CHAPTER IV—Warning the Settlers
Slowly the two redcoats approached. Dick looked around him, for some place where he could conceal himself, but did not discover any. He was on the point of turning-and taking refuge in flight when the soldiers suddenly stopped while yet perhaps ten or fifteen yards from him, and stood talking earnestly.
This gave Dick an opportunity, and he at once took advantage of it. He turned and behind the shelter of a fallen log dropped to his hands and knees. He began crawling away now as rapidly as he could and at the same time not make any noise that would be heard by the two redcoats.
Dick was an expert in woodcraft, and he felt that he would be able to get away without being seen, if the redcoats stood there conversing for a sufficient length of time. With this hope in his mind he kept on crawling, and when he was perhaps fifty yards away, he rose cautiously to his feet, keeping a tree between himself and his enemies, and looked back to see what they were doing.
The two were just entering the edge of the forest, but were still engaged in conversation and did not have eyes for anything about them, so Dick fortunately was not in much danger of being seen.
He hastened back to where he had left Tom and Ben, and told them what he had heard. They were eager and excited, and said they were glad that Dick had succeeded in learning the plans of the party of British whom they had chanced upon.
“What are we going to do?” asked Tom. “Shall one of us go back to our encampment and bring a party of soldiers to attack the British?”
“It would be impossible to get a party of our soldiers here before midnight or even later,” determined Dick. “It will be dark in a couple of hours, and then the redcoats will likely go the settlement to plunder and burn the houses.”
“Yes, it must be twenty miles, at least, to our encampment,” admitted Ben.
“Yes,” continued Dick, “and so the only thing for us to do is to go to the settlement as quickly as possible, and warn the patriots.”
“That will be the best plan,” acquiesced Tom. “Let’s start at once, boys.”
“All right. We may lose a little time looking for the settlement, so we had better start now.”
They set out, but made a detour and went around the encampment of the British soldiers, keeping at a distance, so as not to be seen. And when on the other side of the camp, they walked rapidly in the direction that they believed would take them to the patriot settlement.
They searched around more than an hour, and finally caught sight of the houses of the settlement, through a clearing. With exclamations of satisfaction, they hastened forward.
They were not long in reaching the settlement, and going to about the largest house, one of them knocked on the door. The door was opened by a man of middle age, who eyed the youths curiously.
“How are you, sir?” said Dick, while Tom and Ben nodded a greeting. “Is this a patriot settlement?”
The man started. “Why do you ask?” he queried.
“Because, if such is the case, we have some important information for you.”
“What is the information?” The man looked eagerly at the youths.
“There is a party of British soldiers encamped a couple of miles from here, sir,” said Dick. “We spied on them and overheard them talking, and it is their plan to come here soon after dark, plunder your houses and then set fire to them. We hastened here to tell you the news.”
“And you did well, young men. I thank you, in the name of the people of the settlement. Who are you, and where are you from?”
“My name is Dick Dare, and this is my brother Tom, and this is a comrade, Ben Foster. We have just come down into this part of the country, from New York, with a regiment of patriot soldiers under General Morris. Our camp is about twenty miles from here.”
“Ah, I am indeed glad to hear that there is a patriot force in this part of the country,” said the man. “Since Arnold came here and took command of the British force in Virginia, we have been having a hard time of it. He seems to be extremely bitter, the soldiers and Tories are rough and insolent, and there has been a great deal of plundering and burning of houses recently.”
“Well, seemingly that is what the redcoats we saw intend doing here, to-night.”
“I will call the men of the settlement together, and we will decide what to do,” announced the man. “I will have them come here to my house, and you young men may as well remain here. Just step inside and have seats.”
“We will sit here on the steps,” said Dick. “It is pleasant out of doors.”
“Very well,” and the man hastened away.
The youths sat down and waited, and in ten or fifteen minutes there were a dozen men gathered there in front of the house. After greeting the youths, they discussed the matter at issue, and finally decided that the only feasible course was to take some essential household goods and go to a swamp a mile and a half distant. There was a small island in the middle of the swamp, they said, that would furnish them an abiding-place for a while, until the redcoats went away, and as the path leading to the island in the swamp was a narrow and crooked one, they did not think the redcoats could follow it. At any rate they could not do so in the dark.
As soon as this decision had been settled upon, the women were notified, and at once all began work. Even the children helped, and soon all the household goods of much value that could be carried had been brought out, and were gotten into shape for carrying.
Dick, Tom and Ben, of course, had helped, and at Dick’s suggestion some of the children had been stationed out in the forest two or three hundred yards, to keep watch and give warning in case the redcoats should be heard approaching.
The settlers had just finished the work of getting the household goods out of the houses, when the young sentinels came running up and said that they had heard voices, and had seen forms moving amid the trees.
“The redcoats are coming!” said Dick. “You must get away from here quickly. There is no time to lose.”
“You’re right,” said Mr. Williams, the first man the youths had spoken to at the settlement.
“Gather up the goods and we will start for the swamp.”
This was done, and men, women and children, loaded down with the household effects, staggered through the woods, following the lead of Mr. Williams.
They had gone perhaps a third of a mile when they heard yells from the direction of the settlement, and knew that the redcoats had reached there and found their intended victims missing.
“They will likely follow,” said Dick. “We had better hurry.”
“Yes, we will go as fast as possible,” said Mr. Williams. “It is scarcely a mile to the swamp.”
They hastened onward, and although they listened intently, trying to learn whether they were being followed, they did not hear any sound to indicate that such was the case.
Presently they came to a stop, Mr. Williams having called to them to do so, as the edge of the swamp had been reached. He had brought a torch along, and now at the shut of dark this he lighted. Taking the lead, he guided the party into the swamp, keeping on the narrow, winding path. Without the light it would have been impossible to follow the trail, and to have gotten off into the quagmire at the sides would have been to perhaps lose their lives, for it seemed to have no bottom, the settlers said, being like quicksand.
They had gone about a quarter of a mile, when they heard yells behind them. They realized that the redcoats had followed, and having seen the light, knew where the fugitives were.
“They will light a torch and try to follow us, likely,” said Dick.
“Possibly,” said Mr. Williams. “Well, if they do, we will have to fight them off, for the path, where it connects with the island is very tortuous and narrow. At places not more than two feet wide, and so only a few of them could get at us at a time.”
Presently the fugitives reached the island, and they carried the household goods over to the farther side, where they were placed on the ground, while they sat down to rest. They had hurried and the women and children were tired indeed.
They had been sitting there only a few minutes, however, when suddenly Dick exclaimed “Look yonder! I see a light. The redcoats are coming!”
Sure enough, a light that flickered and bobbed this way and that, in among the trees, could be seen, and it was evident that the redcoats were following the path leading to the island.