t was to be done with him. Colonel Innis
was too ill to think of such matters, and has been carried out of the
neighborhood--and it is thought he will die."

"How many men are there to guard the prisoner?" asked the sergeant.

"There are more than twenty, with a lieutenant from Ninety-Six, who has
the charge of them."

"And how does the major bear his troubles?"

"He seems to be heavy at heart," replied the maiden. "But that may be
because he is away from his friends. Though my father, who is a good
judge of such things, says he suffers tribulation like a Christian. He
asked me privately, if I had heard anything of you, Mr. Robinson: and
when I told him what folks said about your being with the people that
beat Colonel Innis, he smiled, and said if any man could get him free,
it was Horse Shoe Robinson."

"Do they allow you to see him often?" inquired the sergeant.

"I have seen him only two or three times since he came to the house,"
answered the maiden. "But the officer that has charge of him is not
contrary or ill-natured, and makes no objection to my carrying him his
meals--though I am obliged to pretend to know less about Major Butler
than I do, for fear they might be jealous of my talking to him."

"You can give him a letter?"

"I think I can contrive it," replied the maiden.

"Then give him this, my good girl," said Robinson, taking Williams's
letter from his pocket and putting it in Mary's hand. "It is a piece of
writing he can use whenever he is much pressed. It may save him from
harm. Now, I want you to do something more. You must find a chance just
to whisper in his ear that Horse Shoe Robinson and John Ramsay are in
the neighborhood. Tell him, likewise, that Colonel Williams has sent a
messenger to Lord Cornwallis to lay his case before that officer, and to
get some order for his better treatment. That the doings of that
rascally court-martial have been sent by the messenger, hoping that Lord
Cornwallis, if he is a brave and a Christian man--as they say he
is--will stop this onmerciful persecution of the major--which has no
cause for it under heaven. Will you remember all this?"

"I'll try, sir," responded Mary; "and besides I will tell it to my
father, who has more chance of speaking to Major Butler than I have."

"Now," said Horse Shoe, "we will be here again to-morrow night, a
little earlier than this; you must meet us here. And say to the major,
if he has any message for us, he may send it by