ling in the wind.

We made short work of leave-taking, Captain Smith and I separating
immediately from the rest, and pushing hurriedly out of the sleeping
town, by back streets, into the bitter cold of the country roads. We
stopped once to warm at the pits of some negro charcoal-burners, and
before day dawned had traveled sixteen miles. We found a sheltered nook
on the side of the mountain open to the sun, where we made a bed of dry
leaves and remained for the day. At night we set out again, due west by
the stars, but before we had gone far my companion, who claimed to know
something of the country, insisted upon going to the left, and within a
mile turned into another left-hand road. I protested, claiming that this
course was leading us back. While we were yet contending, we came to a
bridgeless creek whose dark waters barred our progress, and at the same
moment, as if induced by the thought of the fording, the captain was
seized with rheumatic pains in his knees, so that he walked with
difficulty. We had just passed a house where lights were still showing,
and to this we decided to return, hoping at least to find shelter for
Smith. Leaving him at the gate, I went to a side porch and knocked at
the door, which was opened by a woman who proved to be friendly to our
cause, her husband being in the rebel army much against his will. We
were soon seated to the right and left of her fireplace. Blazing
pine-knots brilliantly lighted the room, and a number of beds lined the
walls. A trundle-bed before the fire was occupied by a very old woman,
who was feebly moaning with rheumatism. Our hostess shouted into the old
lady's ear, "Granny, them's Yankees." "Be they!" said she, peering at us
with her poor old eyes. "Be ye sellin' tablecloths?" When it was
explained that we were just from the war, she demanded, in an absent
way, to know if we were Britishers. We slept in one of the comfortable
beds, and, as a measure of prudence, passed the day in the woods,
leaving at nightfall with well-filled haversacks. Captain Smith was
again the victim of his rheumatism, and directing me to his friends at
Caesar's Head, where I was to wait for him until Monday (it then being
Tuesday), he returned to the house, little thinking that we were
separating forever.

I traveled very rapidly all night, hoping to make the whole distance,
but day was breaking when I reached the head waters of the Saluda.
Following up the stream, I found a dam on which I