Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 192 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 192: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page from Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil (Victorian Penny Dreadful) This is a page of running prose text (page 174) from a serialized adventure story. The passage describes a lone rider arriving at a burning battlefield on Fishing Creek at nightfall. After discovering the enemy has departed for Camden, apparently taking a prisoner named Unaka, the protagonist Tom Anderson disguises himself in a dead British dragoon's uniform and cavalry horse to pursue them. Despite the danger of being mistaken for a King's soldier and shot by Whig forces, he resolves to rescue Unaka, saying he'll "swing for a spy" if caught. The narrative combines Civil War-era American setting with sensational melodrama typical of penny dreadfuls.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
174 Tom ANDERSON, Dare-DeEvIL “He must have been in the river! — with the fellows in swimming.” It was nightfall when the lonely rider reached “the stronghold on Fishing Creek,’ — oh, dismal mis- nomer!— which had been a bloody cul de sac. Night though it was, there was light and to spare. All the army wagons for which horses could not be had, and stores that could not be readily transported, had been collected and set on fire. This done, the enemy began their return march to Camden. Sumter’s camp had occupied a ridge between a bend of the river and the creek. [he soaring flames set the surrounding fields and woods in bold light. The creek and the Catawba locked the bloody battlefield in a baldric of rubies. This task was the sorest [om Anderson had ever under- taken. [he rosy light lavished itself on the faces of the dead. No voice hailed him. No man molested him. Like one in a dream he moved about, hearing nothing but the purr of the flames “and the long ripple washing in the reeds.” They were all white men! With hawk’s eyes he scanned the river — a glowing mirror to loitering, flame- flushed clouds. ‘Never! It can’t be!’ — staggering at the thought that the river hid a secret. “They’ve got him! Going on to Camden with him.” Impetuous always, he determined on a bold undertaking. The boots, scarlet coat, and shako of a dead dragoon replaced his own suit. Mounting the black cavalry horse,— snatched under fire from Tarleton’s ranks, — he took the road to the river. And suddenly the August moon filled the east. ‘By George, any Whig boys up in the bushes yonder, they'll pick me off for one of the King’s men!” At the ford he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the glassy water. “Gaston girls — God bless their little hearts — would take a pop at me now!” When the road plunged into a swamp, and the smell of smoke and blood was shut out, [om felt surer of his purpose. “I am going to get Unaka! Going to get him! Swing for a spy, if they overhaul me!’ ‘There were men on the way to Camden that night Gomicbooks (E(0) m