“Sir, I am a prisoner of war, as you know. Yet, my wife is in a dying state here, and I wish to convey her to a place of safety and repose.”
“Major Clifton will consider himself on his parole, and command any assistance we may be able to render him or his heroic wife,” said Captain ——, at the same time showing him a note from General Ross to that effect, which had been folded in with the pardon.
“I think, sir,” added the officer, “that there is a farm-house near here, belonging to a planter of the name of Greenfield, where your lady would be hospitably received, and well taken care of; perhaps you had better send your servant thither to borrow a carriage.”
Thanking the officer for his civility and good advice, Major Clifton immediately acted upon it by dispatching Jack to the house, while he himself supported Catherine until the arrival of the carriage. He then placed her in it, and she was driven slowly to “Greenwood.” Here she was kindly received by the planter’s wife and sisters, who tenderly undressed her and put her to bed. A physician was summoned, who, when he arrived and looked at her and felt her pulse, and heard the circumstances, pronounced her insensibility to be not a swoon, but a trance-coma—the result of excessive fatigue of mind and body. He said that such stupors, if prematurely broken, might end in convulsions and madness—or if left, too, to themselves, might terminate in death; that her state was exceedingly critical, and that her rest was by no means to be broken, unless there was a perceptible failure in her pulse, in which case the stimulants and restorative he should leave must be applied and administered, and himself instantly summoned. And so he left her.
Having seen Catherine thus at rest, and having received many assurances from her gentle-hearted hostess that every care and attention should be given her, Major Clifton took leave, and returned to render himself up to his captors, who were just about to return to their ship. He went with them. And when they had arrived on board the Albion, an agreeable surprise awaited him. A gentleman in the uniform of an American general stood upon the deck, attended by a flag of truce, and Major Clifton immediately recognized Colonel (now General) Conyers, who instantly advanced to meet him, and shaking hands heartily, exclaimed—
“You did not expect to find me here? I have come concerning the arrangement of a change of prisoners. Colonel Lithgow of his Britannic Majesty’s —— Regiment and taken prisoner by our people in the same engagement in which you fell into the hands of the enemy, is now offered in exchange for yourself.”
“Yes, sir,” said Captain ——, advancing towards them, “and I am exceedingly happy to say that an exchange has been effected, and to congratulate you on your restoration to liberty.”
Major Clifton bowed deeply, and requested the use of a boat to leave the ship.
“Nay—yourself and General Conyers will stay and dine with us?” asked Captain ——.
But Major Clifton, thanking him for his invitation, and also for much kindness and attention received during his sojourn as a captive among them, declined remaining longer, and repeated his request for a boat.