them afterward related: "We mounted the ships and _made tea in
a trice_. This done, I mounted my team and went home, as an honest man
should."

Twilight was gathering when the Indian masqueraders began their work,
and it was nearly three hours later when their task was done. Boston
Harbor was a great teapot, with the contents of three hundred and
forty-two chests broken open and their contents scattered on the quiet
water. A sharp watch was kept that none of it should be stolen, but a
few grains were shaken out of a shoe, which may be seen to-day in a
glass jar in Memorial Hall, Boston. And this was the famous "Boston
Tea-Party"!

Men's passions were now aroused to fever heat, and the actions of the
patriots were sharply resented by the conservatives who upheld the
government, while the radicals were fighting for the rights of the
people. In all the acts of overt rebellion with which John Hancock's
name was constantly connected he was loyally and proudly upheld by his
Dorothy, who, despite her inborn coquetry, daily became better fitted
to be the wife of a man such as John Hancock.

But though she stood by him so bravely in all his undertakings, and
would not have had him recede one step from the stand he had taken,
yet there was much to alarm her. Because of his connection with the
Boston Tea-Party, and other acts of rebellion, the soldiers of the
crown had distributed royalist hand-bills broadcast, with this
heading:

"TO THE SOLDIERS OF HIS MAJESTY'S TROOPS IN BOSTON"

There followed a list of the authors of the rebellion, among whom
were Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Josiah Quincy. The hand-bill also
announced that "it was probable that the King's standard would soon be
erected," and continued: "The friends of our king and country and of
America hope and expect it from you soldiers the instant rebellion
happens, that you will put the above persons immediately to the sword,
destroy their houses and plunder their effects. It is just they should
be the first victims to the mischiefs they have brought upon us."

Reason enough for Hancock's Dorothy to be apprehensive, beneath her
show of bravery!

In January, 1775, the patriots made an effort to show that they were
still loyal subjects, for they sent a petition from the Continental
Congress to the King, wherein they asked "but for peace, liberty and
safety," and stated that "your royal authority over us, and our
connection with Great Britain, we shall alw