Pretending to be Tories their only purpose of organization was pillage.

Even in the army the names of their more prominent leaders were known, such as Red Fagin, Debow, West, and Carter, and many a tale of horror regarding their depredations had I heard told around the camp fire.

These came back to memory as I gazed about those lower rooms, dreading my next discovery, half crazed to think that Claire Mortimer might be helpless in their ruthless grasp.

Better death a thousand times than such a fate.
I pushed forward into the rooms of the lower floor, more than ever impressed by their original magnificence.

Now, however, they were all confusion, furniture broken and flung aside, walls hacked, dishes smashed into fragments.