The Minute Boys of Boston

To this end, and in the hope that it might be possible to take advantage of the information he had given, I proposed that a certain number of lads should loiter about the town to learn if there was anything new going on among the Britishers; afterward whispering to Silas that he send with Seth one whom he could trust thoroughly well, in order to make certain the lad held no communication with Amos Nelson.

"I will do it," Silas replied; "but to what purpose? You have suspected him from the first, and yet allowed that he should hear what our people want us to do."

"And in talking so freely I showed myself a fool. Now I would, if possible, do what I can to remedy the evil."

"All of which will be very little, because we cannot keep a spy at Seth's heels every hour, and when he has gone home for the night what will prevent him from having speech with Amos Nelson?"

Then, as if not considering the matter of so much importance as I would make it, Silas moved about among the company, suggesting that this couple go here and the other there, until he had sent away all save two, and these were lads whom he and I knew might not with truth be accused of being other than loyal to the Cause.

"Have you aught to say?" I asked when they made as if to draw near to where Hiram and I were standing, and Silas said quickly:

"It has been in my mind that we might send some of the company down near the prison to loiter there in the hope of gaining speech with Archie, if so be Seth Jepson's words are true."

"I know where the room is, in which Amos Nelson declared he was held a prisoner," Harvey Pearson said. "If all that has been told us be true, I warrant you I can get word with him after the night has come, in case he may be made to know that we are nearby for that purpose."

"Then do you two lads attend to that matter. Silas shall look after whatsoever he thinks best, while Hiram Griffin and I set off to make certain there will be no difficulty in getting skiffs."

"I am thinking it will be well if I search for the boat you left on the shore near Fox hill," Silas suggested. "It may be I can bring her around to this place, and surely that would be of advantage, because we have no craft of any kind, unless you succeed in getting one before nightfall."

To this I agreed, and soon Silas had set off, when Hiram and I were left alone.

"Well?" he said questioningly. "If you are satisfied with what has been done this morning, and believe the Cause can be advantaged much by the Minute Boys, suppose we get our heads together to decide how I may be able to leave this town?"

"Are you going away at once?" I asked in surprise, for although he had not so much as hinted he might stay a while with us, such a thought had found lodgment in my mind.

"To what end should I stay?" he asked. "Surely a stranger like me can do nothing in the way of playing the spy in a strange town, and I am of the mind that there may be work for me in Cambridge."

"I had hoped you would wait on some chance of being able to help us set Archie free," I said after a moment's hesitation.

"An' that were true, I would loiter here till the month's end, giving no heed to what those in the encampment might think of my absence," he replied heartily.

"Then stay!" I cried. "Greater things than freeing a lad who is shut up in the cell of a prison, has been done by poorer tools than can be found among us Minute Boys. You shall lodge at my home, going and coming as best pleases you."

"I'll stay, lad," Hiram said promptly, "and am all the more willing to do so because it strikes me you need a deal of watching."

I fancied it was possible to read in his face the thought which he had in mind, and my cheeks were flaming red as I said in the tone of one who admits his error:

"You believe I made a blunder in telling the lads all that the Committee of Safety would have us do?"

"It was more than a blunder, lad, unless you could answer for all of your comrades as you can for yourself. No harm would have come if you had held your peace, simply telling them it was necessary you should know all that was going on in order the better to guard against evil."

"Instead of which I laid myself bare," I cried bitterly, "and at the same time was suspicious of that lad, Seth Jepson. Not until he admitted getting information concerning Archie from Amos Nelson, did I realize my mistake."

"Well," Hiram said soothingly, "no good ever came of crying over spilt milk. You must try to conjure up some plan for holding Seth Jepson in such fashion that he will be harmless, or, if so much cannot be done, see to it he is kept ignorant as to what you would do."

There was no reason why we should linger under the old wharf, and I was eager to be alone despite the fact that I craved Hiram's companionship, for it seemed as if I must work out some scheme by which it would be possible to prevent Seth Jepson from playing us false.

Therefore it was I led the way to my house, and said when we were come to the door:

"You are free here to do as you will; but I'm thinking it may be wiser if we two are not seen together overly much. I am counting on going across the Common with the idea of helping Silas, if he believes it safe to bring the boat around."

"Never fear but what I'll look after myself," he said cheerily as he entered the house, and I went my way alone.

Now it is not needed that I set down too many words in striving to tell that which is of little importance. It will be as well if I pass over four and twenty hours, and come to the afternoon of the day following my woeful blunder.

During that time many things had happened, and instead of our sending information to Cambridge, great news had come from there to us in Boston who were loyal to the Cause.

It was reported by one who had succeeded on entering the town by way of the Neck, despite all the vigilance of the guards there, that so many men had arrived from all quarters to aid in opposing the king's troops, that no less than twenty thousand were then in the encampment, and General Ward had taken command of what was really an army. Israel Putnam had led thither a large number of volunteers from Connecticut; Colonel John Stark, of New Hampshire, was come with a great following, and the only trouble was lack of discipline and housing for so many people.

General Ward had held a council of war with all the officers who had been previously appointed by Congress, and it was decided that Boston be besieged. Fancy! we of the colonies called "rebels" were making preparations, to the extent of having raised a large army, to take from the Britishers the town they had seized!

It must have been that General Gage received the same news as had come to us, for on the hour orders were issued that no person should be allowed to leave the town without a pass, and everyone caught while attempting to depart would be imprisoned.

The Tories themselves had begun to understand that our people might be a power in the land, for straightway two hundred of them were enrolled as a military company, with that arch traitor, Timothy Ruggles, as their captain.

"It seems that the Minute Boys have nothing to do," I said bitterly to Hiram Griffin when he and I came together at my home on the evening after the Tory company had paraded on the Common. "It is from Cambridge that the important news is being sent, and we who are shut up here have no word of news to tell."

"It strikes me, lad, that you have already got quite a budget of information which our people in Cambridge should hear. Mayhap it is already known in the encampment that no one can leave Boston town without a permit, and it's also possible they know of the arming of the Tories; but you who were assigned to the duty of gathering news should not set yourselves down idly and say that it has already been made public."

"Meaning that we should go our way carrying stale information at the risk of being arrested, and repeating what no one cares to hear?"

"Ay, lad, that is exactly what I mean. You were not asked to seek this or that; but to carry to Cambridge information of what was going on in town. It is for General Ward to say whether that which you bring him is of importance or no."

"But it seems that we have other work on hand which should come first," I said, having kept back a bit of news which I knew would startle him. "Harvey Pearson succeeded this afternoon in seeing Archie – "

"How did he get into the prison?"

"There's no such good word as that. What I mean is that he attracted his attention from the outside, and by dint of gestures, with a word here and there, made him understand that at midnight, after the guard has been changed, he will attempt to have speech with him."

Hiram looked at me in surprise, as if not crediting all I told him, and then, much as if dismissing the matter from his mind, he said:

"If I were the captain of the Minute Boys of Boston, I should strive to send a messenger to Cambridge this night. I myself have picked up such bits of news as I believe General Ward would be pleased to hear."

"But how can I go, when there is a chance of having word with Archie to-night?"

"I fail to see any reason why you should in every case act as messenger 'twixt here and Cambridge. Send some other of your company. It is true we lost the boat in which you and I came, because of having left her where any blundering lobster back might stumble upon the craft; but you said this morning that it would be possible for us to get two small skiffs at any time." Then he asked abruptly, "How high from the street is the window of the room where your comrade is held prisoner?"

"Not more than five or six feet," I replied, failing to understand; but, making no explanation, he rose quickly to his feet, clapping his hat on his head as he said:

"I'm off for a stroll. There are many things in this town I haven't seen as yet, and it would be a pity if I was suddenly called to Cambridge without having learned all that may be come at."

He went out before I could stop him, and but for the fact that Silas came in immediately afterward, I might have followed to learn what Hiram was about.

As a matter of course, my comrade was all afire with the possibility that we might soon have speech with Archie, and would have explained exactly how Harvey counted on bringing the matter about, had I not told him Hiram's opinion as to what should be done in the way of sending information to the American encampment.

Much to my surprise he pressed eagerly for permission to go as messenger, saying that above all else he desired to see the encampment so he might compare our troops with those under the command of General Gage, and, knowing he could make the journey as well or even better than I, there was no reason in my mind why he should not undertake the venture.

I must set down here the fact that from the time of our first meeting as Minute Boys, which is the same as saying during the past four and twenty hours, more than one of us had kept constant watch over Seth Jepson without seeing aught to blame in him. It was possible, as a matter of course, that he might have had speech with Amos Nelson; but we could not believe he had told the Tory cur all I had so foolishly divulged else, as Silas and I reasoned, we would have been brought before General Gage on some such serious charge as that of treason, unless perchance he could make of our movements a more serious offence.