Dick rose to his feet, slowly and quietly. His actions were such as would cause the redcoat to think he did not contemplate offering any resistance, and this was done purposely, so as to throw the redcoat off his guard. And it worked that way, for the soldier, with a careless wave of the hand, said: "March along in front of me to the encampment, young fellow. We'll see what General Percy thinks about you." But Dick did not march, as ordered to do. Instead, he suddenly leaped upon the amazed soldier, and seizing him by the throat, so as to prevent his crying out, tripped him, throwing him to the ground heavily, and then, seated astride the redcoat's body, and holding him pinned to the earth in spite of his struggles. The soldier was a pretty strong man, but he had been taken at a disadvantage and by surprise, and so was not in a position to exercise his full powers, and the result was, that although only a youth of eighteen years, Dick managed to choke the soldier into a state of insensibility in a very few minutes. And then, when confident that the redcoat was unconscious, Dick let go his hold, and proceeded to bind the redcoat's hands and feet, and gag him. This accomplished, the youth dragged the soldier into the deepest and thickest clump of bushes and concealed him there, so that in case any soldiers came to the timber, later on, they would not discover his presence. Having accomplished this task, Dick sat down beside the tree and drew a long breath of relief and satisfaction. "There, that turned out all right, after all," he murmured. "But, I thought at first that I might be taken into camp a prisoner, and that would have been bad indeed." Dick looked toward the encampment keenly, as he spoke, and noted that all was quiet there, and that none of the soldiers were as yet evincing any disposition to visit the clump of timber. At least an hour passed, and then Dick saw a couple of soldiers leave the encampment and come toward the timber. As soon as he was certain they were coming to loll in the shade of the trees, Dick climbed the tree. From there he could hear the conversation of the redcoats, and there was not much chance that they would discover his presence, the foliage in the tree as has been noted, being quite thick. The two soldiers entered the edge of the timber and seated themselves under a tree close to the one Dick was in, and sat there, smoking and talking, their conversation being mainly personal, as had been the case with the two that had been there in the forenoon. But, after a while they got to talking about the army, and finally touched upon the very matter that Dick wish to hear discussed. In a general way they commented upon the bustle, stir and preparation that indicated some important move. "I'm glad of it," remarked one. "I am getting tired of being cooped up in camp. I'd rather do some marching and fighting."