human
Are you really going to join the Continental army, Dick, you and Tom!
gpt
Yes, Ben,
human
Well, say, I'm going to go with you,
gpt
Oh, Ben! exclaimed Elsie.
human
What will father say?
gpt
Father's all right, sis. He is a king's man, everybody knows that, but he is reasonable, and lets other people think as they like. He knows that I'm a patriot, and he won't object.
human
That would be fine, Ben, he said.
gpt
But I wouldn't want you to do anything contrary to the wishes of your father.
human
Oh, that will be all right, Ben assured him.
gpt
He won't care, I am sure.
human
Goodness, what will Mary do if you go away?
gpt
I guess she'll do about the same thing that you will when Dick goes-go up into the attic and have a good cry.
human
You're a mean brother, said Elsie in pretended anger, lifting her hand as if to slap him,
gpt
I guess we will have company when we go to war, Tom
human
Is that so? with an interested ear.
gpt
Who?
human
Ben Foster.
gpt
You don't mean it, Dick?
human
Yes. He just told me he intends to accompany us.
gpt
But-his father's a Tory!
human
Yes, but he is a reasonable man, and Ben says that he will not object.
gpt
Well, that will be fine. I'd like to have Ben along.
human
So would I. And I guess he'll go.
gpt
I hope he will. He's such a lively, jolly fellow that he is good company, and will help keep us from getting homesick.
human
I guess, Tom, that we will be kept too busy to get homesick.
gpt
You think there will be lots of fighting, then? You feel certain that there will be war?
human
War has really existed for more than a year, Tom. You know the battle of Lexington was fought April the nineteenth of last year, and that was the first battle of the Revolution. And since that there has been more or less skirmishing between the `Minute Men' of New England and the British, the most important of all these being the battle of Bunker Hill, which took place on the seventeenth day of June of last year.
gpt
Our soldiers defeated the British there, didn't they, Dick!
human
Yes, they got all the better of the battle, but their ammunition gave out and they had to retreat. Still, it was equivalent to a victory.
gpt
That's what I thought.
human
Yes, and then General Washington-who was appointed commander-in-chief of the army by the Second Continental Congress, at Philadelphia in May of last year, and who went to Boston and took charge of the army on July third-kept the British penned up in Boston till about the middle of last March, when he fortified Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston, the work being performed in one night, and next morning the British, seeing what had been done and realizing that they would be at the mercy of the patriot army if they remained in Boston, hurriedly boarded the ships of the British fleet, then in the harbor, and sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
gpt
And General Washington and his patriot troops went down and took possession of Boston!
human
Yes, Tom. But General Howe, the British commander-in-chief, did not keep his troops long in Halifax, but sailed to New York, where he was soon joined by the British fleet under his brother, Admiral Howe, and by General Clinton.
gpt
And General Washington and his patriot army came to New York and took possession of that city,
human
Yes, and he's there now, and that is where we are going, Tom.
gpt
Hurrah, Dick! Say, I'm glad of it. I want to join the army, and fight the redcoats. I want to fight for liberty and independence.
human
So do I. And we will, too.
gpt
When will we go, Dick?
human
In a few days, likely. We have to get things in shape so that mother and sister Mary can get along without us, you know.
gpt
Yes, but that won't take long. Most of the work for the summer is done, and all there will be to do on the farm is to wait for the crops to ripen.
human
True. Well, we'll go in a few days, now, likely.
gpt
Don't be in too big a hurry to go, sons, said Mrs. Dare sadly, when they were discussing the matter, that evening at supper.
human
Think how lonesome Mary and I will be when you are gone.
gpt
Mrs. Foster and the girls will come over often, said Dick.
human
They will keep you cheered up.
gpt
It will help, was the reply.
human
But we will be lonely, just the same.
gpt
You might try to be cheerful, mother, said Tom.
human
Dick and I won't want to think of you as being lonely.
gpt
Oh, I will get along all right, sons,