“Yes, when the British get near enough to chase him. He’ll keep just out of their way till he’s enticed them ’cross the river. Then he’ll wallop ’em.”
“What forces has he now?” was the next query.
“His own, an’ General St. Clair’s,” Dan replied, keeping tally on his fingers. “Then there’s General Benjamin Lincoln with the New England troops, General Nicholas Herkimer an’ eight hundred militia, Colonel Daniel Morgan with his rifle corps, and Colonel Benedict Arnold with twelve hundred regulars, more than ten thousand men in all. We’ll whip the red-coats yet, Ira.”
“I hope so,” was the hearty rejoinder. “Now tell me what has been done about Fort Stanwix.”
“I was on my way back,” the lad explained, “when I met the boys an’ went to the fort with them. The general was quite stirred up by the news; but, noddin’ to me, said, ‘Tell Ira there’s time to get plenty of reinforcements up there.’ Then, turnin’ to Late and Joe, he went on, ‘I’ll have General Herkimer an’ his troops on the way to-morrow, an’ Colonel Arnold with his regulars shall follow.’ He looked at me agin, an’ asked, ‘Did you take that in, Dan?’ An’ when I said, ‘Yes, sir,’ he continued, ‘Put that in your report to Ira, too, an’ give him my love,’ all of which I’ve done accordin’ to orders.”
“Exactly, Dan. No one could have done it better,” his companion replied almost gleefully. “But I must be off, or we’ll have a troop of Britishers looking me up. I’ll drop in on you as often as possible.”
“Don’t worry ’bout me,” was the reply. “I can stay here a week alone, if it means in the end some good work for the Cause.”
Before arriving at the British encampment the young scout met half a dozen soldiers who were looking for him. The explanation that he had but just got out of the swamp was deemed sufficient to account for his delay, and the entire party went back together.
Two weeks later a heavy thunder-storm raged. The rain literally fell in torrents for hours. The first effect was to swell the flood in the swamp; but on the following day it subsided with great rapidity. In a single day the road-bed could be seen above the water, and General Burgoyne, with much delight, ordered his corps of engineers to begin the work of clearing away the obstructions.
Ira at once surmised that the dam was gone, and that night received the full particulars from Dan.