Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-04-13
CHAPTER XII.


tinued their route towards the Pedee,
| by the main road which led through
Cross Creek. a small hamlet on Cape
Fear river. near the site of the present
town of Fayetteville. The general
features of the country were even more
forbidding than those l have already
described as characteristic of this por-
ton of North Carolina. Even to the
present day, cultivation has done but
little to cheer up the natural desolation
to those tracts Of wilderness which lie
between the rivers. But at the early
period to which the events l have been
detailing have reference, the journey
undertaken by our little caravan might
be compared to that which is now fire.
quenrly made through the more south
ern extremity Of the Union. from the
Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico, an at
tempt seldom essayed by a female, and
sufficiently trying to the hardihood, OF
the stoutest travellers. The forethought
and attention of Horse Shoe Robinson,
however, contributed to alleviate the
pains of the enterprise, and to enable
Mildred to overcome its difficulties.
In the present alarmed and excited
state of this province the party were
less liable to interruption in this seclud-
ed and destitute section of the country,
than they might have been, had they
chosen a lower and more populous dis
trict, and the consciousness that every
days perseverance brought them near
er to the ultimate term of their jour-
ney, gave new vigor, at least, to MIL
dred's capacity to endure the priva-
tions to which she was exposed. But
few vestiges of the war yet occurred
to their view. The great wilderness,
like the great ocean, retains no traces
of the passage of hostile bodies. Some
times, indeed, the signs Of a woodland
encampment were visible In the midst
of the forest, on the margin OF some
sluggish brook or around a sylvan
fountain where the impression Of re-
cent hoof- prints. the scattered frag-
ments of brushwood cut for temporary
shelter, and the still smouldering ashes
of camp fires, showed that masses or
men had been in motion. The deer fled,
too, with a more frightened bound to-
wards their coverts, as if lately alarm
ed by the pursuit of the huntsman; but
the images of devastation, which are
associated with the horrid front of war
in the mind of all familiar with its
ravage, were absent. The eternal,
leafy shade high arching over the
heads of the wayfarers furnished no OBJ
ject for human vengeance; and it still
sighed in the tanning of the breeze, as
OF old II sighed before man claimed
dominion I'm the soil 1t sheltered. A
far different scene was shortly to be
looked upon by our venturesome
friends.
Several days had again passed by,
for the journey through the wilderness
had been slowly prosecuted, when Rob-
inson, towards the approach of evening.
announced to Mildred his conjecture
that they were not far off the Pedee.
The banks of this river had been the
scene of frequent hostilities and the
war that had been carried on here was
of the most ruthless kind. The river
is characterized by a broad, deep, and
quiet stream, begirt with vegetation
of exceeding luXuriance. It's periodical
overflow seems to have poured out up
on its margin a soil of ineXhaustible
richness. that, for mile or two on
either side. forms striking contrast
with the low, barren sandhills that
hem in the river plain. Along this
tract of level border. all the way to
the Atlantic, are found, as is usually
the case throughout the Carolinas, the
large plantations of opuleat gentlemen
who by the cultivation of rice and cot
ton, turn the fertility of the soil to
the best account. These possessions
presenting the most assailable points
to an enemy, and. indeed, almost the
only ones in which the great interests
of the province might be wounded
were, during the whole of that bloody
struggle Wnlcn ulStlllBulSneu lIle u'iS'
of the TORY Ascendency," the constant
objects of attack; and here the war was
waged with a vindictive malignity, Oh
the part of the British and Tory par
tisanS, that is scarcely surpassed IN
the history of civil brOils, The finest
estates were sacked, the dwellings
burnt, and the property destroyed with
unsparing rage. The men were drag
ged from their houses and hung, the
women and children turned without
food or raiment into the wilderness. and
political vengeance seemed to gorge it
self to gluttony upon its own rapine.
The thoughts of Robinson had been
for some days past, running upon the
probable difficulties that might attend
the guise i'm which he was now about
to return to his native province. This
was a subject of some concern since
he ran a risk of being compelled eth