composed of a few regular soldiers of the garrison of
Ninety-Six, and a small number of the country militia,--making, in all,
about twenty men, commanded by Lieutenant Macdonald, of the regular
army.

Butler remained in his present state of seclusion four or five days,
during which he experienced much mitigation of the rigors of his
captivity. Macdonald was a careful and considerate soldier, and demeaned
himself towards his prisoner with such kindness as the nature of his
trust allowed. He removed him into a comfortable apartment in the
dwelling-house, and supplied him with the conveniences his situation
required; he even made him occasional visits, which were attended with
more than the mere observances of courtesy and respect, and expressed a
sympathy in his sufferings.

These unexpected tones of comfort, from a quarter in which Butler had
hitherto heard nothing but fierce hatred and harsh rebuke, fell
gratefully upon his ear, and gave a brighter color to his hopes for the
future. But he could not help observing, that no hint was dropped by
Macdonald which might furnish him the slightest ground of surmise as to
the vicissitudes that yet awaited him. The reported fall of Innis seemed
to afford a natural foundation for the belief, that the malice of his
enemies might hereafter be less active,--as he attributed much of the
persecution he had suffered to the secret machinations of that
individual. He no longer saw around his person those agents who first
pursued him with such bitter hostility. He seemed to have fallen into
entirely new combinations, and had reason to augur, from all he saw,
that their purposes against him were less wicked. And first, above all
other topics of consolation and comfort, was the conviction that a brave
and efficient party of friends were in the field, intent upon his
liberation. Still, his situation was one in which it required all his
manhood to sustain himself. A young soldier of an ardent temper, and
zealously bent upon active and perilous service, can ill brook the
tedious, dull delays of captivity, even in its mildest form: but if this
thraldom befal in a period of universal agitation, when "great events
are on the gale," of which the captive is only a witness to the
pervading interest they excite, without being permitted to know their
import; if moreover, as in the case of Butler, an impenetrable veil of
mystery hang over the purpose of his captivity, behind which the few
short glimp