Tim and Fritz settled down and made themselves as comfortable as
possible, and waited patiently for the coming of darkness. They trusted
that the redcoats would make some kind of move by that time, and they
hoped and believed that the move would be in the direction of the main
encampment of the British.
The two had brought some food with him, and when evening came, they ate
a bite, after which they took turns going down and getting a drink at a
little creek at the foot of the ridge.
As soon as dusk overspread the scene, they stole down closer to the
encampment, and took up their station behind trees within fifty yards of
the redcoats. They could hear the spoken words of the soldiers now, and
heard them talking of going to a patriot settlement, of plundering it
and burning the houses.
“So thot’s what they are afther doin’, eh?” muttered Tim. “Well, it’s
mean spalpanes they are, an’ thot’s a fact.”
“Yah,” replied Fritz, cautiously. “Dot vos been a pretty mean vork vot
dey are planning to do, alretty.”
“Let’s slip aroun’ an’ thry to get to the settlement an’ warn the
patriots, Fritz,” whispered Tim.
“All righd, ve vill do dot.”
They were just about to start, when the redcoats suddenly broke
camp--all they had to do was to pick up their muskets and start--and set
out through the woods. Naturally exclamations of disappointment and
dismay 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 the
patriots.”
“Maybe so, Tim. Ve vill see abouid dot, anyhow.”
So they followed the party of redcoats, keeping about two hundred yards
behind them, and after a walk of about a mile and a half, they paused at
the edge of a clearing of perhaps a hundred acres, and at the farther
side could be seen the houses of the settlers.
What struck Tim and Fritz as queer was the fact that they could not see
any lights in any of the houses, and this fact may have been noticed by
the 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 the
redcoats, though staying farther behind than when they were in the
timber, for even in the dusk they were more likely to be seen out here
in the open. The redcoats had their attention centered on the cluster of
houses, however, and were not likely to look behind them, so the two
felt that they probably would not be seen.
They were not more than a hundred yards behind the redcoats when the
latter reached the houses. Tim and Fritz stopped and now lay down on the
ground, and watched and listened.
They saw lights appear in the houses presently, and heard the voices of
the 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 on
reaching the nearest one, they peered in at the window. There were two
or three redcoats in the room, in which there was little furniture or
household goods of any description, and the British soldiers were
talking 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 was
practically the same as at the other house. After looking through the
window a few moments, the two went to the next house, and found the same
situation there.
“The settlers all got away before the ridcoats got here, an’ they took
their 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 where
the two soldiers stood, and they were talking excitedly.
“They’ve gone into the swamp, that’s certain,” the two heard one of the
redcoats say. “And we’ll follow them. We’ll have that plunder, in spite
of the trick they have played. We’ll follow them into the swamp.”
Tim and Fritz dropped to the ground, close beside the building, and
remained there till the redcoats had come forth from the houses and had
all set out in a direction which the two supposed led to the swamp, and
then 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 der
settlers, alretty.”
They followed the redcoats to the edge of the swamp, and remained
concealed till the British soldiers lighted a torch and set out along
the tortuous path into the swamp. Then they sat down, to wait and
discuss the situation.
“There’s goin’ to be a foight over in the swamp, Dootchy, an’ we won’t
be in it,” said Tim, regretfully.
“Yah,” agreed Fritz. “I vould lige to take a hand in dot fighd, but ve
gouldn’t keep on der path in der dark, alretty.”
“No, we’ll have to stay here an’ wait till the ridcoats come back, Oi
guiss,” said Tim.