"Well, I hope not, but you can't tell. What you don't expect is just what happens."
"At all events, he has no idea that you and your mother are up here, Tom, and it is not likely that he will trouble you any more."
"Well, I hope he won't, Captain, but you can't tell, as I said."
"No, but we will do all we can to keep him away. His reputation is not good, and if he appears in camp we will warn him that if he does not keep away he will be arrested."
"That may have some effect, though if he thought that arresting just meant being put in jail he wouldn't care, because he's been there before lots of times."
"We will make him understand just what it means, Tom," said Dick, "and I think he will keep away, but then, he has not appeared at all yet."
"No, that's so, and I was making out as if he had or was going to," with a smile. "Well, perhaps he won't."
The boy's look and tone seemed to indicate that he was afraid the man would come, however, and Dick said no more about it. Tom went back to Dick's house, and the Liberty Boys did not see him again for two or three days. Meantime the commander-in-chief, whose confidence Dick enjoyed, sent for the boy and said:
"There is an important mission which I wish to entrust to some one, Captain, and I know of no better, person than yourself to do it. Get ready at once to go down to the city and obtain certain information. Procure a disguise and a horse, and then come to me, and I will furnish you with money for your expenses and a pass, which will enable you to get through the lines."
"Very good, your excellency," Dick replied, and in half an hour he was ready to start.