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Building Impressive
Presentations with impress.js

Design stunning presentations with dynamic visuals

and 3D transitions that will captivate your colleagues

Rakhitha Nimesh Ratnayake

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Building Impressive Presentations with impress.js

Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is
sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt
Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages
caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: March 2013

Production Reference: 1190313

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-84969-648-7

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Duraid Fatouhi (duraidfatouhi@yahoo.com)

 Credits

Author Project Coordinator

Rakhitha Nimesh Ratnayake Esha Thakker

Reviewers Proofreader
Chetankumar Akarte Maria Gould
Christian Ziebarth
Indexer
Acquisition Editor Tejal Soni
Martin Bell
Graphics
Commissioning Editor Aditi Gajjar
Maria D'souza
Production Coordinator
Technical Editor Pooja Chiplunkar
Nitee Shetty
Cover Work
Pooja Chiplunkar
 About the Author

Rakhitha Nimesh Ratnayake is a software engineer working in a leading

software development firm in Sri Lanka. His work there includes planning and
implementing projects in a wide range of technologies based on PHP frameworks.

He is the creator of www.innovativephp.com, where he writes tutorials on the latest

web development and design technologies. He is also a regular contributor to a
number of popular websites such as 1stwebdesigner, the tuts+ network, and the
Sitepoint network.

He likes to watch cricket and stay with the family when he isn't working on coding
or writing. Make sure to visit him online at www.innovativephp.com and follow him
on Twitter at twitter.com/innovativephp.

I would like to thank my parents and my brother for providing great

support throughout the book. This was my first book and I really
appreciate the encouragement they gave in tough periods while
writing the book. Special thanks to Bartek Szopka, who is the creator
of impress.js, for helping me in the early stages of this book.
I would also like to thank Packt team members, Shrutika Kalbag for
finding my article on 1stwebdesigner and providing me with the
idea about this book, Maria D'souza for the support throughout the
book and being the editor, and Esha Thakker for being the project
coordinator of the book.
Finally, I would like to thank you for reading my book and being
one of the most important people who helped me to make this book
a success. Thank you.
 About the Reviewers

Chetankumar Akarte is an Electronics Engineer from Nagpur University located

in central India. He has more than 6 years of experience in the design, development,
and deployment of Web, Windows, and mobile-based applications with expertise in
PHP, .NET, JavaScript, Java, Android, and more.

He likes to contribute on the newsgroups and forums. He has written articles for
Electronics For You, DeveloperIQ, and Flash & Flex Developer's Magazine. In his
spare time, he likes to maintain his technical blog http://www.tipsntracks.com to
get in touch with the developers community. He has been the technical reviewer for
three books published by Packt Publishing. He has released some Marathi and Hindi
e-book applications in the Android market (https://play.google.com/store/
apps/developer?id=Sahitya+Chintan).

He lives in the hilly Kharghar area of Navi Mumbai with his son Kaivalya and wife
Shraddha. You can visit his websites http://www.SahityaChintan.com and http://
www.tipsntracks.com, or get in touch with him at chetan.akarte@gmail.com.

I would like to thank my wife Shraddha and my parents for their

consistent support and encouragement and my lovely son Kaivalya
who allowed me to use his playtime with me to dedicate towards
this book. I would also like to thank Packt Publishing for giving me
the opportunity to do something useful and especially the Project
Coordinator, Esha Thakker, for all the valuable support.
Christian Ziebarth began working on the Web in 1996 when he was informed
of GeoCities. He began learning HTML in 1998, CSS in 1999, and was doing things
in CSS in Netscape 4 of which only a few people knew could be done at the time.
Since 2000 he has worked on many professional web projects of varying sizes and
continues to explore new frontiers on the Web. He lives in California and has also
lived in Ireland and Hawaii.
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 Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Getting Started with Impressive Presentations 7
What is impress.js? 8
Built-in features 8
Beyond presentations with impress.js 8
Why is it important? 9
Presentation outline 10
Using bullet points 10
Animations 10
Using themes 11
Downloading and configuring impress.js 11
Creating your first presentation 12
Designing the presentation 13
Creating the presentation container 14
Creating your first step 14
Applying styles on steps 15
Creating Step 1 16
Creating Step 2 17
Limiting the visibility of steps 18
Presentation overview 19
Summary 20
Chapter 2: Exploring Impress Visualization Effects 21
Introduction to CSS transformations 22
Positioning effects 22
Positioning on the x axis 23
Positioning on the y axis 24
Positioning on the z axis 24
Table of Contents

Rotating effects 26
Rotation around the x axis 26
Rotation around the y axis 27
Rotation around the z axis 28
Rotations in practice 29
Scaling effects 32
The importance of positioning in scaling 34
Scaling in practice 35
Planning the design 35
Data perspective 37
impress.js under the hood 40
Summary 42
Chapter 3: Diving into the Core of impress.js 43
impress.js configuration 44
Default configurations 44
Customizing configurations 45
Configuring the width and height 45
Configuring the minScale and maxScale 46
Configuring the perspective 46
Configuring the transition duration 46
Looking at configurations inside the core 47
Understanding the impress API functions 48
Inside the next function 48
Inside the prev function 49
Inside the goto function 49
Automating presentations 51
Creating custom transition timing 52
impress.js step events 53
How to use the step class 55
Working with keyboard configurations 56
Default keyboard configurations 56
Inside the impress core 56
Assigning custom keys for custom events 58
Adding new keys for new events 58
Handling the step click event 59
Summary 60
Chapter 4: Presenting on Different Viewports 61
Fullscreen presentations 61
Using impress.js inside a container 62
Developing a content slider 62
Planning the design 62

[ ii ]
 Table of Contents

Designing slides 63
Wrapping the presentation inside a container 64
Playing the slider automatically 64
Creating navigation controls 65
Creating the play/pause features 65
Adding slide numbers 66
Highlighting the active slide 67
impress.js presentations on mobile devices 68
Issues in designing for mobile devices 68
Scenario 1 69
Scenario 2 70
Scenario 3 71
Best design practices for mobiles devices 72
Summary 73
Chapter 5: Creating Personal Websites 75
Planning the website structure 76
Designing the header 76
Creating the presentation wrapper 77
Creating pages 78
Designing the home page 79
Designing the portfolio page 81
Portfolio gallery 81
Portfolio single 82
Designing the timeline page 84
Defining the timeline navigation 86
Designing the services page 87
Handling the navigation menu 89
Creating the navigation hint 90
Summary 91
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting 93
Browser compatibility 93
Handling unsupported browsers 94
Limitations and new features 95
Positioning steps relative to other steps 96
Defining the previous and next steps 96
Transition duration for individual steps 97
Adding and removing navigation keys 97
Creating substeps 97
Troubleshooting and support 98
Summary 99

[ iii ]
Table of Contents

Appendix: Impress Tools and Resources 101

Impress presentation tools 101
Strut 101
Impressionist 103
Impressive presentations 104
impress.js demos from the book 104
Index 105

[ iv ]
 Preface
Creating presentations and impressing the audience is an important task for people
who work as software professionals, marketers, public speakers, or anyone who
is familiar with computer-related work. Online presentation creation applications
are gaining much more popularity over conventional desktop-based software
applications in the recent years. impress.js is a powerful library that eases the task
of creating presentations with smooth animations without depending on a software
tool. You are no longer limited to desktop tools as these presentations run on any
supported browser anywhere on the Internet.

This book consists of several practical real-world examples which go beyond the
conventional slide-based presentations covering each aspect of the impress library.
A wide range of applications such as content sliders, image galleries, awesome
presentations, and complete websites are created throughout the book explaining
the techniques in a way that even a beginner can understand.

Understanding how different features work is something we need to know as

developers or designers in order to tweak the core library and create our own
customizations. Important sections of the impress.js core code are explained in detail
with practical examples to make it easier for you to implement new features and
enhance impress.js.

By the time you are done with this book, you'll be able to create a wide range of
components for websites using impress.js as well as stunning visualizations to
impress your audience.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with Impressive Presentations, provides an introduction to
presentations with impress.js and its importance. We also create a basic impress
presentation with detailed code explanations.
Preface

Chapter 2, Exploring Impress Visualization Effects, discusses the in-depth usage

of impress effects such as positioning, scaling, and rotating using practical
real-world examples. impress.js core code is also discussed in detail to
understand the implementation of CSS effects.

Chapter 3, Diving into the Core of impress.js, is focused on discussing impress.js

configurations and the core code required for simplifying customizations to
existing features. Usage of impress API, step events, and keyboard configurations
is explained using advanced presentations.

Chapter 4, Presenting on Different Viewports, explores the use of impress presentation

fullscreen, inside a container and mobile devices. Fully functional content slider is
created to explain the wide range of uses for impress presentations. Mobile device
support and the handling of presentations on different devices is explained in detail
throughout this chapter.

Chapter 5, Creating Personal Websites, acts as a complete guide to creating personal

websites using impress.js. A single page website is developed with commonly-used
techniques in web design.

Chapter 6, Troubleshooting, covers the compatibility of impress presentations and the

necessary information to fix bugs and get support for issues in impress.js. Limitations
and possible future enhancements are explained to motivate you to implement your
own features for impress.js.

Appendix, Impress Tools and Resources, guides you through the available impress.js
presentation automation tools and some awesome presentations available online.

What you need for this book

This book assumes that the readers are familiar with the basics of HTML, CSS, and
JavaScript. Also, you will need the following things in order to work with this book:

• An Internet connection (to load external libraries and fonts in the

demo files)
• Code editor
• impress.js compatible browser

[2]
 Preface

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who is interested in impressing their audience with stunning
online presentations without depending on software applications. The main focus
will be for the web designers and developers who are familiar with technical stuff.
impress.js is a powerful presentation creation library using CSS transforms, so
readers are expected to have the basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript knowledge for
creating impressive presentations.

Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between
different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an
explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions,
pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows:
"We can use the data-rotate-x attribute to rotate elements around the x axis."

A block of code is set as follows:

$(document).ready(function(){
document.addEventListener
("impress:stepenter", function (event) {
// Code for step enter
}, false);

document.addEventListener
("impress:stepleave", function (event) {
// Code for step leave
}, false);
});

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the
relevant lines or items are set in bold:
$(document).ready(function(){
document.addEventListener
("impress:stepenter", function (event) {
// Code for step enter
}, false);

document.addEventListener
("impress:stepleave", function (event) {
// Code for step leave
}, false);
});

[3]
Preface

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the
screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "We can
go to the overview of the presentation using the Overview button".

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about
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To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to feedback@packtpub.com,

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Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to
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[4]
 Preface

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[5]
 Getting Started with
Impressive Presentations
Presentations are one of the most effective ways of communicating our ideas to
people who are interested in the topic. A perfect presentation will grab the attention
of the audience and keep them interested in our ideas, while a bad presentation
can bore our audience and ruin our reputation. This means that, the presentation
creation tools play a vital role in designing a good presentation.

We used to create presentations with popular desktop programs such as Microsoft

PowerPoint and Open Office Impress. Things have changed dramatically now and
web-based presentations are gaining more interest from users. impress.js is one
of the stand out frameworks among the web-based presentation creation libraries
and tools. We are going to work on creating impressive visualizations with this
framework from here on.

In this chapter, we are going to cover the following topics:

• What is impress.js?
• Built-in features
• Beyond presentations with impress.js
• Why is it important?
• Downloading and configuring impress.js
• Creating your first presentation

Ideally you should have basic knowledge of CSS and HTML to understand this
chapter. Everything will be explained using detailed and simple examples and by
the end of this chapter you will have the knowledge to create basic presentation with
impress.js.

So let's get started!

Getting Started with Impressive Presentations

What is impress.js?
impress.js is a presentation framework build upon the powerful CSS3
transformations and transitions on modern web browsers. Bartek Szopka is the
creator of this amazing framework. According to the creator, the idea came to him
while he was playing with CSS transformations. Prezi.com was the source that got
him inspired. On w3.org we have the following mentioned about CSS transforms:

CSS transforms allows elements styled with CSS to be transformed in two-

dimensional or three-dimensional space

For more information on CSS transformations for those who are interested, visit
http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-transforms/.

Creating presentations with impress.js is not a difficult task once you get used to the
basics of the framework. Slides in impress.js presentations are called steps and they
go beyond the conventional presentation style. We can have multiple steps visible at
the same time with different dimensions and effects. impress.js step designs are built
upon HTML. This means we can create unlimited effects and the only limitation is
your imagination.

Built-in features
impress.js comes with advanced support for most CSS transformations.
We can combine these features to provide more advanced visualizations in modern
browsers. These features are as follows:

• Positioning: Elements can be placed in certain areas of the browser window

enabling us to move between slides.
• Scaling: Elements can be scaled up or scaled down to show an overview or a
detailed view of elements.
• Rotating: Elements can be rotated across any given axis.
• Working on 3D space: Presentations are not limited to 2D space. All the
previously mentioned effects can be applied to 3D space with the z axis.

Beyond presentations with impress.js

This framework was created to build online presentations with awesome effects
with the power of CSS and JavaScript. Bartek, who is the creator of this framework,
mentions that it has been used for various different purposes expanding the original
intention. Here are some of the most common usages of the impress.js framework:

[8]
 Chapter 1

• Creating presentations
• Portfolios
• Sliders
• Single page websites

List of demos containing various types of impress.js presentations can be found at

https://github.com/bartaz/impress.js/wiki/Examples-and-demos.

Why is it important?
You must be wondering why we need to care about such a framework when we have
quality presentation programs such as PowerPoint. The most important thing we need
to look at is the license for impress.js. Since it is licensed under MIT and GPL we can
even change the source codes to customize the framework according to our needs.
Also most of the modern browsers support CSS transformations, allowing you to use
impress.js, eliminating the platform dependency of presentation programs.

Both desktop-based presentations and online presentations are equally good at

presenting information to the audience, but online presentations with impress.
js provide a slight advantage over desktop-based presentations in terms of
usability. The following are some of the drawbacks of desktop program generated
presentations, compared to impress.js presentations:

• Desktop presentations require a presentation creation software or

presentation viewer. Therefore, it's difficult to get the same output in
different operating systems.
• Desktop presentations use standard slide-based techniques with a common
template, while impress.js presentation slides can be designed in a wide
range of ways.
• Modifications are difficult in desktop-based presentations since it requires
presentation creation software. impress.js presentations can be changed
instantly by modifying the HTML content with a simple text editor.

Creating presentations is not just about filling our slides with a lot of information
and animations. It is a creative process that needs to be planned carefully. Best
practices will tell us that we should keep the slides as simple as possible with very
limited information and, letting presenter do the detailed explanations.

Let's see how we can use impress.js to work with some well-known presentation
design guidelines.

[9]
Getting Started with Impressive Presentations

Presentation outline
The audience does not have any idea about the things you are going to present
prior to the start of the presentation. If your presentation is not up to standard, the
audience will wonder how many boring slides are to come and what the contents
are going to be. Hence, it's better to provide a preliminary slide with the outline of
your presentation.

A limited number of slides and their proper

placement will allow us to create a perfect outline of
the presentation.

Steps in impress.js presentations are placed in 3D space and each slide is positioned
relatively. Generally, we will not have an idea about how slides are placed when the
presentation is on screen. You can zoom in on the steps by using the scaling feature
of impress.js. In this way, we can create additional steps containing the overview of
the presentation by using scaling features.

Using bullet points

People prefer to read the most important points articles rather than huge chunks of
text. It's wise to put these brief points on the slides and let the details come through
your presenting skills. Since impress.js slides are created with HTML, you can easily
use bullet points and various types of designs for them using CSS. You can also create
each point as a separate step allowing you to use different styles for each point.

Animations
We cannot keep the audience interested just by scrolling down the presentation
slides. Presentations need to be interactive and animations are great for getting the
attention of the audience. Generally, we use animations for slide transitions. Even
though presentation tools provide advanced animations, it's our responsibility to
choose the animations wisely.

impress.js provides animation effects for moving, rotating, and scaling step
transitions. We have to make sure it is used with purpose. Explaining the life cycle
of a product or project is an excellent scenario for using rotation animations. So
choose the type of animation that suits your presentation contents and topic.

[ 10 ]
 Chapter 1

Using themes
Most people like to make the design of their presentation as cool as possible.
Sometimes they get carried away and choose from the best themes available in the
presentation tool. Themes provided by tools are predefined and designed to suit
general purposes. Your presentation might be unique and choosing an existing
theme can ruin the uniqueness. The best practice is to create your own themes for
your presentations.

impress.js does not come with built-in themes. Hence there is no other option than to
create a new theme from scratch. impress.js steps are different to each other unlike
standard presentations, so you have the freedom to create a theme or design for each
of the steps just by using some simple HTML and CSS code.

Apart from the previous points, we can use typography, images, and videos to create
better designs for impress.js presentations. We have covered the background and the
importance for impress.js. Now we can move on to creating real presentations using
the framework throughout the next few sections.

Downloading and configuring impress.js

You can obtain a copy of the impress.js library by downloading from the github page
at https://github.com/bartaz/impress.js/. The downloaded .zip file contains
an example demo and necessary styles in addition to the impress.js file. Extract
the .zip file on to your hard drive and load the index.html on the browser to see
impress.js in action. The folder structure of the downloaded .zip file is as given in
the following screenshot:

[ 11 ]
Getting Started with Impressive Presentations

Configuring impress.js is something you should be able to do quite easily. I'll walk you
through the configuration process. First we have to include the impress.js file in the
HTML file. It is recommended you load this file as late as possible in your document.
Create a basic HTML file called chapter1.html and place the following code:
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>impress.js </title>
</head>
<body>
<script src="js/impress.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files for all Packt books
you have purchased from your account at http://www.
packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can
visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to
have the files e-mailed directly to you.

We have linked the impress.js file just before the closing body tag to make sure it is
loaded after all the elements in our document. Then we need to initialize the impress
library to make the presentations work.

We can place the following code after the impress.js file to initialize any existing
presentation in the document which is compatible with the impress library:
<script>impress().init();</script>

Since we have done the setup of the impress.js library, we can move on to creating
our first impressive presentation.

Creating your first presentation

You might be familiar with creating presentations with software tools that provides
a slide-by-slide view. Presenting on a web browser is completely different from
standard slideshows. We have an infinite space to position the slides in web-based
presentations where as we get slide after slide in software-based presentations.
Unless we plan the design of the presentations slides in a creative way, we are going
have problems using presentations with impress.js.

[ 12 ]
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“‘It must be remembered that at this period of time, everything in

the way of luxury, and even many articles of household necessity,
were imported from Europe, and were possible only to the wealthy.
Even the clothing and many kinds of food were ordered twice a year
by Washington from his English agents.

“‘The affairs of John and Patsy Custis, his stepchildren, were ordered
with the utmost care and precision, and reports made and forwarded
regularly to the English firm of Robert Gary & Co.

“‘After her removal to Mt. Vernon, Mrs. Washington often

accompanied her husband on his official visits to Williamsburg, but
her greatest joy was the time passed at home with the congenial
work and pleasures of a wife and mother.
“‘At this time, the pursuits of Colonel Washington were those of a
retired farmer, yet the social intercourse with people of refinement
and position was continued, and a large circle of agreeable and
intelligent friends could generally be found enjoying the hospitality of
this generous and delightful couple.

“‘But the melancholy event of the passing away of the gifted and
favored young daughter from the home of the Washingtons suddenly
bereft the family of joy and gladness. The brother, who had walked
hand in hand with his beloved sister in all the years of childhood,
was grief-stricken beyond words. The mother, who had tenderly
watched and planned over the child of many hopes, found her sole
help in prayer and reading of her Bible. And the stepfather, as fond
of the children as their own father could have been, found solace in
work and study.’”

As Mrs. Parke reached this serious part of the history, George sighed
loudly. His mother glanced up from the book and he took it for
granted that he might speak.

“Don’t you think the girls have had their share for this time?—It’s
been all love-making and marrying and funerals! Not a word about
Indians or about war.”

“I was just coming to a part of Washington’s life, where it describes

his fifteen years of life on his farm, and his membership on the
Virginia House of Burgesses,” ventured Mrs. Parke.

“Oh, good gracious! Please don’t give us any more of his quiet life
to-day. Look at the way that rain spatters on the windows, and then
stop to think how we feel with Washington parading out of a book
while he’s planting or hoeing his farm! Give us a fight!” declared
George.

Every one laughed and Jack seconded his cousin’s plan for a more
active story than the one that had just been read.
“If you insist upon having war when there was no war, I must skip
the fifteen years of quiet life on his estate, to get Washington in the
midst of fresh battle scenes,” argued Mrs. Parke.

“Why not read us about the Boston Tea Party?” said Anne.

“That will satisfy the boys and interest us girls, too,” added Martha.

Without further remonstrance, Mrs. Parke turned back to the chapter

desired and began reading.

“‘During the years between 1765 and 1775, the cry of “Liberty,
Property, No Stamps!” sounded from New Hampshire to Georgia.
Even when the act—all except the tax on tea—was repealed, the
populace concentrated its wrath on tea as the symbol of an
intolerable sovereignty which would no longer be endured.

“‘It was but a little more than two years from the time of the first
whiff of the delightful beverage, to the time when millions of
teakettles steamed merrily on millions of hearths, and the
consumption of tea reached more than 5,000,000 pounds a year. Tea
houses had sprung up like mushrooms all over the United Kingdom
of Great Britain, and of the 5,000,000 pounds imported from China,
at least 1,500,000 pounds were sent to the American colonies.

“‘Tea, in short, formed a harmless luxury indulged in by the

thousands who, despite the high price and tax, contrived to have it
for a delectable drink of an evening when company had to be
entertained. Or again it was enjoyed by many as a beverage not
willingly sacrificed.

“‘But the harmless drink now started the just and patriotic people to
revolt against the tyranny of the Crown. For the next three years
after England imposed the high tax on tea, it became the symbol
with which men conjured. As for trying to ship tea from England at
this time, one would as soon have introduced the Black Plague.
“‘So the contention went on—England remaining proud and defiant
in her attitude that British sovereignty must never yield, and the
young American colony holding that a great principle underlay the
act—that freemen should only be taxed by a representative. And
during this time seventeen million pounds of tea had heaped itself in
the store-houses of the East India Company.

“‘The northeastern colonies were strenuous examples of precocious

political development; Massachusetts embraced the vast territory of
Maine, and from this northern boundary to the shore where the
Pilgrim Fathers landed, were dotted the decent little villages, and
these buzzed and hummed with zealous activities of the people.

“‘It had required a hundred and fifty years from the first step of
Plymouth Rock to the beginning of the Revolution. Boston, now a
town of 18,000 folk, sent forth a tongue of flame that bespoke
defiance to the mother country across the sea. The highest sense of
public duty grew in these people as weeds flourish in others. What a
time that must have been: Heroes springing up over-night to live
forever in the history of the nation. English spies, traitorous Indians,
tea parties and tea-ships riding the waves of Boston Bay, not
dreaming it was the open mouth of the dragon.

“‘When the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, therefore,

laden with 342 chests of tea, sailed into Boston harbor, the hitherto
loosely-membered colonies became welded together, for they were
determined to stand together for their principle—Taxation with
Representation. Thus the tea that lay scattered one night on the
bosom of the sea off Boston, was much the same tea that rotted in
the cellars of Charlestown and the South, or mouldered in
Philadelphia and New York stores.

“‘Tea stood for Toryism, and no tea meant Independence. All over
the land activities started up such as were never before heard of.
Looms and spindles whirred as fabrics were woven of home-grown
flax and wool, and material hitherto imported from England now
began to be made by the colonists at home. Even weapons and
ammunition began to be spoken of, and old recipes for
manufacturing gunpowder were brought out and experimented with.

“‘Then the “glove” was dropped and the struggle began.’”

 CHAPTER IV—WASHINGTON THE GENERAL

“I think the rain will soon stop—the sun seems to be breaking

through. While we wait for it to clear shall I read about the first
battle of the Revolution for the boys?” said Mrs. Parke.

“Now that you’ve got us as far as the Boston Tea Party, keep right on
and finish it up, even if the sun does shine,” remarked Jack.

“Don’t go through all those meetings and letters that everybody

exchanged with Washington, but skip over to the fight!” requested
George, curling up on the couch, ready and waiting to enjoy the war.

“Then I’ll read to you about Lexington and Concord,” replied Mrs.
Parke, turning the pages of the book till she found the one that
recorded the Revolution.

“‘Great Britain took arbitrary measures with the American colonists,

and when Boston stood upon the rights of an independent colony,
she was immediately punished by having the government removed
to Salem, and the harbor closed. There were other unfair measures
made and acted upon, so that finally the colonists decided to hold a
general assembly at Philadelphia, to consider ways and means of
protecting themselves and property.

“‘When the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, was

issued, the colonists were prepared for it, and hailed it as the first
step in their upward march. About the same time the Earl of
Chatham did everything in his power to make the English Parliament
understand certain things to which they stubbornly closed their eyes
and minds; but all intervention and measures for conciliation were of
no avail.
“‘In this gathering storm no one felt the solemnity of the crisis more
than did George Washington. He had been a loyal subject of Great
Britain, but his sense of justice and right was too true to be blinded
by sentiment. Thus he came out firmly for his own country—
America.

“‘In his many letters and messages sent to every influential

personage in England or the colonies, it will be seen that he moved
heaven and earth to obtain honorable rights to the colonists without
resorting to force. But the individuals holding the reins of
government refused to recognize or think of any other result from
this outbreak than suppression by might and power of the human
will.

“‘Thus it came about that every separate colony in the country came
together and formed an unbreakable link of fellowship that would
stand against every force to dissolve or break it.

“‘Five of the most distinguished patriots from Massachusetts and

representatives from other colonies met in the month of September
to outline rules and acts. General Gage was sent to dissolve this
assembly, but the colonists kept the doors locked until the meeting
was closed.

“‘General Gage had followed instructions and avoided any act which
would lead to hostilities between his men and the colonists, but
feeling the lack of provisions and other necessities, he sent out
secret detachments to capture what was needed; but the people
resented these raids, and offered every resistance to the pilferers.

“‘Having learned that a considerable magazine of stores had been

formed at Concord, the governor attempted to seize them. On the
night of April 18, 1775, he sent 800 picked men under Smith, to
secretly confiscate these supplies.

“‘But in some way the colonists had been warned of the proposed
raid, and as the British troops marched along the road which they
expected to find almost deserted at that time of night, they were
surprised to meet horsemen, and men on foot, hurrying along also.
As no one offered opposition to the soldiers, they never dreamed of
trouble.

“‘So arriving at Lexington about five o’clock, the troops were

surprised to find about a hundred militiamen drawn up on the green
before the meetinghouse.

“‘Major Pitcairn galloped up and ordered them to disperse, but they

refused, so he ordered his men to fire, discharging his own pistol as
the signal. Three or four men were killed and the others retreated
behind the church.

“‘After this skirmish, the opening tragedy of the war, the British
marched on to Concord where they soon took possession. Detached
parties were placed to guard various approaches to the town, while
the main body of soldiers proceeded to destroy the arms,
ammunition and provisions found in store.

“‘But a body of militiamen, having approached the bridge, which was

guarded by a detachment of soldiers, surrounded and fired upon
them. A general skirmish took place, and the British retreated with
confusion to their main body in the town.

“‘Smith ordered a retreat, but the militia, constantly increasing in

numbers, opened a galling fire upon the British, at the same time
being protected by houses, stone walls and trees.

“‘When the British arrived at Lexington, in an exhausted state, they

would have been totally destroyed had not Gage, apprehensive for
the expedition, sent out Lord Percy with sixteen companies on foot,
a corps of marines, and two pieces of artillery to support Smith.

“‘This aid checked the first pursuit of the provincials, but the latter
kept up an incessant fire upon the British as they marched on their
way to Boston.
“‘The news of this event excited every one in Massachusetts, and
soon the whole country was in warlike array. The first blood had
been shed by the British without provocation, and the proud army of
England had been met by provincial men and made to retreat.

“‘The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts was in session at the

time of this battle at Lexington, and it immediately passed a vote to
raise 13,600 men. It also called upon the other colonies to increase
the army to 30,000; but this request was unnecessary, as the
colonists crowded to the standard raised in their defence—more than
could be maintained.

“‘The fortifications of Boston were considered strong enough to

resist an attack, and the garrison of the British was increased by the
10,000 men who arrived about the same time as Lord North’s
conciliatory message.

“‘But the provincials formed a line of thirty miles in extent on the

peninsula where the city stood, thus cutting off all communication
with the country. Surrounding them was the ocean where the British
vessels of war rode at anchor to protect the troops and, if need be,
to reduce the town to ashes in an hour’s time.

“‘The British in the besieged city laughed at the foolish attempts to

bring them to submission, for had they not everything needed—war
munitions, food stores and everything required for use?

“‘On the other side there seemed to be nothing more than a

tremendous zeal and willingness to sacrifice all for principle.
Untrained men in the ranks, no arms, no resources for war, no ships
or field-pieces—in fact, nothing such as the British thought
absolutely necessary to win in a fray. Nothing but Principle!

“‘But the colonists realized what they were standing for, and every
man accepted the work for ultimate salvation from the yoke. Each
stood in his place obedient to his superior, and each chief confined
his action to his own sphere, while all felt the bond of brotherhood in
the furtherance of a grand plan for all.

“‘Meantime, while the British were penned up in Boston, Arnold and

Allen planned a brilliant scheme. With a small body of men they
proceeded against the forts of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, the key
to Canada. They completely surprised and captured these places
without the loss of a man, thus securing valuable and much-needed
supplies of military stores.

“‘Then Arnold was successful against a sloop of war lying at St.

John’s, and obtained the command of Lake Champlain. This vessel
was the very first one to belong to the American navy.

“‘In Virginia, much the same spirit animated the people. As soon as
war was apprehended, they solicited Washington to take command
of their troops, and he readily consented to this.

“‘The hasty step of Governor Dunmore, causing the powder to be

secretly removed from the magazine at Williamsburg to one of his
majesty’s ships in the river, caused the whole colony to fly to arms.
They resolved to march to the Governor and compel him to restore
it.

“‘Dunmore hastily agreed to arrange the matter as requested, so the

men returned home, but all held themselves in readiness to march
at any future alarm.

“‘The Second Continental Congress, represented by twelve of the

colonies, met at Philadelphia on the 10th of May, 1775, and at this
convention Georgia sent delegates and was admitted as the
thirteenth member.

“‘The account of hostilities at Concord and Lexington, and the

capture of Crown Point and Ticonderoga was laid before the
Congress. The majority of members, seeing no other way to
preserve liberty, urged the necessity of defensive operations.
“‘John Hancock, from Massachusetts, was president of the Congress,
and the master stroke of the convention was the election of
Washington as commander-in-chief of the United States forces.

“‘The fires of rebellion were now burning steadily in every town and
hamlet where patriotic freemen collected, and the launching of the
first and greatest nation of Liberty on the earth was accomplished.

“‘June 18, 1775, Washington, now known as General Washington,

wrote to his wife to acquaint her with all that had taken place at the
Congress. He explained his duty in accepting the position of general
of the American army, and he also mentioned family and personal
affairs which needed advice.

“‘On the 26th of June, Washington proceeded from New York to

Cambridge, where he arrived on the 2nd of July. He was welcomed
with joyful acclamations by the men, who felt the greatest hope and
success of their mission safely placed with this general.

“‘Washington found the army stationed about Boston to consist of

16,000 men, deeply distressed for lack of war munitions, and many
of them insubordinate to officers through lack of military training.
Thus it behooved the general to remedy the latter trouble and seek
a means of providing for the former.

“‘Reinforcements from England had arrived for General Gage, and

about the time that the Continental army was told that the
possession of Bunker Hill, a commanding eminence on the north side
of Charlestown peninsula, and nearly opposite the British camp, was
of great importance, the British also realized that the colonists
meant business.

“‘On the night of June 16th a detachment of a thousand men was

ordered to take possession of the hill, and throw up with the
greatest expedition, fortifications to defend the position; but by
some mistake the men took their station on Breed’s Hill, another
eminence to the right and nearer the enemy’s lines.
“‘So silently and rapidly did they work that at dawn the British were
alarmed to see a redoubt constructed on the brow of the hill, nearly
under the guns of their vessels.

“‘Orders were given to open fire from ships and batteries upon the
men and works, but this cannonading only served to stimulate the
soldiers’ activities and zeal; nor did they cease work until a line of
breastwork was completed from the right of the redoubt to the
bottom of the hill.

“‘General Gage, finding all efforts to dislodge the men from this
vantage point unavailing, ordered two squadrons under Howe and
Pigot, to drive out the Continentals. While the British forces landed
and formed on shore, the Americans continued work on the
fortifications. The British proceeded up the hill, while constant fire
was poured in upon the colonists and the newly-built works. Orders
were given to burn Charlestown lest the provincials find refuge there
when they should be driven from the hill-works. As the town was
built of wood, it soon blazed high and covered the surrounding land
with its smoke and fire.

“‘The terrible spectacle was witnessed by unengaged soldiers, men

at camp, and the now homeless people of the burning town; but the
attention of all was soon engaged in watching the advance of the
British army up the slope to the place where the Americans calmly
awaited the disciplined men.

“‘Major Putnam charged his men to withhold fire until they could see
“the white of their assailants’ eyes,” and then fire low. So well was
this order obeyed that the first volley from the men in the redoubt
was so deadly that the advancing troops reeled, wavered and
suddenly turned to flee. But the courage of the officers rallied the
men, and they again charged up the hill to have the same unerring
fire poured into their midst. Then their lines broke and they fled
precipitately.
“‘General Clinton, seeing this defeat from his camp, volunteered to
lead a fresh company to the aid of the retreating men. The third
attack was more cautious than the first two had been, and artillery
had raked the entire length of the breastworks before the troops
reached it. Also, the ammunition of the defenders was nearly
exhausted, so that they had to reserve their last fire until the enemy
was right at the works.

“‘This fire was telling, but had not the same effect as at first, and the
redoubt was carried by storm, the Americans dealing death at every
step of retreat, and when the powder was gone they used the butt
end of their guns to such effect that the redoubt was filled with slain
enemy.

“‘Although the victory was with the British, they were so dismayed at
the result of the battle that they offered no resistance to the retreat
of the Americans, and the latter soon joined their friends.

“‘The British hastily threw up defences on Bunker Hill, and the

Americans took a position directly opposite them on Prospect Hill,
where they built fortifications that nevermore were approached by
the enemy.

“‘This battle was one of the most destructive and bloody recorded in
the wars of the Revolution.

“‘News of the fight at Bunker Hill reached Washington as he

journeyed on horseback to Cambridge to take command of the army.
The slaughter of nearly 1,500 men—450 Americans and 1,054 British
was omen to the whole world that the fight was on to a finish for
Liberty and Democracy.

“‘When Washington reached Cambridge, Boston was already in a

state of siege, so that the new commander had his hands full. From
his first headquarters in the house of the president of Harvard
College, he moved them to Craigie House, later known as the
Cambridge residence of Longfellow.’”
“Oh, look! The sun’s out!” shouted George at this point.

“Sure enough! Come on and play! We can read history another rainy
day,” abetted Jack, jumping up from the rug.

“Mother, thank you for the story, but we’re off now for some fun,”
declared Martha, helping Anne to her feet.
 CHAPTER V—THE BOSTON TEA PARTY

“What shall we play?” asked Jack the moment the four were out on
the veranda.

“Play—why, war of course!” responded George, placing his fingers

between his lips and giving a shrill whistle.

“What’s that for?” wondered Anne.

“That’s the signal for Jim that we are going to have an engagement
with the British!” replied George, watching eagerly the side of the
house where the kitchens were located.

“Hist!” sounded from a thick arbor of clematis that shaded the

kitchen porch.

“There he is! Come on now,” ordered George, starting for the lilac
bushes across the lawn.

“Children! Come and get your overshoes! Everything is soaking wet!”

cried Mrs. Davis from the library window when she saw them race
through the wet grass.

“Oh, dear me! Martha, you go and bring them to us, will you?” asked
George impatiently.

“I’m not Mrs. Washington yet, and she didn’t run errands for George
before she was married to him,” objected Martha.

“Send Jim for them!” whispered Jack, as he saw the little fellow
running with might and main to join his adored commander-in-chief.
“What will you play with if the weapons and uniforms are in the
attic?” asked Anne.

At this they all stopped short, as no one had thought of the army
equipment till then.

“Guess Jack and I had better go for the overshoes and then we can
bring along some things for the Continental army,” ventured George.

“And send Jim on to John’s house to call him out,” added Martha.

“Yes, that’s a good plan. You, Jim, see here!” explained George.
“Climb over the hedge and look for John. If you don’t see him,
whistle, and when he comes out, tell him we are going to the creek
to have the Boston Tea Party—see?”

“Yeh, Ah see all right!” eagerly replied Jim, nodding his woolly head
energetically as he started off for the hedge that separated the
Grahams’ from the Parkes’ estate.

The two girls were told to go to the barn and find some tools—axe,
nails, hammers, or hatchets, and a saw, if possible.

“What for?” asked Anne.

“Don’t we have to have warships out in Boston harbor if we want a

tea party like that real one was?” scorned George, as he caught hold
of Jack’s hand and ran for the house.

The lilac bushes were abandoned for a time, while the girls sought
for and captured various tools in the barn when the gardener was
absent. The two boys tied up whatever uniforms they could
conveniently carry, and Jim hid them near the Grahams’ house and
gave the familiar cat-call for John.

These important errands completed, they all went to the creek that
crossed the private road leading to the Parke estate.
Again assembled for play, they examined the items on hand and
John said: “You can’t have ships without material.”

“I thought maybe we could rope together some of these logs the

men chopped down last spring; but they look kind of heavy to
handle,” replied George calculatively.

“Humph! They’d take a tackle and derrick to move. What we need is

just boards and some crosspieces to tie together like a raft. I’ve
made ’em in camp,” said Jack.

“Then you can help us make one now,” said Martha eagerly.

“We’ll have to find some boards and small logs then,” replied Jack,
looking about in the timber heap for suitable lengths for crossbeams.

“We’ve got some boards about six feet long in the lumber house
near here that I heard father say he wouldn’t use till next summer.
Then he’s going to lay a new boardwalk from the garage to the
barn,” suggested John.

“Just what we need. Come and show me where they are, and we
four boys will bring them here while the girls roll those small lengths
of timber down to the water-edge,” said Jack.

Soon all hands were working eagerly, nailing boards to some

crosspieces, and then roping loose ends securely to the logs so they
would not slip off when launched in the creek. The water of the
stream was nearly a foot deeper than usual, owing to the heavy
rains of the night and morning, so the raft would float easily if it was
well built.

The battleship was ready to sail when the luncheon bell sounded
over the lawns to call the British and Continental armies to mess.
The children looked at each other in disgust, for now it seemed a
wholesale waste of time to go home and eat!
“What have you got for tea?” asked Martha at this moment.

“We’ll have to make-believe tea,” said John.

“That won’t be as much fun as if you had some chests and boxes
stacked on the boat. Maybe Jim can find some empty boxes in the
store-room for us to fill with sand,” ventured Anne.

“I’se got some broomsticks hided away in a alley under de pantry.

Dey kin be for guns,” remarked Jim, who hoped his news would
divert the thoughts of his friends from the raid on store-room boxes.
Jim felt that would be a dangerous attempt.

“Fine! Bring them out and leave them under the lilacs while you go
back for the empty boxes. We’ll eat lunch and meet you where you
leave the guns,” said George conclusively.

“Cain’t some uv yo’ all hep me in de store-room?” asked Jim

plaintively.

“What for? You can creep in and empty some boxes out better than
if a lot of us went with you,” countered Martha.

“But onny one uv yo’ all will hep a lot! Not all uv yo’. One uv us kin
han’ down dose boxes an’ anudder kin shift it outen de store-room
winder. Den Garge kin stan’ unner dat winder an’ run wid ’em t’ de
lilacs,” explained Jim, who really was very cunning in self-defence.

“Good stunt! Martha, you go with Jim right after lunch and Jack and
I will carry away the goods,” said George, waving a hand at John,
who started in the opposite direction for home and luncheon.

“I’ll try to bring some things, too,” said John.

At the table that noon, the ladies suggested that they all take a nice
drive about the country in the automobile. The amazed children
looked at each other and then at their elders.
“Goodness me! We don’t care about scenery, mother!” objected
George.

“Of course not! We want to play nice outdoor games,” added Martha.

“What have you been doing since we stopped reading?” asked Mrs.
Davis.

“I didn’t hear a sound from you, so I thought you were pining for
something to do; that is why I proposed the drive,” said Mrs. Parke.

“Oh, no, we never pine. First we found Jim, and then we went to
John’s side of the hedge to get him. After talking over the best thing
to play, we decided to build something Jack knows all about ’cause
he has camped, and we are going to carpenter just as he tells us
this afternoon, so you see we haven’t time to admire the scenery,”
explained George.

“That is very nice, and constructive play is always to be encouraged,

Kate,” remarked Mrs. Davis to Mrs. Parke.

“But there is generally something doubtful under all of the quiet and
constructive plays George favors so readily,” doubted Mrs. Parke.

“Mother, if you don’t believe we are going to build something great

and worth while, ask Jim. He never tells fibs!” said George, with
such a disappointed expression in his eyes that said ‘My own mother
hesitates to trust me,’ that both ladies hastened to assure him that
they fully trusted him.

So the mothers were sent off on the drive, and the two armies
continued their plans for a grand fight.

The moment luncheon was over Martha crept to the back door and
thence to the store-room that was built out from the butler’s pantry.
The servants were all downstairs eating lunch and talking, so the
time was most opportune for a raid. Jim was already there trying to
pry up lids of cereal cartons and other boxes.

“Heah’s some mos’ empty,” said he, the moment Martha appeared in
the store-room.

“They’re all right! Even if there is a little oatmeal and rice in some of
’em—so much the better, cause we must try to fish ’em out of the
water when the Yanks throw the cargo in,” said Martha, carrying the
three boxes to the window, and dropping them out on the grass
where George stood waiting.

Besides the three boxes used for cereal, Jim found a real tea-caddy,
but it was more than half full, so Martha emptied the contents on a
newspaper spread on the floor behind the door.

Also they found a soap box and the contents was emptied on top of
the tea for want of a better place. A cardboard drum that had held
dried fruit or other viands, stood on the shelf with some stuff in it—
lumpy and pulverized together.

“What is this?” asked Martha, taking up a lump.

“Ah donno, but maybe yo’ kin tell ef yo’ tas’ it,” suggested Jim.

So Martha carefully touched the lump to her tongue, but the

moment it came in contact with the pink tip, the washing-soda
burned and smarted horribly.

Martha dropped it and held her mouth frantically, while Jim implored
her not to make a noise or they would be “ketched.” But the venture
was enough for Martha, who hurried out of the room to seek a drink
of cooling water.

Jim, thinking it a shame to leave a nice drum there after such a

painful experience, emptied the soda upon the soap and orange
pekoe tea and dropped the drum from the window. He then climbed
up and dropped himself out upon the grass, where George waited.

“Where’s Martha?” queried Jack.

“Makin’ soap-suds, Ah reckon,” giggled Jim.

“Making what?” demanded George, surprised.

“Wall, she’s went fer a drink an’ ef dat sody sticks to her tongue
she’ll have suds all inside her mouf, won’t she?” said Jim.

Martha’s appearance quieted any fears for her safety, however, and
soon after all were running to the creek with their burdens of boxes
and broomstick guns.

The raft was heavy and hard to move, but finally all hands heaved
and tugged and moved it inch by inch nearer the water. The bank of
the stream was about three feet above the surface of the water, so
when the raft was half over the bank they expected to see it plunge
headlong in with a splash, but it stuck on the jagged trunk of a tree,
and the children tried in vain to dislodge it.

Then Jack had an inspiration.

“We’ll use the broomsticks and pry her off!”

“Fine idea! Here, John, you stand there and pry under her with this
stick. Jim can stand there just opposite you, while Jack and I, being
strongest, will pry and shove from the back to shove her over,” said
George.

Obediently, John took his place and Jim stood on a flat stone
opposite, but on the lower side of the raft. When the signal was
given by Martha, all four shoved and worked together and the raft
moved an inch more nearer the water.
“Fine! Now, boys, once more!” shouted Jack.

Again the signal sounded, and all four pried and pushed. Suddenly
the weight of the raft carried it forward with great momentum,
dislodging the stone upon which Jim stood and pushed with his
broomstick. He lost his balance and fell upon the raft just as it
submerged in the creek.

Jim went with it, and as the mud that was stirred up from the
bottom of the sluggish stream when the heavy corner of the raft dug
down through the water immediately clung to him, Jim was an
object for pity when he sputtered up from the water.

“Dear me! The first man overboard and neither side ready for the
act!” sighed Anne seriously.

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, Jim, to go and spoil the battle like
that?” demanded Martha, justly angry.

“Huccome Ah feel ’shamed? Diden’ dat ole warship give me struggle

enough widdout yo’ all blamin’ me fer a wettin’?” cried Jim
defensively, trying to rub the mud from his eyes.

“Well, now that you’re wet, you’d better be the captain on the ship.
Get the raft back here to shore so we can load her up with tea,”
ordered Jack.

“Whose going to be British and who the Yanks?” asked John.

“I’m always George Washington in these fights,” hinted George.

“Then you’re out of this battle, ’cause Washington hadn’t a thing to

do with the tea party,” returned Martha.

“You ought to be a Lord Somebody who sailed with the captain on

the Dartmouth when that tea was brought over from England,” said
Jack.
“Guess I will. Jim can tow the raft over to the bank, and those of
you who are colonists must hurry across the bridge to the other side.
We British will stay here and pile up the cargo of tea and sail the raft
across the creek.

“When we sail into Boston harbor you must try to keep us out, and
that is the way the fight will begin. Whichever side wins can take the
raft, and cargo and sail it wherever they like,” explained George.

It had not been Jack’s plan to have George take the first ride on the
raft, nor, indeed, command the warship, but having said it he could
not very well change the order, so the next best plan was to sail with
Lord Somebody, with Jim the captain.

The captain, so proud of his title and position, forgot about his
muddy appearance, and eagerly hauled the cumbersome raft to the
bank.

“S’posin’ you girls and John be the colonists on the other bank. You
must use the guns and anything you can to keep us from landing the
tea,” said Jack.

As neither Anne nor Martha wished to risk their dry clothes on the
tipsy-looking raft, this suggestion met with their fullest approval; but
John grew sulky, as he wanted to try the raft.

“It’s made of my father’s boards, too!” grumbled John.

“What’s that?” shouted Jack, now engaged in loading the ship with
chests.

“Nothing much! I don’t see any fun in this fight, that’s all,”
complained John.

“Oh, but there will be! Just wait till we get in that row in Boston
harbor! Hurry across and be ready for us,” cried George, who half-
suspected John of jealousy, and, at the same time, felt he was guilty
of selfishness himself.

The tea was stacked in its boxes on the ship Dartmouth, and the
three, Captain Jim and the English baronets, as passengers, set sail
for Boston harbor.

On the American side, Martha had found an old apple tree near the
bridge, the fruit of which had lain so long on the damp ground that
the apples were rotted within and soft as pulp, the skins being the
only sound part of the fruit.

“Wouldn’t they make fine cannon-balls?” exulted Martha.

“Oo-oh, let’s!” cried Anne, and John, coming up just then, felt a
secret joy in planning how he would fire those cannon-balls at the
men on the ship.

So, without a hint of the ammunition being quickly transferred from

the apple tree to the site of Boston, the three brave and eager
colonists awaited the coming of the tea cargo.
 CHAPTER VI—THE BATTLE OF BOSTON

“We’re stuck!” declared Jack, as they tried to shove off from the
bank now said to be England.

“And every time I push the water comes up over my shoes,” said
George, looking dolefully at his soaked shoes and stockings.

“Let’s pull them off and fling them over on the bank,” suggested
Jack.

George, forgetting he was not on dry ground, instantly followed

Jack’s idea and sat down on the raft to remove his shoes. At the
same time, Jim tried to climb aboard from the creek where he had
been pushing, and the result was that the water swept over the top
surface of the raft and submerged everything under six inches of
water.

“Ah, say! See what you did to me!” cried George, now soaking wet
to the waistline.

“Quick! Never mind the wet—there go our tea chests!” yelled Jack,
trying to save the drum as it floated away from the raft.

Jim and George, over-anxious to save their cargo, suddenly leaned

out to catch the bobbing cartons and boxes, when the unbalanced
raft tilted treacherously over with the weight of the three boys and
shot them all into the stream.

The screams and shouts of dismay brought the three Americans

running to the Boston port, and as they stood laughing unfeelingly
at the scene in the water, the British declared they’d get even when
they landed in Boston.
“Better get here first!” called Anne.

“We’ll salute you with guns all right!” added John grimly.

“So’ll we! We’ll go back to London and find some guns and shot,
too,” promised George, looking at the Americans and then at Jack,
who was wallowing through the mud to gain the bank again.

“Jim, haul up your ship for us to load with ammunition,” ordered

George, as soon as Jim’s head appeared from under the raft, where
he had rolled when the warship keeled over.

But the clever Yanks kept all news of their ammunition from the eyes
and ears of the British. Then, having found some long sticks that
would answer for guns, the three mariners set sail again on their
dangerous journey across the sea—a distance of thirty feet from
bank to bank.

This time the raft was kept balanced, while the three stood hugging
each other in the center of the boards. Their shoes and coats had
been left on the woodpile, so they were not hampered with
overmuch clothing.

Now, John had bided his time very patiently, and, feeling that he had
been supplanted in the fun and affections of George by his cousin
Jack, he determined not to wait till the ship came into port, when
the boys could jump from the vessel, to land and find the pyramid of
bad apples ready to fire.

So he waited until the loosely-constructed raft reached midstream,

where the current of the sluggish water turned it partially around so
that the boys faced back at England, and dared not turn about for
fear of another submersion.

Taking careful aim, John threw a large and wonderfully squashy

apple at Jack. It landed on top of his head, and the juicy, brown
contents of the apple-skin ran down over his face, ears and neck.
“Ouch! What’s that?” screamed Jack, the acid of the juice blinding
his eyes. He threw out his hands for help as he cried, and thus
catching Jim, both slid off the raft a second time, as the craft went
under on that side.

George could afford to laugh at the sight, for he still held his footing
on the wet and slippery raft; but he laughed too soon. John took
another aim and fired a second shot. It hit the boards of the raft just
back of George, who was not aware of it, as it simply squashed all
over without making a noise.

He moved back a trifle to gain a surer footing, and that action was
his own undoing. His foot slipped on the slippery mush, and down
he came upon the planks. Again the tipsy raft dove, and again
George slid off into the stream.

The middle of the stream was swollen by the rains to a depth of four
feet, and Jim only being three feet high, could not be seen, but he
could paddle a bit with legs and arms in poor imitation of swimming,
so George and Jack found him wildly kicking and striking the water
in a vain endeavor to float.

John doubled over in glee at his marksmanship, and the two girls,
running to see what the new commotion was about, saw the three
boys in the creek, trying to board the raft. With every pull and extra
weight on the warship, it dipped gracefully and slipped the children’s
eager, clutching hands from its edges.

“You’ll have to wade back to England and sail again,” yelled John
comfortingly.

“You just wait till we get over there!” threatened Jack, who
suspected the power back of that apple.

“We’ll wait all right! Long time comin’, too!” roared John, slapping his
knees.
While Jack pulled Jim to shallow water, George managed to haul the
now water-logged raft back to the English shore. The pasteboard
cartons and drum were thoroughly soaked by this time and showed
signs of collapse, but the soap-box withstood the elements in a fine
manner.

During the third trial to cross the tempestuous seas, the cartons
holding oatmeal and hominy spread out and the cereals floated
down on the face of the creek. The pasteboard sides, now flattened
out and soaked, were of no use, so they were kicked off; but in the
sudden jerking Jack and George clutched each other madly, or they
would have slid into the water for the third time.

“I guess Boston will never get a speck of that cargo!” laughed John,
both hands behind his back holding large-sized decayed cannon-balls
from the apple tree.

“What’ll you bet?” challenged Jack.

“Bet you three shots to your every one that you won’t land it!”
taunted John.

“Take you up! If we land anything we take three shots at you. If you
keep us from landing, you have three at us,” cried George, the fire of
battle shining in his eyes.

“Here, John, you wade out and upset them,” whispered Anne
mischievously.

“They won’t count that as fair!” exclaimed Martha.

“I’ve got a better idea. I’ll get up on that tree-trunk leaning out over
the creek and you girls can hand me some heavy clumps of dirt,
wood or rocks. I’ll drop it over on the raft so it will tip and roll off the
rest of the cargo,” whispered John.
The three sailors were fully occupied in balancing and bringing the
raft across the stream where it should go, so they failed to see John
scale the overhanging willow tree and lean down to get the rocks
and fragments of tree-trunks the girls passed up to him. Not until a
stone fell upon the side of the raft where the remaining boxes stood
did they dream of danger from a fort.

“Ah, say, that isn’t fair!” complained Jack, not daring to look up or
around.

“All’s fair in play!” laughed Anne from the bank.

A second rock landed on the edge of the raft, and then a mass of
dirt and dead leaves. After this, the girls assisted in the fusillade,
and the boys were not only kept busy avoiding the ammunition of
the Americans; but they found the raft tilting so dangerously that
another added bit of weight would roll the single remaining soap-box
from the ship.

“Jack, it’s dare or die!” said George, nodding to the débris thrown on
the raft and the slant of the ship under water.

“What do you say?” wondered Jack.

“Jim’s the lightest—he must take the soap-box and try to reach
shore with it while we fight them for a landing out here. If they go
for Jim, we can land, and if they keep up with us Jim can scramble
up the bank.”

Jim was willing, and Jack thought it was a fighting chance, so the
captain of the Dartmouth sidled off into the water and grabbed the
box which he had to safely carry up on shore—in the face of the
American cannonading.

Had the creek been clear of mud and roots, the British might have
landed their sea forces, and thus the history of the American
colonists might never have been written as such; but which one of
the combating parties could dream of the unseen menace that took
a part in this tragic fight?

The two girls and John saw Jim slide off and push the soap-box in
front of him, but they felt a sympathy for him, for it was apparent
that Jack and George preferred to remain on the raft and let Jim try
to land. Then they would claim the right to fire three shots to one at
the Americans.

But the three Americans determined to fire as many of the soft

apples at the two remaining sailors as they could land, so Jack and
George were kept busy ducking and objecting, and Jim had gone
half the distance between the raft and the gnarled root, where he
hoped to climb up, when a blood-curdling yell was heard, which
seemed to rise from his very toes.

British and Yanks alike forgot their enmity and shouted out: “What’s
happened, Jim?”

But the little pickaninny, beating the water frantically with both
hands, while continuing to howl, tried to jump up from the water.

Jack and George, too wet to mind more water, and John, with the
two girls on shore, rushed for the captain to try and save him, for
they firmly believed he was about to yell his last earthly breath.

Jack and George reached him first, and instantly caught his wildly
waving arms to drag him up on shore. They thought that if it was his
time to “climb the golden stairs” he was always singing about, he
ought to begin on dry land.

But Jim’s yells grew more appalling as he was half-carried and half-
dragged out of the water. Just as John and his two confederates ran
up, the cause of all this frenzy was found.

A huge mud-turtle had snapped onto one of Jim’s brown, upcurling

toes, and as resistance was brought to bear against this grip, the
turtle held on the tighter.

George knew what to do, so he quickly broke its shell with a sharp
stone, and Jim almost fainted with relief at his freedom. The girls
tried to pet him and offer sympathies, but Jack and George took
advantage of the situation.

“Ha! We brought meat to shore! We landed all right!” yelled Jack,

dancing like a wild Indian.

“Three-to-one shot,” added George, rushing away to find the

ammunition John had plied so thickly.

But most of the apples had been fired, and Jim whispered: “Ah wan’
t’ go hum!”

“Ah, don’t go home now! Your toe will soon feel better, and besides,
mammy will ask you where the boxes went from the store-room,”
advised Martha.

Jim looked up at her wistfully and said: “Ah’ll tell her dem British
sunk ’em all!”

“That would be mixin’ American history, ’cause it was us Yanks that

sunk the cargo,” corrected Anne.

“All but the fish!” chuckled Jack, pointing at the turtle.

“If Jim can’t go home, and you girls won’t let us shoot as you
agreed, what shall we do, anyway?” sulked George, who felt it was
an unlucky day, because no more apples could be found.

“Why not play the Battle of Lexington? That’s fun!” suggested

Martha.

“We can use the raft to sail up Lake Champlain, where it can be the
first warship of the American navy,” added Anne.
“All right—come on!” declared John, who was glad to postpone his
being shot at by two good aims like George and Jack.

“Here, or on the other side?” asked George.

“Well, here’s a good tree for the earthworks on the hill near Boston,”
ventured John.

“We won’t need it for Lexington or Concord, but we really ought to

have something that would pop like shot, or it won’t seem real,”
replied Jack consideringly.

“Can’t we skip those two first fights, and start right in with the
burning of Charlestown and the fight on the hill? We can build a
dandy bonfire for Charlestown,” said Anne.

“Umm! Never again! We had a fire once when Washington’s

homestead burned down, and Jim’s just raisin’ a new crop of wool
since then. My hair was frizzled to the roots, too, and our eyebrows
were all gone. We looked awfully funny without winkers on our eyes
or brows over them,” laughed George, the memory of his burns too
fresh to attempt a second fire even in play.

“Then we can’t do it! We may as well go home and wait for the
automobile to come back,” said Martha resignedly.

“I don’t see why. We can build earthworks and fight down the British
as they come up the hill, and then the British can win the battle and
fight us all the way back to Charlestown; and General Washington
can come along and pat us on the back for courage and bravery, and
then we can all plan together how to get back at the British,”
exclaimed George eagerly.

“I’m wet and soggy, and Jim’s going to cry all afternoon, so I guess
I’ll go back and change my clothes,” said Jack, suddenly feeling
discouraged over the failure of his nation to win an easy battle.
“If we keep away from the store-room, and creep up the front stairs
to change our clothes, we can be sitting on the lawn under the
canopy when mother gets back,” ventured Martha.

“What about Jim?” worried several voices.

“Let John take him home and dry his clothes, then they both can
join us on the lawn, and sit quietly while the sun sets. Mother says
she wants us to watch the fall sunsets, as they are always so
beautiful,” offered George.

The others stared in unbelief at this daring commander, who

suggested quietly admiring sunsets, but each felt that it would be as
well to seem meek and quiet after the raid on the boxes in the store-
room.

So the good advice was followed, but Martha did not dream that Jim
had dumped the washing-soda over the orange pekoe tea, so that it
was impossible to sift or wash it out. Hence, the Parkes had no tea
that afternoon, nor, did the cook have her fragrant beverage at each
meal until the new chest came from Washington.

“Well, didn’t the Yanks sacrifice tea to their patriotism that time in
Boston?” asked Jack of his mother, when the story was told.
 CHAPTER VII—BATTLES ABOUT NEW YORK

“What shall we play to-day?” asked Anne Davis, as the four cousins
emerged from the breakfast-room.

“Anything you like,” replied Martha politely.

“Did Jim come home last night?” asked Jack.

“Sure! And his mammy doesn’t know he had anything to do with

that tea,” laughed George.

“Well, let’s call him and decide on some game,” said Jack. So Jim
was whistled for, and his shining face soon appeared from the
kitchen-areaway.

As the five playmates wandered across the lawn to the ever-

welcome meeting-place of lilac bushes, they heard a shrill call and
John soon appeared from the hedge through which he crept.

“We don’t know what to play,” explained Martha to John, as the

latest member to the party wondered at the calm and quietness of
the warriors.

“Let’s finish Bunker Hill,” he suggested.

“Oh, we’re sick of Boston! It’s all right in a way, but not for a second
time,” said George, thinking of the battle of the day before.

“Then let’s have a fight on Long Island, when the British drove the
Americans from Brooklyn, to cross the East River to their main
army,” said John.
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