Show + Illlj q1 I I pJI hiq i rl irepr I J c II nWt yfI Ih M ¼ c1 H t VERMOIIT BOYS COAST fOR LIfE Thrilling Story of Colonial Day Heroism That Saved Heros Fathers Life This boy was 15 years old in 1777 when General Burgoyne started from I Canada for Albany and his name was David Spafford He lived with his father and mother and two little sisters sis-ters on a farm away up in the Green mountains of Vermont where the winters I t win-ters are long and the snow sometimes IIi I lies four feet deep for weeks at a time Ii j guns here and hide yourself in the hay beside me Its a slim chance and a big risk but it is the only one if we want to save our scalps I see your idea cried the boy and he did as he was told Father and son had lain there buried in the hay scarcely half an hour v hn through a chink in the barn they saw seven Indian In-dian warriors surrounding the house The savages staggered and some of i > 1i 1 r iZ I i 7 7 < S 1 Irk l v i 11 l A HOBBTBLE TELL AND S INDIAN SEEMED TO LEAP OFT HIS BOARD INTO THE AIR L I myself have known the weather to be so cold there that ice formed in the river more than six feet thick f It was about the middle of August f r 1777 that a messenger came to Mr t I Spaffords farm and told how Burgoyne had been traveling southward from Canada with thousands of British regulars regu-lars and many hundreds of Indian allies i who ere wild with desire to kill r scalp and burn The messenger added that one of the savages a warrior so i tall and heavy as to be a giant and known as the Wyandotte Panther had murdered the beautiful daughter of a Scotch clergyman Jenny McCrea who f was visiting a friend at Fort Edward t After this act General Burgoyne had lost control of his Indians and in small 4 bands they were overrunning the l country Mr Spafford must come at l c once and join a company of Vermont farmers who under Colonel Stark t were going to protect their homes and t drive Indians and Hessians alike from the country So Mr Spafford went and was badly wounded at the battle 1 of Bennin ton After that he was taken home and stayed until winter came when hf insisted that his wife and daughters should go to make a long visit in a large town some twenty miles away f Thus it happened that when New E Tears day came David Spafford and his father were living alone in the V far ho1se taking care of the horses and coea amt hoping each morning word would be brought that peace had been declared l t Ore night while they were In bed they l heard a man shouting and kicking at f > the door David jumped up and let him if in He was a farmer who lived five or six miles further in the mountains His i clothinr vas torn his face was covered with blood and he had snowshoes on F his feet I cant stop he cried out I only t came to let you know that Indians have y f burned my house and murdered all my family and I am now fleeing for my life They willsoon be here and out ou-t must start at once Then he turned and sped into the io darkness again For a moment David stood as if stunned The awful news completely terrified him but no time I was to be lost He glanced up the I mountainside and the clouds away off glared with the reflection of the burning burn-ing buildings The lad knew it would be simply impossible for his father to L escape on snowshoes for his wounds 1 had left him so stiff in both legs that he could scarcely walk about the house r Yet something must be done at once t In such a time ones wits work quickly quick-ly and David Spafford had with to spare He suddenly remembered that f he had a pair of snowshoes exactly like those worn by the man who had given the alarm So he dressed rapidly and put on the snowshoes and ran back and forth between the house and the barn r several times making half a dozen tracks in the snow Then he took the horses and cows out of the barn and laid the whip on them so vigorously r that they ran out toward the road as fst as they could go By this time Sir Spafford had managed to dress r himself t Good he said to his son Now do you think you can carry me to the barn 1 Ill try David replied and taking r his father on his back like a sack of f flour he succeeded in getting him tot to-t the barn and buried in the hay mow 1 t Its growing colder said Mr Spaf ford and if the crust keeps hardening j harden-ing on the snow we iave one chance of escape Haul the bobsled across the barn floor until it Is just in front of I that door in the rear then brrg our 1 C 1 them fairly reeled for they had swallowed swal-lowed so much rum as to be quite drunk Several had bloody scalps dangling dang-ling from their belts I had scarcely hoped for it Mr Spafford whispered but they are so drunk they can hardly follow the trail of the snowshoes and maybe we will outwit them after all After staggering around the house some of the Indians went inside while others came toward the barn but after glancing at the empty stalls they rejoined re-joined their fellows whoset up a loud shouting Pretty soon two or three of them rolled out of the house a cask of New England rum and knocked the head in and commenced to drink heavily heav-ily Then some more pulled two or three feather beds out into the moonlight moon-light and ripping them open with their knives commenced to throw the feathers feath-ers up into the air dancing and singing sing-ing and every few minutes drinking again and again of the rum One after another of the savages became so intoxicated I in-toxicated as to fall down in the snow I and then they rolled over and over in the feathers which stuck to their I bodies until finally every one of the band lay there stupefied with liquor unable to move hand or foot All this time David and his father hidden in the hay scarcely dared to breathe for fear of betraying themselves them-selves but now had come the moment for action We cant tell how many more of the savages may be coming along and so we dare not kill these although It would be an easy matter aid Mr I Spafford Its almost daylight too and we must be moving Open the rear door David and push the bobsled out I on the snow I guess the crust is thick enough to bear it now Then help me down and we will mike one desperate effort to get away The brave boy crawled noiselessly down from the hay mow and did as he was bid He placed a Quantity of straw in the sleigh and wrapped his father up in a buffalo robe for the cold was intense Then he stepped in himself as he did so giving a slight push with one foot The sleigh moved slowly but soon I gathered momentum for back of the barn was a steep valley running down for five miles to the frozen river and I In all that sweep there was not a tree I or a stump sticking up abbve the snow for all had been burned off in a great forest fire years previous Within half a minute the sleigh seemed to leap forward for-ward like a deer and then it shot down the mountainside with the speed of an express train The noise made by the whirring runners on the hardened snow aroused some of the Indians and hastening I has-tening through the barn they saw the escape Two of the savages fired their muskets at David who was standing up in the sleigh and steering it but they were so drunk that their bullets went wide of the mark A third seized a long board and with a fiendish yell threw himself on it headlong as a boy nowadays will throw himself on a sled This huge painted shrieking savage came sliding down the hillside at amazing amaz-ing speed but he could not catch up I with the heavier sleigh Still he was so near that Mr Spafford dared to take no chances and resting his musket on the seat of the sled he aimed it and pulled the trigger There was a puff of smoke a loud report and a horrible yell and the Indian seemed to leap off his board into the air half turning as he did so I and then he struck the snow again i rolling over and over until he came to a full stop and lay there dead his dark body outstretched on the white crust Did you hit him father asked David Da-vid He spoke with difficulty for he was continually exerting his full 1it lrli 2j ii strength in guiding the bounding sleigh and could not afford to look back for an instant Yes and hes done for my son Then both were silent On and on sped the sleigh down the mountainside and to David the snow had a curious appearance It seemed as if he were sitting still while the great white mass rushed by him uphill But the cold cutting wind in his face was so strong as to dispel this illusion It almost took away his breath One mile two miles three four five they went until the river was reached and then came the most dangerous place of all for the sleigh leaped off the bank and fell a yard below to the ice But it anded right side up and by good luck there was a clear space of ice straight across where the wind had swept a broad path in the snow In far less time than It takes to tell Of it the sleigh had skimmed over to the opposite bank and I there its occupants met a company of farmer soldiers and lumbermen who had heard of the raid from the messenger messen-ger on snowshoes and had started to rescuethem But David and his father had rescued themselves so they borrowed bor-rowed a horse to take their sleigh forward for-ward to the town where Mrs jpafford and her little girls were staying and the company of rangers hastened on in pursuit of the Indians HENRY EDWARD ROOD > G |