Part 6 (1/2)
”Oh, they have done nothing to us, eh?” the barber's apprentice cried, as if in a fury. ”You stand here and say that, after what has happened this afternoon?”
”Well, what _has_ happened?” and Jim caught the excited barber by the coat collar, shaking him vigorously, as if he believed by such energetic measures he might be restored to his scanty senses.
”Come down under the Liberty Tree and you'll find out all about it. I tell you that this sort of thing can't go on much longer. We'll rise in our might, as Attucks says; that's what we'll do, and I'll help in the rising!”
”Instead of continuing such ridiculous threats as you have been making since the funeral, suppose you tell us what happened this afternoon to put you in such a state of excitement. Has some other Britisher refused to pay your master's bill?”
”This is a matter which the people of Boston must take up, and that's exactly what they will do?” Hardy cried, stammering in his eagerness to relate the exciting news. ”This forenoon one of the 'b.l.o.o.d.y backs'
was down by your father's ropewalk,[D] and got into a little trouble with one of the workmen. Nothing would do but that they must fight it out, and the redcoat got a beating.”
”Well?” Amos asked, placidly, as Hardy paused for breath.
”Well, and what does the Britisher do, but walk straight up to Murray's Barracks,[E] get a crowd of his chums, and go back to Gray's place, where they pounded five or six of the rope-makers almost to death. While you fellows have been sitting here idle, people who have more love for their country are gathering under the Liberty Tree, and if you go there now you'll hear what is to be done.”
Jim looked at Amos as if to ask whether he believed all the barber's apprentice had told them, and the latter replied by an incredulous shake of the head, as he said:
”We'll go down to Liberty Hall; but I don't think the inhabitants of Boston are nearly as much excited as Hardy believes. He and that mulatto friend of his, I reckon, are the only ones representing the people in this case.”
”Come with me, and you will soon see who is doing the representing,”
Hardy cried, angrily. ”You fellows don't know everything, even though you think you do.”
”We have never made claim to such distinction, nor do we believe we are expected to drive the redcoats out of Boston. But if the city is in such a turmoil as you would have us think, why are you here, instead of at Liberty Hall?”
”I have been there since an hour before noon, and only left when I had to go for something to eat. Now I am on my way back.”
”We'll go with you,” and Amos began to believe that perhaps there was more truth in Hardy's story than he had previously been willing to admit. ”Have you abandoned Master Piemont entirely?” he asked, as the three went into the street.
”I may go back there when the Britishers are driven away; but it ain't likely I shall much before then. When there's work like this to be done, you'll find me with those who love their country.”
”And that is brawling on the waterside, I suppose?”
Hardy was about to make an angry reply, when a throng of men and boys were seen marching in something approaching military precision up Corn Hill, shouting from time to time:
”Drive the rascals out! Down with the 'b.l.o.o.d.y backs!'”
Now there could no longer be any question in the minds of Jim and Amos but that Hardy's story was more nearly true than was at first believed, and immediately they began to share his excitement.
”Perhaps you think now that I'm the only one who is stirred up, eh?”
the barber's apprentice asked, triumphantly. ”This crowd is going to Liberty Hall. When you get there you'll find more than a thousand, all shouting the same thing.”
That which caused Amos and Jim more surprise than anything else, was the fact that not a soldier could be seen upon the streets. Ordinarily one could not walk through Corn Hill without meeting many privates, as well as officers, lounging on the sidewalk.
That the citizens were deeply excited over what had occurred, both the boys understood as they continued on toward the common meeting-place; but they had no idea how deeply the populace were moved, until arriving within sight of the Liberty Tree, where they saw the ground immediately beneath its broad limbs literally packed with human beings.
The gathering in front of Master Theophilus Lillie's shop had been as nothing compared with this.
There the throng had been composed chiefly of boys, but here men were gathered, and Amos had a better idea of the gravity of the situation when he recognised on the outskirts of the crowd reputable merchants, whom he knew could not be easily induced to lend countenance to anything which did not really affect the welfare of the Colony.
[Ill.u.s.tration]