-laden with every graveolent horror; besides,
I had not escaped from London "chaff" and Parisian _persiflage_, to be
mocked by a wild Virginian. So I said, quite gravely:

"It's very simple; but I don't wonder it puzzles you. You have to pay,
when you buy, out here, I dare say, _I_ haven't paid for anything for
twenty years. But, if I had known I was going to meet _you_, before I
came away I would have--looked at the bills."

Perhaps my face did not look like jesting; anyhow, he took every word
for earnest, and remained silent for some time; ruminating, I suppose,
on the grand simplicity of such a system of commerce.

This occupied their attention for a considerable time; when a party
_did_ start in pursuit of my companion, under the guidance of
Dolley--the man who had fired the last fatal shot--I reflected, with
some satisfaction, that the fugitive had a long two hours' "law," The
guard-room cleared gradually; and, before daybreak, I got some brief,
broken rest--supine on the narrowest of benches, with my crossed arms
for a pillow.

In spite of wound, and weariness, and discomfiture, I have spent a
drearier time than the morning of that same Sunday. After the first
awkward feeling had passed off, my captors showed themselves civil, and
almost friendly, after their fashion. They were very like big
school-boys--those honest Volunteers--prone to rough jokes and rude
horse-play among themselves, which the commanding officer not only
sanctioned, but personally mingled with: good-fellowship reigned
supreme, to the utter subversion of dignity and discipline.

There were some lithe, active figures among them, well fitted for the
long forced marches for which both the Northern and Southern infantry is
renowned; and two or three raw-boned giants, topping six feet by some
inches; but not one powerful or athletic frame: in many trials of
strength, in wrist and arm, I did not come across one formidable muscle.

About three o'clock--the weather had become bright and almost warm
before noon--I was lounging about on the bank of the trout-stream that
ran past the door, with my guard at my shoulder, when I saw a group of
several figures approaching. When they came nearer, one man lifted his
cap on his bayonet's point, and the others shouted. I could not catch
the words; but I guessed the truth: they had run down Shipley, after
all. He was so utterly exhausted, both in mind and body, when first
brought in, that he could hardly spea