There was no further opportunity for the barber's apprentice to appeal to his followers.
Shaking him vigorously, as if with the idea that after such treatment he could better understand the words, Amos said, in a tone sufficiently loud for all to hear:
"I came out here simply to give you a flogging, Hardy Baker, and did not intend to waste any time about it; but so long as your friends are willing to stand by honestly, you shall have a chance to prove you can do what you boasted of being able to do."
Then Amos released his hold of the barber's collar, in order that the latter might be in a position to defend himself.
Hardy could do no less than strike out in his own defence, for it was not possible to beat a retreat; but his efforts were as feeble as they were vain. Before five minutes had passed Master Piemont's assistant was the most thoroughly whipped boy in the Colony of Massachusetts, and perfectly willing to acknowledge himself such, if by so doing he could prevent a continuation of the punishment.
"I can't strike a fellow when he will no longer defend himself," Amos said, as if in apology, after Hardy was so cowed as to remain passive under the blows. "I don't reckon you other fellows really knew what you were about when you came here to raise a row, so we'll let the matter end here. Until last night this barber and I were good friends, and would have been this moment, but for the fact that I refused to make a street brawler of myself, as he demanded. It is true Ebenezer Richardson is my uncle; but neither my father nor myself are of his way of thinking, as this whipped cur knows thoroughly well. I have been as ready to cry down an informer as any of you, therefore why should my father's house be attacked?"
"He told us you were hand in glove with the 'bloody backs,'" one of the party said, as he motioned toward the prostrate barber.
"And he was lying. Ask any of the boys who know me whether that is true. You can believe Chris Gore, who was wounded the same day Chris Snyder was killed; ask him!"
"And why not ask me?" Jim Gray cried. "It was Amos Richardson who had charge of putting the warning in front of Master Lillie's store."
"Hardy Baker said he and Chris Snyder did that alone," one of the barber's followers shouted, and Jim replied: