or among those who heard were some who, while they sat as
though under a spell, nevertheless were resolved past conversion to
stand by their king. Among them Rodney saw Squire Danesford elbowing
his way through the door, his face purple with rage, and, once
outside, he mounted his horse and rode away at a mad gallop, followed
by Black Tom.

The convention over, the delegates went to their homes to make ready
for the impending conflict. The war spirit was abroad throughout the
Old Dominion, and young Allison found Nat unequal to the riding he was
required to do and was furnished with another horse. Volunteers, with
such arms as they could procure, drilled daily and some among them
were eager for the fray to begin; but, when once it was begun, not a
few lost much of their ardour.

As Patrick Henry had predicted, the next gale sweeping from the North
was to bring to the waiting ears of the Virginians the clash of
resounding arms, of the shots fired by the farmers in homespun from
behind stone walls and fences, all the way from Lexington to Boston,
into the ranks of panic-stricken British soldiers. The day after that
event, April 20th, though before the news of Lexington reached
Virginia, the minute men of the Old Dominion were to shoulder their
guns in defiance of British authority.

CHAPTER XX

RALLYING VIRGINIA'S MINUTE MEN

The evening after Rodney returned to Charlottesville, Angus rode over
on a raw-boned steed that evidently had outlived his day for leaping
fences and following the hounds.

"What d'ye think of him, Rod?"

"Why, he's some horse, looks like a blooded one," replied Rodney,
speaking as favourably as he could, for he liked Angus and knew the
boy had been a little envious of late. "Where did you get him?"

"He's one Squire Herndon got down on the Pamunkey. Reckon I made a
good trade, fer I found he was blind in one eye an' the squire took
him fer a bad debt an' already had more hosses than he could feed."

"You ought to trade him off and make a good thing."

"Don't reckon I want to trade right away. I 'low after plantin' I'm
goin' to ride round a bit. Thar's a heap o' things a feller can learn
by travellin' around. You know that."

"I suppose so. Tell you what, Angus; I've got to go to Williamsburg
next week. Let's go together. I've never been there. It's the capital
of the Old Dominion and, when the Burgesses are in session, one can
see more of the aristocracy in Williamsburg than in