the baggage, on account of either the ford or the bridges, stayed
behind; thereby acquiring a habit of doing so, which subsequently
interfered very seriously with our comfort.

After long waiting, the waters subsided sufficiently to allow us to
proceed, and the regiment started, drenched to the skin, but glad enough
to get anywhere, if it was only away from those woods; and pushing rapidly
forward, a short march over flooded roads gullied by the rain, brought us
to what was called _the ford_.

The popular idea of a "ford" is a clear, shallow sheet of water, more or
less broad;--at least we expected to see something of the kind. The actual
ford we marched up to was a thick wood, filled with tangled thickets,
logs, and the nameless floating things of a freshet, through which a
mountain torrent, a hundred yards wide, tore and plunged like a mad thing.
An hour before it would have been madness to cross; but now, by felling a
few trees across the deepest holes, it had been made practicable, though
exceedingly difficult, to get over. With pants rolled up as high as they
could be coaxed (producing a most extraordinary appearance, as may well be
imagined) the troops--by a series of climbing over the stumps, balancing
along the slippery and unsteady logs which bridged the holes where the
current was too swift and deep to be waded, creeping gingerly with bare
legs through thorny thickets, and anon struggling waist-deep through the
turbid stream, whose rapid current was filled with floating logs, which
inflicted most grievous "wipes" on the extremities of the forders, besides
rendering it almost impossible to stand without assistance--proceeded to
cross.

Notwithstanding the unpleasantness of the operation, the frequent duckings
and the no less frequent bruises from stumps and floating timber, the
sight was so supremely ridiculous that the misery was forgotten in the
fun. Roars of laughter greeted those unfortunates--and their name was
legion--who, in their endeavor to keep piece, cartridge-box, coat-tails
and other "impedimenta" out of the water, forgot about their footing,
until they were reminded by a plunge from a slippery stump, head over ears
into the depths of the stream, that that was the first, not the last
point, to be kept in mind.

A short distance from the ford a halt was ordered, where the men collected
as they struggled over; each company building huge fires and trying to
render themselves a little less uncomfor