ould be forever disgraced. General Howe had learned wisdom. He had
thought to sweep aside the line of provincials behind the low stone
wall, gain the rear, cut off the retreat of those in the redoubt,
capture them, and win a notable victory. He had not expected such
resistance, such a destructive fire as had greeted the light infantry
along the banks of the stream. In the two attempts, he had discovered
the weak place in the provincial line,--the space between the redoubt
and the low stone wall. In planning the third movement, he resolved to
make a feint of advancing once more towards the wall, but would
concentrate his attack upon the redoubt, and especially upon that
portion of the line least defended.

The summer sun, shining from a cloudless sky, was declining towards
the western horizon. It was past four o'clock before the lines were
ready. Once more the guns of the fleet hurled solid shot and shells
upon the redoubt. Captain Brandon, looking from his housetop down upon
the guns almost beneath him, saw a gunner ramming an inflammable shell
into the cannon. The shell, with smoking torch, screamed across the
river, aimed not at the bank of yellow earth on Bunker Hill, but at
the houses in Charlestown.

"They intend to burn the village," he said.

Soon flames were bursting from window, doorway, and roof. The wind,
blowing from the south, carried sparks and cinders to the adjoining
houses, glowing in the summer heat. A wail of horror from the people
rent the air.

"That is mean, cruel, wicked, dastardly!" exclaimed Ruth, with
flashing eyes. "It's inhuman. I shall hate the man who has ordered
it."[72]

[Footnote 72: The only defense of the British for the destruction of
Charlestown is the assertion that the advancing troops were fired upon
by provincials secreted in one of the houses on the outskirts of the
town.]

Through the previous stages of the conflict no word of approval or
disapproval had escaped her lips.

"Ruth! Ruth! Don't say that!" Mr. Newville cried, astonished by such
an outburst of indignation.

"If General Gage were here I would say it to his face. What have those
people done that their homes should be destroyed? They are not
fighting the battle. Does he think that by burning the town he will
frighten those men in the redoubt into submission? Were I one of them,
I would die before I would surrender."

Her eyes were flashing. In her earnestness she had removed her hat.
The gentle breeze was