The Liberty Boys Running the Blockade | Page 6

at the time, and looked about him. They were in a room with one door but no windows, and were evidently under guard at the back of the stone house. Dick listened attentively for some minutes, and at last heard the sound of some one coming downstairs.
"Put out the light, Bob," he said, in a low tone. "If they see it under the door they may get suspicious."
Bob blew out the candle, and in a moment all was dark and still in the room.
"When the door opens make a rush at it, Bob, and overturn the fellows. There are two of them."
Bob stood ready to act upon the instant, and the steps of the two men coming on could be heard plainer than ever, rays of light beginning to show under the door. The men said nothing, and came on softly, but Dick's ears were very sharp, and he could hear them with no trouble.
The key was turned in the lock and the bolts shot back, and then, as the door opened slowly, the boys both threw their weight upon it suddenly and sent it flying wide open in an instant. There was a startled cry and a heavy fall, and in a moment the place was thrown into profound darkness.
"Pick them up and lock them in, Bob," said Dick, and the boys hurried into the passage, presently stumbling upon two men who were just getting upon their feet.
They seized the men, threw them into the room, closed the door and locked them in, taking out the key, and then looked for the lantern as they heard a call from above.
CHAPTER IV.
--The Boys' Escape.
"Hallo, down there, what's the matter?" called some one at the head of the stairs.
"The blame rebels tried to get out and upset the lantern," answered Dick, in a gruff voice.
"Huh! where are they now?"
"They're all right. We locked the door again."
"H'm! we better come down and help you. We gotter take them away."
"All right, come on, an' fetch another light."
Then the boys began to move steadily toward the stairs, finally finding them.
"Come on, Bob," whispered Dick. "Don't waste any ceremony on them, but tumble them downstairs as soon as they come. They won't get the others out in a hurry, for I have the key."
The boys went rapidly upstairs, but, just as a light appeared at the top, the men in the room below began to shout:
"Hallo! Bill, Toby, look out for them rebels; they've shut us up in the storeroom!"
"Hurry, Bob!" hissed Dick.
The two boys dashed up to the top of the steps and came upon two men carrying lanterns. In an instant each seized one of the Tories and sent him rolling down the stairs uttering startled yells. Then they hurried forward in the dark to the front of the stone house, opened the door and ran out. At the same moment they heard shouts from the house, and then shots were fired, the bullets passing over their heads. They returned the shots, and heard a yell, and a sudden slamming of a door, and then a cry from up the bank:
"Hallo! Dick, Bob, are you there?"
"Yes, Mark, coming right along!" shouted Dick, and then he and Bob hurried up the steep bank, presently seeing lanterns and a number of the Liberty Boys.
"We had some little trouble in finding the place," declared Mark, when Dick and Bob joined him and the rest, there being fully a score of them. "The young ladies had no idea where the wretches had gone, but we picked up the trail at length and then had less difficulty in following it. Where were you?"
"In the stone house--a regular nest of thieves," Dick answered. "I must have a look at the place later."
There was no further sound from below, and the boys went on to the top, where they found several of the Liberty Boys and the two girls.
Dick and Bob now jumped into the saddle and resumed their interrupted ride, going with the girls to the house in Maiden Lane. The friends of Alice and Edith were very charming girls, and the boys spent an hour or two very pleasantly, telling the story of their adventures in the afternoon and evening, and talking of the situation in in the city. The boys at length left the house to return to the camp, Alice and Edith expressing considerable anxiety, however, lest they be way-laid by the men who had already made an unsuccessful attempt to keep them prisoners.
In a short time they were back in camp, the occasional tramp of a sentry or the sudden flaring up of a fire from a puff of night air being the only things to show that there was any one there. The Liberty Boys were always vigilant, for one never knew when an