"Well, and why shouldn't we raise a company of Minute Boys? What is there to prevent, if so be we are minded to stake our lives for the Cause, even as our fathers are doing?"

"It is for them to say whether we be permitted to bind ourselves together," I replied, having a doubt as to the wisdom of Silas's scheme, and yet wishing most fervently that it might be carried out.

"Think you your father or mine, Luke Wright, would set their faces against our raising a company of Minute Boys after Doctor Joseph Warren has seen fit to intrust to us a mission of importance? If we are capable of doing Master Warren's work, then of a verity have we proven our ability, if not our right, to serve the Cause as Minute Boys."

There was much of truth in what Archie said, and yet I could not bring myself on the moment to believe we might do what seemed a most venturesome thing. Since, however, I could not well answer the arguments he brought up, I set about as if to throw cold water on the scheme, by saying with the air of a lad who knows it all:

"I fear it would be a small company we could raise, if, peradventure, we were forced to find all our recruits in Boston town. I believe truly that I can count on the fingers of one hand, all whom we could trust. Of course you would reckon on keeping the matter a secret if it so chanced that we set about enrolling lads?"

"Why?" Archie asked hotly. "What reason might we have for striving to keep secret the fact of having bound ourselves to aid the Cause as far as lays in our power?"

Again had the lad put forth an argument which I could not answer, and yet it seemed to me then as if we might better be able to aid our elders in the coming struggle if we hid our purpose from the enemy, and by the enemy, I mean such scurvy rascals as Amos Nelson, of whom we could find many in Boston town without straining ourselves overmuch in the search.

"It makes very little difference whether you keep the matter a secret or not," Silas interrupted, "if so be we can find lads who have sufficient of courage to join us. We will choose only those who are to be trusted, and, after consulting our elders, may, if so be they approve of the enterprise, hold the matter private or make it public as they advise."

I was not minded to continue the discussion just at that time, for it seemed to me we might better bring our mission to a successful end if we held our peace. Water, as one well knows, will carry sound a long distance, and we were now so near the Charlestown sh.o.r.e that there could have been an hundred Tories or lobster backs hiding within the shadow of the foliage without our being the wiser. It was, therefore, with some petulance, mayhap, that I said:

"Whether we are to raise a company of Minute Boys or no, there is little possibility of getting very far in the scheme until after having returned to our homes. My idea is that, instead of speaking loudly of what we would do, it is best first to finish the business upon which we are embarked."

Then it was that Archie laughed heartily, and with great good humor, as he said cheerily, but without intending to throw anything of irony into his tone:

"There are times, Luke Wright, when you speak with much of good sense.

Silas is at fault, and I also, because of raising our voices when it would have been better our tongues had remained quiet; but that which he proposed was at the same time so surprising and so satisfying that I forgot we were bound to carry out Master Warren's work before doing, or even thinking of, anything else."

"I will say no more about it," Silas added with a laugh; "but at the same time am bound to maintain that we can do as I have stated, if so be the matter is gone about in proper fashion, and when we are at the ship-yard once more I will lay before you lads the plan in something approaching due order."

It was then we ceased speaking and gave all our attention to the task in hand, as indeed we had need to, for no one could say how soon we might come upon those who, mistrusting somewhat of our purpose and being enemies to the Cause, would put an end to our share of the night's work.

My comrades, as well as I, understood that we had need to gain the landing place as quickly as might be, for once on sh.o.r.e there remained a dozen or fourteen miles to be traveled before we were come to Lexington.

It is not needed that I should make a very long story of what ought to be told in few words, and therefore it is that instead of setting down all which we said and did from the time of beginning the journey afoot until we were come to our destination, I will content myself with saying that Doctor Warren's message was delivered before sunrise, and we lads, leg-weary and hungry, threw ourselves down upon the straw in Master Hadley's barn to wait until Colonel Barrett should say we were at liberty to depart.

Now all this had been plain sailing, and we should have found no reason to plume ourselves upon having done anything deserving of credit, for from the time we screened ourselves when the guard boat appeared, until having come to Master Hadley's house, no man had placed aught in our way. Yet I did feel somewhat of pride, thinking that we had done our first work in behalf of the Cause, all of which was folly as you may see, for surely three hulking lads need not carry their heads very high because of simply having sailed a skiff two or three miles and then walked a dozen more over a smooth highway.

I venture to say that Colonel Barrett did not hold us very high in his esteem because we had succeeded in delivering the message. He acted, as most like he felt, as if it was nothing of consequence which we had done, save for the fact that he had received the information, and a single lad a dozen years of age might have accomplished the same end.

I would have been well content to remain stretched out at full length on the straw in Master Hadley's barn until another night had come, so weary was I from walking and worn with lack of sleep; but when Colonel Barrett summoned us to the house, evidently for the purpose of sending us back, we could not well make protest.

He had prepared a written reply to Doctor Warren's message, and this he handed to me as he said:

"You may return as soon as is your pleasure; it matters little whether Master Warren receives my reply early or late."

"It will not be safe for us to make a try at getting into Boston until after nightfall, therefore we may go our way leisurely," I said to the gentleman, addressing him as I believed it was proper a soldier should address his superior officer, which shows that Silas's idea of enrolling a company of Minute Boys had found speedy lodgment in my mind.

"Set off when you will, and see to it that the paper is delivered safely, although that which it contains is so worded as to convey little of importance to an enemy," he added carelessly, and turned from us as if to say that he was done with speaking, therefore we might go when it pleased us best.

Now I had had in mind when we left Boston, that having once arrived at this house of Master Hadley's as messengers from Doctor Warren, we would be received with open arms and greatly praised because of the valuable service rendered; but we were not even asked to stay our hunger, and at that time I believe of a verity I could have eaten anything less hard than a flint.

However, not for all the food in Ma.s.sachusetts colony would I have admitted that we stood in need of refreshments after so long a delay had been made in offering us any, and without further words I led the way down the lane to the road, Archie and Silas following close at my heels.

It was not until we had traveled a full mile that either of us ventured to speak, and then Archie said as if there was much which was comical in the situation:

"It seems that however highly we value ourselves, and whatsoever of importance we may attach to carrying a message from Doctor Warren to Colonel Barrett, no one else appears to be of our opinion. I had not thought they would kill a fatted calf for us as if we were Prodigal Sons; but surely some one might have asked, knowing we had traveled all night, whether or no a bit of corn bread would go amiss."

When he thus spoke we were come opposite a small, rude dwelling situate in one corner of a pasture wherein even a sheep would have found it difficult to satisfy its hunger, and in the door of this building stood a motherly looking old woman, her hands on her hips, and her eyes fixed on us in curiosity, as I fancied.

"You children are looking weary," she cried, and mayhap I bridled somewhat because she had called us who counted on soon being a portion of the Colonial army, "children." "Will you not wait and rest a while?"

I would have kept on, punishing my own body because Master Hadley's people had failed to show hospitality; but Silas accepted the invitation without ado, and threw himself down upon the moss nearby the door as if too weary to advance any further.

After this had been done Archie and I could do no less than follow his example, at least so far as coming to a halt was concerned, and I soon forgot the vexation in my heart because of what I counted as neglect, for the old woman ministered to us in as kindly, generous a fashion as our own mothers would have done.

That she was not well off in this world's goods might readily have been told by her surroundings, yet did she give of what she had freely, b.u.t.tering the coa.r.s.e food with so many kindly words that I believe of a verity I shall never partake again of so appetizing a meal.

As a matter of course she asked many questions as to why we were in the neighborhood, and perhaps there was no reason why we might not have satisfied her curiosity without explaining everything; yet it did not seem to me well that we should make any one acquainted with our mission.

Even after we were told that she had a son who was then in Cambridge ready and eager to serve the colony as a soldier, we held our peace, save in so far as we told her that we were bound on getting into Boston, where were our homes.

It was natural she should ask many questions as to what the British were doing; whether we were so shut in by the lobster backs that it was impossible for any to get out save with a written pa.s.s, and equally reasonable, since her son counted on becoming a soldier, that she wanted to know if those who favored the Cause were ready to strike a speedy blow against the king's officers.

On all these points we gratified her curiosity in so far as lay in our power, meanwhile devouring her corn bread and fried pork without a thought as to whether we might not be depriving the poor soul of that which she absolutely needed to keep life in her shrivelled body.

We remained there an hour, and on taking our departure promised the good woman that we would on the first opportunity seek out her son, in order to tell him we had lately seen his mother.

Hiram Griffin was his name, so she told us, and I fixed it in my memory with little thought that the day would soon come when, because of keeping our promise to this old woman, we should be making the acquaintance of one who would befriend us in our time of sorest need.

Mistress Griffin bade us adieu as if we were her own kith and kin, and I for one felt the better for having come in touch with so kindly a soul after the neglect, as it seemed to me, of Samuel Hadley's people to minister to our needs.

During the remainder of the journey afoot we met, mayhap, a dozen farmers who lived on our line of march, and it seemed to me much as if they knew more concerning what the colonists would do in their own behalf than did we, who were so lately come from town. I noted, as also did Archie, so he told me later, that there was an air of anxious expectancy about all these people when, judging from our dress that we had come from Charlestown, or even Boston itself, they questioned us concerning the doings of the Sons of Liberty, the enrollment of Minute Men, and the smuggling of weapons across the Neck.

I said to myself that there was some movement afoot among these men concerning which I had not heard, and then straightway reproved myself for being such a simple as to believe they knew more regarding the purpose of our friends than did I, who heard discussed every day measures which would soon be taken to relieve ourselves of the burdens which the king had put upon us.

As a matter of course we had no means of knowing, except through their own speech, whether those we met were Tories, or true sons of the colony, therefore it behooved us to be guarded in our words, putting trust in no man however fairly he spoke us, and verily some of those big-hearted farmers, who shortly afterward shed their blood so freely in the defence of the colony, must have set us down as being woefully churlish.

Now and then as we walked Silas would come back to the subject of enrolling a company of Minute Boys, persisting in discussing the matter whenever we were in the open country where it was possible to make certain there were none lurking nearby who might hear us, and so eager was he on the scheme, that before we were come to where the skiff had been left, just below the ferry, it was already settled in our minds that we would make the attempt on the following day, if so be we arrived at our homes in safety.

We had even decided among ourselves as to which of our acquaintances should be invited to share the glory that all felt certain would come to us, once we had been allowed to join those who were to stand against the king in defense of their homes, and there yet remains as vividly in my mind as though it were yesterday that we walked from Master Hadley's to the ferry above Charlestown, all the details of the conversation we had concerning Seth Jepson.

We three knew the lad fairly well. He lived in Crooked lane, nearby Dock square, and was seemingly a kindly hearted youth, ready to do a favor for another even at his own expense; but yet I set my face against admitting him into the ranks of our Minute Boys, for no other reason than that I had often seen him in the company of Amos Nelson and two other young Tories.

Archie said my suspicions were idle because they had no other foundation than what I have set down, and that he might laugh me out of them he said with a grin:

"I have seen Baker's old gray goose paddling around among the chickens; but I never suspected him of being a rooster."

"Your wit is poor," I replied, nettled somewhat, "for there exists no likeness between a lad who may plot, and a goose that simply flocks with chickens to gain his food. I hold to it that we should have no a.s.sociation with those who traffic among the Tories."

Unfortunately, however, as we afterward came to realize, my companions over-rode my misgivings as to making him a comrade. Silas claimed that he had known the lad in fair weather and in foul, finding him true, with never a taint of Toryism, whoever his a.s.sociates, and Archie declared stoutly that Seth was as loyal to the Cause as either of us. What more could I say? There were two opinions against mine, and I was not so stiff-necked as to hold out against these lads who had as much right as I to say who should or should not be allowed to join our company, if so be we formed one. As a matter of fact, the scheme being Silas's, he was the one who had the best right to decide any vexed question, and I felt at the time that it was no more than my duty to set in the background all the suspicions which I had formed against Seth Jepson, accepting the word of these my comrades that he was a lad true to the best interests of our colony.

We had so far decided upon this company of Minute Boys as to have set down in our own minds the names of fourteen lads, including Seth Jepson, whom we believed would be glad of an opportunity to join us, and it was agreed, by the time we were come to the end of the land journey, that on the following day, after having asked advice of Doctor Warren and if the scheme met with his approval, to raise a company of Minute Boys, calling upon those whom we had selected.