As Scarlett was not open to perform any such service until he had committed himself finally to the cause, the dwarf was sent with him to find a comfortable inn; then the four comrades rode to Dr. Warren’s house.
The patriot doctor had just received a hasty line from Prescott, more than likely written in the saddle, and was delighted at the arrival of these four active, enterprising young spirits.
“This,” said he, as he sat down to plan the work which he desired them to do, “will be a day of days. Let us hope that Providence will be kind to us and guide us to victory.”
All day the four rode up and down the countryside. And wherever they went all became activity. Arms were seen to, ammunition was gotten ready, men were set to drilling outside their camps. Volunteers, at the prospect of immediate action, flocked into the towns; mattocks, spades and other entrenching tools were sent forward in wagon-loads to Cambridge.
Orders were issued in the evening for Prescott’s, Frye’s and Bridge’s regiments, also a party of two hundred Connecticut troops to parade in the Cambridge camp, furnished with packs and blankets and with provisions for twenty-four hours. Also Captain Gridley’s company of artillery of forty-nine men and two field-pieces was commanded to parade.
However, in all the dispatch-bearing and all the activity, not a word as to what was going forward had leaked out. Captains assembled their companies and saw them equipped as directed without the faintest notion as to what was about to be attempted.
The brigade named was to make an immediate advance upon Bunker Hill under command of Colonel Prescott. Colonel Richard Gridley, the American engineer, was to bear him company with the plans of the proposed works.
Gilbert Scarlett sat his borrowed horse by the side of Ezra Prentiss and watched Prescott’s brigade mass upon Cambridge common.
“It’s true,” said he, with a hitch at his sword belt and a flush upon his face, “that I have taken no side yet in this quarrel. But I never could resist a good fight. So I’ll strike a blow for the sheer pleasure of it, even if I have no feeling in the matter.”
“I expected that,” laughed Ezra. “And when you have struck one I am sure that the second will follow.”