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A
moment
later
,
as
the
receding
coach
clattered
faintly
over
the
Muddy
Dock
Bridge
,
Weeden
appeared
;
and
the
raiders
fell
silently
into
military
order
in
the
street
,
shouldering
the
firelocks
,
fowling-pieces
,
or
whaling
harpoons
which
they
had
with
them
.
Weeden
and
Smith
were
with
the
party
,
and
of
the
deliberating
citizens
there
were
present
for
active
service
Capt.
Whipple
,
the
leader
,
Capt.
Esek
Hopkins
,
John
Carter
,
President
Manning
,
Capt.
Mathewson
,
and
Dr.
Bowen
;
together
with
Moses
Brown
,
who
had
come
up
at
the
eleventh
hour
though
absent
from
the
preliminary
session
in
the
tavern
.
All
these
freemen
and
their
hundred
sailors
began
the
long
march
without
delay
,
grim
and
a
trifle
apprehensive
as
they
left
the
Muddy
Dock
behind
and
mounted
the
gentle
rise
of
Broad
Street
toward
the
Pawtuxet
Road
.
Just
beyond
Elder
Snow
's
church
some
of
the
men
turned
back
to
take
a
parting
look
at
Providence
lying
outspread
under
the
early
spring
stars
.
Steeples
and
gables
rose
dark
and
shapely
,
and
salt
breezes
swept
up
gently
from
the
cove
north
of
the
Bridge
.
Vega
was
climbing
above
the
great
hill
across
the
water
,
whose
crest
of
trees
was
broken
by
the
roof-line
of
the
unfinished
College
edifice
.
At
the
foot
of
that
hill
,
and
along
the
narrow
mounting
lanes
of
its
side
,
the
old
town
dreamed
;
Old
Providence
,
for
whose
safety
and
sanity
so
monstrous
and
colossal
a
blasphemy
was
about
to
be
wiped
out
.
An
hour
and
a
quarter
later
the
raiders
arrived
,
as
previously
agreed
,
at
the
Fenner
farmhouse
;
where
they
heard
a
final
report
on
their
intended
victim
.
He
had
reached
his
farm
over
half
an
hour
before
,
and
the
strange
light
had
soon
afterward
shot
once
more
into
the
sky
,
but
there
were
no
lights
in
any
visible
windows
.
This
was
always
the
case
of
late
.
Even
as
this
news
was
given
another
great
glare
arose
toward
the
south
,
and
the
party
realized
that
they
had
indeed
come
close
to
the
scene
of
awesome
and
unnatural
wonders
.
Capt.
Whipple
now
ordered
his
force
to
separate
into
three
divisions
;
one
of
twenty
men
under
Eleazar
Smith
to
strike
across
to
the
shore
and
guard
the
landing-place
against
possible
reinforcements
for
Curwen
until
summoned
by
a
messenger
for
desperate
service
,
a
second
of
twenty
men
under
Capt.
Esek
Hopkins
to
steal
down
into
the
river
valley
behind
the
Curwen
farm
and
demolish
with
axes
or
gunpowder
the
oaken
door
in
the
high
,
steep
bank
,
and
the
third
to
close
in
on
the
house
and
adjacent
buildings
themselves
.
Of
this
division
one
third
was
to
be
led
by
Capt.
Mathewson
to
the
cryptical
stone
edifice
with
high
narrow
windows
,
another
third
to
follow
Capt.
Whipple
himself
to
the
main
farmhouse
,
and
the
remaining
third
to
preserve
a
circle
around
the
whole
group
of
buildings
until
summoned
by
a
final
emergency
signal
.
The
river
party
would
break
down
the
hillside
door
at
the
sound
of
a
single
whistle-blast
,
then
wait
and
capture
anything
which
might
issue
from
the
regions
within
.
At
the
sound
of
two
whistle-blasts
it
would
advance
through
the
aperture
to
oppose
the
enemy
or
join
the
rest
of
the
raiding
contingent
.
The
party
at
the
stone
building
would
accept
these
respective
signals
in
an
analogous
manner
;
forcing
an
entrance
at
the
first
,
and
at
the
second
descending
whatever
passage
into
the
ground
might
be
discovered
,
and
joining
the
general
or
focal
warfare
expected
to
take
place
within
the
caverns
.
A
third
or
emergency
signal
of
three
blasts
would
summon
the
immediate
reserve
from
its
general
guard
duty
;
its
twenty
men
dividing
equally
and
entering
the
unknown
depths
through
both
farmhouse
and
stone
building
.
Capt.
Whipple
's
belief
in
the
existence
of
catacombs
was
absolute
,
and
he
took
no
alternative
into
consideration
when
making
his
plans
.
He
had
with
him
a
whistle
of
great
power
and
shrillness
,
and
did
not
fear
any
upsetting
or
misunderstanding
of
signals
.
The
final
reserve
at
the
landing
,
of
course
,
was
nearly
out
of
the
whistle
's
range
;
hence
would
require
a
special
messenger
if
needed
for
help
.
Moses
Brown
and
John
Carter
went
with
Capt.
Hopkins
to
the
river-bank
,
while
President
Manning
was
detailed
with
Capt.
Mathewson
to
the
stone
building
.
Dr.
Bowen
,
with
Ezra
Weeden
,
remained
in
Capt.
Whipple
's
party
which
was
to
storm
the
farmhouse
itself
.
The
attack
was
to
begin
as
soon
as
a
messenger
from
Capt.
Hopkins
had
joined
Capt.
Whipple
to
notify
him
of
the
river
party
's
readiness
.
The
leader
would
then
deliver
the
loud
single
blast
,
and
the
various
advance
parties
would
commence
their
simultaneous
attack
on
three
points
.
Shortly
before
1
a.m.
the
three
divisions
left
the
Fenner
farmhouse
;
one
to
guard
the
landing
,
another
to
seek
the
river
valley
and
the
hillside
door
,
and
the
third
to
subdivide
and
attend
to
the
actual
buildings
of
the
Curwen
farm
.
Eleazar
Smith
,
who
accompanied
the
shore-guarding
party
,
records
in
his
diary
an
uneventful
march
and
a
long
wait
on
the
bluff
by
the
bay
;
broken
once
by
what
seemed
to
be
the
distant
sound
of
the
signal
whistle
and
again
by
a
peculiar
muffled
blend
of
roaring
and
crying
and
a
powder
blast
which
seemed
to
come
from
the
same
direction
.
Later
on
one
man
thought
he
caught
some
distant
gunshots
,
and
still
later
Smith
himself
felt
the
throb
of
titanic
and
thunderous
words
resounding
in
upper
air
.
It
was
just
before
dawn
that
a
single
haggard
messenger
with
wild
eyes
and
a
hideous
unknown
odor
about
his
clothing
appeared
and
told
the
detachment
to
disperse
quietly
to
their
homes
and
never
again
think
or
speak
of
the
night
's
doings
or
of
him
who
had
been
Joseph
Curwen
.
Something
about
the
bearing
of
the
messenger
carried
a
conviction
which
his
mere
words
could
never
have
conveyed
;
for
though
he
was
a
seaman
well
known
to
many
of
them
,
there
was
something
obscurely
lost
or
gained
in
his
soul
which
set
him
for
evermore
apart
.
It
was
the
same
later
on
when
they
met
other
old
companions
who
had
gone
into
that
zone
of
horror
.
Most
of
them
had
lost
or
gained
something
imponderable
and
indescribable
.
They
had
seen
or
heard
or
felt
something
which
was
not
for
human
creatures
,
and
could
not
forget
it
.
From
them
there
was
never
any
gossip
,
for
to
even
the
commonest
of
mortal
instincts
there
are
terrible
boundaries
.
And
from
that
single
messenger
the
party
at
the
shore
caught
a
nameless
awe
which
almost
sealed
their
own
lips
.
Very
few
are
the
rumors
which
ever
came
from
any
of
them
,
and
Eleazar
Smith
's
diary
is
the
only
written
record
which
has
survived
from
that
whole
expedition
which
set
forth
from
the
Sign
of
the
Golden
Lion
under
the
stars
.
Charles
Ward
,
however
,
discovered
another
vague
sidelight
in
some
Fenner
correspondence
which
he
found
in
New
London
,
where
he
knew
another
branch
of
the
family
had
lived
.
It
seems
that
the
Fenners
,
from
whose
house
the
doomed
farm
was
distantly
visible
,
had
watched
the
departing
columns
of
raiders
;
and
had
heard
very
clearly
the
angry
barking
of
the
Curwen
dogs
,
followed
by
the
first
shrill
blast
which
precipitated
the
attack
.
This
blast
had
been
followed
by
a
repetition
of
the
great
shaft
of
light
from
the
stone
building
,
and
in
another
moment
,
after
a
quick
sounding
of
the
second
signal
ordering
a
general
invasion
,
there
had
come
a
subdued
prattle
of
musketry
followed
by
a
horrible
roaring
cry
which
the
correspondent
Luke
Fenner
had
represented
in
his
epistle
by
the
characters
'
Waaaahrrrrr
--
R'waaahrrr
.
'
This
cry
,
however
,
had
possessed
a
quality
which
no
mere
writing
could
convey
,
and
the
correspondent
mentions
that
his
mother
fainted
completely
at
the
sound
.
