CHAPTER XXII—The Battle
It was a lively battle, indeed, for the British, being considerably stronger than the patriots, evidently thought they could defeat them, but the defenders were in a strategically good position. They sent back volley for volley, and had the advantage of the field-pieces, and so after a battle of about an hour and a half the redcoats retreated, carrying their dead and wounded with them.
The patriot loss was twelve killed and sixteen wounded, and they were pretty sure that the British had suffered a greater loss than this.
When the battle was over, it was found by the soldiers in Captain Morgan’s company that Tom Dare was missing. At first it was feared that he had been killed, but his body was not found, and when the captain made inquiries of the youth’s comrades, they said that they did not remember having seen him during the battle.
Ben Foster had not thought anything about this at the time, but now he remembered that Tom had not been by his side, and he could not think what had become of him.
Nor had Tim Murphy or Fritz Schmockenburg seen Tom, and they, like Ben, were uneasy regarding him.
There was only one possible solution, that Ben could think of, and that was, that Tom had slipped away and gone to the British encampment, in the hope that he might be able to rescue Dick, while the British were away.
The more Ben thought of this, the more certain he became that this was where Tom had gone, and he asked Captain Morgan to permit him to go to the British encampment and reconnoiter. He thought that if Tom had gone there, he might need assistance.
The captain consented that Ben should go, but urged due caution.
“I will exercise care, sir,” was the reply.