ers who were sent back
by the General reported well of the main force. 'Twas thought the enemy
would not stand or defend himself at all. Had he intended to attack, he
might have seized a dozen occasions for assaulting our troops at passes
through which they had been allowed to go entirely free. So George had
given up his favourite mare, like a hero as he was, and was marching
afoot with the line? Madam Esmond vowed that he should have the best
horse in Virginia or Carolina in place of Roxana. There were horses
enough to be had in the provinces, and for money. It was only for the
King's service that they were not forthcoming.

Although at their family meetings and repasts the inmates of Castlewood
always talked cheerfully, never anticipating any but a triumphant issue
to the campaign, or acknowledging any feeling of disquiet, yet, it must
be owned they were mighty uneasy when at home, quitting it ceaselessly,
and for ever on the trot from one neighbour's house to another in quest
of news. It was prodigious how quickly reports ran and spread. When,
for instance, a certain noted border warrior, called Colonel Jack, had
offered himself and his huntsmen to the General, who had declined the
ruffian's terms or his proffered service, the defection of Jack and his
men was the talk of thousands of tongues immediately. The house negroes,
in their midnight gallops about the country, in search of junketing or
sweethearts, brought and spread news over amazingly wide districts. They
had a curious knowledge of the incidents of the march for a fortnight
at least after its commencement. They knew and laughed at the cheats
practised on the army, for horses, provisions, and the like; for a good
bargain over the foreigner was not an unfrequent or unpleasant practice
among New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians, or Marylanders; though 'tis known
that American folks have become perfectly artless and simple in later
times, and never grasp, and never overreach, and are never selfish
now. For three weeks after the army's departure, the thousand reports
regarding it were cheerful; and when our Castlewood friends met at their
supper, their tone was confident and their news pleasant.

But on the 10th of July a vast and sudden gloom spread over the
province. A look of terror and doubt seemed to fall upon every face.
Affrighted negroes wistfully eyed their masters and retired, and hummed
and whispered with one another. The fiddles ceased in the quarters: the
s