y the voices that the enemy he most feared had passed,
yielded to his impatience, and stood erect, in order to make greater
progress. The moment his body rose above the shadow of the ground it
was seen, and the chase commenced. For a single instant Birch was
helpless, his blood curdling in his veins at the imminence[61] of the
danger, and his legs refusing their natural and necessary office.
But it was only for a minute; casting his pack where he stood, and
instinctively tightening the belt he wore, the peddler betook himself
to flight. He knew that by bringing himself in line with his pursuers
and the wood, his form would be lost to sight. This he soon effected,
and he was straining every nerve to gain the wood itself, when several
horsemen rode by him but a short distance on his left, and cut him off
from this place of refuge. The peddler threw himself on the ground as
they came near him, and was passed unseen. But delay now became too
dangerous for him to remain in that position. He accordingly rose,
and still keeping in the shadow of the wood, along the skirts of which
he heard voices crying to each other to be watchful, he ran with
incredible speed in a parallel line, but in an opposite direction,
to the march of the dragoons.

[Footnote 61: threatening nature.]

At this instant the voice of Lawton rang through the valley, shouting:

"Harvey Birch!--take him, dead or alive!"

Fifty pistols lighted the scene, and the bullets whistled in every
direction around the head of the devoted peddler.

A feeling of despair seized his heart, and in the bitterness of that
moment he exclaimed:

"Hunted like a beast of the forest!"

These considerations, with the approaching footsteps of his pursuers,
roused him to new exertions. A fragment of wall, that had withstood
the ravages made by the war in the adjoining fences of wood,
fortunately crossed his path. He hardly had time to throw his
exhausted limbs over this barrier before twenty of his enemies reached
its opposite side. Their horses refused to take the leap in the dark,
and amid the confusion Birch was enabled to gain a sight of the base
of the hill, on whose summit was a place of perfect safety. The heart
of the peddler now beat high with hope, when the voice of Captain
Lawton again rang in his ears, shouting to his men to make room. The
order was obeyed, and the fearless trooper rode at the wall at the top
of his horse's speed, plunged the rowels in his char