Page:The woman in battle .djvu/402

356 the first Federal soldier I met. Experience had taught me, however, that no settled plan, in a matter of this kind, amounts to much, so far as the details are concerned, and that it is necessary to be governed by circumstances. I resolved, therefore, to regulate my conduct and conversation according to the character and behavior of those I chanced to meet; and so, having first ascertained that my papers were all right, I mounted my pony again, and started in the direction where I supposed I would find the Federal camp. Letting my pony take his own gait and he was not inclined to make his pace any more rapid than there was necessity for I travelled for a couple of miles before I saw any one. At length a picket, who had evidently been watching me for some time, stepped out of the woods into the road, and when I came up to him, he halted me, and asked where I was from, and where I was going.

"Good morning, sir," I said, in an innocent, unsophisticated sort of way. "Are you commanding this outpost?"

"No," he replied; "what do you want?"

"Well, sir, I wish you would tell the captain I want to see him."

"What do you want with the captain?"

"I have got a message to give the captain, but I can't give it to any one else."

"He is over there in the woods."

"Well, you just tell him that I want to see him quick, about something very important."

The soldier then called to his officer, and in a few moments up stepped a good-looking young lieutenant, whose blouse was badly out at the elbows, and whose clothing generally bore marks of very hard service. Although his attire was not of the most elegant description, he was a gentleman, and, as he approached me, he tipped his hat, and said, with a pleasant smile. "Good morning, madam ; what is it you wish?"

"Are you the captain?" I queried.

"I am in command of this picket guard," he replied.

"Well, captain," said I, "I want to go to Memphis, to see General Washburn. I have some papers here for him."

This made him start a little, and he began to suspect that