Page:The Overland Monthly Volume 5 Issue 3.djvu/7



ed more or less damage to person and property; and the Major, who had entered the swamp clad in the dignified and respectable uniform of his rank in the infantry arm of the service, emerged transformed into a variety of Zouave. The outer covering of his legs had been partially removed, revealing a large extent of under-garment which was in color a brilliant red.

The strength of the party had been wonderful, but at this point utterly failed. Miserably cold and more than miserably weary, hope began to ooze away; not so much in despair, as in indifference. Crawling into a hay-cock for a little rest, we found that rest meant sleep.

Could this be the long, sweet sleep, out of which we should wake across another river, not bridged by mortal armies, when summoned for the final muster and inspection? If this were dying, why struggle to again enter the ranks of the living, when the bitter agony had passed, and the bright gates were opening?

At this quite serious juncture, the Colonel bravely ordered a forward movement. It saved us—although executed in a rather straggling and unmilitary style.

Staggering, not walking; dreaming, more than thinking, and decidedly more asleep than awake, we reached the forest. Randolph here ordered a halt, and insisted that we must have a fire, or he should freeze. He was, perhaps, the only man of us who dared suggest an idea so entirely at variance with the prescribed manner of making night-marches in an enemy's country; but it was his turn, in that eventful night, to save the expedition from disaster; and the fire was made—no one dissenting.

As the flames leaped in the still, cold air, a deep slumber fell upon the four overtasked mortals. The morning's sun aroused us to the knowledge that we were not much worse for the hard usage

—a little stiff, and very hungry, without much provisions left.

A council was called, the map produced, and the concentrated strength of four minds brought to bear on "the situation." A distant reveille suggested Mechanicsville: to our left and rear, a road near by guided us still farther, while for the rest we had merely a knowledge of our course, and an estimate of distance traveled.

Putting all these together, a decision was made that we were in a certain position, shown on the map. Now for proof, food, and assistance generally: for the first, we desired to form the acquaintance of some contraband; for the second, the same individual would do; and as for the third, we well knew that a whole race of the same complexion and s¢atus were at our service, and anxious to aid us. Randolph sprang to his feet at the adjournment of the meeting, as he was to play the part of scout and, if necessary, Virginian. Having provided himself, before leaving the prison, with a suit of citizen's clothes, and having studied with much assiduity for some weeks the peculiar dialect, or Aatozs, of the Southerner, he was desirous of a little practice. Before many minutes had elapsed he was back again, having with him the desired individual, and who, hat in hand, stood waiting our pleasure.

To the first question— 'Where are we?"'—his answer was most satisfactory, proving our calculation to have been correct.

To be brief: the good fellow brought us food, told us that we might travel in safety on the direct road for ten miles before reaching a picket-post or guard, and would gladly have gone with us to the land of freedom, but the thought of his wife and children, and the threat that they should be sold into a worse slavery than they now suffered should he run away, held him more firmly than the fear of death or punishment to himself.