Horse-shoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendency

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G. P. Putnam, 1854 - 598 ページ
 

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265 ページ - but what is it you are thinking about, Mr. Robinson !" " How long before this rain began was it that they quitted this house ?" " Not above fifteen minutes." " Mistress Ramsay, bring me the rifle and pistol both — and the powder-horn and bullets.
269 ページ - Keep them outside of the door — stand fast," cried the doughty sergeant, with admirable promptitude, in the new and sudden posture of his affairs caused by this opportune appearance of the boy. " Sir, you see that it's not worth while fighting five to one ; and I should be sorry to be the death of any of your brave fellows ; so take my advice, and surrender to the Continental Congress and this scrap of its army which I command.
265 ページ - The hostess went to the door and called her son, and almost immediately afterwards a sturdy boy of about twelve or fourteen years of age entered the apartment, his clothes dripping with rain. He modestly and shyly seated himself on a chair near the door, with his soaked hat flapping down over a face full of freckles, and not less rife with the expression of an open, dauntless hardihood of character. " How would you like a scrummage, Andy, with them Scotchmen that stole your mother's chickens this...
268 ページ - Pretty exactly," said the sergeant. "But listen to me. Just at the edge of the woods you will have to get down, and put yourself behind a tree. I'll ride forward, as if I had a whole troop at my heels, and if I catch them, as I expect, they will have a little fire kindled, and, as likely as not, they'll be cooking some of your mother's fowls.
270 ページ - Eobinson to be real, at length said: — "Lower your rifle, sir. In the presence of a superior force, taken by surprise and without arms, it is my duty to save bloodshed. With the promise of fair usage, and the rights of prisoners of war, I surrender this little foraging party under my command." "I'll make the terms agreeable," replied the sergeant. "Never doubt me, sir. Eight hand file, advance, and receive the arms of the prisoners!
267 ページ - Turn the lock of your pistol down," he continued as the boy sprang upon the horse's rump, "and cover it with the flap of your jacket, to keep the rain off. It won't do to hang fire at such a time as this.
267 ページ - I remembered the old field up here and the little log-hut in the middle of it ; and it was natural to suppose that they had just got about near that hut when this rain came up ; and then it was the most supposable case in the world that they would naturally go into it, as the driest place they could find. So now you see it's my calculation that the whole batch is there at this very point of time. We will go slowly along until we get to the other end of this wood, in sight of the old field ; and then,...
268 ページ - stand fast,' as if I was speaking to my own men, and when you hear that, you must come up full tilt, because it will be a signal to you that the enemy has surrendered. Then it will be your business to run into the house and bring out the muskets, as quick as a rat runs through a kitchen: and when you have done that, why, all's done. But if you should hear any popping of fire-arms — that is, more than one shot, which I may chance to let off — do you take that for a bad sign, and get away as fast...
266 ページ - I cannot give another," she added, as she threw her arms over the shoulders of the youth and drew him to her bosom. "Oh! it ain't nothing," said Andrew, in a sprightly tone. "It's only snapping a pistol, mother, — pooh! If I'm not afraid, you oughtn't to be.
271 ページ - Heaven bless my child ! my brave boy ! " cried the mother, seizing the lad in her arms, and unheeding anything else in the present perturbation of her feelings. "I feared ill would come of it ; but Heaven has preserved him. Did he behave handsomely, Mr. Robinson? But I am sure he did." "A little more venturesome, ma'am, than I wanted him to be," replied Horse-Shoe; "but he did excellent service.

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