had rejoined their countrymen, and were now once more
at the mercy of the power with which they had broken faith.
"It will go hard with them," said the Tory Jasper to his Whig brother;
but the secret comment of the other was, "it shall go hard with me first."
There was a woman, the wife of one of the prisoners, who, with her child,
kept them company. William Jasper and his friend were touched
by the spectacle of their distress; and they conferred together,
as soon as they were alone, as to the possibility of rescuing them.
Their plan was soon adopted. It was a simple one, such as naturally
suggests itself to a hardy and magnanimous character. The prisoners
had scarcely left the post for Savannah, under a guard of eight men,
a sergeant and corporal, when they took leave of their host,
and set forth also, though in a different direction from the guard.
Changing their course when secure from observation, they stretched
across the country and followed the footsteps of the unhappy captives.
But it was only in the pursuit that they became truly conscious
of the difficulty, nay, seeming impossibility, of effecting their object.
The guard was armed, and ten in number; they but two and weaponless.
Hopeless, they nevertheless followed on. Two miles from Savannah
there is a famous spring, the waters of which are well known to travellers.
The conjecture that the guard might stop there, with the prisoners,
for refreshment, suggested itself to our companions;
here, opportunities might occur for the rescue, which had nowhere before
presented themselves. Taking an obscure path with which they were familiar,
which led them to the spot before the enemy could arrive,
they placed themselves in ambush in the immediate neighborhood of the spring.
They had not long to wait. Their conjecture proved correct.
The guard was halted on the road opposite the spring.
The corporal with four men conducted the captives to the water,
while the sergeant, with the remainder of his force,