"Come on, Bob," whispered Dick. "Don't waste any ceremony on them, but tumble them downstairs as soon as they come. They won't get the others out in a hurry, for I have the key."
The boys went rapidly upstairs, but, just as a light appeared at the top, the men in the room below began to shout:
"Hallo! Bill, Toby, look out for them rebels; they've shut us up in the storeroom!"
"Hurry, Bob!" hissed Dick.
The two boys dashed up to the top of the steps and came upon two men carrying lanterns. In an instant each seized one of the Tories and sent him rolling down the stairs uttering startled yells. Then they hurried forward in the dark to the front of the stone house, opened the door and ran out. At the same moment they heard shouts from the house, and then shots were fired, the bullets passing over their heads. They returned the shots, and heard a yell, and a sudden slamming of a door, and then a cry from up the bank:
"Hallo! Dick, Bob, are you there?"
"Yes, Mark, coming right along!" shouted Dick, and then he and Bob hurried up the steep bank, presently seeing lanterns and a number of the Liberty Boys.
"We had some little trouble in finding the place," declared Mark, when Dick and Bob joined him and the rest, there being fully a score of them. "The young ladies had no idea where the wretches had gone, but we picked up the trail at length and then had less difficulty in following it. Where were you?"
"In the stone house–a regular nest of thieves," Dick answered. "I must have a look at the place later."
There was no further sound from below, and the boys went on to the top, where they found several of the Liberty Boys and the two girls.