Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-03-12
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A Romance of the American Revolution
BY w. GILMORE SIMMS

settled neighborhood., They had beer
Ineighbors-but never friends. Fol
many years they lived in the same dis
| trict, seeing each other frequently, hnI
without intercourse. This was entire.
\ ly owing to Griffin, who disliked Gas
kens, and studiously withheld himself
from all intimacy with him. Griffin
was an industrious farmer-Gaskens
the overseer for the Postell estate
Griffin was a sober, quiet man, who
had been long married, and found his
chief enjoyment in the bosom Of his
family. Gaskens loved the race-turt
and the cockpit, and his soul was full
of their associations. 1t is the instinct
of vice to hate the form Of virtue, OF
that habit which so nearly resembles
her, as to desire no exciting indulgen-
ces, no forced stimulants, no unwont-
ed and equivocal enjoyments. Griffin
sought for none of those pleasures
which were all-in-all to Gaskens, and
the other hated him accordingly.
But there were yet other causes for
this hostility, in the positive rejection
of his proffered intimacy, which Grif-
fin had unscrupulously given
Though but a small farmer, with
means exceedingly moderate, the
sense of self-respect, which Industry
brought with 1t to his mind, taught
him to scorn and to avoid the base
outrider, and the dishonest overseer
of the neighboring plantation. Words
of strife, more than once, had fallen
between them, but not with any serious
rupture following. Gaskens, finally,
iemoved to another plantation some
what further off, and all acquaintance
ceased between them. There he pur-
sued his old course; and at length left
without employ. as he had lost the
confidence Of all those whom he had
served heretofore in his capacity as
overseer, he had become the regular
attendant at the tavern.
The arrival of the British forces, the
siege and the surrender Of Charleston,
with the invasion Of the state by for-
eign mercenaries presented him with
a new field Of action: and, with thou
sands of others, to whom all consider
ations were as nothing, weighed
against the love Of low indulgence, un-
restrained power, and a profligate lust
for plunder, he did not scruple to
adopt the cause which was strongest,
and most likely to procure him those
objects for which his appetite most
craved. He became furious loyalist,
mustered his party and became the
assessor Of his neighbor's estates. The
fortune which threw into his hands
the person of Griffin revived the old
grudge; and the stout defense made
by his prisoner, determined him upon
a measure but too often adopted In
that saturnalia of crime, the Tory war
fare in Carolina, to excite much atteh-
ton or provoke many scruples In the
party employing it. With spiteful
malignity which belongs to the vulgar
mind, he had ridden along by the side
of his captive; and finding as he rode,
that the presence of his wife and
daughter was a consolation still, he
ordered them to the rear with the
other prisoners, not permitting them
to approach, or even to speak with
him. AS he rode he taunted his cap
tive with low remarks and insolent
sneer at his present fortune, compared
with his own, and with the past. The
wounded man, with his hands tied be-
hind him, could only demonstrate his
scorn by an occasional sentence from
his lips, while his eye, cleaning with
the collected vengeance of his heart,
spoke we'll what the other might ex-
pect were they only permitted fair
field and equal footing for contest. II
was when they had reached the imme-
diate precincts Of the spring, that the
intercourse between them had reached
nifty on the one hand and fierce def
ance on the other.
Yes, you id rebel" continued
Gaskens, you see what's come Of your
obstinacy and insolence. You fly in
the face of the king and refuse to obey
his laws; and now you have your pay.
BY Cd, but it does my heart good to
see you in this pickle"
Coward! If l could lay hands on
you for two minutes--only two min
utes, Amos Gdskens-and by the Eter-
nal, chopped UP as I am, you should
never have 1t in your power to say
again to an honest man what you have
said to me-"
1.-TWO minutes, do you say?" said
the other-''two minutes? You shall
have two minutes. Griffin-two min
utes, as you ask; but they shall be for
prayer, and not for fighting. l remem-
ber you of old have forgotten
nothing-and you shall pay off today
a long score that's been running up
against you. You remember when l
was oVerseer to John Postell, and you
gave me to know you didn't want to
see me at your house, though that was
log house like my own? I wasn't
good enough for you, nor for yours,
EN-? What do you say now?"
than did then. And then l didn't de-
spise you because you were poor, for,
as you say, I was poor myself; but be-
cause | thought you rascal, and since
then I know'd it. You are worse
now"
Talk on-I give you leave to talk,
you ID rebel-and that's a mercy
you don't deserve; but l have you In
my power, and 1t won't be long you'll
have to talk. I wonder what your
pride comes to now, when /. Amos
GaSkens. who wasn't good enough for
you and your daughter, have only to
say the word. and it's all dicky with
both of you. You yourself-you can't
stir hand but at my orders: and look
there-that's your wife and daughter
and what can you do for 'em. If l
only give the word to the boys to do
their likes to them?"
"Oh! villain! oh! monster. If I only
had my arms free and a we-pon in my
hand," cried the prisoner, vainly
struggling with his bonds. But he
writhed in them in vain. The tyrant
looked down upon him from his horse
with a grin of delight which complet-
ed the fury of the victim, until he
rushed. though with fruitless ven-
geance, against the sides Of the ami
NAL idly expending his strength in an
innoxious and purposeless effort
against his prosecutor. A blow from
the hilt of his sabre drove him back,
while, as he reeled from the troop, a
shrek from his wife and daughter in
the rear at the same moment, an
nounced their consciousness of the
whole proceeding.
1.-TWO minutes you shall have, my
bOy-two minutes, as you asked for
them" said Gaskens to the prisoner
as they now approached the spring.
Two minutes-for what?" he in
quired.
For prayer-and quite long enough
for one that's passed so good life as
you" was the sneering reply.
What do you mean?" was the far
ther inquiry Of the prisoner.
Gaskens pointed to the huge OAK
| that surmOunted the spring, and al
the same moment a corporal ap-
preached with a rope, the running
moose of which-as this agent was
| frequently in requisition-was already
made. and now swung ostentatiously
in his hands.
| Great God, Amos Gaskens. wretch
as you are, you do not mean to muir
der me?"
May / be totally id If I do not
You shall hang to that tree in two
| oft I a