"I should surely die if I could not," observed the Captain gravely. 'Captain Lawton," said the orderly of his troop, riding to the side of his commanding officer, "we are now passing the house of the pedler spy; is it your pleasure that we burn it?” "No!" roared the Captain, in a voice that startled the disappointed serjeant; "are you an incendiary! would you burn a house in cold blood? let but a spark approach, and the hand that carries it will never light another." "Zounds!" muttered the sleepy cornet in the rear, as he was nodding on his horse, "there is life in the Captain notwithstanding his tumble." Lawton and Masou rode on in silence, the latter ruminating on the wonderful change produced in his commander by his fall, when they arrived opposite to the gate before the residence of Mr. Wharton. The troop continued its march; but the Captain and his Lieutenant dismounted, and, followed by the servant of the former, they proceeded slowly to the door of the cottage. Colonel Wellmere had already sought a retreat in his own room; Mr. Wharton and his son were closeted by themselves; and the ladies were administering the refreshments of the tea-table to the surgeon of the dragoons, who had seen one of his patients in his bed, and the other happily enjoying the comforts of a sweet sleep. A few natural enquiries from Miss Peyton had opened the soul of the doctor, who knew every individual of her extensive family connection in Virginia, and who even thought it possible that he had seen the lady herself. The amiable spinster smiled as she felt it to be improbable that she should ever have met her new acquaintance before, and not remember his singularities. It however greatly relieved the embarrassment of their situation, and something like a discourse was maintained between them; nieces were the only listeners, nor could the aunt be said to be much more. the "As I was observing, Miss Peyton, it was merely the noxious vapours of the low lands that rendered the plantation of your brother an unfit residence for man; but quadrupeds were "Bless me, what's that?" said Miss Peyton, turning pale at the report of the pistols fired at Birch. "It sounds prodigiously like the concussion on the atmosphere made by the explosion of fire-arms," said the surgeon, sipping his tea with great indifference. "I should imagine it to be the troop of Captain Lawton returning, did I not know the Captain never uses the pistol, and that he dreadfully abuses the sabre." "Merciful providence!" exclaimed the agitated maiden, “he would not injure one with it certainly." "Injure!" repeated the other quickly; "it is certain death, madam; the most random blows imaginable; all that I can say to him will have no effect." "But Captain Lawton is the officer we saw this morning, and is surely your friend," said Frances, hastily, observing her aunt to be seriously alarmed. "I find no fault with his want of friendship; the man is well enough if he would learn to cut scientifically. All trades, madam, ought to be allowed to live; but what is to become of a surgeon, if his patients are dead before he sees them!" The doctor continued haranguing on the probability and improbability of its being the returning troop, until a loud knock at the door gave new alarm to the ladies. Instinctively laying his band on a small saw, that had been his companion for the whole day, in the vain expectation of an amputation, the surgeon, coolly assuring the ladies that he would stand between them and danger, proceeded in person to answer to the summons. 66 Captain Lawton!" exclaimed the surgeon, as he beheld the trooper leaning on the arm of his subaltern, and with difficulty crossing the threshold. "Ah! my dear bone-setter, is it you? you are here very fortunately to inspect my carcass; but do lay aside that rascally saw.' A few words from Mason explained the nature and manner of his Captain's hurts, and Miss Peyton cheerfully accorded the required accommodations. While the room intended for the trooper was getting ready, and the doctor was giving certain portentous orders, the Captain was invited to rest himself in the parlour. On the table was a dish of more substantial food than ordinarily adorned the afternoon's repast, and it soon caught the attention of the dragoons. Miss Peyton, recollecting that they had probably made their only meal that day at her own table, kindly invited them to close it with another. The offer required no pressing, and in a few minutes the two were comfortably seated, and engaged in an employment that was only interrupted by an occasional wry face from the Captain, who moved his body in evident pain. These interruptions, however, interfered but little with the principal business in hand; and the Captain had got happily through with this important duty, before the surgeon returned to announce all things ready for his accommodation, in the room above stairs. "Eating!" cried the astonished physician; "Captain Lawton, do you wish to die?" "I have no particular ambition that way," said the trooper, rising, and bowing good night to the ladies, "and, therefore, have been providing the materials necessary to preserve life." The surgeon muttered his dissatisfaction, while he followed Mason and the Captain from the apartment. Every house in America had at that day what was emphatically called its best room, and this had been allotted, by the unseen influence of Sarah, to Colonel Wellmere. The down counterpane, which a clear frosty night would render extremely grateful over bruised limbs, decked the English officer's bed. A massive silver tankard, richly embossed with the Wharton arms, held the beverage he was to drink during the night; while beautiful vessels of china performed the same office for the two American Captains. Sarah was certainly unconscious of the silent preference she had been giving to the English officer; and it is equally certain, that but for his hurts, bed, tankard, and every thing but the beverage, would have been matters of indifference to Captain Lawton, half of whose nights were spent in his clothes, and not a few of them in the saddle. After taking possession, however, of a small but very comfortable room, Dr. Sitgreaves proceeded to enquire into the state of his injuries. He had begun to pass his hand over the body of his patient, when the latter cried impatiently "Sitgreaves, do me the favour to lay that rascally saw aside, or I shall have recourse to my sabre in self-defence; the sight of it makes my blood cold." 66 Captain Lawton, for a man who has so often exposed life and limb, you are unaccountably afraid of a very useful instrument." "Heaven keep me from its use," said the trooper, with a shrug. "You would not despise the lights of science, nor refuse surgical aid, because this saw might be necessary." "I would." "You would!" "Yes, you never shall joint me like a quarter of beef, while I have life to defend myself,” cried the resolute dragoon; “but I grow sleepy; are any of my ribs broken?" "No." "Any of my bones?" "No." "Tom, I'll thank you for that pitcher." As he ended his draught, he very deliberately turned his back on his companions, and good-naturedly cried "Good night, Mason; Good night, Galen." Captain Lawton entertained a profound respect for the surgical abilities of his comrade, but he was very sceptical on the subject of administering internally for the ailings of the human frame. With a full stomach, a stout heart, and a clear conscience, he often maintained that a man might bid defiance to the world and its vicissitudes. Nature provided him with the second, and, to say the truth, he strove manfully himself, to keep up the other two requisites in his creed. It was a favourite maxim with him, that the last thing death assailed was the eyes, and next to the last, the jaws. This he interpreted to be a clear expression of the intention of nature, that every man might regulate, by his own volition, whatever was to be admitted into the sanctuary of his mouth; consequently, if the guest proved unpalatable, he had no one to blame but himself. The surgeon, who was well acquainted with these views of his patient, beheld him, as he cavalierly turned his back on Mason and himself, with a commiserating contempt, replaced in their leathern repository the phials he had exhibited, with a speThe Spy. 8 cies of care that was allied to veneration, gave the saw, as he concluded, a whirl of triumph, and departed, without condescending to notice the compliment of the trooper. Mason, finding, by the breathing of the Captain, that his own good night would be unheard, hastened to pay his respects to the ladies - after which he mounted, and followed the troop at the top of his horse's speed. CHAPTER X. On some fond breast the parting soul relies, Gray. THE possessions of Mr. Wharton extended to some distance on each side of the house in which he dwelt, and most of his land was unoccupied. A few scattered dwellings were to be seen in different parts of his domains, but they were fast falling to decay, and were untenanted. The proximity of the country to the contending armies had nearly banished the pursuits of agriculture from the land. It was useless for the husbandman to devote his time, and the labour of his hands, to obtain overflowing garners, that the first foraging party would empty. None tilled the earth with any other view than to provide the scanty means of subsistence, except those who were placed so near to one of the adverse parties as to be safe from the inroads of the light troops of the other. To these the war offered a golden harvest, more especially to such as enjoyed the benefits of an access to the royal army. Mr. Wharton did not require the use of his lands for the purposes of subsistence; and he willingly adopted the guarded practice of the day, limiting his attention to such articles as were soon to be consumed within his own walls, or could be easily secreted from the prying eyes of the foragers. In consequence, the ground on which the action was fought had not a single inhabited building, besides the one belonging to the father of Harvey Birch. This house stood between the place where the cavalry had met, and that where the charge had been made on the party of Wellmere. |