“The British are coming! The British are coming!” Nathan’s high, hoarse voice mingled with Paul Revere’s low, booming one.
    
Nathan’s legs burned. His heart pounded. He knew he was doing something illegal, that running after Mr. Revere to help shout a warning was treason. But deep down inside him, he didn’t care, not one bit.
    
Mr. Revere appeared to have noticed Nathan, but he didn’t dare pause in his yelling even to say, “Thank you for helping.” Nathan didn’t really mind though. He was too wrapped up in his task.
    
“The British are coming! The British are coming!” Their cries caught the attention of a patrolling English officer.
    
“If you go one inch further, you’re a dead man!” the officer threatened.
    
Mr. Revere stopped short, but Nathan, being small and rather hard to see, sprinted as fast as his weary legs could go to the fence at the end of the pasture. The officer still didn’t seem to see him, so he hopped the fence and landed on the other side with nothing worse than a skinned knee.
    
Nathan figured that Mr. Revere would probably be trapped for some time, so he continued by himself.
    
“The British are coming! The British are coming!” Nathan dashed on, screaming at the top of his lungs. He had to tell the townspeople!
    
Suddenly, a rough hand clapped over Nathan’s mouth. “QUIET, boy!”
    
The hand belonged to a British officer; the shiny brass buttons on his lobster-colored coat gleamed in the moonlight.

Nathan slapped his hand away and wrenched free. “The British are coming!” he bellowed, tearing down the lane.

The officer pursued him, but was no match for Nathan’s swift, agile feet. He fell more and more behind, until eventually he was just a blur in the distance.

When Nathan reached Lexington, he heard a whole different sort of shout. “NATHAN CLARK!” his mother hollered furiously, sticking her head out of a second-story window. “Come in here THIS INSTANT!”

Nathan willingly obeyed her. His duty was done. He had alerted the people of Lexington and Concord. And that was good enough for him.