On the grassy or moss-clad
ground sat or lay groups of hardy-looking men, no two of
them dressed alike, and with none of the neat appearance of
uniformed soldiers. More remote were their horses, cropping
the short herbage in equine contentment. It looked like a
camp of forest outlaws, jovial tenants of the merry
greenwood.

The surprise of the officer was not lessened when his eyes
fell on Marion, whom he had never seen before. It may be
that he expected to gaze on a burly giant. As it was, he
could scarcely believe that this diminutive, quiet-looking
man, and this handful of ill-dressed and lounging followers,
were the celebrated band who had thrown the whole British
power in the South into alarm.

Marion addressed him, and a conference ensued in which their
business was quickly arranged to their mutual satisfaction.

"And now, my dear sir," said Marion, "I should be glad to
have you dine with me. You have fasted during your journey,
and will be the better for a woodland repast."

"With pleasure," replied the officer. "It will be a new and
pleasant experience."

He looked around him. Where was the dining-room? where, at
least, the table, on which their mid-day repast was to be
spread? Where were the dishes and the other paraphernalia
which civilization demands as the essentials of a modern
dinner?--Where? His eyes found no answer to this mental
question. Marion looked at him with a smile.

"We dine here in simple style, captain," he remarked. "Pray
be seated."

He took his seat on a mossy log, and pointed to an opposite
one for the officer. A minute or two afterwards the camp
purveyor made his appearance, bearing a large piece of bark,
on which smoked some roasted sweet potatoes. They came from
a fire of brushwood blazing at a distance.

"Help yourself, captain," said Marion, taking a swollen and
brown-coated potato from the impromptu platter, breaking it
in half, and beginning to eat with a forest appetite.

The officer looked at the viands and at his host with eyes
of wonder.

"Surely, general," he exclaimed, "this cannot be your
ordinary fare?"

"Indeed it is," said Marion. "And we are fortunate, on this
occasion, having company to entertain, to have more than our
usual allowance."

The officer had little more to say. He helped himself to the
rural viands, which he ate with thought for salt. On
returning to Georgetown he gave in his report, and then
tendered his commission to his superior offic