The host who stirr’d the fire Would stab it through and through: You might have thought the flames he brought Had burn’d a cruiser too. The girls would fancy then It was the cruiser flared; And round the walls would aim like balls The apples red they pared. “To arms!” would cry the men; And each a maid purloin; While mother’s yarn would snap, and darn The dance that all would join. Ah, so we hush’d the tale! Yet spies that nigh would roam Could not decoy the smallest boy To tell what pass’d at home. We hush’d it, till the hush Became our countersign To save from those we knew were foes, And make our men combine. We hush’d it, till we learn’d That thousands would be free, And long’d to know which way to go And when the call would be. We hush’d it, till we heard What Concord had to bear; Then shouted loud, a mighty crowd, “Our heroes lead us there!” FOOTNOTES [1] She first appeared in ... Narraganset Bay in March, 1772, ... to prevent infraction of the revenue laws, and to put a stop to ... illicit trade.—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., ch. 3, p. 60. [2] See “Our First Break with the British,” notes 5, 19, 20, 24. [3] “Often fired ... to compel their masters to take down their colors in its presence—a haughty marine Gesler.”—_Idem._, p. 61. [4] “Plundered the islands of sheep and hogs, cut down trees, fired at market boats, detained vessels without any colorable pretext, and made illegal seizures of goods of which the recovery cost more than they were worth.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 417. [5] “The Governor, ... sent a sheriff on board the Gaspee.”—_Idem._ [6] See _Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 8. Also “Our First Break with the British,” Note 19. [7] “Hopkins, the Chief Justice, ... gave the opinion that any person who should ... exercise any authority by force of arms without showing his commission to the governor ... guilty of a trespass if not piracy.”—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 416. “The governor, therefore, sent ... to ascertain by what orders the lieutenant acted; and Duddington referred the subject to the admiral.”—_Idem._ [8] See “Our First Break with the British,” Note 20. [9] “As sure as the people of Newport attempt to rescue any vessel, ... I will hang them as pirates.”—_Idem._, p. 417. [10] “The Admiral answered from Boston: ‘The lieutenant, sir, has done his duty.’”—_Idem._, p. 416. [11] “Your two insolent letters.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book_, vol. ii., ch. 3. [12] “I would advise you not to send your sheriff on board the king’s ship again on such ridiculous errands.”—_Idem._ [13] “I shall transmit your letter to the Secretary of State.... I will send the sheriff of this colony at any time, and to any place within the body of it, as I shall think fit.”—_Idem._