irement, and to attempt the enterprise of conducting the prisoner to
Williams, who was supposed to be advancing into the neighborhood of a
well known block-house, or frontier fortification, on the Saluda, about
forty miles from their present position.

The message with which Ramsay was charged from Sumpter to Williams, made
it necessary that he should endeavor to reach that officer as soon as
possible; and the sergeant, rejoicing in the thought of being so near a
strong body of allies who might render the most essential aid to the
great object of his expedition, readily concurred in the propriety of
the young trooper's proposal. This enterprise was also recommended by
the necessity of taking some immediate steps to preserve the custody of
the ensign, whose capture had already been so serviceable to the cause
of Arthur Butler. In accordance, moreover, with John Ramsay's anxious
entreaty, Christopher Shaw, it was determined, should hasten back to the
mill at the earliest moment.

A speedy departure was, therefore, resolved on, and accordingly all
things were made ready, in the course of an hour, to commence the march.
At the appointed time the ensign was directed to descend into the
valley, where he was once more bound to his horse. The conferences
between the sergeant and his two comrades had been held out of the
hearing of the prisoner; but it was now thought advisable to make him
acquainted with the late proceedings that had transpired with regard to
Butler, and especially with the respite that had been given to that
officer by Innis. This communication was accompanied by an intimation
that he would best consult his own comfort and safety by a patient
submission to the restrictions that were put upon him: inasmuch as his
captors had no disposition to vex him with any other precautions than
were necessary for his safe detention during the present season of peril
to Butler.

With this admonition the party began their journey. The first two or
three hours were occupied in returning, by the route of the valley, to
the Ennoree. When they reached the river they found themselves relieved
from the toils of the narrow and rugged path by which they had threaded
the wild mountain dell, and introduced into an undulating country
covered with forest, and intersected by an occasional but unfrequented
road leading from one settlement to another. Here Christopher Shaw was
to take leave of his companions, his path lying along the bank