"Yes," continued Kinnison; "the royals, as Deacon Slocum used to call
'em, didn't hate Warren as much as they did John Hancock and the
Adamses. Well, when Captain Williams heard of what General Gage was
after, he told us we had better be prepared to march at a minute's
warning. Gage sent eight hundred troops, under Colonel Smith and Major
Pitcorn, on his rascally errand. They started from Boston about nine
o'clock on the night of the eighteenth of April, never thinking that
our men knew anything about it--but we were awake."

"Wait a bit," said John Warner, one of the veterans who had not yet
spoken. "I'll tell you something. I was in Boston when the red-coats
started, and knew that the country militia were ready to protect the
stores. I was standing on the Common, talking to a few of my friends of
my own politics, when I said rather loud, 'the British troops will miss
their aim.' 'What aim?' inquired a person behind me. 'The cannon at
Concord,' replied I as I turned to see who asked the question. The man
was dressed in British uniform, and he walked away as I turned to look
at him. One of my friends whispered to me that it was Lord Percy. Soon
after, guards were set at every avenue, and nobody was allowed to leave
the city."

"I suppose Lord Percy went to Gage and told him what he had heard,"
remarked Kinnison. "It must have galled him a little to find they were
so closely watched. Well, Captain Williams was first, aroused by the
sound of the bells ringing and cannons firing on the Lexington road, and
he ordered us out to march and join our friends near that place. It was
a moonlight night, and we marched rapidly. When we got about half-way to
Lexington, we met a man who told us that the minute-men of Lexington
were out, but he didn't think there would be much of a fight. Captain