John Robinson

“ With many cheering and kind expressions of encouragement from the sergeant, the young officer prepared to comply with the demands of his captors, and was soon in readiness to attend them. Robinson lifted him into his saddle with a grasp as light as if he was dealing with a boy, and then bound him by a surcingle to the horse's back, whilst he offered a good-humored apology for the rigor of this treatment.
"It is not the most comfortable way of riding, Mr. Ensign," he said, with a chuckle; "but fast bind, fast find, is a'most an excellent good rule for a traveller in the dark. ”

“ Colonel Innis had succeeded in getting together about a hundred men at a remote corner of his camp, and had now formed them into a solid column to resist the attack of the cavalry, whilst from this body he poured forth a few desultory volleys of musketry, hoping to gain time to collect the scattered forces that were in various points endeavoring to find their proper station. Horse Shoe Robinson and John Ramsay—the two foremost in the advance—were to be discovered pushing through the sundered groups of the enemy with a restless and desperate valor that nothing could withstand. ”

“ The spirit of Blake had its desired effect, and the same assailants now turned upon Robinson.
"Hold!" cried Peppercorn, throwing up his sword and warding off the blows that were aimed by these men at the body of the sergeant. "Hold, you knaves! this is my prisoner. I will deal with him to my liking. Would a dozen of you strike one man when he has surrendered? Back, ye cowards; leave him to me. How now, old Horse Shoe; are you caught, with your gay master here? Come, come, we know you both. So yield with a good grace, lest, peradventure, I might happen to blow out your brains." ”

“ If I did not know you, Robinson, to be a man of truth, as well as courage, I should scarce believe this tale. If any one, hereafter, should tell your story, he will be accounted a fiction-monger."
"I do not boast, Major Butler; and, as to my story, I care very little who tells it. Every trick is good in war. I can change my face and voice both, so that my best friends shouldn't know me: and, in these times, I am willing to change every thing but my coat, and even that, if I have a witness to my heart, and it will serve a turn to help the country. ”

“ Ah! and here is Mr. Horse Shoe Robinson; Major Butler, where is he, sir?" she exclaimed, turning to the sergeant, who had now approached the back of her chair to offer his hand.
"Blessings on you for a wise and a brave girl!" said Robinson. "But it wouldn't do; we were ambushed, and the Major is still a prisoner."
"I feared it," said Mary, "and therefore I stole away. They are bloody-minded and wicked, father; and uncle Adair's house has been the place where mischief and murder has been talked of. Oh, I am very sick! I have had such a ride!" ”

“ Whilst the sergeant was engrossed with these reflections, "he was ware," as the old ballads have it, of a man trudging past him along the road. This was no other than Wat Adair, who was striding forward with a long and rapid step, and with all the appearance of one intent upon some pressing business.
"Halloo! who goes there? where away so fast, Wat?" was Robinson's challenge.
"Horse Shoe!" exclaimed Adair, in a key that bespoke surprise, and even alarm,—"Ha, ha, ha!—By the old woman's pipe, you frightened me! ”

“ You are a prisoner, and a traitor to boot."
"Don't you hear the gentleman say he is hurt?" interposed Robinson. "It's onnatural, and more like a beast than a man to deny a prisoner a little water."
"By my sword, villain, I will cleave your brain for you, if you open that rebel mouth of yours again!"
"Pshaw, pshaw! Captain Habershaw, this will never do," said Peppercorn; "men are men, and must have food and drink. Here, Gideon Blake, give me your flask of liquor and bring me some water from the river. It is my duty, captain, to look after the prisoners." ”

“ It suggested new lights to her mind, and turned her thoughts into another current, and brought that resolution to her aid which her prayer was intended to invoke. What would John Ramsay think—he, the friend of liberty, and of Washington, the compatriot of Butler and Robinson, now toiling with them in the same cause! What would he think, if she, his own Mary (and the maiden rested a moment on this phrase) , did not do everything in her power to save these soldiers of independence from the blow which treachery was now aiming at them? ”

“ Not so fast; you run yourself out of breath," said Robinson mildly, interrupting this flood of objurgation. "Why, you are as spiteful as a hen with a fresh brood! Remember, Wat and me are old friends. Wat has been at my house both before the war and since, and I have been here—all in friendship you know. And many's the buck I have helped Wat to fetch down. What's the use of tantrums? If we had been thieves, Mrs. Adair, you couldn't have sarved us worse. Why, it's unreasonable in you to fly in a man's face so."
"I'll vouch for Horse Shoe Robinson, Mrs. Peggy Adair," said Lynch. ”

“ Stan had briefly told of his part of the adventure, confirming John’s visual knowledge of what had happened out on the cove and John had told of his race for the bow and arrows, and of arriving just in time to wing the bulky Mr. Dago. John’s suspicion was sound—why had not Mr. Nevens ordered an immediate search for John, since he knew both boys very likely would be about the island together?
“I figure he did, as soon as he could without scaring us too seriously. John, that man is up to some nefarious work and he wants to keep us innocent of the facts. But he’ll catch us if he possibly can! ”

“ Out in the street, away from the restaurant he acted even more quickly, racing for the nearest store. It was a magazine and novelty place, and what he wanted was visible through the window—a phone booth! Into this he went as casually as possible while John made a purchase or two to keep the proprietor busy.
When Stan came out of that booth he was grinning a little. They went outside.
“O.k.?” queried John.
“I got Main Haven’s G-man on the phone and he’s letting the big Chief know. That’ll help keep Dad safer unless Nevada gets wise to his real identity! ”

“ The voices were drawing near now and both boys slipped back from the trail. Even as they did so the men almost stumbled upon them and [143] John lay prone at once, scared. Some one stepped on his right hand, his flashlight blinked as his squeezed fingers pressed the trigger and the light flared its betrayal.
His yell of pain and the bright light came at once!
“Run, John! Run!” yelled Stan and his feet could be heard scurrying away.
Obeying, instinctively, John rolled to his feet, thrashed off through the bushes and began to run. Behind him came thundering feet, and shouting voices. ”

“ I stand in need, sergeant, of a friend with a discreet head and a strong arm. I could not have picked out of the army a better man than Sergeant Galbraith Robinson. Besides, Horse Shoe," he added, putting his hand gently upon the sergeant's shoulder, "old acquaintance has bred an affection between us."
"I am a man that can eat my allowance, major," said Robinson, with an awkward diffidence at hearing the encomium just passed upon him, "and that's a matter that doesn't turn to much profit in an empty country. ”

“ Major Butler."
"Major!" cried Adair, with affected surprise.
"Yes, you called him Major Butler?"
"I had some dream, I think, about him: or, didn't you call him so yourself, Horse Shoe?"
"Most undoubtedly, I did not," replied Robinson seriously.
"Then I dreamt it, Horse Shoe: these dreams sometimes get into the head, like things we have been told. But, Galbraith, tell me the plain up-and-down truth, what brings you and Mr. Butler into these parts? What are you after in Georgia? It does seem strange to find men that are wanted below, straggling here in our woods at such a time as this." ”

“ John considered the problem for a minute, for he knew Stan was in dead seriousness, and besides, he himself was creepy and scared.
“I’m inclined to think we can’t get out of here in the dark anyhow, Stan, so we’ll have to stay here——”
[27] “It’s a cinch we’d have trouble finding the channel, as I said a few minutes ago on deck, John.”
“—And maybe daybreak will show us up as a couple of scatterbrained kids. Sweet spirits of the briny deep—why should anyone hurt us? We’re only bent on pleasure!” ”

“ You've got such an uproarious country, and such a cursed set of quarrelsome devils in it, that a peaceable man is clean out of fashion amongst you. We are as wet as muskrats in swimming the river, and as hungry as wolves in winter."
"And happy," said Butler, "to be at last under the roof of a friend."
"Well, I am glad to see you both," replied Wat. "What put it in my head, Galbraith, I am sure I can't tell, but I was thinking about you this very day; said I to myself, I should just like to see Horse Shoe Robinson, the onconceivable, superfluous, roaring devil! Haw, haw, haw!" ”

“ In the cabin of the Staghound a trembling gangster opened his mouth in terror. Stan knew that Gagnon was about to scream for help on the theory that, when captured, his friends would think he’d been carried away forcibly! But the skipper of the Staghound gagged the prisoner instantly with a length of towel!
“Can’t hear you!” yelled John, and he trimmed the sheets of the sloop!
Then a voice which was none other than Mr. Sandborn’s bellowed, “You kids better come back here. You’ll get slugged if you don’t! We ain’t fooling!” ”

“ Then having given his horse in charge to Robinson, and walked a few paces apart with his young friend, he enquired, in a low and anxious tone, "Mildred, my dear Henry, what of your sister Mildred? Has she received my letter? Does she expect me? Is your father—"
"Now, captain," interrupted the other—"but heigh! don't the newspapers say you are brevetted? I am a pretty fellow to forget that! Well then, Major Butler, let me answer one question at a time. In the first place, sister Mildred is as well as any girl can be, that has a whole bushel of crosses to keep her out of spirits. ”

“ With these words Robinson plunged into the stream, and, with his rifle resting across his shoulder, he plied his voyage towards the opposite bank with the same unconcern as if he had journeyed on dry land. As soon as he was fairly afloat he looked back to give a few cautions to Butler.
"Head slantwise up stream, major, lean a little forward, so as to sink your horse's nose nearer to the water, he swims all the better for it. Slacken your reins and give him play. You have it now. It isn't oncomfortable in a day's ride to get a cool seat once in a while. ”

“ ROBINSON, HASTINGS (1792–1866) , divine, eldest son of R. G. Robinson of Lichfield, by his wife Mary, daughter of Robert Thorp of Buxton, Derbyshire, was born at Lichfield in 1792. He went to Rugby in 1806, and proceeded to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1815, M.A. in 1818, and D.D. in 1836. He was a fellow and assistant-tutor from 1816 to 1827, when he was appointed curate to Charles Simeon [q. v.] He stood unsuccessfully for the regius professorship of Greek at Cambridge, and was Cambridge examiner at Rugby, where he founded a theological prize. ”

“ ROBINSON, Sir JOHN CHARLES (1824–1913) , art connoisseur and collector, the son of Alfred Robinson, of Nottingham, was born 16 December 1824 at Nottingham, where he was also educated. He was brought up there by his grandfather, a bookseller, and, later, was sent for art-training to the studio of Michel Martin Drolling in Paris. There he spent much time in the Louvre, laying the foundation of his knowledge of Renaissance art. In 1847 he was appointed head master of the government school of art at Hanley, Staffordshire. ”

“ Who are you to talk of Wat Adair? If he knows you he knows no good of you, I'm sure? I warrant you have come here on honest business now—you and your tramping friend. What do you do up here in the woods, when there is work enough for hearty men below? No good, I will undertake. It is such as you, Horse Shoe Robinson, and your drinking, rioting, broadsword cronies that has given as all our troubles here. You know Wat Adair! ”

“ Would they never find a side aisle?
Then Stanley grabbed John and ducked to the right into a dark side tunnel, and Holmes followed at once. There the three crouched, wondering what was to happen next!
Dago came along talking with Butch, and passed the end of the tunnel. As he did so he was heard to say,
[207] “How you gonna prove it, Wan Ho? You have to-a have proof. Cowboy ain’t-a going to just take-a da hunch!”
“I don’t know how I’m going to prove it to Cowboy, Dago, but I’ll try to get something definite,” said Wan Ho Din as they moved off. “For all we know this Gallagher is a G-man!” ”

“ For more than two-and-twenty years Robinson had now been in the island, and he had grown quite used to it, and to his manner of living. If he could only have been sure that no savages would come near him, he felt almost that he would be content to spend all the rest of his days there, to die at last, as the goat he found in the cave had died, of old age. ”

“ Robinson at home is not less wonderful and more agreeable even than Robinson abroad,—his abondance in literature equal to Macintosh,—in science you know out of sight superior to anybody. In home life his amiable qualities and amicable temper appear to the greatest advantage, and I cannot say too much about the young people's kind and affectionate manner to Lucy.
The Primate [Footnote: Lord John George Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh.] and the Lady Beresfords were so kind and gracious as to come to see us; and I have enjoyed a very agreeable luncheon-dinner at Caledon. ”