Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/95

Rh shedding of blood. The prisoners were each mounted behind one of the troopers, and in this condition conducted across the river. The saddle and other equipments were stripped from the major's dead steed; and Robinson's horse, Captain Peter, was burdened with the load of two wounded men, whose own horses had escaped from them in the fray. In this guise the band of freebooters, with their prisoners and spoils, slowly and confusedly made their way to the appointed place of reassembling. In a few moments they were ranged beneath the chestnut, waiting for orders from their self-important and vain commander.

[The next day Horseshoe Robinson managed to escape and bent all his ingenuity to bring about the freedom of Butler. While endeavoring to accomplish this, he meets with the following adventure.]

David Ramsay s house was situated on a byroad, between five and six miles from Musgrove's mill, and at about the distance of one mile from the principal route of travel between Ninety-Six and Blackstock's. In passing from the military post that had been established at the former place, towards the latter, Ramsay's lay off to the left, with a piece of dense wood intervening. The byway, leading through the farm, diverged from the main road and traversed this wood until it reached the cultivated grounds immediately around Ramsay s dwelling. In the journey from Musgrove's mill to this point of divergence the traveler was obliged to ride some two or three miles upon the great road leading from the British garrison, a road that, at the time of my story, was much frequented by military parties, scouts, and patrols, that were concerned in keeping up the communication between the several posts which were