Meanwhile, the troops were marching along the main road; but swift and silent as was their advance, frequent alarm-bells and signal-guns, and lights twinkling on distant hilltops, showed but too plainly that the secret was out. Colonel Smith then sent Major Pitcairn forward with six companies of light infantry to make all possible haste in securing the bridges over Concord river, while at the same time he prudently sent back to Boston for reinforcements. When Pitcairn reached Lexington, just as the rising sun was casting long shadows across the village green, he found himself confronted by some fifty minute-men under command of Captain John Parker,--grandfather of Theodore Parker,--a hardy veteran, who, fifteen years before, had climbed the heights of Abraham by the side of Wolfe. "Stand your ground," said Parker. "Don't fire unless fired upon; but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." "Disperse, ye villains!" shouted Pitcairn. "Damn you, why don't you disperse?" And as they stood motionless he gave the order to fire. As the soldiers hesitated to obey, he discharged his own pistol and repeated the order, whereupon a deadly volley slew eight of the minute-men and wounded ten. One of the victims, Jonathan Harrington, was just able to stagger across the green to his own house (which is still there), and to die in the arms of his wife, who was standing at the door. At this moment the head of Smith's own column seems to have come into sight, far down the road. The minute-men had begun to return the fire, when Parker, seeing the folly of resistance, ordered them to retire. While this was going on, Adams and Hancock were walking across the fields toward Woburn; and as the crackle of distant musketry reached their ears, the eager Adams--his soul aglow with the prophecy of the coming deliverance of his country--exclaimed, "Oh, what a glorious morning is this!" From Woburn the two friends went on their way to Philadelphia, where the second Continental Congress was about to assemble. [Illustration: The Minute-Man[3]] [Illustration: THE OLD MANSE AT CONCORD] [Portrait: Percy.] [Sidenote: The troops repulsed at Concord.] [Sidenote: Retreating troops rescued by Lord Percy]