"It is the firing on Copp's hill they are ringing for, and if so be the people would gather there to quench it, I should feel less need to duck my head now and then, for truly I find it impossible to stand straight when a bullet comes near my ears," Archie cried cheerily. It was astonishing that we had been permitted by the enemy to do so much, for, as I have already said, we had completed the fortification with the exception of the trench, while during the forenoon much had been done toward strengthening the fences on either side, putting up additional steps of wood and earth so that men might mount to discharge their weapons, and in nearly every portion of the work the breastworks were raised six feet high. Two or three times during the forenoon did I see officers sent away on the road over which we had come, and on calling Hiram's attention to the fact, when Major Brooks set off at full speed, was more than surprised to learn that he believed Colonel Prescott was sending for reinforcements. "Reinforcements!" I cried in dismay. "Are we who have walked or worked all night supposed to be the army that shall defend this fortification? After laboring with pick and shovel since midnight, is there one among us able to do the duty of a soldier during a battle?" "That's yet to be seen," Hiram replied. "It is a fact in my mind that we were not only sent here to build this fortification, but to hold it, and now when it is to be attacked, as can be seen from the movements in Boston, and he believes the lobster backs will come upon us in great numbers, our colonel is asking for assistance." "And why should not all the troops in Cambridge be sent here?" I asked petulantly. "Well, there are many good reasons, my lad. That place is to be held, even if we are driven out of here, and a sufficient number of men are bound to stay there lest the enemy, making believe attack us, turn about the other way and disperse our army. Every point which we now occupy on yonder shore must be held by men enough to resist any ordinary force, and what becomes of us is of little moment as compared with the need of keeping the Britishers shut up in Boston town, as in fact they are now, save that they may come across here for the sake of killing a few rebels." Hiram's explanation was not so plain that I could understand fully why we had been sent to throw up intrenchments simply that they might prove to be our grave, and for the moment I gave way to anger, even charging General Ward and those around him with having needlessly sacrificed our lives. At high noon, and while I was still ranting like the stupid I have ever shown myself to be, word was given for us to cease work and partake of such rations as we had. This command went far toward restoring me to a more decent frame of mind.