And, I believe, I must try to meet the tories there.""O la, sir general, try to meet 'em indeed! yes, to be sure! dear me, sirs, hearts alive, that you must, sir general! for daddy says, as how, he is quite sartin, if you'll be there to-morrow night, you may make a proper smash among the tories; for they'll be there thick and threefold. They have heard, so they say, of your doings, and are going to hold this great meeting, on purpose to come all the way down here after YOU.""After me?"
"Yes, indeed are they, sir general! and you had better keep a sharp look out, I tell you now; for they have just been down to the British, there at Georgetown, and brought up a matter of two wagon loads of guns;great big English muskets! I can turn my thumb in them easy enough!
And, besides them plaguy guns, they have got a tarnal nation sight of pistols! and bagonets! and swords! and saddles! and bridles! and the dear knows what else besides! so they are in a mighty good fix, you may depend, sir general.""Well, perhaps you and I may have some of them fine things to-morrow night.
What say you to it, my son?"
"By jing, I should like it proper well! But, to be sure, now, sir general, you look like a mighty small man to fight them great big tories there, on Pedee. But daddy says as how the heart is all: and he says, too, that though you are but a little man, you have a monstrous great heart."Marion smiled, and went out among his men, to whom he related the boy's errand; and desired them to question him, so that there might be no trick in the matter. But every scruple of that sort was quickly removed;for several of our party were well acquainted with the lad's father, and knew him to be an excellent whig.
Having put our firearms in prime order for an attack, we mounted; and giving our friends three cheers, dashed off, just as the broad-faced moon arose;and by daybreak next morning, had gained a very convenient swamp, within ten miles of the grand tory rendezvous. To avoid giving alarm, we struck into the swamp, and there, man and horse, lay snug all day.
About eleven o'clock, Marion sent out a couple of nimble-footed young men, to conceal themselves near the main road, and take good heed to what was going on. In the evening they returned, and brought word, that the road had been constantly alive with horsemen, tories they supposed, armed with new guns, and all moving on very gaily towards the place the lad had told us of. Soon as it was dark, we mounted, and took the track at a sweeping gallop, which, by early supper time, brought us in sight of their fires. Then leaving our horses under a small guard, we advanced quite near them, in the dark without being discovered; for so little thought had they of Marion, that they had not placed a single sentinel, but were, all hands, gathered about the fire: some cooking, some fiddling and dancing, and some playing cards, as we could hear them every now and then bawling out, "Huzza, at him again, damme! aye, that's the dandy! My trick, begad!"Poor wretches, little did they think how near the fates were grinning around them.
Observing that they had three large fires, Marion divided our little party of sixty men into three companies, each opposite to a fire, then bidding us to take aim, with his pistol he gave the signal for a general discharge. In a moment the woods were all in a blaze, as by a flash of lightning, accompanied by a tremendous clap of thunder.
Down tumbled the dead; off bolted the living; loud screamed the wounded;while far and wide, all over the woods, nothing was to be heard but the running of tories, and the snorting of wild bounding horses, snapping the saplings. Such a tragi-comedy was hardly ever seen.
On running up to their fires, we found we had killed twenty-three, and badly wounded as many more; thirteen we made prisoners;poor fellows who had not been grazed by a bullet, but were so frightened that they could not budge a peg. We got eighty-four stand of arms, chiefly English muskets and bayonets, one hundred horses, with new saddles and bridles, all English too, with a good deal of ammunition and baggage. The consternation of the tories was so great that they never dreamt of carrying off anything.
Even their fiddles and fiddle bows, and playing cards, were all left strewed around their fires. One of the gamblers, (it is a serious truth)though shot dead, still held the cards hard gripped in his hands.
Led by curiosity to inspect this strange sight, a dead gambler, we found that the cards which he held were ace, deuce, and jack.
Clubs were trumps. Holding high, low, jack, and the game, in his own hand, he seemed to be in a fair way to do well; but Marion came down upon him with a trump that spoiled his sport, and non-suited him for ever.
But the most comfortable sight of all, was the fine supper which the tories had cooked! three fat roasted pigs and six turkeys, with piles of nice journey cakes. 'Tis true, the dead bodies lay very thick round the fires: but having rode seventy miles, and eating nothing since the night before, we were too keen set to think of standing on trifles;so fell upon the poor tories' provisions, and made the heartiest supper in the world. And, to crown all, we found among the spoil, upwards of half a barrel of fine old peach brandy.
"Ah, this brandy!" said Marion, "was the worst foe these poor rogues ever had.
But I'll take care it shall be no foe to us." So, after ordering half a pint to each man, he had the balance put under guard.
And I must observe, by way of justice to my honored friend, that success never seemed to elate him; nor did ever he lose sight of safety in the blaze of victory. For instantly after the defeat, our guns were all loaded and our sentinels set, as if an enemy had been in force in the neighborhood.
