ty-Six, who is to move, as
soon as possible, with his bloody tory recruits and their property, and
take a route that will put the Edisto between him and our forces.
Moving down the southern bank of this river to Orangeburg, he will
thence make a junction with Rawdon at Friday's Ferry."

"Then they will divide their force?" said Geiger eagerly.

"Yes."

"And giving Greene an advantage by which he will not be slow to profit.
Cruger will not be a day on the march before our general will make his
acquaintance."

"No," replied the neighbour. "If I heard aright, it is General Greene's
intention to pursue Rawdon, and strike a more decisive blow."

"Why did he not encounter him at the Saluda, when the opportunity
offered?"

"General Sumter was not with him."

"Nor is he now."

"And, I fear, will not join him, as he so much desires."

"For what reason?" inquired Geiger.

"He finds no one willing to become bearer of despatches. The country
between this and Sumter's station on the Wateree, is full of the
enemies of our cause--blood-thirsty tories, elated by the defeat of our
arms at Ninety-Six--who will to a certainty murder any man who
undertakes the journey. I would not go on the mission for my weight in
gold."

"And can no man be found to risk his life for his country, even on so
perilous a service?" said the farmer in a tone of surprise, not
unmingled with mortification.

"None. The effort to reach Sumter would be fruitless. The bravest man
will hesitate to throw his life away."

"God protects those who devote themselves to the good of their country,"
said Geiger. "If I could bear the fatigue of the journey, I would not
shrink from the service an instant."

"You would commit an act of folly."

"No--of true devotion to my country," replied the farmer warmly. "But,"
he added in a saddened voice, "what boots it that I am willing for the
task. These feeble limbs refuse to bear me on the journey."

Emily Geiger, the daughter, heard all this with feelings of intense
interest; and as she had often said before, so she said now, in the
silence of her spirit: "Oh that I were a man!" But she was simply a
young and tender girl, and her patriotic heart could only throb with
noble feelings, while her hands were not able to strike a blow for her
country.

"If I were only a man!" murmured the young girl again and again, as she
mused on what she had heard, long after the neighbour had departed.

In the mean time, Gener