Ben Foster Brings Important News
"Oh, Dick, is it true that you and Tom are going to enter the army and
fight for liberty?"
"Yes, it is true, Elsie. Aren't you glad?"
"Y-yes, Dick," replied Elsie Foster, hesitatingly. "I'm glad you are
to be a soldier, but I-well, you might get killed you know, and-and-"
"Would you care, Elsie?"
Elsie Foster was the daughter of Robert Foster, the nearest neighbor
of the Dares. Mr. Foster was a king's man, but he was different from
the other Tories of the neighborhood, in that he was an honest,
honorable man, and was a friend of the Dares. He had had nothing to do
with the capture of Mr. Dare, and was outspoken in his denunciation of
his Tory neighbors for the deed they had committed.
Dick had gone over to the Foster home to borrow something for his
mother, and had met Elsie out in the yard, and the girl had greeted
Dick as above. The truth was that Dick and Elsie were great friends.
They were school-mates, and whenever there was anything going on in
the neighborhood, such as spelling schools, skating parties, etc.,
Dick was Elsie's companion. Elsie was seventeen, and she had a
brother, Ben, he being her twin, and a sister, Lucy, aged fifteen. The
three young folks of the Dare family and the three of the Foster
family often got together of evenings and had a pleasant time, but now
that Dick and Tom were going away to the war, it would break into this
arrangement.
When Dick asked Elsie if she would care if he should get killed in
battle, she blushed and looked confused at first, and then she looked
him frankly in the eyes and said, softly. "You know I would, Dick."
"I'm glad to know that, Elsie," said Dick, earnestly.
At this moment Ben Foster came running up. He was a manly-looking
youth, and was lively and jolly as a rule. But now he was very
sober-looking, for he realized that Dick, whose father had been
captured by the Tories only the day before, was in no mood for
jollity. There was an eager expression on Ben's face, however, and
after greeting Dick, he asked:
"Are you really going to join the Continental army, Dick, you and
Tom!"
"Yes, Ben," was the reply.
"Well, say, I'm going to go with you," declared Ben.
"Oh, Ben!" exclaimed Elsie. "What will father say?"
"Father's all right, sis. He is a king's man, everybody knows that, but
he is reasonable, and lets other people think as they like. He knows
that I'm a patriot, and he won't object."
Dick's face lighted up, for he liked Ben very much, and the idea of
having him along was a pleasing one.
"That would be fine, Ben," he said. "But I wouldn't want you to do
anything contrary to the wishes of your father."
"Oh, that will be all right," Ben assured him. "He won't care, I am
sure."
"Goodness, what will Mary do if you go away?" said Elsie. Ben seemed
to think as much of Mary Dare as Dick did of Elsie, and he flushed
slightly at his sister's words, and then retorted:
"I guess she'll do about the same thing that you will when Dick
goes-go up into the attic and have a good cry."
"You're a mean brother," said Elsie in pretended anger, lifting her
hand as if to slap him, "and if it wasn't that I will likely soon lose
you, I would box your ears soundly."
They talked awhile, and then Dick attended to the errand that had
brought him there and went home.
"I guess we will have company when we go to war, Tom" he said to his
brother.
"Is that so?" with an interested ear. "Who?"
"Ben Foster."
"You don't mean it, Dick?"
"Yes. He just told me he intends to accompany us."
"But-his father's a Tory!"
"Yes, but he is a reasonable man, and Ben says that he will not
object."
"Well, that will be fine. I'd like to have Ben along."
"So would I. And I guess he'll go."
"I hope he will. He's such a lively, jolly fellow that he is good
company, and will help keep us from getting homesick."
"I guess, Tom, that we will be kept too busy to get homesick."
"You think there will be lots of fighting, then? You feel certain that
there will be war?"
"War has really existed for more than a year, Tom. You know the battle
of Lexington was fought April the nineteenth of last year, and that
was the first battle of the Revolution. And since that there has been
more or less skirmishing between the `Minute Men' of New England and
the British, the most important of all these being the battle of
Bunker Hill, which took place on the seventeenth day of June of last
year."
"Our soldiers defeated the British there, didn't they, Dick!"
"Yes, they got all the better of the battle, but their ammunition gave
out and they had to retreat. Still, it was equivalent to a victory."
"That's what I thought."
"Yes, and then General Washington-who was appointed commander-in-chief
of the army by the Second Continental Congress, at Philadelphia in
May of last year, and who went to Boston and took charge of the army
on July third-kept the British penned up in Boston till about the
middle of last March, when he fortified Dorchester Heights,
overlooking Boston, the work being performed in one night, and next
morning the British, seeing what had been done and realizing that they
would be at the mercy of the patriot army if they remained in Boston,
hurriedly boarded the ships of the British fleet, then in the harbor,
and sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia."
"And General Washington and his patriot troops went down and took
possession of Boston!" said Tom, his eyes shining.
"Yes, Tom. But General Howe, the British commander-in-chief, did not
keep his troops long in Halifax, but sailed to New York, where he was
soon joined by the British fleet under his brother, Admiral Howe, and
by General Clinton."
"And General Washington and his patriot army came to New York and took
possession of that city," said Tom.
"Yes, and he's there now, and that is where we are going, Tom."
"Hurrah, Dick! Say, I'm glad of it. I want to join the army, and fight
the redcoats. I want to fight for liberty and independence."
"So do I. And we will, too."
"When will we go, Dick?"
"In a few days, likely. We have to get things in shape so that mother
and sister Mary can get along without us, you know."
"Yes, but that won't take long. Most of the work for the summer is
done, and all there will be to do on the farm is to wait for the crops
to ripen."
"True. Well, we'll go in a few days, now, likely."
"Don't be in too big a hurry to go, sons," said Mrs. Dare sadly, when
they were discussing the matter, that evening at supper. "Think how
lonesome Mary and I will be when you are gone."
"Mrs. Foster and the girls will come over often," said Dick. "They
will keep you cheered up."
"It will help," was the reply. "But we will be lonely, just the same."
"You might try to be cheerful, mother," said Tom. "Dick and I won't
want to think of you as being lonely."
"Oh, I will get along all right, sons," said the brave woman, forcing
a smile. She wanted to have the boys go away feeling that she was in
good spirits.
They had just finished eating supper, when Ben Foster came in. There
was an eager, excited look on his face, and he said earnestly:
"There's a plot on foot against Dick and Tom, and I came right over to
let you know about it."
"A plot!" exclaimed Mrs. Dare, her face paling and her voice
trembling. "By whom!"
"The Tories."
"Ah!" breathed the woman, a look of anxiety on her face. "This is
terrible!"
"Don't worry, mother," said Dick. "We know of it, now, and can prepare
for them. It will not be as if we were to be taken by surprise."
"No, don't be afraid, Mrs. Dare," said Ben. "We'll make the Tories
wish they had attended to their own business."
"How did you learn about it, Ben?" asked Tom.
"Father found it out this afternoon. You know, he's a king's man, and
they weren't as careful as they might have been, and he heard them
talking about it."
"What are their plans?" asked Dick.
"They are going to come here to-night at about midnight and break in,
take you and Tom out and tie you to trees and whip you-at least, that
is their intention. They won't succeed, though, you may be sure."
"Indeed they will not!" smiled Dick. "There will be some sadder and
wiser Tories before the night is ended."
"Oh, I am sore afraid, son!" said Mrs. Dare. "There will be a dozen or
more of the Tories, and what can you and Tom do against so many?"
"I'll come over and help Dick and Tom, Mrs. Dare," said Ben. "As soon
as father told me about the plan, I made up my mind that I would come
here to-night and help fight the Tories."
"Say, you are all right, Ben!" said Tom, slapping his friend on the
shoulder.
"That is good of you, old fellow," said Dick, seizing Ben's hand and
shaking it heartily. "We thank you."
"Yes, indeed!" said Mary, who saw that Ben's eyes were on her, as if
he wished to hear what she thought about it. "It is indeed good of
you, Ben, to volunteer to do that."
"Oh, that's all right," said Ben, a pleased look in his eyes. "I tell
you we will make it lively for those Tories when they come sneaking
around here."
"We'll do our best to give them a warm reception, at any rate," said
Dick.
"I'll be over in an hour or so," said Ben, "and I'll bring a musket
and a pistol along. But how about Mrs. Dare and Mary? Hadn't they
better come over to our house until after the attack has been made?
The folks told me to ask you to come, Mrs. Dare and Mary."
"Perhaps it would be best," agreed Mrs. Dare. "But still, I hate to go
away and leave you boys here. You might be reckless, when if I were to
stay you would be more careful."
"Don't think that, mother," said Dick. "We are going to go to war
soon, and you can't be with us then, and if you and Mary stayed here,
you might get hit with a stray bullet. There is no use of your taking
the risk. We'll be as careful with you away as if you were here; and
we will be in a position to fight with more freedom and effect if you
are not here."
"Very well, then, Dick. If that is the case, we will go over to Mr.
Foster's. But we will return after the attack has been made, for we
wouldn't want any of the neighbors to see us coming away from there in
the morning, as that would cause them to suspect that Mr. Foster had
warned us, and might cause him trouble."
"True, mother. That will be all right. You and Mary can come home
after we have driven the Tories away."
"We'll go over to Mr. Foster's as soon as it is dark," said Mrs. Dare.
Shortly after dark, Dick, accompanied by his mother and Mary, went
over to the Foster home, and Ben returned with him.
"So you're here, eh?" greeted Tom. "That's fine. I guess when those
cowardly Tories put in an appearance, they will get something that
they are not looking for."
"That's what they will," nodded Ben. "At any rate, I hope so."
"So do I," said Dick.
"I wish Zeke and Lem would be in the party," said Tom, grinning. "I'd
like to give them another thrashing."
"When did you thrash them, before?" queried Ben.
"In Philadelphia, yesterday. Didn't Dick tell you about it?"
"No, you tell me now," eagerly.
Then Tom did so, detailing the encounter on the streets of
Philadelphia, and when he had heard all, Ben said:
"Good! I'm glad you thrashed them."