CHAPTER XVII
Ben Reconnoiters
The encampment was astir early next morning, and the soldiers cooked andate breakfast, and then began making preparations to get ready for themarch.
They were ready in about an hour and a half, or two hours, and thenhaving said good-by to the settlers of Peaceful Valley, they marchedaway toward the west.
They continued onward steadily during that day, stopping an hour at noonfor luncheon and to rest, and when evening came they went into camp at apoint perhaps thirty miles east of Ninety-Six.
They stationed sentinels, so as to prevent a surprise by Indians orredcoats and the night passed quietly, no enemy appearing.
They were up and away again early in the morning, and by marching hard,managed to reach the vicinity of Ninety-Six by evening, They went intocamp only about two miles from the fort.
Ben Foster was eager to take a look at the fort, for he feared thatpossibly Dick and Tom were prisoners there. He went to General Greeneand asked permission to go on a reconnoitering expedition, and thepermission was granted.
"I shall be glad to have you go and secure all the information possibleregarding Fort Ninety-Six, my boy," said the general. "But, be carefuland don't let them capture you."
"I will be careful, sir," and then saluting, Ben took his departure.
He made his way cautiously through the timber, for he did not know butthere might be redcoats or redskins in the vicinity, and he did not wantto fall into their hands.
On he went, pausing frequently to listen, but hearing no suspicioussounds, he drew nearer and nearer to the fort, and at the end of an hourhe arrived at the open space in the center of which the fort stood.
It was a moonlight night, and Ben could see the fort with tolerabledistinctness, and he stood there for some time, looking at the buildingand wondering if Dick and Tom were there.
Ben stood there for perhaps half an hour, looking at the fort and thelay of the land with critical eyes. He was sizing the fort andsurroundings up, and trying to figure out what chance for success thepatriot army would have, if an attack was made.
"It is impossible to judge of the strength of the fort at a distance,"thought Ben. "I believe that I will try to reach the wall around thefort and see how strongly-constructed it is. General Greene will be gladto secure all the information I can get."
Ben felt that he would be running considerable risk in advancing acrossthe open ground on an evening when the moon was shining, but he wasbrave, and decided to take a closer view, anyhow.
Having decided, he at once set to work. He advanced from among thetrees, and just before getting out where the light would encompass him,Ben dropped on his hands and knees, and began slowly crawling along,after the fashion of an Indian.
He was not quite as expert at this kind of work as an Indian, but he didvery well, advancing slowly, and keeping his body close to the ground,thus not being so likely to attract the attention of a sentinel at thefort.
It was about a third of a mile to the stockade-wall around the fort, andBen was at least half an hour in going that distance, and as he drewnear the fort, he was in momentary expectation of hearing the crack of amusket and feeling the sting of a bullet.
Ben was not discovered, however. At any rate, there was no musket-shotor outcry. All was quiet, and on reaching the wall, Ben sat down, withhis back against the logs, and rested a while. It had been rather tryingon his nerves to crawl across the open space under the light of themoon, faint though it was.
When he had got rested, Ben turned and began making an examination ofthe wall. He found that it was made of large logs, flattened at thesides and placed on top of one another. The wall was, he judged, abouttwelve feet high.
Ben worked his way slowly along the wall, feeling between the logs, foropenings, as he wished to learn how thick the wall was, and whether itwould be possible to batter it down with the field-pieces that GeneralGreene had brought with the army.
Presently Ben found an opening, through which he pushed his hand, andhis fingers came in contact with another log on the inside. The wall wasat least two logs in thickness, and this would make it difficult tobatter it down with the field-pieces.
The patriot youth continued to work his way along the wall, and onreaching the corner, he turned it and made his way along the wall onthat side. He kept on till he had made the circuit of the stockade-wall,and he guessed the wall as being about two hundred feet in eachdirection.
Near one corner of the wall Ben had found a place where there wereseveral openings between the logs, and he believed that he could climbto the top of the wall, there. He decided to make the attempt, anyway,as all was quiet. He wished to get a look into the enclosure, if hepossibly could.
He made his way to the point in question, and then he began the work ofclimbing to the top of the wall. This proved to be more difficult thanhe had expected, and he began to think he would not be able to reach thetop, after several unsuccessful attempts, but presently he managed toget high enough up the side of the wall so that he could get hold of thetop log, and then he slowly and cautiously pulled himself up till hishead was a little above the top of the wall.
Now he exercised great caution, lifting his head slowly, a little at atime, till he was enabled to look into the enclosure. He could see thebuilding constituting the fort, and at the farther side he saw asentinel pacing slowly back and forth on the platform built against thewall, and about five feet from the top.
The sentinel's side was toward Ben when he was pacing back and forth,however, and when he paused to look away from the fort, his back wastoward the youth, so Ben did much fear being seen by him. But thereshould have been a sentinel on the side where Ben was, and he wonderedwhere the sentinel could be.
He presently found out, for suddenly the head of a British soldierappeared above the top of the wall, and almost in front of Ben's face.The sentinel had evidently been down below when Ben first climbed upthere, and had just returned to his post. He caught sight of Ben at thesame moment the youth caught sight of him, and his exclamation ofamazement was not unnatural.
"Who are you?" he cried.
At the same moment he made a grab for the youth's throat, but Ben wastoo quick for him, and evaded the grasp by dropping to the ground withall possible dispatch.
"Spies! Rebels!" yelled the sentinel, loudly, and then grabbing up hismusket, he leaned over the top of the wall and looked eagerly for theyouth who had given him such a surprise.
Ben was running across the open ground at the top of his speed, and thesentinel caught sight of him, leveled his musket, took a quick aim, andfired.
Crack, the shot rang out, and Ben heard the bullet go buzzing past hisear. Had the bullet gone a few inches to the right it would have put anend to his career as a patriot soldier and spy.
Ben ran onward as swiftly as he could, and was soon out of musket-shotrange, but he heard sounds of loud and excited voices back at the fort.He realized that he had caused a commotion within its walls, and thoughtit likely that some of the British soldiers would emerge from the fortand come in pursuit of him.
And such proved to be the case. The gate was thrown open, and out cameabout a score of redcoats and started on the track of Ben. They yelledto him to stop and surrender, but of course he paid no attention tothem, but ran onward as fast as possible. He was not much alarmed, as hewas sure he could reach the edge of the forest before the redcoats couldget within musket-shot distance, and then he could evade his pursuers inthe underbrush and darkness, he felt certain.
He was not long in reaching the desired haven, and he dashed in amongthe trees, drawing a breath of relief as he did so, and slackened hisspeed, somewhat, as he did not think it necessary to run so fast. Hecould give the redcoats the slip, now that he was in among the trees.
He was soon out of hearing of his pursuers, who doubtless did not followhim very far into the forest. In less than an hour's time he was at thepatriot encamp
ment, and had made his report to General Greene.
The information he gave the general, about the size of the fort, and theextent and thickness of the walls, was of considerable interest andvalue, and the general thanked the youth for having secured theinformation.
"I hope to capture the fort in a few days," the general said.