discomfited party, at a point where they had but little to apprehend from any enemy. "Well," said one of the fellows, while a fire was lighting to protect them against the air, which was becoming severely cold, "there is an end to our business in West-Chester. The Virginia horse will soon make the county too hot to hold us." "I'll have his blood," muttered the leader, "if I die for it the next instant." "Oh, you are very valiant, here, in the wood," cried the other, with a savage laugh; "why did you, who boast so much of your aim, miss your man, at thirty yards?" ""Twas the horseman that disturbed me, or I would have ended this Captain Lawton on the spot; besides, the cold had set me a shivering, and I had no longer a steady hand." "Say it was fear, and you will tell no lie," said his comrade with a sneer. "For my part, I think I shall never be cold again; my back burns as if a thousand gridirons were laid on it." "And you would tamely submit to such usage, and kiss the rod that beat you?" "As for kissing the rod, it would be no easy matter. Mine was broken into so small pieces, on my own shoulders, that it would be difficult to find one big enough to kiss; but I would rather submit to lose half my skin, than to lose the whole of it, with my ears in the bargain. And such will be our fates, if we tempt this mad Virginian again. God willing, I would at anytime give him enough of my hide to make a pair of jack boots, to get out of his hands with the remainder. If you had known when you were well off, you would have stuck to Major Dunwoodie, who don't know half so much of our evil doings.' " "Silence, you talking fool!" shouted the enraged leader; "your prating is sufficient to drive a man mad; is it not enough to be robbed and beaten, but we must be tormented with your folly? - help to get out the provisions, if any is left in the wallet, and try and stop your mouth with food." This injunction was obeyed, and the whole party, amidst sundry groans and contortions, excited by the disordered state of their backs, made their arrangements for a scanty meal. A large fire of dry wood was burning in the cleft of a rock, and at length they began to recover from the confusion of their flight, and to collect their scattered senses. Their hunger being appeased, and many of their garments thrown aside for the better opportunity of dressing their wounds, the gang began to plot measures of revenge. An hour was spent in this manner, and various expedients were proposed, but as they all depended on personal prowess for their success, and were attended by great danger, they were of course rejected. There was no possibility of approaching the troops by surprise, their vigilance being ever on the watch; and the hope of meeting Captain Lawton, away from his men, was equally forlorn, for the trooper was constantly engaged in his duty, and his movements were so rapid, that any opportunity of meeting with him at all must depend greatly on accident. Besides, it was by no means certain, that such an interview would result happily for themselves. The cunning of the trooper was notorious; and rough and broken as was West-Chester, the fearless partisan was known to take desperate leaps, and stone walls were but slight impediments to the charges of the Southern horse. Gradually, the conversation took another direction, until the gang determined on a plan which should both revenge themselves, and at the same time offer some additional stimulus to their exertions. The whole business was accurately discussed, the time fixed, and the manner adopted; in short, nothing was wanting to the previous arrangement for this deed of villany, when they were aroused by a voice calling aloud "This way, Captain Jack — here are the rascals eating by a fire - this way, and murder the thieves where they sit quick, lave your horses and shoot your pistols!" - This terrific summons was enough to disturb all the philosophy of the gang. Springing on their feet, they rushed deeper into the wood, and having already agreed upon a place of rendezvous previously to their intended expedition, they dispersed towards the four quarters of the heavens. Certain sounds and different voices were heard calling to each other, but as the marauders were well trained to speed of foot, they were soon lost in the distance. It was not long before Betty Flanagan emerged from the darkness, and very coolly took possession of what the skinners had left behind them; namely, food and divers articles of dress. The washerwoman deliberately seated herself, and made a meal with great apparent satisfaction. For an hour, she sat with her head upon her hand, in deep musing; then she gathered together such articles of the clothes, as seemed to suit her fancy, and retired into the wood, leaving the fire to throw its glimmering light on the adjacent rocks, until its last brand died away, and the place was abandoned to solitude and darkness. CHAPTER XIX. No longer then perplex the breast When thoughts torment, the first are best; Lapland Love Song. WHILE his comrades were sleeping, in perfect forgetfulness of their hardships and dangers, the slumbers of Dunwoodie were broken and unquiet. After spending a night of restlessness, he arose unrefreshed, from the rude bed where he had thrown himself in his clothes, and without awaking any of the group around him, he wandered into the open air in search of relief. The soft rays of the moon were just passing away in the more distinct light of the morning; the wind had fallen, and the rising mists gave the promise of another of those autumnal days, which, in this unstable climate, succeed a tempest, with the rapid transitions of magic. The hour had not arrived when he intended moving from his present position; and willing to allow his warriors all the refreshment that circumstances would permit, he strolled towards the scenes of the skinners' punishment, musing upon the embarrassments of his situation, and uncertain how he should reconcile his sense of duty with his love. Although Dunwoodie himself placed the most implicit reliance on the Captain's purity of intention, he was by no means assured that a board of officers would be equally credulous; and, independently of all feelings of private regard, he felt certain that with the execution of Henry would be destroyed all hopes of a union with his sister. He had despatched an officer, the pre ceding evening, to Colonel Singleton, who was in command of the advanced posts, reporting the capture of the British Captain, and, after giving his own opinion of his innocence, requesting orders as to the manner in which he was to dispose of his prisoner. These orders might be expected every hour, and his uneasiness increased, in proportion as the moment approached when his friend might be removed from his protection. In this disturbed state of mind, the Major wandered through the orchard, and was stopped in his walk by arriving at the base of those rocks which had protected the skinners in their flight, before he was conscious whither his steps had carried him. He was about to turn, and retrace his path to his quarters when he was startled by a voice, bidding him "Stand or die!" Dunwoodie turned in amazement, and beheld the figure of a man placed at a little distance above him on a shelving rock, with a musket levelled at himself. The light was not yet sufficiently powerful to reach the recesses of that gloomy spot, and a second look was necessary before he discovered, to his astonishment, that the pedler stood before him. Comprehending, in an instant, the danger of his situation, and disdaining to implore mercy, or to retreat, had the latter been possible, the youth cried firmly "If I am to be murdered, fire; I will never become your pri "No, Major Dunwoodie," said Birch, lowering his musket, "it is neither my intention to capture, nor to slay." "What then would you have, mysterious being?” said Dunwoodie, hardly able to persuade himself that the form he saw was not a creature of the imagination. "Your good opinion," answered the pedler, with emotion, "I would wish all good men to judge me with lenity.” "To you it must be indifferent what may be the judgment of men; for you seem to be beyond the reach of their sentence. 99 "God spares the lives of his servants to his own time," said the pedler, solemnly: "a few hours ago I was your prisoner, and threatened with the gallows; now you are mine; but, Major Dunwoodie, you are free. There are men abroad who would treat you less kindly. Of what service would that sword be to you against my weapon and a steady hand? Take the advice of one who has never harmed you, and who never will. Do not trust yourself in the skirts of any wood, unless in company and mounted. "And have you comrades, who have assisted you to escape, and who are less generous than yourself?" "No no, I am alone truly and He." none know me but my God “And who?” asked the Major, with an interest he could not control. "None," continued the pedler, recovering his composure. "But such is not your case, Major Dunwoodie; you are young and happy; there are those that are dear to you, and such are not far away danger is near them you love most danger within and without; double your watchfulness strengthen your patrols and be silent. With your opinion of me, should I tell you more, you would suspect an ambush. But remember and guard them you love best." The pedler discharged the musket in the air, and threw it at the feet of his astonished auditor. When surprise and the smoke suffered Dunwoodie to look again on the rock where he had stood, the spot was vacant. The youth was aroused from the stupor, which had been created by this strange scene, by the trampling of horses, and the sound of the bugles. A patrol was drawn to the spot by the report of the musket, and the alarm had been given to the corps. Without entering into any explanation with his men, the Major returned quickly to his quarters, where he found the whole squadron under arms, in battle array, impatiently awaiting the appearance of their leader. The officer whose duty it was to superintend such matters, had directed a party to lower the sign of the Hotel Flanagan, and the post was already arranged for the execution of the spy. On hearing from the Major that the musket was discharged by himself, and was probably one of those dropped by the skinners (for by this time Dunwoodie had learnt the punishment inflicted by Lawton, but chose to conceal his own interview with Birch), his officers suggested the propriety of executing their prisoner before they The Spy. 14 |