The Dare Boys of 1776 | Page 7

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