r Robert,
and six friends were guarding the house of a neighbor, Captain Sands.
The captain had come to see his family, and it was known that the house
might be attacked by Tories.

Leaving one man to watch, the rest of the defenders stretched themselves
out on the floor of the living-room and went to sleep. The sentry also
dozed, but toward midnight he was roused by a suspicious noise, and
investigating found that two bands of the enemy were approaching the
house, one in the front and one in the rear. He rushed indoors, and
seized Andrew, who was sleeping next to the door, by the hair. "The
Tories are upon us!" he cried in great alarm. The boy jumped up, and ran
out of doors. Seeing men in the distance he placed his gun in the fork
of a tree by the door, and hailed the men. They made no reply. He called
to them again. There was no answer, but they came on double-quick.

By this time the other defenders were roused, and had joined the boy.
Andrew fired, and the attacking party answered with a volley. The Tories
who were creeping up from the rear supposed the volley was fired from
the defenders, and immediately answered with fire from their guns.
Andrew and his companions retreated into the house, having managed for a
few moments to draw the enemy's fire in the darkness against each other.
The Tories halted and learned their mistake.

By now the men indoors opened fire from the windows on both parties.
Several Tories fell, and the rest were held at bay. Then very
fortunately a distant bugle was heard sounding the cavalry charge, and
the Tories, thinking they had been led into an ambush and were about to
be attacked in the rear, dashed to their horses and, mounting, rode off
at full speed.

It turned out afterward that a neighbor, hearing the firing at Captain
Sands' house, had blown his bugle, hoping to give the enemy alarm in the
darkness, and that in reality the trick had worked to perfection. So the
Jackson boys had luck with them in their first skirmish.

They were not so lucky next time. The British general heard of the
activity of the little band of colonists and planned to end them. He
heard that about forty of the farmers were gathered at the Waxhaw
meeting-house, and he sent a body of dragoons, dressed in rough country
clothes, to seize them. The farmers were expecting a band of neighbors,
and were fooled by the British. Eleven of the forty were taken
prisoners, and the rest fled, pursued hotly by the drago