They were just about to start, when the redcoats suddenly broke camp--all they had to do was to pick up their muskets and start--and set out through the woods. Naturally exclamations of disappointment and dismay escaped the lips of the two. “Dey’re goin’ to der settlement now!” exclaimed Fritz. “Yis. Well, let’s follow thim. Mebby we can do somethin’ to hilp the patriots.” “Maybe so, Tim. Ve vill see abouid dot, anyhow.” So they followed the party of redcoats, keeping about two hundred yards behind them, and after a walk of about a mile and a half, they paused at the edge of a clearing of perhaps a hundred acres, and at the farther side could be seen the houses of the settlers. What struck Tim and Fritz as queer was the fact that they could not see any lights in any of the houses, and this fact may have been noticed by the redcoats, for they hastened forward at a swifter pace. “Looks loike there ain’t any people at home, Dootchy,” said Tim. “Dot is der vay id loogs to me, Tim,” was the reply. “Oi hope thot is the case.” “Yah, so do I.” Feeling that they would be safe in doing so, Tim and Fritz followed the redcoats, though staying farther behind than when they were in the timber, for even in the dusk they were more likely to be seen out here in the open. The redcoats had their attention centered on the cluster of houses, however, and were not likely to look behind them, so the two felt that they probably would not be seen. They were not more than a hundred yards behind the redcoats when the latter reached the houses. Tim and Fritz stopped and now lay down on the ground, and watched and listened. They saw lights appear in the houses presently, and heard the voices of the redcoats raised in tones of seeming anger. Tim chuckled and said: “They seem to be disappointed, Dootchy, me bye.” “Yah, dot is der vay id seems, Tim,” was the reply. “Looks loike the settlers found out thot the ridcoats was comin’ an’ slipped away, hey?” “Yah, dot seems to be der vay uf id.” “Let’s move up closer, Dootchy.” “Allrighd.” They rose to their feet and approached the cluster of houses, and on reaching the nearest one, they peered in at the window. There were two or three redcoats in the room, in which there was little furniture or household goods of any description, and the British soldiers were talking and gesticulating angrily. “Der settlers moved ouid und took der important goods mit dem,” whispered Fritz. “So it would seem, Fritz,” was the reply. Then they went to the next house and looked in, and the scene there was practically the same as at the other house. After looking through the window a few moments, the two went to the next house, and found the same situation there. “The settlers all got away before the ridcoats got here, an’ they took their valuable goods wid thim,” said Tim. “Yah, und der retgoads are pretty mad, alretty,” replied Fritz. “Thot’s what they are, an’ av they lay oyes on us, it’ll go hard wid us, Fritz, me bye.”