Luckily, however, none of the shots were effective, the bullets going wide of the mark, and Dick and Tim kept on running and were soon in the timber and among their comrades. Then the patriots watched the growing fire eagerly, and the soldiers that had been instructed to shoot the redcoats if they tried to extinguish the fire, waited eagerly for the attempt to be made, their muskets held in readiness for instant use. Then suddenly the gate of the fort was thrown open and out rushed a large number of British soldiers, bringing water with which to put out the fire. And as they appeared, the patriot soldiers opened fire, and a rain of bullets was poured in among the British. Crash! roar! Loudly the volleys rang out, and yells of pain and rage went up from the lips of the redcoats struck by the bullets. And then to the rattle of the musketry was added the boom-boom of the field-pieces. CHAPTER XXIII The Siege Doubtless the patriots would have been able to keep the redcoats from putting out the fire, and it would have burned the stockade-wall and perhaps the fort, but a thunder-storm came up just as the affair was at its height, and a heavy rain beating down on the fire, put it out. The patriots, realizing that it would be useless to try to set the fort afire when the wood was wet, returned to their encampment, and made themselves as comfortable as they could for the night. Next morning work was resumed, but no very rapid progress was made. They kept pounding the stockade-wall with six-pound cannon balls, but they did not seem to make much impression. Nor did General Greene deem it wise to try to storm the fort, for the structure was too strong to break through, and the wall was too high to scale. It began to look as if the siege was to be a long one, and the patriots settled down to take it as easy as possible, and make a thorough job of the affair. They were determined that they would capture the fort sooner or later. When the siege had been going on four or five days, a patriot settler came to the encampment, and told General Greene that a British force was coming to reinforce Fort Ninety-Six, and it was about fifty miles distant, and coming from the coast. General Sumpter had sent the patriot to warn General Greene. The general called a council of the members of his staff, and then they questioned the patriot closely. “How long will it take the British to reach here?” asked General Greene. “About three days, I think,” was the reply. “And how strong a force is it?” “The man that brought the news to General Sumpter said there was about five hundred soldiers in the force.” “That number, in addition to the force that Major Cruger already has in the fort will make his army too strong for us,” said General Greene. “We must capture the fort before the reinforcements get here,” said Captain Morgan. “Yes, so we must,” agreed the general. “That is, if we can.”