Birch continued gazing on this scene with a kind of infatuation. At its
close he placed his hands to his ears, and rushed towards the highway.
Still the cries for mercy rang through his brain, and it was many weeks
before his memory ceased to dwell on the horrid event. The Cowboys rode
steadily on their route, as if nothing had occurred; and the body was
left swinging in the wind, until chance directed the wandering footsteps
of some lonely straggler to the place.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Green be the turf above thee,
Friend of my better days;
None knew thee but to love thee,
None named thee but to praise.
--HALLECK.
While the scenes and events that we have recorded were occurring,
Captain Lawton led his small party, by slow and wary marches, from the
Four Corners to the front of a body of the enemy; where he so
successfully maneuvered, for a short time, as completely to elude all
their efforts to entrap him, and yet so disguised his own force as to
excite the constant apprehension of an attack from the Americans. This
forbearing policy, on the side of the partisan, was owing to positive
orders received from his commander. When Dunwoodie left his detachment,
the enemy were known to be slowly advancing, and he directed Lawton to
hover around them, until his own return, and the arrival of a body of
foot, might enable him to intercept their retreat.
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