Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/97

NEWS FOR ROSECRANS 'bout. Long maybe 'bout ten o'clock, ther night bein' tol'ble dark, I got on ther off side o' a log, an' sorter drifted with ther current, steerin' a bit, o' course, till I come in agin ther south shore. I reckon I clumb out maybe fifty feet east o' ther mouth o' Salter Crick, whar bushes grow clar down to ther edge o' ther water. I got ashore all right, an' wormed my way up to ther top o' ther bank, but thet was 'bout all I did do. Damn if I ever saw sich a picket line afore as them Rebs hed. Thar was n't a hole that a black cat could 'a crawled through. It made me think thet somethin' was happenin' fer sure, but every time I tried ter git out o' thet bunch 'o trees I run up agin a picket. I tried ter crawl up along ther crick even, wadin' in ther water under ther bank, but thet was no good. So long 'bout three o'clock I decided thet maybe I might better be gittin' back an' over to this side afore it got light."

"And you neither saw nor heard anything?"

"Not a blame lot, anyway. I heerd a battery goin' 'long, the fellers cussin' an' lickin' their hosses somethin' scand'lous; an' thar was a conside'ble mass o' cavalry marchin' behind 'em, fer their things was jingling, an' they stopped to water the bosses in the crick. I could n't git near 'nough to hear their talk. Ye see, Gin'ral, it was a line 'o fires what kept me back more'n the pickets, fer thar wan't a place but what was lit up. Thar was sure some sorter movement goin' on thar, but I could n't make head ner tail to it, 'cept that all them troops that I saw was marchin' west."

There was a long silence, Rosecrans tapping the table [ 87 ]