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

On the nrSt page OF To-Day paper 10
published the first installment Of Horse
Shoe Robinson, which was promised
last Tuesday. The installment In
cludes the two opening chapters; but
the book would hardly be complete
without the authors introduction, and
that Is reproduced herewith. 1t gives
a very comprehensive idea Of the char
acter and scope of the story:
In the winter Of eighteen hundred
and eighteen nineteen, / had occasion
to visit the western section Of South
Carolina The public conyeyances; had
taken me to Augusta, In Georgia
There I purchased a horse, most
trusty companion, with whom l had
many pleasant experiences; sorrel,
yet retained by me In admiring mem
ory. A valise strapped behind my sad
die with a great coat spread upon that,
furnished all that l required Of person.
al accommodation. My blood beat
temperately with the pulse Of youth
and health. ] breathed the most de-
licious air in the world. Ny travel
tended to the region of the most beau
tiful scenery. The weather Of early
January was as balmy as October; a
light, warm haze mellowed the atmos-
phere, and cast the softest and richest
hues over the landscape. / retraced my
steps from Augusta to Edgefield, which
I had passed in the stage coach. From
Edgefield I went to Abbeville, and
thence to Pendleton. I was now In the
old district of Ninety-Six, just at the
foot of the mountains. My course was
still westward. journeyed alone, or
rather, ought to say, In good compa-
ny, for my horse and had establish
ed a confidential friendship, and we
amused ourselves with a great deal OF
pleasant conversational our way.
Besides, my fancy was busy, and made
the wayside quite populous-with peo-
pie of it's own; there were but few OF
any other kind.
In the course of my journey I met
an incident, which I have preserved In
my journal The reader Of the tale
which occupies this volume has some
interest in 1t.
Upon a day." as the old ballads have
II. one Of the best days Of this exquis-
lite climate, my road threaded the de-
files of some of the grandest mountains
of the country. Huge ramparts or
rock toppled over my path and little
streams leaped, In beautiful cascades,
from ledge to ledge, and brawled along
the channels, which often supplied the
only footway for my horse. and, Gid
ing through tangled screens Of rho
dodenron, laurel, arbor- vitae, and other
evergreens, plunged into rivers, whose
waters exceed anything l had ever
conceived Of limpid purity 1t may be
poetical to talk of liquid crystal, but no
crystal has the absolute perfection or
the transparency Of these streams. The
more distant mountain sides. where the
opening valley offered them to my view
were fortified with stupendous walls,
or banks Of solid and unbroken rock,
rising in successive benches one above
another, with masses OF dark pine be-
tween; the highest forming crest to
the mountain, cutting the sky In sharp
profile, with images Of castellated tow-
ers, battlements and buttresses, around
whose SUBMITS the inhabiting buzzard,
with broad extended wings, floated and
rocked in air and swept in majestic
circles.
The few inhabitants of this region
were principally the tenant OF the
bounty which the state Of South Caro-
lima had conferred upon the soldiers OF
the Revolutions; and their settlements,
made upon the rich bottoms of the riy-
er valleys, were separated from each
other by large tracts Of forest.
I had much perplexity in some por-
tions of this days journey In finding
my way through the almost painless
forest which lay between two OF these
settlements. That Of which / was in
quest was situated upon the Seneca,
tributary of the Savannah river, here
called Tooloolee. 1t was near sundown
when I emerged from the wilderness
upon a wagon road, very uncertain or
nv whereabout and entertaining some
rather anxious misgivings as to my
portion for the night.
I had seen no one for the last five or
six hours. and upon falling into the
road did not know whether / was TO
take the right or the left hand-a very
material problem for my solution just
then.
During this suspense, a lad, appar-
emily not above ten years OF age
rrounted bare back on a fine horse,
suddenly emerged from the wood about
fifty PAGES ahead Of me. and galloped
along the road in the same direction
that | had myself resolved to take. l
uuickened my speed to overtake him,
but from the rapidity Of his movement,
found myself. at the end OF mile,
not as near him as l was at the begi1-
i~e. Some open country in front, how
ever. showed me that I was approach
irg a settlement Almost at the mo-
ment of making this discovery. I OBJ
served that the lad was lying on. the
ground by the roadside. FASTENED to
him dismounted. and found him sadly
In want of assistance. His horse had
run off with him, thrown him, and dis
located, as 1t afterwards appeared, his
shoulder joint.
Whilst 1 was busy in rendering such