THE MINUTE BOYS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AMERICAN HISTORY STORIES FOR BOYS _THE MINUTE BOYS SERIES_ The Minute Boys of Lexington The Minute Boys of Bunker Hill =By Edward Stratemeyer= [Illustration] The Minute Boys of the Green Mountains The Minute Boys of the Mohawk Valley The Minute Boys of the Wyoming Valley The Minute Boys of South Carolina The Minute Boys of Long Island =By James Otis= _THE MEXICAN WAR SERIES_ By Capt. Ralph Bonehill For the Liberty of Texas With Taylor on the Rio Grande Under Scott in Mexico DANA ESTES & COMPANY Publishers Estes Press, Summer St., Boston [Illustration: “‘I WILL TAKE YOUR LIFE AS FORFEIT FOR TREACHERY!’” (_See page 281._)] THE MINUTE BOYS OF SOUTH CAROLINA A STORY OF “HOW WE BOYS AIDED MARION THE SWAMP FOX” AS TOLD BY RUFUS RANDOLPH JAMES OTIS Illustrated by J. W. F. KENNEDY [Illustration] BOSTON DANA ESTES & COMPANY PUBLISHERS _Copyright, 1907_ BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY _All rights reserved_ _COLONIAL PRESS Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. Boston, U. S. A._ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE FOREWORD v I. GABRIEL AND RUFUS 11 II. THE PURSUIT 28 III. RECRUITS 47 IV. DISAPPOINTMENT 67 V. BARFIELD’S CAMP 87 VI. THE RESCUE 103 VII. NELSON’S FERRY 121 VIII. THE PRISONERS 140 IX. A TRAP 159 X. AN ODD BATTLE 179 XI. OUR RETREAT 198 XII. A MYSTERIOUS ESCAPE 217 XIII. THE SEARCH FOR THE TRAITOR 236 XIV. A QUEER MESSAGE 254 XV. ROWE’S SMITHY 273 XVI. A SKIRMISH IN THE DARK 292 XVII. SETH HASTINGS ONCE MORE 310 XVIII. MANŒUVRING FOR POSITION 326 XIX. A DASTARDLY BLOW 344 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE “‘I WILL TAKE YOUR LIFE AS FORFEIT FOR TREACHERY!’” (_See page 281_) _Frontispiece_ “‘FIVE MINUTES LONGER AND WE SHALL BE OUT OF RANGE!’” 32 “‘DISMOUNT AND THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!’” 80 “IF IT HAD NOT BEEN FOR SETH HASTINGS, I SHOULD HAVE CONSIDERED MYSELF EXCEEDINGLY FORTUNATE” 112 “‘I PROPOSE THAT WE HALT HERE’” 123 “THEN WE SAW COMING THROUGH THE AVENUE OF TREES OUR ‘SWAMP FOX’” 196 “‘ARE YOU MASTER DAVIS’S DAUGHTER?’” 265