ended, he was sure to come
back with a rude spear, or with some other weapon, which he had
hammered out to fight the "red-coats" with.

Tarleton said that no people in America hated the British so much
as those who lived where Andrew Jackson did. The reason was that no
other British officer was so cruel as "Butcher Tarleton," as he was
called. Once, however, his men met their match. They were robbing
a farm of its pigs and chickens and corn and hay. When they got through
carrying things off, they were going to burn down the farm-house;
but one of the "red-coats," in his haste, ran against a big hive of
bees and upset it. The bees were mad enough. They swarmed down on
the soldiers, got into their ears and eyes, and stung them so terribly
that at last the robbers were glad to drop everything and run. If
Andrew could have seen that battle, he would have laughed till he
cried.

[Illustration: THE BEES BEAT THE "RED-COATS."]

[Footnote 5: Red-coats: this nickname was given by the Americans to
the British soldiers because they wore bright red coats.]

209. Dangerous state of the country; the roving bands.--Andrew knew
that he and his mother lived in constant danger. Part of the people
in his state were in favor of the king, and part were for liberty.
Bands of armed men, belonging sometimes to one side, and sometimes
to the other, went roving about the country. When they met a farmer,
they would stop him and ask, 'Which side are you for?' If he did not
answer to suit them, the leader of the party would cry out, Hang him
up! In an instant one of the band would cut down a long piece of wild
grapevine, twist it into a noose, and throw it over the man's head;
the next moment he would be dangling from the limb of a tree.
Sometimes the band would let him down again; sometimes they would
ride on and leave him hanging there.

210. Playing at battle; what Tarleton heard about himself.--Even the
children saw and heard so much of the war that was going on that they
played at war, and fought battles with red and white corn,--red for
the British and white for the Americans.

At the battle of Cowpens[6] Colonel William Washington[7] fought on
the American side, and Tarleton got badly whipped and had to run.
Not long afterward he happened to see some boys squatting on the
ground, with a lot of corn instead of marbles. They were playing the
battle of Cowpens. A red kernel stood for Tarleton, and a white one
for Colonel Washington.