276

A FRENCH SOLDIER'S ADVENTURE.

calendar in my behalf, I had opened the casement, and cautiously looked down into the street, anxiously endeavoring to ascertain the exact state of affairs.

Nothing daunted, however, by the welcome I received, | While she was vainly appealing to all the saints of her I at once set to work to soften the feelings of my hostess towards me; and I succeeded so well in my endeavor to ingratiate myself with her, that I was very soon not only tolerated, but liked. I performed my part so well, that at last I was looked on as an exception to the rule, according to the Spanish peasantry of that day, that Frenchmen were barbarians to be hated always, and to be killed when safe occasion offered; and I soon found the wisdom of the line of conduct I had adopted. I treated her with respect, and gave as little trouble as possible; and she, on her side, treated me more as a friend, than as a lodger forced on her against her will by the necessities of war.

Meanwhile, my professional duties occupied me but little. Indeed, had it not been for the occasional alarm caused by rumors of the approach of large bodies of guerrillas, those of my companions who were in less attractive quarters than myself would have had nothing to relieve them from the attacks of ennui, and to give them a taste of that excitement so necessary to the contentment, and almost to the existence, of every true Frenchman. Gradually, however, even this source of distraction and amusement became less and less frequent. "Wolf!" had been cried so often to no purpose, that, unless on very authentic grounds and on more than ordinarily positive information, little notice was taken of such rumors. They ceased even to amuse. effect, too, of these false alarms was to make our coloThe nel relax even the very insufficient precautions he had for a time taken against a surprise; and our watchful enemies, who doubtless had eyes and ears for everything that passed in the town and convent, were not long in taking advantage of our ill-grounded confidence.

One morning, when off guard, and therefore in my own quarters, I was roused from a deep sleep by the rattling of drums. The first tap must have set me dreaming, for I was once more a conscript about commencing my first lessons in the art militaire, when loud shouts and discharges of musketry fairly awakened me, and told me that something important had happened. Jumping out of bed, I had just hurried on some clothes, when my old hostess rushed into my room, exclaiming, with a superabundance of gesticulation:

"Ah! Señor Teodoro, Señor Teodoro, you are lost, you are lost! These guerrillas have surprised the town with a large force. All communication between your compatriots and the convent is completely cut off. The French, caught like rats in a trap, and taken wholly unawares, are at the mercy of my enraged countrymen, who are murdering them in heaps."

All this, and much more, the good dame poured forth with wonderful volubility and immense energy, all the while crossing herself most vigorously. Then hastily whipping a little ivory crucifix, such as is usually worn by superstitious devotees in Spain, out of the bosom of her dress, she detached it from the ribbon by which it was suspended, set it on end on the dressing-table, and, falling on her knees before it, began, rosary in hand, to mutter aves and paters as fast as she could gabble.

situated in a back street, at a short distance in the rear
of the place d'armes, and therefore, although the tumult
I have remarked that the house I occupied was
was evidently spreading, and becoming more serious
every moment, I had a few brief instants for considera-
tion of the course which it would be most prudent for
me to pursue. From the volleys of musketry—a sort
of platoon firing-which now began to be heard at
exceedingly short intervals, I could discover but too
ing square. The guerillas were evidently shooting, in
cold blood, the French as fast as they could collect
plainly what sort of work was going on in the neighbor-
them, and it was clear that all hope of resistance was
gone.
my countrymen, in order to organize a defence, I was
free to take any steps I pleased for my personal safety.
As it was quite impossible for me to join any of
But what could I do? To fly, was impossible; to
remain many minutes where I was, certain death. My
only chance seemed to be to secrete myself about the
premises, until the enemy either retired of their own
accord, or should be beaten off by our friends from the
convent. But, again, where could I conceal myself so
as to escape the strict search which the guerrillas would
hostess, I explained my desire of getting into some
be almost sure to make for me? Interrupting my
place of concealment, and in fact confided myself to her
hands. She, it appeared, had already decided on what
promised to lead me to a place of shelter. I obeyed, of
course, without reply-for I had no reason to distrust
was best to be done, and now, bidding me follow her,
glad enough to adopt the first that offered itself. To be
sure, as she hurried me down the stairs, the thought
my guide-and, having no fixed plan of my own, was
crossed my mind that she might, after all, be leading me
into the lion's den, and that she was, perhaps, going to
betray instead of save me; but any misgivings of this
kind were soon proved to be without foundation.
Without a word passing between us, we reached the
court-yard at the back of the house, and there my pro-
tectress acquainted me with the project she had formed
up a huge pile of fagots, and it was behind these that I
for my safety. At the back of this yard had been heaped
so, setting to work, I very quickly removed enough of
them to make a sort of cave, in which I might pass
was to be secreted. The idea seemed a good one :
some hours without too much discomfort. Creeping
into this hole, the old lady repiled the fagots I had
finished her task when a furious battering at the street
door, with an accompaniment of threats because it was
removed as neatly as possible, and she had but just
not opened immediately, proclaimed the arrival of the
enemy.

and with admirable sang-froid inquired their pleasure.
Scarcely waiting to give her a reply, they rushed into
The mistress of the house, herself opened the door,
the house, and proceeded to ransack the apartment
which I had occupied. Uttering terrible threats against.

my landlady, if they should find that she had harbored as the guerrillas would hardly think of looking for me in one of the hated race, and intimating that they would such a place; and even if they should, the passage was ere long return and make stricter search, they at last so ill lighted, that at a depth of some fifty or sixty feet hastily left the house, not willing at that moment to I should most likely escape observation. The plan was lose time in searching for a single Frenchman, when so an excellent one, and I at once prepared to put it in many of my countrymen could be slaughtered without execution. I was soon let gently down to the surface that trouble, and feeling satisfied that I could not ulti- of the water. We had at first agreed that I should mately escape from the village without their knowledge. thrust a foot into each side of the crumbling walls of The fellows had gone very systematically to work. the well, and so, supporting myself the best way I could, They had entirely surrounded the place, so that no path allow the bucket to be drawn up, in order to avoid the was left open for escape before any alarm was given; suspicion which might be created by leaving it in so and, having been furnished by their friends in the town unusual a position. But to do this I found to be quite with an accurate list of all the houses wherein the impossible. I could by no means dispense with the French were quartered, they succeeded in cutting them rope. The well was so wide that, without a support in off in detail, and preventing any of them from reaching the middle, I should inevitably leave go my hold and the open country. Rejoiced enough was I to hear them be drowned. A remedy, however, was soon suggested. depart. Hope, which had been well-nigh extinguished, By the side of the wood-pile in the yard there were again revived, and I was endeavoring to persuade my-several long poles; and, if the water should not prove self that even if the guerrillas were to return and insti- too deep, it was evident that I could use one of them tute a regular search for me, which was but too proba- in place of the rope. With a long piece of cord a pole ble, my retreat would afford me a good chance of safety, was sent down, and to my great joy I found that about when a serio-comic incident convinced me that I could | four feet of it remained out of the water. I was thus put not trust in the wood-pile as a place of conceal-enabled to do without the rope; and, the bucket having

ment.

My hostess had a pet dog, which I had always treated with the greatest attention, and in return was favored with a great deal of its affection. As it happened, the poor animal came into the court-yard just as the guerillas left, and, getting on my trail, soon traced me to the pile of wood. Having by two or three long sniffs fully satisfied himself that his friend was really there, he began tearing at the bundles of wood, yelping all the while, and apparently determined to get at me. It was rather hard that, in return for all the fondlings and feedings I had lavished on him, he should betray me to my enemies. To get out of my hiding-place to him was impossible; so there was no help for it but to endeavor to coax or scold him into silence. But I alternately wheedled and threatened in vain. On hearing my voice, he stopped scratching and yelping for a brief moment, but soon set to work more vigorously than ever, and seemed determined not to listen to either threats or entreaties. He tore, he barked, he howled, he whined, until I fairly perspired with mingled fear and vexation; and I was at last worked up to such a pitch of uneasiness, that I was on the point of forcing down the wood in front of me, in order to silence my injudicious friend, when my hostess once more came to the rescue, and, seeing how matters stood, without a moment's delay carried my well-meaning persecutor out of the way.

On the return of my hostess to the spot, she now prayed me to come out, as she had thought of a safer place in which to secrete me. The adventure of the dog clearly proved that the security afforded me by the wood-pile was very inadequate, and I therefore gladly consented to a change of quarters.

From the back entrance to the house, a long covered passage led to the bottom of the yard, and about midway in this passage was a rather deep well. My hostess now proposed that I should descend in the bucket,

been drawn up by my kind friends, I was left to make myself as comfortable as possible. They could do nothing more for me; and so, vainly recommending me to the protection of their favorite saints, they betook themselves to another part of the premises.

It was by this time broad daylight, and the guerrillas were eagerly searching for those unhappy Frenchmen who, like me, had sought safety in concealment, when they found both flight and resistance impossible. At short intervals a discharge of musketry, followed by lond vivas, told me that the hunters had been successful, and showed me, in the most unmistakable manner, what sort of treatment I had to expect at their hands if I should have the calamity to be discovered. I fully expected that the enemy would return immediately; and not the least painful part of the trial I had to endure was the apprehension that the next minute would put the sufficiency of my hiding-place to the test. The posture, too, in which I was obliged to remain was exhausting in the extreme. With my legs at least four feet apart, and my toes thrust into crevices in the sides of the well, I leaned the whole weight of my body on the pole; and so, without any possibility of resting myself by even the most trifling change of position, I awaited the issue of events. Two hours had already passed, and I was really beginning to fear that my strength would give way, when my landlady, who had kept away all this time because a party of guerrillas were searching the neighboring houses, appeared suddenly at the month of the well.

"Señor Teodoro," said she, in that sort of frightened whisper which one hears as distinctly as words spoken in a voice of thunder-"Señor Teodoro, I have brought you some bread and a flask of wine, as I am sure you must need refreshment."

I was about to thank her warmly for the welcome viands, when she interrupted me with"Waste no time in thanks, but recruit your strength,

which will yet be sorely tried." She then lowered the they would, if they found that she had concealed bread and wine by means of the cord which had served wreak their vengeance on her. to lower the pole, and, having done so, again withdrew, not, however, until she had replied to my anxious questions as to the position of affairs. I learned from her that the guerrillas had been very successful in hunting out my compatriots, and that the band as yet saw no reason to be believe that they should be disquieted by the party from the convent. I had but just finished my

me,

And now commenced a systematic hunt, in the course of which every part of the house was thoroughly examined. Meantime those of the party who had been left in the yard were not idle. No place was left unexplored where it was possible for a man to lie concealed, and of course the wood-pile was thoroughly overhauled. Indeed, if I had remained behind it, as I at first intend

is a wonderful quickener of the senses; and my ears a fresh appeal to my wine-flask, prepared myself to were so stimulated, as it were, by my intense anxiety to discover exactly what was passing, that I lost not a word or a sound, and I could tell exactly what was going on, as well as if I had seen every movement. Soon, however, to my great relief, the search seemed to have been completed, and with inexpressible satisfaction I heard the word given for their departure. I was already beginning to draw breath more freely, hoping that the peril had really passed, when the mouth of the well was darkened by the head and shoulders of a guerrilla, who was peering into the depths of my place of refuge. Although I knew by actual experience that the eye could not penetrate so low, yet my blood seemed to rush back on my heart at the sight, and, literally, I dared not breathe, lest the slightest sound should betray

me.

For a few seconds, which to me were hours of agonizing suspense, the Spaniard strove to penetrate the deep shadow of the well, and then, remarking that he would make assurance doubly sure, he seized a large stone which lay near, and dashed it into the opening. I saw the missile lifted high above his head. I could remark even the compressed lip, the deep inspiration, and the knitted brow-and then, as I involuntarily closed my eyes, and commended myself to God, the stone, with a tremendous splash, fell into the water at my feet. But, although I escaped with life, I did not escape without injury. In its descent, the missile just grazed my temple, inflicting a long, but happily superficial wound. I had nerve enough, however, not to cry out, and, what was of equal importance, strength of body enough not to give way under this additional trial of my powers of physical endurance. For a moment I feared that I must have dropped, for my brain swam, and a deadly faintness seized me; but the pain of my wound prevented me from losing consciousness, and I was roused to fresh exertion by hearing the last of the guerrillas depart. I then ventured to move, and, making

remain, if necessary, some time longer in my painful position. Happily, I was not put to the trial. Relief was close at hand. My comrades from the convent had now turned the tables on the Spaniards. It was now the turn of the guerrillas to be hunted down and shot in cold blood; and so enraged were the French, that they were with difficulty restrained from wreaking their vengeance, not only on the guerrillas, but also on the townsfolk, who were accused of having connived at, if they had not actually assisted in, the attack. My protectress, therefore, was not at all sorry to have so good a voucher as to the friendly part she had played in the affair, as was afforded her by my presence; and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I thus repaid, in some small degree, the devotedness with which she had served me. Not that I could either say or do anything to protect her from the insults and violence to which her countrymen were exposed; for the intense excitement I had undergone, coupled with the bodily exhaustion consequent on so many hours of painful exertion, now that the danger was over, proved too much for me, and nature fairly gave way. On being hauled up, I swooned in the arms of my deliveress, and the good lady had to tell her own story. As for me, I was roused from one fainting fit only to fall into another; and when I recovered entire consciousness, many days after, I found myself prostrate from an attack of brain feverthe not unnatural concomitant of all that I had undergone. I had been carried insensible to the convent, and it was long ere I could crawl from it to the town. When I did so, my first visit of course was to my kind hostess. Alas! the house had been closed some days, and its mistress, Don Pedro, and his daughter, had gone none could tell me where. But I had little time for vain regrets. I was soon well enough to set out for my regiment, which, during my sickness, had been sent on active service.

WRITTEN AT THE

God's sand-glass has been shaken-Lo! there falls,
Upon the distressed, upturned brow of Earth,
Another of the year-grains. It is thus

Time's sands increase-how imperceptibly-
Grain upon grain-till with their desert arms
They gather in the empires; and enclose,
In their long desolate wastes, all that is grand
And beautiful-all cities where the kings

Build for renown-for Time must-weary thought!—
Ever destroy-vain man must ever build.

As traversing a Libyan waste, the stream,
Nursed in the secret caverns of far hills,
Sinks by degrees into the hungry sands,
Till from the traveller's sight it disappears;
So in Time's hungrier Saharas sink

The streams of human life-they disappear
Even while we gaze upon them. Are they lost

Irrevocably in the aridness

Of the increasing ages? Nay! for lo,
With weary feet emerging from the sand,
The traveller, joy-inspired, beneath the cool
Of roofing palms descries the plenteous spring,
And knows it is the river he had lost,
There, in that Eden of the wilderness,
Strangely restored! Upon the odorous grass
Seated, he muses on that river far
Away for ever sinking-on that spring-

Its purer life-for ever rising near!

"We are that river-we will be that spring,"
He cries: "life in the desert of the years
May disappear, but in fair gardened realms,
Familiar to the tread of angel feet,
Celestial watchers view it welling up

In purity, cleansed by Death's filtering."

THE LINDSEY FAMILY.

MAJOR BENJAMIN LONG was a native of Union Dis- | arms-" covered and protected you from the swords of trict, South Carolina. He belonged to the rifle sharp- my men, when, during the Revolutionary War, you shooters, who were in advance, and commenced the were found in a suspected place. From you I expected attack, upon the approach of the British to the Cow-gratitude, therefore, not abuse; but I was wrong; from pens. His narration of the part he took in that affair, a hog, I ought to expect no more than a grunt." was confirmed by the scars his face exhibited. Posted behind a tree, he took fair aim at a dragoon in full charge. The dragoon saw the levelled rifle, and heard the click of the lock; and supposing the discharge had followed, he shrunk from the expected ball, unharmed -for the weapon had snapped-and the next instant came up to Long, who, with his rifle "clubbed," had stepped from behind the tree. Intending to knock the dragoon off his horse, he struck at him; the blow was parried, and returned with a sabre cut above the assailant's eye; this was followed quickly by a backhanded stroke on the neck and face, which came with

THE LINDSEY FAMILY, belonging to the patriotic side, were actively engaged in partisan affairs during the War, in Newberry and Laurens Districts. Three of the men, with others under Water's command, carried off and saved the field-piece at the Battle of Stono. Colonel John Lindsey commanded the scout in which they all served. He was a good officer, and an honorable man. Others of the name could not refrain from "spoiling the Amalekites," as the Tories were often called; and in their burning zeal for the service, now and then they swept through the Quaker settlements on Bush River, and carried off much plunder from the pacific inhabitants. A homely juvenile marauder, among the rest, on one of these occasions, had assisted in plundering Daniel Richardson's house, and with other things had carried off a raccoon-skin belonging to an idiot named Jake. Some time afterwards, young Lindsey happened to visit the place again, and saw

such effect, that the young rifleman fell prostrate on the ground. As the dragoon charged over his body, he plunged his sword into it, and spurred on, leaving his enemy apparently dead. Long, however, recovered, and served under Breman and Thomas to the close of the Revolution. Such incidents of personal adventure among those whose names are not mentioned in history, illustrate the social life of the period; for the experience of one was that of many who did not follow the war-Jake standing at the door of the house. The idiot suflike profession.

LEVI CASEY was an active partisan officer, and a general in the Revolutionary War. Many instances of his courage and presence of mind, are related by those who heard their fathers speak of him. On one occasion, riding alone, as he turned an angle in the road, he saw a large body of loyalists approaching, and close in front. The meeting was wholly unexpected on both sides. Without a moment's hesitation, Casey drew his sword and sprang forward, exclaiming "Come on, boys!" Then, checking his charge, he turned his horse round, and galloped back the way he came, as if to bring on The feint was successful. The hostile party halted to prepare for the expected rencontre, and before they were aware of the deception, Casey was in safety. He was celebrated for his mercy to prisoners. A fact memorable on this account was mentioned while he was a candidate for a seat in Congress. His principles had been coarsely assailed by a man named Hogg. Meeting this man afterwards, in the presence of a number of persons, he said, "These arms "-extending his

his men.

fered the party to pass him quietly, till it came to the turn of the spoiler of his raccoon-skin; him he seized by the throat, and hurled him back, exclaiming, “Stand back-stand back-ugly boy! love 'coon-skin too much!"

THE AVENGERS OF BLOOD.

ABSALOM TURNER was a young lad of a loyalist family in South Carolina, and had taken no part in the struggle of the times; his only offence was being the brother of Ned and Dick Turner, two of the bloodiest bravoes of the notorious band called "the Bloody Scout," commanded by Cunningham. The house of Mrs. Turner, the boy's mother, was a rendezvous for the Tories. It stood in the bend of Saluda River. Absalom fell a victim to the crimes of his relations; he was killed by a party of savage Whigs, and not content with the slaughter of one who had never injured them, they resolved on a wanton piece of cruelty, in revenge for outrages committed on their friends.

From original papers, written out from personal recollections, by the Hon. Judge O'Neall, of South Carolina, and furnished by him for Mrs. Ellet's work.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by EDWARD STEPHENS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U. S., for the Southern District of New York.