“Well, you might have come to the house and seen us, so’s to explain what you were doing.”
“When with the enemy it is sometimes wisest to ignore your best friends,” Ira retorted, stating another general truth, and leaving it for his hearer to make the application.
Lyman was for the time silenced, and the young scout in his turn became questioner.
“How is it that you are here, Fred?” he began. “On your way to the fort?”
“Yes, I, too, have important news for General Burgoyne,” he replied with a show of pride.
“What has happened since I came away?” was the next query, and in a tone which implied, “not a great deal.”
Stung by the tone rather than the words, the young Tory replied sharply:
“You needn’t think you know everything, Ira Le Geyt. I learned this morning that Colonel John Stark has arrived and is to take charge of the Yankee forces.”
“He came last night, and I had a long talk with him this morning.”
“There’ll be two thousand militia in the village before night, and the general ought to know that,” young Lyman added, but not quite so confidently.