tion to bring him back where he belonged?"

Surely there was good reason why I should be called thick-headed, for
this was not the only time since morning that I had shown myself to be a
stupid; yet I was not so simple but I could readily understand that even
though we might have the advantage of being able to go and come from the
town of York to the plantation at will, we would not be so far advanced
toward the recovery of the stolen horses as to be able to say that our
work was in a fair way of being performed.

It was one thing, and I grant you an important one, to enter the town
without giving rise to suspicions; but quite another and more serious to
take from the quarters of the British army horses which would be guarded
by soldiers, and get away with them through the lines of sentinels out
over the entrenchments.

"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