It was true. Neither the brave Free Sword nor his heroic wife could anywhere be seen on the field. The fiery spirit that had animated and inspired the whole band was gone. And fear had fallen upon his followers. And all who were not dead, wounded or prisoners, were flying in all directions hotly pursued by the Federals.
Colonel Goldsborough, seeing that the day was lost, wheeled around, put spurs to his horse, and dashed down the hill-side, in the direction of the grove where he had left Elfie and the parson under guard.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE FATE OF THE FREE SWORD.
“No more, there is no more,” he said,
“To lift the sword for now!
For thee my fields were won,
And thou hast perished.”—
They might have chained him as before
That stony form he stood,
For the power was stricken from his arm,