It influenced the course of Marion in no respect.

We have seen that, when the latter discovered his enemy, it was before day had closed, and not just before day.

We have also seen that Tarleton's own bonfires had already revealed the secret of his presence, in strength, to his wary antagonist.

If Col.

Richardson had never entered the camp of Marion, the blazing dwellings of the Richardson family would have led to such precautions, on the side of the partisan, as must have effectually baffled the objects of the British Colonel.
This indulgence in the usual British passion for burning the homesteads of women and children, which Tarleton could not resist, even though his immediate aim required the utmost watchfulness and secrecy, at once revealed to Marion not only that his enemy was there, but that he was there, with a force, in the strength of which he had the utmost confidence.