Each moment the crowd that had assembled in the square increased in numbers; but it remained as orderly a gathering as ever assembled at Liberty Hall until a squad of soldiers, evidently for no other purpose than to show their contempt of the people, strode into the square, forcing a passage through the crowd in an offensive and insolent manner. Then came that cry which aroused those who heard it more quickly than had the pealing of the alarm-bell. "Town-born, turn out! Down with the 'bloody backs'!" The soldiers lost their air of security and defiance as these words were passed from one side of the square to the other like the waves of the sea, and caught up in every direction by those on the adjacent streets, until it seemed as if the very air was tremulous with the cry: "Town-born, turn out!" The soldiers disappeared; but the summons for those who would defend their city's rights had so excited even the cooler-headed ones that action was an absolute necessity, and yet no leader had at that moment arisen to map out a course of action. If their movements were concerted up to the time of meeting in Dock Square, it was evident the plan of operations had not been carried further than that, and the excited ones looked about eagerly for the enemy, but, seeing none, began to vent their fury on inanimate objects. The market stalls were torn down that the timbers might be used as weapons; the fire-bells rang out their brazen peals; here and there men excited almost to the verge of frenzy discharged a musket or pistol in the air, and constantly were the numbers of the throng increased, until Amos and Jim thought it was as if all the male inhabitants of the city had gathered in one place to defend the town. The pealing of the bells brought to the tumultuous scene those who did not sympathise with the movement, as well as those that approved of it, and among the former class were several well-known citizens, who, believing the greatest danger was to be apprehended from such an uprising, endeavoured, by all their powers of persuasion, to induce the people to return to their homes, leaving to such as Adams and Hancock the task of ridding the city of the redcoats. So earnestly did these peacemakers labour that the respectful attention of the greater portion of the gathering was soon secured, and even those who brandished weapons, calling frantically to their comrades to follow them to the barracks, listened, half persuaded, to the words of these temperate men. In half an hour the shouting, yelling throng had so far been reduced to silence that Amos believed all danger of violence was over, when suddenly there sprang up, as if from the very ground beneath them, a tall man dressed in a scarlet cloak, his head covered with a white, flowing wig, and, mounting the wreck of the market stalls, he stood, a commanding figure, illumined by the rays of the moon.