"We will wait a few days, Dick, and then I may send you again. I congratulate you on the success of your first attempt at spying. You did well, Dick, exceedingly well, and I shall doubtless make use of you frequently in the future, if you care to undertake the work." "I shall be glad to do so, your excellency. My only wish is to do all in my power to aid the people of America to secure their independence, and if I can be of value by doing spy-work, then I shall take pleasure in doing it." "That is the right spirit, my boy, and I shall call upon you whenever I have work that I think you can do better than an older man could do it." Then he dismissed Dick, who saluted and withdrew, going to his quarters. He found Tom there, engaged in telling the story of his and Dick's adventures over on Long Island, and Ben and the other soldiers were listening eagerly, their eyes shining. They greeted Dick joyously. "Say, I wish I had been with you two fellows, old man," said Ben Foster. "You have got the bulge on the rest of us, and that isn't fair. You have already encountered the redcoats and had adventures with them, while the rest of us have had to stay cooped up here in the city." Ben pretended to be vexed with Dick and Tom, but it was only pretense. "You boys will get all the adventure you want, one of these days, I think," smiled Dick. "There is going to be a battle over on Long Island sooner or later, and then you will get all the fighting you want." "Hurroo!" cried Tim Murphy, "shure an' thot is phwat we are afther wantin', Oi dunno. It's all av us wull foight to the last gasp, sure an' we wull." "Yah, ve vill fighd lige eferyting," declared Fritz Schmockenburg. "Ve are nod avraid uf der retgoads, und dot is so." "How soon will the battle take place, Dick?" queried Ben Foster. Dick shook his head. "As to that I cannot say, Ben," he replied. "But it will come soon enough, without doubt, for the British have twenty-five thousand soldiers, while we have not more than eighteen thousand." "That is pretty big odds," said Ben, with a shake of the head. "So it is," agreed Dick. "But the patriots will give a good account of themselves when the time comes, I feel certain." "Yah, ve vill gif ein goot accound mit mysellufs," said Fritz, the Dutch soldier. "Just listen to thot, wull yez?" remarked Tim, scathingly. "Shure an' there is agotism fur yez!" "Well, I hope all of us will always give a good account of ourselves," said Dick, quietly. "And I believe we will." "We'll try to, Dick," said Ben, earnestly. A few days later General Washington again summoned Dick and told him to go over on Long Island and see if he could learn anything regarding the intentions of the British. "You will have to be very careful, this time, however, Dick," he cautioned; "for you are known to many of the British, and if they should see you, they would capture you, and that would be bad."