from which place he made his way to my home.

"Now this is my plan;" he said to me when we were done with swapping
information. "You have from now until nearly midnight to call your
company together at the rope walk where I landed. Sometime between then
and daybreak my comrades will either come near to the land in one of the
sloops, or send two or three boats to bring you off, and an hour after
sunrise, if so be everything goes as I have reckoned, we will be putting
aboard a cargo of such stuff as shall fill the stomachs of those who are
loitering near to Cambridge awaiting a good chance to slap his majesty
in the face."

At the time it did not appear to me we Minute Boys were called upon to
play any very heroic part in the so-called "rebellion." It seemed that
there would be little of glory gained in loading the sloops with live
stock, wheat and corn, and yet before the task was accomplished we
Minute Boys of Boston saw what was a veritable battle, although on a
small scale, but with as good an opportunity of shedding one's blood as
the most ardent warrior could have desired.

I smile even at this late day when I think of what a simple I showed
myself to be while setting about the task, for on summoning my comrades
I was ashamed to tell them we were to work like drovers and farmers
rather than as soldiers, therefore led each to understand we were bent
on some secret mission to an island near by. And when one and another
speculated as to the possible danger to be encountered, or of the
opportunities of showing ourselves worthy to be called soldiers, I
nursed such fancies until they believed we were going as an independent
company to slaughter or to capture whole squads of trained, red-coated
soldiers.

As a matter of course I set about the work of getting speech with each
of my company immediately Hiram had finished explaining matters, and so
difficult was it to find them all, scattered about the town as they
were, that night had come before I returned to my home.

Then I had succeeded in warning every member of the company, even
including Seth Jepson, to be at the rope walk on Barton's point,
recommending that they come singly, rather than in couples or squads, so
that there might be less chance to arouse suspicion, and right weary was
I from much running to and fro.

Mother had made ready a hearty supper because of my having fasted at
noon, and Hiram and I ate until the wonder was that we were not so heavy
as t