arms and ammunition. Meanwhile the train-bands were preparing in case of need.
To David the tidings were not wholly amiss, for the prospect of bearing arms and fighting against King Philip’s Indians was enough to make any boy’s heart beat faster. Nathan Lindall seemed in better spirits for the news and even Obid was more cheerful now that the die was cast. That night they sat long about the fire and cleaned the guns with oil and fine ashes and discussed the matter well. It was southward that the first trouble would come, they agreed, and so Nathan Lindall laid plans to remove his cattle to Natick so soon as necessity was shown and join the men of Dedham. Sleep did not come readily to David that night, and Obid’s snores long made an accompaniment to the visions of marches and bloody battles that visited him in the darkness. And yet when the new day came life was disappointingly much as before. There was corn to hoe and weeds to be pulled and the sun was hotter than ever and martial glory seemed as far away as ever.
But the frontier was stirring and men came and went by land and river, and seldom a day passed that red man or white did
