"And did he fight for the country, Papa?" asked Gracie.
"No, poor fellow!" replied the Captain, with a slight sigh; "before the war had fairly begun he became insane from injuries inflicted by one Robinson, a commissioner of customs, who, with several army or navy officers set upon, beat, and otherwise injured him, inflicting a sword-cut on his head from which he never recovered."
"And he didn't have the pleasure of seeing his country free and separated from England?" Lulu said, half inquiringly.
"No; he was killed by a stroke of lightning in 1778, which you will remember was several years before the war was over."
Our little party next visited Lexington and Concord.
"How far must we travel to get there, Papa?" queried Gracie, as they took their seats in the car.
"Only a few miles to Lexington, and a little farther to reach Concord," he answered.
"That won't seem very far by rail," remarked Max; "but it must have seemed quite a distance to the soldiers who marched there in Revolutionary times."
"I find we are early," the Captain said, looking at his watch; "and as we have the car nearly to ourselves, it may be well for us to talk over what occurred in 1775 at the places we are about to visit. I think it will make the visit more interesting to you."
"Oh, do tell us the whole story, Papa," requested Gracie, with a look of pleased anticipation.
The others all joined in her petition, and the Captain good-naturedly complied.
"Matters had been growing worse and worse between the British Government and the colonies," he said, "till a struggle seemed almost inevitable. General Gage discovered that the patriots were privately conveying arms out of Boston, that some brass cannon and field-pieces were at Salem; and on a Sunday in February, 1775, he sent some troops to seize them.
"An express from Marblehead arrived at Salem while the people were in church, with the news that British troops were landing from a transport at that place, and were about to march to Salem.
"The congregations were at once dismissed, and, led by Colonel Pickering, stopped the British at a drawbridge. Pickering succeeded in effecting a compromise, and the troops marched back again to Marblehead without having done the errand upon which they had been sent.
