The Dare Boys of 1776.

by Stephen Angus c.o.x.

Chapter I

The Clang of the Liberty Bell

It was the fourth day of July of the year 1776. There was great excitement in all of the colonies of America at that time, for on this day the representatives of the people, gathered together in the city of Philadelphia, were to decide whether the Declaration of Independence, already drawn up, should be adopted and signed. In Philadelphia, as may well be supposed, the excitement was so intense that the people suspended business. They thronged the streets, walking up and down, talking excitedly, and waiting, waiting for the decision to be made, the determination that would mean so much to them.

The people talked and gesticulated, and there was considerable arguing, some contending that the Declaration of Independence would be adopted and signed, others that it would not.

"Look, here it is almost evening," contended one of these latter, "and nothing has been done yet. If they were going to adopt the Declaration it would have been done before this. The delay means that it will not be done."

"They are taking their time to it, that is all," replied the others.

"It is a most serious matter and not to be taken up hastily and without due thought. They will adopt and sign the Declaration of Independence before the day is gone, see if they don't!"

d.i.c.k and Tom Dare, two patriot youths, brothers, from about three miles over in New Jersey, who had come to the city to hear the news, listening eagerly, were thrilled by the excitement and interest shown on every side.

"Oh, I hope they will adopt the Declaration of Independence, d.i.c.k!"

said Tom. "I'm sure they will, aren't you?"

"I think they will, Tom. I hope so."

"Bah, they won't do nothin' uv the kind, d.i.c.k Dare!" cried a sneering voice at their side, and turning, the Dare youths saw Zeke Boggs and Lem Hicks, the sons of two Tory neighbors, standing there.

"Uv course they won't," added Lem Hicks. "They don't darst. They know that ef they do, they'll git into trouble with King George. They won't ring no old Liberty Bell to-day."

"Well, they just will!" cried Tom Dare, who was an excitable, impulsive youth. "They'll ring it pretty soon, Lem Hicks, and they aren't afraid of your old king, not a bit of it!"

"What's thet! Don't ye dare speak disrespectfully uv the king!"

snarled Zeke Boggs, making a threatening motion with his fist. "Ef ye do, why et'll be the worse fur ye, that's all."

Instantly d.i.c.k Dare, who was the elder of the brothers, a handsome, manly youth of eighteen years, seized Zeke by the wrist, and pushed him back, at the same time saying quietly, yet firmly:

"That will do, Zeke. Don't go making any threats. You and Lem go about your business, and don't interfere with Tom and I."

"We'll go where we please," snarled Zeke, who was a vicious youth of about d.i.c.k's age, as was Lem Hicks also. "An' we'll stay heer ef we want to, too, d.i.c.k Dare, an' ye can't he'p yerself."

"That's all right," calmly; "you can stay here, I suppose, if you want to, but you will have to behave yourselves and attend to your own business. If you try to interfere with Tom and I, or to bully us, you will wish you hadn't stayed."

"Is thet so?" sneeringly. "Whut'll ye do, d.i.c.k Dare, hey?"

"Yes, whut'll ye do?" cried Lem Hicks, pushing forward and facing d.i.c.k.

Tom confronted him quickly, and met his angry glare unflinchingly. Tom was only sixteen years of age, but he was well-built and athletic for his age, and was moreover as brave as a lion, though somewhat quick-tempered and impulsive. He put out his left hand and, placing it against Lem's chest, pushed him back.

"Hold on, Lem Hicks," he said. "Just you stand back. One at a time talking with d.i.c.k is enough. You talk to me, if you want to talk to anybody."

Lem Hicks was a hot-tempered youth also, and suddenly his rage flared to the surface. He didn't relish being pushed back by Tom, and quick as a flash, he gave the patriot youth a smart slap on the cheek.

"That thet, an' l'arn to keep yer han's offen people!" he snarled.

The blow was with the flat of the hand, and while it smarted, it did not hurt much to speak of, but it was sufficient to start impulsive Tom Dare into action, and quick as a flash out shot his fist. It caught Lem Hicks between the eyes and knocked him down flat on his back.

"There, see how you like that!" exclaimed Tom, his eyes flashing. "I guess that next time you'll think once or twice before you slap me in the face!"

With an angry exclamation, Zeke Boggs struck at d.i.c.k Dare, but that youth was on his guard, and he warded the blow off, and striking out himself, landed a blow on Zeke's jaw, downing him as neatly as had been the case with Hicks.

Instantly a crowd gathered, many eagerly asking what the trouble was about. d.i.c.k and Tom explained that the two youths who had been floored were Tories, and the sympathies of the crowd were at once with d.i.c.k and Tom, more especially when they learned that the Tory boys had picked the quarrel with the patriots.

"You did just right in knocking them down!" was the cry, and so hostile were the looks, actions and words of the crowd, that Zeke and Lem on scrambling to their feet, did not renew the fight. They shook their fists at d.i.c.k and Tom, however, and muttered threats, as they moved away through the crowd declaring that they would get even with d.i.c.k and Tom.

The patriot youths received the congratulations and commendations of the people in their vicinity with becoming modesty, and a little later moved on up the street.

They walked about for an hour or more, after that, and then took up their station as near the old State House as they could. There was such an immense crowd there that it was impossible to get within half a block of the building. In the steeple of the State House was a bell, and the old bell-ringer sat beside it, waiting for the moment when his son, stationed below, should give him word that the Declaration had been adopted, when he would ring the bell. He had been stationed there since morning, waiting, waiting, and as the day wore away and still the word to ring came not, he shook his head and muttered that they would never reach a favorable conclusion.

But he was mistaken, for when evening was almost at hand, his son came rushing out of the State House and called up eagerly and excitedly:

"They've done it, father! They've adopted and signed the Declaration of Independence! Ring the bell! Ring it, father! Ring the bell! Ring it--quick!"

With a glad cry, the old man leaped up, forgetting his rheumatism in his excitement and delight, and seizing the great iron clapper, swung it back and forth against the sides of the great bra.s.s bell, thus causing it to do what by a strange coincidence the inscription on its side said it was to do, viz.: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

Chapter II

Waylaid on the Road

As the deep tones of the old bell died away on the evening air a great shout of delight went up from the people on the streets. They leaped and danced for joy. They tossed their hats in the air. They shouted and sang. Many wept for joy. It was an exciting, a thrilling manifestation.

d.i.c.k and Tom Dare were not a whit behind any in their expressions of delight. They shouted for joy, and then in the excess of their happiness they threw their arms around each other in a bearlike hug.

"Oh, d.i.c.k, I'm so glad!" cried Tom. "I never was so happy in my life."

"Nor I, Tom. This is the most joyous hour of my life! How delighted father will be when we go home and tell him that it is settled, that the Declaration of Independence is a real and determined fact!"

"It will please him more than anything else in the world, d.i.c.k."

"Yes, yes indeed."

Then lifting up his voice the patriot youth cried out loudly, his voice ringing clear as the notes of a bugle:

"Down with the king! Long live Liberty! Long live Washington!"

The excitement was even greater after that, and instantly the cry was taken up on every hand. Thousands shouted aloud, in a thrilling, triumphant roar: "Down with the king! Long live Liberty! Long live Washington!"