AN ADVENTURE WHEREIN IT IS APPARENT THAT THE ACTIONS OF REAL LIFE ARE
FULL AS MARVELLOUS AS THE INVENTIONS OF ROMANCE.
David Ramsay's house was situated on a by-road, 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 by-way 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 traveller 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 patroles, that were
concerned in keeping up the communication between the several posts
which were established by the British authorities along that frontier.
Amongst the whig parties, also, there were various occasions which
brought them under the necessity of frequent passage through this same
district, and which, therefore, furnished opportunities for collision
and skirmish with the opposite forces.
It is a matter of historical notoriety, that immediately after the fall
of Charleston, and the rapid subjugation of South Carolina that followed
this event, there were three bold and skilful soldiers who undertook to
carry on the war of resistance to the established authorities, upon a
settled and digested plan of annoyance, under the most discouraging
state of destitution, as regarded all the means of offence, that,
perhaps, history records. It will not detract from the fame of other
patriots of similar enthusiasm and of equal bravery, to mention the
names of Marion, Sumpter, and Pickens, in connexion with this plan of
keeping up an apparently hopeless partisan warfare, which had the
promise neither of men, money, nor arms,--and yet which was so nobly
sustained, amidst accumulated discomfitures, as to lead eventually to
the subversion of the "Tory ascendency" and the expulsion of the British
power. According to the plan of operations concerted amongst these
chieftains, Marion took the lower country under his supervision; Pickens
the south-western districts, bordering upon the Savannah; and to Sumpter
was allotted all that tract of country lying between the Broad and the
Catawba rivers, from the angle of their junction, below Camden, up to
the mountain districts of North Carolina. How faithfully these men made
good their promise to the country, is not only written in authentic
history, but it is also told in many a legend amongst the older
inhabitants of the region that was made the theatre of action. It only
concerns my story to refer to the fact, that the events which have
occupied my last five or six chapters, occurred in that range more
peculiarly appropriated to Sumpter, and that the high road from
Blackstock's towards Ninety-six was almost as necessary for
communication between Sumpter and Pickens, as between the several
British garrisons.
On the morning that succeeded the night in which Horse Shoe Robinson
arrived at Musgrove's, the stout and honest sergeant might have been
seen, about eight o'clock, leaving the main road from Ninety-six, at the
point where that leading to David Ramsay's separated from it, and
cautiously urging his way into the deep forest, by the more private path
into which he had entered. The knowledge that Innis was encamped along
the Ennoree, within a short distance of the mill, had compelled him to
make an extensive circuit to reach Ramsay's dwelling, whither he was now
bent; and he had experienced considerable delay in his morning journey,
by finding himself frequently in the neighborhood of small foraging
parties of Tories, whose motions he was obliged to watch for fear of an
encounter. He had once already been compelled to use his horse's heels
in what he called "fair flight;" and once to ensconce himself, a full
half hour, under cover of the thicket afforded him by a swamp. He now,
therefore, according to his own phrase, "dived into the little road
that scrambled down through the woods towards Ramsay's, with all his
eyes about him, looking out as sharply as a fox on a foggy morning:" and
with this circumspection, he was not long in arriving within view of
Ramsay's house. Like a practised soldier, whom frequent frays has taught
wisdom, he resolved to reconnoitre before he advanced upon a post that
might be in possession of an enemy. He therefore dismounted, fastened
his horse in a fence corner, where a field of corn concealed him from
notice, and then stealthily crept forward until he came immediately
behind one of the out-houses.
The barking of a house-dog brought out a negro boy, to whom Robinson
instantly addressed the query--
"Is your master at home?"--
"No, sir. He's got his horse, and gone off more than an hour ago."
"Where is your mistress?"
"Shelling beans, Sir."
"I didn't ask you," said the sergeant, "what she is doing, but where she
is."
"In course, she is in the house, Sir,"--replied the negro with a grin.
"Any strangers there?"
"There was plenty on 'em a little while ago, but they've been gone a
good bit."
Robinson having thus satisfied himself as to the safety of his visit,
directed the boy to take his horse and lead him up to the door. He then
entered the dwelling.
"Mistress Ramsay," said he, walking up to the dame, who was occupied at
a table, with a large trencher before her, in which she was plying that
household thrift which the negro described; "luck to you, ma'am, and all
your house! I hope you haven't none of these clinking and clattering
bullies about you, that are as thick over this country as the frogs in
the kneading troughs, that they tell of."
"Good lack, Mr. Horse Shoe Robinson," exclaimed the matron, offering the
sergeant her hand. "What has brought you here? What news? Who are with
you? For patience sake, tell me!"
"I am alone," said Robinson, "and a little wettish mistress;" he added,
as he took off his hat and shook the water from it "it has just sot up a
rain, and looks as if it was going to give us enough on't. You don't
mind, doing a little dinner-work of a Sunday, I see--shelling of beans,
I s'pose, is tantamount to dragging a sheep out of a pond, as the
preachers allow on the Sabbath--ha, ha!--Where's Davy?"
"He's gone over to the meeting-house on Ennoree, hoping to hear
something of the army at Camden: perhaps you can tell us the news from
that quarter?"
"Faith, that's a mistake, Mistress Ramsay. Though I don't doubt that
they are hard upon the scratches, by this time. But, at this present
speaking, I command the flying artillery. We have out one man in the
corps--and that's myself; and all the guns we have got is this piece of
ordnance, that hangs in this old belt by my side (pointing to his
sword)--and that I captured from the enemy at Blackstock's. I was hoping
I mought find John Ramsay at home--I have need of him as a recruit."
"Ah, Mr. Robinson, John has a heavy life of it over there with Sumpter.
The boy is often without his natural rest, or a meal's victuals; and the
general thinks so much of him, that he can't spare him to come home. I
hav'n't the heart to complain, as long as John's service is of any use,
but it does seem, Mr. Robinson, like needless tempting of the mercies of
providence. We thought that he might have been here to-day; yet I am
glad he didn't come--for he would have been certain to get into trouble.
Who should come in, this morning, just after my husband had cleverly got
away on his horse, but a young cock-a-whoop ensign, that belongs to
Ninety-Six, and four great Scotchmen with him, all in red coats; they
had been out thieving, I warrant, and were now going home again. And who
but they! Here they were, swaggering all about my house--and calling for
this--and calling for that--as if they owned the fee-simple of
everything on the plantation. And it made my blood rise, Mr. Horse Shoe,
to see them run out in the yard, and catch up my chickens and ducks, and
kill as many as they could string about them--and I not daring to say a
word: though I did give them a piece of my mind, too."
"Who is at home with you?" inquired the sergeant eagerly.
"Nobody but my youngest boy, Andrew," answered the dame. "And then, the
filthy, toping rioters--" she continued, exalting her voice.
"What arms have you in the house?" asked Robinson, without heeding the
dame's rising anger.
"We have a rifle, and a horseman's pistol that belongs to John.--They
must call for drink, too, and turn my house, of a Sunday morning, into a
tavern."
"They took the route towards Ninety-Six, you said, Mistress Ramsay?"
"Yes,--they went straight forward upon the road. But, look you, Mr.
Horse Shoe, you're not thinking of going after them?"
"Isn't there an old field, about a mile from this, on that road?"
inquired the sergeant, still intent upon his own thoughts.
"There is," replied the dame; "with the old school-house upon it."
"A lop-sided, rickety log-cabin in the middle of the field. Am I right,
good woman?"
"Yes."
"And nobody lives in it? It has no door to it?"
"There ha'n't been anybody in it these seven years."
"I know the place very well," said the sergeant, thoughtfully; "there is
woods just on this side of it."
"That's true," replied the dame: "but what is it you are thinking
about, Mr. Robinson?"
"How long before this rain began was it that they quitted this house?"
"Not above fifteen minutes."
"Mistress Ramsay, bring me the rifle and pistol both--and the
powder-horn and bullets."
"As you say, Mr. Horse Shoe," answered the dame, as she turned round to
leave the room; "but I am sure I can't suspicion what you mean to do."
In a few moments the woman returned with the weapons, and gave them to
the sergeant.
"Where is Andy?" asked Horse Shoe.
The hostess went to the door and called her son, and, almost immediately
afterwards, a sturdy boy of about twelve or fourteen years of age
entered the apartment, his clothes dripping with rain. He modestly and
shyly seated himself on a chair near the door, with his soaked hat
flapping down over a face full of freckles, and not less rife with the
expression of an open, dauntless hardihood of character.
"How would you like a scrummage, Andy, with them Scotchmen that stole
your mother's chickens this morning?" asked Horse Shoe.
"I'm agreed," replied the boy, "if you will tell me what to do."
"You are not going to take the boy out on any of your desperate
projects, Mr. Horse Shoe?" said the mother, with the tears starting
instantly into her eyes. "You wouldn't take such a child as that into
danger?"
"Bless your soul, Mrs. Ramsay, there ar'n't no danger about it! Don't
take on so. It's a thing that is either done at a blow, or not
done,--and there's an end of it. I want the lad only to bring home the
prisoners for me, after I have took them."
"Ah, Mr. Robinson, I have one son already in these wars--God protect
him!--and you men don't know how a mother's heart yearns for her
children in these times. I cannot give another," she added, as she threw
her arms over the shoulders of the youth and drew him to her bosom.
"Oh! it aint nothing," said Andrew, in a sprightly tone. "It's only
snapping of a pistol, mother,--pooh! If I'm not afraid, you oughtn't to
be."
"I give you my honor, Mistress Ramsay," said Robinson, "that I will
bring or send your son safe back in one hour; and that he sha'n't be put
in any sort of danger whatsomedever: come, that's a good woman!"
"You are not deceiving me, Mr. Robinson?" asked the matron wiping away a
tear. "You wouldn't mock the sufferings of a weak woman in such a thing
as this?"
"On the honesty of a sodger, ma'am," replied Horse Shoe, "the lad shall
be in no danger, as I said before--whatsomedever."
"Then I will say no more," answered the mother. "But Andy, my child, be
sure to let Mr. Robinson keep before you."
Horse Shoe now loaded the fire-arms, and having slung the pouch across
his body, he put the pistol into the hands of the boy; then shouldering
his rifle, he and his young ally left the room. Even on this occasion,
serious as it might be deemed, the sergeant did not depart without
giving some manifestation of that light-heartedness which no
difficulties ever seemed to have the power to conquer. He thrust his
head back into the room, after he had crossed the threshold, and said
with an encouraging laugh, "Andy and me will teach them, Mistress
Ramsay, Pat's point of war--we will _surround_ the ragamuffins."
"Now, Andy, my lad," said Horse Shoe, after he had mounted Captain
Peter, "you must get up behind me. Turn the lock of your pistol down,"
he continued, as the boy sprang upon the horse's rump, "and cover it
with the flap of your jacket, to keep the rain off. It won't do to hang
fire at such a time as this."
The lad did as he was directed, and Horse Shoe, having secured his rifle
in the same way, put his horse up to a gallop, and took the road in the
direction that had been pursued by the soldiers.
As soon as our adventurers had gained a wood, at the distance of about
half a mile, the sergeant relaxed his speed, and advanced at a pace a
little above a walk.
"Andy," he said, "we have got rather a ticklish sort of a job before us,
so I must give you your lesson, which you will understand better by
knowing something of my plan. As soon as your mother told me that these
thieving villains had left her house about fifteen minutes before the
rain came on, and that they had gone along upon this road, I remembered
the old field up here, and the little log hut in the middle of it; and
it was natural to suppose that they had just got about near that hut,
when this rain came up; and then, it was the most supposable case in the
world, that they would naturally go into it, as the driest place they
could find. So now, you see, it's my calculation that the whole batch is
there at this very point of time. We will go slowly along, until we get
to the other end of this wood, in sight of the old field, and then, if
there is no one on the look-out, we will open our first trench; you know
what that means, Andy?"
"It means, I s'pose, that we'll go right smack at them," replied Andrew.
"Pretty exactly," said the sergeant. "But listen to me. Just at the edge
of the woods you will have to get down, and put yourself behind a tree.
I'll ride forward, as if I had a whole troop at my heels, and if I
catch them, as I expect, they will have a little fire kindled, and, as
likely as not, they'll be cooking some of your mother's fowls."
"Yes, I understand," said the boy eagerly--
"No, you don't," replied Horse Shoe, "but you will when you hear what I
am going to say. If I get at them onawares, they'll be mighty apt to
think they are surrounded, and will bellow, like fine fellows, for
quarter. And, thereupon, Andy, I'll cry out 'stand fast,' as if I was
speaking to my own men, and when you hear that, you must come up full
tilt, because it will be a signal to you that the enemy has surrendered.
Then it will be your business to run into the house and bring out the
muskets, as quick as a rat runs through a kitchen: and when you have
done that, why, all's done. But if you should hear any popping of
fire-arms--that is, more than one shot, which I may chance to let
off--do you take that for a bad sign, and get away as fast as you can
heel it. You comprehend."
"Oh! yes," replied the lad, "and I'll do what you want, and more too,
may be, Mr. Robinson."
"_Captain_ Robinson,--remember, Andy, you must call me captain, in the
hearing of these Scotsmen."
"I'll not forget that neither," answered Andrew.
By the time that these instructions were fully impressed upon the boy,
our adventurous forlorn hope, as it may fitly be called, had arrived at
the place which Horse Shoe Robinson had designated for the commencement
of active operations. They had a clear view of the old field, and it
afforded them a strong assurance that the enemy was exactly where they
wished him to be, when they discovered smoke arising from the chimney of
the hovel. Andrew was soon posted behind a tree, and Robinson only
tarried a moment to make the boy repeat the signals agreed on, in order
to ascertain that he had them correctly in his memory. Being satisfied
from this experiment that the intelligence of his young companion might
be depended upon, he galloped across the intervening space, and, in a
few seconds, abruptly reined up his steed, in the very doorway of the
hut. The party within was gathered around a fire at the further end,
and, in the corner near the door, were four muskets thrown together
against the wall. To spring from his saddle and thrust himself one pace
inside of the door, was a movement which the sergeant executed in an
instant, shouting at the same time--
"Halt! File off right and left to both sides of the house, and wait
orders. I demand the surrender of all here," he said, as he planted
himself between the party and their weapons. "I will shoot down the
first man who budges a foot."
"Leap to your arms," cried the young officer who commanded the little
party inside of the house. "Why do you stand?"
"I don't want to do you or your men any harm, young man," said Robinson,
as he brought his rifle to a level, "but, by my father's son, I will not
leave one of you to be put upon a muster-roll if you raise a hand at
this moment."
Both parties now stood, for a brief space, eyeing each other in a
fearful suspense, during which there was an expression of doubt and
irresolution visible on the countenances of the soldiers, as they
surveyed the broad proportions, and met the stern glance of the
sergeant, whilst the delay, also, began to raise an apprehension in the
mind of Robinson that his stratagem would be discovered.
"Shall I let loose upon them, captain?" said Andrew Ramsay, now
appearing, most unexpectedly to Robinson, at the door of the hut. "Come
on, boys!" he shouted, as he turned his face towards the field.
"Keep them outside of the door--stand fast," cried the doughty sergeant,
with admirable promptitude, in the new and sudden posture of his affairs
caused by this opportune appearance of the boy. "Sir, you see that it's
not worth while fighting five to one; and I should be sorry to be the
death of any of your brave fellows; so, take my advice, and surrender to
the Continental Congress and this scrap of its army which I command."
During this appeal the sergeant was ably seconded by the lad outside,
who was calling out first on one name, and then on another, as if in the
presence of a troop. The device succeeded, and the officer within,
believing the forbearance of Robinson to be real, at length said:--
"Lower your rifle, sir. In the presence of a superior force, taken by
surprise, and without arms, it is my duty to save bloodshed. With the
promise of fair usage, and the rights of prisoners of war, I surrender
this little foraging party under my command."
"I'll make the terms agreeable," replied the sergeant. "Never doubt me,
sir. Right hand file, advance, and receive the arms of the prisoners!"
"I'm here, captain," said Andrew, in a conceited tone, as if it were a
mere occasion of merriment; and the lad quickly entered the house and
secured the weapons, retreating with them some paces from the door.
"Now, sir," said Horse Shoe to the Ensign, "your sword, and whatever
else you mought have about you of the ammunitions of war!"
The officer delivered up his sword and a pair of pocket pistols.
As Horse Shoe received these tokens of victory, he asked, with a lambent
smile, and what he intended to be an elegant and condescending
composure, "Your name, sir, if I mought take the freedom?"
"Ensign St. Jermyn, of his Majesty's seventy-first regiment of light
infantry."
"Ensign, your sarvent," added Horse Shoe, still preserving this unusual
exhibition of politeness. "You have defended your post like an old
sodger, although you ha'n't much beard on your chin; but, seeing you
have given up, you shall be treated like a man who has done his duty.
You will walk out, now, and form yourselves in line at the door. I'll
engage my men shall do you no harm; they are of a marciful breed."
When the little squad of prisoners submitted to this command, and came
to the door, they were stricken with equal astonishment and
mortification to find, in place of the detachment of cavalry which they
expected to see, nothing but a man, a boy, and a horse. Their first
emotions were expressed in curses, which were even succeeded by laughter
from one or two of the number. There seemed to be a disposition on the
part of some to resist the authority that now controlled them; and
sundry glances were exchanged, which indicated a purpose to turn upon
their captors. The sergeant no sooner perceived this, than he halted,
raised his rifle to his breast, and, at the same instant, gave Andrew
Ramsay an order to retire a few paces, and to fire one of the captured
pieces at the first man who opened his lips.
"By my hand," he said, "if I find any trouble in taking you, all five,
safe away from this here house, I will thin your numbers with your own
muskets! And that's as good as if I had sworn to it."
"You have my word, sir," said the Ensign. "Lead on."
"By your leave, my pretty gentleman, you will lead, and I'll follow,"
replied Horse Shoe. "It may be a new piece of drill to you; but the
custom is to give the prisoners the post of honor."
"As you please, sir," answered the Ensign. "Where do you take us to?"
"You will march back by the road you came," said the sergeant.
Finding the conqueror determined to execute summary martial law upon the
first who should mutiny, the prisoners submitted, and marched in double
file from the hut back towards Ramsay's--Horse Shoe, with Captain
Peter's bridle dangling over his arm, and his gallant young auxiliary
Andrew, laden with double the burden of Robinson Crusoe (having all the
fire-arms packed upon his shoulders), bringing up the rear. In this
order victors and vanquished returned to David Ramsay's.
"Well, I have brought you your ducks and chickens back, mistress," said
the sergeant, as he halted the prisoners at the door; "and, what's more,
I have brought home a young sodger that's worth his weight in gold."
"Heaven bless my child! my brave boy!" cried the mother, seizing the lad
in her arms, and unheeding anything else in the present perturbation of
her feelings. "I feared ill would come of it; but Heaven has preserved
him. Did he behave handsomely, Mr. Robinson? But I am sure he did."
"A little more venturesome, ma'am, than I wanted him to be," replied
Horse Shoe; "but he did excellent service. These are his prisoners,
Mistress Ramsay; I should never have got them if it hadn't been for
Andy. In these drumming and fifing times the babies suck in quarrel with
their mother's milk. Show me another boy in America that's made more
prisoners than there was men to fight them with, that's all!"