Horse and rider had vanished as if into a cloud. Then they had heard the swift ringing hoofs on the road. These, too, had died away, but now, echoing on the still air, came a prolonged, vibrating call. "Hulloa--oa--oa!" Indistinct words followed. Silence again, and then the call repeated. Shouts of others besides the dauntless night riders echoed out. Lights began to flash in the distance. More remote, a great bonfire, a veritable beacon of liberty, blazed out suddenly. Some shots were heard, and mingled with them was a wild alarm bell, summoning some little settlement to arms. "He has important news," said Andy. "Oh, you can wager he has. He is to warn all the towns along the road. Ralph, let us get quickly to Mr. Jewett. I'm dying to find out what is going to happen next." "Hey, what are you doing here?" pronounced a gruff voice. Andy was suddenly seized by the nape of the neck. He was pushed forward, jerked back and whirled face to face with his challenger and captor, the man whom they had noticed at the little window in the barn. "Hold on, there," broke in Phil, stepping forward to rescue his chum from rough treatment. "What are you doing, sneaking around here?" demanded the man angrily. "We are looking for Mr. Jewett," explained Ralph. "Yes, and we know--let go--Paul Revere--let go, I say--and we're true blue--" "Know Jewett, do you?" said the man, somewhat skeptically. "Well, we'll soon know about that, for here he comes." All hands looked in the direction of the old mill. They saw a man running rapidly towards them. But soon he halted, seemed peering in among the bushes, and ran back a distance on his course. Then he came forward again. "Watch out close," he called to Andy's captor, as if intent on keeping running. "Seems to me I noticed a skulker after me when I left the mill. What of Revere?" "Gone," reported the man. "Good! The break has come. Before morning six hundred British troops will be on the road to Lexington. Watch here a bit, then come to the settlement. We must get ready to greet those redcoats with a warm welcome." The speaker started to hasten on his way, but Andy's captor halted him with the words: "Hold on, Jewett." "Eh--why, who are these boys?" exclaimed Jewett, making out for the first moment the companions of the man who had hailed him. "They say they came to see you." "I am from Mr. Eaton," explained Ralph. "This is Phil Warrington of Boston, and my other friend is Andy Sabine of Concord." "Yes, yes," nodded Jewett. "Good names, all. What can I do for you, lads?" "We want to get into Boston, where Phil's folks live," said Ralph.