noon
'T is good enough , '' I agreed ; and here the talk was broken off by the major 's diving out to berate some of his Tory militiamen who were preparing to make a night of it with a jug of their vile country liquor . The rain continued all that Friday night and well on into the forenoon of the Saturday . During this interval we waited with scouts out for the upcoming of the mountain men . At noon Major Ferguson sent a final express to Lord Cornwallis , urging the hurrying on of the reinforcements , not knowing that his former despatch had been intercepted , nor that Tarleton had not as yet started to the rescue . A little later the scouts began to come in one by one with news of the approaching riflemen . There was but a small body of them , not above a thousand men in all , so the spies said , and my heart misgave me . They were without cannon and they lacked bayonets ; and moreover , when all was said , they were but militia , all untried save in border warfare with the Indians .