Page:The woman in battle .djvu/397

Rh take me through a rough country, and I might chance to meet with stragglers who would give me trouble. He advised me, however, not to use the weapon except in case of absolute necessity, and especially not to carry it with me into the Federal lines, for if it was discovered that I had it about me, it might excite suspicions that I was a spy, when such a thing would not otherwise be thought of.

A fine horse having been provided for me, I said adieu to General Ferguson, who wished me good luck, and started off with an escort who was to conduct me to a point somewhere to the north-east of Holly Springs, from whence I would have to make my way alone, getting into the Federal lines as best I could. In spite of the fact that I was quite sick, and sometimes felt that I could scarcely sit upon my horse, I rode all that night and nearly all the next day, through lonesome woods, past desolate clearings, occupied, if at all, by poor negroes, or even poorer whites, all of whom had a half-terrified look, as if they were expecting every moment to have a rapacious soldiery come tramping through their little patches of ground, and appropriating whatever was eatable or worth taking, through gullies and ravines, and over the roughest kind of roads, or sometimes no roads at all. At length we reached a negro's cabin, which, although it was but a poor shelter, was better than nothing at all, and feeling too ill to proceed any farther without rest and refreshments, I resolved to stop there all night. The inhabitants of the cabin were not very much inclined to be over communicative, and apparently did not want me for a lodger, and their abode was not one that I would have cared to make a prolonged sojourn in. I was too much of a veteran campaigner, however, to be over fastidious about my accommodations for a single night, and was too sick not to find any shelter welcome. From what I could learn from these people, I was not very many miles from the Federal lines, and I secured their good will, to a reasonable degree, by promising to pay well for my night's lodging, and what was given me to eat, and finally succeeded in inducing them to bestir themselves to make me as comfortable as circumstances would permit. I also struck up a bargain with an old man who appeared to be the head of the household, such as it