d if we can unite these thirteen Colonies an army can be raised, and we
can separate ourselves entire, in which case there will be glory for
somebody."

John Hancock, the rich, the ambitious, the pleasure-loving, had burned his
bridges. He was in the hands of Samuel Adams, and his infamy was one with
this man who was a professional agitator, and who had nothing to lose.

General Gage had made an offer of pardon to all--all, save two men: Samuel
Adams and John Hancock. Back into the fold tumbled the Tories, but against
John Hancock the gates were barred. John Adams, Attorney of the Hancock
estate, rubbed his chin, and decided to stand by the ship--sink or swim,
survive or perish.

Down in his heart Samuel Adams grimly smiled, but on his cold, pale face
there was no sign.

The British held Boston secure, and in the splendid mansion of Hancock
lived the rebel, Lord Percy, England's pet. The furniture, plate and
keeping of the place were quite to his liking.

Hancock's ambitions grew as the days went by. The fight was on. His
property was in the hands of the British, and a price was upon his head.
He, too, now had nothing to lose. If England could be whipped he would get
his property back, and the honors of victory would be his, beside.

Ambition grew apace; he studied the Manual of Arms as never before, and
made himself familiar with the lives of Caesar and Alexander. At Harvard,
he had read the Anabasis on compulsion, but now he read it with zest.

The Second Congress was a Congress of action; the first had been one
merely of conference. A presiding officer was required, and Samuel Adams
quietly pushed his man to the front. He let it be known that Hancock was
the richest man in New England, perhaps in America, and a power in every
emergency.

John Hancock was given the office of presiding officer, the place of
honor.

The thought never occurred to him that the man on the floor is the man who
acts, and the individual in the chair is only a referee, an onlooker of
the contest. When a man is chosen to preside he is safely out of the way,
and no one knew this better than that clear-headed man, wise as a serpent,
Samuel Adams.

Hancock was intent on being chosen Commander of the Continental Army. The
war was in Massachusetts, her principal port closed, all business at a
standstill. Hancock was a soldier, and was, moreover, the chief citizen
of Massachusetts--the command should go to him. Samuel Adams knew this
coul