"March along in front of me to the encampment, young fellow. We'll see
what General Percy thinks about you."

But Dick did not march, as ordered to do. Instead, he suddenly leaped
upon the amazed soldier, and seizing him by the throat, so as to
prevent his crying out, tripped him, throwing him to the ground
heavily, and then, seated astride the redcoat's body, and holding him
pinned to the earth in spite of his struggles.

The soldier was a pretty strong man, but he had been taken at a
disadvantage and by surprise, and so was not in a position to exercise
his full powers, and the result was, that although only a youth of
eighteen years, Dick managed to choke the soldier into a state of
insensibility in a very few minutes.

And then, when confident that the redcoat was unconscious, Dick let go
his hold, and proceeded to bind the redcoat's hands and feet, and gag
him. This accomplished, the youth dragged the soldier into the deepest
and thickest clump of bushes and concealed him there, so that in case
any soldiers came to the timber, later on, they would not discover his
presence.

Having accomplished this task, Dick sat down beside the tree and drew
a long breath of relief and satisfaction.

"There, that turned out all right, after all," he murmured. "But, I
thought at first that I might be taken into camp a prisoner, and that
would have been bad indeed."

Dick looked toward the encampment keenly, as he spoke, and noted that