“Have you found the encampment of Arnold, Dick?” asked Tom, eagerly.
“No,” was the reply. “The party of redcoats that we chased away have stopped here and gone into camp. I’m waiting for them to continue their journey.”
“Well, I’m glad we caught up with you and we have brought you rations.”
“Which is most welcome news.”
They settled down behind a clump of bushes, and took it easy while Dick filled, in some degree, the empty void within him. They could peep through between the bushes and see the redcoats on the knoll; and Tom and Ben now told Dick that Tim and Fritz had come to the island and brought the news that the patriot soldiers were there and had driven the redcoats away.
“The patriot settlers came back to the mainland and went to their homes again,” said Tom. “And the soldiers are encamped at the settlement, where they will stay till we get back with the news of the whereabouts of Arnold’s main encampment.”
“That is good,” said Dick.
“Yes,” said Ben. “What luck did you have, Dick, climbing through the tops of the trees?”
Dick then told them of his experience in the bog, and how Fritz and Herbert Miller had come to his rescue, just when he had begun to think he would perish in the bog.
“It was lucky that they happened to find that path and were trying to reach the island,” said Tom.