ire-arms,"--and walked on.

Now, I record these words--conscious that they were thoroughly
discreditable to the speaker--simply because I mentioned them in my
examination before the Judge Advocate (after he had insisted on the
point of verbal accuracy), and from his office emanated a paragraph,
copied into all the Washington journals, stating that I had cursed my
captors fluently. I affirm, on my honor, that this was the solitary
imprecation that escaped me from first to last.

So I kept on advancing: they did _not_ fire, and I don't suppose they
would have done so, even if they had had time to reload. I soon got near
enough to discern that among the three men there was not a trace of
uniform; they were evidently farmers, and roughly dressed "at that." So
I opened parley in no gentle terms, requiring their authority for what
they had done, and promising that they should answer it, if there was
such a thing as law in these parts.

"Well, if we ain't soldiers," the chief speaker said, "we're Home
Guards, and that's the same thing here; we've as much authority as we
want to back us out. Why didn't you stop, and tell us who you are, and
where you're going?"

By this time I was cool enough to reflect, and act with a purpose. For
my own, as well as for his sake, I was most anxious that Shipley should
escape. I knew they would not find a scrap of compromising paper on me;
but he was a perfect post-carrier of dangerous documents, and a marked
man besides--altogether a suspicious companion for an innocent traveler.
So I began to discuss several points with my captors in a much calmer
tone--demonstrating that from the irregularity of their challenge we
could not suppose it came from any regular picket--that there were many
horse-thieves and marauders about, so that it behoved travelers to be
cautious--that it would have been impossible to have explained our
names, object, and destination in a breath, even if they had given more
time for such reply: finally, making a virtue of necessity, I consented
to accompany them to the regular out-post of Greenland, stipulating that
I should have a horse to carry me and my saddle-bags; for my knee was
still bleeding, and stiffening fast.

All this debate took ten minutes at least, during which time my captors
seemed to have forgotten my companion's existence, though they must have
seen his figure cross the open ground when they first fired. Long before
we got back to the horses, Shipley