Page:The Partisan, v1.djvu/79

'76 THE PARTISAN. ¢ ¢* Great God !" exclaimed Singleton, “ the unhappy man is mad. Let us push on, and see what can be done." Without a word farther, following their new guide, Wamer, they advanced upon their way, until the blaze of a huge {ire, bursting as it were out of the very bosom of the darkness, rose wavingly before them. 'I`he camp of the outlawed whigs, or rebels, as they were styled by the enemy, lonely and unattractive, on a little island of the swamp, in a few moments after rose fully in their sight; and plunging into the creek that surrounded it, though swimming at that moment, a bound or two carried them safely over, and they stood in the presence of their comrades. CHAPTER VII. " Do I not live for it? I have no life, But in the hope that life may bring with it The bitter-sweet of vengeance." ` Tm: gloomy painter would have done much with the scene before them. The wild and mystic imagination would have made it one of supematural terrors; and fancy, fond of the melancholy twilight, would have endowed the dim shadows, lurking like so many spectres between the bald cypresses, with a ghostly character, and most unhallowed purpose. Though familiar with such abodes, Singleton, as he looked upon the strange groupings thrown along the sombre groundwork, was impressed with a lively sense of its imposing felicity. They stood upon an island in the very centre of the swamp——one of those little islands, the tribute ooze of numerous minor water-courses, hardening into solidity at last. These, beating their feeble tides upon a single point, in process of time create the barrier whichis to usurp their own possessions. Here, the rank matter of _