ook on it!--is a
white flag waving in the hands of a British officer. The fight is done.
Hark, our friends are cheering with a loud voice!"

"Thank Heaven--thank Heaven!" exclaimed Mildred as she sprang upon her
feet; "It is even so!"

The loud huzzas of the troops rose upon the air; the firing ceased; the
flag of truce fluttered in the breeze, and the confederated bands of the
mountaineers, from every quarter of the late battle, were seen hurrying
towards the crest of the mountain, and mingling amongst the ranks of the
conquered foe. Again and again, the clamorous cheering of the victors
broke forth from the mountain-top, and echoed along the neighboring
valleys.

During this wild clamor and busy movement, a party of horsemen were
seen, through the occasional intervals of the low wood that skirted the
valley on the right, hastening from the field with an eager swiftness
towards the spot where Mildred and her companions were stationed.

As they swept along the base of the mountain, and approached the knoll,
they were lost to view behind the projecting angles of the low hills
that formed the ravine, through which, my reader is aware, the road held
its course. When they re-appeared it was in ascending the abrupt
acclivity of the knoll, and within fifty paces of the party on the top
of it.

It was now apparent that the approaching party consisted of Stephen
Foster and three or four of the Rangers led by Horse Shoe Robinson, with
Butler still seated before him, as when the sergeant first caught him up
in the fight. These were at the same moment overtaken by Henry Lindsay,
who had turned back from the mountain at the first announcement of
victory, to bring the tidings to his sister.

Mildred's cheek grew deadly pale, and her frame shook, as the cavalcade
rushed into her presence.

"There--take him!" cried Horse Shoe, with an effort to laugh, but which
seemed to be half converted into a quaver by the agitation of his
feelings, as, springing to the ground, he swung Butler from the horse,
with scarce more effort than he would have used in handling a child;
"take him, ma'am. I promised myself to-day, that I'd give him to you.
And, now, you've got him. That's a good reward for all your troubles.
God bless us--but I'm happy to-day!"

"MY HUSBAND!--MY DEAR HUSBAND!" were the only articulate words that
escaped Mildred's lips, as she fell senseless into the arms of Arthur
Butler.

CHAPTER LVIII.

THE CONCLUSION.