Jack and Annie ran along the riverbank. The windwhooshed over the cold water. Wet snowflakes hissedin the dark.
But then Jack heard other sounds. He heard voices,lots of voices.
He and Annie soon came upon hundreds andhundreds of soldiers gathered near the dark river.
Many carried oil lanterns. The lanterns gave aneerie glow to the snowy twilight.
"The captain and his men must be heresomewhere," said Jack, looking around.
Boats like giant canoes were tied near the river.
Men were leading horses and loading cannons ontothe boats.
"What are they all doing?" said Annie. Jack pulledout their Revolutionary Warbook. He read in a whisper:
On Wednesday, December 25, 1776-"December 25? That's Christmas!" said Annie.
"Today's Christmas!""Cool," said Jack. He started reading again:
On Wednesday, December 25, 1776, the patriotswere losing the war. Ragged and weary, many wereready to give up. Then something began to happenthat would turn the war around. About 2,400American patriots gathered on the west bank of theDelaware River in Pennsylvania. They prepared tocross the river to go on a secret mission.
"A secret mission? Oh, man...," said Jack. He startedto pull out his notebook.
"Attention, troops! The commander-in-chief." asoldier shouted.
Jack and Annie saw a man in a dark cape and athree-cornered hat ride up on a white horse.
The commander-in-chief loomed above the crowdof soldiers. His cape flapped in the wind.
He sat calmly and with dignity on the back of hishorse.
Even at a distance, Jack thought the commander-inchieflooked familiar, very familiar. But he couldn'tfigure out why.
"A dangerous mission lies before you all," the manshouted above the wind. "But I want you to havecourage. You must remember the words of ThomasPaine."The commander-in-chief held up a piece of paper.
He read to his men:
"'These are the times that try men's souls. Thesummer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in thiscrisis, shrink from the service of their country. But hethat stands it now deserves the love and thanks ofman and woman....
"Wow, that's great," whispered Annie.
Listening to the powerful words, Jack felt his spiritsrise, too.
"'The harder the conflict, the more glorious thetriumph,"' the commander-in-chief read on. "'Whatwe obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It isdearness only that gives everything its value."'
There was a silence, as if everyone were thinkingabout the words the man had read. Then the soldiersstarted cheering and clap-ping. They didn't seem tiredat all anymore.
Now they seemed eager to set out on their mission.
8The commander-in-chief saluted his men. Hesteered his horse toward the flyer.
As the horse moved past them, Jack got a betterlook at the rider.
He gasped.
Of course! he thought. He'd seen that face before-ondollar bills!
Jack grabbed Annie's arm.
"I know who the commander-in-chief is!" heexclaimed. "He's George Washington!" |