The boy was by this time more than merely curious. Being intelligent and thoughtful, all this war talk interested him, and now for two years his father’s letters while in service and the constant discussion he heard had rendered familiar the movements of the two armies and the changing fortunes of the war. The great value of the map of Sir William’s chief engineer had been made plain to him, and his mother’s gay suggestion that it would be a nice Christmas gift to Washington set the lad to planning all manner of wild schemes as he lay abed. He finally gave it up in despair. How could a boy manage to steal a map from a man like Verney and then get to Valley Forge? It was no use to bother about it, and he went to sleep. II The boys were up early, overjoyed to see a brilliant, sunshiny day. Mrs. Markham provided an ample luncheon, and with Verney and the Colonel in front of the sleigh, and the twins and Tom well muffled up on the back seat, the party sped away, the snow creaking under the runners. The twins talked, laughed, and sang, while Tom sat still, thinking. They paused again and again in Germantown and beyond it to inspect positions or to talk to officers. At Chestnut Hill they drove down the westward slope and finally came upon the farther picket line below the hill. Verney, an engineer officer, thought a field work was needed at this point. Accordingly, the two officers got out, leaving their fur overcoats in the sleigh, as the air was now warmer and they had to tramp some distance through the heavy drifts of snow. The Colonel put Montresor’s map in the pocket of his fur coat, which he folded and laid in the sleigh. Verney also left the Count’s rich sable at the feet of the twins. “We shall be gone half an hour, boys,” said Verney. “Had we not better call a corporal from the fire yonder to stand by the horses?” “Lord, man,” said Grimstone, “they would stand till night. They are dead tired. Won’t you want the map?” “No,” said Verney; “I know it by heart.” About a hundred yards distant was a great campfire and just ahead of them an outlying picket of two soldiers, one on each side above the road. Tom sat on the front seat, the reins in his hand. Of a sudden a mad idea came into his mind. The map was in the sleigh. The two officers were far away, tramping through the drifts. Before him lay the lonely highway. He would take the map to Washington. He forgot the peril of the mad venture now tempting him, or gave it but a boy’s passing thought. His summers had been spent at a farm near White Marsh. He knew the country well. The temptation was too much for him. A man would have realized the difficulties and the danger for the smaller boys. He did not. A boy’s mind is more simple. The risks for himself were merely additional temptations. He stood up, the reins in his hand, and gazed anxiously after the retreating forms of the two officers. Then he turned to his brothers. “Get over in front, Bill; quick, and don’t make a noise.”