“We have,” said John quickly.
“We have?” retorted Fred scornfully. “Where are they?”
“Eight here,” said John solemnly. “Here are four of them. They haven’t all arrived yet, but they are on their way.”
“Fine lot too,” broke in Grant. “Scared so that they run like deer when they hear sounds in the old Meeker House and there isn’t one of them that has shown that he has the nerve to stay there long enough to find out just what those strange sounds mean.”
“We’re not afraid of anything we can see, but it is the things that you can’t see that scare us,” explained Fred.
“Never mind the Meeker House,” said Grant, “I want to take in what this place means. The old cannon balls, the old guns, and the relics we saw inside the house,” for the boys had entered the old building and inspected the various relics of revolutionary times that were on exhibition, “to say nothing about the old Hudson River itself, and the hills, ought to satisfy every one of us for a while, anyway.”
“It’s a great sight,” said George. “I’m glad you brought us up here. I knew Washington’s headquarters were here, but it had slipped my mind when we first came. I’m getting hungry. Come on back to the hotel and we’ll have our dinner.”
The following morning was unusually warm. The boys were early awake, but even then the heat was oppressive.
“Whew,” said Fred when they left the dining room, “if it’s as hot as this before we start what will it be afterward?”
“That’s just like some people,” declared John. “They aren’t satisfied with the good or the bad they have, but they are always looking ahead for more. There’s one thing we don’t have to do.”