to the loyalist
prisoners and their wounded comrades.

CHAPTER XXIX.

WILLIAMS TAKES A FANCY TO FOREST LIFE.--HORSE SHOE AND JOHN RAMSAY
CONTINUE ACTIVE IN THE SERVICE OF BUTLER.--MARY MUSGROVE BECOMES A
VALUABLE AUXILIARY.

Williams had commenced his retreat before the dawn, as much with a view
to accomplish a large portion of his journey before the heat of the day,
as to protect himself against the probable pursuit of the rallied forces
of the enemy. His destination was towards the mountains on the
north-western frontier. The overthrow of Gates had left a large force of
Tory militia at the disposal of Cornwallis, who, it was conjectured,
would use them to break up every remnant of opposition in this region.
It was therefore a matter of great importance to Williams, to conduct
his little force into some place of security against the attacks of the
royalists.

Colonel Elijah Clarke had, ever since the fall of Charleston, been
employed in keeping together the few scattered Whig families in that
part of Carolina lying contiguous to the Savannah, with a view to an
organized plan of resistance against the British authorities; and he had
so far accomplished his purpose as to have procured some three or four
hundred men, who had agreed to hold themselves in readiness to strike a
blow whenever the occasion offered. These men were to be mustered at any
moment by a preconcerted signal; and, in the meantime, they were
instructed, by confining themselves to their dwellings, or pursuing
their ordinary occupations, to keep as much as possible out of the way
of the dominant authorities.

Clarke resided in Georgia, whence he had fled as soon as the royalist
leader, Brown, had taken possession of Augusta; and we have already seen
that a letter from Colonel Pinckney, at Charleston, which Horse Shoe
Robinson had been intrusted to deliver, had summoned Arthur Butler to
this frontier to aid in Clarke's enterprise.

Colonel Isaac Shelby, a resident of Washington county in Virginia, until
the settlement of the southern line of the State had left him in the
district at present known as Sullivan county in Tennessee, had been an
efficient auxiliary in Clarke's scheme, and was now ready to summon a
respectable number of followers for the support of the war on the
mountain border. He and Clarke had accidentally arrived at Williams's
camp a day or two before the attack upon Innis, with a view to a
consultation as to the general in