2. "What, men! shall these rebels carry it so?" he cried, aloud.—“Advance, Captain Barsfield! Advance to the right of the fence with twenty men, and stop not to mark your steps. Advance, sir, and charge forward. You should know the ground by this time. Away !— Captain Kearney, to yon wood! Sweep it, sir, with your sabres; and meet me in the rear of the garden." 3. The officers thus commanded moved to the execution of their charges with sufficient celerity. The commands and movements of Major Singleton were much more cool, and not less prompt. He hurried along by his scattered men as they lay here and there covered by this or that bush or tree: 66 Carry off no bullets that you can spare them, men. Fire as soon as they reach the garden; and when your pieces are clear, take down the hill and mount.” 4. Three minutes did not elapse before the rifles had each poured forth its treasured death; and without pausing to behold the effects of their discharge, each partisan, duly obedient, was on his way, leaping off from cover to cover through the thick woods to the hollow where their horses had been fastened. 5. The furious Tarleton meanwhile led the way through the garden, the palings of which were torn away to give his cavalry free passage. With a soldier's rage and the impatience of one not often baffled, he hurried forward the pursuit, in a line tolerably direct, after the flying partisans. But Singleton was too good a soldier, and too familiar with the ground, to keep his men in mass in a wild flight through woods becoming denser at every step. 6. When they had reached a knoll at some little distance beyond the place where his horses had been fastened, he addressed his troop as follows: "We must break here, my men. Each man will take his own path, and we will all scatter as far apart as possible. Make your way, all of you, for the swamp, however, where in a couple of hours you may all be safe.-Lance Frampton, you will ride with me." 7. Each trooper knew the country, and, accustomed to individual enterprise and the duties of the scout, there was no hardship to the men of Marion in such a separation. On all hands they glided off, and at a far freer pace than when they rode together in a body. A thousand tracks they found in the woods about them, in pursuing which there was now no obstruction, no jostling of brother-horsemen pressing upon the same route. Singleton and his youthful companion darted away at an easy pace into the woods, in which they had scarcely shrouded themselves before they heard the rushing and fierce cries of Tarleton's dragoons. 8. "Do you remember, Lance," said Singleton to the boy,-"do you remember the chase we had from the Oaks when Proctor pursued us?"-"Yes, sir; and a narrow chance it was when your horse tumbled. I thought they would have caught and killed you then, sir; but I didn't know anything of fighting in the woods then."-"Keep cool, and there's little danger anywhere," responded Single"Men in a hurry are always in danger. To be safe, be steady. But hark! do you not hear them now? Some of them have got upon our track." ton. 9. "I do hear a noise, sir: there was a dry bush that cracked then."—"And a voice, that was a shout. Let us stop for a moment and reload. A shot may be wanted." Coolly dismounting, Singleton proceeded to charge his rifle, which had been slung across his shoulder. His companion did the same. While loading, the former felt a slight pain and stiffness in his left arm: "I am hurt, Lance, I do believe. Look here at my shoulder." 10. There's blood, sir; and the coat's cut with a bullet. The bullet's in your arm, sir."- "No, not now. It has been there, I believe, though the wound is slight. There! now mount: we have no time to see to it now."-" That's true, sir, for I hear the horses. And look now, major! There's two of the dragoons coming through the bush, and straight toward us."-"Two only?" said Singleton, again unslinging his rifle. The boy readily understood the movement, and proceeded to do likewise; but he was too late. The shot of Singleton was immediate, and the foremost trooper fell forward from his horse. His companion fled. 11. "Don't 'light, Lance: keep on. There's only one now, and he won't trouble us. Away, sir!" It was time to speed. The report of the shot and the fall of the dragoon, gave a direction to the whole force of the pursuers, whose shouts and cries might now be heard ringing in all directions through the forest behind them. "They can't reach us, Lance. We shall round that bay in a few seconds, and they will be sure to boggle into it. On, boy, and waste no eyesight in looking behind you. We are safe: I only hope that all our boys are as much so. But I fear we have lost some fine fellows. Poor Mellichampe! But it is too late now. Push on; the bay is before us." 12. Thus speaking, guiding and encouraging the boy, the fearless partisan kept on. In a few minutes they had rounded the thick bay, and were deeply sheltered in a dense wood well known at that period by a romantic title, which doubtless had its story. "My Lady's Fancy. We are safe now, Lance, and a little rest will do no harm." 13. The partisan, as he spoke, drew up his horse, threw himself from his back, fastened him to a hanging branch, and, passing down to a hollow where a little brooklet ran trickling along with a gentle murmur, drank deeply of its sweet and quiet waters, which he scooped up with a calabash that hung on a bough above. Then, throwing himself down under the shadow of the tree, he lay as quietly as if there had been no danger tracking his footsteps, and no deadly enemy still prowling in the neighborhood and hungering for his blood. DEFINITIONS.-1. Pär'ti șăn, any one of a body of light troops, designed to carry on a desultory warfare. Au dăç'i ty, daring spirit. 6. Knōll, a little round hill. 7. Shroud ́ed, hidden. 13. €ăl ́a băsh, a dry gourd scooped out. NOTES.-Marion's Men. During the Revolution, General Francis Marion was in command of a body of partisan soldiers known by the above title. They were for the most part poorly clad and equipped, but their bravery, self-denial, and patriotism enabled them to do good service in the cause of freedom. 1. Tarleton. Colonel Tarleton was in command of a portion of the British forces in South Carolina during the Revolution. He was an able, brave, but merciless soldier. 40. THE CARDINAL'S EXCULPATION. SIR EDWARD GEORGE EARLE BULWER-LYTTON was born in 1805, and received his education at Cambridge, where he graduated in 1826. His first publication was a poem on Sculpture, which gained for him the Chancellor's prize offered at Cambridge in 1825 for the best example of English versification. In 1826 he published Weeds and Wild Flowers, a collection of poems. He afterward wrote novels, poetry, political works, criticisms, dramas, and history. Perhaps no English writer has equaled him in versatility of genius; for, though he attempted such a variety of subjects, he was almost equally successful in all. His fame rests chiefly upon his novels, among the best of which are The Last Days of Pompeii, Harold, The Last of the Barons, Eugene Aram, Rienzi, The Caxtons, and My Novel, or Varieties of English Life. He died January 18, 1873. The following extract is from the drama of Richelieu, which is still one of our most popular plays. Richelieu. Room, my Lords, room! Can need no intercession with the king. The minister of [They fall back.] Louis. What means this false report of death, Lord Cardinal? Richelieu. Are you, then, angered, sire, that I live still? Louis. No; but such artifice Richelieu. Not mine: look elsewhere! Louis, my castle swarmed with the assassins. Baradas (advancing). We have punished them already. Huguet now In the Bastile. Oh, my Lord, we were prompt To avenge you,- -we were Richelieu. We? Ha! ha!-You hear, My liege!-What page, man, in the last court grammar Made you a plural? Count, you have seized the hireling.— Sire, shall I name the master? Louis. Tush, my Lord! The old contrivance: ever does your wit Richelieu. Rivals, sire! In what? Lives the man Whom Europe, paled before your glory, deems Louis. What! so haughty! Remember, he who made can unmake. Never! Your anger can recall your trust, |