No wonder Sam Lee was triumphant.
To us who heard the story it seemed as if his boast that the Cause had been killed in the Carolinas was neither more nor less than the truth, and for a moment I fancied it our duty to return without loss of time to warn General Marion.
Now it may seem strange to whosoever shall read these lines, that we believed so readily all the Tory told us; but we had good cause for credulity.
Old soldiers among us—and the men of my mother's family had been in arms from the time the colonists first began resistance against the king's oppression—had again and again argued that General Gates was not a skilful officer, despite his victory at Saratoga.
When it was known that General Marion, who up to the time of taking command in the Williamsburg district had been only a colonel, was to leave the staff of Gates, our people predicted a disaster similar to what it seemed had just occurred.
Therefore, when Sam Lee, liar and coward though he was naturally, gave us an account of the battle with so much of detail he could not have invented, we, unfortunately, had no choice but to believe the tale.
It was Gavin Witherspoon who first regained sufficient composure to understand what should be done, and he soon showed the Tory that, however hardly our people had been used, it would not avail him under the present circumstances.
"It seems to me necessary we keep this young cub with us, however disagreeable the association may be, and do you lads lash him on the saddle in such fashion that he will not be able to make his escape without assistance."
Although believing for the moment that we ought to return immediately to General Marion, I obeyed the old man's order, and now it was that the look of satisfaction and exultation began to vanish from the coward's face.
He had counted on our so far losing heart as to make an attempt at currying favor with him, or, at least, pass him by, and our thus guarding against the possibility of escape was by no means to his liking.