with a powderhorn attached to it, suspended on his right side, might have warranted a spectator in taking Robinson for a woodsman or hunter from the neighboring mountains.
Such were the two personages who now came "pricking o'er the hill." The period at which I have presented them to my reader was, perhaps, the most anxious one of the whole struggle for independence. Without falling into a long narrative of events which are familiar, at least to every American, I may recall the fact that Gates had just passed southward to take command of the army destined to act against Cornwallis. It was now within a few weeks of that decisive battle which sent the hero of Saratoga "bootless home and weatherbeaten back," to ponder over the mutations of fortune and, in the quiet shades of Virginia, to strike the balance of fame between Northern glory and Southern discomfiture.
[On his way South, Captain Butler passed by Dove Cote, in Virginia, where lived Mildred Lindsay, with whom he was in love. Mildred Lindsay's father was loyal to the king and did not look with favor upon Butler's suit since he had entered the Continental army. Mildred's father favored Tyrrel, who had been sent from England to look after the king's interest. Under these circumstances it was impossible for Butler to do more than to see Mildred secretly on the river bank. At Mrs. Dimock's inn, where Butler and Horseshoe were to spend the night, they met with James Curry, an attendant of Tyrrel, who was carefully watched by Horseshoe under the suspicion that he might be a spy. A quarrel ensued, followed by a fight in which Curry was worsted. The next morning the captain and his companion left early, and after a journey of a week they reached the headquarters of General Gates. Finding no need for his services there, Butler continued his way, according to instructions, to join Colonel Clarke, who was in the mountains
