ere we were, some sort of an officer
was wavin' his sword an' cheerin' on his men; Dane saw him by a big
flash that come by; he flung away his gun, give a leap, an' went at that
feller as if he was Jeff, Beauregard, an' Lee, all in one. I scrabbled
after as quick as I could, but was only up in time to see him git the
sword straight through him an' drop into the ditch. You needn't ask what
I did next, Ma'am, for I don't quite know myself; all I'm clear about
is, that I managed somehow to pitch that Reb into the fort as dead as
Moses, git hold of Dane, an' bring him off. Poor old feller! we said we
went in to live or die; he said he went in to die, an' he's done it."

I had been intently watching the excited speaker; but as he regretfully
added those last words I turned again, and Robert's eyes met
mine,--those melancholy eyes, so full of an intelligence that proved he
had heard, remembered, and reflected with that preternatural power which
often outlives all other faculties. He knew me, yet gave no greeting;
was glad to see a woman's face, yet had no smile wherewith to welcome
it; felt that he was dying, yet uttered no farewell. He was too far
across the river to return or linger now; departing thought, strength,
breath, were spent in one grateful look, one murmur of submission to the
last pang he could ever feel. His lips moved, and, bending to them, a
whisper chilled my cheek, as it shaped the broken words,--

"I would have done it,--but it's better so,--I'm satisfied."

Ah! well he might be,--for, as he turned his face from the shadow of the
life that was, the sunshine of the life to be touched it with a
beautiful content, and in the drawing of a breath my contraband found
wife and home, eternal liberty and God.

* * * * *

THE SAM ADAMS REGIMENTS IN THE TOWN OF BOSTON.--CONCLUDED.[1]

THE REMOVAL.

"I have been in constant panic," wrote Franklin in London to Dr. Cooper
in Boston, "since I heard of troops assembling in Boston, lest the
madness of mobs, or the interference of soldiers, or both, when too near
each other, might occasion some mischief difficult to be prevented or
repaired, and which might spread far and wide."

The people wore indignant at the introduction of the troops, and the
crown officials were arrogant and goading; but so wise and forbearing
were the popular leaders, that, for ten months, from October, 1768, to
August, 1769, no detriment came to their cause