No trumpets breathed around;
Nor the drum's startling sound
Broke on the midnight air."
—John Neal.
Officers and men labored together with all their might, with pickaxes and spades, and were cheered on in their work by the distant signals of safety—"All's well!"—that came from the shipping, and the sentinels at the foot of Copp's Hill.
It proclaimed that they were still undiscovered; and at every cry of "All's well!" they plied their tools with increased vigor. When the day dawned, at about four o'clock, they had thrown up in-trenchments six feet high; and a strong redoubt, which was afterward the admiration of the enemy, loomed up on the green height before the wondering eyes of the astonished Britons like a work of magic. The British officers could hardly be convinced that it was the result of a few hours' labor only, but deemed it the work of days. Gage saw at once how foolish he had been in not taking possession of this strong point, as advised, while it was in his power to do so.
The fortification was first discovered at dawn, by the watchmen on board the Lively. Without waiting for orders, the captain put springs upon his cables, and opened a fire on the American works. The noise of the cannon aroused the sleepers in Boston, and when the sun arose on that bright morning, every eminence and roof in the city swarmed with people, astonished at the strange apparition upon Breed's Hill. The shots from the Lively did no harm, and, defended by their intrenchments, the Americans plied their labor in strengthening their works within, until called to lay aside the pick and shovel for gun and knapsack.