on the street, or from making
any demonstration against the soldiers, their wishes would have been
respected, and such brawlers as Hardy Baker been forced to remain quiet.

It was a revelation to him that a noble purpose might be attained
through ignoble means, and immediately he ceased to regard the
barber's apprentice as a menace to the public peace.

The party, headed by Attucks, continued straight on toward Dock
Square, and at nearly the same time a like party came down from King
Street, while yet another could be seen at the head of Union Street.

No less than six hundred men were now approaching a common centre with
cries of:

"Let us drive out these rascals! They have no business here! Drive
them out!"

"It is as was rumoured," Sam Gray said, quietly. "There is concerted
action here, and before morning Governor Hutchinson will understand that
it is the citizens of Boston, not a rabble, who demand the removal of
the troops. If the better class of people wish the redcoats to remain,
why do not some of them stand here to prevent mischief?"

Jim made no reply. He already realised that this was a movement of the
populace, and not an ordinary street brawl.

Each moment the crowd that had assembled in the square increased in
numbers; but it remained as orderly a gathering as ever assembled at
Liberty Hall until a squad of soldiers, evidently for no other purpose
than to show their contempt of the people, strode into the square,
forcing a passage through the crowd in an offensive and insolent manner.

Then came that cry which aroused those who heard it more quickly than
had the pealing of the alarm-bell.

"Town-born, turn out! Down with the 'bloody backs'!"

The soldiers lost their air of security and defiance as these words
were passed from one side of the square to the other like the waves of
the sea, and caught up in every direction by those on the adjacent
streets, until it seemed as if the very air was tremulous with the cry:

"Town-born, turn out!"

The soldiers disappeared; but the summons for those who would defend
their city's rights had so excited even the cooler-headed ones that
action was an absolute necessity, and yet no leader had at that moment
arisen to map out a course of action.

If their movements were concerted up to the time of meeting in Dock
Square, it was evident the plan of operations had not been carried
further than that, and the excited ones looked about eagerly for the
enemy,