was to him. Where are you going, Jane?"

"To the old tree on Beacon Hill, where Uncle Ben used to talk to me in
childhood."

"May I go with you, Jane? They say that a fleet has been sighted off
Narragansett Bay. We shall know when the post comes in."

"Yes, Jamie, come with me. I love to talk of old times with you."

"And what a friend I was to _him_."

It was a fiery day. Cumulus clouds were piling up in the fervid heats.
The Hancock House gardens, where now the State House is, were fragrant
with flowers, and the Common below was a sea of shining leaves.

A boom shook the air.

"What was that, Jane?"

"It came from the Castle."

"Perhaps there is news."

Another boom echoed from the Dorchester Hills, and a puff of smoke rose
from the Castle.

"There is news, Jamie; the Castle is firing a salute."

"I think the French fleet has arrived; if so, _his_ work is behind it,
and I always was such a friend to him, too!"

The Castle thundered. There was news.

A magistrate came riding over the hills on horseback, going to the house
of John Hancock.

"Hey!" cried Jamie, "an' what is the news?"

"The French fleet has arrived at Newport. Count Rochambeau is landing
there. Hurrah! this country is free!"

Jane sat down under the old tree, as she had done when a girl in Uncle
Benjamin's day. She saw the flag of the Stripes and Stars leap, as it
were, into the air over the Hancock gardens. She had always revered John
Hancock since he had heroically written to Washington at the time of the
siege, "Burn Boston, if there is need, and leave John Hancock a beggar!"

Who was that hurrying up from the broad path of the Common toward the
Hancock mansion? Jane rose up and looked. It was Samuel Adams, the
so-called "last of the Puritans," a man who had almost forgotten his own
existence in his efforts to unite the colonies for the struggle for
liberty, and who had said to an agent of General Gage who offered him
bribes if he would make his peace with the king, "I have long ago made
my peace with the King of kings, and no power on earth can make me
recreant to my duties to my country."

The Castle thundered on from the green isle in the harbor. People were
hurrying to and fro and gathering about the grounds of the first
President of the Provincial Congress. Business stopped. The hearts of
the people were thrilled. The independence of the American colonies now
seemed secure.

There went up a great shout in front of the Ha