The Dare Boys in Virginia

  CHAPTER IX--Tim and Fritz

  Tim and Fritz settled down and made themselves as comfortable aspossible, and waited patiently for the coming of darkness. They trustedthat the redcoats would make some kind of move by that time, and theyhoped and believed that the move would be in the direction of the mainencampment of the British.

  The two had brought some food with him, and when evening came, they atea bite, after which they took turns going down and getting a drink at alittle creek at the foot of the ridge.

  As soon as dusk overspread the scene, they stole down closer to theencampment, and took up their station behind trees within fifty yards ofthe redcoats. They could hear the spoken words of the soldiers now, andheard them talking of going to a patriot settlement, of plundering itand burning the houses.

  "So thot's what they are afther doin', eh?" muttered Tim. "Well, it'smean spalpanes they are, an' thot's a fact."

  "Yah," replied Fritz, cautiously. "Dot vos been a pretty mean vork votdey are planning to do, alretty."

  "Let's slip aroun' an' thry to get to the settlement an' warn thepatriots, Fritz," whispered Tim.

  "All righd, ve vill do dot."

  They were just about to start, when the redcoats suddenly brokecamp--all they had to do was to pick up their muskets and start--and setout through the woods. Naturally exclamations of disappointment anddismay escaped the lips of the two.

  "Dey're goin' to der settlement now!" exclaimed Fritz.

  "Yis. Well, let's follow thim. Mebby we can do somethin' to hilp thepatriots."

  "Maybe so, Tim. Ve vill see abouid dot, anyhow."

  So they followed the party of redcoats, keeping about two hundred yardsbehind them, and after a walk of about a mile and a half, they paused atthe edge of a clearing of perhaps a hundred acres, and at the fartherside could be seen the houses of the settlers.

  What struck Tim and Fritz as queer was the fact that they could not seeany lights in any of the houses, and this fact may have been noticed bythe redcoats, for they hastened forward at a swifter pace.

  "Looks loike there ain't any people at home, Dootchy," said Tim.

  "Dot is der vay id loogs to me, Tim," was the reply.

  "Oi hope thot is the case."

  "Yah, so do I."

  Feeling that they would be safe in doing so, Tim and Fritz followed theredcoats, though staying farther behind than when they were in thetimber, for even in the dusk they were more likely to be seen out herein the open. The redcoats had their attention centered on the cluster ofhouses, however, and were not likely to look behind them, so the twofelt that they probably would not be seen.

  They were not more than a hundred yards behind the redcoats when thelatter reached the houses. Tim and Fritz stopped and now lay down on theground, and watched and listened.

  They saw lights appear in the houses presently, and heard the voices ofthe redcoats raised in tones of seeming anger. Tim chuckled and said:

  "They seem to be disappointed, Dootchy, me bye."

  "Yah, dot is der vay id seems, Tim," was the reply.

  "Looks loike the settlers found out thot the ridcoats was comin' an'slipped away, hey?"

  "Yah, dot seems to be der vay uf id."

  "Let's move up closer, Dootchy."

  "Allrighd."

  They rose to their feet and approached the cluster of houses, and onreaching the nearest one, they peered in at the window. There were twoor three redcoats in the room, in which there was little furniture orhousehold goods of any description, and the British soldiers weretalking and gesticulating angrily.

  "Der settlers moved ouid und took der important goods mit dem,"whispered Fritz.

  "So it would seem, Fritz," was the reply.

  Then they went to the next house and looked in, and the scene there waspractically the same as at the other house. After looking through thewindow a few moments, the two went to the next house, and found the samesituation there.

  "The settlers all got away before the ridcoats got here, an' they tooktheir valuable goods wid thim," said Tim.

  "Yah, und der retgoads are pretty mad, alretty," replied Fritz.

  "Thot's what they are, an' av they lay oyes on us, it'll go hard wid us,Fritz, me bye."

  "Dot is so. But ve must not let dem see us."

  Just at this moment some redcoats emerged from the house beyond wherethe two soldiers stood, and they were talking excitedly.

  "They've gone into the swamp, that's certain," the two heard one of theredcoats say. "And we'll follow them. We'll have that plunder, in spiteof the trick they have played. We'll follow them into the swamp."

  Tim and Fritz dropped to the ground, close beside the building, andremained there till the redcoats had come forth from the houses and hadall set out in a direction which the two supposed led to the swamp, andthen they rose and followed.

  "We'll kape afther thim, me bye," said Tim.

  "Yah, ve vill do dot, Tim, und maybe ve gan do somedings to help dersettlers, alretty."

  They followed the redcoats to the edge of the swamp, and remainedconcealed till the British soldiers lighted a torch and set out alongthe tortuous path into the swamp. Then they sat down, to wait anddiscuss the situation.

  "There's goin' to be a foight over in the swamp, Dootchy, an' we won'tbe in it," said Tim, regretfully.

  "Yah," agreed Fritz. "I vould lige to take a hand in dot fighd, but vegouldn't keep on der path in der dark, alretty."

  "No, we'll have to stay here an' wait till the ridcoats come back, Oiguiss," said Tim.