“We are glad to find you at last,” they said. “We have been looking for you half the night.”
“I’m glad to run in with you,” he declared, without asking why they were there. “Joe, will you go back to the fort an’ tell General Schuyler that our Ira has been arrested. The Britishers have found out who he is, an’ to-morrow mornin’ he’ll probably be condemned an’ hanged. Whatever we do must be done quickly. Late, come with me. We won’t give up hope of rescuin’ him till we have to.”
In another moment they had separated, Joe hastening to the general with his sad tidings, and Dan and Late hurrying back toward the British camp. Before gaining the ravine Dan explained how he had entered the enemy’s lines earlier in the night, and how he hoped to return.
“We shall have to move along slow an’ quiet like,” he added; “but I believe it can be done.”
He was correct, and a half-hour later he and his comrade emerged from the ravine within the British lines. To gain the hut in which their friend was imprisoned was not difficult; but they decided it unwise to run the risk of being found when dawn came, therefore the lads looked about for a hiding-place. Attracted by the lean-to at the rear of the barracks they crept into it.
In this place of concealment they heard enough of the soldiers’ conversation to learn the result of Phillip’s trial, and knew there were yet twenty-four hours before he would be executed.
“We may be able to do a good bit in that time,” Dan whispered to Late.
They learned also, in the same way, that the prisoner had been brought to the barracks and put in solitary confinement in one of its upper rooms. They also saw David Daggett prowling about the building; but did not know of his visit upstairs, or of the secret resolve he had made.
It was nearly dusk when two soldiers met near the door of the lean-to. One said to the other:
“Have you heard the latest news about the spy?”