Sultan was at the door. Tom sprang upon his back and shook the rein. Then he waved his hand to the officers on the steps, for they had followed him with considerable ceremony through the hall; in a moment he was dashing along the well-remembered road leading from his father’s plantation. He followed the track toward the city for some time; then drew rein and listened. There was no sound on the road behind, no evidence that he was being followed. Assuring himself of this, he wheeled Sultan into a narrow road leading northwest, and went dashing light-heartedly to meet his comrades at the Indian’s Head. CHAPTER XIII HOW THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENED ON CHRISTMAS EVE AT Christmas time, in the year 1780, the British had no very great occasion for rejoicing, so far as their affairs of government were concerned, at least. They were at war with three European nations--France, Holland and Spain; their colonies in North America were waging a desperate war for independence that seemed as though it would never end, and their attempt to gain possession of West Point, on the Hudson, through the treachery of the infamous Benedict Arnold, had just failed. However, the army under Cornwallis, or at least the officers, did not seem to take their country’s misfortunes very much to heart. The winter season was long remembered for its many gaieties; the loyalists of the town had thrown open their houses and vied with each other as to who could do the most for the king’s scarlet-coated dandies. And among them all not one entertained upon the scale of Jasper Harwood; he seemed determined to prove his loyalty to the crown by his lavish expenditures; but in reality, as the reader knows, he had another reason. The Harwood place was a large one. Hundreds of acres of land were planted with cotton and tobacco; scores of slaves toiled upon the plantation to enrich their master; his mules, oxen and horses were very many. Then, too, he had the Deering place under cultivation; the slaves upon it already addressed him as master; the revenues that came in he appropriated to his own use, which little piece of knavery the authorities overlooked in so good a citizen. His plan to marry his ward Laura to Lieutenant Cheyne, of Tarleton’s regiment of horse, had long been in his mind; but now he was to carry it into effect. All preparations had been made; the Deering mansion, which Harwood now occupied, it being nearer to the city than his own, was brilliantly lighted; the grounds, for the South Carolina December is not severe, were also brightly illuminated, and were thronged by large crowds of guests, all en masque, laughing, chattering and getting all the enjoyment out of the situation possible.