most
villainous. I think Spiltdorph had some twinges concerning his pipe,
for he was a conscientious fellow, but he could not decide to give it
up, and finally kept it with him, arguing artfully that without it he
must inevitably fall ill, and so be of no use whatever. Dear fellow, I
wonder what warrior, the envy of his tribe, smokes it now in his wigwam
beside the Miami?

It took two days to repair our wagons and get our baggage readjusted, and
finally, on the thirteenth, the army set in motion again, winding along
the narrow road through the forest like some gigantic, parti-colored
serpent, with strength barely sufficient to drag its great length along.
It was noon of the next day before we reached Martin's plantation, scarce
five miles away. Yet here we had to stay another day, so nearly were the
horses spent, but at daybreak on the fifteenth the line moved again, and
we toiled up an extremely steep ascent for more than two miles. The
horses were quite unable to proceed, so half the troops were ordered to
ground arms and assist the wagons. It was weary work, nor was the descent
less perilous, and three of the wagons got beyond control and were dashed
to pieces at the bottom. So we struggled on over hills and through
valleys, until on the eighteenth we reached the Little Meadows. Here the
army was well-nigh stalled. The horses had grown every day weaker, and
many of them were already dead. Nor were the men in much better case, so
excessive had been the fatigues of the journey, for on many days they
had been under arms from sunrise till late into the night.

It was here, for the first time since our departure from Fort Cumberland,
that I chanced to see Colonel Washington, and I was shocked at the change
in his appearance. He was wan and livid, and seemed to have fallen away
greatly in flesh. To my startled inquiry, he replied that he had not been
able to shake off the fever, which had grown worse instead of better.

"But I will conquer it," he said, with a smile. "I cannot afford to miss
the end. From here, I believe our advance will be more rapid, for the
general has decided that he will leave his baggage and push on with a
picked body of the troops to meet the enemy."

I was rejoiced to hear it, though I did not learn until long afterwards
that it was by Colonel Washington's advice that this plan was adopted. A
detachment of four hundred men was sent out to cut a road to the little
crossing of the Yoxiogeny, and