"Now then, Silas, pull well out into the current, and the sooner Luke gets the mast into place, the quicker we'll be heading toward Charlestown. Put a hand over your oar to prevent any creaking, and don't open your mouth save when it is necessary to breathe."
Both Silas and I understood that Archie was the one who should act as commander of our small expedition, and we obeyed in silence, the skiff darting ahead once she felt the weight of the wind, as if understanding full well the need of speed.
Not until we were well off Morton's point did either of us venture to break the silence, and then Silas asked suddenly, as if he had been stewing over the matter for some time:
"Why shouldn't there be Minute Boys as well as Minute Men, and why, since we have begun to work for the Cause in good earnest, shouldn't we raise a company?"
CHAPTER II
RAISING A COMPANY
That which Silas proposed startled and at the same time surprised me. Of course there was no good reason why we lads should not be banded together in the service of the colony, and yet it seemed a forward thing to do, thus to ape our elders.
Archie, however, was greatly taken with the idea from the start, and Silas had hardly more than finished speaking when he cried, incautiously loud as it appeared to me: