One of the reasons for sending Arnold down there was to get him far enough away from General Washington, so that there would not be much danger of his being captured, an attempt to capture him while he was in New York having been made, but without success.
In Colonel Morris’ regiment, and among the members of the company commanded by Captain Morgan, were three youths of about twenty years, who had done good work for the patriot cause during the years they had been in the patriot army. These youths were Dick and Tom Dare, brothers, and Ben Foster, a neighbor boy--the Dares and Fosters living close together, in New Jersey, a few miles east of Philadelphia--and now that they were here in Virginia, they looked forward to a lively campaign, for the warm, pleasant weather, so different from what they had left up North, would make it possible to move swiftly about the country.
The regiment had gone into camp on the bank of a little stream in the heavy woods, perhaps ten miles from the James River. Colonel Morris did not know the whereabouts of Arnold and his army, but liking this site for an encampment, he had decided to stay till he gained the necessary information.
When we introduce the Dare Boys and Ben Foster to the reader’s notice, it is evening, and the soldiers are engaged in cooking their suppers beside the campfires. It was a lively, picturesque and interesting scene indeed, or would have so looked to anyone viewing such a scene for the first time. But to the soldiers, who had been campaigning four years, no thought of their appearance came to them. Their minds were on the then very essential matter of cooking their supper.
This important task finished finally, the soldiers ate heartily, and then, as was their wont, settled down to enjoy themselves. Those who smoked lighted their pipes, while others sat about in groups and talked of the coming campaign, in which they hoped to be able to make it hot for the traitor, Arnold, and his army of British soldiers and Tories.
Dick, Tom and Ben, and some of the other soldiers, among whom were Tim Murphy and Fritz Schmockenburg, sat in a little group and talked earnestly of their expected encounters with Arnold and his little army, and all were pleased with the outlook. They liked what they had seen of Virginia, and were glad they had come to the South, where suffering from the cold was not a necessary concomitant of camp life.
“I like id down here,” said Fritz, nodding decidedly. “I hobe dot ve sday down here till der war is ended alretty.”
“Sure an’ thot would suit me, too,” said Tim. “Oi’m t’inkin’ thot Virginia is good enough for me.”
“I wonder where Arnold’s army is,” said Tom.
“That is what everybody is wondering, I guess,” said Ben.