ou? But mind, you have got to
pay the fiddler yet!"

"Oh, never mind!" shouted Pitts, "never mind, squire! Just come out
here, if you please, and we'll settle the bill in two minutes." This
caused a shout, the fife struck up a lively air, the admiral put the
window down in a hurry, and the company marched on.

When Hewes reached home he told his wife the story. "Well, George," said
she, "Did you bring me home a lot of it?" The only tea known to have
been brought that night from the wharf was in the shoes of Thomas
Melvill. A sample gathered on the Dorchester shore by Dr. Thaddeus M.
Harris, is now preserved in the cabinet of the Antiquarian Society, at
Worcester.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING THE ROUTE TAKEN FROM THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH
TO THE WHARF. (_See dotted lines._)]

One O'Connor, an Irishman, formerly a fellow apprentice with Hewes,
attempted to secrete some of the tea. Hewes noticed a suspicious
movement of his hands along the lining of his coat, and informed Pitts.
Catching him by the skirts of his coat, he pulled him back as he was
trying to escape, and he was quickly relieved of his cargo, as well as
the apparel which contained it, and a few kicks were applied to hasten
his retreat.

Early on the morning of the 17th, a long windrow of tea, "about as big
as you ever saw of hay," was seen extending from the wharves down to the
castle. A party of volunteers soon turned out in boats, and stirred it
up in the "pot" pretty effectually.

* * * * *

Those who undertook to preserve any of the poisonous herb were sharply
looked after by the patriots. A Boston paper of January 3, 1774, says:

"Whereas, it was reported that one Withington, of
Dorchester, had taken up and partly disposed of a chest of
the East India Company's tea, a number of the Cape or
Narragansett Indians went to the house of Captain Ebenezer
Withington, and his brother Phillip, last Friday evening,
and thoroughly searched their houses, without offering the
least offence to any one. Finding no tea, they proceeded to
the house of old Mr. Ebenezer Withington, at a place called
Sodom, below Dorchester Meeting House, where they found part
of a half-chest, which had floated, and was cast up on
Dorchester Point. This they seized and brought to Boston
Common, where they committed it to the flames."

Benjamin Simpson, a bricklayer's apprentice, says:

"After the me