VII.—THE ADVENTURE OF WASHINGTON.
It was at this moment that a strange resolution came over the mind of
Washington. All around him was mist and gloom, he saw his men disappear
within the fog, toward Chew's house, but he knew not whether their
charge met with defeat or victory. He heard the tread of hurrying
legions, the thunder of the cannon, the rattle of the musquetry broke on his
ear, mingled with the shrieks of the wounded and the groans of the dying.
The terrible panorama of a battle field, passed vividly before his eyes,
but still he knew not the cause of the impregnability of Chew's house.
He determined to advance toward the house, and examine its position in
person.
He turned to the officers of his staff—“Follow me who will!” he cried,
and in a moment, his steed of iron grey was careering over the sod, littered
with ghastly corses, while the air overhead was alive with the music of bullets,
and earth beneath was flung against the war steed's flanks by the cannon
ball.
Followed by Hamilton, by Pickering, by Marshall, and by Lee, of the
gallant legion, Washington rode forward, and speeding between the fires of
the opposing armies, approached the house.
At every step, a dead man with a livid face turned upward; little pools
of blood crimsoning the lawn, torn fragments of attire scattered over the
sod; on every side hurrying bodies of the foemen, while terrible and unremitting,
the fire flashing from the windows of Chew's House, flung a lurid
glare over the battle-field.
Washington dashed over the lawn; he approached the house, and every
man of his train held his breath. Bullets were whistling over their heads,
cannon balls playing round their horses' feet, yet their leader kept on his
way of terror. A single glance at the house, with its vollies of flame flashing
from every window, and he turned to the north to regain the American
lines, but the fog and smoke gathered round him, and he found his horse
entangled amid the enclosures of the cattle-pen to the north of the mansion.
“Leap your horses—” cried Washington to the brave men around him
—“Leap your horses and save yourselves!”
And in a moment, amid the mist and gloom his officers leaped the northern
enclosure of the cattle-pen, and rode forward to the American line,
scarcely able to discover their path in the dense gloom that gathered around
them. They reached the American lines, and to their horror, discovered
that Washington was not among their band. He had not leaped the fence
of the cattle-pen; with the feeling of a true warrior, he was afraid of injuring
his gallant steed, by this leap in the dark.
While the officers of the staff were speeding to the American line, Washington
turned his steed to the south, he determined to re-pass the house,
strike to the north-east, and then facing the fires of both armies, regain the
Continental lines.
He rose proudly in the stirrups, he placed his hand gently on the neck
of his steed, he glanced proudly around him, and then the noble horse
sprang forward with a sudden leap, and the mist rising for a moment disclosed
the form of Washington, to the vision of the opposing armies.
