The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-12-03

"Thet thar stopped his ss7ortin'.
anyhow" the scout bawled out,
though everybody was too excited to
hear. Rah fur Gin'r'l Jackson!"
About this time Burns came sham.
bling along the line, apparently quite
unconscious OF danger. He was hag.
gard and wild.lookIng. his hair un.
kempt and his long, thin, white beard
tangled across his face.
He saw Vasseur and approached
him.
"Have you seen him yet?" he in'
quired, bending over the excited little
half.breed, "have you seen him yet?"
A -ound-shot cast up splash OF
mud md water in front Of them.
"Es not there at prayson," stam-
mereG. forth poor Vasseur. "Mebbs
he sot care about zis Ting varee like.
ly."
The front of the British column
dashed up to the ditch; a few brave
fellows foundered through it and
rushed right into the muszles of the
American guns.
But it was not for mortal courage
to stem that humming current Of mis-.
siles. A thirty.tUo-pounder was
loaded 10 the muzzle -ith mnaAet-
balls and fragments OF metal. Just
as the column thickened close along
the ditch, the gunner, with steady
hand, lowered the piece so that the
dreadful charge would rake the level
surface of the ground and fred.
Never, perhaps in the history Of war
fare was there another SO destructive
o shot. The historians tell what is
too incredible even for romance) that
two hundred British soldiers were
killed outright by the storm Of lead
aud iron, that one blast OF the breath
Of war!
The whole front of the charging
column had melted down.
Peevy still stood on the breast.
work, peeping through the battle
smoke, trying always to aim at some
particular one of the enemy before
firing Mary Ann.
Pskenham had been given another
horse. and although one of the scouts
bullets had hit him, he mounted aud
went to the head of the column once
more to reform it. But he was
doomed. A grape-shot dashed him,
dying, to the ground.
General Gibbs took command.
Peevy saw him and sigualed him out
for his aim.
Mary Ann was merciless. Officer
after officer fell. Down dropped
Gibbs; over went Keaue; Dale fell
dead; indeed, it seemed that no man
who undertook to lead the columns
could escape those special messages
of Mary Ann when directed by the
imperturbable aim of the scout.
So the battle went; the British re.
coiled, plunged forward, tumbled in
bleeding heaps, broke, rallied,
charged again and again. That little,
muddy ditch, with its slippery banks
anG slow, dark tide, was the line Of
death. No man crossed it and lived.
At the last desperate moment, a
man, superbly mounted, was seen
calling together the bravest spirits of
the English army. He rode like
king; his face was as cold as marble
and vet scintillant with magnetic
energy.
General Jackson leveled his old
field-glass upon him and actually re-
coiled.
"That scoundrel!" he exclaimed,
and his bronzed aud jaundiced visage
showed q sudden excitement. "A
renegade, by the eternal!"
Vasseur saw the new leader and
leaned over the breastwork to gaze at
him. So attracted was he by the ap.
partition that he forgot his fear.
Mr.. Vernon looked and turned pale.
The enemy's line reformed, the High
landers in front, and came on again,
this time with o ready sweep that ap-
peared resistless.
Peevy was still at his stand, reload
ing Mary Ann as calmly as il he were
going to shoot squirrel.
"He air long ways off, Mary
Ann," muttered he, "but we mus
re'ch i'm, ole gal!'
He lifted the rifle and took deliber-
ate sight over the long barrel. The
sharp report was lost in the general
roar of the fight. Had he missed?
There was NJ sign to the contrary.
"Pierre Ramcau! Viola! See! It's
Pierre Rameauw screamed Vasseur.
dancing around wildly.
General Jackson came almost rum
ming along the line, the white foam OF
excitement fringing his bloodless lips.
"Shoot that eternal, internal scoun-
drel for me, Peevy!" he shouted,
pointing his long, emaciated finger
toward the new British leader.
"Shoot him! Kill him!"
"Thet airs jes' wat I tole Mary
Aun," replied the scout, priming his
rifle.
Jackson snatched up an old musket
L.