had "vamosed" into the mountain,
carrying his light luggage with him; only some blank, envelopes were
lying about, evidently dropped in the hurry of removal.

I knelt down by Falcon's side, and lifted his head out of the dark red
pool in which it lay. Even in the dim light I could see the broad,
bright eye glazing: the death-pang came very soon; he was too weak to
struggle; but a quick, convulsive shiver ran through all the lower
limbs, and, with a sickening hoarse gurgle in the throat, the last
breath was drawn.

My good, stout, patient horse! Few and evil were the days of his
pilgrimage with me; but we had begun to know and like each other well. I
cannot remember to have borne a heavier heart, than when I turned away
from his corpse, half shrouded in a winding-sheet of drifting
snow-flakes--seeing nothing certain in my own future, save frustrated
projects and exhausted resources.

I threw my saddle-bags across Shipley's saddle, and rode slowly down,
three miles, into Greenland. The filly's head drooped wearily, as she
faltered on through the half-frozen mud and water; but no one guessed,
till daylight broke, that she had then got her death-wound.

When we reached the hovel that was the headquarters of the detachment,
only two or three soldiers were lounging around the fire; but the news
of a capture roused most of the sleepers, and the low, dim room was soon
filled, suffocatingly, with a squalid crowd, in and out of uniform:
prominent, in the midst, stood the long, lank, half-dressed figure of
the lieutenant in command. Neither he nor his men were absolutely
uncourteous, when they once recognized that I was not a Confederate spy,
or a professional blockade-runner; but they were exultant, of course,
and disposed to indulge in a rough jocularity, during the necessary
inspection of my person and baggage.

The surgeon was a coarse edition of Maurice Quill; when he had examined
my knee, and dressed it--not unskillfully--(the conical point of "the
Sharp's" bullet had just reached the bone), he took great interest in
the search of my saddle-bags; desiring to be informed of the precise
cost of each article. When I declined to satisfy him, he became
exceedingly witty--not to say sarcastic.

"Here's a mighty curious sort of a traveler, boys; as don't know what
nothing costs that belongs to him, nor how he come by it," &c.

Now I was getting tired, and bored with the whole business, and stifled
with the close atmosphere-