"Yes; Colonel Smith thought it prudent, seeing how rapidly the militia were gathering, to return at once, and a little after twelve o'clock began his retreat toward Lexington, covering his main column by strong flanking guards.
"As you may suppose, the people had become intensely excited by this time, and I dare say very many were burning to avenge the slaughter of their comrades. They no longer adhered to the cautious counsels given them at Concord, and secreting themselves behind barns and fences, fired upon the British troops as they passed. All along the line of march to Lexington the British were terribly galled in this way. Guns were fired with sure aim from every house, barn, and stone wall. As we noticed in coming here the road between this town and Lexington passes through a hilly country, as well calculated as possible for such work. At almost every wooded defile numbers of the British were picked off by concealed marksmen, and at Hardy's Hill there was a severe skirmish.
"There was no longer any military order among the Americans, but each man fought as he deemed best. Some of them were killed by the British flankers coming suddenly upon them in their places of concealment, but their numbers were comparatively small.
"Several of the British were shot near the battle-ground of the morning at Lexington, and Colonel Smith was badly wounded in the leg at Fiske's Hill, near the town."
"So they didn't have a very good time on their march back to Boston," remarked Max.
"No, very far from it," replied his father. "You will remember they had been marching the night before, marching and fighting pretty much all that day, and attacked every now and then by a concealed foe, who shot down one after another; they became at last so fatigued that they must have surrendered to the Americans if reinforcements had not reached them.
"I have said a request for help had been sent to General Gage from Lexington early in the morning, and he had responded with about nine hundred men under Lord Percy,—three regiments of infantry and two divisions of marines. These left Boston about nine o'clock in the morning and marched toward Lexington.
"As they passed through Roxbury they played 'Yankee Doodle' in derision, having before used it as a Rogue's March."
"Papa," Gracie asked, "did the Roxbury people know about the fight at Lexington and Concord?"
"They had heard vague rumours of a fight at Lexington, and the marching in that direction of these Boston troops confirmed their worst fears."