246 History of Hingham. 



England's story. On this 10th of April, then, of the year 1676, and 

 shortly after the disappearance of Jacob, the sound of a musket 

 breaking the stillness and echoing against the "Teat solitary rock 

 that stands like a mighty monument in the field not far from the 

 travelled way, momentarily attracts the attention of the neighbors 

 whose habits of industry have overcome the general prudence, and 

 who had been enticed to a little early planting on the home lot. 

 Beyond the fleeting thought of their friend's success in his efforts 

 to chastise the mischievous destroyers of the winter wheat, the 

 incident attracts no attention, and soon passes from the minds of 

 the workers. With the lapse of considerable time, however, and 

 the continued absence of the hunter, there arises a fcelimr of 

 strained uneasiness; finally a search is made, and there beside his 

 gun, which has been battered to pieces, the young soldier lies 

 dead. The terrifying truth flashes across the searchers as they 

 tenderly and hastily bear their neighbor to his father's home. 

 The Indians are in Hingham and have been lying concealed during 

 the night near the wheat-field, and almost close to the homes of 

 the settlers! And now in an instant and from every side, out of 

 the calm and quiet of the village street there starts the life, the 

 uncontrolled excitement, the panic and terror of the community, 

 above and about whom the threatening horror of the tomahawk 

 and sealping-knife already seems to gleam, and before whose 

 fevered imagination come all too readily pictures of cruelty and 

 torture. The blanched faces of men and women alike, the cling- 

 ing fear of the children, the hurrying to the nearest garrison 

 houses of those not already therein, the exaggerated stories and 

 rumors, the cry "The Indians! the Indians!" rising above all other 

 sounds, repeated again and again, carrying consternation from 

 the Great Plain to the harbor, and falling upon the startled ear of 

 the farmer in the field and the wife in the kitchen, — how the 

 sights and the sounds of that dav thrill us throiiG.li these passed 

 centuries ! 



And soon we hear the sharp clanging of the little bell on the 

 meeting-house, the beat and roll and rattle of the drum, the sharp 

 reports of the three alarm muskets, and into the forts, the pali- 

 saded church, and the garrison houses come the streaming, hurry- 

 ing throng. We fancy we can see brave Joshua Hobart making, 

 calmly and sternly, his dispositions for defence, and even person- 

 ally visiting and instructing each sentry and urging to unceasing 

 vigilance; or brilliant John Thaxter ably seconding his chief, and 

 inspiring with confidence the garrisons at Austin's Lane and Fort 

 Hill; or John Smith cheering the people as they flock into the 

 protecting works on the common field. And there come be- 

 fore us, too, sturdy John Tower and his sons and "one or two 

 more persons," as his petition reads, holding his little fort and 

 covering a long section of the river and the homes of his neigh- 

 bors with his muskets, while he checks the panic with his plain, 



