The day had just begun to dawn as our party, under the guidance of
Marion's soldier, were ferried across the Pedee, on the opposite bank of
which river lay the estate and mansion of Mrs. Markham. The alarms and
excitements of the past night had ceased to stimulate the frame of
Mildred, and she now found herself sinking under the most painful
weariness. Henry had actually fallen asleep as he sat upon the gunwale
of the ferry-boat, and rested his head against the sergeant's shoulder:
the whole party were overcome with the lassitude that is so distressing,
at this hour of dawning, to all persons who have spent the night in
watching; and even the sergeant himself, to the influences of fatigue
and privation the most inaccessible of mortals, and, by fate or fortune,
the most unmalleable--occasionally nodded his head, as if answering the
calls of man's most welcome visitor. It was, therefore, with more than
ordinary contentment that our travellers, when again mounted, were
enabled to descry, in the first light of the morning, a group of
buildings seated upon an eminence about a mile distant, on the further
side of the cultivated lowland that stretched along the southern margin
of the river. The guide announced that this was the point of their
destination, and the intelligence encouraged the party to accelerate the
speed with which they journeyed over the plain. When they arrived at the
foot of the hill, the character of the spot they were approaching was
more distinctly developed to their view. The mansion, encompassed by a
tuft of trees that flung their broad and ancient limbs above its roof,
was of the best class of private dwellings, old and stately in its
aspect, and exhibiting all the appendages that characterized the seat of
a wealthy proprietor. It was constructed entirely of wood, in accordance
with a notion that prevailed at that period, no less than at the
present, that a frame structure was best adapted to the character of the
climate. It occupied the crest of a hill which commanded a view of the
river with its extensive plains; whilst, in turn, it was overlooked by
the adjacent tract of country bearing the name of the Cheraw Highlands.
As the party ascended this eminence, Henry, in the eager and thoughtless
satisfaction of the moment, put his bugle to his mouth and continued to
blow with all his might, deaf to the remonstrances of his sister, who
was endeavoring to explain that there was some want of courtesy in so
abrupt a challenge of the hospitality of the family. The blast was
interrupted by Horse Shoe's laying his hand upon the instrument, as he
gave the indiscreet bugler a short military lecture:
"You might fetch trouble upon us, Mister Henry: this here screeching of
horns or trumpets is sometimes a sort of bullying of a garrison; and if
an enemy should happen to be on post here--as, God knows, is likely
enough in such scampering wars as these, why you have set the thing past
cure: for it is cutting off all chance of escape, just as much as if the
people had been ordered 'to horse.' It leaves nothing for us but to
brazen it out."
An old negro was first startled by the summons, and appeared for a
moment at the door of one of the out-buildings, evincing, as he looked
down the road upon the approaching cavalcade, manifest signs of
consternation. After a brief glance, he was seen to retreat across the
yard to the door of the mansion-house, where he fell to beating at it
with as much earnestness as if giving an alarm of fire, shouting at the
same time, "Lord bless us, mistress! here is a whole rigiment of sodgers
coming to turn everything topsy-turvy. Get up, get up--open the door!"
"Stop your bawling, you stunted black-jack!" said Robinson, who had
galloped up to the spot, "and none of your lies. Is the lady of the
house at home?"
A window was thrown up, at the same moment, in an upper story, and a
female head, decorated with a nightcap, was thrust out, whilst a voice,
tremulous with affright, inquired what was the cause of this
disturbance; but before an answer could be given the head was withdrawn,
and the door opening discovered a youth scarcely in appearance over
sixteen, with a loose robe thrown around his person and a pistol in his
hand.
"Who comes here, and with what purpose?" was the question firmly put by
the young man.
"Friends," said Horse Shoe--"sent to the good lady by General Marion.
Sorry, sir, to be the occasion of such a rumpus. But this here young
lady has travelled all night and is 'most dead with hardships."
Mildred, who with the rest of the company had now arrived near the door,
was about to speak, when the questioner retired, calling the negro after
him into the house. In a moment the servant returned with Mrs. Markham's
compliments to the party, and a request that they would alight.
"Then all's well," said Horse Shoe, dismounting, and immediately
afterwards lifting Mildred from her saddle, "a friend in need, madam, is
the greatest of God's blessings. I make no doubt you will find this as
snug a nest as you ever flew into in your life."
"And, good sergeant, most specially welcome," replied Mildred, smiling
in the midst of all her pain, "for in truth I never was so weary."
The guide, having now performed his duty, announced that he must return
to his corps; and, after a few cheering words of kind remembrance from
Mildred, coupled with a message of thanks to Marion, he wheeled about
and galloped back towards the river. Mildred and Henry entered the
house: and the sergeant, taking command of Isaac, followed the horses
towards the stable.
The brother and sister were ushered into an ample parlor, comfortably
furnished according to the fashion of the wealthier classes of that day;
and, Mildred as she threw herself upon a capacious sofa, could not fail
to recognise in the formal portraits that were suspended to the
pannelled walls, that she was in the dwelling of a family of some pride
of name and lineage.
After a short interval, the proprietress of the mansion entered the
parlor. She was a lady of a kind and gentle aspect, apparently advanced
beyond the middle period of life; and her features, somewhat emaciated,
gave a sign of feeble health. She was attired in dishabille, hastily
thrown on; and there was some expression of alarm in the unreserved and
familiar manner with which she approached Mildred, and inquired into the
nature of this early journey.
"I hope no unhappy accident, my dear, has driven you at this unusual
hour to my poor house? You are heartily welcome. I fear to ask what has
brought you."
"My brother and myself, madam," said Mildred, "have had a most
adventurous night. This letter will explain. General Marion was so kind
as to commit us to your hospitality."
The lady took the letter and read it.
"Miss Lindsay, my child, I am truly happy to serve you. You have had an
awful night, but these times make us acquainted with strange
afflictions. This young gentleman, your brother, is he your only
attendant?"
Mildred began to communicate the details of her journey, when she was
interrupted by her hostess.
"I will not trouble you with questions, now, my dear. You must have
sleep; I dread lest your health may suffer by this harsh exposure. After
you have had rest, we will talk more, and become better acquainted.
Judith," continued the matron, addressing a servant maid, who had just
entered the room, "attend this lady to a chamber. Mr. Henry Lindsay, I
believe--so General Marion calls you--my son Alfred shall take you in
charge."
With these words the good lady left the room, and in an instant after
returned with the youth who had first appeared at the door. Upon being
introduced by his mother to the guests, he lost no time in obeying her
orders in regard to Henry, whom he had conducted out of the room at the
same moment that Mildred followed the servant towards a chamber.
The entire day was spent by our party in recruiting their strength,
towards which needful care the hospitable hostess contributed by the
tenderest attentions. On the following morning Mildred, although
refreshed by the slumbers of the long interval, still exhibited the
traces of her recent fatigue; and upon the earnest recommendation of
Mrs. Markham, seconded by the almost oracular authority of Horse
Shoe,--for the sergeant had greatly won upon the respect of his
companions by his prudence and discretion--she determined to remain
another day in her present resting-place.
Mrs. Markham was the widow of a Carolina gentleman, who had borne the
rank of a colonel in the Whig militia, and had been actively employed,
in the earlier stages of the war, in the southern provinces. He had
fallen in an unfortunate skirmish with some of Prevost's light troops,
on the Savannah river, some sixteen months before; and his widow, with
three daughters and no other male protector than an only son, was now,
in this season of extreme peril, residing upon a large estate, which the
evil fortune of the times had made the theatre of an eventful and active
desultory war. She had been exposed to the most cruel exactions from the
Tories, to whom her possessions were generally yielded up with a passive
and helpless submission; and the firmness with which, in all her
difficulties, she had adhered to the cause for which her husband fell,
had gained for her the generous sympathy of the whig leaders, and more
than once stimulated them to enterprises, in her behalf, that were
followed by severe chastisement upon her enemies. These circumstances
had given extensive notoriety to her name, and drawn largely upon her
the observation of both friend and foe. To Marion, who hovered upon this
border more like a goblin than a champion whose footsteps might be
tracked, her protection had become a subject of peculiar interest; and
the indefatigable soldier frequently started up in her neighborhood when
danger was at hand, with a mysterious form of opposition that equally
defied the calculations of Whigs and Tories.
The lady was still in her weeds, and grief and care had thrown a pallor
upon her cheek; but the watchfulness imposed upon her by the emergencies
of the day, her familiarity with alarms, and the necessity for constant
foresight and decisive action, had infused a certain hardihood into her
character, that is seldom believed to be,--but yet in the hour of trial
unerringly exhibits itself--an attribute of the female bosom. Her
manners were considerate, kind, and fraught with dignity. She was the
personation of a class of matrons that--for the honor of our country and
of the human race--was not small in its numbers, nor upon trial unworthy
of its fame, in the sad history of the sufferings of Carolina.
The evening of the day on which Mildred arrived at the mansion brought
rumors of a brilliant exploit achieved by Marion; and more
circumstantial accounts on the following morning confirmed the good
tidings. The alert partisan had fallen upon the track of the freebooters
who had been marauding on the confines of North Carolina, and whose
incursion had expelled our travellers from Wingate's cabin. Marion had
overtaken them before sunrise, on the bank of the Pedee, where they had
been detained by reason of Peyton's successful removal of the boats. A
short but most decisive combat was the consequence, and victory, as she
was wont, had seated herself upon Marion's banner. The chieftain and his
followers had, as usual, disappeared, and the whole country was in a
state of agitation and dread; the one side fearing a repetition of the
blow in some unlooked-for quarter, the other alarmed by the expectation
of quick and bloody reprisal.
These events still more contributed to fortify Mildred's resolution to
remain another day under the shelter of Mrs. Markham's friendly roof,
before she would venture forth in the further prosecution of her
journey.
Here, for the present, we must leave her.