“I’ll go myself,” said Revere, promptly, and he vaulted into the saddle of a strong looking horse which a lad was holding by the bridle. “Tell the deacon that I’ll ride his beast as carefully as I can, but not to expect too much, for speed is the thing that will count to-night.”
And then, with a wave of the hand, along the midnight road, bearing the alarm that was to awake the whole world to liberty, sped Paul Revere.
CHAPTER XXI
NAT BREWSTER MARCHES WITH PITCAIRN TO LEXINGTON
It was about the time that Revere and the Porcupine first sighted the troops on the Common that Nat Brewster heard a rattling at his prison door; lifting his head he saw it open and admit the guards, bearing lighted candles.
“We’ll take that little girdle off you, my lad,” said a grizzled sergeant of infantry who seemed to be in command. “I suppose you’ll not make any objection to that.”
“I’m to be removed from here, then,” spoke Nat, as the soldiers began unlocking the steel band that encircled him.
“Yes,” replied the sergeant with a laugh. “We thought you’d need a trifle of fresh air.”
“Where am I to be taken?” asked the boy.
But the sergeant shook his head at this.
“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies,” answered he. “But,” with a renewal of his laugh, “you might ask that navy lieutenant; perhaps he’d be pleased to say.”