bidding you an eternal farewell; and, as your father's orders had banished me from the house, there was no method of giving you my adieux except by soliciting an interview." THE period of our revolutionary history imme-neighborhood without seeing you once more, and diately succeeding the defeat at Camden, is still remembered in the Carolinas with horror. The British, elated with their success, and regarding the South as now their own, proceeded in the work of confiscation and massacre with pitiless severity. In that terrible crisis many a family was deprived of its head either by exile or by execution. Yet larger numbers were shorn of their property and reduced to comparative indigence. In a word, terror reigned paramount. But the common events of life still went on. The transactions of business, the struggle for wealth, the toils of the husbandman, births, deaths, marriages, cares, hopes, fears-all followed each other down the deep current of existence, almost wholly unaffected by the storm of war which agitated the surface. It is an error to suppose that great convulsions disturb the whole order of society. Men will still hate, though the entire nation be turned into a camp; will still strive for the dross of earth; will still, if young and generous, risk their heart's happiness in love. It was toward the close of a winter evening that a youth of noble mien and handsome face stood at the foot of one of those long avenues of trees, which, in South Carolina, lead up from the road to the mansions of the wealthier proprietors. For nearly half an hour he had been there, as if awaiting the approach of some one from the house: now looking anxiously up the long avenue, now restlessly walking to and fro. During that interval but one person had passed along the highway, and the notice of this one the youth had skillfully avoided by concealing himself behind some dwarf trees within the plantation-fence. This act, as well as his whole demeanor, proved that he was awaiting some secret interview. At last, just when the dusk began to deepen into night, the flutter of a white dress was seen coming down the avenue. A minute more, and a beautiful girl of eighteen summers appeared on the scene. The tears had started to the eyes of his listener, but she turned away her head to conceal them; and for some time neither spoke. "Ellen, dear Ellen," said the young soldier, earnestly, "will you not now, in this solemn moment, say you love me? I once hoped you did, but since your father has forbidden me the house, you have been less kind; and I fear that I have lost your heart-that you, too, have ceased to care for me, now that I am beggared-" His hearer suddenly turned her face full upon him, with a look of tearful reproach that cut short his words. "Bless you, Ellen, for that look," he said. "Though my father's estate is confiscated, and he and I both indigent, it is not on that account that you have seemed so cold to me lately. Say then, dearest, only say that I have been mistaken in thinking you at all altered." Another look, equally eloquent, answered him; but still his hearer did not speak. "Oh! Ellen," he continued, "when I am far away fighting my country's battles, what bliss it would be to know that you sometimes think of me; and that if I should fall, you would shed a tear for me." His listener, at these words, wept freely, and when her agitation had somewhat passed, spoke. "Albert," she said, "you have conquered. Know then that I do love you." At these words the impetuous young man clasped her in his arms, but she disengaged herself, saying, "But, while my father opposes your suit, I can never be yours. The consciousness of his disapproval has made me affect a coldness to you which my heart belied, in the "Albert," said the new comer, as the youth, seiz- hope that you would think of some one more worthy ing her hand, passionately kissed it, "I have not a of you-but-but," she hesitated, then quickly added, second to stay. It was with difficulty I could leave "in a word, if it will comfort you, when away, to the house unseen, and my absence has doubtless know that I think of you, and pray for you, go forth been noticed before this; what we have to say, there-happy-the misery is for us who stay behind, and fore, must be said at once; why have you sought who are hourly anxious for the fate of the absent." this interview?" The tears fell fast as she spoke, and, concluding, she suffered her head to be drawn to her lover's | purpose he halted at a place called the Cowpens, and shoulder, while a deep and holy silence succeeded, having drawn up his troops, awaited, though not as these two young and already unhappy beings held without anxiety, the appearance of the foe. each other in a first embrace. It was only for a moment, however, that Ellen yielded to weakness. Raising her head and brushing the tears from her eyes, she said, while crimson blushes overspread her face, "And now farewell-perhaps all this is wrongbut I could not see you leave me in anger." "God bless you for those kind words," said Albert. "But, Ellen, before you go, one more request. That miniature that hangs around your neckis it too much to ask for it?" She hesitated: then, as steps were heard in the road, suddenly gave it to him. He drew a heavy signet-ring from his finger, and said, tendering it in exchange, The attack of Tarleton, as usual, was impetuous, and for awhile the American militia were driven helplessly before it; but soon they rallied, under cover of a few continentals belonging to Morgan's command, and in turn forced the British to give ground. These brave soldiers of the line, led by their colonel, now charged with the bayonet, when the route of the royal infantry became complete. Washington, with his cavalry, had been waiting impatiently a chance to participate in the fight; but having been stationed as a partial reserve, the order for him to engage did not for some time arrive. His troops shared his enthusiasm. Composed chiefly of young men of family, and mounted on thorough-bred animals, they presented a formidable appearance, "Take this, and let us be true to each other-so as they stood, awaiting the order to engage, the help us God!" And with this parting adjuration, he sprang over the fence to conceal himself behind the brushwood, while Ellen, hastening up the avenue, was soon lost to sight in the obscurity of the hour. The wind sighed mournfully through the pine woods as this betrothal was consummated, and the dark, starless sky overhead looked down with its weird and melancholy face. CHAPTER II. Heard ye the din of battle bray, Lance to lance, and horse to horse. GRAY. It is well known that, after the defeat of Gates, Congress hastened to supersede that general, and appoint Greene to succeed him. At the period of the incidents narrated in the last chapter, the new commander-in-chief had arrived in the South, and was organizing his forces. His very first proceeding showed the resources of an intellect, which, in military affairs, was second only to that of the "father of his country." Aware that the initiatory step toward redeeming the South was to arouse the confidence of its people, he determined to divide his force. While, therefore, he moved with one portion down the Pedee, he despatched Morgan, with the remainder, west of the Catawba, in order to encourage the inhabitants in that quarter. Morgan's corps was accompanied by Capt. Washington's light dragoons, of which our hero had already become a conspicuous member. This division of his army, in the face of an active foe, would have been a capital error, but for the political advantages it offered, and which overbalanced the military ones. Cornwallis, then in command of the royal army, determined to frustrate the success of Greene's plan, by cutting off Morgan's detachment; and accordingly ordered Col. Tarleton, with his renowned dragoons, accompanied by a competent force of infantry, to give pursuit. It was on the 14th of January, 1781, a day ever to be remembered in the annals of our country, that the heroic Morgan learned the danger in which he stood. He determined immediately to give battle. For this horses champing at the bit, and the riders nervously fingering their swords: they saw the onset of the British, the flight of the first line, and the partial panic that extended through the foot soldiers with horror; but still their leader remained unmoved. Many had never been in battle before, and such believed the day lost; among these was Albert. At last the confusion became so great around them that troops so undisciplined, if less brave, would have taken to ignominious flight; for the defeated militia were pouring down upon them from all sides, almost compelling them to break their ranks, or see the fugitives perish under the hoofs of their horses. But now Washington seemed to rouse from his inaction. Ordering his men first to allow the flying militia to gain their rear, he then directed them, his sharp, quick tones showing that the moment for action had come, to close up and prepare to charge. As he spoke, he pointed with his sword ahead, and our hero beheld the renowned regiment of Tarleton coming down upon them at full gallop, and amid a cloud of dust, driving before a mass of dismayed fugitives. The keen eye of Washington measured, for an instant, the distance between them, and then said, "I want no fire-arms used to-day, my lads. Stick to the cold steel. And now, for God and your country-charge!" Away went the troop, like a thunder-bolt suddenly loosed from a cloud, with every scabbard jingling, every steed snorting with excitement, and the solid earth shaking under them. In full career they burst upon the flank of the enemy, who, disordered by his pursuit, could make but a feeble resistance. Horse and rider went down before the impetuous charge of the Americans, who for awhile fairly rode down their foes. But British valor soon proved too weak for the combined patriotism and courage of Washington's cavalry; and the royal troops, turning their bridles, took to ignominious flight. "On, on," cried Washington, waving his sword for his men to follow, "remember the cruelties of these myrmidons. Revenge for our slaughtered countrymen!" |