Chapter I: Front Matter

The Young
Continentals
at Lexington

_by_
John T. M^cIntyre
_Author of_
“With John Paul Jones”
“The Boy Tars of 1812”

Illustrated by Ralph L. Boyer.

_The Penn Publishing
Company Philadelphia_
_MCMIX_

COPYRIGHT
1909 BY
THE PENN
PUBLISHING
COMPANY

Introduction

“THE YOUNG CONTINENTALS AT LEXINGTON” begins with that vital period of our country’s history when the great forces that made the Revolution were slowly coming together.

The port of Boston was closed; an army under Gage occupied the city; Massachusetts Bay was thronged with troop-ships and frigates, and the colonies were writhing under a series of unjust and oppressive laws.

It was at this time that the four boys who play the leading parts in the story began their experiences. Historical events that led up to the war for independence are met with in every chapter; the great personages of the time figure upon almost every page. From the meeting of the first Congress at Carpenter’s Hall to the stand of the minutemen at Lexington and Concord Bridge, every important step in the movement for national life is touched on.

The second book of the series, “The Young Continentals at Bunker Hill,” takes up the thread of history where this book leaves it. It will show the siege of Boston, and the glorious defeat on the Hill. It will tell how Washington was given command of the army; how he sent word to Ethan Allen; how the heavy guns he captured at Ticonderoga were hauled through the winter wilderness upon sledges to Boston; also how Washington mounted them upon Dorchester Heights and finally drove the army of Gage from the city.

Contents

I. SHOWS HOW BEN COOPER SAW THE WAR A LONG WAY OFF 9

II. TELLS WHY NAT BREWSTER WALKED TOWARD CLIVEDEN IN THE DARK 20

III. SHOWS HOW NAT MET “GRUMPY COMEGIES” AND WHAT CAME OF IT 31

IV. SHOWS HOW STARTLING NEWS WAS NAT’S REWARD AT CHEW HOUSE 38

V. HOW NAT BREWSTER MET THE PORCUPINE 50

VI. SHOWS HOW NAT BREWSTER AND THE PORCUPINE RODE THROUGH
THE NIGHT 64

VII. SHOWS HOW NAT BREWSTER MET WITH MR. WASHINGTON 81

VIII. TELLS HOW THINGS BEGAN TO LOOK BAD FOR EZRA PRENTISS 105

IX. NAT BREWSTER FINDS MORE PROOF 120

X. WHAT THE PORCUPINE SAW AT CHEW HOUSE 130

XI. SHOWS HOW NAT BREWSTER SPOKE TO HIS UNCLE AND WHAT
THEIR RESOLUTIONS WERE 147

XII. WHAT HAPPENED ON THE NORTH ROAD 159

XIII. SHOWS HOW NAT MET ONE STRANGER AND HOW THE PORCUPINE
MET ANOTHER 174

XIV. THE NIGHT PROMISES WELL 192

XV. HOW THE PROMISE WAS KEPT 203

XVI. THE TALL MAN BRINGS A FRIEND 216

XVII. WHAT NAT HEARD AT THE COFFEE-HOUSE IN ORANGE STREET 230

XVIII. IN WHICH DR. WARREN AND PAUL REVERE LISTEN INTENTLY 238

XIX. IN WHICH A WINTER PASSES, BRINGING MANY THINGS 250

XX. NAT BREWSTER IS TAKEN BY FOES AND PAUL REVERE BEGINS
HIS MIDNIGHT RIDE 273

XXI. NAT BREWSTER MARCHES WITH PITCAIRN TO LEXINGTON 287

XXII. TELLS HOW A MYSTERY WAS SOLVED AND HOW VICTORY CAME
TO THE COLONIES 306

Illustrations

PAGE

A BROAD-SHOULDERED YOUTH OF SEVENTEEN _Frontispiece_

“WHO ARE YOU?” HE DEMANDED 34

“I ASK YOUR PARDON, MR. WASHINGTON” 103

“THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG, THEN” 188

HE SAW THE TALL STRANGER 228

HE GOT A GLIMPSE OF THE NEWCOMER 270

THEY CAME WITHIN SIGHT OF LEXINGTON 303

The Young Continentals at Lexington