Having thus restored Uncle 'Rasmus to hopefulness and courage, Pierre announced, as if there could be no question of any protest from me, that we would make our way to where the Rangers were quartered, and I obeyed him, much as a child might have done, mentally clinging to the lad as if he had been my elder. We two walked around the village as if having no other purpose than to view a military encampment. We gaped here, or stood there in open-mouthed astonishment, as if mightily impressed with everything we saw, and while doing so Pierre would whisper now and then as we passed this redoubt or that battery: "Have you got everything well in mind now, lad? Seven redoubts and six batteries on the land side; a line of batteries on the river bank; the grand battery near the church; three redoubts just at the ravine, one near the road to Hampton, and two by the river." Thus it was he called my attention to each point where the Britishers were working, although in some cases it would have been impossible for me to have said whether they were building redoubts, throwing up earthworks for a battery, or simply digging a canal. It appeared that little Frenchie understood all their purpose, and I said to myself that if so be he could make his way from out this town of York into the American lines, of a verity he would be able to give General Lafayette such information as would be of exceeding value. We saw Silver Heels. She was made fast to the stable line with a lot of other horses, and, so far as I could see, was receiving even more attention than if she had been at home on the plantation, for there were a dozen men or more working all the time currying this horse, rubbing that one down, bandaging a leg that showed signs of swelling, and in many ways taking as good care of the steeds as the best jockeys in Virginia could have done. "You see she hasn't fallen into such bad hands," Pierre said as we passed for the third time where I could have a good view of my pet, and I replied sorrowfully: "It isn't that she won't be taken care of, Pierre, for he into whose hands she might fall would indeed be a fool if he neglected so valuable a bit of horse-flesh; but it is the thought that she will be taken into battle, wounded, and left on the field to die, that breaks my heart." "And yet many a poor fellow will be wounded on the field of battle, and left there to die. Mayhap it will be the fate of you or of me, and since Silver Heels has been reared by a rebel, she must take the same chances that all us rebels in this country are forced to take if the yoke of the king's oppression is to be removed from our necks." Little Frenchie spoke like a preacher, and I dimly wondered whether his courage might not be failing him, now that we were fully committed to as desperate a venture as ever lads embarked on; but I need have had no forebodings, for after remaining silent a dozen seconds or more he seemingly shook off somber thoughts, and said cheerily: