n
as thy old tale-teller is now; that he put off all his roistering ways
and might be found any Lord's Day shouting, not curses, as of yore, but
psalm tunes, in the church whereof he was a pillar! But 'twas the other
Daniel we knew; the bluff, hearty man of his two hands, who could pummel
the best boxer in his own regiment of fisticuffers; who could out-curse,
out-buffet and out-drink the hardiest frontiersman on the border.

Next conspicuous in the general's suite was our colonel, the pink of
light-horse commanders, with only Harry Lee in all the patriot rank and
file for his peer. 'Tis a thousand pities that William Washington, "the
Marcellus of the army," has had to suffer the eclipse which must dim the
luster of all who walk in the shadow of a greater of the same name. For
surely there never was a finer gentleman, a truer friend, a nobler
patriot, or, according to his opportunities, an abler officer than was
our beloved colonel of the light dragoons.

But this is all beside the mark, you will say; and you will be chafing
restively to know how Dick and I had come together in this troop of
Colonel Washington's; to know this in a word and to pass on at a gallop
to the happenings which followed. Nay, in fancy's eye I can see you
turning the page impatiently, wondering where and when and how this
tiresome old word-spinner will make an end.

As Margery had promised, I passed out of my garret prison and out of
door on that memorable evening of October fourteenth to find the British
gone from Charlotte and the town jubilant with patriotic joy.

Having nothing to detain me, and being bound in honor by the wish of my
dear lady not to follow and give myself up to the retreating British
general, I took horse and rode to Salisbury, where I had the great good
fortune to find Dick, already breveted a captain in Colonel Washington's
command, hurrying his troop southward to whip on the British withdrawal.

Here was my chance to drown heartburnings in an onsweeping tide of
action, and then and there I became a gentleman volunteer in Dick's
company, asking nothing of my dear lad save that I might ride at his
stirrup and share his hazards.

Touching the hazards, there were plenty of them in the seven weeks
preceding and the month or more following our new general's coming to
take the field, as you may know in detail if you care to follow the
gallopings of Colonel Washington's light-horse troop through the pages
of the histories.