“And that is not strange, lad,” the general replied. “Most like the redcoats took your comrade entirely by surprise, and thus had no difficulty in preventing him from making an outcry. They had every reason to work quietly, more particularly after Seth Hastings had told them of you. The only mystifying part of the entire story is, that you succeeded in making your escape. How far away is the encampment?” “Three or four miles,” Gabriel replied. Then it was that General Marion gave word for his “ragged regiment” to dismount, and while the men fed their horses with such corn as had been brought by the party, the commander and Captain Horry stepped aside, evidently for a consultation, whereupon I whispered to Gabriel: “They are deciding as to whether an attack shall be made upon the encampment,” and he replied with a smile: “I venture to say, William Rufus, that the question between them is as to _how_ it shall be made, for if I mistake not, their countenances, while we were making our report, told that an attack had been decided upon without words.” There was no opportunity for us to discuss the matter just then, for the Marshall boys and old Peter came up, having felt obliged to remain at a distance while we were in conversation with the commander, and insisted on hearing from our lips the strange story. Gabriel took it upon himself to describe the adventure, and as if thinking one or the other of the listeners might find fault because we had turned our backs upon Archie in his time of danger, the dear lad explained at great length how difficult it had been for him to persuade me to rejoin the general’s force. “We’s gwine to have that young Archie out ob de sogers’ han’s ’fore mornin’,” old Peter exclaimed in a tone of conviction, and Edward Marshall laughingly asked him why he was so positive, repeating again that which we had told him as to the number of men under Barfield’s command. “Marse Marion is in de head ob dis yere army,” was all the negro thought it necessary to say, and I, who should have known the general better than he, could have kicked myself for doubting when an old servant had such implicit confidence in the bravery and daring of his master. There was not a trooper in the company who did not feel positive that as soon as night had come we would be struggling with the enemy, and it stands to reason that I could not fail of being convinced when every one around me took it as a matter of course that an attack would be made. Therefore did I consult with my companions--meaning those of us who called ourselves Minute Boys of South Carolina--as to what should be our course of action when we charged the encampment. “We must ride together, doing whatsoever we may to aid in the general attack, and at the same time giving the greater portion of our attention to seeking out the prisoner and his keeper,” Edward Marshall said decidedly, and Gabriel replied with a laugh which had in it nothing of mirth: