If their movements were concerted up to the time of meeting in Dock Square, it was evident the plan of operations had not been carried further than that, and the excited ones looked about eagerly for the enemy, but, seeing none, began to vent their fury on inanimate objects.
The market stalls were torn down that the timbers might be used as weapons; the fire-bells rang out their brazen peals; here and there men excited almost to the verge of frenzy discharged a musket or pistol in the air, and constantly were the numbers of the throng increased, until Amos and Jim thought it was as if all the male inhabitants of the city had gathered in one place to defend the town.
The pealing of the bells brought to the tumultuous scene those who did not sympathise with the movement, as well as those that approved of it, and among the former class were several well-known citizens, who, believing the greatest danger was to be apprehended from such an uprising, endeavoured, by all their powers of persuasion, to induce the people to return to their homes, leaving to such as Adams and Hancock the task of ridding the city of the redcoats.
So earnestly did these peacemakers labour that the respectful attention of the greater portion of the gathering was soon secured, and even those who brandished weapons, calling frantically to their comrades to follow them to the barracks, listened, half persuaded, to the words of these temperate men.
In half an hour the shouting, yelling throng had so far been reduced to silence that Amos believed all danger of violence was over, when suddenly there sprang up, as if from the very ground beneath them, a tall man dressed in a scarlet cloak, his head covered with a white, flowing wig, and, mounting the wreck of the market stalls, he stood, a commanding figure, illumined by the rays of the moon.
"You have come here as men determined to obtain your rights," he cried, in a ringing voice, which could be heard distinctly by all, "and will you depart as children? Will you listen to those who counsel soft words when you are confronted by the muskets of your enemies? Will you, town-born, be thrust aside by the Britishers at every corner of the streets? Have you come here simply to shriek for your rights, and then to disperse quietly, lest you displease the hirelings of the King? Are you afraid of punishment which may follow, that you would slink away now? It is the town-born who must defend the town. It is the town-born who shall relieve the town from the burden under which it groans, and it is the town-born who this night should appear before the main guard as their masters, not as their servants."
"To the main guard! To the main guard!"
The multitude caught up the cry, and as if in a twinkling the throng was in motion, each pressing forward by the nearest way toward the barracks.
The streets were choked with people, and as the vast throng spread itself out toward the nearest approach to the quarters of the guard, they were, by force of circumstances, divided into three divisions.