72 REMINISCENCES OF 



shake hands ? I have nothing against you, but that 

 you are a d — d rebel." The victim was past speak- 

 ing ; but he slowly placed his hand in that of his 

 murderer, exhibiting in his last action the power of 

 the Christian principle, and stamping with the seal 

 of perfection a character which had always been 

 lovely. 



It was past midnight, and the two unhappy wo- 

 men were still hovering by the side of the dying 

 McKelvey, when the door opened, and Robert 

 McKelvey gently approached the mourning group. 

 A glance of recognition brightened the eye of the 

 sufferer, and was directly succeeded by the insensi- 

 bility of death. When Robert McKelvey, who 

 could not swim, had cast himself into the river, the 

 current had borne him to the crescent-shaped exca- 

 vation of the bank already mentioned ; and there a 

 tree, whose foundation had been washed away, still 

 floated, attached by a few roots to the earth. Get- 

 ting under this tree, and clinging to it with his 

 hands, its leaves and branches hid him from obser- 

 vation ; and in this retreat he lay until in the silence 

 of niorht he ventured to come out and witness the 

 havoc which his ruthless enemies had made. 



Few of us are able to appreciate the sacrifices en- 

 dured and the heroic resolution exhibited by our 

 mothers of the revolution. True, the pen of the 

 historian has often attempted to do them justice ; 

 but only a few heroic and melodramatic acts can 



