mpelled to sacrifice
a considerable portion of his stores, throwing away bags of flour in
large numbers in order to effect the release of the packhorses to
transport his wounded. His dead he sunk heavily weighted into the
rivers, that the bodies might not be dragged from their graves and
scalped by the Indians. His return march of sixty miles to Fort Prince
George, which was accomplished with great regularity, was marked by the
same incidents that had characterized his advance,--the nettling fire of
the masked enemy, the futile response, and the constant loss of men and
horses.

And so he was gone, and all the hopes that had clustered about his
advance had gone with him! To Fort Loudon remained only two remote
chances,--that Governor Bull of South Carolina might be able to act on
the belated information and send out an expedition of relief; yet this
was to the last degree improbable, since the province, after its first
expensive expedition against the Cherokees, had been compelled to appeal
for its own protection to the British commander-in-chief, the militia
being practically disabled by the ravages of smallpox. But even at the
best could such an expedition reach them in time? The other possibility
of succor lay in Virginia, and it was obvious wisdom to embrace both
chances. Stuart knew that Demere's quill, scraping over the paper, was
fashioning the appeal to the royal governor of that province, even while
Hamish was still speaking, and he, himself, wrote supplemental letters
to other persons of note, that the news of their desolation, failing to
carry in one direction, might be spread in another.

"Now, Hamish," he said, smiling behind the candle as he held the wax in
it for the seal, "can you do as much again?"

"Where? When?" demanded Hamish, in surprise.

"To Virginia. To-night."

Hamish's eyes stretched very wide. "You won't wait for Governor Bull?
The officers at Fort Prince George said they would lay their lives that
Governor Bull would respond."

"We must try Virginia, too. My boy, we are starving. To-morrow we begin
to eat the horses,--then there may be a dog or two."

Hamish rose precipitately. "Where is Sandy? Where is Odalie?"

Stuart pushed him back into his chair, sternly giving him to understand
that the only possible hope of saving their lives was to get away as
quickly as might be with the dispatches for Virginia.

"Without seeing Sandy and Odalie?" said Hamish, his lip quivering.

"We hav