Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-01-05

show his party; nor do l WISH 10 De
considered as derogating from that
peaceful character when add that his
saddle-bow was fortified by brace of
horseman's pistols slowed away in
large holsters, covered with bearskin-
for, in those days, when hostile BAN
ners were unfurled and men challenged
each other upon the highways, these
pistols were a part Of the countenance
Ito use an excellent old phrase) of a
gentleman.
Galbraith Robinson was a man Of al
! together rougher mould. Nature had
carved out, in his person, an athlete
whom the sculptors might have studied
to improve the Hercules. Every Inca
ment OF his body indicated strength.
His stature was rather above six feet;
his chest broad; his limbs sinewy, and
remarkable for their symmetry. There
seemed to be no useless flesh upon his
frame to soften the prominent surface
of his muscles and his ample thigh,
as he sat upon horseback, showed the
working Of it's texture at each step, as
If part Of the animal on which he rode.
His was one of those iron forms that
might be imagined almost bullet-proof.
With all these advantages Of person
there was a radiant, broad, good
ture upon his face; and the glance of
large, clear, blue eye told Of arch
thoughts, and of shrewd homely wis
dom. A ruddy complexion accorded
we'll with his sprightly, but massive
features, of which the prevailing ex-
preston was such as silently invited
friendship and trust. If to these traits
be added an abundant shock of yellow,
curly hair, terminating in a luxuriant
queue, confined by narrow strand OF
leather cord, my reader will have toll
erably correct idea Of the person 1 wish
to describe.
Robinson had been a blacksmith at
the breaking out Of the Revolution. and
in truth, could hardly be said to have
yet abandoned the craft; although of
ate, he had been engaged in a course
of life which had but little to do with
the anvil, except In that metaphorical
sense Of hammering out and shaping
the rough iron independence Of his
farm In the Waxhaw settlement, on
the Catawba, and having pitched his
habitation upon a promontory, around
whose base the Waxhaw creek swept
with a regular but narrow circuit, this
locality taken in connection with his
calling, gave rise to a common prefix
to his name throughout the neighbor-
hood, and he was therefore almost ex-
clusively distinguished by the sobri-
quet Of Horse Shoe Robinson. This
familiar appellative had followed him
into the army.
The age of Horse Shoe was some
seven or eight years in advance of that
of Butler-a circumstance which the
worthy senior did not fail to use with
some authority In their personal inter-
course holding himself, on that ac-
count, to be like Cassius, an elder, If
not a better soldier. On the present
occasion, his dress was Of the plainest
and most rustic description; a spher-
ical crowned hat with a broad brim, a
coarse gray coatee of mixed cotton and
wool, dark linsey-woolsey trousers ad-
herring closely to his legs, hob nailed
shoes and a red cotton handkerchief
tied carelessly round his neck with a
knot upon his bosom. This costume,
and long rifle. thrown into the angle
of the right arm, with the breech rest
| ing on his pommel, and a pouch of
deerskin, with a powder-horn attached
to it, suspended on his right side,
might have warranted a spectator in
taking Robinson for a woodsman, or
hunter from the neighboring noun
tains.
| Such were the two personages who
now came "pricking DER the HILL"
The period at which 1 have presented
them to my reader was, perhaps, the
most anxious one of the whole struggle
for independence. Without falling into
a long narrative of events which are
may recall the fact that Gates had just
passed southwark to take command of
the army destined to act against Corn
wallis. It was now within a few weeks
of that decisive battle which sent the
hero of Saratoga "bootless home and
weather. beaten back" to ponder over
the mutations Of fortune, and In the
quiet shades of Virginia, to strike the
balance of fame between northern glory
and southern discontinue. 1t may be
imagined then, that our travellers were
not without some share Of that intense
interest for the events upon the gale
which everywhere pervaded the nation
Still, as l have before hinted, Arthur
Butler did not journey through this
beautiful region without a lively per-
ception of the charms which nature had
spread around him. The soil of this
district is remarkable for its blood
red hue. The side of every bank glow
ed in the sun with this bright vermil-
lion tint, and the new-made furrow
wherever the early ploughman, had
SCARED the soil, turned up to view the
predominating color. The contrast OF
this with the luXuriant grass and the
yellow stubble, with the gray and mos
sy rock, and with the deep green shade
of the surrounding forest, perpetually
solicited the notice Of the lover OF
landscape; and from every height, the
eye rested with pleasure upon the rich
meadows of the bottom land-upon the
varied cornfields spread over the hills
upon the adjacent mountains, with
their bald crags peeping through the
screen of forest, and especially upon the
broad lines of naked earth that here
and there, lighted up and relieved, as
a painter would say. with its warm
coloring, the heavy masses of shade.
The day was hot, and it was with
grateful sense of refreshment that oul
wa vfarerS no less than their horses