ning information as to tempt the old man to continue his story.

"I can't rightly say, lad, though it's somewhere in the neighborhood of
fifty. The commandant is, or was when I last heard, one Captain
Delaplace, and it is said that he's a thorough soldier, though I'm
allowin' he hasn't got any too much of a force with him."

"Do you think the Connecticut gentlemen can raise men enough between
here and there to take a fort which resisted General Abercrombie's
entire army?"

"That remains to be seen, lad. If they are willin' to act on such advice
as can be got from some people hereabouts, I allow there's a good chance
for it, more especially if the Green Mountain boys take a hand in the
matter, as Master Phelps thinks probable. In that case Colonel Ethan
Allen would most likely be in command."

"And you are really going, corporal?" asked Isaac.

"Yes, lad, it don't seem as though I ought to hang back back when I'm
needed. If all we hear from the other provinces is true, you'll be old
enough to take a hand in the scrimmage before the fightin's over, so
here's a chance to serve an apprenticeship. If it so be you're of the
mind I'll take you under my wing, an' by the time we get back you'll
have a pretty decently good idea of a soldier's trade."

"Do you really mean it, corporal?" and Isaac sprang to his feet in
excitement. "Do you really mean that I may go with you just as if I was
of age to carry a gun?"

"Ay, lad, if it so be your mother an' father are willin', an' I can't
see why they shouldn't agree, seein's how they know the company you'll
be in. It would seem different if you talked of goin' with the general
run of recruits, who are green hands at this kind of work."

"But will the committee allow a lad of my age to go as a soldier?"

"Isaac, my boy, when Corporal 'Lige says to Master Phelps, says he,
'This 'ere lad is goin' under my wing, so to speak,' why bless your
heart, that's the end of the whole business. They've got to have me, an'
won't stand out about your joinin' when it's known my heart is set on
it."

"Will you come now while I ask my mother?"

"Well, lad, I ain't prepared to say as how I will; but this much I'm
promisin': Go to her an' find out how she's feelin' about the matter. If
there's any waverin' in her mind I'll step in--you see I'll be the
reserves in this case--an' when I charge she's bound to surrender. But
if it so happens that she's dead set against it at the start, why, you
had