people running afoot and galloping horseback, making for the square.
A bevy of young men, gaily dressed, raced, ahorse, to meet the column. The whole town evidently knew that the Americans were coming. The square was filled with excited men, women and children, all chattering and staring.
Lieutenant Bartholomew cleared the way through them, and halted in front of a very long, low building, with a porch supported on a row of posts made of small logs, and facing the square, opposite the church. He swung off. The dragoons and militia kept the crowd back.
Lieutenant Pike, in his old clothes, swung off.
"Dismount!" he called. "We are to enter here, lads. Bear yourselves boldly. We are American soldiers, and have nothing to fear."
He strode on, firm and erect, following the guidance of Lieutenant Bartholomew.
"Keep together," Freegift cautioned; and the men pushed after, trying not to limp, and to carry their army muskets easily. Stub brought up the tail of the little procession. He, too, was an American, and proud of it, no matter how they all looked, without hats, in rags and moccasins, the hair of heads and faces long.
They entered the long-fronted building. The
