We want a full
quarter to the turn; why not push for it, at once?"
"Be cool; they are in alarm, but they will not mount without an officer,
unless they see us fly--now he comes, he moves to the stables; trots
briskly; a dozen are in their saddles, but the officer stops to tighten
his girths; they hope to steal a march upon us; he is mounted; now ride,
Captain Wharton, for your life, and keep at my heels. If you quit me,
you will be lost!"
A second request was unnecessary. The instant that Harvey put his horse
to his speed Captain Wharton was at his heels, urging the miserable
animal he rode to the utmost. Birch had selected his own beast; and
although vastly inferior to the high-fed and blooded chargers of the
dragoons, still it was much superior to the little pony that had been
thought good enough to carry Caesar Thompson on an errand. A very few
jumps convinced the captain that his companion was fast leaving him, and
a fearful glance thrown behind informed the fugitive that his enemies
were as speedily approaching. With that abandonment that makes misery
doubly grievous, when it is to be supported alone, Henry cried aloud to
the peddler not to desert him. Harvey instantly drew up, and suffered
his companion to run alongside of his own horse. The cocked hat and wig
of the peddler fell from his head the moment that his steed began to
move briskly, and this development of their disguise, as it might be
termed, was witnessed by the dragoons, who announced their observation
by a boisterous shout, that seemed to be uttered in the very ears of the
fugitives; so loud was the cry, and so short the distance between them.
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