ly temporary. His men
never retired beyond his reach. They came again at a call, refreshed
by the respite, and assured by the conviction that their commander
was quite as careful of their lives as themselves. Such a game was
not without its interest, and its peculiarities were such as to give
animation to the valor which it exercised. In these peculiarities of
his warfare, lies that secret charm which has made tradition, in the
southern country, linger so long and so fondly upon the name of Marion.

Judge James gives us, in few words, a lively idea of the consultation
which followed the return and the report of Major James. "About an hour
before day, Marion met the Major half a mile from his plantation. The
officers immediately dismounted and retired to consult; the men sat on
their horses in a state of anxious suspense. The conference was long and
animated. At the end of it, an order was given to direct the march back
to Lynch's Creek (the route to North Carolina), and no sooner was it
given than a bitter groan might have been heard along the whole line.
A bitter cup had now been mingled for the people of Williamsburg and
Pedee, and they were doomed to drain it to the dregs, but in the end it
proved a salutary medicine."

The evil here deplored was the temporary abandonment, for the first
time, of this particular section of country. Hitherto, the enemy had
never appeared in their neighborhood with such a force as enabled them
to overrun it without fear of opposition. Now, they were destined
to suffer from those tender mercies of British and Tories, which had
written their chronicles in blood and flame, wherever their footsteps
had gone before. Bitter, indeed, was the medicine, to whom its taste
was new. But, as writes the venerable biographer, it was salutary in the
end. It strengthened their souls for the future trial. It made them more
resolute in the play. With their own houses in smoking ruins, and their
own wives and children homeless and wandering, they could better feel
what was due to the sufferings of their common country.

It was at sunset the next evening that Marion commenced his flight to
North Carolina. He kept with him only sixty men. The rest dropped off
by degrees as they approached their several hiding-places, lying snug,
until they again heard the signal of their commander,--frequently
nothing but a whisper,--which once more brought them forth, to turn the
pursuit upon their enemies and avenge them