"Did our men get possession of his body?" Jacob asked.
"Yes, and carried it to the rear. Have either of you fellows been wounded?"
"We haven't received so much as a scratch," Seth replied promptly, "and that seems strangest of all this day's work to me. When we were first under fire I expected each moment to be killed; but as the time wore on I actually forgot the danger. Say, Enoch, you must have had it hotter than we did, if you kept with General Washington, and I saw you ride across the field half a dozen times when it seemed as if the bullets were flying around you as thickly as hail."
"My experience was about the same as yours in that respect. The first time I was sent with a message I felt terribly frightened; but after that thought only of the chances for success or failure. Where's Greene?"
"Somewhere hereabouts. He got a bullet through the arm; but declares that the wound is not serious, and refuses to go under the surgeon's care."
"I suppose now you have had so much experience, you will continue to be an aid," Jacob said, and there was no shade of envy in his tone this time. He realized as never before that if any one really desires to serve his country it makes little difference what position he occupies.
"Indeed I shan't," Enoch said emphatically. "When the time comes that I can speak with General Washington, I shall ask permission to enlist in the same company with you, and have no doubt but that it will be granted. Now, boys, I have come to mess with you. The order I brought General Dickinson was that the troops were to sleep on their arms, and I suppose we are at liberty to remain anywhere within these lines."
"There doesn't seem to be much choice. Suppose we stay where we are," Seth suggested. "Greene left us here, and most likely will come back, when—"
"He is back now, lad," a voice cried, and a moment later the spy appeared from out the darkness. "I have got rations such as are being dealt out—Hello, here's our friend, the aid, and now he'll want grain for his horse. I'll look for some."
"Let me do that," Enoch cried as Greene, dropping on the ground the food he was carrying, was on the point of turning away again. "I am told that you are wounded, and you should have attention before playing waiter for us three who are in good bodily condition."