£ 3
CHAP*
XX
“ Maffer a, maffer a ! bmjieenegro.^ be$fee\mg€-o !”—“
“ ter, mailer ! the eneroyjfheeneray ] ” Pearingv:s.tth^
farm® moment, 3 briik &$&§,; wdt&'ttis
through, the branches» I. fuUy epncln^e^ >
hela -we», in the y ë ty . -föijiifc -,-f f .. uur-; <s»mip*, • S-prprifijd,
and not pefffe&ly awake, I fuddebly^ ft^fe4 ,rtpv pith
roy fjjfèe cocked;, and K^itho^k^sHte^'Wfeil»;
firft threw down Qnaco, and »ext £elh#wa, royfelfj QMf
twfi-Of three bodies, that la f upon tb# g ïw i th a#4. ^hwh
I imagined t© be killed. When one ö f (Wnh^g
me fo r a ion o f a b—cb» -told o&Sfe i f I Twas a
“ dead roan; Colonel Fourgmud having ifihed.-ecddrs
«-for the troops to lie flat on their bellies m4
gg not .to fire, as rooft o f their ammunition had been- ex-
“- fended the preceding day/’ I took his advice and foon
dflcovered him by his voice to be one o f our -owiv'gt^nAr
diers, named ïbotnfon. In this fituation w# lay proftrat-e
on our arms until fun-rife, during which time amoft.abu-
five dialogue was carried on indeed between the r ik tb and
the ranger^ each party curling and Enenacipgthe other
at a very terrible rate; the former “ reproaching the
« rangers as poltroons and tmtors to their eoiuftrymen,
« and challenging them next dayto Angle combat; fwear-
“ ing they only wifhed to lave their hands in the blood of
« fuch fcoundrels, who had been the principal agents in
“ deftroying their flourithing fettlement.” The rangers
“ d—n’d the rebels for a parcel of pitiful ikulkiag raf-
“ cals, whom they would fight one to- two in the open
“ field,
f l |i//
J»3
“ field, -if they dared but to Ihew their,z^/y faces;” fwear- CHAP,
“ ing they had only, deferred their matters becaufe they , XX' ,
“ were^too lazy^fp work.” After .fldS':th^-infulted-;pach
other by a ki-nd^ of ;war-whoop, fung vidtorious fongs
on both: fides, and founded their horns as fignals of defiance;
when the firing commenced once more from the,
rebel negroes, and continued during the night, accompanied
b y their martial y^efs, at^rintermifiions refounding
through the woofis,^ which?-^cfio feemed to anfwer.
with redoubled fiqrce, (
Atr length poor Fourgeoud took a part in the converfa-
tion, myjfelfand .Serjeant Fowlgr.adting as his interpreters,
by hallbqiog, which created more mirth than I had been
witnefs; to for;%pf ,;tAm.e: liberty.,
victuals,-'drink, and all they wanted. They-,replied, pith a
loud laugh, that theyrwanted nothing from him ; charac- _
terifed him as a half-ftar ved Frenchman, who had run
away^frqm hi§ jrpft - country §rid|affured. fum that i f he
would venture to pay xtkprn a^vifit, he Ihould return ,.un-
- hurt, and not with an empty belly., They told g&|that we
.were to he,pitied more, than -they; that p e ware .white
'Slaves-, hired to be ftiot at and ftarved for four-pence a
.day; ,that -they feorned to expend much more o f their
•powder upon fuch fcareorows; but ihould the -planters
or oyerfcers dare to enter the woods, not a foul of them
Ihould ever return, any more than the perfidious rangers,
Tome of whom, might depend -upon being mafiacred that
d.iVbL. II. I ; . Q - i| day, .
I«!;.