Horse-Shoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendency

by John Pendleton Kennedy

  CHAPTER XLIX.

  MILDRED ARRIVES AT THE TERM OF HER JOURNEY.----THE READER IS FAVOREDWITH A GLIMPSE OF A DISTINGUISHED PERSONAGE.

  Cornwallis, after the battle of Camden, turned his thoughts to thediligent prosecution of his conquests. The invasion of North Carolinaand Virginia was a purpose to which he had looked, from the commencementof this campaign, and he now, accordingly, made every preparation forthe speedy advance of his army. The sickness of a portion of his troopsand the want of supplies rendered some delay inevitable, and thisinterval was employed in more fully organizing the civil government ofthe conquered province, and in strengthening his frontier defences; bydetaching considerable parties of men towards the mountains. The largestof these detachments was sent to reinforce Ferguson, to whom had beenconfided the operations upon the north-western border.

  The chronicles of the time inform us that the British general lay atCamden until the 8th of September, at which date he set forward towardsNorth Carolina. His movement was slow and cautious, and for some time,his head-quarters were established at the Waxhaws, a position directlyupon the border of the province about to be invaded. At this post ourstory now finds him, the period being somewhere about the commencementof the last quarter of the month.

  A melancholy train of circumstances had followed the fight at Camden,and had embittered the feelings of the contending parties against eachother to an unusual degree of exasperation. The most prominent of thesetopics of anger was the unjust and severe construction which the Britishauthorities had given to the obligations which were supposed to affectsuch of the inhabitants of South Carolina, as had, after thecapitulation of Charleston, surrendered themselves as prisoners onparole, or received protections from the new government. Aproclamation, issued by Sir Henry Clinton in June, annulled the paroles,and ordered all who had obtained them to render military service, assubjects of the king. This order, which the prisoners, as well as thosewho had obtained protections, held to be a dissolution of their contractwith the new government, was disobeyed by a large number of theinhabitants, many of whom had, immediately after the proclamation,joined the American army.

  Cornwallis permitted himself, on this occasion, to be swayed bysentiments unworthy of the character generally imputed to him. Many ofthe liberated inhabitants were found in the ranks of Gates at Camden,and several were made prisoners on the field. These latter, by theorders of the British general, were hung almost without the form of aninquiry: and it may well be supposed that in the heat of war and fermentof passion, such acts of rigor, defended on such light grounds, were meton the opposite side by a severe retribution.

  Almost every day, during the British commander's advance, some of theluckless citizens of the province whom this harsh construction of dutyaffected, were brought into the camp of the invaders, and the soldieryhad grown horribly familiar with the frequent military executions thatensued.

  It was in the engrossment of the occupations and cares presented in thisbrief reference to the history of the time, that I have now to introducemy reader to Cornwallis.

  He had resolved to move forward on his campaign. Orders were issued toprepare for the march, and the general had announced his determinationto review the troops before they broke ground. A beautiful, bright, andcool autumnal morning shone upon the wide plain, where an army ofbetween two and three thousand men was drawn out in line. The tents ofthe recent encampment had already been struck, and a long array ofbaggage-wagons were now upon the high-road, slowly moving to a pointassigned them in the route of the march. Cornwallis, attended by a scoreof officers, still occupied a small farm-house which had lately been hisquarters. A number of saddle-horses in the charge of their grooms, andfully equipped for service, were to be seen in the neighborhood of thedoor; and the principal apartment of the house showed that some of theloiterers of the company were yet engaged in despatching the morningmeal. The aides-de-camp were seen speeding between the army and thegeneral, with that important and neck-endangering haste whichcharacterizes the tribe of these functionaries; and almost momentarily acourier arrived, bearing some message of interest to thecommander-in-chief.

  Cornwallis himself sat in an inner room, busily engaged with one of hisprincipal officers in inspecting some documents regarding the detail ofhis force. Apart from them, stood, with hat in hand and in humblesilence, a young ensign of infantry.

  "Your name, sir?" said Cornwallis, as he threw aside the papers which hehad been perusing, and now addressed himself to the young officer.

  "Ensign Talbot, of the thirty-third Foot," replied the young man: "Ihave come by the order of the adjutant-general to inform your lordshipthat I have just returned to my regiment, having lately been captured bythe enemy while marching with the third convoy of the Camden prisonersto Charleston."

  "Ha! you were of that party! What was the number of prisoners you had incharge?"

  "One hundred and fifty, so please your lordship."

  "They were captured"--

  "On Santee, by the rebels Marion and Horry," interrupted the ensign. "Ihave been in the custody of the rebels for a week, but contrived, a fewdays since, to make my escape."

  "Where found the rebels men to master you?"

  "Even from the country through which we journeyed," replied the ensign.

  "The beggarly runagates! Who can blame us, Major M'Arthur," said thegeneral, appealing to the officer by his side, with an interest thatobviously spoke the contest in his own mind in regard to the justice ofthe daily executions which he had sanctioned: "who can blame us forhanging up these recreants for their violated faith, with such thickperfidy before our eyes? This Santee district, to a man, had given theirparoles and taken my protection: and, now, the first chance they have toplay me a trick, they are up and at work, attacking our feeble escortsthat should, in their sickly state, have rather looked to them for aid.I will carry out the work; by my sword, it shall go on sternly. Enough,Ensign, back to your company," he said, bowing to the young officer, whoat once left the room.

  "What is your lordship's pleasure regarding this Adam Cusack?" inquiredM'Arthur.

  "Oh, aye! I had well nigh forgotten that man. He was taken, I think, inthe act of firing on a ferry-boat at Cheraw?"

  "The ball passed through the hat of my Lord Dunglas," said M'Arthur.

  "The lurking hound! A liege subject turning truant to his duty; e'en lethim bide the fate of his brethren."

  M'Arthur merely nodded his head, and Cornwallis, rising from his chair,strode a few paces backwards and forwards through the room. "I wouldtune my bosom to mercy," he said, at length, "and win these dog-headedrebels back to their duty to their king by kindness; but good-will andcharity towards them fall upon their breasts like water on a heatedstone, which is thrown back in hisses. No, no, that day is past, andthey shall feel the rod. We walk in danger whilst we leave theseserpents in the grass. Order the gentlemen to horse, Major M'Arthur; wemust be stirring. Let this fellow, Cusack, be dealt with like the rest.Gentlemen," added the chief, as he appeared at the door amidst the groupwho awaited his coming, "to your several commands!"

  Captain Brodrick, the principal aide, at this moment arrested thepreparations to depart, by placing in Cornwallis's hand a letter whichhad just been brought by a dragoon to head-quarters.

  The general broke the seal, and, running his eye over the contents,said, as he handed the letter to the aide, "This is something out of thecourse of the campaign; a letter from a lady, now at the picquet-guard,and it seems she desires to speak with me. Who brought the billet,captain?"

  "This dragoon, one of a special escort from the legion. They have incharge a party of travellers, who have journeyed hither under Tarleton'sown pledge of passport."

  "Captain," replied Cornwallis, "mount and seek the party. Conduct themto me without delay. What toy is this that brings a lady to my camp?"

  The aide-de-camp mounted his horse, and galloped off with the dragoon.He was conducted far beyond the utmost limit of the line of soldiers,and at length arrived at a small
outpost, where some fifty men weredrawn up, under the command of an officer of the picquet-guard, whichwas about returning to join the main body of the army. Here he foundMildred and Henry Lindsay, and their two companions, Horse Shoe and oldIsaac, attended by the small escort furnished by Tarleton. This partyhad been two days on the road from Mrs. Markham's, and had arrived thepreceding night at a cottage in the neighborhood, where they had foundtolerable quarters. They had advanced this morning, at an early hour, tothe _corps de garde_ of the picquet, where Mildred preferred remaininguntil Henry could despatch a note to Lord Cornwallis apprising him oftheir visit.

  When Captain Brodrick rode up, the travellers were already on horsebackand prepared to move. The aide-de-camp respectfully saluted Miss Lindsayand her brother, and after a short parley with the officer of theescort, tendered his services to the strangers to conduct them tohead-quarters.

  "The general, madam," he said, "would have done himself the honor towait on you, but presuming that you were already on your route to hisquarters, where you might be better received than in the bivouac of anoutpost, he is led to hope that he consults your wish and your comfortboth, by inviting you to partake of such accommodation as he is able toafford you."

  "My mission would idly stand on ceremony, sir," replied Mildred. "Ithank Lord Cornwallis for the promptness with which he has answered mybrother's message."

  "We will follow you, sir," said Henry.

  The party now rode on.

  Their path lay along the skirts of the late encampment upon the borderof an extensive plain, on the opposite side of which the army was drawnout; and it was with the exultation of a boy, that Henry, as they movedforward, looked upon the long line of troops glittering in the brightsunshine, and heard the drums rolling their spirited notes upon the air.

  When they arrived at a point where the road emerged from a narrow stripof forest, they could discern, at the distance of a few hundred paces,the quarters of the commander-in-chief. Immediately on the edge of thiswood, a small party of soldiers attracted the attention of the visitorsby the earnest interest with which they stood around a withered tree,and gazed aloft at its sapless and huge boughs. Before anything wassaid, Mildred had already ridden within a few feet of the circle, whereturning her eyes upwards she saw the body of a man swung in the air by acord attached to one of the widest-spreading branches. The unfortunatebeing was just struggling in the paroxysms of death, as his person wasswayed backwards and forwards, with a slow motion, by the breeze.

  "Oh, God! what a sight is here!" exclaimed the lady. "I cannot, will notgo by this spot. Henry--brother--I cannot pass."

  The aide-de-camp checked his horse, and grasped her arm, before herbrother could reach her, and Horse Shoe, at the same moment, sprang tothe ground and seized her bridle.

  "I should think it but a decent point of war to keep such sights fromwomen's eyes," said Robinson, somewhat angrily.

  "Peace, sirrah," returned the aide, "you are saucy. I trust, madam, youare not seriously ill? I knew not of this execution, or I should havespared you this unwelcome spectacle. Pray, compose yourself, andbelieve, madam, it was my ignorance that brought you into thisdifficulty."

  "I will not pass it," cried Mildred wildly, as she sprang from her horseand ran some paces back towards the wood, with her hands covering herface. In a moment Henry was by her side.

  "Nay, sister--dear sister," he said, "do not take it so grievously. Theofficer did not know of this. There now, you are better; we will mountagain, and ride around this frightful place."

  Mildred gradually regained her self-possession, and after a few minuteswas again mounted and making a circuit through the wood to avoid thisappalling spectacle.

  "Who is this man?" asked Henry of the aide-de-camp, in a half whisper;"and what has he done, that they have hung him?"

  "It is an every-day tale," replied the officer; "a rebel traitor, whohas broken his allegiance, by taking arms against the king in his ownconquered province. I keep no count of these fellows; but I believethis is a bold rebel by the name of Adam Cusack, that was caught latelyat the Cheraw ferry; and our boobies must be packing him off tohead-quarters for us to do their hangman's work."

  "If we were to hang all of your men that we catch," replied Henry, "hempis an article that would rise in price."

  "What, sir," returned the officer, with a look of surprise, "do youclass yourself with the rebels? What makes you here under Tarleton'ssafeguard? I thought you must needs be friends, at least, from themanner of your coming."

  "We ride, sir, where we have occasion," said Henry, "and if we ridewrong now, let his lordship decide that for us, and we will return."

  By this time the company had reached head-quarters, where Mildred foundherself in the presence of Lord Cornwallis.

  "Though on the wing, Miss Lindsay," said his lordship, as herespectfully met the lady and her brother upon the porch of thedwelling-house, "I have made it a point of duty to postpone weightymatters of business to receive your commands."

  Mildred bowed her head, and after a few words of courtesy on eitherside, and a formal introduction of herself and her brother to thegeneral as the children of Philip Lindsay, "a gentleman presumed to bewell known to his lordship," and some expressions of surprise andconcern on the part of the chief at this unexpected announcement, shebegged to be permitted to converse with him in private. When, inaccordance with this wish, she found herself and her brother alone withthe general, in the small parlor of the house, she began, with atrembling accent and blanched cheek--

  "I said, my lord, that we were the children of Philip Lindsey, of theDove Cote, in Amherst, in the province of Virginia; and being taught tobelieve that my father has some interest with your lordship--"

  "He is a worthy, thoughtful, and wise gentleman, of the bestconsideration amongst the friends of the royal cause," interrupted theearl, "so speak on, madam, and speak calmly. Take your time, yourfather's daughter shall not find me an unwilling listener."

  "My father was away from home," interposed Henry, "and tidings came tous that a friend of ours was most wickedly defamed and belied, by acharge carried to the ears of your lordship; as we were told, that MajorArthur Butler of the Continental army who had been made a prisoner byyour red-coats somehow or other--for I forget how--but the charge wasthat he had contrived a plan to carry off my father from the DoveCote--if not to kill him, which was said, besides--and upon that charge,it was reported that your people were going to hang or shoot him--hang,I suppose, from what we just now saw over here in the woods--and thatyour lordship had given orders to have the thing put off until the majorcould prove the real facts of the case."

  "The tale is partly true, young sir," said Cornwallis. "We have aprisoner of that name and rank."

  "My sister Mildred and myself, thinking no time was to be lost, havecome to say to your lordship that the whole story is a most sinful lie,hatched on purpose to make mischief, and most probably by a fellow bythe name of----"

  "My brother speaks too fast," interrupted Mildred. "It deeply concernedus to do justice to a friend in this matter. If my father had been athome a letter to your lordship would have removed all doubts; but, alas!he was absent, and I knew not what to do, but to come personally beforeyour lordship, to assure you that to the perfect knowledge of our wholefamily, the tale from beginning to end is a malicious fabrication. MajorButler loves my father, and would be accounted one of his nearest anddearest friends."

  Cornwallis listened to this disclosure with a perplexed and bewilderedconjecture, to unravel the strange riddle which it presented to hismind.

  "How may I understand you, Miss Lindsay?" he said; "this Major Butler isin the service of Congress?"

  "Even so. Your lordship speaks truly."

  "Your father--my friend, Philip Lindsay, is a faithful and perseveringloyalist."

  "To the peril of his life and fortune," replied Mildred.

  "And yet Butler is his friend?"

  "He would be esteemed so, if it please your lordship--and, i
n heart andfeeling, is so."

  "He is related to your family, perhaps?"

  "Related in affection, my lord, and plighted love," said Mildred,blushing and casting her eyes upon the ground.

  "So!--Now I apprehend. And there are bonds between you?"

  "I may not answer your lordship," returned the lady. "It only importsour present business to tell your lordship, that Arthur Butler nevercame to the Dove Cote but with the purest purpose of good to all wholodged beneath its roof. He has never come there but that I was apprisedof his intent; and never thought rose in his heart that did not breatheblessings upon all that inhabit near my father. Oh, my lord, it is abase trick of an enemy to do him harm; and they have contrived this plotto impose upon your lordship's generous zeal in my father's behalf."

  "It is a strange story," said Cornwallis. "And does your father knownothing of this visit? Have you, Miss Lindsay, committed yourself to allthe chances of this rude war, and undertaken this long and toilsomejourney, to vindicate a rebel charged with a most heinous device ofperfidy? It is a deep and painful interest that could move you to thisenterprise."

  "My lord, my mission requires a frank confidence. I have heard my fathersay you had a generous and feeling heart--that you were a man to whomthe king had most wisely committed his cause in this most trying war:that your soul was gifted with moderation, wisdom, forecast,firmness--and that such a spirit as yours was fit to master and commandthe rude natures of soldiers, and to compel them to walk in the paths ofjustice and mercy. All this and more have I heard my father say, andthis encouraged me to seek you in your camp, and to tell you the plainand undisguised truth touching those charges against Major Butler. AsHeaven above hears me, I have said nothing but the simple truth. ArthurButler never dreamt of harm to my dear father."

  "He is a brave soldier," said Henry, "and if your lordship would givehim a chance, and put him before the man who invented the lie, he wouldmake the scoundrel eat his words, and they should be handed to him onthe major's sword-point."

  "The gentleman is happy" said the chief, "in two such zealous friends.You have not answered me--is your father aware of this visit, MissLindsay?"

  "He is ignorant even of the nature of the charge against Arthur Butler,"replied the lady. "He was absent from the Dove Cote when the newsarrived; and, fearing that delay might be disastrous, we took the matterin hand ourselves."

  "You might have written."

  "The subject, so please your lordship, was too near to our hearts to putit to the hazard of a letter."

  "It is a warm zeal, and deserves to be requited with a life's devotion,"said Cornwallis. "You insinuated, young sir, just now, that yoususpected the author of this imputed slander."

  "My brother is rash, and speaks hastily," interrupted Mildred.

  "Whom were you about to name?" asked the general, of Henry.

  "There was a man named Tyrrel," replied the youth, "that has beenwhispering in my father's ear somewhat concerning a proposal for mysister" (here Mildred cast a keen glance at her brother and bit her lip)"and they say, love sometimes makes men desperate, and I took a passingnotion that, may be, he might have been at the bottom of it; I knownothing positively to make me think so, but only speak from what I haveread in books."

  Cornwallis smiled as he replied playfully: "Tush, my young philosopher,you must not take your wisdom from romances. I have heard of Tyrrel, andwill stand his surety that love has raised no devil to conjure suchmischief in his breast. What will satisfy your errand hither, MissLindsay?"

  "A word from your lordship, that no harm shall befall Arthur Butlerbeyond the necessary durance of a prisoner of war."

  "That is granted you at once," replied the general, "granted for yoursake, madam, in the spirit of a cavalier who would deny no lady'srequest. And I rather grant it to you, because certain threats have beensent me from some of the major's partisans, holding out a determinationto retaliate blood for blood. These had almost persuaded me to run,against my own will, to an extreme. I would have you let it be known,that as a free grace to a lady, I have done that which I would refuse tothe broad sword bullies of the mountains. What next would you have?"

  "Simply, an unmolested passage hence, beyond your lordship's posts."

  "That too shall be cared for. And thus the business being done, withyour leave, I will go to more unmannerly employments."

  "A letter for your lordship," said an officer, who at this momententered the door, and putting a packet into the general's hand, retired.

  Cornwallis opened the letter and read it.

  "Ha! by my faith, but this is a rare coincidence! This brings matter ofinterest to you, Miss Lindsay. My officer, Macdonald, who had Butler incustody, writes me that, two days since, his prisoner had escaped."

  "Escaped!" exclaimed Mildred, forgetting in whose presence she spoke,"unhurt--uninjured. Thank Heaven for that!"

  Cornwallis sat for a moment silent, as a frown grew upon his brow, andhe played his foot against the floor, abstracted in thought. "Thesedevils have allies," he muttered, "in every cabin in the country. Wehave treachery and deceit lurking behind every bush. We shall bepoisoned in our pottage by these false and hollow knaves. If it givesyou content, madam," he said, raising his voice, "that this Major Butlershould abuse the kindness or clemency of his guard and fly from us atthe moment we were extending a boon of mercy to him through yoursupplications, you may hereafter hold your honorable soldier in higheresteem for his dexterity and cunning."

  "I pray your lordship to believe," said Mildred, with a deep emotion,which showed itself in the rich, full tones of her voice, "that MajorButler knows nothing of my coming hither. I speak not in his name, normake any pledge for him. If he has escaped, it has only been from thecommon instinct which teaches a bird to fly abroad when it finds thedoor of his cage left open by the negligence of his keepers. I knew itnot--nor, alas! have I heard aught of his captivity, but as I havealready told your lordship. He is an honorable soldier, rich in all thevirtues that may commend a man: I would your lordship knew him betterand in more peaceful times."

  "Well, it is but a peevish and silly boy," said Cornwallis, "who whineswhen his pie is stolen. The war has many reckonings to settle, and wecontrive to make one day's profit pay another's loss. The account forthe present is balanced; and so, Miss Lindsay, without discourtesy, Imay leave you, with a fair wish for a happy and prosperous journey backto your father's roof. To the good gentleman himself, I desire to bewell remembered. And to show you that this briery path of war has notquite torn away all the habiliments of gentleness from us, I think itdutiful to tell you that, as I have become the confidant of a preciouslove-tale, wherein I can guess some secret passage of mystery is laidwhich should not be divulged, I promise you to keep it faithfullybetween ourselves. And when I reach the Dove Cote, which, God willing,under the banners of St. George, I do propose within three months to do,we may renew our confidence, and you shall have my advice touching themanagement of this dainty and delicate affair. And now, God speed youwith a fair ride, and good spirits to back it!"

  "I am much beholden to your lordship's generosity," said Mildred, asCornwallis rose with a sportive gallantry and betook himself to hishorse.

  "Come hither, Mr. Henry," he said after he had mounted, "farewell, myyoung cavalier. You will find a few files of men to conduct you and yourparty beyond our posts: and here, take this," he added, as now onhorseback, he scrawled off a few lines with a pencil, upon a leaf of hispocket-book, which he delivered to the youth, "there is a passport whichshall carry you safe against all intrusion from my people. Adieu!"

  With this last speech the commander-in-chief put spurs to his horse, andgalloped to the plain, to review his troops and commence the march bywhich he hoped to make good his boast of reaching the Dove Cote.

  How fortune seconded his hopes may be read in the story of the war.