“There’s Ninety-Six,” murmured Dick, gazing at the fort eagerly. “I wonder if Tom is a prisoner there?” CHAPTER XIX The Settlers’ Retreat Tom Dare realized that he was indeed in great danger, for the rocks would be as likely to strike him as not, if he accompanied the redcoats, and it looked as if he would have to accompany them. Slowly the time rolled away, and when the British reinforcements, to the number of about seventy-five, reached there, it was decided to start at once for the valley. They could reach there easily before evening, they felt certain. So they set out, with Tom among them. As they entered upon the path that led along the foot of the mountain, Tom looked upward quickly, as if expecting to see some of the stones come rolling down upon them. If the settlers did not know he was with the redcoats, they would soon begin rolling the stones down, and Tom did not like the idea of being there among the British. They continued onward perhaps two hundred yards, and then Tom looked upward again, an apprehensive expression on his face, and one of the soldiers, noticing this, glanced upward a moment later, a look of curiosity on his face. The look quickly changed to one of terror, however, and he yelled, loudly: “Look out for the rock, comrades! Be ready to dodge!” and he pointed up the mountainside. His comrades, and Tom also, glanced upward and saw a big rock coming bounding down the steep descent. It was now not more than one hundred yards distant, and coming with the speed of the wind. Down it came, leaping, bounding, rolling, and the next moment it struck in the midst of the soldiers, knocking a couple of them down, and causing the others to tumble over one another in their attempts to get out of the stone’s course. “So that is what you were looking upward for, eh?” cried the redcoat who had noted Tom’s action and who had glanced upward and seen the rock coming. “The rebels have piled stones along the top of the precipice, comrades, and they’ll annihilate our party if we try to make our way along this path to the valley.” “There comes another rock!” yelled another soldier at that moment, and there was a lively scrambling to get out of the rock’s course. They managed to keep from getting hit, this time, but realized that if they continued onward along the path, they would be crushed and knocked to pieces by the stones, and so the lieutenant gave the order to retreat, and the soldiers hastened back along the path, to the point they had left only a short time before. Here they paused, and held a council. It was decided to ascend to the top of the precipice and attack the settlers there, if they stood their ground and showed fight. “We can reach the valley by going that way,” said the lieutenant.