d this time their infantry
outflanked us. We abandoned the court house and formed again in the
eastern edge of the town; and now, bless you! 'twas my Lord Charles
himself who had to ride forward and flout at his men for their want of
enterprise."

"But you could never hope to hold on against such odds!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, no; but we held them for a third charge, and beat them back, too.
Then they brought up two more regiments and we mounted and got off in
tolerably good order, losing only six men killed. But Colonel Francis
Locke was one of these; and my brave Joe Graham was all but cut to
pieces--a sore blow to us just now."

The colonel sighed and a silence fell upon us. 'Twas I who broke it to
say: "Then we are still playing a losing hand in the South, as I take
it?"

"'Tis worse than that. As the game stands we have played all our trumps
and have not so much as a long suit left. Cornwallis will go on as he
pleases and overrun the state, and the militia will never stand to front
him again under Horatio Gates. Worse still, Ferguson is off to the
westward, embodying the Tories by the hundred, and we shall have
burnings and hangings and harryings to the king's taste."

I nursed my knee a moment and then said: "What may one man do to help,
Colonel Davie?"

He looked up quickly. "Much, if you are that man, and you do not value
your life too highly, Captain Ireton."

"You may leave that out of the question," said I. "I shall count it the
happiest moment of my life when I shall have done something worth their
killing me for."

Again he gave me that curious look I had noted before. Then he laughed.

"If you were as young as Major Joe Graham, and had been well crossed in
love, I could understand you better, Captain. But, jesting aside, there
is a thing to do, and you are the man to do it. Our spies are thick in
Cornwallis's camp, but what is needed is some master spirit who can plot
as well as spy for us. Major Ferguson moves as Cornwallis pulls the
strings. Could we know the major's instructions and designs, we might
cut him off, bring the Tory uprising to the ground, and so hearten the
country beyond measure. I say we might cut him off, though I know not
where the men would come from to do it."

"Well?" said I, when he paused.

"The preliminary is some better information than our spies can give us.
Now you have been an officer in the British service, and--"

I smiled. "Truly; and I have the honor, if you plea