Slowly they made their way to the point where the wood was piled against the wall, and, reaching there, they crouched down, got out their flint and steel and tinder, and got ready to start the fire.
Suddenly these sparks caught in the tinder.
Slowly and carefully they began striking the flint with the steel, and with each blow they expected to hear a commotion from the sentinels on the platform along the wall.
Click, click, click. With each click little sparks flew from the flint, and suddenly these sparks caught in the tinder, which blazed upward quickly, revealing the two brave patriots who were thus risking their lives for the good of the patriot Cause.
The light from the tinder was seen by the sentinels above, and the next moment there was a great outcry, and the sentinels, looking over and catching sight of the two patriots, who were now running away from the fort as fast as possible, opened fire, and several musket-shots were fired at the fugitives.
Luckily, however, none of the shots were effective, the bullets going wide of the mark, and Dick and Tim kept on running and were soon in the timber and among their comrades.
Then the patriots watched the growing fire eagerly, and the soldiers that had been instructed to shoot the redcoats if they tried to extinguish the fire, waited eagerly for the attempt to be made, their muskets held in readiness for instant use.
Then suddenly the gate of the fort was thrown open and out rushed a large number of British soldiers, bringing water with which to put out the fire.
And as they appeared, the patriot soldiers opened fire, and a rain of bullets was poured in among the British.