he opposite side, engaged in scuttling the ferry boat. The riflemen
drew nigh unperceived, and poured in a well directed and deadly fire,
which produced the utmost consternation. The fire was returned in
volleys, but the limbs and branches of the trees suffered infinitely
more than the riflemen who lay behind them. Marion now made his
arrangements for crossing the stream. But this was not to be done in the
face of the enemy, with the creek before him wide and swollen. Marion
moved rapidly up the creek, which he swam at the first favorable point
some five miles above Witherspoon's. This brought him nearer to Doyle's
position, but the latter had not waited for him. Whether it was that
he had little taste for the sort of annoyances to which Watson had been
subjected, or that he had received instructions from Lord Rawdon to join
him at Camden, in all haste, it is certain that he made the greatest
speed in hurrying in that direction.

It was at this period that Marion held a consultation with Horry,
in which he is represented by that officer as in an unusual state of
despondency. His enemies were accumulating around him with unwonted
rapidity, and in greater force than ever. Watson, furious at his late
disasters, and mortified with the result of his confident anticipations,
had sallied forth from Georgetown with a reinforcement. He had gone
towards the Pedee, where he strengthened himself with the large body of
Tories which Gainey had commanded. Horry tells us of a third body of men
at the same time in the field, with Doyle and Watson, and all addressing
themselves to the same object, his utter expulsion from the country. At
that moment the expulsion of our Partisan would leave the conquest of
the State complete.

In these emergencies, with these foes accumulating around him, the mind
of Marion naturally addressed itself with more gravity than usual to
the task of his extrication from his enemies. His countenance, as Horry
describes it, was troubled. But, with his usual taciturnity, he said
nothing on the subject of his anxieties. Seeing him walking alone, and
in deep revery, Horry approached him, and said--

"General, our men are few, and, if what I hear be true, you never wanted
them more."

Marion started, and replied--

"Go immediately to the field officers, and know from them, if, in the
event of my being compelled to retire to the mountains, they will follow
my fortunes, and with me carry on the war, until the ene