our Uncle the Major Author:James Otis Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE MOB Several moments elapsed before the mob fully understood the meaning of the words which one of their number had spoken, and they mig... more »ht not have been so quick-witted but that a view of the children, standing proud and defiant near the schooner's rail, aided in a solution of the riddle. Then suddenly the words were caught up from one portion of the vast throng to the other, until those gathered in front of the Exchange must have gathered the import: " Fall back for Major James' family! The English gentleman who counts on driving us from New York with a few hundred of his artillerymen, begs that you will give his family an escort! " By this time Janet began to realize that her uncle's name was not reverenced by the people 42 as by herself, for the tone in which the words were uttered sounded harsh and menacing; but she shrank not from the angry men. If there was any movement of her slight body, it was forward, rather than backward, and Percy asked wonderingly: " What do the people mean, Janet ? Why do they not fall back for us ? " Without replying, the girl turned toward where the captain of the Friendly Brothers stood looking woefully distressed in mind, and asked: " Are all these enemies of our uncle, the Major?" " Yes, young lady, all these and hundreds more who are roaming the streets this day. You had better go down into the cabin, and I will try to coax this crowd away. It's too late now to think of going to the King's Arms." " It's not too late to go home," Percy said shrilly, and leaning over the schooner's rail, he cried angrily: " Stand back there, or our uncle, the Major, will teach you a lesson in good manners! " " We'll do the teaching this day! " some oneshouted, and then came the cry; repeated again and agai...« less