sn'. Yer Uncle 'Rasmus ain' no sich fool
as dat; but de still trout wha' lays under de shadder ob de rock catches
a good many more flies what drif down de stream, dan does de fish what
am leapin' an' plungin' to beat de band. Say, wha' you tink when I done
tole you Gin'ral Lafayette wid all his army is layin' at Williamsburg
des waitin' fo' a chance to jump down on de back ob Gin'ral Cornwallis?"

Pierre and I looked at each other questioningly, as if asking whether
the old negro had suddenly taken leave of his senses, for it seemed
impossible he could have gathered information which was of the greatest
importance to us, while we who had been moving around through the
encampment had failed to hear anything of the kind.

"Have you been dreaming, Uncle 'Rasmus?" little Frenchie asked with a
smile. "Surely you couldn't have picked up all that news while being
denned in here."

"I did fo' a fac', honey, an' s'posen yer Uncle 'Rasmus kin tell you dat
Gin'ral Washington is a hustlin' fo' to get all his sogers down dis yere
way so's to make de Britishers don' gib him de slip? I'se 'lowin',
chillun, dat now's de time when de king's men hab done got dereselves in
a mighty small box."

"If you didn't dream it, how did you come to learn all these things?" I
asked impatiently, and the old negro replied as he pattered to and fro
in front of the fire, adding to the already plentiful supply of
provisions before us:

"Don' you 'member Marse Peyton's ole Joe, honey? Course you do, kase
you've seen him on de plantation more times dan I'se got hairs on dis
yere gray head. Well, ole Joe is right in dis yere town, waddlin' back
an' forth, makin' out as ef he was waitin' on some ob de British
ossifers. Marse Peyton done sent him down here so's he could keep his
ears open, an' he's come dis berry day from Williamsburg, where he
sneaked off so's to tell Gin'ral Lafayette wha' he done foun' out."

Again Pierre and I looked at each other in amazement, and I must also
add with no little of disappointment. We had been flattering ourselves
that it might be possible for us to play the spy upon the Britishers,
and thereby earn much of credit for our small company of Minute Boys,
never for the moment dreaming that there might be others in the village
who were playing the same part; but surely not allowing that an old
negro, a slave, might be employed in the same work.

"It begins to look as if we were not needed very much in this town of
York,