"Then this Minute-Boy business that you talked about Fitz, is to be dropped?" Saul asked a few moments after Uncle 'Rasmus had left us, and I turned upon him in astonishment, whereupon he, reading the question which must have been plainly written on my face, added: "It would seem as if we were turning all our attention to getting back the mare and Silver Heels, in which case, as a matter of course, there can be no other work for us. If we should be so fortunate as to succeed, it would become necessary to scurry out of this part of the country, lest my Lord Cornwallis lay us by the heels, for I suppose they would set it down as stealing if we should reclaim our own." "And why might it not be that you would continue the work of Minute Boys, even while striving to get back the horses which were taken from you?" little Frenchie asked as if in wonderment. "It is not to be supposed we can go into the town of York, and, without delay, take from the stables where Simcoe's Rangers keep their horses, two of the best; but many days will pass, yea _must_ pass, before the work can be accomplished. In the meanwhile, if we are free to go in and out of the town, why might it not be possible for us to carry much of information to the Americans? It would seem as if our work as Minute Boys was but just beginning." "What between your plans and those of Uncle 'Rasmus's, I confess to being thoroughly mixed," Saul muttered impatiently. "In the first place, even though you deem it of so much importance, I fail to see how being able to go in and out of the town will add to the possibility of getting our horses. Unless I am much mistaken in regard to military matters, it will not be a simple affair to steal either the mare or Silver Heels from the soldiers. Then, if we are bending all our efforts to that one purpose, how are we to serve the colony? What we could learn in the town of York that would be of importance to the Americans, passes my understanding." "We shall see," Pierre said laughingly, with a shrug of the shoulders and a wave of his hand. "It shall be for a little French boy from New Orleans, who never saw the land where his father and mother were born, to teach you Virginians how it may be possible to bear a hand in this business, which is like to grow exceeding warm when our French general closes in on Cornwallis's army, for now has come the time to hold the king's men as a strong man holds a child in his grasp, if so be your General Washington is minded to give him the authority." "To hear you talk, Pierre, one might suppose you had served with soldiers all your short life," Saul cried irritably, and again little Frenchie laughed as he replied: "My father was a soldier, and fought bravely. I have heard him and his comrades conversing; I have seen them draw plans for a campaign, and discuss the strength of fortifications, until it seemed to me, even though I have had no experience in such matters, that I knew much concerning them."