It was known that General Marion had every confidence in the opinion of the colonel, and was counting on following it, when the word was passed for those who were at work on the barricades to cease labor that the horses might be given due care in the hope they would be able to travel yet a few miles farther. The men were told to make a hurried meal, and this last command had, in many cases, not yet been obeyed, when the order was given to mount. In less than an hour from the time Colonel Richardson came into the encampment, we were urging our jaded steeds through that gloomy swamp known as the “wood-yard,” and, two hours later, the command was halted on the bank of Jack’s Creek. We had covered only six miles in all that time, owing to the condition of the horses, but it was sufficient, so far as eluding the Britishers was concerned, because they might not come across us unless, perchance, that traitor among our number--he who had aided Seth Hastings in escaping--found opportunity to send back word to the Britishers, and that was a possibility which our officers had ever kept in mind since it was known we had in our ranks one who would serve the king at the first safe chance. While Colonel Tarleton was a butcher--one who had no idea of mercy or compassion--it is only just to give him credit of being a good soldier after his own particular fashion. As a man to lead hard-riders, he was perhaps the best in the king’s service, and we who were now fleeing before him understood that not a single moment would be lost in the pursuit if he had an inkling of our whereabouts. Ride as fast and as long as we might, his men would ever be at our heels, while they could hold the pace, and it was endurance and the speed of the horses which would give the final result. Therefore it was that from the moment when, at Colonel Tyne’s old encampment, it was known the Britishers were devoting all their efforts to the one purpose of crushing the “ragged regiment,” not a man of the command, save those whom General Marion knew personally were devoted heart and soul to the Cause, were allowed to leave the ranks or the camps. The sentinels were selected from such of the regiment as had been proven beyond a doubt, and the word passed at all times was that an alarm should be given without delay if any one lagged behind on the march, or attempted to stray beyond the lines marked out for the encampment. During this last painful, but short, march, we Minute Boys had been ordered to bring up the rear, that we might guard against straggling on the part of our people, and all along the line rode men whose duty it was to shoot down without warning any one who did not hold his designated place in the ranks.