They killed eight men, and then went on
to Concord, to do more mischief there.
I felt a heavy weight fall upon me; it was my master's dead body;
and so I learned what muskets were made for. His fingers were on the
trigger; as he fell, he pulled it, and in that sound his spirit
seemed to depart.
The British marched on to Concord, and the poor brave people of
Lexington, who had so gallantly made the first resistance, were left
to mourn over dead companions and friends.
Soon the eldest son of my master discovered his father among the
slain. The poor fellow! I never shall forget his sorrow. He groaned
as if his heart would break, and then he laid himself down on the
ground by the side of his father's body, and wept bitterly.
One must be made of harder stuff than I am, to forget such a thing
as this. I do not ever like to speak of it, or of the painful scene
that followed. The poor widow and her fatherless children! It seemed
a dreadful work that I and such as I were made to perform.
But there were other things to be thought of then. The British soon
returned from Concord, where they had destroyed some barrels of
flour and killed two or three men.
In the mean time, the men from all the neighboring towns collected
together, armed with all the muskets they could find, and annoyed
them severely on their return by firing on them from behind stone
walls.
My master's brother took me from the corner where I had been again
placed, and joined the party.
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