noon
You may be sure , my dears , that I scarce drew breath till I was a-horse and out of the town and galloping hard on the road to that ford of Master Macgowan 's which afterward became famous in our history under the misspelling `` Cowan 's Ford . '' 'T was too good to be true that I should be thrust thus into the very gaping mouth of opportunity , and now and again I would feel the packet buttoned tight beneath my hussar jacket to make sure 't was not a dream to vanish at a touch . In the mad joy of it the spirit of prophecy came upon me , and I saw as if the thing were done , how at last I held the fate of the patriot cause in all our west country in the hollow of my hand . Skipping lightly over the happenings of the two days following my departure from Charlotte on the king 's errand , I may say that after passing the British outposts at the crossing of the Catawba , I met neither friend nor foe ; and from noon on I rode to the westward through a pitiless drizzling rain , splashed to the belt with the mire of the road , and having little chance to inquire my way . This last lack grew with the passing hours to the size of a threatening hazard . As you may have guessed , I knew no more than a blind man the route I should take ; knew no more of the whereabouts of Gilbert Town and Major Ferguson 's rendezvous than that both were some eighty miles to the westward . At the outset I had thought to feel out the way in general by cautious inquiry along the road ; but when I came to consider of this , the risk of betraying my ignorance to those who followed me was too great to let me turn aside to any of the wayside houses ; and as for chance passers-by , there were none -- the rain kept all within doors .