bribe; the ambuscade promoted and
managed by James Curry; the bloody purpose of the brutal gang who
captured him, frustrated only by the accidental fray in which Blake was
wounded. Then the "doubtful givings out" which fell from the lips of
some of the soldiers at Blackstock's, of his case still being one of
life and death; the insinuation of the savage Habershaw, at the same
place, conveyed in the threat of twisted hemp; the knowledge which his
present keepers affected to have of his rank and consequence, of his
past life and present aims; and, above all, his being brought for
immediate trial, in a matter affecting his life, before the very man,
now in the capacity of a military commander, who had heretofore been
active in promoting the design of confiscating his estate. All these
considerations, although unconnected with any circumstance of specific
offence within his knowledge, led him into the most anxious and
melancholy forebodings as to the result of this day's proceedings.

"I am doomed to fall," he said, "under some secret stroke of vengeance,
and my country is to have in my case another stirring appeal against the
enormity of that iron rule that seeks to bow her head into the dust. So
be it! The issue is in the hand of God, and my fate may turn to the
account of the establishment of a nation's liberty. Oh, Mildred, I
tremble to think of thee! Heaven grant, my girl, that thy fortitude may
triumph over the martyrdom of him that loves thee better than his
life!"

CHAPTER XXV.

A TRIAL.--A GRAVE ACCUSATION THAT STILL FURTHER CONFIRMS BUTLER IN HIS
BELIEF OF A SECRET ENEMY.--A SUDDEN RESPITE.

Butler's baggage, ever since he left Robinson's habitation on the
Catawba, had been divided into two parcels, one of which he carried in a
portmanteau on his own horse, and the other had been stowed away in a
pair of black leather saddle-bags that were flung across Captain Peter.
These latter sufficed, also, to inclose, in addition to the sergeant's
own wardrobe, sundry stores of provender, which the careful appetite and
soldier-like foresight of the trusty squire had, from time to time,
accumulated for their comfort upon the road-side. After the escape of
the sergeant, this baggage had been kept with more scrupulousness than
might have been expected from the character of the freebooters into
whose possession it had fallen; and now, when Butler had been
surrendered up to the custody of Colonel Innis, it was restor