The Minute Boys of Boston. Otis James
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of his which ever set my nerves on edge:
"Hi! there, Luke Wright, has that scurvy father of yours mended his ways yet, or does he think the king's officers will wait awhile before sending him to the gallows where he belongs?"
Now while I hold that no lad should take part in a street brawl, I ask what would any boy have done whose father had been thus assailed by one who was not fit to speak his name? I set upon the miserable Tory so suddenly that he, taken unawares, so to speak, went down beneath me, and then I pummelled him as he deserved, until the cur howled for mercy, Silas and Archie standing by with hands in their coat pockets lest Amos Nelson should say afterward that the three of us had attacked him.
"You'll hear from me one day, in a way that won't be to your liking," Amos cried threateningly after I had allowed him to get up, and he had taken to his heels until having gotten a safe distance away. "We'll see what General Gage has to say when he knows how the king's friends are treated by you, who would be rebels if you had stomach enough to use your hands as well as you do your tongues!"
"You one of the king's friends!" Archie cried derisively. "If he picks his intimates from such spawn as you there's good reason why he has allowed these colonies of his to come to open rebellion against injustice."
"You've said it! You've said it!" the Tory cur cried as if in delight. "You've admitted that you are rebels, and the king's officers shall hear of what you say, for the time has come when they are marking such as you for future punishment."
"And what have they marked you for?" Silas asked with a laugh. "Are you counted on being able to act the part of a half-way decent scarecrow, or are you ranked as a lickspittle to some lobster back who hasn't yet learned to speak English?"
"Before we're many days older you shall come to understand some of the marks, and I'll be the one to explain them in a way that won't be to your liking," Amos shouted, and just then he was bowled over by a clod of earth that Archie flung with an aim which would have done your heart good to see.
"There's what you call a rebel mark," the dear lad cried with a laugh at his own success, "and I'm counting you'll carry it longer than shall we that which the tyrant Gage puts upon us."
At that instant Archie was seized by the collar from behind, and I was near to letting out a cry of fear, for I counted as a certainty that some lobster backs, having overheard our words, were come to lend the Tory lad a hand.
Luckily the cry was choked before it escaped my lips, else I should have been bowed with shame, for on the moment I saw that it was none other than Doctor Warren who had seized Archie, and we lads knew him for one who would cut off his right hand rather than take the part of a Tory against a so-called rebel.
"Is it well to spend your time brawling on the streets with such as that lad, when there is work you might do in behalf of the Cause?" the doctor asked sharply, and, twisting himself round that he might look the good man squarely in the face, Archie cried:
"What is there that lads like us might do at such a time, sir? We are willing enough; but lack opportunity."
"I came out in search of one who can be trusted to carry a message into the country; but fail to find him. It strikes me that lads like you could be employed in such tasks, and thus give men full grown the opportunity of doing braver work though nothing could be more important than my business of this night. Think you it would be possible to leave Boston within the hour, and without attracting the attention of the guards?" the doctor added after a brief time of thought.
"Ay, we can go out of Boston a dozen times over, 'twixt now and sunrise, without any lobster back being the wiser," I cried, determined if there was aught to be done in behalf of the Cause that night, I would have a hand in it.
"Are you the son of that Samuel Wright who lately left home to go to Cambridge, and has not yet returned?" the doctor asked, releasing his hold on Archie's collar that he might wheel about to face me.
"Ay, that I am, sir," was my reply, "and that he has left Boston on honest business Master Hancock himself can testify."
"There is no need of testimony as to his character so far as I am concerned," the gentleman said with a kindly smile. "I can trust his son, surely, knowing the father as I do. Now how might it be possible for you to leave this town secretly?"
"I have a boat hidden at the old ship-yard where the lobster backs will never be able to find her, and we three have been to Roxbury in her half a dozen times since the guard at the Neck have had their eyes opened, without any one's being the wiser. If so be you would send a message, we three can carry it, sir," and so eager was I for him to accept my services that I trembled like one in an ague.
"And who may this young gentleman be?" the doctor asked as he pointed at Silas Brownrigg, who was striving to make himself look as large as possible to the end that he might attract attention.
"My father is Robert Brownrigg, who has been enrolled among the Minute Men these many days, and has called himself a Son of Liberty since I can remember."
"I know him well, and now believe that one or all of you can serve me well and faithfully, meaning that you will be serving the Cause. I desire to send a message with all speed to Colonel James Barrett, who can be found about a mile this side the town of Lexington, at Samuel Hadley's home."
"We will carry your message, sir, and bind ourselves to deliver it before sunrise," I cried, burning with the desire to have a finger in this pie of rebellion against the king and General Gage.
"It is a written message I would send, and it will not be necessary for all three of you lads to undertake the journey – one can perform the task as well as a dozen."
"We three have always been close comrades, sir," Archie interrupted, "and while it may not be necessary that all should aid in carrying the message itself, two more hands in the skiff will shorten the journey to the Penny ferry, for there it would be well to take to the shore, rather than striving to work entirely around this town in order to gain the Cambridge river."
"The three shall have a part in the work," Doctor Warren cried, as if he had but just understood how eager we were to be of service to the Cause. "It is important that Colonel Barrett receive the missive before sunrise, and you are to set about the task as seems best to you, with the understanding that all are of equal rank in this matter. I will call you Minute Boys, and pledge my word that by seeking out the colonel at the earliest possible moment, you will be doing as valuable work as any Minute Men in the colony."
There was little need for him to say more. We were literally burning with desire to be off on our first task that had to do with the Cause, and he could not have worked us up to greater enthusiasm had he preached all night.
"You have first to make your parents acquainted with what you are about to do," the doctor said with a smile because of our eagerness. "I have the message with me; but there is no good reason why you should carry it while making arrangements for departure, lest it be lost or seized, therefore do what may be necessary, and meet me at this place in half an hour."
We could hardly have moved more quickly if each had been provided with wings. In a twinkling the three of us were off, every lad headed toward his own home, and for my part, I know that it seemed as if I hardly gave myself time to breathe, so eager was I to return to the rendezvous in the shortest possible space of time.
As I look at the matter now, I can understand why my mother cried out against the venture, declaring it was work that should be undertaken by men, when I repeated to her what the doctor had said, and the tears came very near my eyelids as I pleaded with her, for it seemed just then as if I should never again have such an opportunity of serving the Cause. I urged that we had given our word to Doctor Warren; that we would be shamed, and he have reason to set us down as cowards, if we failed to do as had been promised, winding up my entreaties with the assertion that if father was at home he would insist most strongly upon my doing whatsoever little I might in behalf of that effort to teach the king a lesson which seemed so near at hand.
I believe it was this last part of my argument which had most weight, for no sooner had I spoken of what my father would have me do, than she gave way, setting about making ready for me a small parcel of food before having said that she gave her permission.
Wild