"Chris Gore's killed!" another cried. "Help! Stand back; you are trampling him to death!" Turning as one man, the startled assemblage rushed frantically toward that quarter from which the ominous words had come, pressing down upon the little group that had gathered around something on the ground, until there was every danger these few would be trampled under foot. During several moments no one outside the awe-stricken circle on the walk knew really what had occurred, and then it was whispered--not spoken--among the gathering: "Two boys have been killed!" A silence that was profound, intense--a silence which was at the same time a menace, ensued, and, involuntarily, every head was bared. Amos, who had been standing beside the two Christophers, was one of the few who knew exactly what followed the discharge of the weapon. Little Chris Snyder, the smallest and perhaps the youngest of the throng, had fallen with an ominous-looking wound in the vicinity of his lungs, and Chris Gore was leaning against the palings, big crimson drops falling from his shoulder to the frozen earth. Amos, at once recognising the fact that Snyder was the most grievously wounded, raised the little German lad's head tenderly on his arm as he implored those nearest to keep the crowd back, and when the excited ones in the rear finally understood what was required, every order given by Amos, boy though he was, received implicit obedience. Rough men lifted the little lad as gently as his widowed mother could have done, and one asked: "Where does he live?" "On Frog Lane.[C] Chris Gore must be attended to also." "I can take care of myself. It isn't much of a hurt, this on my shoulder." "But it ought to be dressed at once, and I am not certain you should be allowed to walk," Amos said, hurriedly. [Illustration] "There will be no danger; you can go with me. There are plenty who will see that poor little Chris is cared for. Some one should go ahead to tell his mother he is hurt, and to call a surgeon." "I'll take care of that part of it," Hardy Baker cried, quickly. "Leave it to me." Amos seized the excited barber before he could move, for he knew how Hardy would break the sad news to the poor mother, and did not intend she should suffer more than was absolutely necessary. "Here is Master Revere!" he said, with a sigh of relief, as he struggled to prevent the apprentice from leaving him. "He is the one who should speak to Mrs. Snyder, not you, Hardy. Take hold of Chris a moment while I speak with him." Master Piemont's assistant was not pleased at thus being prevented from appearing as one of the principal characters in this terrible drama; but Chris Gore, understanding as well as did Amos, why Hardy should not be allowed to go to the widow's home, forced him to remain by saying: "You must stay with me until I can get home." "Are you hurt very much?"