"Very well, Dick," said Putnam. "You did well to deliver the message." "I saw his force retreating, sir, from down the slope a ways," went on Dick, "and I saw some of the redcoats make a prisoner of General Stirling." "So you say, my boy?" exclaimed Putnam. "That is bad. Well, it cannot be helped. But, I think the major portion of his force will succeed in reaching the Heights." "Yes, I think so, General Putnam. The soldiers are coming steadily, and have got past the main part of the British force." "Thanks for the information, Dick," said the general, and then the youth rejoined his comrades at the breastworks. Tom and Ben had many questions to ask, and he told them briefly the story of his trip with the despatch. The soldiers of Stirling's force reached and entered the works on the Heights by the time Dick had finished his story, and the battle of Long Island was practically ended, the firing ceasing very soon afterwards. The British army now advanced till in front of Brooklyn Heights, but it did not attempt to storm the defenses. Doubtless General Howe remembered Bunker Hill, and felt that a repetition of that experience would be disastrous to the king's cause. General Washington sent over two thousand more soldiers, from New York, which made the force ten thousand strong within the patriot works of Brooklyn Heights, and he was positive, as was General Putnam also, that the Heights could be held, that if the British made an attack it would be disastrous for them. The action of General Howe showed that he thought so too, for instead of getting ready to attack, he stretched his force around the Heights, from the East River on the north to the East River again, on the south, in a semicircle, and it was plain that his intention was to establish a siege. General Washington realized at once that it would not do to stay on Brooklyn Heights, under such circumstances, for if the British fleet were to come up the East River and cut off the patriot army's retreat in that direction, the only result possible would be the surrender of the Continental army on the Heights. As he had no intention of surrendering, he decided to evacuate the position, and that night all the boats that could be gathered together were secured and the patriot army was removed across the river to New York. Also all the arms, ammunitions, provisions of every kind, and the heavy artillery, were ferried over. Nothing was left, and when next morning the British looked up at the works on the Heights, they were amazed to see no signs of life there-for so silently and cautiously had the patriots worked during the night that the British had not gotten an inkling of the movement. The redcoats pushed up the hill, and climbed over the works, only to stare around in dismay. Nothing was left of the big army that had been there only the evening before.