On the left of the ground on which Dunwoodie
intended to meet his foe, was a close wood, which skirted that side of
the valley for the distance of a mile. Into this, then, the guides
retired, and took their station near its edge, in such a manner as would
enable them to maintain a scattering, but effectual fire, on the
advancing column of the enemy.
It cannot be supposed that all these preparations were made unheeded by
the inmates of the cottage; on the contrary, every feeling which can
agitate the human breast, in witnessing such a scene, was actively
alive. Mr. Wharton alone saw no hopes to himself in the termination of
the conflict. If the British should prevail, his son would be liberated;
but what would then be his own fate! He had hitherto preserved his
neutral character in the midst of trying circumstances. The fact of his
having a son in the royal, or, as it was called, the regular army, had
very nearly brought his estates to the hammer. Nothing had obviated this
result, but the powerful interest of the relation who held a high
political rank in the state, and his own vigilant prudence. In his
heart, he was a devoted loyalist; and when the blushing Frances had
communicated to him the wishes of her lover, on their return from the
American camp the preceding spring, the consent he had given, to her
future union with a rebel, was as much extracted by the increasing
necessity which existed for his obtaining republican support, as by any
considerations for the happiness of his child.
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