As it was, stones were flying fast, and the mob was close
on the heels of the sheriff when the house was gained, and as he
attempted to shut the door after him, there was a rush of men, bent on
entering with him. He knocked down the first, but would have been
instantly overpowered and trampled on, had not Perez Hamlin, followed
by Abner, Peleg, Abe Konkapot and half a dozen other Stockbridge men,
shouldered their way through the crowd, and come to his relief. Where
then had Perez been, meantime?
CHAPTER NINTH
JUDGE DWIGHT'S SIGNATURE
As soon as the Stockbridge battalion had arrived on the green at Great
Barrington, and broken ranks, Perez had directed Abner to pass the
word to all who had friends in the jail, and presently a party of
forty or fifty men was following him, as he led the way toward that
building, accompanied by Prudence, who had not dismounted. The rest of
them could attend to the stopping of the court. His concern was with
the rescue of his brother. But he had not traversed over half the
distance when the cry arose:
"They're stoning the judges!"
Thus recalled to his responsibilities as leader of at least a part of
the mob, he had turned, and followed by a dozen men, had hurried back
to the rescue, arriving in the nick of time.
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