"Lie still or you will be seen; the loft door is open. I can wake the others, and would it not be well to let them come right up into the loft before we strike?"
"Eben, you ought to be a general. Wake the others and caution them to lie still."
The boy crawled round the loft and quickly did his work.
When Ethan knew that all were awake he spoke in a loud whisper to them:
"Eben has suggested a plan of campaign and I shall adopt it. We must all pretend to be asleep. Let the English enter the loft, and, when the opportunity arises, let the English be on the ground and the patriots above them."
Every man lay perfectly still, and it really seemed as though Eben had been mistaken, for the time was so long before any attempt was made to enter the loft.
Eben knew all that was transpiring. He saw a man's head rise above the floor and look around, and then he heard the man descend the ladder.
It was fully five minutes after he had reached the ground before he again ascended.
The man crawled along the floor and lay perfectly still.
Another, then another, ascended the ladder, until a dozen soldiers in uniform were in the loft.