Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 397 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 397: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a page of running prose from a Victorian penny dreadful novel titled "Dare" (page 375). The text depicts a dramatic encounter during what appears to be the American Revolutionary War, in which a young woman named Dare (also called the "Oxheart Beauty") rides toward British redcoats at dawn to deliver a sealed dispatch from Major-General Leslie to Colonel Tarleton. After Tarleton discovers she opened the dispatch, he questions her boldness, then sends an officer away to carry out the orders within it—which concern restoring livestock and slaves to a place called Oxheart. The scene ends with Tarleton asking Dare whether she knows who attempted to murder Captain Leslie.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
DaRE 370 An endless hill — and they drew rein at the crest. For a breathless instant they stared down on a bunch of red- coats watering their black horses in the branch at the foot of the slope. Dare took the kerchief from her neck, and waved it above her head. A detachment of Steuben’s militia would have surprised His Mayjesty’s officers less than the sight of this girl — riding toward them through the apricot-colored twilight of dawn. They sat their horses like statues. Nobody spoke. ‘That battery of curi- ous eyes made her tremble. Thrilling under the certainty that she was recognized, she approached: very white, very haughty, her bare, burnished head gilded like the curls of a Roman Empress. An undertone caught her ear. ‘The little Oxheart beauty, by Jove!” ‘‘A dispatch for Colonel ‘Tarleton.”’ The Colonel of the Legion bowed low. She extended the unsealed document. “From Major-General Leslie.” “He has the fairest courier the sun ever shone upon!”’ _ Then, biting his lip, he turned blazing eyes upon her. “‘ Who dared open this?” “1 dared,” blazing back at him. “‘ The contents of the dispatch were known toCaptain Leslie. [ad to act! There was no one else who could! Everything was at stake.” He read, and turned black as a thunder-cloud. “Where did you get this, Miss Anderson?” “From Captain Leslie. It’s a sore mischance he could not have delivered this order to you! Our horses, cattle, hands, are being driven away —”’ Tarleton gave a hurried command to a redcoat officer Putting spurs to his horse, the Captain was off. [he great cavalry leader turned to the “Oxheart Beauty.” “Everything will be done to carry out these belated instructions. Your live stock and slaves will be restored to Oxheart. The destruction done there was retributive, you know.” Silence. Their eyes met. “Have you still no idea who tried to take Captain Leslie’s life?”’ GOMIIGIoOo <5 (CO) im