other would likely be in the cabin asleep. To capture the one guard,
without making a noise that would be heard by the other would be a
difficult matter, but Dick was not the kind of youth to be dismayed by
difficulties. Their presence only made him the more determined.

He advanced carefully, and suddenly he caught sight of a shadowy form
a few feet ahead of him. It was the sentinel, undoubtedly, and luckily
for Dick, the redcoat's back was partially toward him, and the soldier
was gazing in almost the opposite direction from that in which Dick
was approaching.

The youth, after a keen survey of the form, decided that the redcoat's
back was toward him, and so advanced a couple of steps, as silently as
a shadow. He was now close upon the man, and reaching out suddenly, he
grasped the fellow by the throat with both hands, and raising his knee
quickly, struck the soldier in the small of the back, and threw him
with a twisting motion to the deck; then dropping upon the fallen man,
Dick compressed his windpipe, gripping it with all his might.

Although but eighteen years of age, Dick Dare was stronger than the
majority of men. He was naturally powerful, and his life on the farm
had been such as to develop his strength and endurance, and so it
happened that he was easily more than a match for the British soldier.
The fact that this fellow had been taken completely by surprise worked
to his disadvantage, too, and although he struggled hard, he was
unable to do anything, and the gripping fingers, compressing his
windpipe like bands of steel, gradually weakened him, for he was
unable to get his breath. Neither could he cry out, and the result was
that in about three minutes from the time Dick had seized the redcoat,
the fellow was lying unconsciously on the deck-choked into