CHAPTER IX. A moment gazed adown the dale, That thickened as the chase drew nigh; And, stretching forward free and far, LADY OF THE LAKE. THE party under Captain Lawton had watched the retiring foe to his boats with the most unremitting vigilance, without finding any fit opening for a charge. The experienced successor of Colonel Wellmere knew too well the power of his enemy to leave the uneven surface of the heights, until compelled to descend to the level of the water. Before he attempted this hazardous movement, he threw his men into a compact square, with its outer edges bristling with bayonets. In this position, the impatient trooper well understood that brave men could never be assailed by cavalry with success, and he was reluctantly ɔbliged to hover near them, without seeing any opportunity of stopping their slow but steady march to the beach. A small schooner, which had been their convoy from the city lay with her guns bearing on the place of embarkation Against this combination of force and discipline, Lawton had sufficient prudence to see it would be folly to contend, and the English were suffered to embark without molestation. The dragoons lingered on the shore till the last moment, and then they reluctantly commenced their own retreat back to the main body of the corps. The gathering mists of the evening had begun to darken the valley, as the detachment of Lawton made its reappearance, at its southern extremity. The march of the troops was slow, and their line extended, for the benefit of Base. In the front rode the captain, side by side with his senior subaltern, apparently engaged in close conference, while the rear was brought up by a young cornet, humming an air, and thinking of the sweets of a straw bed after the fatigues of a hard day's duty. "Then it struck you too?" said the captain. "The instant I placed my eyes on her, I remembered the face ; it is one not easily forgotten. By my faith, Tom, the girl does no discredit to the major's taste." "She would do honor to the corps," replied the lieutenant, with some warmth; "those blue eyes might easily win a man to gentler employments than this trade of ours. In sober truth, I can easily imagine such a girl might tempt even me to quit the broadsword and saddle, for a darningneedle and pillion." "Mutiny, sir, mutiny," cried the other, laughing; "what, you, Tom Mason, dare to rival the gay, admired, and withal rich, Major Dunwoodie in his love! You, a lieutenant of cavalry, with but one horse, and he none of the best! whose captain is as tough as a pepperidge log, and has as many lives as a cat!" "Faith," said the subaltern, smiling in his turn," the log may yet be split, and Grimalkin lose his lives, if you often charge as madly as you did this morning. What think you of many raps from such a beetle as laid you on your back to-day?" "Ah! don't mention it, my good Tom; the thought makes my head ache," replied the other, shrugging up his houlders; "it is what I call forestalling night." "The night of death?" "No, sir, the night that follows day. I saw myriads of atars, things which should hide their faces in the presence of the lordly sun. I do think nothing but this thick cap saved me for your comfort a little longer, maugre the cat's lives." "I have much reason to be obliged to the cap," said Mason, dryly; "that or the skull must have had a reason able portion of thickness, I admit." 66 Come, come, Tom, you are a licensed joker, so I' not feign anger with you," returned the captain, good-humoredly; "but Singleton's lieutenant, I am fearful, will fare better than yourself for this day's service." "I believe both of us will be spared the pain of receiving promotion purchased by the death of a comrade and friend," observed Mason kindly; "it was reported that Sitgreaves said he would live.” "From my soul I hope so," exclaimed Lawton: "for a beardless face, that boy carries the stoutest heart I have ever met with. It surprises me, however, that, as we both fell at the same instant, the men behaved so well.” "For the compliment, I might thank you," cried the lieutenant with a laugh; "but modesty forbids; I did my best to stop them, but without success.' 66 Stop them!" roared the captain; "would you stop men in the middle of a charge? "I thought they were going the wrong way," answered the subaltern. "Ah! our fall drove them to the right about?" "It was either your fall, or apprehensions of their own; until the major rallied us, we were in admirable disorder." "Dunwoodie! the major was on the crupper of the Dutchman.' "Ah! but he managed to get off the crupper of the Dutchman. He came in, at half-speed, with the other two troops, and riding between us and the enemy, with that imperative way he has when roused, brought us in line in the twinkling of an eye. Then it was," added the lieutenant, with animation, "that we sent John Bull to the bushes Oh! it was a sweet charge-heads and tails, until we were upon them." "The devil! What a sight I missed!" "You slept through it all." "Yes," returned the other, with a sigh; it was all los to me and poor George Singleton. But, Tom, what will George's sister say to this fair-haired maiden, in yonder white building?" 6 Hang herself in her garters," said the subaltern. 66 owe a proper respect to my superiors, but two such angels are more than justly falls to the share of one man, unless he be a Turk or a Hindoo." "Yes, yes," said the captain, quickly, "the major is ever preaching morality to the youngsters, but he is a sly fellow in the main. Do you observe how fond he is of the cross roads above this valley? Now, if I were to halt the troops twice in the same place, you would all swear there was a petticoat in the wind." "You are well known to the corps.” "Well, Tom, a slanderous propensity is incurable — but,” stretching forward his body in the direction he was gazing, as if to aid him in distinguishing objects through the darkness, "what animal is moving through the field on our right?" 'Tis a man," said Mason, looking intently at the suspicious object. "By his hump 'tis a dromedary!" added the captain, eying it keenly. Wheeling his horse suddenly from the highway, he exclaimed, "Harvey Birch!-take him, dead or alive! " Mason and a few of the leading dragoons only understood the sudden cry, but it was heard throughout the line. A dozen of the men, with the lieutenant at their head, followed the impetuous Lawton, and their speed threatened the pursued with a sudden termination of the race. Birch prudently kept his position on the rock, where he Lad been seen by the passing glance of Henry Wharton, until evening had begun to shroud the surrounding objects m darkness. From this height he had seen all the events of the day as they occurred. He had watched, with a beating heart, the departure of the troops under Dunwoodie, and with difficulty had curbed his impatience until the ob зcurity of night should render his moving free from danger. He had not, however, completed a fourth of his way to his pwn residence, when his quick ear distinguished the tread of the approaching horse. Trusting to the increasing darkness, he determined to persevere. By crouching and moving quickly along the surface of the ground, he hoped yet to escape unseen. Captain Lawton was too much engrossed with the foregoing conversation to suffer his eyes to indulge in their usual wandering; and the pedler, perceiving by the voices that the enemy he most feared had passed, yielded to his impatience, and stood erect, in order to make greater progress. The moment his body arose above the shadow of the ground, it was seen, and the chase commenced. For a single instant, Birch was helpless, his blood curdling in his veins at the imminence of the danger, and his legs refusing their natural and necessary office. But it was only for a moment. Casting his pack where he stood, and instinctively tightening the belt he wore, the pedler betook himself to flight. He knew that by bringing himself in a line with his pursuers and the wood, his form would be lost to sight. This he soon effected, and he was straining every nerve to gain the wood itself, when several horsemen rode by him but a short distance on his left, and cut him off from this place of refuge. The pedler threw himself on the ground as they came near him, and was passed unseen. But delay now became too dangerous for him to remain in that position. He accordingly arose, and still keeping in the shadow of the wood, along the skirts of which he heard voices crying to each other watchful, he ran with incredible speed in a parallel, but in an opposite direction, to the march of the dragoons. The confusion of the chase had been heard by the whole of the men, though none distinctly understood the order of Lawton but those who followed. The remainder were lost in doubt as to the duty that was required of them; and the aforesaid cornet was making eager inquiries of the trooper near him on the subject, when a man, at a short distance in his rear, crossed the road at a single bound. At the same instant, the stentorian voice of Lawton rang hrough the valley, shouting, "Harvey Birch take him, dead or alive! Fifty pistols lighted the scene, and the bullets whistled In every direction round the head of the devoted pedler A feeling of despair seized his heart, and in the bitternesa of that moment he exclaimed, |