Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-01-12
CHAPTER ".
A Comfortable Inn, and Good Land
Iady-The Misfortunes Of Heroes Do
Not Always Destroy the Appetite.

y SOmIoTSapiS iHtiI anu SSeS S"~
Iady-The Misfortunes Of Heroes Do
Not Always Destroy the Appetite.
AS soon as Butler landed from the
skiff, he threw his cloak into the
hands Of the sergeant; then. with a
disturbed haste, sprang upon his horse,
and commanding Robinson to follow,
gal!oped along the road down the river
as fast as the nature of the ground
and the obscurity of the hour would al
low. A brief space brought them TO
the spot where the road crossed the
stream, Immediately in the vicinity OF
the Widow Dimock's little inn, which
might here be discovered ensconced
beneath the cover of the opposite hill.
The low-browed wooden building,
quietly stationed some thirty PAGES off
the road, was so adumbrated In the
shelter of huge willow, that the
journeyer, at such an hour as this,
might perchance pass the spot uncon-
sciously by, were it not for an insul-
ated and somewhat haggard signpost
that. like a hospitable seeker OF
strangers, stood hard by the roadside,
and there displayed a shattered en-
blem in the guise of a large blue ball,
a little decayed by wind and weather,
which said Blue Ball, without super
scription or device, was universally in
ternreted to mean entertainment for
man and horse, by the Widow Di-
mock" The moonlight fell with a
broad lustre upon the signpost and Its
pendant globe; and our travellers, be-
side, could descry through the drapery
Of the willow, a window, Of some rear
building of the inn, richly Illuminated
by what, from the redness Of the light
might be conjectured to be a bundle
of blazing fagots.
AS the horses had, Immediately on
entering the ford compelled their mas
ters to a halt, whilst they thrust their
noses into the water and drank with
the greediness of long and neglected
thirst, 1t was with on equivocal self
graduation that Robinson directed his
eye to the presignifications Of good
cheer which were now before him.
Butler had spoken never word" and
the sergeant's habits of subordination,
as well as an honest sympathy in
what he guessed to be the griefs Of his
superior officer, had constrained him
to a respectful silence. The sergeant,
l. F,,l1 90 w
more than once during the gallop from
the Fawn's Tower, he was on the point
of uttering by way Of consolation to
Butler, and which nothing prevented
but that real delicacy Of mind that
lies at the bottom of a kind nature,
and inhabits the shaggy breast of the
rustic, at least, full as often as
it lodges in the heart Of the trim
wording The present halt seemed, In
Horse Shoes reckoning, not only to
furnish a pretext to speak, but In
some degree, to render ii a duty: and,
in truth, an additional very stimulat-
ing subject presented itself to our good
squire. in his instantaneous conviction
that the glare from the tavern window
had it's origin in some active opera
ton which, at this late hour, might be
going on at the kitchen chimney;to un-
derstand the full pungency Of which
consideration, it Is necessary to inform
my reader, that Robinson had for some
time past, been yielding himself to
certain doubts, whether his friend and
himself might not arrive at the inn at
too late an hour to hope for much
despatch in the preparation for supper.
In this state of feeling, partly bent to
cheer the spirits of Butler, and partly
to express his satisfaction at the pros
pect of his own comfort, he broke forth
in the following TERMS
God bless all widows that set them
selves down by the roadside, Is my
worst wish and, in particular, l pray
for good luck to the Widow Dimock
for an orderly sort of body, which
have no doubt she is; and keeps good
hours-to judge by the shine or the
kitchen fire which is blazing yonder
in the rear-and which, to tell truth'
major began to be afeared would be
as dead, by this time o'night, as the
day the hearthstone was first laid. She
deserves to be spoken of as a praise
worthy woman. And moreover,
should say she has popped her house
down in a most legible situation
touching our days march, by which
mean it isn't one step too near rea-
sonable bed hour. I count 1t lucky
major, on your account; and although
it isn't for me to give advice in wo-
man affairs-for 1 know the creatures
do try the grit and edge Of man
amazingly sometimes-yet, If mought
say what was running in my head fit
for a gentleman and an officer like you