“Ralph Hicks, you know you did tell him!” interrupted Sally. “And, now, why did you do it?”
“Well, Sally,” was the reply, in a desperate tone, “if you must know, I did it because you--because, well, you seemed to like Dick Dare, that’s why. You danced with him four or five times, and I didn’t get to dance with you once.”
“So that is the reason!” There was anger and scorn in the girl’s voice. “I danced with Dick Dare several times because he is a good dancer, and because he is a stranger, and our guest. And you had to go and get jealous and hand him over to the redcoats. Ralph Hicks, I have a good mind to never speak to you again!”
“I’m sorry, Sally,” said Hicks. “I--well, I was kind of mad at Dick Dare, and--and, yes, jealous of him. I wish you were not angry with me, Sally.”
“I am angry, Ralph,” was the grim reply. “And there is just one way that you can get me over my angry feeling toward you.”
“By securing the freedom of Dick and Tom Dare and Ben Foster.”
Hicks was silent a few moments, and then said: “I can’t do that, Sally. The redcoats have the three prisoners, and how could I get them out of their hands?”
“I don’t know, that’s your problem, but if you want me to ever speak to you, after to-night, you must get those three young men free. You were the cause of their being made prisoners, and it is your place to rescue them.”
“If you will help me,” said Hicks, presently, after a period of pondering, “perhaps I might manage it.”
“I’ll tell you. You have some mighty fine cider in the cellar, haven’t you?”
“Well, I’ll get a bottle of the cider, and will be out here with it, and you tell the soldier that is guarding the prisoners that if he will step out of doors, I will give him some cider. And when he comes out, you cut the ropes and free the prisoners, and they can rush out, knock the redcoat over and make their escape.”
“But, won’t the redcoat wonder why the cider isn’t brought into the room and given to him there?”
“Tell him there is only one bottle, and that the other soldiers would want some of it, too, if they saw him drinking.”
“Very well,” said Sally, after a few moments of silence, “we will try that plan. Go down into the cellar and get a bottle of the cider.”
“If we succeed in setting the prisoners free, you’ll--you won’t be angry with me, will you?”