“Cracky,” said Dennis, using the Yankee term of resolution, “and I will fly back to Connecticut, I will, on the wings of me horse, and I will, and tell the Governor of that, and I will, and all the people on the green, and I will, and set the children to clapping their hands, and the birds all a-singing in the green tree-tops, and I will.”
Dennis leaped on his horse as with wings. He slapped the horse’s neck with his bridle-rein and flew down the turnpike to Norwich, and did not so much as stop to rest at the Plainfield Tavern. That horse had the swiftness of wings, and Dennis seemed to be a kind of centaur.
The people saw him coming, and swung their hats, but only to say, “Who passed with the wind?”
The people of the cedars saw him coming up the hill and gathered on the green to ask:
“What is it, Dennis?”
“Great news! Great news!”
It was a day at the brightening of spring among the cedars. The people of the country around had heard of Dennis’s return and they gathered upon the green, which was growing green. The buds on the trees were swelling, the blue air was brightening, and nature was budding and seemed everywhere to be singing in the songs of birds.
All the world was full of joy, as the people gathered that day on the green. The Governor came out of his war office to hear Dennis speak; the schools were there, and William Williams, afterward a signer of the Declaration of Independence, honored the occasion with his presence.
Williams stood beside the Whig Governor under the glowing trees.