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 sweep, the course which had been formerly projected, and which, indeed, the orders received by him from Cornwallis, compelled him to pursue. It was hoped that he would overhaul the little force of Singleton, in which event it must have been annihilated.

In the mean time, Proctor prepared his despatches for Charleston, calling for a supply of troops—a call not likely to be responded to from that quarter, as the garrison there had been already drawn upon by the interior, to such an extent as to leave barely a sufficient force within the walls of the city for its own maintenance. This Proctor knew, but no other hope presented itself, and glad to use the troop of Huck, he contented himself with the consciousness of having done all that could be done by him, under existing circumstances. Civilly dismissing Humphries, he would have rewarded him, but the old man urged his simple and sincere loyalty, and naturally shrank back at the idea of receiving gold as the reward of his son's betrayal. He did his part shrewdly, and leaving the two conferring upon the particulars of the tory's route, hurried away to the tavern in no enviable state of feeling. His son, whom we have seen entering the dwelling of old Pryor, was glad to meet with several sturdy whigs in close conference. They had been stimulated by the whispers of an approaching army of continentals, and the vague intelligence had been exaggerated in due proportion to the thick obscurity which at that time hung about the subject. The host himself—who was a sturdy patriot, and more than usually bold, as, of late days, he was more than usually unfortunate—presided upon this occasion. The party was small, consisting of some half dozen persons, all impatient of the hourly wrongs, which, in their reckless indifference to the feelings of the conquered, the invaders continually committed. The reduction of the British force in the lower county, in the large draughts made upon it for the upper posts, had emboldened disaffection; and the people, like snakes long huddled up in holes during the severe weather, now came out with the first glimpses of the sunshine.

The arrival of Humphries with the intelligence which he brought, gave them new spirits. The successes of Marion at Britton's Neck, and Singleton in the swamp, of which they had not heard before, though small, were yet held an earnest of what might be