board the Dartmouth, and we followed, musket and tomahawk in hand.
Nobody offered any show of fighting for the tea. We cut open the
hatches, and some of the men went down and passed up the chests, while
others cut 'em open and emptied the green stuff into the water. The crew
of the vessel were afeard to stir in stopping us, for we told 'em we'd
shoot the first man who interfered. I tell you, there was quick work
there. When we had cleared that ship of the tea, we hurried off to the
others, Pitts still leading the way, and did the same kind of work for
them. The people began to crowd on the wharf, and some of 'em came to
help us. I guess there was about a hundred and fifty of us on the third
ship, all hard at work passing up the chests, cutting 'em open and
spilling the tea. Within two hours, about three hundred and fifty chests
of the tea were thus destroyed. The crowd cheered us once in a while,
and we knew we'd have friends enough if the red-coats attempted to
attack us. When we had emptied the last chest that could be found, we
gave three of the loudest cheers and gained the wharf. A drummer and
fifer were ready, as Mr. Brown and Mr. Hanson can inform you, and we
formed a procession and marched up to this tavern. Here the crowd gave
our band of Mohawks cheer after cheer ond then dispersed. But we didn't
intend to end the night's work so quietly. We had a supper prepared just
where we are now eating, and Josiah Quincy and some other big men came
to join us. We made a night of it, I tell you. Pitts, I think, got very
drunk, so many wanted to drink with such a bold patriot."

Pitts was rather disposed to deny the assertion that he was actually
drunk; but Kinnison and Colson said it was a fact, and he, at length,
admitted that he was considerably excited, perhaps beyond the command of
his reason. The company laughed at this 'getting around the stump,' and
one of the young men proposed that Pitts' health should be drank in a
glass of ale. The beverage was ordered and the health of the patriot