However eager he was to come up with Tarleton, General Marion did not intend to leave so much property behind him for the benefit of the Tories whom we knew must be lurking near about, nor was he minded to destroy it. Six of our people were ordered to remain until wagons should be sent, so that as many of the goods as possible might be carried to Kingstree. It was easier to give such a command than to carry it out, for with only six to guard what must be tempting bait for those whom we had despoiled, it would not be any desperate venture to overcome them, and I questioned very seriously whether the half-dozen brave fellows who had volunteered for such dangerous service would ever be seen by us again. CHAPTER XVIII MANŒUVRING FOR POSITION I have already set it down that our people were much the same as wild with delight when it seemed probable we were about to set off in search of Colonel Tarleton, lest he might have some difficulty in finding us who were eager to meet him, and the greater number of our “ragged regiment” firmly believed we would give battle wheresoever we chanced to come upon the enemy. I myself fancied, as did Gabriel, that our commander, believing his force sufficient to warrant acting on the offensive, would turn the tables by hunting Tarleton, when the truth was, as I learned later, that General Marion made a change of base in order to have choice of the battle-field, taking good care to arrange everything in his favor, if that might be possible, before trying conclusions. That which was done during the week or two following our abandonment of the encampment provided for us by Colonel Tyne, proved that General Marion was an able soldier, and the fact that he came to grief in this one case does not detract in any little degree, so I have heard military authorities say, from his reputation. If we Minute Boys had known that the order to break camp had been given simply because the general was not willing to meet Tarleton’s force at Tarcote, and that we were setting off only in order to manœuvre for position, as the captain of a ship jockeys to get weather gauge of his adversary, then it is certain we would have left the force sufficiently long to have one more try at capturing Seth Hastings. Had we done so, we might have saved a life that had become very dear to us, and much of the history concerning the Carolinas in the year of grace 1781 would have been written in a different strain. Unfortunately, as it has ever seemed to me, we were in ignorance of the true reason for abandoning Colonel Tyne’s encampment, and believed it our duty to hold with the “ragged regiment,” to the end that we might do our full share of the fighting which seemed so near at hand.