Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 193 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 193: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is a page of running prose from Chapter 175 of a serial fiction work titled *Border Warfare*. The text describes action during what appears to be the American Revolutionary War: a boy in a British uniform sings taunting songs to rebels and prisoners, encounters a Cherokee man named Unaka who is bound to a wagon, and then helps Unaka escape during a night march to Camden by throwing the dragoon's coat and hat into a river. The passage concludes with Captain Steele pursuing the fugitives. The narrative emphasizes melodramatic action and dialogue typical of Victorian sensation fiction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
BorRDER WARFARE 175 who looked for the gibbet at the end of the journey. They had accepted British protection and gone back to the ranks of the Rebels. The King’s horse lunged along. He heard the rumble of army wagons! The sound sent a curi- ous thrill tripping along the nerves of the boy in the King’s uniform. “Now for it!” and he sent his strong, brilliant voice trumpeting through the pine woods: — ‘Come all ye Rebels, and listen while I sing: Cornwallis is a-comin’ — you must hide, or you must swing!’ They answered! — a yelp from the teamsters; nearly a mile away. He set the echoes jostling with a brisker tune: — ““Mammy en’ Daddy gone a-huntin’. Nobody home but Beck en’ de baby — Hail de redcoat! Hail! Hail de redcoat! Hail!”’ He trotted up to Tarleton’s wagon-train; to be applauded with bellowing laughter and outstretched flasks. The wagons were followed by:a mob on foot: three hundred British prisoners taken away from Sumter’s guards, to- gether with Americans captured in the fight. To the tune of “The Bold Soldier Boy” Tom chanted: “No-hung tar-hut-tar-he? Where is he? Where is he?”’ A voice overrode Pandemonium. “ Ung-ki-taw!” (My brother), and there was the haughty Cherokee lashed to the tailboard of an army wagon. Unaka had been difh- cult— and was roped. “During this night march to Camden, some of the prisoners fell off by the way, and so escaped.”’ Unaka was one! Under cover of darkness, Unaka behind him, Tom rode like mad. When they re- crossed the ford, the coat and shako of the Black Dragoon were thrown into the river. Captain Steele, with “Dare-Devil” and Sumter’s scout, “traversed the country day and night,” enlisting fresh troops. Unaka was sulky over the loss of * Hil-lis-hut-kee” CORNICLOO® SS (C©)