of the ammunition.
At half past four o'clock, on the morning of September 1,
Lieutenant-Colonel Madison, with 260 men, embarked in thirteen large
boats at Long Wharf, rowed up Mystic River, and landed at Mr. Temple's
farm, seized 250 half barrels of powder and landed it in the Castle,
also two cannon from the gun-houses in Cambridge. The news spread, and
before evening nearly 5,000 people had assembled in Cambridge with
their muskets. They compelled Mr. Danforth, member of the governor's
council, to resign. The high-sheriff promised to serve no warrant
under the new act of parliament. Lieutenant-Governor Oliver hastened
to Boston, and informed General Gage that if he were to send a body of
troops into the country the people would rise in their anger. Upon his
return to Cambridge the people surrounded his house and compelled him
to resign his commission. General Gage wrote to London that he must
have more troops to enable him to strike a decisive blow. He expected
the people would march into Boston. In order to prevent surprise, the
guards were doubled, and the troops ordered to lay on their arms
through the night.]

Having delivered the donation to the committee, Robert strolled
through the town, finding many houses, shops, and stores tenantless.
There was a strange silence,--no hurrying of feet, no rumbling of
teams, no piles of merchandise. The stores were closed, the shutters
fastened. Grass was growing in the streets and tufts of oats were
springing up where the horses, a few weeks before, had munched their
provender. Here and there he met men and boys, wandering listlessly,
with sadness in their faces, but yet behind the sorrow there was a
determination to endure to the bitter end.

Robert visited his old acquaintance, Henry Knox, no longer in the
bookstore at the corner of King Street, opposite the Town House, but
in a store of his own on Cornhill. He passed a tailor's shop and a
harness-maker's before he came to Mr. Knox's bookstore, where he was
heartily welcomed.

"I remember the book which you purchased the first time we met; I hope
you liked it."

"It is very entertaining, and has been read by nearly everybody in
Rumford, and is pretty much worn out," Robert replied.

While talking with Mr. Knox, he saw a white-haired gentleman pass the
store. The next moment he heard a bell jingling in the shop of the
harness-maker, then in the shoemaker's, and lastly in the tailor's.
Mr. Knox laughed as the gentlema