Then again, and it really begins to seem as if I were making some apology for the British, the king’s troops were accustomed to fight only in line of battle. Therefore when we sought cover, following the example of the Indians, they, not accustomed to standing before an unseen enemy, grew cowardly at being shot down when no person was in sight. Perhaps it was needless for me to set down all these words, but as I think of the many times we met the foe and vanquished him, when by all the rules of war our people should have been wiped out entirely, I have the fear that whosoever reads what I have written will set me down as a braggart, even though proof of my statement may be had by referring to what wise men have said concerning the matter. When those of our people who stood on the left of the Minute Boys’ line had disappeared in pursuit of the fleeing foe, there were left in the encampment a hundred or more men in addition to our company. One of these, who claimed to have the rank of captain, but I know not with what right, took command, ordering us lads to march around to the other side of the building in order that we might act as sentinels against a possible attack from the southward. It was not for us to question any one’s authority at such a time, for we knew full well that some such service was needed, but it went sadly against the grain, for even I had become eager to fight now that the first flush of fear had passed away. During the hour which followed each of us paced to and fro on such beats as had been assigned by Gabriel, hearing nothing, seeing nothing to betoken a struggle between the enemy, although we knew full well that somewhere in the distance, and not very far away, our people were striving to kill, or struggling to prevent others from killing them. Then, squad by squad, those who had gone in pursuit returned looking victorious, but the most ominous thing to me, in this victory, was the fact that they brought with them no prisoners. When General Marion and Captain Horry, who were among the last in returning, as they had been the first in pursuing the redcoats, came up, they called about them a dozen or more of the men, and while we lads, in obedience to orders, brought out the horses from where they had been picketed in the dwelling, this little group held a council of war. At the end of another hour orders were given for us to mount, and we rode slowly away, covering, mayhap, a distance of six miles, when we found ourselves at the plantation of Henry Davis. Here word was given to make camp once more, and at the same time it was intimated that we would not be allowed to remain idle save until the following morning.