s a cat-o'nine tails, which they
desarve every day at rollcall, the sorry devils!"

"I am completely at my wits' end, Galbraith. I have not done much
justice to your appointment of me as a parson, and when I come to play
the grazier it will be still worse; even in this disguise of a plain
countryman I make a poor performer; I fear I shall disgrace the boards."

"If the worst comes to the worst, major, the rule is run or fight. We
can manage that, at any rate, for we have had a good deal of both in the
last three or four years."

"God knows we have had practice enough, sergeant, to make us perfect in
that trick. Let us make our way through this treacherous ground as
quickly and as quietly as we can. Get me to Clarke by the shortest
route, and keep as much among friends as you know how."

"As to that, Major Butler, it is all a matter of chance, for, to tell
you the plain truth, I don't know who to depend upon. A quick eye, a
nimble foot, and a ready hand, will be our surest friends. Then with the
pistols at your saddle, besides a pair in your pocket, and a dirk for
close quarters, and my rifle here for a long shot, major, I am not much
doubtful but what we shall hold our own."

"How far are we from Adair's?" asked Butler.

"Not more than a mile," replied Horse Shoe. "You may see the ferry just
ahead. Wat lives upon the top of the first hill on the other side."

"Is that fellow to be trusted, sergeant?"

"Better with the help of gold, major, than without it. Wat was never
over honest. But it is worth our while to make a friend of him if we
can."

Our travellers had now reached the river, which was here a smooth and
deep stream, though by no means so broad as to entitle it to the
distinction by which, in its lower portion, it has earned its name. It
here flowed sluggishly along in deep and melancholy shade.

Butler and his companion were destined to encounter a difficulty at this
spot which less hardy travellers would have deemed a serious
embarrassment. The boat was not to be seen on either side of the river,
having been carried off a few hours before, according to the information
given by the inmates of a negro cabin, constituting the family of the
ferryman, by a party of soldiers.

Robinson regarded this obstacle with the resignation of a practised
philosopher. He nodded his head significantly to his companion upon
receiving the intelligence, as he said,

"There is some mischief in the wind. These Tories ar