iotia-1
THE
SWAMP STEED;
THE DAYS OF
MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN.
Romance of
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
NEW YORK:
DEWTTT & DAVENPORT, PUBLISHERS, TRIBUNE BUILDINGS.
I
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year J 852, by
D'EWITT & DAVENPORT,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Stereotyped by BELL & RUSSKLL, 13 Spruce StrtvC
THE SWAMP STEED;
OR
THE DAYS OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN.
CHAPTER I.
In the middle of the afternoon of a fine, sunny day in the early part of April, in the year of grace one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, a young man dressed in the rough garb of a hunter, with a rifle thrown care- lessly«over his right shoulder, might have been seen making his way, with a calm, thoughtful air, through a thick wood which rose gradually till it reach- ed the top of a high hill that overlooked the surrounding country, and whose brow jutted over the winding waters of South Carolina's noblest river — the Santee.
The pensive air of the young hunter, whose age could not have been more than four or five and twenty, precluded the idea fiat he was in quest of game, for, the feathered inhabitants of the wood, as if conscious of se- curity, piped on their songs of gladness, and the various denizens of the under- -brush darted at intervals across his path, without in any degree disturbing his thoughts or attracting his attention.
The appearance of the young man was at once striking and picturesque. His figure was somewhat above the ordinary height, and, although inclining rather to slenderness than otherwise, straight as an arrow, and of a most. per- fect and commanding symmetry. He was habited in a cap of dark cloth, a loose deer skin frock reaching midway between the thigh and knee, buck- skin leggins fringed with red and blue stuff, and russet colored boots whose high, broad, open tops hung carelessly around his knees. From a belt, slung around his waist, depended a small buff pouch, together with a long, double- edged blade, whose top was surmounted by a stout elk-horn handle. His peakless cap gave a bold and saucy air to his otherwise manly and impressive features. His brow slightly tinted with the bronze peculiar to the denizens of the sunny South, was high and massive, and possessed an air of calm re- flectiveness not common to men of his years. His eyes were large and of a bright, clear gray, their irises glittering like belts of light around two pupils iof liquidiousblue; his nose was straight, the nostrils small but boldly denned, and impressing a beholder with the idea of deep passions in repose : his lips, moderately small, were chiselled like a bow ; his chin was slightly promi- nent, and garnished with a small, sharp-pointed beard ; his long, handsomely shaped neck was slender, but firm and muscular, and, ever exposed to the sun and air, bronzed like his cheeks and brow.
One could not look at his countenance without becoming impressed with the conviction that the hunter was a young man of an unusual mental cali- bre ; intelligence, coolness, strength and self-reliance shone in every feature, and stamped him as one not likely to be daunted by ordinary perils, nor turned from his purpose by any common event. But the most striking char- acteristic of his features was that air of calm reflectiveness to which we have
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4 THE SWAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
already alluded, and which gave to his countenance a majesty, nobleness and strength, that stamped him of a superior order in the ranks of men
The young man pursued his way thoughtfully through the wood ; and, so apparently earnest were his meditations, without once lifting his eyes from the ground, guiding his steps through the devious trees and unbroken brush- wood with that calm, unerring accuracy which appears so much like instinct, and yet is the strongest and most indubitable evidence of the keen and e perienced woodsman.
On reaching the top of the hill, the hunter turned to the left and continu- ed his way, by a narrow and somewhat trodden path, till he came to a large open clearing, some nine or ten acres in extent, in one corner of which rose a cabin built of green, unhewn logs, and thrown together in that primitive manner which was the distinguishing feature of the early settlements of our country when the necessity of some kind of shelter took precedence of its appearance.
The clearing was cut up into small patches for the raising of corn, potatoes and other vegetables, which now began to present a thrifty and handsome appearance, and to promise largely to the husbandman for his trust in the providence of mother earth.
The hunter paused a few momenta on reaching the edge of the clearing, flung a calm yet rapid glance over the promising field, during which hia quick eye took in a thorough survey of the condition of the various patches, and then, striking into a side path which skirted the clearing, resumed his slow, measured step till he came to a beaten track leading to the cabin.
As he approached, there emerged from the log house, as if to meet him, a tall, lusty, manly personage, whose figure was encased in the wild and singu- lar costume of the backwoodsmen of that era. His gigantic frame reminded one of the stalwart giants of the early ages, and seemed as if made by na- ture to penetrate the mysterious depths of the wilderness, rid it of all the obstacles and dangers which stand in the way of the settler, and thus pio- neer the advance guard of civilization to comfort, security and strength. He wore a long, loose, green hunting shirt, which was fastened at the waist by a deep, stout black girdle, in which hung a long, sharp pointed knife, whose highly tempered blade glittered in the sunlight like a flashing mirror ; at his side, suspended by a belt slung over his right shoulder, depended a large powder horn, and directly underneath it, an ample pouch of deer skin, tolera- bly well lined with bullets, wads and scraps of linen to serve as bandages in case of need ; his limbs were attired in doe-skin leggins fringed at the sides and extremities with scarlet yarn ; his large, wide feet were covered with buff moccasins, whose tops presented a showy array of white, green, blue, and red bead work, of which their owner, judging by their clean, aud almost spotless condition, and the care he evinced in preserving them from discolor- ment, was not a little proud. He wore a coarse, gray felt hat, of a sugar loaf shape rising above a deep and slouching rim. Beneath his broad, high and sun- tanned brow gleamed two large dare-devil eyes of a deep brown hue, which sparkled with a mingled expression of cunning, intrepidity and good nature. A large, Roman nose, a mouth of moderate dimensions, small, thick lips, and a protruding chin, finished a face whose boldly marked outlines were em- blematic of the shrewd, fearless and happy tempered disposition of their ovrner.
"Bless my old aunt Sally!" exclaimed the woodsman, as the young hunter advanced and stretched out his hand, " if it aint Neil Somers ! Why Neil !" he continued, wringing in his broad palm the proffered hand of the young hunter, " what on airth brings yew to the log house of Nat Akarman ; is it red skin? The varmint hev been seed, they say, on the borders, .on the look out for scalps. Hev yew heerd on 'em ?"
The young man slowly and smilingly shook his head.
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN.
"Can you spare me half an hour, Nat?" said he, bending his thoughtful eyes meaningly on the woodsman.
" Sartain !' answered the latter good humoredly, " half a year if yew like ! Wait a moment till I get old Sal ; I make it a pint never to take a step with- out her. She's the only rale ginooine critter to be found in these parts. Old Sal will drop a red skin at three hundred yar tb quicker 'n chain lightnin ! Jest hold on a minit, till I git her, and then we'll go down to the old tree on the ledge."
So saying, the woodsman turned and entered the log house, from which he
,
presently emerged, wifh a long rifle thrown over his shoulder, the stock of which he grasped in his la that was all but ludicrous.
, ,
which he grasped in his large brawny hand vrith an expression of tenderness
"Here she is, Neil!" he cried in a tone of enthusiasm, as he took the weapon from his shoulder and held it up to the gaze of his visitor. " Isn't she a beauty ?"
" I am well acquainted with her merits, Nat," answered the young hunter. " Have I not heard her bark among the hills of the Cherokees ; did I not see her flash at the battle of Etchoee, where her gray teeth made many a red skin bite the dust without giving him time to sing his death song?"
"Ha! ha! ha!" cried the woodsman, his eyes sparkling with pride, "she did make the red devils play at leap frog a leetle on that day, didn't she ? But, come — let's tramp over to the old tree on the ledge !"
So saying, he turned off to the left, and quitting the clearing, struck into a small wood, and passed on in silence some two hundred yards, when they oame to a large open, sterile spot, in the shape of a crescent, on the edge of the mountain, from which they could look forth on the surrounding country, with its small sparse villages, and scattered plantations, and beneath which ran the crystal waters of the lovely and majestic Santee. In the centre of this small sterile patch, its long straight limbs leaning over the rocky ledge. rose a huge cypress, whose leafy branches, stretching wide around, shielded them from the sun, and invited them to partake of the quiet and coolness of its shade.
" Here let us rest — here let us converse," observed the young hunter, seat- ing himself at the base of the tree, and laying his rifle carefully across his
" Yes," said the woodsman, imitating his companion. " This old tree is a nice place for a talk. There aint another spot like it in the province. I allers cum here when my 'fairs want thinkin' on, and when I'm meditatin' on a tramp after red skins. Here I fix my traps, regillate the edges of my knife, grease up and fix the jints of old Sal there," nodding at his rifle, " when she wants doctorin', and see that every thing is chuck up afore I start for the trail. It is a nice old tree ! But, Neil, my boy, where on airth hev yew kep' yourself? I've been down to your plantation in Kingstree, more'n a dozen times within the last three months, and the niggers told me that yew were not to hum ; they didn't seem to know where yew'd gone, but they 'peared to be pretty sartain you were not around."
"They were not uncivil, Nat?" demanded the young planter, raising his .thoughtful, eyes and fixing them somewhat strongly on the woodsman.
"Oh, Jerusha! no," answered Nat Akarman, with a good humored smile, " nuthin of the kind. Your niggers are the civilest woolly heads in the hull province. They were as perlite and good natured as an old maid when she receives a proposal ! But where on airth hev you been, and when did yew git hum ?"
"I've been down to Charleston," answered the planter, "and I got home yesterday."
" Down to Charleston — makin' purchases, p'raps ?" said the woodsman.
The planter smiled, and answered :
6 THE SWAMP STEED J OR THE DA.Y8
" Yes, that am»ng other things."
" Dew tell! and how are all the folks comin' on down there I
"From bad to worse!" answered the planter, with an air of melancholy. « The breach between the people and and the crown widens more and more every day. It is nothing but taxes— taxes— taxes, and the people murmur.
" The old story !" observed the woodsman impatiently.
"But the people are in earnest now !" said the planter calmly. And, be tween ourselves, they are concerting how to throw off the yoke that now oppresses them; and depend upon it, my friend, they will bring matters around to please themselves. They feel that they hav% too long submitted to the unjust encroachments of the crown !"
" And do you believe, Neil, there is grit enough in 'em to shake their fists under the nose of old King George ?"
"Yes," answered the planter, unhesitatingly ; "I believe they are in earn- est now. Listen, while I prove it. But first tell me have you been down among the settlements of late ?"
"No," replied the woodsman ; " I make it a pint not to 'sociate with people any more'n I kin help. I aiiit to hum much to do it, ef I had the inclination. I've got some small bills remainin' on hand to settle with them blasted yaller bellies ; they haven't paid up the scalps they owe me : and old Sal here won't rest quiet till she's given 'em a receipt in full."
" I understand you," said the young planter. " You've told me the story. 'Tis twenty years since the red skins surprised your home at midnight, while in the arms of sleep — wantonly set "it on fire, and
t your father, mother, brother, sister and wife, as they tried to escape from the flames!"
"Yes," answered the woodsman, in a voice slightly broken with emotion, while from his face every particle of blood slowly receded, leaving his swar- thy features livid as those of a corse, " 'tis twenty years since the varmint fired the old house which stood where my own log hut stands now ; 'tis twenty years since I swore to pay them back with interest for,that night of blood ; and the scalps in my log cabin will bear me witness that I hev kept my oath!"
" And you have never wearied of your work of vengeance?"
" Never !" answered the woodsman with a swarthy smile. " It has be- come a second natur' with me. I could not live ef I had to give it up. A red skin cannot come in sight of me or old Sal without smellin' powder and losin' his scalp ; and when they aint in sight, I make it a pint to go and hunt ^em up. I had a glorious time of it when they used to come down upon the frontier, and the settlers, under Prank Marion, went out to drive 'em off and and make 'em taste lead ; then old Sal and I fairly rioted in scalps, from which carcumstance every body called me ' Nat, the Scalp Hunter.' When the varmint ceased to provoke the settlers to start out and punish 'em, and there was no more legitimate work for old Sal, I found it necessary for her peace and comfort, to carry on the war against 'em alone, and I've done it 1 Sal turns up her nose at painters, wolves, and such common varmint, and wunt tetch nuthin' but the genooine meat — red skin ! This gives her and me plenty to do, for the Oherokees and Catawbas kin be found ef yew look 'em up. I know then- trail, and it keeps me busy to attend to 'em. This is the reason, Neil, why I don't go down much among the settlements, and "why I know so little of what is goin' on among the people. But yew say the boys down there in Charleston, have got the rale stuff in 'era, and that they wun't put up with the yoke any longer ?"
" Yes," answered the planter.
" Well!" observed the woodsman, "all that sounds to me like an old story. Ever since I came to old Sou' Carliny, I've heerd nuthin' but grumblin' agin .the King and his oudacious taxes ; the people dekleered they wouldn't staud
OF MARIO\ AND HIS MERRY MEN. 7
it then — that was a good many years ago, when this tax business wasn't nuthin' to what it has been since, let alone to what it is now — and yet they stood it then, have stood it ever since, and air just as likely to stand it now. I don't like grumblers, who growl at everything and don't do nuthin'."
" But they are in earnest now, Nat !" observed the planter, in his deep, impressive voice.
" So they've been sayin' a good while," returned the scalp hunter, with a smile of incredulity. " They've been talkin' about their arnestness, like all the other colonists, ever since I was knee high ; and while they've been talkin' the monster has grown big enough to strangle 'em. Why in the name of human natur' don't the critters do somethin' ?"
" They have, at last !" said the planter.
" Got up a petition, or an indignation meetin', I s'pose," observed the scalp hunter, with a slight sneer.
" No," returned the planter, calmly. " Better than that!"
" They hev gone in a body to the Governor and told him they had no more money to pay, and he'd have to 'get the taxes by selling their prop- erty?"
" No ; better than that"
" They have clubbed together, got the collector into their midst by a strata- gem, and putting a pistol to bis head threatened to blow out his brains ef he didn't sign their receipts in full, and swear he had lost the money ?" con- tinued the scalp hunter, in the 'same sneering tone.
" Better than that !"
"They hev gone in a body to the Governor and told him if he wouldn't - pick up his traps and quit the province, they would !"
" Better than that 1"
" Neil," said the scalp hunter, dropping his vein of irony, and addressing the planter in a tone of unusual tenderness mingled with reproach, " I begin to think yew are fooling me in this matter, or else air yourself deceived. It is unpossible, it 'pears to me, for yew to go agin your character and turn jester even on a pint like this ; and equally as unpossible, 'cording to my idees, for these critters, who hev endured their heavy yoke so long, to have grit enough left to rise up agin it now !"
" I am not one to trifle with the credulity of any man or men, let alone my friends," answered Neil Somers, in his usual calm voice ; " nor do I think I am deceived in the matter of which we have been speaking. I have heard with my own ears, I have seen with my own eyes, Nat ; and it is from what I have heard and what I have seen that I have come to the conclusion the people are in earnest, now !"
" Tell me, Neil, what it is you hev heerd," said the scalp hunter, drawing closer to his companion, and preparing every sense to catch each expression of voice, feature and movement of the planter.
" I have heard the people," said Neil Somers, in his calm, impressive voice, " in^ruct their representatives, publicly, to take some measures to warn the crown of their determination to put up no longer with its oppres- sive exactions, and of their unalterable resolution to unite with the inhabitants of the other colonies in resisting its insolent and arbitrary encroachments on their rights as citizens, and on their feelings as men."
" Yes," said the scalp hunter, " that now is some'n like 1 Go on I"
" I have heard their representatives, that is to say, the provincial congress, declaim aloud, in honorable and justly indignant terms, against the baseness of the crown in conceiving its atrocities and against the baser souls of its minions, who sought to carry those atrocities into execution by inflicting them upon the people."
" Good agin I" exclaimed the scalp hunter, with a slight smile of irony. " And that was the end of their patriotism ?"
g THE SWAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
"No/" answered Neil Somers, bending his calm eyes somewhat reproach- fully, upon his companion. " You have not heard enough to form a judg- ment; you have heard what /have heard, but you have not yet heard what I have seen /"
" True. Well, to justify your idee that the people are in aniest upon these matters, what hev yew seen?"
" I have seen them," resumed Neil Somers, calmly, " pledge themselves by word and signature, to refuse to use, and to prevent the importation of, goods and merchandise from the mother country ; and in keeping with this pledge, I have seen them go at midnight, masked and disguised, on board the shipping in Cooper Bay, and, like their brethren of Boston, take the tea, and other merchandise and tumble it into the river. I have seen them in the still dark hours of night, break open the public armory, abstract its muskets, cutlasses, cartouches, flints, matches and other materials of war. I have seen, them forcibly enter the public powder magazines, seize all the ammunition, and convey it away to a secret spot known only to themselves, so as to have it ready in the hour of need. I have seen and heard the provincial congress of our province respond with heart and hand to the recommendation of the continental congress to oppose, by every means in their power, every meas- ure of the home government bearing upon the colonies, and to destroy every vestige of trade between them, until the crown shall relieve them of their present sufferings and redress the outrages it has committed upon them in the past !"
" All this is good, all this looks well, all this shows like the rale grit !" ob- served Nat, after a brief pause. " And it will lead to sum'n serious for the colonists," he added thoughtfully ; "for King George is vain, and will not quietly put up with such an insult to his pride ; he is rich and sassy, too, and rich and sassy men wunt 'low enny body t« be sassy but themselves ; and he is strong also, with soldiers and men-of-war enough to blow the colonies to powder by the cord. Yes, Neil — it'll be a serious matter 1"
" There can be no doubt of that, Nat But however serious it may prove, they will find a friend in you — will they not ?" said Neil Somers, bending his eyes with a nervous, yet confident glance on the scalp hunter.
" Why, as to that, Neil," returned the latter, " there kin be but onS 'pin- ion. My natur don't jibe with Kings nor red skins, for they both prey upon the people. The citizens in Charleston could git along bravely, ef it wus'nt for the King, who taxes 'em to death ; and the yeomanry in lie settlements conld swim along handsomely if it warn't for the yaller bellies. Take away both these varmint, and this province would be one of the happiest and most prosperous in all creation."
" You reason well, Nat !"
" The crown is strong, Neil, and so air the yaller bellies ; but I have fout them varmint for hard on to twenty years, and though I've dropped a good menny on 'em in that time, they haven't succeeded as yet in spilling me, and I kalkilate on sweatin' a few more on 'em afore I lay by for good. ; And so I hold the 'pinion that the provinces, kin give old King G-eorge a small sprink- lin' of powder and lead in exchange for his'n, for a good long time to come, if they make up their minds to do so, jest as I hev done to the Ingins. And when they undertake that bisness, old Sal and I will jine and give em a lift !" I didn't expect anything less of you, Nat I" exclaimed the planter, ex- tending his hand, which the scalp hunter grasped warmly in his large, vice- like palm. " As for me," continued Neil Somers, taking off his cap, and lift- • ing up his eyes reverently, "I have already pledged myself, in sight of the trreat Supreme, to give my thoughts, my heart, my hand, my every energy, to my country in her struggle with this proud, bad man this unfeeling and op- pressive King!"
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN.
CHAPTER II.
"That is like yew. Neil!" said the scalp hunter, in admiration. "I hev known yew ever since you were knee high, and yew was allers the same pure-minded and high-soiled creeter. Let what will turn up, you will all' era be found on the right side. I know yew Neil, and I like yew, because I hev all'ers found yew of the right stripe and of the rale ginooine grit in every- thing. I hev remarked you for a good menny years, and at all times with pleasure. Every family all'ers has sum one in it who is better than all the others put together. Sumtimes it is the oldest, at others the youngest — and then agin it ain't in the father nor the children, but in the mother ; but every family has its angel, whose modest, quiet, noble, uncomplaining spirit redeems partially all that is bad and ignoble in the rest. In your family, Neil, yew hev ever been the angel. Nay, blush not — yew know Nat Akarman is no flatterer, and that what he says he means. Trew worth never travels along the highroad of life, without having a certain amount of moral weight and influence hangin' to its coat, which all men are willin' tp acknowledge the strength of, and a few ready to hold up. Now I regard yew as a truth tellin1 man, and your word is 'titled to respect ; and when yew say yew believe the people air in 'arnest, and that you intend to follow 'em in their struggle I feel .that I am bound to believe yew, and to follow yew tu, when and wherever yew may go!"
" Thank you — thank you, Nat — thank you !" said the planter, pressing his hand — with a slight degree of emotion. " 'Tis thus, with confidence like yours, that men should enlist in the sacred cause of humanity !"
" But yew hev not told me all, Neil," said the scalp hunter regarding him earnestly. "There's a suthin' in your eye which is as yet unuttered; a suthin' that strikes home. Suthin' has gone wrong with yew. What is it? I kin read a sutiiin' in your manner, which tells me your heart is bleedin.' What is it ? Kin I du enny thing for you — if so, say it ! Yew are at that age when men take a sartain fever — yew know what I mean, don't yew? — the heart's disease. Is't that? Has your sweetheart, Amy Winter, quar- relled with you ?"
He paused, and the smile which accompanied his last observation, disap- peared, and its place was instantly taken by an expression of intense anxiety.
"Why, Neil!" he continued, "what's the matter — yew don't blush when I pronounce Amy's name, but turn pale ! What's the matter ? Hev yew met her brother Dick in some nice, solitary spot, and made the varmint pay for layin 'poor Alice in her airly grave ?"
The young planter, with a violent effort drove back a spasm which this al- lusion to his lost sister called up, and mournfully shook his head. •
"Oh, blast my old scalp!" exclaimed the woodsman, "here I've ben gittin' on the wrong trail, and in so doin' draggin' up old memories which must make your heart ache wuss 'n pizin ! I'm a big brute — wuss than a yal- ler befly! Kick me — cuss me — shoot me, Neil! I deserve it, wuss 'n a red skin !"
The cloud passed away from the planter's brow ; the agony vanished in a great measure from his eye ; and his face though still pale, became lighted up with a majestic and heavenly smile. He stretched forth his arm, and taking the scalp hunter's hand, pressed it, saying —
"Between us, Nat, no secrets. The arrows you threw were friendly ones, and left no poison where they struck. I have had no quarrel with Amy Winter, no meeting with her brother. I have no fear of the first, and now that the country has need of my life, I have no wish for the latter. Had we met previous to my visit to Charleston, one or both of us must have fallen." 2
10 THE SWAMP STEED ; OR THE DAYS
« Still yew hev a grief," said the scalp hunter, in a tone of affectionate so- licitude. " Your mother— nuthin' has befallen her ?'
Nev Somers was silent a moment: his eyes lowered thoughtfully on his rifle. At length,
" Nat," said he, with a tranquil smile, ' as I have already said, no secrets between us. You have known me from my childhood up till now, and are somewhat aware of the main outlines of my family's history, but not wholly. Let me now familiarize you with the details, and you can then judge fairly of my position."
" My father was a young and very handsome English officer ; of a pleas- ing address, winning manners, and highly accomplished in all those little arts which render unscrupulous men successful with women. A younger son, he had nothing to hope from his parents, who, in educating and securing him a commission in the army, washed their hands of him and left him to shift for himself.
" He was at that time a heartless and unprincipled adventurer ; greatly in debt, in continual fear of imprisonment, and saw no loophole of escape except through a mercenary marriage. There were however too many of his kind in London for him to expect to accomplish any thing there, and he found himself under the necessity of looking somewhere else for a victim.
" After a season he selected Somersetshire for the scene of his matrimonial adventure, and accordingly posted thither. He put up at the best inn in the village at which he stopped, made love to and seduced the landlord's daugh- ter, and during his liason with her, spared nothing to make himself familiar with the character and pecuniary condition of the inhabitants.
"Not satisfied with one victim, he pursued his libertine career in almost every family in which his engaging appearance, winning manners and fasci- nating conversational powers had gained him a footing. At length, his char- acter began to be understood, and one door after another was closed upon him, till none remained open to him but those of his victims, each of whom his specious tongue had persuaded was the favored one. la, time, however, even these were shut, and legal proceedings were about to be instituted against him.
" He was cut off from every chance of escape, and universally execrated.
" To crown his critical position, warrants were out against him for debt, and he was liable every moment to arrest.
"In this situation his confidence deserted him, and he scarcely knew what to think or do.
" Where he had the least right to look for help, there it appeared.
" He was sitting one evening in his room at the inn, when his first victim hurriedly opened the door, and in a voice of deep agitation exclaimed —
"Oh, Lionel! take this purse — it contains fifty guineas — and fly! My father Has discovered my relations with you, and has gone to the magistrate s at the next town to have you arrested. He will be back at daylight and then you will be lost. Worse than that — two officers have just arrived from Lon- don with writs against you for debt They are now in the house, and con- certing to take you by surprise in the morning. Fly, or you are lost!" ' ' How can I fly ?' said he :
'"I have ordered Tom the ostler to lead a horse and wagon to the cross road. You will find it there. Oh, fly ! not a moment is to be lost !'
" He took the purse unblushingly, thrust it into his pocket, and giving her a hasty embrace, slipped out of the inn, flew up the avenue to the cross roads, where he found the horse and wagon, threw the ostler a shilling, and seizing the whip and rein, took the road leading, as he supposed, to Ijondon.
He drove all night, and entered a small village just as dawn was break- ing. But his horse was ruined. The animal had been driven so hard, that it foundered and fell dead opposite a handsome cottage, where dwelt a re-
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. ll
tired merchant and his only daughter, who had witnessed the incident from their windows.
" He was invited into the house, where he soon made himself at home, and by a romantic story about losing his way on his route to London, created in them an interest in his favor which was equally shared by father and daugh- ter, who, fascinated by his air and conversation, urged him to spend a few weeks with them, an invitation he did not permit them to repeat.
" In a few days, he learned enough of their position to convince him that here was the golden egg he had so long been seeking ; and he forthwith set all of his powers in play to win the young lady's heart.
" Unaccustomed to the society of such men, ignorant of the world and the arts of its adventurers, she regarded Lionel as the most fascinating and ac- complished man in the world, and yielded her love to him who sought it not for its own richness, but for the wealth that followed it.
" His romantic story of being an orphan, without kindred or friends, was readily believed, and the merchant, living only for his daughter's, happiness, rashly gave his consent to their hasty union, and they were married without any farther ceremony than that which the church imposed.
"But scarcely had their honey-moon begun, when his, London creditors discovered his whereabouts and position, and pounced upon him. The mer- chant however, calmly settled their claims, and manifested no surprise on learning through them the real history of his son-in-law ; and although he was somewhat staggered by the discovery, he kept the secret to himself and al- lowed the honey-moon to pass over without acquainting his daughter with it
" In a few months, the details of Lionel's career at the village in Somer- setshire reached his ears, and so horrified him, that it brought on a paralysis •which eventually killed him.
" At her father's death, Alice, his daughter, took possession of his proper- ty, and having by that time learned enough relative to her husband to retain the control of the property in her own hands, she did so : allowing him enough however to live handsomely, -provided he indulged in no heavy ex- travagances.
." But the poor creature's heart was crushed ; the caresses which she showered upon her infant boy were always accompanied with tears. Silent and uncomplaining, she bore his indifference, desertion and neglect without a murmur ; and to set her cup of misery running over, reports of his libertine career in the village in which they lived were continually pouring in upon her, and adding fresh agonies to her heart.
" By the advice of her friends, she cut off a large share of his income, and then settled the whole of her property and wealth upon her child. This at first led to fierce and violent reproaches on his part, and subsequently even to blows ! This she could not endure, and a separation was the consequence.
" In a few months the libertine's outward conduct changed ; he even car- ried his hypocrisy so far as to send her a letter affecting sorrow and contrition for his past life, begging her forgiveness of his errdrs, stating that he was on the point of leaving England forever, as his shame would not permit him to remain in a land where dwelt one whom he had so foully outraged and so violently wronged, and entreating as a favor, not a right, the privilege of cal- ling on her and bidding her and his boy a parting adieu.
" Innocent and guileless, she fell into the snare, and sent him a note con- senting to the interview. The consequences were natural, when, of the two parties t» that meeting, the one was an artful, designing and smooth-lipped hypocrite, and the other a weak, credulous, inexperienced and forgiving woman. The pretended journey to another clime was abandoned — the past, forgiven and forgotten — the husband and wife reunited — and happiness re- stored to at least one heart.
12 THE SWAMP STEED; OR THE DATS
" From that hour all was apparently well ; the libertine appeared to have discovered and appreciated the villainy of his career, repented and reformed;. the darkness of the past had vanished, and light was once more restored to the household. Weeks passed away thus into months, the months into a year • and at the end of that time misery returned again to the husband and the wife, but without dividing them — their boy died, and they were childless.
"The 'days of mourning passed away, and the bereaved mother consoled herself for the loss of her little one with the tenderness and caresses of her Lionel, whose affection appeared to grow stronger and deeper with each suc- ceeding day.
" At length, when there could no longer be any lingering doubts of the genuineness of his reformation, his affection, or his caresses, he said to her :
" ' My Alice, let us quit these scenes made sad to us by my errors, and the death of our child, and go in search of fresh happiness on the shores of the New World — that land of loveliness and romance. There let us build us a cot on the banks of one of its silver lakes, and there, beneath the green vine and the sweet scented air, let us glide down the stream of time happy and joyous as two loving hearts who have no thoughts but for each other ! '
" The credulous wife, never dreaming of the black treachery hidden beneath this request, and desiring nothing but the happiness of him who appeared to love her so fondly, acceded to his desire, and they made preparations to leave England.
" A few weeks only were necessary to complete then- arrangements, and when every thing was in readiness they took ship, set sail, and ere long stood on the shores of America.
" They landed at Charleston, where they remained for a short season till they had completed the purchase of a plantation near Kingstree. where I was born.
" Here they lived happily, till in an evil hour, my mother, who till that time had retained the major part of her property in her own right, turned it over to my father. Then he dropped the mask — the fruits of his hypocrisy were in his hand, and from that hour he was a brute, and she a weak, appal- led and affrighted slave. True, there were occasional moments when his brutal nature slept, and his better angel awoke, and in these fits he was all love, gentleness and kindness ; but such instances were rare, and when they came, but faintly atoned for his harsh and ignoble treatment in the long in- tervals between them.
" When I was about five years old, my mother gave birth to two twin babes ; they were boys, and it was hoped that the singular similarity of their features, their innocent caresses, and the close resemblance they bore to the author of their being would be enough to win back the gentle nature of their father.
" This hope was not wholly disappointed. He abandoned in a measure his libertine habits, spent more of his time at home and less of it abroad, and in fine became less of a devil, and more of a man. He treated my mother some- what more generously, and appeared to a certain degree reformed.
" All this brought once more a partial happiness to our household ; the bloom that had vanished from my mother's cheek returned ; her eye that had so long been dimmed with sorrow, brightened again, under the genial sun- shine that hovered around her home.
"When I was about eight years old, my sister Alice was born. You re- member her, Nat — don't you, she was the picture of her mother. The twins, Frederick and George, were about three years old at the time, and were re- markable for their precocious intellects and matchless beauty and my father was accustomed to take them with him in his rides and iaunts around the province.
" One morning, about a fortnight after the birth of my sister, he took a
*
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY KEN. 13
large amount of money from the house, and, saying that he intended to go a little ways up the province to complete the purchase of a plantation of which we had frequently heard him speak, ordered the twins to be got ready, as he intended to take them with him. While this was being done, he command- ed a slave to harness his favorite mare to the family gig, and lead her round gate.
'•' As his was an imperious nature, he was speedily obeyed in both cases ; when taking the twins into the vehicle, he seated himself between them, and without even a simple adieu, drove off.
" That day passed away, and the next, and the day following that, but brought no tidings of them.
" On the morning of the fourth day, my mother, whose distress you per- haps can fancy, went to her escrutoir, from whence my father had taken the money, and there to her amazement discovered a small note addressed to herself, and written in a hand that she recognized in an instant. She opened it, and read as follows : —
" ' I have purposely deceived you. I am not going to buy another planta- tion, but to visit England, where I shall remain. Frederick and George, who in all things resemble their father, will go with me — you have seen them for the last time. Neil and Alice, who in all things remind one of their mother, you can keep. I leave you the plantation, the slaves, and three thousand pounds in cash ; they are enough to support three persons. The remaining seventeen thousand pounds I shall carry with me.' Adieu I
LIONEL SOMERS.'
" My motb«v -was appalled, bewildered, stunned, on reading this cruel letter, and fell to the floor like one struck by a shaft of lightning.
" Her attendants, in alarm, called in two or three of the neighbors, who on perceiving the crumpled note in her clenched hand, and supposing it would prove a key to her swoon, strove to withdraw it ; but in vain — she clasped it with the tenacity of steel : it was not till the third day of her inert state that her%enses returned, her feelings melted, and her hand unlocked.
"But it was too late to hope to come up with the deserter, who was six days in advance of his pursuers, who, on reaching Charleston discovered that my father, with his twin sons, had sailed three days before for England, and was then upon the sea.
" My mother's gentle nature yielded for a season to this rude blow ; and then her spirit rose to encounter the cares of conducting her estate. But nature had not endowed her with business attributes. The plantation, in her hands, as well in those whom she had successively • engaged to manage it, was a losing property. In a few years it was covered with debts and mort- gages, the latter held by Abel Winter, a neighboring planter, who took, one after another of our slaves to satisfy his claims till scarcely a negro was left to cultivate our fields.
" On reaching my seventeenth year, my mother entrusted the management of the entire estate to my hands. Brought up in a household of trials and yrivations, my mind was active, energetic, observing and reflective.
" My first step was to discover the actual position of the estate. I found wae mortgage and a few small debts. To take up the first, I persuaded my mother to convey to Mr. Winter, the holder of the claim, one-third of our Vinds ; the sale of another eighth liquidated the second, and the plantation was thus reduced to one half its original size and value : but thai half was free •ad unencumbered.
"We had now only twenty negroes, butrthat number was quite enough to •work our fields, which, soon began to tell favorably, and our plantation ere oug wore a thrifty and profitable aspect.
" In a few years, we were easy and comfortable ; our rice fields, thorough-
14 THE SWAMP STEED ; OR THE DAYS.
ly cultivated made us noble returns ; our negroes, carefully attended and kindly treated, loved us and repaid our kindness by making our interests their own ; our exchequer was well lined, and, except in our domestic calamities, we had nothing to disturb us.
" It was at this time that Richard Winter paid his addresses to my sister. She was young, artless, credulous and — "
The planter paused ; a mist passed over his eyes ; his voice became thick and dry • the muscles of his countenance twitched with an internal spasm ; a tremor passed over his whole frame, and then again all was calm. His eyes became clear and dry ; his voice distinct and moist; the muscles of his face lay tranquil; and his breast was calm as though it had never known aught to disturb its repose.
" She became his victim, as many another had become the victim of her father. She reposes in a quiet corner of the village, churchyard, with no stone or other sign to mark her resting place, or tell the world of the shame that paled her cheek, of the grief that consumed her heart, of the woe which, like a serpent's tongue, in the brief period of three months made her first a victim, then a crushed end tottering skeleton, and then a corse.
" She kept the secret of her grief from all till she felt she was about to die ; then committing it to paper, which she hid beneath her pillow, she laid her- self down, and her meek, bruised spirit passed quietly away to the land of shadows.
" After her death, the paper and its secret were discovered. My mother, of all our household, alone was calm. A slight spasm coursed for a moment through her frame ; another and a deeper shade of paleness settled upon her features, and then all was tranquil as before.
" As for me, I sprang upon my horse, and flew to the house of her seducer, forgetting in my frenzy that he had left it, on a visit to another part of the province some two weeks before.
" I saw his father, who affected astonishment and sympathy. I saw Amy, who affected nothing ; but who wrung her hands in anguish at her brother's villainy ; in shame, for the dishonor his treachery had brought .upon* the family name ; and in sympathy for me, for her heart had long beat in harmonious response to every throb of mine.
" I would have pursued and slain him ; but my mother, laying her small, pale hand on my arm, looked at me with her calm, impressive eye, and said — ' Leave him, my son, in the hands of God ; it is my wish !'
" I got off my horse, and obeyed her, as I had ever been accustomed to from my earliest infancy till then, although it nearly broke my heart. ' Pa- tience, my son,' she added, with a smile, which was sublime in its tranquility and sweetness, ' vengeance is not ours, but His /'
" I could not dispute with, nor say an angry word to, my mother. She gave me her love, her heart, her affection ; I owed her in return at least obedience !
" Some weeks ago, business called me to Charleston. There I found every body in a state of agitation relative to the tyrannic proceedings of the King. The city was in a ferment Young men were gloomy, old men threatening, brows ; eyes flashed here, there and every where, like rapiers leaping from their scabbards in the sunlight I did not understand it ; and asked the mat- ter. ' The King says he'll tax us as much as he pleases,' was the reply, and will not even let us choose our own provincial officer^. We are henceforth to hav e no voice in public affairs, no elections, no representatives. The King wW force upon us for rulers just such creatures as he pleases ; we are to have no say in any thing; we are to«ubmit to the condition and position of vas- sals, and to bow our necks and submit to be kicked, cuffed and robbed as often as it shall please King George. We are to be taxed and trampled upon according to his majesty's good will and pleasure, and if we murmur we are
*
OF MARION AND HIS MERILY MEN. 15
U> be arrested and thrown into the provost, and be left there to rot tifl we learn to bow in servile submission to every decree that may spring from the royal noddle.'
" My blood became agitated as I heard this ; and I remembered the mur- murs of discontent which I had heard for long months in Kingstree, and other parts of the district of Williamsburgh. ' Blood will grow out of this,' I mut- tered ; for the Carolinians are proud, intelligent and brave, and not of a breed accustomed to lick the hand that smites ' em !'
" Nor was I wrong in my conjecture. The people hold private meetings, to one of which my known liberal opinions secured me an invitation ; and I learned that they had determined to upset as much as possible the grasping calculations of the government — by doing mischief for the public weal— de- stroying goods belonging to that great monopoly patronized and sustained by the ministry, namely, the East India Company ; destroying teas and dry goods, throwing overboard every thing which the government have been in the habit of oppressing the people by laying high taxes upon.
" Engaged commonly in this work, I found all ranks ; and prominent in it, the noblest, purest, bravest, and most intelligent men of the province ; and I resolved, come what would, that in the hour, which I foresaw must come, when the people rose up in the name of suffering humanity to shake off the grasp of the tyrant and punish the insolence of his minions, Neil Somers would, BO help him Grod ! march in their ranks, with his sword on his thigh, his war-belt on his shoulder, and his good rifle in his hand.
" One day I encountered a gentleman whose political opinions jarred on coming in contact with mine ; we discussed the recent acts of the King, he taking the side of the tyran*-. T that of the people. We were warm, but not abusive in the discussion, and when we parted, it was with feelings of mutual respect for each others honor as men, if not of admiration for each other's controversial -powers.
" The day following, he sent me an invitation to a ball to be held that evening at his house ; and as the note accompanying it was couched in the most courteous terms, and coupled with a playful allusion to our discussion, I felt that it was imperative upon me not to slight or reject it.
" I made my appearance at his house about ten o'clock, and found the rooms filled with the elite of the city. The governor and his suite were there, togother with the leading civil and military officers and citizens. Everything was gorgeous, brilliant and beautiful
" The evening wore on towards midnight. I was a looker-on, not a par- ticipant in the festivities : for such things have but little «charm for me.
" About midnight, then, the cloth was laid, and the guests invited to the table. The ball room was in a short time almost wholly deserted. The musicians had also vanished by a private door to indulge in the delights of a repast
" I was among the first to quit the table ; for, having taken no exercise I had no appetite, and as for drink I never had any fondness for anything but water. The toasts were mainly political, and the company principally kings- men. I could not consistently with my views and principles listen to the first, and I had no sympathy with the second. I therefore, watched my op- portunity, and when all eyes were turned in another direction, I rose quietly tand returned to the ball room, which was, as I have said, nearly though not quite deserted. " Without meaning it, I had placed myself in such a position that I could not fail to have a good view of the guests as they returned from the supper room.
" It was while in this situation that I saw what I am now about to de- scribe ; what startled me as though an earthquake had rent the flooring be-
16 THE SWAMP STEED J OR THK DAYS
neath me ; and what, in part, brought me here, Nat, for your counsel and as- sistance : for it will show you my position.
" The door of the supper room opened, and the guests began slowly to re- turn Among the first were some seven or eight merchants who, on reach- ing the ball room, came over and seated themselves in front of me upon a settee which was even with the floor, while the one I occupied was some in- ches above it.
" The conspicuousness of my position was thus somewhat neutralized, while it in nowise interfered with the uninterrupted view I had of the guest? as, in twos and threes, they entered.
" The commonalty having passed in, then followed the host arm-in-arm with his most conspicuous guest, the governor.
" Behind the govermor, and in his suite, followed three young beauties, daughters of the host, each escorted by a young officer, glittering in gold and scarlet, whose countenances, as they advanced one after the other, struck me first with amazement and then with confusion.
" In the first I recognized Richard Winter, the destroyer of my sister.
" In the other two, the form and expression of feature, nay, the very fea- tures themselves, of my brutal and unprincipled father, whose clear, bold, handsome lineaments once seen could never be forgotten.
"I could not be mistaken. Age, appearance, expression — every thing corresponded. They were my twin brothers, Frederick and George !
" They had left the province, children ; they had come back to it, men.
" Strikingly similar, majestic, magnificently hand"some, there was yet a , something in their features which made me recoil in horror.
" The same wild, heartless, libertine expression which marked the father's countenance, was to me, who note such things carefully, visible in theirs.
" In the governor's suite, they were necessarily in the royal service ; and, educated in England, their political sympathies were of course with the King, and in case of a war between the provinces and George, they — my brothers, the oflspring of the same womb that had given me life, who had drawn suste- nance from the same breast which had nursed my infancy, — would be found on the side of the tyrant, and their swords, talents, energies and intellects drawn against their country !
" All these thoughts passed through my brain with the rapidity of light- ning ; and for a few moments I was stunned, bewildered, blind.
" Meanwhile, they had entered the ball-room, and following the governor posted themselves at .some distance from me ; so that, when I recovered they were surrounded by a number of young guests, of ftoth sexes ; the one to do homage to the lovely brunettes whom they were fascinating by their attentions, the other to attract the notice of the twins, who were in form and feature superb types of Saxon masculine beauty.
" Neither Richard Winter nor the twin brothers had noticed my presence in the ball-room ; a fact which was highly gratifying, particularly as an idea had struck me the instant that the cloud, which their unexpected appearance had thrown over my faculties, had lifted and passed away.
" I resolved to take my departure ; but previously to that, it was essential to learn the address of the twins.
" At this instant our host, catching the eve of one of the merchants on the settee in front of mine, approached ; and while advancing, a slight motion of my hanfl attracted his attention, and our eyes exchanged the first greeting they had passed for the night
" In a few moments he had, with that happy tact peculiar to educated gentlemen, interchanged civilities with those whose glances had called him to the spot, and then flung a quiet expression at me which plainly said. ' I am at your service.'
" I motioned him to a seat beside me, which he at once comprehended
OF MARION AND ILLS MERRY MEN. 17
and followed, and I then asked him in a whisper the names and positions or the twins
" With that gentlemanly delicacy which answers every question without the impertinence of demanding wherefore it is put, he replied that they were twin brothers who had arrived in Charleston only a few months before; tluit, though attached to the army, the governor, who was struck with their superior talents, had taken them to himself, and was to a certain extent their principal protector, that there was also a report that his excellency had some thoughts of allying them to his family by giving his two daughters to them in marriage.
" ' And their father?' said I.
" ' Oh, they have none,' was the reply. ' He died at home, that is to say in England, some three years ago.'
'; From this it was evident my host had not the slightest suspicion I de- sired this information for any other reason than to gratify a common curiosi- ty. Taking heart from this, I pursued my inquiries.
" ' They are fatherless then ?'
" Yes, and motherless, too. Their mother died while they were in their infancy ; and her death so afflicted the father that he sold out his estate — for it appears the brothers were born in one of our provinces — and taking his two only children with him, returned to England. There he educated his sons for the army ; but dying before they were of age, the remainder of their education fell upon a guardian, who was a gentleman of position and influ- ence, and who obtainecftfor them all the opportunities and advantages essen- 'tial to success. In case of a war between the provinces and the Kin& the Governor will give them every opportunity to distinguish themselves. Their prospects are very brilliant, I assure you."
" Doubtless,' I answered. ' what did you say their names were ?'
" ' Frederick and George.'
" ' And their family name ?'
<; ' Somers. By the bye, that reminds me you are namesakes. Shall I in- troduce you ?'
" ' No, I thank you,' I answered carelessly. ' I have no desire for an ac- quaintance.'
" At this moment, the eye of the Governor caught that of the host, and the latter gracefully moved away from beside me, and passed down to wait upon his noble guest.
" A few minutes afterward I took my departure from the house, and bent my steps homeward with a gloomy and thoughtful brow.
" It was very evident that the stoiy of the twins as related by the host, was the current one in the city, and was perhaps believed by the twin brothers, themselves : but how nearly it approached the truth, you, Nat, who are familiar with the real facts, can readily judge.
•• I called, the next day, upon the Governor, and obtained a private inter- view. Without compromising my own secret, or position, I obtained from him the history of the twins as he had obtained it from their guardian, who obtained it from their father ; as he had obtained it from the brothers them- selves, who had obtained it from their father in the first place, and their guar- dian in the second.
" The account of the governor was merely a repetition of the outlines re- lated to me th'preceding night at the ball.
" It was self«evident, then, that the fabrication of the death of my mother, the disposal of the estate, and 'the cause of his return to England, was only another black leaf in the history of my father.
" It was also equally as plain that he had trained up the twin brothers in utter ignorance of the existence of their mother, sister and myself, and died without making any revelation which would convict him of the fraud he had 3
jg THE SWAMP STEED ; OR THE DAYS
imposed upon their young minds, or of the baseness and cruelty he had in- flicted upon their mother.
" I retired from the cabinet of the Governor overwhelmed with grief, and trembling with despair.
" On reaching my lodgings, I reconsidered, and as calmly as my feelings would permit, reviewed the whole matter— beginning with my parent's his- tory and ending with the discovery and story of my brothers.
" Then I formed three resolutions ; the first based upon political, the sec- ond and third upon private reasons.
" The first was, that in the storm arising between the coloijjes and the crown, my brothers should not be found with their swords drawn against their country ; the second, to reform their wicked dispositons, prevent them from following the heartless and libidinous career of their father, and gradual- ly prepare them for a meeting and re-union with their noble mother when they should have made themselves worthy of that high honor ; the third, to keep the fact of their existence and arrival, as well as my father's death from my parent."
The young planter paused. He was pale, but evinced no other sign of emotion. Every feature was resting tranquilly, but lit with that halo of re- flectiveness which is visible on the countenances of all great minds, and which tells that the fires of their intellectual genius are never permitted to die, because they are subdued to a calm, steady and ever-burning glow.
" How du yew propose to du that, Neil ?" said %3 scalp hunter, who had oeen surveying his companion for the last half hour with undisguised aston- ishment and admiration.
" Listen," replied Neil. " You remember the old log house in the centre of the cypress wood ?"
The scalp hunter inclined his head affimatively, and the planter continued.
"I propose taking my brothers by stratagem, and conveying them thither. There they will be secluded from the world, its passions, its fas- cinations, its excitements ; there they will part one by one with their vices and errors, which lead to misery and destruction ; there they will take up virtue, industry and justice, which lead to happiness and immortality."
The planter's voice trembled as he spoke ; the muscles of his countenance twitched sharply with the violence of his emotions : and a soft dew moist- ened the long, dark lashes of his eyes.
" Yew love 'em, then, Neil, after all !" exclaimed the scalp hunter, in a burst of surprise, mingled with admiration.
" Ah ! are they not, for all their vjpes, my brothers still ? Are they not, for all their father did, the same bright-eyed ones that played with me in my childhood, and for whom from the hour of their flight till that of their re- turn, my mother's lips and mine have nightly prayed to God !"
" Your hand, Neil !" said the scalp hunter, in a voice that came up from the lowest depths of his soul, " your hand — nay, both ; and your heart !"
And they fell on each other's breast, dropping their heads each on the other's shoulder, and men though they were, were not ashamed of their
" Yew'll du it,, Neil!" cried the scalp hunter, as he partially recovered his self possession ; " yew'll du it, for the rale grit is in yew. Yew've got the geenis to trap 'em, and the will to carry it out — yew Ifcv, and may my old Sal never drop anuther yaller belly ! ef I don't take the^calp off of any critter that attempts to step in between yew and the execution of your will!"
" You will aid me then, Nat ; you approve of my idea, and will help me to carry it into effect ?"
" Approve of it Neil ? It's one of them ere idees that reconcile me to hewman natur ; as to 'sistin' on yew in kerryin it thru, jest as long as I've
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 19
got breath and can lift old Sal — -jest heft on her, will ye ; the critter ain't much to kerry .'—jest so long yew'll find her and me at your orders ! But tell>is, when du yew perpose to make a move in the matter ?"
:' Within a fortnight. Now that I have your consent, Nat, I will at once to Charleston and lay the train for their capture."
- But the old log house, Neil ? Wunt it take a little time to get it ready? The house itself ain't exactly in condition. I hain't been there in a year or more, and then it warnt enny tu kumfortable, I tell yew !"
The planter smiled.
" I had %eady thought of that, Nat A friend spent the day up there yesterday, with my negroes : and they changed the appearance of it very much before they left, I assure you. And even while we speak, seven of them are engaged in completing what was left undone yesterday, and giving to the house a habitable appearance, and to the clearing around it an aspect of cultivation. Anxious to witness how Mowizou was progressing, I put on my hunting dress this morning, as if going forth in quest of game, and pro- ceeded thither. Everything had met and even exceeded my expectations. It was only by a great effort of my will that I succeeded in restraining an expression of joy. When I left the spot, the negroes had not the remotest idea that I had not stumbled there, in the course of my jaunt, by purest accident."
" The niggers are in the secret then ?" said the scalp hunter, with an ex- pression of surprise.
" No," answered the planter ; " no one is aware of it except ourselves."
The scalp hunter appeared confounded, and in reply to his look of inquiry, the planter said :
" 'Twas thus I managed it. I went to a friend in the village, young Ned Mowizon, and told him that a couple of friends of mine wished to seclude themselves for a time from the world : that they had dhosen for that purpose the old log hut in the cypress grove, and wished it cleared away and made ready for occupation ; that I did not desire to be known in the matter, and that I wished him to come to my plantation the following day and pretend in the hearing of those around me to employ my negroes for a day or two to clear up some ground ; that I wished him to do this to oblige myself, and to do it without asking me to explain anything further, and thus save me the mortification of betraying a secret which it was highly necessary to keep. Mowizon had confidence enough in my honor to feel convinced that the affair, though a secret, was not a dishonorable one, and sufficient desire to accommodate me to at once undertake the task. He agreed, without any further questioning ; and thus, without compromising my secret, everything is arranged for the reception of the brothers.
" I understand, Neil. But they will want help — fellers who, while they know how to make themselves useful, will take keer that the critters don t escape."
" All that is provided for," said the planter, with a quiet, yet melancholy smile. " All things essential for their comfort, all things befitting men in the new life they are to ' enter, are already at or on their way to the log house. Mowizon is provided with money and a letter of instructions ; and he is a man on whom I can rely, I feel satisfied, that, should it even be necessary to take the brothers there to-night, everything would be in readiness for their reception." '
" Yew hev geenis for every thing," said the scalp hunter, admiringly. •• Taint every man can du what he has the geenis to conceive; but yew, Neil, yew air one of the critters that can du as well talk. But what on airth is that feller down on the road up tu ? May my old Sal never drop another yaller belly! ef he aint tearin' the meat off the sides of his nag, as ef his spurs was made for scalpin' knives ! Look thar' ! see how the darn'd critters
20 THE SWAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
reel and toss up their caps as he pulls in the rein and speaks to 'em ! There's some'n in it, or my name aint Nat Akarman. Look ! the people are runnin1 out of their houses, affrighted and stupified as ef the day of judgment Jiad come !"
The planter strained his eyes down upon the road on the opposite side of the shore. It was as the scalp hunter had, in his quaint manner, described it.
A carrier was dashing along the road on a bay courser with the fleet- ness of a whirlwind, as if life were the price of his speed, death the cost of .delay ; halting, every now and then, as he passed a house or fieldwhere faces were seen, and after pronouncing a few words, which seemed^? throw his auditors into the wildest commotion, then again speeding ousvard with the rapidity of light.
" You are right, Nat," said the planter, with, a mournful smile, as he drew his eyes from the scene, "there is something in it; something that appeals to you and to me, as searchingly as to those down yonder. As for me, though I suspect, I yet would hear what are the tidings yon courier brings. It may be fancy only ; and yet I think I know that messenger's face."
The sharp, clear, glittering orbs of the woodsman were upon him in an in- stant.
" Yew are right, Neil," he said ; ' " and yet I hadn't an idee there was another pair of peepers besides mine in Sou' Car liny that could carry across the Santee. I knowed the varmint at a glance, but didn't want to say nuthin, cause I knowed his name was wuss than red skin to your ear, and I didn't keer to see yew disturbed. But now you du know it, the mischief's up and can't be helped."
" Tis no matter," said the planter. " Our day of reckoning is not now, un- 'less he throws himself across my path; I will not go in search of him."
The scalp hunter surveyed his companion as if he had not comprehended him.
" Understand me, Nat," said the planter, with a majestic and impressive air. " No man knows better than myself what is due to my honor. I have duly weighed the account that stands 'twixt Richard Winter and myself, and this is my decision : He is safe from hand of mine till my country's cause shall have no further need of Neil Somers or his sword. Then, and not till then, shall I go in quest of him. Then, and not till then, shall vengeance awake from her repose. Then, and not till then shall I demand atonement for the outrage our house has .suffered at his hands. Then, and not till then, shall I say to him — 'Richard Winter^ life will have life, blood will have blood, death will have death : I have come to sit in judgment upon you for destroy- ing the honor, the peace and the life of my sister !' "
With these words, the planter turned .from the ledge and the tree ; and throwing his rifle across his shoulder as before, he bent his way once again through the wood, accompanied by the scalp hunter, whose bowed head, pale cheeks, quivering lips and humid eyes, told how much he was affected by the mournful air of his friend, and how truly he appreciated that pure and up- right spirit whose every sentiment was based upon pure justice and clothed in such supreme grandeur.
CHAPTER III.
THEY did not exchange a word till they had reached the woodsman's lodce when the latter said:
" A moment, Neil. I want to take up some'n."
The planter paused, merely making a slight bow in reply ; and the woods- man entered the lodge.
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 21
He returned ere long with a bunch of stout thongs formed from the un- dressed ?Vin of a buck.
"You have been making a bridle?" said the planter, glancing at the thongs.
" Yes," returned the scalp hunter. " Only I hev two here. One on 'em I made, and I s'pose I kin say I ' made' the other ; but not in the usufl way."
He paused, a^if he had something more to say, but would not utter it then. •
Neil Somers noticing this, forbore, with the delicacy peculiar to an exalted mind, to ask an explanation which the scalp hunter, for some private reasonr appeared to have no disposition to volunteer.
Neither had as yet spoken to the other of the place of his destination. Nor was it necessary. They felt that they were companions, travelling the same road for the same object, each intuitively comprehending the other's thoughts of what they were going to hear and what most likely to see ; and both knowing and feeling that what they were about to hear and see would turn into a rivet which would bind them closer still together and unite them like a chain of steel for many a long day.
They struck out of the clearing facing the lodge into the same piece of wood which the planter had traversed on his route to the scalp hunter's, and began slowly to descend the hill.
They had not proceeded more than eighty or ninety paces, when the woodsman, quietly signing to his companion to follow, turned off to the left, towards a high, moss-covered rock, which was faintly visible through the trees.
A few moments brought them to the spot, when a peculiar odor in the air warned the planter that he was standing in the neighborhood of a concealed stable.
The woodsman looked all around him cautiously for a few moments to see if he was perceived ; when satisfied upon this point, he quietly stooped down and bent his ear to the earth. But, as nothing in the shape of a human form had previously met his eye ; so now, on listening, his ear detected no foot- steps. "With a smile of satisfaction, he then rose, and proceeded towards a corner of the rock where lay, as though it had been wrenched by a tornado from its native tree and thrown down where it stood, the long-branching
arm of a scyamore, its leaves yellow and warped by the sun and decay.
This the woodsman drew sh'ghtly aside ; then removing a long, wide bark which it covered, exposed to the somewhat astonished eyes of the planter, the mouth of a dark cave, with a natural and gradual sloping descent ter- minating at a depth of about five feet below tmP level of the earth around the rock, and leading to the planter could not guess where.
"This, Neil," said the scalp hunter, with a quiet smile, "is my stable and the hidin' place of my ch'ice things.
Here I keep the powder and lead which I gather up from the yaller bellies wnenever a bark from old Sal sends 'em skootin' up to glory. Here I keep my horses, and all the other spiles which I take from the red skins. They're parfectly safe from the horse thieves ; and. ceptin' us two, the place aint known to a livin' soul Wait a minit — I didn't bring yew here for nuthin' !w
So saying, the woodsman slowly entered the cave, and disappeared.
In a few minutes the planter heard his voice ringing in the cave, and utter- ing, at intervals —
" Be still, will yew, now ! That's it — that's it, now ! Is the critter glad to see her old Natty back agin!« Ha! ha! ha! thats' right, old gal, — put your head thar' ! Hold still a leetle, for Natty's come to take her out on a rip I Ho ! ho I she likes it, does she ? I thought so, old gal— I thought, so ! Now,
•
22 THE SWAMP STEED j OR THE DAYS
come along— that's it— so, so— here we are— aint she a bewtee now! Now, then— gently old gal, gently; there's no knowin' who may be about !
The next moment there appeared at the mouth of the cave, with a thong bridle hanging from its neck, a long, lank, dingy, cream-colored mare, whose general appearance was so wretched and wo-begone. that it seemed as if she suspected her owner had discovered her old, worn-out and valueless, and turned her out to die.
The animal was, however, neither wretched in her movements nor berei of intelligence. In compliance with the order of her master, she crept up the sloping path with the quietness of a fox : and on reaching the level of the brushwood, moved off quietly towards the farther side of the rock, when she as quietly turned, and standing stock still, threw her eyes intelligently around as if to take in a clear view of everything and every body about her, dropped them quietly an instant or two upon the planter, and then fixed them expectantly upon the entrance of the cave, where stood the woodsman smiling his approbation at the correctness with which she had followed his order.
The intelligent animal seemed to understand that her effort was appre- ciated : and was so pleased with her master's applause, that she displayed her teeth, tossed up her head, drew herself up. and raising one of her fore feet quietly pawed the air, and then let it drop, without making as much noise as would alarm a mosquito.
The woodsman shrugged his shoulders admiringly, and making her a sign to be motionless till his return, retreated again into the cave.
He had been gone but a few minutes, when he re-appeared, holding by the bridle a young, coal-black charger, whose fierce, restless spirit, as it came rushing up the slope, seemed to disdain the meddling bit, which it champed indignantly ; and to regard 'with scorn the strength and towering form of the woodsman, whom it threatened every moment to break from, and then dash in pieces.
The planter could scarcely restrain a burst of admiration at sight of the magnificent animal.
The restless movements of the noble steed, as it reared and plunged, in its efforts to shake off the powerful hold of the woodsman, would not permit the planter to take a deliberate view of its points. He could only catch momentary glimpses of its two small ears, shaped like spear points , of its large, clear black eyes flashing indignant lightnings ; of its bold, broad nostrils, red as blood, and throwing forth a fierce, hot breath glowing like the light rays of the sun as it streams through the windows of a building ; of its high, arching neck, fringed with a deep, flowing mane, that tossed with its every movement like at slight rolling billow ; of its deep, broad chest, that seemed as if about to burst with indignant "wrath ; of its small, .tapering limbs, on which the full charged veins shone like rods of steel ; and of its long, switch tail that swept the air like a fan. Its skin of a glossy, spot- less black, shone with every rear and plunge, like a flash of light, and spoke of youth, vigor and health, as well as of pure and noble blood.
" Aint he a proud critter, Neil?" cried the scalp hunter, with a light laugh, as he strove to bring the animal to a stand ; " wouldn't 'yew think now, by his leapin' and tearin,' and his capers, to crush me under his hoofs, that he was King G-eorge himself strugglin' to trample down the people ? And yet the varmint was raised among the cussed yaller bellies, and aint got no more right 'to treat a decent 'feller in this way than a rattle snake has to throw his pizen at a white man !"
" Where did you obtain him. Nat ?" said the planter.
" Out on the borders, one day, when huntin' scalps. I'd got into a swamp and was lookin' out for a fresh trail, when I suddenly stumbled on about a a dozen of the varmint, camped in the grass. 'Fore they knowed where
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 23
they was, old Sal guv a bark, and one of the varmint made a spring as ef he intended to jump right thru to heving ; then clubbin' the old critter I pitched right in among 'em, and sogged em so, that they hadn't time to ketch their wits. Only five on 'em showed . grit, but old Sal's butt end crunched 'em quicker 'n chain lightnin', and they caved in like so many rotten sheep. There warn't then only one varmint left, but he was mounted on 'bout the 'tarnalest piece of horse meat yew ever heerd on. Ef old Sal had been charged and rammed down, I wouldn't a keerd ; but she warn't ; and the first glimpse I had of the sarpint was, as he was standin' on the hoss's back, and takin' a deliberate aim with his rifle at my head. I was kind a skeery jest at that minit ; but bein' as I didn't feel as ef I wanted to shallow lead, I dropped quicker 'n chain lightnin', and jest at that ms'nt I heerd the bullet a whizzen past as ef it thought it had hit somebody. The cunnin var- mint hadn't no idee of- givin' a feller time to load, but findin' his lead hadn't done no harm, drove right up with the notion of tramplin and clubbin' me on the head, afore I had time to git up. But I'd been raised 'mong folks who'd font Ingen afore then ; and so, on droppin', I crawled quicker 'n a painter thru the grass, and when the varmint had got to the spot where he'd seen me fall, I wasn't thar ! Old Sal was greased and rammed down in no time, and then I lifted myself up a little sly, and cuss me, ef the yaller belly wasn't a dodgin' round in a circle, on that 'tarnal boss of his'n, his eyes ruu- nin' every where, and his rifle clubbed and ready to split at a moment's warnin'. He didn't see me till I yelled, but as his eyes fell on me, old Sal barked, and he dropped from the back of his steed as ef lightnin' had touched him. And then I heerd a screech— it warn't nuthin' like a nat'ral whinney, from the hoss, as ef the death of the varmint had touched its vitals. I said nuthin' ! but out with my knife and whittled off the scalps ; but when I went up to take that of the hoss's rider, yew oughter seed it. The critter yelled wuss 'n a painter ; it reared and plunged around the body, and wouldn't let a feller come near it at any price. I didn't want to kill, the ani- mal, and I did want the scalp ; and as matters looked, to git the one I should hev to du the other. The case puzzled me. Thinks I, 111 wait So I pre- tends to move away, but on goin' a little distance I dropped down in the grass, and laid still, tu see what the critter would du. In a little while I crawled keerfully towards the red skin, and there I seed the animal sprawlin' down by his body, kissin' the face, and moanin' as ef its heart was broke. Thinks I, I wunt hurt that critter's feelins by takin his master's scalp, but I'll jest snake him, and take him hum. By and bye, the critter's dreadful suffer- ins threw him into a sleep : and then I crept along on all fours till one spring brought the bridle in my hand and me upon his back In a moment, the critter woke,i as ef he couldn't believe himself ; then starting up, he raised on his hind legs as ef he thought he could land me ; then he pitched forward on a flyin' run for nigh on to about thirty yards, and then dropped sudden as lightnin' : but he didn't du it, and findin that trick warn't likely to answer, he tried all sorts of rairin' and plungin' to 'complish it. But it warn't no mortil use ! I was as perfectly to hum on his back, as ef I had been asleep on bar skins ; and when the critter seed that, he guv in, and pickin up the spiles from the varmint I had scalped, I rlruv him hum and put him in the stable here. I aint had him out more'n once or twice since : but he und'stands me well enough, for all his airs now, to know that he couldn't tosg me, ef he is a tairer."
This sketch of the gallant steed was told by fits and jerks, as the scalp hunter strove to bring him to a stand ; and not in the rapid and connected manner we have related it,
It was only when the woodsman had brought the anecdote to a close, that the horse ceased Jo struggle, and to champ his bits calmly.
" Neil," continued the scalp hunter. " I want yew to take this critter and
24 ~H"£ SWAMP STEED : OK THE DAYS
keep him • and I don't want yew to refuse nuthcr— ef you du I shall feel hurt 'Taint every man 'that I'd give such an animal to : but you are to me like a brother, and I know yew'll take keer of the critter for the sake of
.
This was one of those situations in which it would have been cruel to de- cline, and Neil, with a bow expressive of his feelings, sprang upon the back of the gallant steed, and taking the rein in one hand, patted the animal gentiy on the neck with the other, and in a few moments the pair appeared to be the best friends in the world.
The woodsman re-covered the mouth of the cave with the bark screen ; returned the sycamore arm to its former position ; and then advanced to- wards (his cream colored mare, whose sleepy looking eyes expanded and beamed with pleasure as he approached, and who crouched down so as to permit him to mount without the slightest inconvenience.
The woodsman patted her fondly on the neck :
" Ah, yew are a fine old gal, Nell ! Now, gently, Nell — gently, old gal, and teach that young swamp steed a lesson how to take his rider through the brush without teUin' tales."
The old lady thus flattered, felt herself upon her metal ; and, as if com- prehending every word of her master, glided through the wood with a ra- pidity and quietness that would have astonished any one but an experienced denizen of the wild woods.
But, if Nell was an adept at this business, the gallant young swamp steed was not exactly an amateur. His steps were quicker, but his footfalls not less light than the old lady's ; and he carried himself and rider through the tor- tuous windings of the wood with a speed and cautiousness that told nobly for his Indian education.
When they had reached the bottom of the hill and entered upon the level highway leading to the river side, the young steed carried himself with a swaggering independence which informed the cream-colored lady that he didn t think she had taught him such a great deal, after all
Here the parties took the ferry boat which plied at this point between the two shores, and were transported, after some delay, to the other side of the river.
It was late when they reached the opposite shore, and the two friends found it necessary to give then- animals a free rein, if they desired to reach the house of the planter in anything like season for repose.
The mare was slender, long^limbed and fleet as a racer. Her movements were light, easy and supple, and she sped over the road with a grace, confi- dence and swiftness which caused the eye of her rider to sparkle with admi- ration and pride. The animal evidently felt that her reputation, as a courser was at stake, and threw herself out as if conscious of her ability to main- tain it
The swamp steed appeared to be conscious that his reputation as a gallant animal was yet to be achieved, but felt equally as confident that he possessed the bottom to obtain it He tossed his small, princely head with a proud, defiant air ; threw a scornful glance at the cream-colored lady at his side, opened his mouth and nostrils as if to imbibe a long draught of air ; stretched his limbs an instant as if to call up all his elasticity and nerve, then sprang forward and shot along the road like an arrow.
_ From that moment, the farm houses, fences and trees skirting the way sides appeared to the riders like a moving panorama. The coursers did not run — they flew. The uneven high road was no longer an undulating path- way, but a rolling sea. and the coursers, ships skimming over the breakers ; now lost for an instant in the hollow, oscillating cradles, the next appearing upon the summits of the billows, and then speeding onward with a rapidity that threatened death to everything that might be in their path.
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 26
Riding in this manner, they reached the planter's house in a few hours, when weary and exhausted, they threw themselves from their horses and sought in slumber to recruit their energies to encounter the dangers and ex- citements which their hearts forewarned them would confront them on the
CHAPTER IV.
THE morning of the following day opened with a thick impenetrable mist, which hung like a gray shroud over the hills and valleys — fit emblem of the gloom that overshadowed the hearts of the people : and a type of the destiny of the colonies, which was at that period vague, mournful, and threatening.
By eight o'clock, however, the fog rose slowly from the earth till it was high above the hills ; the sun launched its golden streams through the rapidly melting clouds, clothing them with its glittering light, and bathing the woods and fields in the bright yellow of its radiant glow.
The emerald fields, the slopes far up the Hill sides, sparkled with the glit- tering dew drops that lingered upon their blades ; the bubbling brooks, the creeping rivulets, and the running streams, shone like lakes of molten silver ; the air was perfumed with the balmy odors of clover, sweet-brier, wild flow- ers and thyme ; from copse and wood the feathered songsters chanted an- thems of praise and joy in voices of rich melody : all nature was clothed in the bright garments of a bride.
Man alone wore a brow of gloom. With him the sunlight was not a stream of gold, but a lake of iron, forging itself into chains ; with him the green fields were not objects of beauty to which he was to look for bread, but cemeteries in one of which he was soon to find a grave ; with him, the laugh- ing brooks, the murmuring rivulets and dashing streams were but tears that he and his had shed ; the songs of birds were not hymns of praise, but dirges of mourning.
The roads that branched off from Kingstree, the county town of the Dis- trict of Williamsburgh, presented on the morning in question a picturesque and stirring sight.
Men on horseback and on foot, variously armed with rifles, guns, pitch- forks and axes, were seen hurrying along towards Kingstree ; scarcely utter- ing a word as they proceeded, and all with scowling brows, pale cheeks, clenched hands, and quivering nostrils ; all bent upon some errand, judging by their excited air and manner, which liad for each and all a terrible in- terest.
By nine o'clock, the town of Kingstree was alive with men like these. Every brow, whatever its rank in the social scale, whatever its age on the scroll of time, wore a fierce and thoughtful look ; men congregated here and there in knots of twos and threes and tens, and listened with varied feelings to some one in their midst from whose lips could every now and then be heard the words — "Lexington, 19th April — without warning — people in arms — cold blood!" And these words were cabalistic; and cheeks around the speaker paled ; lips were closed and drawn back against the teeth, till they all but forced the latter in ; nostrils quivered ; breathings grew hot and quick; eyes flashed lightnings; brows waxed blacker; and hands grasped firmer such weapons as they held.
They were in all guises, too, these men ; the broadcloth of the planter, the
homespun of the farmer, the make shift of the laborer, and the buckskin of
the borderer ; all mingling together, yet scarcely speakuag ; each retaining his
own purpose and opinion, while he asked without obtaining those of his neigh-
4
26 THE. SWAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
bor ; all laboring under a most intense excitement, and ever and anon turn- ing a glance up towards the town hall, in front of which were drawn up, in lines facing each other, twenty-four mounted troops, who had that morning escorted into town three royal officers, who were then in earnest conference within the building.
The crowd continued to receive fresh accessions as the morning wore along, and the large green facing the town hall began to present a somewhat threa- tening aspect.
As yet, however, everything was vague and unsatisfactory. Although it was a generally understood fact that every body had heard the rumor, yet no one could trace it to any reliable source. True, the arrival of the three royal officers and their twenty-four troops on that morning, and that of Richard "Winter the night before, were significant ; but the latter had not shown them- selves to the people ; the sheriff had made no proclamation ; and as to Richard Winter, his character was bad and the crowd knew not what amount of credit to place in his statements.
And yet it was easy to perceive, by the restless, gloomy and threatening brows of the concourse that they believed, indefinite and thus far unsupport- ed as was the report, implicitly in the startling rumor they had heard, and were prepared to act upon it the moment it assumed the shape of certainty.
Still they would wait, and do nothing prematurely, till the intelligence came to them in such a manner that there could no longer lie any room on which to hang a doubt ; — thus spoke the prudent. It was dangerous to take a step which might, after all, be based upon a false rumor — rumor does so much to mislead men, and bring them to ruin and sorrow ; thus spoke the very cautious. It could not be possible that the crown would care so little for the people as to hew them down as reported ; there was no use in rushing on to danger without knowing what for ; — thus spoke the timid. If the King has dared to do this thing, WO^D him — wo! oh, if we could but learn something reliable ! Thus spoke the true and brave. And all united in waiting for in- telligence from a trustworthy channel.
At length a horseman was seen in full gallop on the Georgetown road, and approaching the village at full speed. He had scarcely made his appearance, when another came in sight. Both were well mounted, and rode their horses like men familiar with the saddle.
As they neared the town, they raised their hats as a signal that they were armed with news of a serious import, on perceiving which, such of the throng as were on horseback, dashed off from the green to meet them.
Among the latter, were our two friends, Neil Somers and the hardy woods- man.
As the planter came up with the advancing horseman, he recognized in him a gentleman with whom he had formed an intimate acquaintance in Charleston.
The recognition was mutual ; and after a warm but hasty salutation on both sides, Neil Somers reined up his horse beside that of the new comer, with whom he entered into a terse and rapid conversation.
The effect of the stranger's discourse upon the planter was magical The blood slowly receded from his countenance : his brow gathered into a gloomy frown ; his eyes became half closed and flashed sparks of indignant fire ; his nostrils swelled and quivered ; the muscles around his mouth twitched as if contending with some electric power ; his lips closed in against his teeth as if striving ''to drive them from their gums; his whole frame shook with a convulsive tremor.
But this was only temporary. In a few minutes, by a violent effort of his will, the planter threw off these visible signs of agitation. His face became flushed, his brow unruffled, his eyes expanded, his nostrils calm, his muscles tranquil, and his frame composed.
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 27
"Now," said the stranger to him in a low voice, "now, Somers, that you know all, tell it to these men upon the green, in your own peculiar style. Speak to them, as you alone know how to speak ; — appeal to their heads and hearts — and leave the rest to Him !"
The voice of the stranger was calm but impressive ; and his general air that of one who understood mankind and himself. As he finished speaking, the planter grasped his hand, pressed it, and exclaimed —
" I will, Marion, I will. I'll speak to them in the name of God and hu- manity !"
The stranger returned the pressure, and they rode forward in silence to the green.
As they approached, all eyes were bent upon them ; and
"'Tis Marion, the Hero of the Forlorn Hope at the batttle of Btchoel" whispered one, flinging a quiet glance at the stranger.
" 'Tis Marion, the Friend of the People," said another.
"Tis Marion, the rice planter of St. John's," cried a third.
' 'Tis Marion, the Protector of the Borders," added a fifth.
''Tis Marion, the Thinker," said a sixth.
' 'Tis Marion, the Fearless," said another.
' 'Tis Marion, the True," added an eighth.
' Wherever he goes, there I will go," said one.
' If he sides with the king, then the king must be right, and I will side with him also," murmured another.
"Marion sides only with the cause of right and truth," returned his neigh- bor ; " and the side he takes, that side will be mine."
" Hush !" whispered all. " We are going to hear it, now. Marion and young Somers are on the stand."
" Somers and Marion, are two of the bpst men in the colony," whispered a middle aged farmer to another at his elbow ; "»hat they say, we can rely on."
" There's big Nat, the scalp hunter !" muttered one. " You might be sure he'd be on hand when there's blows to be had and given. He's a trump !"
"Who's that with him?" asked a settler at his side.
" That's Pete Horry, who fout the red skins so stout at the battle of Etchoe. There's grit in him, I tell you!"
"Hush — Marion and young Somers are whispering!"
" We'll have it soon !"
" Yes, it's comin' now. Young Somers is goin' to speak !"
The platform was a hastily constructed affair, consisting of a few rough boards laid across the tops of a couple of market wagons resting in the shadow of a large tree which rose in the middle of the green.
In the centre of this staging Somers now appeared, standing beside the personage who was so readily recognized by the crowd. The sides, and in fact every part of the platform, was crowded with young and full grown individuals, who had hastily clambered up and seated themselves the moment it was known that it was to be occupied as a rostrum from which to address the multitude.
On the right of the stand, on the back of his favorite mare, with his long rifle lying across the saddle before him, rose the gigantic form of Nat the woodsman ; his bronzed face turned with eager attention towards the centre of the platform, and his large dare-devil eyes wandering alternately from the face of the planter to that of the gentleman from St. John's, with nervous anxiety. Beside him, and on horseback, was the second horseman, whom many of the crowd had already recognized as a good man and true, and called by the name of Horry
Around the platform, and nearly covering the entire face of the green,
28 THE SWAMP STEED ; OR THE DAYS
stood a vast multitude, consisting of backwoodsmen, farmers, planters, plough- men, laborers, storekeepers, and craftsmen of every kind ; all more or less armed with offensive weapons, and all presenting one of those heterogenous crowds visible only on critical occasions, or when States are in danger.
Prom the windows of almost every h»use surrounding the green, female heads of all ages and colors, might be seen looking forth ; some glancing ing over the multitude : others straining their eyes in the direction of the platform, and striving with all their might to catch the outlines of the two countenances on whom the gaze of the vast throng was fixed.
The limbs of the large tree in the centre of the green were filled with a score or more of men and lads, looking down with anxious interest at the parties on the platform ; while, grasping the slightly leaning trunk, might be seen numbers of others, eagerly and actively working their way up to perch themselves upon the branches ; from whence they could look down and hear all that was said, and observe all that was going on.
At length the gentleman from St. John's waved his hand as a signal that his companion was about to speak. In a moment the loud murmur formed by the united whisperings and mutterings of the throng ceased, and all eyes were directed at the planter.
" Men of Carolina," he began, in a voice that fell on then- ears like the clear, bold voice of a clarion, " the hour has come when we must shake off forever the cloud which has been hovering over our colonies, and look for a purer sky ; the hour when we must throw off the garments of bondage, and put on the robes of freemen ; the hour when we must cease to kiss the hand that smites us, and holding up our heads, return the blow ; the hour when we must no longer speak to tyranny by soft petitions and cold words, but by loud cries and hot blood ; the hour when we must no longer welcome the minions Of oppression, bu^-epel and drive them back ; the hour when we must rise, as one man, in me name of that God in whom alone we can trust, and hi the name of that suffering humanity of which we are a part, and re- nounce forever the name of Englishmen, and take up that of Americans — for 0, men of Carolina, the royal cannon has been loaded and discharged, the royal muskets have been levelled and their triggers pulled, the royal sword has been lifted and brought down, and hundreds of our brethren butchered in blood !
" Do you hear it, men of the borders and the wilderness, and not grasp your rifles and your knives ? Do you hear it, tillers of the field, and not catch up your sickles and your scythes ? Do you hear it, smiths and howers and not seize your axes and your bars ? Do you hear it, dealers in merchan- dize, and not exchange your wares for muskets and for pikes ? Do you hear it, men of law, and flee not from your fields of words to fields of gallant deeds ? Do you hear it, men of the pulpit, and will ye preach to men of peace ? Do you hear it, 0 men of Carolina, and will ye hearken to it tamely ? The king has shot your brethren clown — blood has been shed !
" This man upon the throne— whose heart shrinks at nothing, however in- famous or black ; this wearer of the ermin— who sees in the sceptre merely a rod with which to scourge the people ; this heartless king— whose soul delights in cruelty, and who washes his hands in tears wrung from a suffer- ing nation ; this possessor of the crown— great only in tyranny, wise only m wickedness, accomplished only in barbarity, industrious only in edicts which beggar while they madden the masses, and generous only to parasites who applaud and minister to his vices, and to tools who alone uphold his brutal fcone; this bad man, I hereby arraign at the bar of public opinion denounce him as a brute, a tyrant and a murderer, and call upon you 0 me of Carolina, to join with me in sundering forever the chains he has flune around us, in renouncing forever the name of Englishmen which he has covered with disgrace, m answering with defiance his mandate which bids us
OF MARION AND HIS M52KRY MEN. 29
.grovel in the earth or be hunted like beasts — for 0, men of Carolina, he has hurled his troops upon our brethren of the North, has rained powder and lead and iron on their persons and their homes, till their fields have smoked with flame and carnage, and their valleys become crimsoned with blood !
;: Rise, men of Carolina ! if ye would not share their fate ! Rise, men of the borders — if ye would preserve your lodges from the flame ! Rise, men of the wilderness, if ye would not be driven to consort with the savage, and be hunted like the wolf! Rise, men of the fields, if ye would not lose your plantations and your farms ! Rise, men of the workshop, if ye would not for your handiwork receive the bondsman's hire, and the bondsman's bread ! Rise, men of the law, and plead for God, Humanity, and Freedom ! Rise, men of the pulpit, and preach woe to the tyrant and the murderer ! Rise, men of trade, and save your wares from the spoiler ! To arms, 0 men of Carolina ! the foot of the tyrant is on our shores, and will soon be on our necks ! To arms, men of the South ! the oppressor comes with torch and carnage — the land is red with blood !
" As for me, men of Carolina ! I will resist this despot and his minions to the death ! As for me, I will shoulder my rifle and with all who will follow, march forth to meet and battle with his hosts ! As for me, I do hereby con- secrate my life, my fortunes and my honor to the cause of Freedom and Hu- manity ! As for me, — come weal, come woe — I do here, in the presence of God and this multitude, make an offering of my head and heart, my hand and my possessions, to my country !
" Join with me, men of Carolina ! in this my offering to Freedom. Join with me, men of the borders and the wilderness ; join with me, cultivators of plantations, and tillers of farms ; join with me, men of the workshop, and men of the fields ; join with me, dealers in merchandize ; join with me men of the pulpit and of the bar — join with me in driving back the cohorts of tyranny, in uprearing the standard of Freedom, in proclaiming the reign of the despot over, in avenging the fall of our brethren, in shouting from hill and from valley, from the wilderness down to the sea, the great battle cry of our colonies — God and Liberty !"
And from the multitude which, laboring under the eloquence of the speaker, had for some moments been tossing to and fro with suppressed excitement^ as a field of grain is sometimes shaken by the wind, there now uprose a wild and stormy cry, which fell like a crash of thunder on the air, and was heard for many a mile around.
" Woe, woe !" continued the planter, solemnly, as the deafening din waa borne away on the aerial waves, " woe to the despot who, in reddening our plains with the blood of our people, has brought us to this !
" Woe to the tyrant who has made light of our sufferings, -who has lashed us to madness, who has aroused us to wrath !
"Woe, woe to the monarch who has called up our anger, who has pro- voked us to blood, by his slaughter and flame !"
" Woe, woe !" shouted the multitude, brandishing their weapons, like men ready and eager for battle.
" Woe, woe to the ingrate who has grown strong, haughty and rich on our substance, and returns it with fire, returns it with blood !
" Woe, woe 1" repeated the throng.
" Woe, woe to the monarch, woe to his minions, should they come on our borders, should they tread on our valleys, should they appear on our hills !"
" Woe, woe 1" yelled the multitude, frantic with rage.
" For they have slaughtered our brethren, have chased them with bullet and cannon and steel, and fired their homesteads and laid waste their fields. Woe, woe to them, woe !"
30 THE SWAMP STEED ; OR THE DAYS
And again, with countenances darkened with rage, the throng flourished their weapons and yelled aloud,
" Woe, woe !"
" For the blood they have spilled, they shall give blood in return !"
" Aye — aye— blood in return !"
" For every life they have taken, they shall pay it with five 1"
" With five !"
" For every hearthstone they have broken, they shall do penance in blood !"
" Do penance in blood !"
" Till the last legion is broken and prostrate and slain ; till the last vessel that brought them lies a wreck on the ocean, without captain or crew ; till the last vestige of kingcraft lies smouldering in ashes, reposing in death !"
" Smouldering in ashes, reposing in death !"
^vThus shall we destroy the despot:s power to do us harm, thus dash aside for ever the bitter chalice from which he would compel us drink ; thus shall we pass from danger unto safety ; thus climb from bondage up to freedom ; thus stride from misery to happiness ; thus stalk from weakness and decay to strength, security and progress ; thus pass from the vassalage of bondsmen to the independence of freemen ; thus climb from poverty and darkness, to prosperity and light ; thus pass from slavery j danger and misrule, to freedom, security and order !"
" Freedom, security and order !"
And with these words, there rose up from the multitude on the green, a shout that made the welkin ring and reverberate like echoes of thunder amid wild and cavernous hills.
i! Thus," continued the planter, his countenance beaming with a radiance and grandeur which gave him an air of such sublime majesty that the majo- rity of his hearers never frrgot it to their dying day, and which impressed many of them with the conviction that the words which followed were the offspring of prophetic inspiration, " thus on the ruins of a cruel, selfish and ungrateful despotism, shall we erect the structure of a free, liberal and flour- ishing republic ; thus shall we teach a lesson to kings they will remember to their latest hour ; thus shall we make of these colonies and this whole conti- nent a gigantic republic which shall open its broad arms to the weak and oppressed of all climes, and by the force of its moral and physical strength
" Thus, 0 men of Carolina, shall we serve ourselves, humanity and God ! Thus, by one brave effort, shall we shake off the fangs of a monster who re- gards us but as vassals whom he is privileged to abuse, ruin and destroy ac- cording to his humor ! Let all who love freedom and abhor tyranny, follow me ; let all who would emerge from misery to happiness strike a freeman's blow with me ; let all who shudder at this brutal murder of our brethren at the North — all who have in their breasts true and gallant hearts, enlist with me in the cause of freedom and humanity !
" Beside me," pointing to the gentleman from St. Johns, " stands one whom many of you know. You have seen him in the roar and smoke and brunt of battle, and know him for a soldier. You have 'been familiar for years with his fame as a calm and upright citizen, and know him for a man.
" He is now fresh from Charleston, with authority from the patriot leaders to raise men for a campaign against the royal cohorts who have shed Ame. - ican blood.
" In this glorious cause are enlisted the best and bravest of Carolina's sons- men and arms are waiting — men of Carolina, will ye join our ranks ?
" Here in sight of God and this multitude of witnesses, I write my name the first upon this scroll ; here do I consecrate my name, my fortunes and
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 31
my arm to freedom — thus pledge myself and mine, come weal come woe, to the bright mistress of my soul — my country !"
He ceased. For a moment the throng, spell-bound by his words, was silent and motionless. Then drawing a long breath, the mass uttered a low murmur as^f striving to find a vent for the feeling that oppressed it. A mo- ment more, and it rocked to and fro like a moving sea ; then, as if it had succeeded in shaking off the trance in which it had been wrapt, the murmur was followed by a loud roar which shook the air like a discharge of thunder.
This had scarcely passed away when a confused and eager rush was made for the stand.
" Mr. Somers ! put my name down thar', jest onderneath yourn !" cried a voice, which was at once recognized by the crowd.
" Hurrah for Nat, the scalp hunter !" cried the multitude, with enthusiasm.
" And here's a name will follow that !" cried a tall, gaunt young fellow, with a rollicking eye and hair of a fiery^ red, who now sprang upon the plat- form, arid seizing the pen dashed off, in a clear bold hand, a name afterwards rendered immortal. It was that of John Maodonald.
" Hold on, Jack !" cried a young farmer with a pale complexion, an eye black and piercing as an eagle's, short black hair, and a frame slender as a woman's, but supple and muscular as steel ; " you can write, and I can't Just put my name down there, will you ?"
"All right, Bill," answered Macdonald, "there it is, in as saucy a hand as a schoolmaster could make it." And he wrote in large, bold characters a name that was subsequently destined to attain a high place on the scroll of American fame. That name was William Jasper.
"Hello, capting!" shouted in a loud nasal twang, a personage, dressed in a rough minting shirt, and a slouched beaver, whose gigantic height, bold pro- file, and lean, gaunt figure, pronounced him one of the " dangerous custom- ers" so common among the colonists of that day, " I've an idea my pot hooks wouldn't look any wuss 'en anybody's else, an 'so I'll skretch 'em down !" And elbowing his way through the throng by whom he was surrounded, and who readily yielded a passage to the sharp elbows of the colossus, the speaker worked his way to the side of the platform up which he at once clambered with all the agility of a squirrel.
Taking the pen, he, after numerous contortions, both of body and face, at length succeeded in writing off, in letters gaunt and lean as his own power- ful frame, the name of Peter Snipes.
The work went on, till the roll of the gentleman from St. Johns was rilled, and he declared there were as many upon the paper as were necessary to form his company.
The throng looked sad and disappointed. Scores stood around the plat- form anxious to enrol their names, whom the pressure had till then kept back.
" I have a friend here," said Marion, readily comprehending their feelings, " upon the same errand as myself. We are both attached to the same regi- ment. It will be all the same, if you enlist under him. Captain Horry," he added, turning to that gentleman, " you are wanted here I"
The announcement of the gentleman from St. Johns was received with loud acclamations, amid which captain Horry dismounted from his horse, sprang upon the platform, and opening his enlistment roll, declared himself ready to receive the names of those desirous of responding to the call of their country. The bystanders stepped up with an alacrity that was cheering ; and while the good work was going on, the gentleman from St. Johns and the young planter occupied one corner of the platform ; the former deliber- ately inspecting one by one the names upon his list, and ever and anon ques- tioning his companion relative to their characters for probity, intelligence and courage ; and the latter answering wilh a readiness which evinced a thorough
32 THE SWAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
knowledge of the habits, attributes and positions of the men of that district, together with an enlarged and correct view of human nature.
While they were thus engaged, Nat the woodsman glided quietly from hi* horse, and throwing his arm through the rein, bunched his hands over the mouth of his rifle, on which he rested his chin, and then flung his eyes, thoughtfully at the gentleman from St. Johns, to take a good lou% look at his future commander.
The appearance of Captain Marion was, to the eyes of t_ae scalp hunter, who was accustomed in a great measure to read men's characters by their external aspect, a fit subject for study.
In person, he was short and slender ; rather below, than on a level with, the common height. His limbs were small, well set, muscular and wiry, and evidently inured to, and as capable of enduring, the most severe fatigues.
In manner, the gentleman from St. Johns was frank, easy, graceful and ubdued.
His complexion was of that bronzed hue peculiar to the hardy sons of th3 wilderness and the borders. rt
His brows were shaded by masses of thick, jet-black hair ; his forehead was broad, high and smooth; his nose small and aquiline ; his lips diminutive, but expressive of great strength of will ; his chin bold, but softly and deli- ' cately rounded at the point.
But it was in liis eyes that the character of the man was most distinctly visible. They were large, the pupils unusually clear and liquidious, and piercing as an eagle's; evincive of a free and unclouded intellect, great depth of brain, extraordinary powers of penetration, a tranquil spirit, and an un- bending will. These were their prevailing aspect; but at present, while wandering from the enlistment roll to the planter, in quest of intelligence, they presented another phase, viz : that of obtaining information and quietly storing it away ; and they appeared as if perpetually engaged in thus collect- ing and laying by items of value which they could call up for use and refer- ence at a future day.
" He'll du !" muttered the scalp hunter to himself, as he completed his sur- vey of his future commander. " The metal 's in him ; the geenyus is in his head, the grit is in his muscles. How quietly he draws everything from Neil ; sounds him to the bottom without disturbin' himself, or lettin' a crit- ter know what he's up tu ! He'll du ! Ef he lives he'll give the Britishers some tetches of thunder, with a small sprinklin' of lightnin'. The geenyus is in his head, and the grit in his muscles. He's got a nice set of boys tu, tu work with. There's that Jack Macdonald, a critter that could take the hide off a painter in a fair fight in less time than a yaller belly could whittle off a scalp. And then there's Bill Jasper, who, ef he aint got much larnin', knows an awful lot of hewman natur, and ken whip his weight in wild cats. As to Pete Snipe, I've seen him tackle a dozen redskins at a lick, without a finger of powder or a single lead drop, and cave 'em as ef they'd bin corn shucks. As fur Tom Newton, and the rest of the cumpauy, I don't know sech a darn sight about 'em, but they look as ef they wouldn't turn tail for any Britisher or yaller belly in the col'ny, and I've a notion that in that respeck they don't look fur out 'er the way!"
At this moment, the attention of the scalp hunter was drawn from the platform to the crowd, which was now making demonstrations of a turbulent character. In another instant he heard a cry —
"Look out! the sheriff is comin' down on us!"
This was speedily followed by another —
" The varmint is in the middle of the troops. Look to your locks, boys the troops are comin' I"
" Shoot the villains I fire boys, fire!"
" Stay !" cried a calm, authoritative voice from the stand. It was that ol
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN.
t 33
Marion, on whom all eyes were in an instant turned. " Stay, if ye are men ! Let's not sully the sacred cause in which we are engaged by a single coward*- ry act. Until these men proclaim themselves foes, it is our duty to regard them as friends. Let the sheriff speak — it is his right as a public officer ! touch not his supporters — they are but fulfilling a duty in guarding him. Should they lead the way in violence, their blood be on their own heads !"
The throng became sullenly silent, and fell back — their countenances how- ever exhibiting a rebellious spirit, and their eyes glaring maliciously at the royal officers and troops.
The sheriff and his posse advanced down the high road skirting the green ; upon reaching the centre of which they turned their horses' heads and guided them in the direction of the tree, between which and themselves rose a compact mass of armed, stern-browed men, grasping their arms firm- ly and hurling at them glances sullen and flashing with indignant fire.
The troops paid but little attention to those threatening demonstrations, and at a "Forward!" from one of their officers, gently spurred up their steeds, a supercilious smile lighting up their features the while, expecting the crowd to fall back and give them a free passage, out of that instinctive fear and respect for the king s troops which they had so long been accustomed to witness among the people.
But .pot a man moved, not a brow unlocked its threatening frown, not an eye relaxed its fierceness.
" Forward !" cried the leading officer, in a loud, determined voice, and throwing at the same time an angry glance at his men. " Forward !" he re- peated, jerking his rein, and plunging his spurs violently into the sides of his steed.
The animal bounded forward suddenly toward the crowd, followed by the remaining officers and troops.
At this moment, a hundred rifles were raised and sighted, the sudden movement of which frightened the animals, and threw them on their haunches.
" Charge !" cried the officer, rising in his stirrups, and hurling a fierce glance upon the crowd.
''Fallback!" exclaimed a loud, ringing voice, which was recognised by nearly every ear as that of. the most intrepid dare-devil of all Wilh'amsburgh, viz : Jack Macdonald. " Fall back, I warn you ! Another step — another movement, and a hundred rifles shall empty your saddles in an instant! Do you think to ride us down, as if we were cattle ?" •
The officer trembled, and turned his eye appealingly to the sheriff, who now appeared in the centre of the two lines of troopers, and between two young officers, whose handsome features and striking resemblance to one an- other were matters of profound astonishment and remark.
At this moment, Nat. the woodsman, turned his head in the direction of the platform, and his eyes met those of the young planter, who was pale and trembling.
" He has recognised 'em !" murmured the scalp hunter. ~^~,
The sheriff now rode forward, and raising himself in his stirrups, ex- claimed—
" In the name of the king, I charge ye to open a passage for the royal troops. Do you hear ?" he added, angrily, as he noticed the indifference with which his order was received, " in the name of the king !"
The crowd remained firm ; not a movement was visible, except in the ranks of the .troops, which now, at a signal from the officer, calmly drew their weapons from their sheaths.
" Stay !" said the sheriff, with an agitation he tried in vain to repress. "Let me once more appeal to these misguided men, who surely cannot dream of opposing the servants of His Majesty ! Citizens," he added, turn-
5
34 THE SWAMP STEED ] OR THE DATS
ing to the multitude, "I command ye, in the name of the king, to disperse, and return to your homes. He who refuses to obey this order, I, by virtue of my office as sheriff of the county, hereby pronounce a traitor and an out- law. Citizens, disperse, in the name of the king !"
The throng remained stationary ; not a man moved.
Big beads of sweat gathered upon the brow of the sheriff.
" Citizens," he cried, " you do not, it appears, comprehend me. I have ordered you to disperse, and you do not seem disposed to obey. I fear there are traitors among you ; men of bad hearts and evil minds, whose serpent tongues have beguiled you of your better judgments, and are leading you astray. But beware how you trifle with the servants of the king ; be cau- tious how you tamper with the crown ! I feel disposed to pity your weak minds, and to overlook your great crime in refusing to obey my order, but only on one condition."
He paused, as if expecting some reply; but receiving none, he resumed, in a voice thick with emotion —
"But it is only on one condition that, in the name of the king, I will over- look your great act of treason, in refusing to comply with the order which, as a servant of the crown, I have given."
He paused again, and threw his eyes over the multitude, with an expres- sion of great sympathy.
" And this condition is, that every g9od and loyal subject of his majesty, King George, shall instantly leave this green and walk out into the high road. This will enable me to distinguish who are for open and avowed trea- son, and who for the King !"
And with these words, the sheriff resumed his seat in the saddle, and smiled complacently as if in expectation of beholding the mass br5ak in a thousand fragments, and scatter and re-collect out upon the road.
What then, was his amazement, after the lapse of nearly half a minute, to discover that of the throng not a man had moved, and that the highway was as void of their presence as before ! He rubbed his eyes, and looked around him wildly, like a man who feared to place credit in the evidence of his
Finding tnen, that his eyes had not betrayed him, that the multitude re- garded his offer in the same light with which they had treated his order, that is, with indifference and contempt, the sheriff threw off the mock expression of sympathy he had assumed, and turned, with a countenance blazing with wrath, to the captain of horse.
" Disperse the knaves !" he cried, " ride, trample, cut them down, sir, in the name of the king !"
"Form inline!" said the officer, turning to his men. "Unsling your carbines — make ready, present ."
Before he could complete his sentence, half a dozen sharp rifle reports cracked on the air : the officer and sheriff reeled to and fro for an instant, and then dropped from their saddles, without a sigh, without a groan !
This significant demonstration operated on the troops like a charm. Their carbines dropped from their hands as if they had been bars of fiery iron.
The two young officers alone, of all the troupe, retained their courage and self-possession. They exchanged a few hasty words, and then rode up in front of their comrades, divided them into two divisions of twelve men each, and then filed off into the high road, for the purpose, as the throng supposed, of taking leave of the town altogether.
But in this the multitude on the green were mistaken. The young offi- cers entertained no such idea. On the contrary, they looked upon this as one of those chances in the life of a soldier, when fame, fortune and immor- tality, are won by a single bright thought, a single gallant deed ; and* they determined to take advantage of the opportunity.
or MARION AXD 35
On reaching the high road, then, each ordered hi? division into line, and prepared for battle.
" My God !" cried a voice upon the platform, which summoned Marion to the side of the speaker.
" Somers — Somers !" said he in a tone of commiseration, "are you ill !"
" Look there !" answered the planter, with a groan, and he pointed to the officers. " They are preparing to attack us !"
•• But you surely do not fear them T' said Marion, not comprehending him.
•• Fear? Yes — I tremble, not for myself, but my mother. Her heart will break, should she learn it!"
And the young man appeared as if about to die.
" My friend," said Marion, with an air of perplexity, " I fear you have taken leave of your senses."
'•' No, no ; not that — not that !" exclaimed the planter, in a voice of such agony that it seemed as if his heart were being wrenched from him by some invisible demon. " You do not understand* me, and this is not a tune for explanation !"
As he spoke, his eyes fell upon his horse, which stood between the scaffold and the tree.
" Ha !" he cried, a sudden ray, as if of inspiration lighting up his features, " I am saved — she is saved ! God of heaven, I thank thee !"
In an instant he was upon his horse, and driving through the crowd, who, deeming him mad, rapidly opened for him a passage, through which he sped like lightning.
The planter's cry was heard and his movements witnessed by the scalp hunter, who no sooner beheld him spring into the saddle, and plunge through the multitude, than he at once comprehended his idea, and his object as well.
" He cannot du it alone " he murmured. " It takes two to kerry thru a scheme like that ! Give way, friends," he cried aloud. '• T want a passage tu!"
So saying, he bent down and whispered in the ear of his mare, " Now Nell— now, old gal!"
The next instant he was flying through the crowd as if a legion of Indians were on his trail.
In a moment more he was on the road, and beside the planter.
" I und'stand yer plan, Neil," he said hurrriedly, " which one air yew goin' to ketch?" .
"The one on the left," answered the other.
" I und'stand." answered the woodsman, and he careened over to the di- Tision on the right.
"Take care, your honor," said a trooper to his commander, "here's one of the traitors coming up."
He had scarcely uttered the warning, when the woodsman glided up, and passing his long, powerful arm around the officer's waist, lifted him from his saddle, and placed him before himself on his horse.
" Now. Nell — now old gal !" and away flew the mare with her double burden back to the green.
" Give way friends, give way !" cried the woodsman.
And his gallant mare dashed through the amazed crowd, never halting till she reached the stand, where she was joined, a few moments later, by the swamp steed, whose back was also freighted by a double burden.
So sudden and daring had been the whole movement, the soldiers could scarcely credit it as real As to the two young officers, they were bewilder- ed ; as to the gentleman from St. John's, he was stupified. And the multi- tude upon the green, taking it simply for a brilliant stroke of genius, rent the air Avith deafening hurrahs of admiration and delight.
" You are my prisoner." said the planter, in as calm a voice as he could
-36 THE SWAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
assume to the officer he had captured. "Blood has been shed, and you will consider it as an evidence that I am sincere, when I tell you, your life is not worth a pin's fee, if you make an effort to escape. Your sword !"
"You have the courage of a soldier, and the air of a gentleman," replied the officer, " and I feel confident that my blade, which has never yet been, tainted by dishonor, will, with its master, find honorable treatment at your liands."
As he finished, he drew the weapon from its sheath, and taking it by the blade he presented the handle to the planter, who received it with an air of grace and dignity which called forth a murmur of admiration from the crowd.
" Yours," he continued, turning to the other officer ; " nay," he added, as Ite prisoner turned inquiringly to the scalp hunter, who replied to his glance by a nod of approval, " I ask it of you in his name, and that of your brother — from whom you would, doubtless, not desire to be separated ?"
" Oh, no !" answered the prisoner, taking his kinsman by the hand.
" Mr. Akarman," continued' the planter, " you will give me your prisoner, will you not, in order that they may not be parted ?"
" He was yourn from the moment he was taken," answered the woodsman.
" I knew it, or I had had not spoken," said the planter, with a smile of gratitude. " You will therefore perceive, sir," he added, to the officer, " the propriety of yielding up your sword to me — to me, who, as your conqueror, cannot permit you to retain it."
The officer no longer hesitated.
" Your words of honor now, gentlemen, as soldiers," continued the plant- •er, " that neither of you will attempt to escape."
The officer drew themselves up.
"I ask it of you, as gentlemen," continued the planter, with an air of such supreme dignity and grandeur, that the officers intuitively recognized in him a being far superior to themselves, " that I may not be compelled to wound your delicacy, by treating you like men who would violate their honor !"
" I give it to you, sir," said the first.
" And I," added the second.
And in the voice and air of the planter, so replete with all the elements of true gentility, the brothers felt an innate influence, magnetic in its tone and effect, gliding like drops of mercury through their organizations, and subdu- ing them to a sense of their inferiority, which they could neither define nor
"One thing more, gentlemen," said the planter. "Your troops must lay down their arms, and retire from this county. Oblige me by returning to the •road, and giving them the order."
" Nay," said the first officer, " you are now asking too much. I cannot do that. It would cover them and myself with dishonor. They do not regatd themselves as your prisoners !"
" But they soon will be ; or what is worse, dead ! Reflect. They are in a hostile attitude to five hundred men, three hundred of whom have rifles in their hands, each charged with a messenger that kills wherever it strikes. These men are unerring marksmen, too, and impatient to test their skill upon your troops, whom they regard as foes. Reflect, sir— reflect !"
"I have reflected, sir!" answered the young man, haughtily.
" Reflect again ! The passions of this multitude are aroused ; their hearts incensed against a monarch who has shed the blood of their brethren : and your troops wear the livery of that king I"
" You have had my answer, sir !"
" And I ask you to reconsider it. It is to spare the lives of your troops that I ask you to do this. Reflect— twenty-four soldiers cannot battle with ;4hree hundred keen-eyed marksmen, and live to relate the feat ! They may
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 37
make the attempt, but they will fall as the sheriff fell, drop as their leader dropped, in the effort."
:' My men understand their danger, sir, and are willing to face it !"
" But do they desire to do so ? Tour own good sense must tell you, judg- ing from what you have seen, they cannot live three minutes from the mo- ment our men raise their rifles. The destiny of these troops is in your hands, not in their own. Though soldiers, they are yet men, and as such cling Kfa* men to life. If you refuse to comply with my request, so they can march off alive, they will remain, but it will be to kiss the earth, to take their eter- nal slumber." '
" Enough, sir !" returned the officer, " I am ready to accede to your wish."
" 'Tis well, sir. I will not insult your honor as a gentleman by accompany- ing you. Take my horse. I will await here with your brother, till your return !"
The young officer bowed, and sprang lightly into the saddle.
"A passage there, friends!" cried the planter to the crowd; "and let no man insult this gentleman. He is my friend !"
The packed mass divided, and the officer passed slowly off the green, and approached the troops.
" Comrades !" he cried, " resistance is useless. We are in the hands of men who know their power and are prepared to use it My brother and I are prisoners, but you are free to return to Charleston when you have laid down your guns. Spare me the pain of giving you that order, but believe me when I tell you that it is necessary if you would not lose your lives !"
In a moment every man had unslung his carbine and dropped it upon the earth.
" I thank you gentlemen," continued the officer, "for this manifestation of your confidence. And now comrades, farewell ! I need not tell you what report you had best make on reaching Charleston. Farewell !"
The troops raised their caps in token of adieu ; then forming into four line* of six men each, they dashed off, and were in a few minutes out of sight.
The officer looked after them till they had disappeared ; then wheeling his horse about, and uttering a deep sigh, he rode slowly back to the platform, 'on the green.
CHAPTER V.
AT one of the two white curtained windows of a small parlor on the second floor of the Palmetto, an inn of some pretensions to respectability, standing on the roadside, and commanding a fine view of the village of Kingstree, as well as of the surrounding country, were two young men, whose eyes were watching, with an expression of deep interest, the proceed- ings upon the green.
They were neatly and tastily dressed in the quaint costume of that period, and their general air pronounced them members of the petty aristocracy which had risen even in that day among the inhabitants of the borders.
The one was rather foppish and effeminate in his manner ; the other, though evidently not less proud, was yet more manly in his appearance. Both had the Saxon blue eye, light hair and fair complexion which marked the English families of the province ; as the black hair, dark eyes and olive tinge designated those of the French ; and as the sandy locks, gray eyes and fresh cheeks announced those of the Scotch ; all of winch races were very Mberally represented among the borderers of that section of the colony.
t '
38 THE SWAMP STEED ; OK. THE DAYS
" They are carrying matters with a high hand, Crampton," observed the plainest of the two to his companion, as the sheriff and officer fell from their horses ; " but there will be an hour of reckoning for all this : and when it comes, yon hero of to-day," and he pointed to Neil Somers, " will swing for his frothy bravado, and take his last look of earth in the court-yard of the provost ! '
"It certainly is horwible, Wintah," answered the other drawlingly. " Hadn't wo bettar go away from heeah ? It is pausitively dangerous !"
" Nonsense !" said the other, contemptuously. "What have we to fear ?"
"Everything. If those fellows should fire a little too high, and a ball should come this way, the consequences would be horwible ! And then what would my mother say ?"
" Time enough to fear when there is a prospect of danger. Why do you tremble so ? For shame, man ! Bring back the blood to your cheeks, and calm your nerves, or I shall be compelled to think you are a coward !"
" 0, come now, Wintah, none of your dem'd horwible jokes — I can't see the force of them. They are pausitively personal and excruciatingly out- ridgeous. What would my mother say ?"
" Nonsense, Crampton !" answered the other in a milder tone, " I have no intention of offending you. I speak as a brother would to a brother, and not as a man to a stranger. But you are really too much of a woman in your ways, and too little of a man. Drop your effeminacy, as you love me. Think you my sister can admire in you what she detests in another ? If so, undeceive yourself. Consider whom you have for a rival !"
And he pointed, as he spoke, to the tall, manly, dignified form of the plan- ter upon the platform on the green.
"Pausitively, Wintah, you have a dem'd, horwible way of expwessing yourself!' exclaimed the exquisite. "I shall be compelled to get angwy with you !"
" Nonsense, Crampton ! I am a plain spoken man ; and I speak plainly, because the case demands it. But I warn you, I can never do anything for you with Amy, unless you throw off your foppery. Women are fond of men of masculine temperaments, because they are in such powerful contrast with their own effeminate natures. Look at Neil Somers, now; there is hardly a woman in all Williamsburg who would no* give her chances of Heaven to win him. And yet he is not handsomer than you, nor a twentieth part so rich. Imitate him, Crampton, if you would succeed with my sister: for I warn you, you will have to bring oth(^ qualifications than those of an accom- plished ladies' man, into requisition, to win the heart of Amy, whom this planter has already fascinated."
The exquisite drew back, and turning to a mirror that was suspended from the wall between the windows, examined himself with an air of super- cilious satisfaction.
" I am vewy much obliged to you, Wintah," he said, running his jewelled fingers through his curled locks, " but I am vewy well satisfied with myself, and have no ideeah of copying anybody."
" As you please," answered the other, with a quiet sneer, " but if you fail in winning Amy, forget not that I pointed out to you in the beginning the only way in which you could succeed."
" But such a widiculous model as you give me, Wichard — a petty plantah, a fellow who associates with common people, and is seldom seen in wespecta- ble society. What would my mother say ?"
" Your mother has spoiled you, Crampton ; or you would appreciate the qualifications of a man like Somers, who is not more of a favorite with wo- men, than he is popular among men. I tell you, Crampton, he is a rival worthy of your highest consideration. Look at him now, as he dashes from
.\.\D Hid MEK.B.Y MEN. 39
on his spirited charger, followed by yon gigantic woodsman. To the window, man — quick ! \Vhat has he in view now ? As I live — look !"
He caught his companion suddenly by the wrist with his left hand, and with the other pointed energetically to the planter, who had at that instant lifted the young officer from hiS horse, and transferred him to bis own, as we have already described it in the preceding chapter.
- Look, Crampton, look ! By the living (rod ! they have captured the twin brothers, in the very face of the troops, and are actually bearing them ofij prisoners ! And there the varlets sit h'ke dumb statues on their steeds, and make no effort to save them ! Ho, there ! knaves !" he cried aloud to the troops, " are ye mad ! Forward to the rescue !"
But the window- was closed, a fact which his sudden frenzy had caused him to overlook, and by the time he had made the discovery, the captured officers were on the platform, and beyond the reach of the soldiery.
•• There !" continued Winter, turning to his companion, " there is another of his feats, and one which will make his name ring with tenfold popularity throughout Williamsburgh. Is he a common rival, think you ? Undeceive yourself! I tell you, Crampton, he will shine from this hour with greater brilliancy than ever in Amy's heart. Wake up, man. Throw off your draw- ing-room habits and put on the energies of a man ; or, after all, this ' petty planter' will walk off with my sister !"
" No fear of that, Wichard ; the fellow will soon be out of the way. Don't you wemembah what you said a li ttle while ago ? The pwovost ?"
"But what if they catch him not?"
" Oh, Wichard, but they will. The officers of the cwown are vewy stout — vewy !"
" Not so stout as you think, Cramptop."
" Oh, yes they are, my deah fellow. You cannot conceive what confi- dence I have in them ! They are as stwong as ev-ah."
"Does the scene we have just witnessed, look like it?"
" Oh, that was merely a tempo wawy bwiumph of the mob ! I am perfect- ly satisfied with the power of the cwown, and of my own abilities to readah myself pleasing to Miss Wintah: Besides, Wichard, you perfectly surpwise me, to hear you talk ui this mannaw of that thingamy — what's his name ? — the plantah ! I weallywentertained the idee-ah that you hated him most outridgeously. I did pausitively !"
''And you thought right!" answered Richard Winter. "Hate him — that's the word ; and yet you can see Bban do him justice : for all the bitfcer, burning hatred that lies seething in my heart, cannot take away one jot of his popularity, nor cause his acknowledged merits to diminish a single grain. If it could, think you I would spare him ? No ; I would plunge him into such ignominy as would make his proud heart break and wither by slow and torturing inches. I would hurl him into such misery as would make the frightfulesi. of human agony seem comparative buss. I would make him lie on a couch of such exquisite anguish, that a bed of slimy, crawling asps would be an Eden to it !"
" You surprise me, Wichard ! Why this intense enmity ?"
" That is fny secret ! When I have him in my grasp — when he lies broken, bleeding, crushed and ruined — when calamity after calamity shall have driven him to the verge of despair, and but one other woe is wanting to make his cup full and plunge him riven in hope, withered in heart, crushed in soul, over the brink of eternity, then I will stoop and breathe that word in his ear. Till then, the secret remains here, in this heart, locked up hi the same chamber with my hatred, and there it will remain till the hour shall have come when, in all its fierce and bristling malignity, it can step forth and sweep him from existence."
" You are a dweadful fellow, Wichard ! I wouldn't have you for an anemy
40 THE SWAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
on any account. What would my mother say ? But, now I think of it didn't you seduce Miss Somers ? Pausitively that was a shocking affair ; she •was such a chawming cweature. I had sewious intentions at one tame of trying to captivate her myself."
" Yes " answered Richard Winter, " that was my first step m vengeance. I won her soft heart— broke it— rent it in twain, coolly, calculatingly, pre- meditatedly, as if it were a thread ! And when she died, so carefully had I taken my measures, there was not a family in the village, scarcely in the Dis- trict, but knew with her death the taint also which like a chaplet of infamy clung to her name!"
" You fwighten me, Wichard. You are so dem d cool in the revelation of your enormities. It is pausitively shocking ! I tremble -while I look at yon. What would my mother say ?"
" What care I ? I am no boy, to fret and fume and froth with passion be- cause my feelings have been outraged, or my pride wounded. No ; I can think calmly on my my injuries, and as calmly avenge them ! But see— the mob is breaking up and dispersing ; and he — he comes this way with his friends and prisoners !"
" Hadn't we better go, Wichard ? I feel vewy uneasy !"
" No : let us remain. I have a thought that needs maturing. Those offi- cers are friends of mine ; perhaps I can do them a service, and myself a 'gratification. Who knows?"
And quietly dropping the curtains, he retired from the window to ring up the landlord ; but in moving the drapery, an eye in the advancing group had caught his person : that eye was the planters.
" Landlord," said Richard Winter, as that personage, appeared, " dice and a bottle of Moselle. And a word in your ear," he added, " when Somers and his party have made their arrangements about the disposal of the priso- ners, come and let me know, will you ?"
And he slipped a piece of gold into the hand of mine host, who returned a significant wink, and then withdrew.
"What, my deah fellow," said the exquisite, "shall we play? I'm de- lighted!"
" For the wine, nothing more," answered Richard Winter, carelessly, "I'm as dry as a panther."
" Oh no, Wichard — let's make it intewesting. My purse is vewy heavy."*
" And mine light Besides, you have too many due bills of mine already ; and I cannot consent to borrow any more till I have means to pay what I already owe you !"
At this moment the door opened, and the landlord appeared with the wine and dice, which he placed upon a small table in the centre of the room ; then making an expressive wint in reply to a quiet glance from Winter, he turned and quitted the apartment.
" Break the bottle," said Richard Winter, thoughtfully, to his companion.
" There !" returned the exquisite, as he complied with the order and filled up the glasses. " Toss it off, Wichard, and dwop your weflections. I never Eke to see a man too thoughtful ; it makes one uneasy. I never weflectl"
" Twere well if you did !" muttered Winter to himself. " You would not then be the tool and simpleton I have always found you !"
He tossed off his glass, and taking up the dice box, affected to be exhili- rated by the wine.
" Come, Crampton," he exclaimed, " now then who pays for the Moselle ?"
And shaking the box, he threw the dice upon the table.
" Ten ! only ten !" he cried, " I shall be put in for it at this rate !"
And he 'threw again ; making an eight count.
" What else could I expect !" he cried, with a light laugh. " Fortune delights in making me step lower and lower, each succeeding day !"
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 41
And he threw a third time ; and fifteen rose to the surface. "Ah!" he added, "the jade is not so bad, after all. Thirty-three would not be bad with any other antagonist ; but with yon, Crampton, with you who are fortune's choicest pet,' such a number is only equivalent to a de- feat!"
" You flattah me !" returned the exquisite, with a condescending smile, as he rattled the box, and threw.
" Did I not say so," said Richard Winter, quietly. " Twelve !"
" Twelve is a vewy good number," remarked Crampton, with a sparkKng eye. " I have evewy confidence in a twelve when it is opposed to a ten F What's this ? Fourteen! Why, this is extwemely delightful!"
And rattling the dice a third time, ten made its appearance.
" That isn't so vewy bad, Wichard ; do you think it is ? Pausitively, it would give me most excruciating pleashah, to play that way all day. Let's have another !"
Richard Winter shook his head.
" No," he said, with affected tipsyness, " my noddle won't stand it ; whereas you, Crampton, you are as cool as an autumn breeze."
This was not exactly the case ; in fact, a spectator would have pronounced it exactly the reverse : but the wealthy exquisite, upon whom the Moselle was operating like a charm, to the infinite secret satisfaction of his companion, did not perceive it, and patronizingly exclaimed :
" Come now, Wichard, don't wefuse in that mannah. My purse is heavy, and nothing would give me more pleashah than a little quiet play. Be ac- commodating now — I won't entirely fleece you !"
" Well, go on," said Richard Winter, with affected hesitation. " I have but twenty guineas about me, and might as well lose them !"
As he spoke, he threw his purse before him on the table.
" You are a good soul, Wichard !" murmured the exquisite, following his example. " Shall we make it interesting, Wichard ? Twenty guineas isn't such a very gweat stake !"
" As you please," answered Richard Winter, noticing with his usual quiet smile, the effect of the wine upon lus companion, who fortified himself every few momente with a fresh sip of hiPMoselle. " Rattle away !"
"Ei-eight!" cried the exquisite, throwing down the dice. " Eight is-is not so vewy bad !"
" Very clever !" muttered Winter.
" Seven ! That ma^es fifteen. I haven't such a gweat deal of con-fi- confidence in fifteen iBLh — what's that ?"
" Ten !" said Richard Winter, taking up the dice and rattling the box.
" Which makes twenty-five. I nevah had a vewy pwodigious wespect for twenty-fives. I've seen 'em beat !"
" No doubt," observed the other as he rattled the box and threw the dice upon the table. " Twelve !"
" Twelve is a vewy fine nuinbah, Wichard. I've heard of figures winning tibat were much lower than a twelve. What's that?"
"Sixteen!"
" Take up the stakes, Wichard. Sixteen is good. But an idee-ah stwikes me. Suppose we double the pile ?"
"If you desire it, certainly. Go on; anything to accommodate."
So saying he pushed the box across the table.
They resumed their play, and continued it for abont an hour, at the end of which time, there was a gentle knock at the door, and the landlord made his appearance.
Richard Winter was at that moment clearing up his winnings, having drain- of' hie companion of his last guinea.
42 THP SWAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
"The parties are going to remain here all night," whispered the land- lord.
" And the officers?" said Richard Winter.
"Will sleep in the same chamber with Mr. Somers, Marion and the back- woodsman."
" Enough ! Detain them as long as possible in the morning. I will use every nerve to be here by daybreak with a posse of regulars. That for your fidelity !"
And he threw the man a guinea.
" Is the way clear, and our horses ready ?"
The innkeeper nodded a quiet affirmative.
" Thanks. Follow me, Crampton !"
And taking the exquisite by the arm, who appeared to lose with the same pleasure that he won, Richard Winter and his companion passed quietly from the small parlor and out of the inn, to the stable, where they found their horses in waiting.
" There's a crown for you, you rascal!" exclaimed Richard Winter, to the black hostler. " And remember, not a word to any one of my appearance here, or departure !"
" I is up, massa!" returned the negro, with a sly leer.
The riders glided quietly out of the yard and turned down the Georgetown road.
" Where now, Wichard ?" asked the exquisite, with his usual drawl
" You had best home !" answered the other. " As for me, I have some hours of hard riding to get through. Further than that I cannot inform you. Farewell!"
And waving his hand, he dashed down the road.
" A vewy clever fellow is Wichard !" murmured the exquisite, looking after him with a mingled stare of astonishment and admiratisn ; " vewy clevah indeed : but exwtemely cwuel in his wesentments. If I were such a wicked devil, what would my mother say I"
CHAPTER VI.
THE twin brothers, as the reader is already aware^ad fallen into the handa of the planter. Fortune had unexpectedly favored {A desires of that gentle- man, and granted the prayer which had for some d^s been rising from his heart to his lips, and from his lips to the throne of grace.
Wholly ignorant of the relationship which existed between themselves and the planter, the twin brothers merely regarded their capturer as & gentleman of a noble and superior mind, and as one who would, out of that high respect which he entertained for his own honor, treat them with the consideration due to their standing as gentlemen, and the gentle rigor due to their position as officers. And as they had seen sufficient in his air and conduct to war- rant the highest confidence in his honor, they felt satisfied to follow him, without any fears as to the result, whithersoever he saw fit to convey them. They had also a firm reliance in certain influential friends at Charleston, and felt confident something would be done which would, in a few days, termi- nate their detention and restore them to liberty. With these thoughts, and buoyed up by lively spirits which ever cluster around the heart of young manhood, they resigned themselves tranquilly to their position, which they individually regarded as one of the unpleasant, but not uninteresting episodes ia the life of a soldier.
OF MARION AM) HIS MERRY MEN. 43
On reaching the inn, the planter took Captain Marion aside, and summarily explained the cause of his interest in the young officers ; which exposition was so perfectly satisfactory to the gentleman from St. Johns, that he at once proffered his assistance to convey them to theft destination, which offer was readfly and gratefully accepted.
'' When do you propose starting ?" asked Marion, in the same low tone in which the previous exposition had been discussed ; " to-morrow morning ?'
" That was my intention," returned the planter ; " but I have since made a discovery which will render it necessary to proceed almost immediately."
At this moment the landlord entered the room.
"A lunch, host," said the planter ; " and get it ready soon as possible — we are famished."
" Will you honor me with your company for the night, gentlemen ? I ask that, in case such should be your desire, I may order the beds ready."
" You may get them in readiness, then," returned Somers, who saw in a moment by the hesitating air of the man that something was brewing.
"Thank you — thank you!" returned the landlord, bowing almost to the floor. " The lunch will be here in a few minutes."
" The man is too obsequious !" muttered the planter, more and more con- vinced that his suspicions were well founded. "Nat," he added, turning to the scalp hunter, in a whisper.
"Well, Neil?"
" He is here."
" Who ?"
" Richard Winter ! Don't start — the twins are observing us. Be calm, and believe. I saw him retiring from a window as we approached the inn. He is their friend, and in the king's interest He must be watched."
" I kin un' stand the necessity of that"
" And therefore, my friend, while you all lunch, I will keep an eye on the lane from the window. If my suspicions are correct, he will soon quit the house ; if he does, it will be to return with a force of royalists, to attempt a rescue."
" I un'stand," returned the scalp hunter, with a significant wink ; " and the unly objection I have tu the hull arrangement is that it will look better fiir me tu be at the winder than yew."
"If you think so, Nat "
" Wall, I du ; and with all respeck to yew, Niel, it must be so."
" Lunch, gentlemen." said the landlord, who, at this, instant, entered the apartment. y
" You have a number of guests here, friend !"— said the planter approach- ing him and speaking in a low confidential voice ; "is Richard Winter among them ?"
" N-no," stammered the man, who scarcely knew how he ought to reply.
" 'Tis well I" observed the planter. " This man has been tampered with — he even lies !" he added to himself. " I felt convinced something .was at work !"
The wine and edibles made an excellent repast, to which all parties did ample justice.
During its discussion, the scalp hunter kept watch at the window, and per- mitted nothing to escape him.
" I will change places with you now, Nat," said the planter approaching him.
" As you please, Neil. But hadn't somebody better be posted at that winder ?" and he pointed to the other end of the apartment " From there yew ken see intu the stable yard. If the critter has got his horse, which it is more'n likely he has, he'll hev tu go down thar'. "
" A good idea, Nat. Captain Marion will you step this way?"
44 THE §WAMP STEED J OR THE DAYS
That gentleman approached; and upon matters being explained to him, he consented to watch at the rear window.
Meanwhile the woodsman seated himself at table, and attacked the edibles with a speed which evinced his anxiety to get through with it as quickly as possible and a gusto which satisfied the officers he was laying in provisions for many days. He had scarcely finished, when his quick ear detected the sound of footsteps lightly descending the staircase, and he cautiously joined ' Marion at the rear window.
In a few moments, he perceived Winter and his companion cross the court yard, the gate of which was at the same instant quietly opened by the land-
"All right!" murmured the scalp hunter. "They're putty cunnin', but not quite so much so as they might be !"
The horses with their riders now moved slowly from the yard ; and the scalp hunter, tapping the gentleman from St. John's significantly on the arm, moved across the apartment to where the planter was stationed.
Their eyes met, significantly, and Somers whispered —
" He is off for assistance. We'll give him twenty minutes' start, and then be in our saddles. I'll down and see the- landlord ; you, Nat, look to the horses, and you, my friend," turning to Marion, "attend to the officers, and notify them of our sudden intention to proceed."
In a few minutes everything was prepared, and at the time appointed they took leave of the inn and the village, leaving the landlord in a state of stu- pifaction.
"Cuss 'em!" he exclaimed. "Winter will swear I knew of their intended departure, and purposely deceived him!"
The planter rode ahead ; the twin brothers followed ; Marion and the scalp hunter brought up. the rear. They rode hard, for night was at hand, and it was necessary to reach their destination before darkness should set in.
They took a by-road skirting the Black River, and, keeping out of obser- vation as much as possible, plied whip and spur till they were entirely out of Bight of the village. Then taking the beach, they swam their horses across the stream, and reached the opposite shore.
" Gentlemen," said the planter, turning to the officers, who began to dis- play signs of impatience and fatigue, " don't retard our journey by murmur- ing or holding back. We have yet a long ride before us ; and unless you prefer the dangers of a night in the woods and swamps, to an early bed and a pleasant repast, you had better follow our example and give your horses a free rein !"
This' was sufficient to silence the discontented mutterings of the twin broth- ers, who uttered not another word till they reached their destination.
The planter took the shortest route with which he was familiar, and in due time they reached the banks of the San tee.
Here, taking a flat boat, they were ferried across to the opposite shore, and the planter cautiously led the way up a gradually rising hill, for twilight had now fallen, and the timber and brushwood around them shut out to a consid- erable degree the little light that was left, rendering the ascent annoying and their progress very slow.
They reached at length the top of the hill, and then slowly journeyed on through the timber for about a hundred yards, when they suddenly entered a small clearing, about thirty acres in extent, at the extremity of which, sur- rounded by a paling of rough saplings, stood a small, neat lodge, to which a rich stream of silver, hurled on it by the moon, gave the appearance of a palace in the wilderness.
" Gentlemen," said the planter, " we have reached our destination."
And he struck into a path leading to the lodge, followed by his compan-
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 45
ions, who, it muat be confessed, were sufficiently fatigued to thank their stars for bringing them to their journey's end.
The planter dismounted on reaching the paling, and knocked loudly at the cottage door. A few moments afterward, a voice was heard within.
"Who's there?"
"Friends !"
" What friends ?"
" Friends from Charleston," answered the planter, in what appeared to his companions preconcerted words.
"In a moment," was the reply in a hurried tone ; and the 'next instant the door of the lodge was thrown open, and a young man half dressed ap- peared upon the threshold.
" You are here, then," said he, in a tone of respectful surprise ; " I did not look for you so soon. Are they with you?" he added in a low whisper.
" Yes. Is everything prepared ? "
" Everything."
" You are sure of that ?"
" I am, and 1 11 stand to it"
" Get lights, then, and a "repast. We have ridden a long distance, and are well nigh famished. Wake Mingo, and bid him look to the horses."
The young man bowed respectfully, then turned on his heel and disap- peared in the darkness of the cottage.
" Gentlemen," said the planter to his companions, " dismount. A servant will attend to your animals."
All parties were, shortly, seated at a rude, but well furnished table, from which, their meal once despatched, they arose considerably refreshed.
" The hour now?" asked the planter.
" It is on the point of twelve," answered the gentleman from St. John's, consulting a pocket chronometer.
" So late? How time flies ! Thanking you for your assistance in the mat- ter which brought us hither, I commend you to your beds. Ned," he added turning to the young man who had charge of the cottage, " show these gen- tlemen to their resting place. Good night, sirs !" he added in response to the adieus of the woodsman and captain Marion, who, now, preceded by Ned, retired from the apartment.
"Gentlemen," continued the planter, turning to the officers, "if you are sufficiently refreshed by your repast, and not over desirous as yet of sleep, I would like a few minutes of your society in the open air."
" We are ready to follow you, sir."
" Thank you — thank you. This way, then !''
And the planter led the way out of the lodge to a small green pateh in the clearing, situated some thirty or forty yards from the cottage.
"Gentlemen," said the planter, " sit down here with me, on the sward, and give me your attention ; what I have to tell you affects you nearly, more so than you now think, and yet not you more than myself. I have to make my apologies for the rude manner in which I prevented you to-dav from the commission of a crime !"
The twin-brothers looked at one another in surprise.
" A crime !" murmured Frederick.
" A crime, sir !" exclaimed George.
" Yes, gectlemen, a crime. For it is a crime, is it not, to raise our hands and voices against the land that gave us birth !"
" We were but discharging a duty," said Frederick, haughtily ; " what is there criminal in that ?"
"What duty were you discharging?''
" That which we owed to the king."
46 THE SWAMP STEED ; OR THE DAYS
" Tel me, sirs, the nature of that duty. I must confess I do not under- " The duty of all good and loyal subjects : to protect the interests of the
" Against those of the people ? Or is it that the people have no interests ? To serve one man — the king is but a man— you would destroy hundreds, yea thousands ! Is this your creed, 0 ! sons of humanity ? Humanity ar- rayed against humanity, to feed the pride and avarice of one who would crush humanity to exalt himself! Where learned you this strange and un- natural doctrine ?"
" In England."
" That England to which you were taken when infants — that England which taught you to forget the ties of kindred and country — that England which holds the ashes of your father — that England which tramples upon the clime of your birth, and by her selfish and oppressive exactions first irritates and then plunges it into madness, suffering and blood — that England which you have just left to revisit your native land, not to save it, but to help a tyrant to still further enslave it! And this you call .DUTY !"
"What mean you, sir !" exclaimed Frederick, in a tone of agitation. i! You transgress the laws of chivalry by thus insulting us. We are your prisoners, but you have no right to take advantage of our position by endeavoring to persuade us from our fealty to the king !"
" The king — the king — always the king !" said the planter, shaking his head mournfully. " Can your lips utter no higher word than that ! Must you always return to the Icing ! Persuade yop from the fealty you owe him ? Man's first fealty is to his God — the only King ; the next, to his country ! What is it you owe the king — and what do you not owe your country?"
" You talk strangely, sir. The country is the king."
" If so would the king oppress it, and wrap it in fire and smoke and carn- age— what wise king would do that ? Say he's a fool, then, would you allow a fool to guide the affairs of a nation to ruin and destruction ? It is because he is at war with the interests of the country, that the country has risen against him. You, who owe allegiance to that country, because it gave you birth, should not be found on the side of its chiefest enemy. It is treason to nature, to humanity, to God !"
" How know you we are of this country ?" demanded the twins, who were visibly agitated.
" How know I that the name of one of you is Frederick, the name of the other George ? How know I that you both saw the light of heaven at one and the same hour ? How know I that you were born in Carolina, and quitted it with your father for England when you were scarcely old enough to prattle the names of father, mother, brother, sister ? How was it I re- cognized you both as the sons of Lionel Somers, whose features, air, voice and figure live again in you as they once lived in him !"
The young officers trembled as if shaken by an ague ; but not more so than the planter, whose powerful will alone prevented him from allowing it to be visible.
" 0!" he continued, "I could tell you, sirs, of evidences greater even than these. I could tell you of names you were accustomed to prattle fondly ere you quitted Carolina for England — that England to which you went as strangers, and which taught you so soon to forget the land in which you were born, the names that you prattled, the forms that you loved. I could tell you of a mother whose heart broke when she lost you — of a brother whose cheek paled when you went away and returned not, of a sister who grew up without remembering she had seen you !"
"Merciful God!" cried Frederick, in a voice of frightful agony. '• what mad tale is this !"
.
I
OF MARION AND HIS MKRRY MEN. 47
" Man — man !" cried George hoarsely, " what wild fantasy is this with which you are appalling us !"
" I could tell you," resumed the planter as if they had not spoken, " of a wild, unprincipled adventurer's mercenary marriage with one of G-od's purest creatures ; of his infidelities, his frauds, his hypocrisies, his cruelties, and his brutalities, times without number, on her his victim-wife ; of his robbery of her property, and of his dastardly flight to England with his two pet young- lings, leaving her, his victim, and the other two little ones, to breast and struggle as they might with the f stern misery in which his brutality had plunged them ! I could tell you of their hard, trying fate for many a long year, while he, the author of their sufferings, the causer of their w«es, was rioting in debauchery in another land — in England ! — with her money, and training her children and their brothers up in forgetfulness of her, of them, and of their country !"
" Great God !" cried the twins, moaning with anguish. " what frightful tale, what inhuman man, is this ?
" I could tell you," continued the planter, " of the misery which day by day inscribed its woe-prints on the brow of that poor mother, that suffering vic- tim-wife. I could tell you how the rose upon her cheek faded day by day, till it disappeared to return no more. I could tell you how her form lessened gradually away, till it became so frail and slender that a breath appeared potent enough to waft it to its eternal home. I could tell you of her prayers for the bad man who had deserted her, and for the two loved ones who had forgotten her, in their home far away ; — of her sighs in her walks by day and in her dreams by night, as she thought of her Frederick, of her George I"
"Man — man!" cried Frpdorick, with an emotion that was frightful, and with tears that were scalding, "are these things so that you are telling us!'
" Or I had not spoken them," answered the planter, with a calmness that was forced.
" And they apply to us, and to our father ?"
" To your father and to you."
"In every particular?"
"Or I had not uttered a solitary word!"
" It is terrible — it is frightful ! Who, then are you — who tell us this, which tears my brother's heart and mine ?"
" I am a living witness of your father's perfidies, your mother's woes. I am at once the accuser of your father, the sole staff and defender of you? mother. lam "
" Our hearts have guessed it !" cried the twins, in a breath, and springing to their feet, as at the same instant the planter also sprang to his. "You are, yes, you are the first born — our brother!"
And they rushed towards to embrace him.
" Stand back !" cried the planter, repelling with a calm grandeur which was at once heroic and sublime. " Devoted to my country, I cannot em- brace its enemies ; devoted Jo my mother, I cannot take to my breast those who have forgotten her !"
"Great God! great God!" cried the twins, recoiling as if stricken by a thunderbolt.
And yet their anguish, though indescribably frightful, was not a jot more excruciating than the planter's, whose heart burned to take them to nis arms, and who yet dared not yield to the desire lest it should mar the great pur- pose he had in view.
" You wear the livery of a king who outrages your country, as your father outraged your mother!" he continued mournfully. "You glory in sustain- ing a cowardly and unprincipled monarch, whose hands are reeking with the blood of a brave and high-principled people ; a people who have suffered and
48 THE SWAMP STEED , OR THE DAYS
endured till suffering and endurance ceased to be, a virtue, and became a festering reproach. In the ranks of these sufferers are the mother who bore you and the brother who gambolled with you m the halcyon days of your childhood. They have remained true to the country which you have deserted to the humanity for which you have ceased to feel, and to the God whom you have ceased to love. Have you the heart, then, to ask their love, against whom you have come as enemies ?"
"Oh, brother— brother!" cried Frederick, stretching forth his arms im- ploringly "forgive us — forgive us! We sinned unknowingly !"
" Oh, brother — brother!" cried George, with a countenance distorted with anguish and pale with despair, "be merciful, and not inflexible!"
" And therefore," said the planter, in a voice that trembled with an emotion which even his powerful will could not wholly control, " the solemn need of your repentance !"
" We do repent !" cried Frederick, falling on his knees, and bending his head on his clasped hands. " Forgive — forgive !"
" Lowly and suppliant." cried George, following bis example, " we implore you to pardon the great error we fell into without giving a thought to its enormity. Forgive — forgive!"
"Not to me, but to Him!" said the planter, pointing upward reverently, " kneel for pardon and for grace !"
" We ask them of him — we implore them of you 1" cried the twins, and hot tears trickled down their cheeks and moistened their trembling hands. " 0, call us brothers !"
" Do you renounce your allegiance to the tyrant who oppresses and deso- lates your country!"
" We do — we do. Will you not now call us brothers?"
"Do you renounce his livery and his wages ?"
" We renounce them — we renounce them 1 0, call us brothers now !"
" Do you renounce all ties and all relations with all who wear bis livery, all who live upon his bounty ? Ah ! you are silent ! Is your repentance then but feigned ?"
" We have friends among them — dear friends!"
"I understand you!" said the planter, mournfully. "Your hearts are gone — the daughters of the governor hold them!"
The twins were silent ; but their features were eloquent with a mingled expression of anguish and surprise.
II "I know all," said Neil Somers, in answer to then: look. "But even them you must renounce !"
The brothers groaned at this announcement : and their countenances indi- cated the most hopeless despair.
" In this your hour of repentance," said the planter,, solemnly, " insult not the Supreme One, by a regret based on guile !"
" Oh ! this is terrible !" cried the twins reroac
" Eeflect!" returned the planter. " Is this love ye bear — or think ye bear — the fair daughters of the governor, HOLY? Is it not the same love, and founded on the same lustful desire which marked your amours in the land from which ye came, as well as those in which ye have indulged since your arri- val in Carolina? Pause, ere you answer; pause — reflect!"
The twin brothers groaned, and bowed down their heads in misery.
"It is notflove!" said the planter, interpreting their silence. "The pas- sion ye entertain is not love ; for love is a holy thing which emanates from heaven, and purifies the hearts on which it falls from every vestige of gross- ness and sensual desire. Such is not the feeling with which you regard the fair daughters of the Governor ! Banish it, then, as you would a leprosy : it is a passion which makes man a leper, woman a victim."
"We banish it!" murmured the brothers.
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 49
" And wisely. For it \yas such a passion which led one of your friends — a certain Richard Winter, he is a friend of yours, is he not ? — to beguile to ruin, shame and death your only sister ! Ha ! you start and clench your hands — anger, shame, despair and vengeance blaze in your eyes ! — You feel the leprosy of it now, because it strikes home — because it has reached your own family I In her name — hers, one of its victims ! I implore you to ban- ish it from your hearts forever. Her broken, betrayed and stricken spirit is hovering around us now. and her voice joins with mine in the cry — Banish desire, which is lust — lust which makes victims!"
" We banish it!" cried the twins. " 0 call us brothers — call us brothers !"
"Listen," said the planter, and a shade of agony passed over his brow in his struggle to resist their appeal "My mother is one of those pure, deli- cate beings who shudder at the thought of taint, whose souls tremble at the mere shadow of vice. Your reputation in Charleston is that of men of the world, experienced in its vices and familiar with its infamies. Were I to take you to our house, with this reputation hanging to your backs, which was also that of your father, the first knowledge of it would not only plunge that tender being into misery : it would kill her ! Gentlemen," added the planter, with an expression at once mournful and sublime, "I have no wish to see my mother die !"
The twins fell on each other's bosom, and groaned as if their hearts were breaking. This last blow had crushed them.
" And yet," said the planter, in a milder voice, as he witnessed their suf- fering, which was also the picture of his own, " if you are sincere in your repentance, there yet is hope for her, whose first prayer in the morning and whose last orison at night is for her twin-born sons — for you, if ye indeed desire to meet in a pure re-union — for me, whose heart yearns to clasp ye in a fraternal embrace, though it break in the struggle to refuse you !"
The twins raised their heads, but not their eyes : for a consciousness of their utter unworthiness prevented them from encountering the glance of their considerate and noble-minded brother.
" Ah ! Hope !" they murmured.
" Yes," returned the planter, with emotion. <; Hope !"
" Oh, name it — name it, and save us from despair !"
" Labor !" answered the planter. " Abandon for a season the world and its vices. Wash out, in tears of a true repentance, every vestige of your baser natures : and erect, out of the sweat of a virtuous and ennobling labor, a new reputation — that of useful and honorable men. Thus, and thus only, can you render yourselves worthy to meet that pure and noble being, my mother ; thus, and thus only can you be prepared for and made deserving of her blessing ; thus and thus only can you earn the privilege of calling her mother ; thus and thus only can you obtain from her the words — 'My son!' and from me, ' My brothers !' ''
His auditors hung on every word that issued from his lips with the eager- ness and tenacity of drowning men clinging to straws.
" Ye have heard my proposal," said the planter ; i; and I now await your reply."
" I accept it," said Frederick.
" And I," added George, " on two conditions."
" Name them,'' said the planter.
" That we may once in a while see our mother, as she sleeps," answered George, in a voice broken with emotion.
" Oh, my brother — my brother !" cried Frederick, falling on his neck.
" And the other ?" demanded the planter, hoarsely.
" That you will sometimes visit us ; and on such occasions, if you are pleased with our efforts, allow us to call you by that endearing name, Brother /"
7
50 THE SWAMP STEED; OR THE DAYS
« I promise!" answered the planter, who could scarcely -prevent himself from falling. " Are you content ?''
" Yes," cried Frederick.
« Yes " added his brother. " Where will be*ur home?
" Here " answered the planter. " Yon lodge your cot— these acres your working ground. The man Ned, whom ye saw at table, will be at once your instructor and assistant ; a negro, named Mmgo, will be your valet and pur- veyor. You can rely on the faithfulness of both !"
The twin brothers turned on him a look beaming with gratitude and joy
"Are you satisfied ?" asked the planter.
They bowed ; their hearts were too full for utterance.
" Enough. Kneel then, here, with me."
All dropped revererentiy upon their knees.
" To Thee !" said the planter, with an air of grandeur and impressiveness which would have become a king, "to Thee, we look for strength to do away with the False, and assume the garments of the True. Hear us ! Here in the solemn midnight — beneath yon glorious dome bright with stars of silver —in the light of yon noble orb whose pure radiance reflects Thy supreme power and serene majesty — in the calm silence of this field, clothed with the rich mantle of earth's mother, Nature — on this spot shut out from a turbu- lent and impure world by towering trees, whose leafy murmurs instead of disturbing, add to the tranquility of the soul, — we devote ourselves, from this hour, to a new life that will, we trust, prove acceptable to Thee ! In thy name we relinquish the vices we have clung to, in Thy name take hold of the good and true. Be with us in our new labors, Thou ! Shield us from temptation, Thou ! Spare us, to a re-union with her, from whom had we never strayed we had not been the erring ones we are. Spare us, Thou ! Be with us, Thou ! Shield us, Thou ! And the glory of our salvation shall be ascribed to Thee !"
They rose, trembling in every joint ; the planter with agitation arising from this interview with two beings whom he desired so much to take to his heart : the twins from the mingled emotions of surprise at what they had learned, admiration of the noble heart which reposed in the breast of their brother, and the emotions naturally following his consecration of themselves to their new career.
" Allow me, gentlemen," said the planter, " to offer you my arm to the house. "We are, individually, too weak to proceed thither alone."
There was a delicacy in the deli very of this invitation which impressed the twins with a still deeper sense of the natural nobleness of the planter's soul
Each took an arm, gently, lovingly, pressing it with all the fondness of a young bride leaning on her beloved : and they proceeded slowly to the lodge, amid a silence which was broken only by heart aching sighs.
" Ere we part," said Frederick, in a faltering voice, " bless u«. 0 bless as, once — only once ! with one word — one word !
" Cheer 'us," added George. " in this the dawn-hour of our repentance. Our hearts — our hearts are bleeding !"
And on the pale and quivering faces of the twins there was a shade of frightful agony.
" Brothers! Brothers?' cried the planter, rushing from the apartment, unable longer to endure it.
" Bless you — bless you — God bless you I" cried the twins.
And thus passed the deeply solemn night into the small still hours of morning.
Or MARION AND IIIS MERRY MEN. 51
CHAPTER VII.
Early the following morning, the planter and his two friends, arose, and made their appearance in the main room of the lodge, where they found the man Ned and his assistant Mingo already preparing breakfast
"Where are they?" asked the planter, who was somewhat pale.
"They have not risen yet," replied Ned. "I went to their room to call them, but they looked so pale and woe- worn that I had not the heart to wake them ! When do you wish to start, sir ?"
" Immediately," answered the planter with a slight degree of emotion.
The morning meal was soon ready. When it was despatched, the planter went to a small closet, and taking out a blank volume, tore out a leaf, and wrote the following note —
" I am about to depart, and as you are not up. I am deprived of the pleas- ure of bidding you adieu. Perhaps it is better, for our mutual sakes that it should be so, as a parting interview could not be otherwise than painful. Oblige me by keeping a journal of your progress in the good work on which you have now entered, the appliances for which you will find ready at your hand. I will call upon you 'at least once a month during the term of your probation. Should I fail in these visits in any one instance, it will be be- cause I am not in a position to appear before you, in which case I will write. Beware of the seducer and destroyer of your sister : you know to whom I allude. It is not impossible that he may discover your whereabouts, in which case you might be tempted to avenge your sister; but touch him not: leave him to me. When the destiny of our unhappy country is settled, I. by virtue of my right as the head of our family will caU him to an account. Till then, unless he come wilfully across my path, he is safe, from hand of mine. Persevere in your noble resolution, and I shall love you ; and when I am assured of the completeness of your penitence, that hour I will lead you to my beloved parent, and say to her : Mother, behold the twin-born ones for whose presence you have so long yearned ; they are worthy of your embrace and your love : take them to your heart, as I have already taken them to jnine. That re-union, my friends, you cannot desire with more impatience than
NEIL SOMERS."
Having folded and delivered this letter, together with some trifling instruc- tions to Ned. the planter, the gentleman from St. Johns, and the scalp hunter mounted their horses, and took leave of the forest lodge.
As they descended the hill, the planter related the whole of the scene of the preceding night, with the exception of that part of it relating to Richard Winter.
" Have you no fears that they will break through their resolution ?" asked Marion.
" None, sir," returned the planter. " They have passed their word, and I have every confidence in the promise of a Somers."
" I trust that, everything will meet your expectations, my friend. But this Richard Winter; what if he should discover their retreat?"
" It would not be attended with any danger. I have prepared them for even that emergency."
" Upon my word ! my gallant friend, I know not what to make of you. But of one thing I am confident— your country will find in you one of its most noble champions ; and I congratulate myself on my good fortune in get- ting you for one of my aids. As for you, Nat," he continued, turning to the woodsman, " your fame as a marksman and a man of an acute mind is fa-
52 THE s'.vAMr STEED; OK THE DAYS
miliar to me I shall take such measures as will call into action both of your good qualities, with profit to the country and honor to yourselves. But here we are at the foot of the mountain ; and as I am now in my own district of St Johns I shall at once proceed home. You had both better make imme- diate preparations for the storm that is coming, and report yourselves to me, on Wednesday next, at Charleston. Good day, gentlemen."
And waving them an adieu, Marion gave rein to his horse, and was soon
°U" May my old Sal never drop anuther yaller belly !" exclaimed the scalp hunter looking after him, "ef I don't like our cap'n! The- grit is in his muscles and the geneyus in his head. He's got the quietest ways with him ; don't say a word more'n is ness'ry, and then slips off as ef he hadn't a minit to spar.' Wut du yew think on him, Neil ?"
" I think," returned the planter, " that he is the man for the times. He carries it in his features, and in his movements. But I must to Kingstree : for I have much to think of, and to do."
" And I must up tu my lodge, and git ready fur the campaign. ' Good bye, Neil — I'll see yew at Charleston."
They shook hands, and parted ; and, each rilled with his own thoughts, proceeded on their several destinations.
In a few hours, Neil Somers rode thoughtfully into Kingstree. The village presented an animated appearance. Numbers of both sexes were out, the men looking thoughtful and stern — the fair, suspicious and pale ; the majority of the former wore hangers at their sides, and in many instances had rifles over their shoulders or in their hands. On the green were numbers of chil- dren, armed with pieces of wood, toy-guns, and various other implements, drilling, marching and countermarching, like grown-up soldiery. A martial air was everywhere and around everything.
Another fact struck the planter, as he passed through the village. It was the sudden change in the social habits of the people. Men, who were but yesterday friends and companions, passed each other like strangers to-day ; and their wives, sharing in the sympathies of their husbands and lovers, fol- lowed in this respect the example they had set
" Ah !" murmured the planter, with a mournful sigh, " it begins to work ! Brothers begin already to look coldly on then* brothers, fathers upon their sons, sons upon their fathers, and friends upon their friends ! By and byep when the work of the Revolution has fairly begun, brother will be divided against brother, father against son, friend against friend, by a wall of blood, of which each will contribute his share ! 'Tis frightful to ponder on, and yet to that it must come. Oh, my country ! my country ! is this to be the price of thy freedom, this to be the cost of thy glory !"
And he rode on, his brain aching and swelling with the painful picture his fancy had thus conjured up before him, while his presence and appearance were calling forth the attention and remarks of numbers of the promenaders.
" There goes the gallant hero of yesterday," said a young farmer, to his companion, as the planter passed up the street.
" Look there, wife, there's that rascally rebel, Neil Somers. How thought- ful he looks!"
" Yes, and you'd look thoughtful too, old man, if God had given you a head like his, instead of the empty noddle you carry upon your shoulders!" an- swered his spouse, in a tone which silenced at once the observations of the old tory.
" There's young Somers !" observed the daughter of a wealthy lawyer, to her mother. " I do wish he'd turn this way. Don't you think he's hand- some, ma' ?"
" Certainly, my dear ; there can be no question about that. Mr. Somera is a very charming young man ; and very winning, as well Do you remem-
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 53
her what your pa', who was quite carried away by his speech on the green, said about him at, tea last evening ?"
"I've such a bad memory, ma' ! What was it?"
" That he should have been bred to the bar ! That was the highest com- pliment he thought could be paid him ; and certainly nothing could have been finer from the lips of a lawyer !"
" I do wonder where he is going?" said the young lady, looking after the planter.
" He appears to be going in the direction of Mrs. Brunton's, my dear." "That odious young widow ! Oh, ma' !"
" She may be odious to you, my dear ; but she is certainly handsome, and very rich."
" Oh, ma', how can you say so ?" "What! that she is rich T
" No — handsome ! Why, she is twenty-eight, at least !" " Nevertheless, she is very handsome. Besides, you are a little too spite- ful in your remarks. Mrs. Brunton is but twenty-four, and is generally ad- mitted to be very beautiful."
" Do you think she will get him, ma' ?"
" I do believe you are je^alo'us, my dear. You certainly can have no claim upon Mr. Somers!"
" I — I don't know, ma' !" answered the little beauty, with a blush as deep as crimson. " Stranger things than that have happened !" " You make me smile, my dear !"
" But you havn't answered my question !" persisted the pert beauty. " Do you think she will get him ?"
" I cannot say, my dear. I have heard that Mr. Somers' affections were placed upon Miss Winter, and that her brother made some pretensions to the widow, who however would not accept him for a suitor."
" But, ma', Mrs. Brunton, does love Mr. Somers ; she would scratch her eyes out for him !"
" I have no doubt of it And she will doubtless use every legitimate means to achieve his conquest But I hope, my dear, you have no serious intention of entering the lists with her."
"Why not, ma'?" demanded the little beauty, with an assurance that brought a smile to her mother's lips.
" Because, she is too experienced. Widows are superior rivals in such matters, my dear ; they know all the weak points of a lover, and when they attack him, do it with a confidence that generally ensures success. Until you have been married and lost your husband, my dear, you must not enter the lists with so accomplished a widow aS Mrs. Brunton. But see ; I was right Mr. Somers has really reined in at the widow's!"
It was as she said. The planter had pulled up at the gate of a large and tastily laid out garden, in the centre of which rose a large three story cottage, with one of those wide fronts and large piazzas so common in the dwellings of the opulent of that day. Giving his horse in charge of a young well-dress- ed negro, belonging to the mansion, the planter passed through the gate, and tapping gently at the door, was shortly after ushered into the drawing- room.
He had scarcely been seated, when a light quick step was heard in the hall ; and in another moment, Mrs. Brunton, her countenance radiant with a smile of genial happiness, made her appearance.
She was a gorgeous fascinating creature. In form she was of a medium height, and slightly inclining to embonpoint. Her features were straight and small, her eyes of a ripe, rich, clear blue : her complexion of a dazzling white, and her thick, glossy, ringlet ty tresses of that singular fairness peculiar to those of Saxon origin. She was dressed in a close-fitting shape of purple
54 THE itt'AMP SFKED ,' OK. THE DAYS
velvet whose surface glistened at her every movement like a flash of goldea light, and whose beautiful setting developed the faultless symmetry and pas- sion-inspiring outlines of her voluptuous form.
She was, evidently, a creature of high feeling, and of a liberal and capa- cious intellect ; artful it might be, but at the same time of a generous, though passionate nature. Her movements were easy and graceful, and, while full of dignity,' free as a proud belle's conscious of her- purity and beauty.
As she entered, her eye caught that of her visitor, and running up to him and holding out both of* her hands, with a genial heartiness of manner, she exclaimed —
•: My dear Neil, how charmed I am to see you ! This visit is a pleasure and honor causing me inexpressible delight! How have you been, truant ?"
" Well, well, my dear friend !" replied the planter, imprinting a kiss on her small, delicate hand.
" And my dear Mrs. Somers ?"
"Happy and tranquil, as usual," returned the planter, drawing her gently down beside him on the sofa. " And you, with whom I used to gambol in my boyhood — I need not ask after your health ; for the rose that ever blush- ed, blushes still upon your cheeks ; the fairy air and bounding step, and the sparkling eye which graced your romping days,'chjig to you still!'
"Out, flatterer!" cried the widow, archly. "How long is it since my gal- lant play fellow turned a whisperer of loving periods ? What ! do you still remember our strolls amid the fields, our rides far up the hills, and our romps in the murmuring woods ?"
" And our sails upon the lake !" said the planter.
"Ah! you do remember them! And then our bird-nesting in the
'And our rambles through the dells," continued Somers, in the same genial tone.
"And our flower-hunts in the wilds!" cried the lovely widow, as the drawing-room rang with the music of her laughter.
"Ah, lady!" said the planter, "you are one of nature's choicest pets — always merry, gentle, happy, and — must I say it — fascinating !"
"Thank you for nothing!" exclaimed Mrs. Brunton, with a charming pout ; " how long is it since I became ' lady ?' In our younger days, you used to call me ' Laura !' "
" Ah ! you chide cruelly, now ! Will you not let your old play fellow fall back on the only entrenchment left to shield him from the murderous fire of those blue eyes ? Think of the hazard to this heart of my calling you by a name familiar ! Have you no mercy ?"
" Have done, hypocrite — do !" 'cried the bewitching creature, -who would at that moment have pawned her very soul could she have believed he spoke as a lover, and not as a gallant friend. " Do you know, Neil," she added, " you have been the town talk since yesterday ?"
" Ah !" returned the planter, shaking his head, playfully ; " the town is famous for its prattle ; and my name must, like everybody's else, be mixed up in the scandal, and handled in its turn ! What does the town say?"
" Oh," cried the widow with a mischievous air, " I shall not tell you with- out a fee."
" Bravo ! Tell me then, pretty trafficker, your price."
" Will you pay?"
" Promptly as an honest debtor, when he has the means !"
" Very good ; then my fee is — call me in future by my name, and not by my position !"
"Mrs. Brun— "
"No," cried the lively creature, interrupting him, "Laura!"
" Here it is, then," said the planter, lifting her hand to his lips, " Laura I"
OF MARION AND HIS MEERY MEN. 55
" See that you don't get in debt in future 1" returned the widow, shaking ner finger at him playfully.
" I'll look out for that ! Now, then, tell me, enchantress, what they say of me in the town."
" They bay," said the fail- syren, " that you are the man of Carolina — "
The planter blushed ; and his eyes fell before those of his companion.
'• That in the storm now rising, you will be the eagle whose bold pinions will lift your country's banner triumphantly above the smoke and din of battle— "
The planter shook his head, without raising it.
" That yours is the voice will raise hearts that may droop, yours the lipg will shed light through their darkness, joy through their gloom — ''
" Stay," said Somers, imploringly, " stay, la
The widow lifted her fmger, archly.
" Laura, I care not for the opinions of the town," he continued, recover- ing himself. "The truth is, it attaches too much importance to one who is. in the face of all its praises, but a mere unit in the family of patriots. Tell me, Laura, has Richard Winter been seen in town to day ?"
" Yes ; he appeared, very early this morning, at the head of a troop of horse, at the Palmetto. You can guess why ?"
" To retake my two prisoners ?"
1; Yes. They say that he nearly tore the inn to pieces, on discovering that he was anticipated. He accused the landlord of collusion, felled him to the floor, and injured him so severely that his life was at first despaired of
" I am sorry for him. But, unfortunately, we live hi times when broken heads and bruised bones appear to be man's natural heritage. And on this score, Laura, I wish to converse with you, as a gentleman may converse with a lady whom he esteems, as a friend may converse with a friend in. whom he has confidence. But, I warn you it is a delicate subject, and one whose very nature is significant of the very high regard I entertain for you !"
Mrs Brunton's heart throbbed violently, and a pleasure she could not stifle, made her naturally bright eyes sparkle with unusual brilliancy.
" Am I then to be so happy ?" she murmured, to herself. " Is it his hand he is about to offer me ? — oh, happinesss unspeakable ! 'Tis an Eden I am to enter j 'tis the confession of his love I am about to hear ! 0 ! happiness — happiness !"
So great, so nearly overpowering, was the picture her passionate fancy had created, she could scarcely retain her self-possession.
" Hear me, Laura," began the planter, who attributed her joyous air to the happiness it gave her as his friend to be worthy of his confidence, and to have the ability to serve him. •' The storm now gathering will be a fearful one, and one which will sweep many a stout and sturdy man from compe- tence to beggary, from safety down to peril, from peril down to death."
"I can readily comprehend that, Neil," said Mrs. Brunton, who was puz- zled to understand how such a prologue could possibly precede the comedy of a declaration.
" Men," continued the planter, with the air, though unwittingly, of a man who had come to his conclusions by deep searchings and long ponderings upon his subject, " will array themselves one against the other, in the coun- cils of state as in the conflict on the field ; and of the two parties thus form- ed, the one will be in power to-day : the other, on the morrow. It appears, then, clearly evident to me that many a private hatred now existing among the men composing these two parties, will be carried into this contest, and — euch is human nature — there gratified by such weapons as power will throw into their hands. The tory of to-day will be in possession of the government to- morrow, and, carrying his private animosity with him, will use the political
56 THE SWAMP STEED ; OR THE DAYS
sword in his hand, to cut off the private fortunes of his rebel enemy's,, by get- tine his estate confiscated for his treason. So, on the other hand, when in his turn the rebel mounts to power, he will make his private tory foe suffer doubly in his defeat, by declaring his property forfeited to tho common weal for his adherence to the king."
" I think I understand now, Neil, the point at which you are driving," said Mrs. Brunton, with a sigh.
And the sparkle fled slowly from her eye, and the color from her cheek, and her heart grew chilly, desolate and hard, for the thought which had made her for a few brief moments happy, had glided off, and was succeeded by a black ugly, cloud.
She listened, with the smile still on her lips, but with an inexpressive eye which was the index of her soul.
" Go on, Neil," she said ; and she was conscious that, as on her heart, a change had come over the cadences of her voice.
"And therefore," continued Somers, "I have thought I owed it to a dear and tender mother, to provide for an emergency which might, for all that I could say or do, throw her helpless and a beggar on the world. Every man has more or less enemies ; I have mine, and the course I have marked out for the contest that is coming will make me many more. I am willing to pay suoh penalties as my own conduct may provoke ; but I am not willing that my dear and only parent should suffer for any act of mine." " That is commendable, Neil ; that is noble !" Somers bowed, and went on.
"It is this, Laura, which brings me here to-day ; it is this which inspires me to open my heart in confidence to you, and to ask of you a favor."
Colder and colder, harder and harder waxed the heart of the impetuous widow. It was not to her charms that she was indebted for his visit ; it was not even to courtesy, nay, nor to common friendship — it was business, which brought him to her house : cold, stern, unfeeling business. Her heart was not only cold and hard — it began even to grow black ! "Go on, Neil," she said.
Her voice was clear and musical as ever, but not tinged with the slightest accent of feeling.
"Men who take an active part in this contest, and I will be one of them," continued the planter, not noticing, because not looking for nor understand- ing the cause of any change in his companion's manner, " will be marked the first, punished the earliest. Persons in your position, Laura, will of course be exempt from all troubles and annoyances of this kind, and therefore it is I have come to you to shield my mother's property from danger, by transferring it over to you, and making it appear yours, till the storm is over and all fears of further danger at an end."
" How do you wish this done ?" asked Mrs. Brunton, calmly. " Unless there be a sale of the estate drawn up and conveyed in due form, the fraud would be detected."
The planter looked up at her in surprise. He did not understand how she could have used the offensive word we have italicised, unless through premeditated malice, which he could not for a moment credit, or else through a want of knowledge of terms, an idea which he felt satisfied must be correct as the calm and innocent glance of his companion met his own. Not willing that she should comprehend his first suspicion, he replied : " That, Laura, is the favor I have come to ask at your hands." " To purchase your mother's property ?"
"Yes,— and to make it perfectly safe, in case death should overtake her and me, to buy it at one-half its actual worth."
The widcw saw in an instant, in the delicacy of this blow, that she was understood ; and, as, notwithstanding her struggle to repress it. a tell-tale
OF MARION AND HIS MERRY MEN. 57
blush mounted slowly to her brow, she made an effort *o lead him to the conviction that his suspicion was wholly based on error.
" That would indeed blind them," she said, with a forced smile, " and make everything safe for your mother. But I will not consent to it ! '
" No ?" said the planter, in a tone of surprise.
' No, Neil, not for a moment. You appear to have made provision fir everything but one — and that you have entirely neglected !"
"Your refusal, Laura?" he said.
" Yes," she answered, with a calmness that staggered him, " and one thing else!"
" And that is — "
"That something might happen to me ! I might die!"
"You, Laura — you die!"
"I! Would there be anything strange in that?"
" There would ! You are endowed with attributes which give health to their possessor and lead her to a green old age — your buoyant spirits, happy heart and guileless nature!"
This was a second blow, and quite as artfully interwoven in his reply, as the ' fraud ' was in her question.
"I might die," she replied, without evincing the slightest consciousness of his double meaning ; " and my heirs might not feel disposed to do you justice ; in which case, Neil," she added with a tenderness that was not all assumed, " could I rest quietly in my grave ?"
" True," observed Somers, whose suspicion was fast vanishing ; " that was an emergency which, it must be confessed, I never took into considera- tion. And it is no marvel either: for who, looking at you, the ideal of youth and loveliness and health, would dream that any other future was before you than one of unalloyed happiness — a vista of bright flowers on a plain where reigns perpetual spring."
" Ah, Neil, it is not age alone that sweeps us from these shores to those of the Beyond. Hearts sometimes fall and wither, even while their trunks are full of youth and vigor !"
"That is easily true !" said the planter, now awakened for the first time to the fact that his companion was the victim of an unreturned attachment, but not dreaming for one moment that himself was its object
" 'Tis said that Winter visits her," he murmured. " Can it be she loves him, and without hope ? Or does he dally with her, as he did with my sister — playing at one and the same time the two characters of