofty stone

barracks. Here they caught a last glimpse of the flying sentry dodging into a
bombproof, like a woodchuck into a hole. Another sentinel made a bayonet
thrust at Nathan, when Allen’s sword fell quick as a thunderbolt upon the

man’s head in a downright blow that must have cleft the skull, had it not
glanced on a metal comb that held his hair in place.

The assailants quickly formed in two ranks, facing outward upon the east
and west lines of barracks, and gave three cheers that made the gray walls