Annie lifted up her long dress and ran to a treeclose to the river. Jack held on to his hat and ran afterher.

They peeked out from behind the tree. More snowflurries swirled in the twilight.

"Redcoats?" whispered Annie.

"Can't tell," said Jack.

In the flickering firelight, the men didn't seem to bewearing uniforms at all. They wore ragged pants andcoats. Some evenhad their feet wrapped in tattered cloth. "Come on,"Annie said. She ran to a tree closer to the river. Jackfollowed.

"This is as close as we should get," he whispered.

"But we still can't tell what they're wearing," saidAnnie.

She crept forward and hid behind a scraggly bush.

"No closer!" Jack whispered.

But Annie took off again. She crouched behind arock. She was only about ten feet from the campfire.

Oh, brother, she's way too close now, Jack thought.

But he took a deep breath and ran to the rock.

When he joined Annie, she looked at him andgrinned.

"This is like hide-and-seek," she whispered.

"It's not a game, Annie," Jack whispered back. "It'swar. Be serious.""I am serious!" said Annie, her voice rising.

"Shh!" said Jack.

But it was too late. One of the men stood andlooked around.

"What's the matter, Captain?" another asked.

"I heard something," said the captain. He held uphis musket.

Jack stopped breathing.

"Who's there?" the captain shouted. Jack looked atAnnie. She shrugged. 'We're caught," she whispered.

"Who's there?" the captain shouted again.

"Just two kids," Annie answered in a small voice.

"Come out and show yourselves!" the captain said.

Jack and Annie stood up from behind the rock.

They both held up their hands.

"We come in peace," said Annie.

In the shadowy twilight, the captain moved towardthem.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"We're Jack and Annie," said Annie.

"Why were you spying on us?" he asked.

"We weren't spying," said Jack. "We just wanted toknow if you were redcoats or patriots.""Which would you like us to be?" the shadowyfigure asked.

"Patriots," said Jack.

'We are patriots," the captain said.

"Thank goodness!" said Annie.

The captain smiled.

"Where are you from?" he asked. His voice hadsoftened.

"We're visiting relatives nearby," Jack said.

"Frog Creek, Pennsylvania," said Annie at the sametime.

"But that's amazing!" the captain said. "My farm isin Frog Creek. Where is your farm?"Jack didn't know how to answer.

"It's near the Frog Creek woods," said Annie.

"All farms are near woods," the man said with alaugh. "What--"Just then, someone called from up the river. "It'stime, Captain!"The captain turned to the other men near thecampfire. "It's time!" he repeated.

The soldiers quickly put out their fire. They stoodwith their muskets on their shoulders.

"Time for what, Captain?" Annie asked.

"Time to meet up with our commander-in-chief," hesaid. "Return to your family now so your mother andfather won't worry about you.""Yes, sir," said Jack.

"It is nice to see children," the captain said. "I wasjust trying to write a letter to my own son anddaughter. I didn't know what to say.""Tell them that you miss them," said Annie.

The man smiled.

"And I do, indeed," he said softly. Then he turnedand headed up the river-bank. His ragged menfollowed behind. Soon they all disappeared into thecold mist.

Jack looked around. The wind was blowing harder.

The snow was sticking to the ground.

"What now?" he asked.

More than anything, he wanted to go back home.

With the soldiers gone, the riverbank felt lonely andscary.

"We still have to find something to send," saidAnnie.

"I know," said Jack.

"Maybe we should just follow the captain and hismen," said Annie. "They might lead us to something."Jack wasn't sure that was a good idea. But he didn'thave a better one.

"Okay. But let's try not to get caught this time," hesaidHe and Annie took off through the frozen twilight,following the snowy footprints of the Americanpatriots.