Then followed a few moments of silence, when Dolly emerged from a dark corner--her cheeks very much flushed, her eyes very wide and bright--and, pressing up to the Colonel's knee, said eagerly: "But, oh please, sir, what became of you and the men?" The Colonel looked down and smiled as he lifted Dolly on his knee. "Why, my little girl, here I am, you see; I wasn't killed after all." "But did you really go clear back?" asked Dolly. "Yes, my dear, we all went back and staid two or three hours; and when it came morning we made believe to be the whole army. We made our fires and we got our breakfasts and we whistled and talked and made all the stir we could, but as the good Lord would have it there was such a thick fog that you could not see your hand before your face. You see that while the fog hung over the island and covered us, it was all clear down by the river." "Why, that's just the way it was when they crossed the Red Sea," said Dolly, eagerly; "wasn't it, Papa?" "Something so, my dear," said her father; but her mother made her a sign not to talk. "How long did it take to do the whole thing?" "Well, thanks to those Marblehead boys, by daybreak the greater part of the army were safe on the New York side. A little after daylight we marched off quietly and went down to the ferry. Washington was still there, and we begged him to go in the first boat; but no, he was immovable. He saw us all off, and went himself in the very last boat, after every man was in." "What a glorious fellow!" said the Doctor. "Please, sir," said Will, who, with distended eyes, had been listening, "what did the British say when they found out?" The Colonel laid his head back and gave a hearty laugh. "They had a message sent them, by a Tory woman down by the ferry, what was going on. She sent her black servant, and he got through our American lines but was stopped by the Hessians, who could not understand his gibberish, and so kept him till long after all was over. Then a British officer overhauled him and was pretty well amazed at his story. He gave the alarm, and General Howe's aid-de-camp, with a body of men, climbed over the intrenchments and found all deserted. They hurried down to the landing just in time to see the rear boats half way across the river." "Well, that is _almost_ like the crossing of the Red Sea," said the Doctor. "Oh, weren't the British furious!" cried Bill. "Yes, they did fire away at the boats, and one straggling boat they hit and forced the men to return; but it turned out only three vagabonds that had come to plunder." It was after the nine o'clock bell had dismissed the Colonel and his lady that the Doctor noticed the wide and radiant eyes of little Dolly and his boys.