But although they put in the rest of the day, practically searching for Dick, they did not find him, nor did they encounter any Indians. It is likely that the redskins had heard about the attack on the village, and kept out of the way. Ben was greatly worried about their failure to find Dick or learn anything regarding his whereabouts. He was worried, too, about the whereabouts of Tom. He and Dick had started out to look for Tom, and had themselves been made prisoners, had very nearly been burned at the stake, had become separated in their flight from the redskins, and now Dick’s whereabouts was not known. Thus both the Dare boys were missing, and their friends feared that both were in serious trouble, somewhere, though where, was the difficulty. “Perhaps we may find Dick to-morrow,” said Ben. “Sure an’ Oi hope thot we may foind ’im, Ben,” replied Tim Murphy. “It’s a foine bye Dick is.” “Yah, Dick and Tom are both fine poys, alretty,” said Fritz Schmockenburg. “Und I hope dot ve find dem to-morrow.” “Oi wish we could foind thim as aisy as ye can foind woildcats whin standin’ guard, Fritz,” chuckled Tim, and then he told Ben the story of how Fritz had heard a noise, thought the Indians were coming to attack the camp, and had fired a shot and rushed into the encampment, yelling that the Indians were coming, and that when they had gone and looked at the point where Fritz had fired the shot, they had found a dead wildcat. Ben laughed, and then said: “Well, if it had been an Indian, you would have settled his account, Fritz.” “Yah, dot is so,” nodded Fritz, grinning. Next morning the patriot soldiers again began searching for Dick, at the same time keeping their eyes open for Indians, but did not find either, and after eating their luncheon at noon, they set out toward the patriot encampment in Peaceful Valley, as they were expected to report there that evening. It was almost dark when they arrived at the encampment, and the other two companies were already there. They had found two or three Indian villages, had killed and wounded a number of Indians and put the rest to flight, as Captain Morgan’s force had done. They had not seen anything of Dick or Tom Dare. General Greene was somewhat worried over the fact that Dick and Tom were missing, for he liked the youths, and feared that they had met with death at the hands of the redskins. “We will break camp here in the morning, however,” he told his officers, “and will march upon Fort Ninety-Six. Possibly we may find the Dare Boys somewhere in that neighborhood. Dick may have continued onward in that direction to look for his brother Tom.” “True,” agreed Captain Morgan. “I hope we may find them alive and well.” CHAPTER XVII Ben Reconnoiters The encampment was astir early next morning, and the soldiers cooked and ate breakfast, and then began making preparations to get ready for the march.