York grants for
many thousand acres in the disputed territory. All evidence for the
defence, even the New Hampshire charter, was ruled out of court, and
Ethan Allen's peaceful efforts for defence were defeated.

He returned home, burning with indignation and resolving to protect his
property and that of his neighbors, if need were, by the force of his
own strong right arm. For six years, under his leadership, all attempts
by New York settlers to take possession were frustrated by the alertness
of the "Green Mountain Boys," as the defence now termed themselves, who
drove them off quietly or with violence, according to the exigencies of
the occasion.

As a measure of punishment for these acts, Ethan Allen was outlawed by
the Governor of New York, and a price offered for his capture. Soon
after he rode alone into Albany one day, and alighting at a tavern in
the heart of the city, called for refreshment. His former visit had
marked his strong personality in the remembrance of many, and he was at
once recognized by prominent officials, who stared at him with
curiosity, but made no effort to arrest him. Returning their gaze, he
lifted his glass to his lips, pledging in a loud, firm voice "The Green
Mountain Boys," and then rode away unmolested.

This act was defined by his friends as the rashness of bravery; by his
enemies as the madness of impudence.

But the cloud overhanging the shores of Lake Champlain was but a shadow
compared with the darkness of the storm brooding over the whole region
south and east of it, and the battle of Lexington ended this local
strife.

Thenceforth, Ethan Allen was to bid defiance, not to a State, but to a
nation. To him and his Green Mountain Boys came urgent appeals from
leading patriots of the American Revolution for help and support in the
coming struggle, and the answer was more than kindly assent and promise:
it was prompt and vigorous action--the first aggressive blow at the
power of Great Britain, for the musket-shots that harassed the
retreating red-coats from Concord were those of spirited defence rather
than of deliberate attack.

As the fortress of Ticonderoga had been the key of the position in the
late French and Indian wars, the gain or loss of which meant either
overwhelming victory or disaster, so now it was deemed of equal
importance in the coming conflict, which inevitably would bring the
British foe upon them from the North, along the same familiar war-path.
The capt