CHAPTER XXIX--PEGGY FINDS AN OLD FRIEND
"One hope survives, the frontier is not far, And thence they may escape from native war, And bear within them to the neighboring state An exile's sorrows, or an outlaw's hate: Hard is the task their fatherland to quit, But harder still to perish or submit."
--Byron.
The travel northward was by slow stages, on account of the intense heatof the lowlands. The settlements along the Cape Fear River were composedprincipally of Scotch Highlanders, who were favorable to the side of theking, and these the fisherman's little party avoided by leaving the roadand making a wide detour through the woods. But often in the gloaming ofthe summer evenings the weird notes of the bagpipes sounding oldHighland tunes would mingle with the mournful calls of thewhip-poor-wills, producing such an effect of sadness that Peggy wasoft-times moved to tears.
Still, these regions were not deserted. They sometimes came acrossnumerous groups of women and children--desolated families, victims ofTory ravages, who were fleeing like hunted game through the woods to themore friendly provinces northward. It was a great relief when theyfinally reached the undulating country of the uplands, and, after a weekof hard riding, the town of Charlotte, to the left of which, on the roadleading to Beattie's Ford on the Catawba River, lay the plantation andmill of William and Sarah Sevier, parents of Mistress Egan.
They were unpolished people in many ways, but so kindly and hospitablethat Peggy felt at home at once. The community was famed for its love ofliberty, and was later denounced by Cornwallis as "a hornet's nest." Itwas here, five years previous to this time, that the spirit ofresistance to tyranny found expression in the famous "Mecklenburgresolutions." In this congenial environment Peggy was as near tohappiness as it was possible for her to be so far from her kindred. Onething that added to her felicity was the fact that Charlotte wasdirectly on the route running through Virginia and thence north toPhiladelphia, which before the Revolution had been used as a stage line.
"If only I had Star," she would cry wistfully, "I would try to get home.If only I had Star!"
One morning in the early autumn Mistress Egan called Peggy, and said toher, in much the same manner that her mother would have used:
"I want you to put on your prettiest frock, Peggy. Ma's going to have acompany here for the day. The men are to help pa gather the corn whilethe women take off a quilt. The young folks will come to-night for thecorn-husking, but I reckon there won't be a girl that can hold a candleto my little Quakeress. The boys will all want you to find the red ear."
Peggy laughed.
"Is that the reason there hath been so much cooking going on, FriendMandy? Methought there was a deal of preparation just for the family."
"There's a powerful sight to be done yet," observed Mistress Egan.
"Then do let me help," pleaded Peggy. "Thee spoils me. Truly thee does.Why, at home I helped mother in everything."
The guests came early, as was the custom when there was work to be done.The men rode horseback with their wives behind them on pillions, andwith rifles held in the hollow of their left arms; for it was thepractice in those trying times to bear arms even upon visits of businessor friendship. Soon a company of two score or more had gathered at thefarmhouse. Greetings exchanged, the men hastened to the cornfields togather the new corn, while the women clustered about the quiltingframes, and fingers plied the needles busily, while tongues clacked amerry accompaniment.
The morning passed quickly, and at noon the gay party had just seatedthemselves around the table where a bountiful dinner steamed, when theywere startled by a shout from the yard.
"Fly for your lives, men! The British are coming to forage."
Instantly the men sprang for their rifles and accoutrements. Inured todanger and alarms, the women were as quick to act as their husbands.Some of them ran to the stables and led forth the horses, which theysaddled hastily, ready for service; while others gathered up whateverobjects of value they could carry. With marvelous celerity the menplaced the women and servants on the horses by twos and threes, biddingthem to betake themselves to neighbors who were more remote from themain road. They themselves had scarcely time for concealment in a deepthicket and swamp which bordered one extremity of the farm before theBritish videttes were in sight. These halted upon the brow of a hill forthe approach of the main body, and then in complete order advanced tothe plantation.
After reconnoitering the premises, and finding no one present, but allappearances of the hasty flight of the occupants, the dragoonsdismounted, tethered their horses and detailed a guard. Somesumpter-horses were harnessed to farm wagons, and some of the troopersbegan to load them with various products of the fields; while militarybaggage wagons under charge of a rear guard gradually arrived, and wereemployed in the gathering of the new corn, carrying off stacks of oatsand the freshly pulled corn fodder.
Enjoying the prospect of free living the soldiers shouted joyously amongtheir plunder. Separate parties, regularly detailed, shot down andbutchered the hogs and calves, while others hunted and caught thepoultry of different descriptions. In full view of this scene stood thecommander of the British forces, a portly, florid Englishman, one handon each side the doorway of the farmhouse, where the officers werepartaking of the abundant provisions provided for the guests of MistressSevier.
Meanwhile Peggy, who had been mounted behind Grandma Sevier, for so shehad learned to call Mistress Egan's mother, discovered that lady intears.
"Grandma," she cried with concern, "what is it? Is thee frightened?"
"It's my Bible," wailed the old lady. "The Scottish translation of thePsalms is bound in with it, and they say the British burn every Biblethey find like that. Oh, I'll never have another! My mother gave it tome when William and me was married. The births and deaths of my childrenare in it--oh, I'd rather everything on the place was took than that."
"Stop just a minute, please," spoke Peggy. Then, as the surprised womanbrought the horse to a standstill, the maiden slipped to the ground."I'm going back for the Bible," she cried, and darted away before any ofthem guessed her intention.
"Peggy, Peggy," called several voices after her, but the girl laughed atthem and disappeared among the bushes.
"The British won't hurt me," she reassured herself as she came in sightof the dwelling. "I am just a girl, and can do them no harm. I'm justgoing to have that Bible for grandma. 'Tis a small thing to do for herwhen she hath been so good to me."
And so saying, she stepped out from the bushes where she had paused fora moment, and marched boldly up to the commander in the doorway.
"Sir," she said, sweeping him a fine curtsey, "I wish thee good-day."
"Well, upon my life, what have we here?" exclaimed he, astounded at thissudden apparition.
"If thee pleases, good sir, I live here," returned Peggy.
"And I do please," he cried. "Come in, mistress. Your pardon, but wehave made somewhat free with the premises, but if it so be that you area loyal subject of King George, you shall have ample recompense forwhatever we take."
"I thank thee," she said, ignoring the question of loyalty. "I willenter, if I may. Grandma wishes her Bible, and that, sir, can surely begiven her?"
"Of a truth," he cried, stepping aside for her to pass. "'Tis a smallrequest to refuse such beauty. Take the Bible and welcome, my fairQuakeress."
"I thank thee," spoke the girl, with quaint dignity. Sedately she passedinto the dwelling and went directly to Mistress Sevier's chamber, wherethe Bible lay on a small table. Clasping it close, Peggy again wentthrough the living-room, where the astonished officers awaited hercoming curiously.
"You are not going to be so unmannerly as to leave us, are you?" askedthe captain.
"Sir," spoke the girl, facing him bravely, "I pray thee, permit me topass unmolested. We have left thee and thy soldiers at liberty topossess yourselves of our belongings. Show at leas
t this courtesy."
"Methinks," he began, tugging at his moustache thoughtfully, "that suchleniency deserves something at your hands. I doubt not 'tis aPresbyterian Bible, and we have orders to destroy all such. Methinks----"
But Peggy was out and past him before he had finished speaking. Therewas a shorter way into the swamp if she would go through the orchardwhere the horses were tethered, and she sped across the lawn in thatdirection. As she darted among the animals the book slipped from herclasp and she stooped to recover it. As she rose from her stoopingposition she felt the soft nose of a horse touch her cheek gently, and alow whinny broke upon her ear. The girl gave one upward glance, and thensprang forward, screaming:
"Star!" In an ecstasy of joy she threw her arms about the little mare'sneck, for it was in reality her own pony. "Oh, Star! Star! have I foundthee again?"
Caress after caress she lavished on the pony, which whinnied its delightand seemed as glad of the meeting as the girl herself. A number ofsoldiers, drawn by curiosity, meanwhile gathered about the maiden andthe horse, and among them was the commanding officer. Peggy hadforgotten everything but the fact that she had found Star again, andpaid no heed to their presence.
"It seems to be a reunion," remarked the officer at length dryly. "May Iask, my little Quakeress, what claim you have on that animal?"
Peggy lifted her tear-stained face.
"Why, it's my pony that my dear father gave me," she answered. "It'sStar!"
"That cannot be," he told her. "I happen to know that this especialhorse came down from New York City on one of the transports with SirHenry Clinton. So you see that it cannot be yours."
"But it is, sir," cried she. "I came down at the same time with mycousin Colonel Owen and his daughter Harriet on the 'Falcon.' Ourhorses, Harriet's and mine, were put on one of the transports."
"Then why are you not in Charleston with the others?" he demanded.
"Why, they were lost at sea," she replied, turning upon him a startledlook. "We took to the boats, but ours was caught by the current andswept away from the schooner. It must have gone down afterward."
"I see," he said. "Then if all this is true, and you came down with SirHenry and his company, you must be a loyalist? In that case, of course,you may have the horse."
"It is indeed truth that I came here in that manner," reiterated Peggy."And the horse is truly mine."
"But are you loyal?" he persisted. "If you will say so you may take thebeast, and aught else you wish on the premises."
Peggy leaned her head against Star's silky mane and was silent. It wouldbe so easy to say. She could not part with Star now that she had foundher. Would it be so very wrong? Just a tiny fib! The girl gave a littlesob as the temptation assailed her and tightened her clasp of the ponyconvulsively. It was but a moment and then, stricken with horror at thethought which had come to her, Peggy raised her head.
"Sir," she said, "I am not loyal to the king. I am a strong patriot. Insooth," speaking more warmly than she would have done had it not beenfor that same temptation, "in sooth, I don't believe there is a worserebel to His Majesty anywhere in these parts; but for all that theeshan't have Star. Thee shall kill me first."
And so saying she picked up the Bible from the ground where it hadfallen, and sprang lightly into the saddle.
The captain had smiled in spite of himself as she flung him herdefiance. Peggy aroused was Peggy adorable. With eyes flashing, colormantling cheek and brow, the crushed creamy blossom nestling caressinglyin her dark hair, the maiden made a picture that would bring a smilefrom either friend or foe. But as she sprang to the saddle the officerseized the rein which she had unknotted from the tree, exclaiming:
"You have spirit, it seems, despite your Quaker speech. The horse isyours for one----"
At this instant there came a shout from the soldiers who had resumed thechase of the poultry during the colloquy between their officer and themaiden. Some of their number had struck down some beehives formed ofhollow gum logs ranged near the garden fence. The irritated insectsdashed after the men, and at once the scene became one of uproar,confusion and lively excitement.
The officer loosed his clasp on the bridle, and turned to see the causeof the clamor. The attention of the guard was relaxed for the moment,and taking advantage of the diversion Peggy struck her pony quickly. Themare bounded forward; the captain uttered an exclamation and sprangafter her just as the sharp crack of a dozen rifles sounded.
When the smoke lifted the captain and nine men lay stretched upon theground, and Peggy was flying toward cover as fast as Star could carryher. Immediately the trumpets sounded a recall, but by the time thescattered dragoons had collected, mounted and formed, a straggling firefrom a different direction into which the concealed farmers had extendedshowed the unerring aim of each American marksman, and increased theconfusion of the surprise.
Perfectly acquainted with every foot of the ground, the farmer and hisfriends constantly changed their position, giving in their fire as theyloaded so that it appeared to the British that they were surrounded by alarge force. The alternate hilly and swampy grounds and thickets, withwoods on both sides the road, did not allow efficient action to thehorses of the dragoons, and after a number of the troopers had been shotdown they turned and fled. The leading horses in the wagons were killedbefore they could ascend the hill and the road became blocked up. Thesoldiers in charge, frantic at the idea of being left behind, cut loosesome of the surviving animals, and galloped after their retreatingcomrades.
"They didn't find it so easy to get pickings up here as they did down atmy house," chuckled Henry Egan as the hidden farmers came forth afterthe skirmish, without the loss of a man. "I reckon, pa, you'd better getthe women back here. Some of these men need attention. I wonder wherePeggy went? The daring little witch! I was scared clean out of my senseswhen she sassed that captain. Find where she is, pa."
It was not long before the women were back, and with them came Peggy,tearful but joyous, leading Star by the bridle.
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