cealment into the open road. As soon as he discovered himself, the stranger made a full halt, and throwing the cloak from his shoulders, displayed to the officer's view, the full equipment of a legionary trooper. His dress consisted of a short green coat trimmed with silver lace, with buff breeches a sabre suspended by a morocco belt with a steel scabbard of most exquisite polish, a pair of pistols in holsters with a carbine slung across the left shoulder by a black leather belt, completed the view of his arms. There was but little time, however, left to him to scrutinize the stranger's accoutrements; for, he had drawn his carbine to a rest with the butt resting upon his thigh, and with the cock sprung and finger on the trigger, seemed in an attitude to commence attack. The officer hesitated not from any apprehensions occasioned by the inequality of arms, but from fear of committing a mistake. From the stranger's full equipments, and from the complete military finish of his whole appearance, he was inclined to believe, that he belonged to the regular corps commanded by Tarleton. But again he recollected, that the legion cavalry of Lee were remarkable for their splendid equipage, and that the same uniform was indiscriminately used by both parties. He at last broke silence. "Are you British or Continental, friend or foe ?" said he to the stranger. "I am either, sir," was the reply, "as occasion requires." "You must be a Tory then," said the officer. "There, my dear sir, you are mistaken;" replied the stranger; "but as it is necessary that we should mutually explain, I will be candid and ho

norable with you. Tell me who you are, and I will do the same; and whether you are English, Whig or Tory, you may pass unmolested by me." So saying, he placed the carbine over his shoulder, and drawing his cloak around him, seemed to await the officer's answer in perfect security. "As you are so frank," replied the officer, "I will not conceal any thing from you, and I feel certain from your manner, that we shall agree in our politics. Know then, sir, that my name is Jarvis Templeton, once a commissioned officer in the Virginia line, but now proceeding as a volunteer to join Lee's legion." "And I," said the stranger, grasping the officer by the hand, "am Tom Howard, vulgarly called fighting Tom, sergeant of Colonel Lee's troop, and am just returning from a scout towards Hillsborough, to head quarters. 1 am truly glad, sir, to find that you are one of us; but really, when I came upon you so suddenly at the corner of that old chimney, I was in an ace of driving a forty to the pound through your body. Let us now push on, for these pine bushes are swarming with ticks and Tories." So saying, he gave his horse the spur, and they started off in a lively pace. After riding some moments in silence; "Well, you are from Virginia, and so am I," said the sergeant; "and how come on all my old friends in the crab and oyster country; I suppose you are from below?" "Yes, Sir," said Jarvis, "I am from the James River, where I left affairs in peace and security; we have as yet had no fighting there, but Heaven only knows how long that happy state of affairs may last." "Happy, Sir, do you call it,"

said the sergeant; "there is no life like the soldier's. The King of England may riot in luxury, but his soldiers see more pleasure infinitely than ever he dreamed of. To be sure, a few of them get their eternal quietus at times, especially when they encounter the legion. I recollect just before the war commenced, I thought that I would never be able to stand the fire of a field of battle. We were expecting war; indeed, old Justice Crab, on the Eastern Shore, where I was raised, prophecied it three years before it took place, as the mint crop for one season entirely failed; a thing never before heard of in the memory of man, at least in the memory of Justice Crab. However, as I was saying, I thought when I heard of war, that every bullet which was shot took effect, as the folks in my country took squirrels regularly with a rifle off the high trees. But I have discovered that there is some difference between shooting at a man and at a squirrel; for, I have been through most of the hardest fights in this war, and have never yet received a scratch. Indeed, I believe I am bullet proof."

As the sergeant concluded his sage observations, which he delivered with an air of great circumspection, and with peculiar emphasis, they had arrived at the descent of a narrow and precipitous gorge or ravine, which seemed to lead through the gap of a high and cragged range of hills. The moon had shone till this time, with a clear and brilliant light, fully developing the path, but it was suddenly obscured by a cloud, which threw every object into darkness. The sergeant stopped at the edge of the

descent, and seemed to hesitate whether or not to proceed. "This route," muttered he to himself, "is the nearest, but the most dangerous route to camp. We are now in the neighborhood of the tories' stronghold," he exclaimed aloud, turning to Jarvis. "We have ascertained that Colonel Pyle, a noted loyalist, has raised a large troop, for the purpose of joining Tarleton in a few days, and it is more than probable that his scouts are ranging these woods. I should not fear to proceed in open ground, but this dark hollow looks very suspicious. However, we'll attempt it. You had best see that your pistols are in good order, and keep your right hand in the neighborhood of your sword hilt."

So saying, he unclasped his cloak, and placed it in such a position as to be free from its incumbrance, and drawing the carbine from his shoulder, he firmly grasped the lock, and cautiously proceeded down the defile. The path grew more precipitous and broken, and it was not until after many trips and stumbles, that their horses reached the bottom, and then the gloom became so dense, as to render their proceeding on horseback almost impossible. Having dismounted, by groping carefully, and attending closely to the tracks of horses' hoofs, which in places indented the road, they were enabled slowly to continue their course.

There was a wildness in his present situation, that cast a gloom, and excited the most intense anxiety in the officer's bosom. The impenetrable, and apparently subterraneous gap through which he was passing, and the many thousand tales of

murder and assassination related of the country around him, were all associated in the most disheartening form. Every glen and mount and plain in this land of wretchedness, had been marked by the most appalling enormities. The destroying angel had punished the land through the agency of his most powerful ministers, and faction, revenge and murder, with the torch, the sword and halter, had pervaded the most remote districts of the country. There are moments when the bravest are subject to weakness of spirit; there are reflections and associations connected with situations, which will damp the ardour even of the veteran; and the warrior who would throw his frame, without an emotion of fear, into the open contest where death reigned triumphant, would quail before the dread anticipation of an assassin. The deep silence of his comrade added to the officer's stock of unpleasant feelings; once or twice he had accosted him, but with an emphatic grasp of the arm he had discouraged conversation, and in a low whisper told him that he must act as if he was certain that every bush and tree upon the road-side, harbored an enemy.

After a lengthy continuation of this method of travel, his spirits rapidly revived, upon perceiving at the extremity of a long vista, the bright moon-beams gleaming across the path. In a short space of time, they emerged from the dark mass of shadow, which had so long concealed them, into an open plain, covered with dwarf oak. Templeton drew a long breath as he once more saw the light of Heaven, and was congratulating himself upon his escape from the