seven o'clock in the evening
Rumours came thick and fast . Some claimed that the Sons of Liberty , as an association , had that afternoon demanded of Governor Hutchinson that the troops be withdrawn ; others declared the demand had been made and positively rejected , while the more timid insisted that the soldiers were making ready to awe the citizens by such a display of power , regardless as to whether bloodshed might ensue , and that within the next twenty-four hours there would be found no one bold enough to demand that they be sent away . Amos and Jim , believing themselves in good company so long as they remained with Samuel Gray , kept close at his heels , and he was not loth to have them , for , like many another in the city of Boston on this night , he was firmly convinced that the strength of boys , as well as men , would be necessary before morning to preserve the slight semblance of freedom which was left to the Colonies . John Gray 's fears that there would be trouble in the vicinity of the rope-walk had been proven by this time to be groundless , for soldiers as well as citizens had , as if by common impulse , avoided the scene of the first serious outbreak , and at seven o'clock in the evening , when the city was more nearly in a state of repose than it had been since the alarm-bells summoned the inhabitants , Samuel Gray proposed to his brother and Amos that they go to the factory . -LSB- Illustration -RSB- `` I promised father I would look around there now and then , and if you boys are not counting on going home to supper , I can give you something in the way of a lunch from the store of provisions I carried there this morning . '' `` We are certainly not going home while there seems to be so much afoot , '' Amos replied . `` Then come with me , and we 'll hope that the intentions of those who are abroad this night are as peaceable as ours . ''