in which lay the British camp. A few miles
brought her to a road that struck off toward the point on the Wateree
which she was desirous to reach, in a more southerly direction, and
which would take her at a wide angle from the point she most wished to
avoid. Of this road she had not herself known; but her guide, being
familiar with the country, was able to conduct her by the shorter and
safer route.
All night the girl and her companion rode on, at a pace as rapid as the
nature of the road and the darkness rendered safe, and at daylight they
were far away from the neighbourhood of the enemy's camp. As the sun
came up from the east, the guide of Emily, according to instructions,
after minutely describing to her the course she was to take, left her
to pursue the remainder of her journey alone. Without stopping to
refresh either herself or her tired horse, the young heroine pressed
forward, though the heat grew more and more intense every hour, as the
sun swept up toward the zenith. Faint, weary, and almost sick with
fatigue, hunger, and excitement, she was urging on the jaded animal she
rode, when, about three o'clock in the afternoon, in emerging from a
dense wood, she came suddenly on a file of soldiers whose uniform she
knew too well to leave a doubt of their being friends.
"Where will I find General Sumter?" was her first, eager inquiry.
"He is encamped a mile from here."
"Take me to him quickly," she said. "I have a message from General
Greene!"
The excitement by which Emily had been sustained in her long and
perilous journey now subsided, and ere she reached the presence of the
American general, she was so weak that she had to be supported on the
horse she rode. When brought into the presence of Sumter, she rallied,
and, sustained by a newly-awakening enthusiasm, delivered her verbal
message to the astonished officer, who, acting in accordance with the
intelligence received, was on the march within an hour, to reach the
point of junction with General Greene, which that commander had
indicated in his despatch.
Two weeks elapsed before Emily got safely back to her father, who was
informed an hour or two after her departure of what she had done. Of
his anxiety during her absence we need not speak; nor of the love and
pride that almost stifled him as he clasped her to his heart on her
return.
Of the subsequent history of Emily Geiger we know little or nothing.
She was married to a South Carolina planter,
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