two o'clock before
said one of the marines as he waded into the flowing tide fresh from the sea . `` Gineral Gage intends to teach us how to swim , '' said another . With jokes upon their lips , but inwardly cursing whoever had directed them to march across the marsh , the troops splashed through the water , reached the main road leading to Menotomy , and waited while the commissary distributed their rations . It was past two o'clock before Colonel Smith was ready to move on . Looking at his watch in the moonlight and seeing how late it was , he directed Major Pitcairn to take six companies of the light infantry and hasten on to Lexington . * * * * * From the house of Reverend Mr. Clark , Paul Revere , William Dawes , and young Doctor Prescott of Concord , who had been sparking his intended wife in Lexington village , started on their horses up the road towards Concord . From the deep shade of the alders a half dozen men suddenly confronted them .