The signal implied that something important was to be communicated. Thrusting a pistol in his belt, Ernshaw left the hut and traversed the—by no means safe—path that led to the willow-trees under which the sentinel was stationed.
As he neared the spot, it could be seen that the guard had left his place of concealment, and was engaged in talking with a young lad. The boy, who was mounted on a speedy-looking roan mare, had evidently ridden far and fast.
“Why, Simon, is that you?” queried Ernshaw, as he shook the boy by the hand. “What has brought you away out here in such a hurry? Something important, I’ll be bound.”
Simon nodded a recognition as he handed a letter to the captain, saying: “I should think it must be important, for father told me to ride as though my life was on it. Sampson was down at our house this morning, and, after he had left, father wrote this letter. I guess you’ll have pretty hard work to read it, for he was in a hurry.”
“Follow me into the camp,” said Ernshaw; “but be sure you don’t turn aside on the way. The bog is deep enough to swallow up a hundred as good horses as that gallant roan of yours, and I should be sorry to see her floundering there after doing us such good service.”
“Never mind, Mister Nat. I guess I know the path nearly as well as you do. Before father moved to Charleston we lived about three-quarters of a mile from here, and there’s many a time that I went to gather berries in Cedar Swamp.”
“Come on, then, for I am impatient to read this letter.”
The letter, though hastily scrawled by one whose hands were stiffened with many a day’s hard labor, was sufficiently legible to be read by Nat. He found that it contained important news indeed. It ran as follows:
Friend Nat:—Keep your eyes open, for Clinton is going to give you a brush. Turner was over here yesterday, and the general has determined to send out a force of a hundred men for your capture. There’s to be a tory meeting on Black Run to-morrow evening, and there’ll be thirty-five of the traitors present. I guess you know what to do. They will be well armed, so you may expect some hard knocks. Ben Graham is at the bottom of it, and the meeting will be in his barn. You know the spot. Success to the good cause!
Simon.