"Oh, sir, tell me," cried the boy, (6 was this the man that was swearing so, but a minute ago? and can this be the bullet hole from my rifle ?" "It is; this is the wretch, and your bullet was in the right time." "Oh, sir, he was cursing when I fired: and then the poor man he was going to hang-I was so afraid that you would not say, 'now,' soon enough to save him. But I feel so strange!" 66 How, boy?" "I have killed a man: what would my poor mother say, if she was alive and knew it?" 66 Go, go, boy, you have done well; you have shot him in a good cause, and have saved innocent life besides. You could not have done better-but don't think of it." "I can't help thinking of it, sir," said the boy, upon whom a new experience was dawning rapidly, as he moved back to the copse where he had been concealed, to resume his jacket and rifle which he had there thrown aside. In another quarter of the field, the scene which met the eye of Singleton was one of those which amply compensate for the pain and the peril, the dread and the anxiety, through which men must pass to witness them the sudden emancipation of the prisoners to life and freedom-the erect aspect of the beaten and bound man the body realizing, in the moment of its rescue, the liberty for which the mind had been yearning, and whose value can only be duly estimated by its privation. A cry-a-cheer of joy-was upon every lip; as the bird, escaping from his cage, attests the consciousness of his new condition of freedom, in song, not less than flight. Conspicuous among the prisoners, in their joy upon this occasion, was the family of the brave but suffering wretch who had so narrowly escaped the halter. Revived by the noise, the rush, the firing, and confusion of the fight, as much as by the earnest cares of her daughter, his wife had been filled with a new anxiety, along with the new hope, when she found that, though execution had not been done upon her husband, as so nearly promised, her eyes could not trace out his person in the midst of the fierce melée which followed the first arrest of his doom. A moment after, and her arms were about his neck: and though unused to the melting mood, the tears forced themselves into the eyes of Singleton, as he surveyed their meeting-the sweetness of their sorrow-the joy which is tearful -the pleasure which almost grows into pain, in the depth of its pure intensity. 66 Safe, oh safe, Walter Griffin! and there is no more danger, my husband!” 66 None, none! we are safe, we are all safe, Ellen!" "And where is Gaskens?" 66 The, wretch is on his back. God bless the bullet that came in time, and the true hand that sent it." "And we are free, my father, to go home again—to our own home?" said the daughter, as she took the hand of her father in both of her own. 66 Home! where is it?" he exclaimed fiercely, and with the same savage expression with which his eyes had regarded Gaskens, even in the moment of his greatest danger. "Where is it? Did you not see the blaze through the trees, as we looked back? Did he not throw the torch into the loft with his own accursed hands? and yet you ask for our home. We have no home, girl." "But we are free, my husband, we are free. You will go to work-we will soon have another in the old place, and we can lodge in a shed till then." "Never, never! I do no such folly. What! to be burnt down again by other tories ?-no, no! I am chopped already-I cannot be chopped much worse, and live; and if I must suffer, let me suffer with those who will help me to strike, too, and to revenge. I will burn too; I will kill too. I will have blood for what I have lost, and the sufferings of others shall pay me for my own and yours." Singleton approached at this moment, and the prison ers, so lately freed, gathered around him. Each had his own story of affliction to tell, and each more mournful than the other. "They chased me, it mought be a matter of three miles, 'fore I gin up, captain, and they wore out a bunch of hickories on my back, because I run-see to the marks," was the complaint of one. Another had his tale of petty treachery: his neighbour who had eaten a hundred times of his bacon and hoecake, had come in the night time, shot down his cattle, and, finally, led the tories to his door to slaughter him. Another had his wife shot in her bed, in mistake for himself, while he was traversing the swamp to make his escape. And so on-one with simple cruelty, one with burning, one with murder, and one with even more atrocious crimes-each of the prisoners had his own and his family's sufferings, at the hands of the blood-thirsty tories, to narrate to their deliverer. Singleton administered his consolations, and put arms into their hands. The greater number of them joined him; those who did not, receiving the upbraidings, in no stinted measure, of those who did. The lately doomed prisoner, Griffin, seized upon a broadsword-a massive weapon, which had fallen from the hands of a huge-limbed tory-and proffered himself the first. His wife laid her hand upon his arm— "Oh, husband, you are not a-going to join the troops? you are not going a-fighting?" He looked sternly upon her, and shook away the grasp 66 Ay, but I am! you shan't keep me from my duty now. I wanted to come out six months ago, but you tried the same game over me, and I was fool enough to mind you, and see how it's turned out. Our cattle shot-the house burnt-the farm destroyed-and me chopped up, and almost hung; and all owing to you." The woman sank back at the reproach. The girl came between them "Oh, father, don't speak so to mother. Now, mo ther, he don't mean it; he's only fierce because of the fighting." "I do mean it! I do mean it! She whined, and begged, and cried, and kept me back, until the bloody varmints overcrowed us at every turn. She shall keep me back no longer. I say to you, captain, here's an arm, and here's a sword: to be sure the arm's chopped, and the owner is ragged with cuts and scratches; but no matter, they're true blood, and, by God, it's at your service, for old Carolina. Put me down in your orderly book as one of your men, as long as the troop holds together. Wat Griffin is one of your men, and one of Marion's men, and one of all men that are enemies to the tories." The man was resolved, and his wife spared all farther speech. She knew how unavailing was the woman's pleading against the resolute will of the man, once determined upon. She clung to his arm, however; and it could be seen, in that moment of affliction and of peril, of trying adventure and long fatigue rising up before them, that the firmness of her resolution to share his fortunes was equal to that which had determined him upon them. An hour's labour buried the bodies of the men who had fallen in the conflict. The recruits were well armed from the hands of those who had perished and become prisoners; and, with a troop now grown to a respectable size, from the acquisitions of the morning, Singleton prepared for his farther progress. The men were soon mounted, some riding double, as the number of horses was not equal to that of the partisans. The prisoners were driven along before them, and, rather more slowly than they otherwise would have been, not thus embarrassed, our little corps of patriots was soon in motion. Singleton led the march at a gentle pace-the boy Frampton, as had latterly been his usage, taking his place and keeping close alongside of his commander. CHAPTER XVI. "And subtle the design, and deep the snare, CERTAINLY, man is never so legitimately satisfied, as when in the realization of his own powers. The exercise of those attributes which make his nature, is the duty that follows his creation; and it is only when he exceeds the prescribed limit, and runs into excess, that he suffers and is criminal. How various are these powers-how extensive their range-how superior their empire! Creative, destructive, perceptive-all co-operating for the same end-the elevation of his own capacities and condition. They are those of a God, and they prove his divinity. Balanced duly, each in its place, and restrained, as well as promoted, by its fellow, he deserves to be, and most probably will be happy. But whether the balance be preserved or not, the discovery, on his part, of any one of these powers, must have the effect of elevating him in his own thought, and giving him pleasure accordingly. Sometimes, indeed, to such a degree does its realization delight him, that he maddens and gluttonizes in its enjoyment-he gloats upon it; and, from a natural attribute, cherished for a beneficial purpose, and forming a necessary endowment, it grows into a disease, and preys upon its master. Such is that love of enterprise which sometimes leads to ungenerous conquest; such that stern desire of justice which sometimes prompts us, in defence of our own rights, not to scruple at unnecessary bloodshed. In the pursuit of both, the original purpose is soon lost sight of. We guage not our dooms in measure with the wrongs we suffer; and the fierce excitements |