Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-02-13
CHAPTER XVI.


Turk 1 have got the four points on
you, bully buff! High. low, jack and
the camel" exclaimed Peppercorn.
You have luck enough to worry out
the nine lives OF a cat. That's an end
to Backbiter, the best horse 'twixt Pc
dee and the Savannah. So blast me-
If I play any more with you! There
send the cards to hell" roared out
Hugh Habershaw, rising and throwing
the pack into the fire.
1t was just at the closing in of
night, when a party of ruffianly-look-
ing men were assembled beneath a
spreading chestnut, that threw forth
its aged arms over a small gravelly
hillock, in the depths Of the forest
that skirted the northern bank Of the
Pacolet, within a short distance Of
GrindalPs ford. The spot had all the
qualities of a secret fastness. 1t was
guarded on one side by the small river,
and on the other by a complicated
screen of underwood, consisting prin-
cipally Of those luxuriantly plated
ter to the southern woodland. The
shrubbery, Immediately along the
bank OF the river, was sufficiently open
to enable a horseman to ride through
II down, to the road which, at about
two hundred PAGES off. led into the
ford.
The group who now occupied this
spot consisted of some ten or twelve
men under the command Of Hugh Ha-
bershaw. Their appearance was half
rustic and half military; some efforts
at soldierly costume were visible in
the decoration of an occasional buck
tail set in the caps Of several of the
party. and here and there, a piece OF
yellow cloth forming a band for the
hat. Some wore long and ungainly
deer-skin pantaloons and moccasins of
the same material; and two or three
were indued with coats of coarse
homespun, awkwardly garnished with
the trimmings Of a British uniform.
All were armed, but In the same irreg-
ular fashion. There were rifles to be
seen stacked against the trunk OF the
tree: most Of the men wore swords,
which were Of different lengths and
sizes: and some Of the gang had a
horseman's pistol bestowed conspic-
uously about their persons. Their
horses were attached to the dropping
ends of the boughs of the several trees
that hemmed in the circle, and were
A. F0r nrxrtn of q
A small fire OF brushwood had been
kindled near the foot Of the chestnut,
and its blaze was sufficiently strong to
throw a bright glare over the motley
and Unlocking crew who were as
sembled near it. They might well
have been taken for a bivouac Of ban
ditti of the most undisciplined and saw
age class. A small party were broiling
yenison at the fire: the greater num-
Der, however, were stretched out upon
the ground in idleness, waiting for
some expected summons to action.
The two l have first noticed were seat
ed on the butt-end Of a fallen trunk,
Immediately within the light Of the
fire, and were engaged with a pack
Of dirty cards, at the then popular
game Of "all-fours."
These two personages were alto
gether different in exterior from each
other. The first of them, known only
by the sobriquet of Peppercorn, was
tall, we'll -proportioned and active
man, neatly dressed in the uniform
of a British dragoon. His countenance
indicated more intelligence than be-
longed to his companions. and his
manners had the flexible, bold,
and careless port that generally
distinguishes a man who has served
much in the army, and become
familiar with the varieties Of charao-
ter afforded by such career. The Sec
ond was Hugh Habershaw, the captain
of the gang. He was bluff, red-vis-
aged, corpulent man. with a face of
gross, unmitigated sensuality. A pale
bloodshot eye, which was expression
less, except in sinister glance, occa-
stoned by partial squint, small up
turned nose, mouth with thin and
compressed lips inclining downwards
at the corners, a double chin, bristling
with a wiry and almost white beard.
a low forehead a bald crown and
meagre. reddish whiskers, were the
ill-favored traits of his physiognomy.
couth as his countenance. He was
rather below the middle height, and
appeared still shorter by the stoop Of
his massive round shoulders, by the
ample bulk of his chest, and by the
rotundity of his corporation. In con-
sideration of his rank, as the leader OF
this vagabond squadron, he aimed at
more military ornament In his dress
than his comrades. A greasy cooked
hat, decorated after the fashion de-
scribed by Grumio, with the humor
OF forty fancies pricked in it for a
feather" was perched somewhat su-
perciliously upon his poll, and his
body was invested in an old and much
abused cloth coat Of London brown,
as 1t was then called, to the ample
shoulders of which had been attached
two long, narrow, and thread-bare
broad buckskin belt was girded. by the
help OF a large brass buckle around
his middle, on the outside of his coat.
and II served as we'll to suspend a
rusty sabre. as to furnish support to
a hunting knife. which was thrust into
II in front. His neither person was
rendered conspicuous by a pair Of din
gy smallclothes, and long black boots.
Close at the feet Of this redoubtable
commander lay a fat, surly bulldog
whose snarlish temper seemed to have
been fostered and promoted by the
peremptory perverseness with which
his master claimed for him all the
privileges and indulgencies Of a pam
pered favorite.
Such were the unattractive exterior
and circumstances Of the man who as