When the latter arrived, the two set out for Concord, six miles distant. On the road they were overtaken by a young Dr. Prescott, and all three proceeded to wake the sleeping households along the highway. Suddenly, Revere, riding ahead, was surrounded by four armed redcoats. With William Dawes he was forced into a pasture and detained, while Dr. Prescott, “jumped his horse over a low stone wall, and got to Concord.” Revere was led back toward Lexington, but at the sound of guns his captors seized his mount and let him continue alone on foot. In Lexington he saved important papers of Hancock’s, and witnessed the first exchange of shots between the provincials and the British. “Old North Church,” Boston, still stands on the original ground where it was erected in 1723. From “the highest window in the wall” the sexton hung the warning lights. The face of the tower bears a tablet to the memory of the dauntless and resourceful Messenger of Liberty. “Through the gloom and the light The Fate of a nation was riding that night; And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight Kindled the land into flame with its heat.” PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No. 10, SERIAL No. 158 COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. [Illustration: THE LINE OF THE MINUTE MEN, LEXINGTON, MASS.] _THE CRADLE OF LIBERTY_ _Lexington Green_ THREE During the years immediately preceding the conflict on Lexington Green, the temper of the Colonials was sorely tested by persecutions instigated by Tyrant George III--“the Stamp Act, its repeal, with the declaration of the right to tax America; the landing of troops in Boston, beneath the batteries of fourteen vessels of war, lying broadside to the town, with springs on their cables, their guns loaded, and matches smoking; the repeated insults, and finally the massacre of the fifth of March resulting from this military occupation; and the Boston Port Bill, by which the final catastrophe was hurried on.” Delegates were appointed to the Continental Congress; at Salem the Provincial Congress was formed in October, 1774. At Concord and Cambridge the latter assembly enacted measures providing for troops, officers and stores. Early in the year 1775 it was clear that the crisis was at hand. General Gage betrayed his intentions when in March he caused the stone walls to be leveled that divided the fields about Boston, and so made these peaceful pastures ready for battle. His spies obtained information as to the amount of provisions hoarded at Concord and Worcester. On the fifteenth of April patriots in Boston were convinced that the plans of the British were mature, and an attack on Concord was imminent. By advice of Hancock and “Sam” Adams the stores were distributed among neighboring towns. Colonel Revere delivered his first warning, and “at length the momentous hour arrived, as big with