"Here," replied a hoarse voice. "We are right at hand, Dick Dare, and glad to welcome you. Your brother has told us about you, and we have been hoping you would succeed in freeing us, though we feared you might not be able to do so. But you seem to have succeeded, thank God! I am Joseph Boswick," he continued, "one of the spies sent down here by General Washington to secure information regarding the British. There are three more spies, and seven patriot soldiers and all of us are eager to get out of this terrible hole, as you may well believe."