“Let’s set the bell ringing,” he heard one say, and two apprentices rushed past him towards the meetinghouse.
The officers, the while, were closing the barrack gates.
“To the main guard! Let us clean out that viper’s nest,” shouted one; and the apprentices moved towards King Street.
The bell was ringing. Robert walked back to the pump, and past it to the meetinghouse. Citizens were coming with fire-buckets. He could see by the clock above him that it was ten minutes past nine. Mr. Knox, the bookseller, came, out of breath with running.
“It is not a fire, but there is trouble with the soldiers,” said Robert.
Together they walked down King Street, and saw the sentinel at the Custom House loading his gun. Robert learned that a boy had hurled a snowball at him.
“Stand back, or I’ll shoot,” said the soldier to those gathering round him.
“If you fire, you’ll die for it,” said Mr. Knox.
“I don’t care if I do,” the sentinel replied with an oath.