"Christopher shall save you the trouble," replied Musgrove. "A good horse never loses anything by the eye of his master," said Horse Shoe; "so, Christopher, I'll go with you." In a short time the sergeant returned into the house, and took his seat at the table, where he fell to, at what was set before him, with a laudable dispatch. "How far off," he inquired, "is the nearest Tory post, Mr. Musgrove?" "Colonel Innis has some light corps stationed within two miles. If you had been a little earlier you would have found some of them at my mill." "Innis!" repeated Horse Shoe, "I thought Floyd had these parts under command?" "So he has," replied the miller, "but he has lately joined the garrison at Rocky Mount." "Ha! ha! ha!" ejaculated Robinson, "that's a pot into which Sumpter will be dipping his ladle before long. All the land between Wateree and Broad belongs to Tom Sumpter, let mad-cap Tarleton do his best! We Whigs, Mr. Musgrove, have a little touch of the hobgoblin in us. We travel pretty much where we please. Now, I will tell you, friend, very plainly what I am after. I don't mean to leave these parts till I see what is to become of Major Butler. Innis and Floyd put together sha'n't hinder me from looking after a man that's under my charge. I'm an old sodger, and they can't make much out of me if they get me." "The country is swarming with troops of one kind or another," said the miller; "and a man must have his wits about him who would get through it. You are now, Mr. Robinson, in a very dangerous quarter. The fort at Ninety-Six on one side of you, and Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock on the other--the road between the three is full of loyalists. Colonel Innis is here to keep the passage open, and, almost hourly, his men are passing. You should be careful in showing yourself in daylight. And as for your poor friend, Major Butler, there is not likely to be much good will shown towards him. I greatly fear his case is worse than it seems to you."