k quick!"

"They are this side of Lee's Mill, Lieutenant, but I got lost in the
night, and I don't even know where I am now. About fifty of their
cavalry went by ten minutes ago."

The line went on in the rain.

The lieutenant placed me in charge of the two men, ordering them to take
me at once to the rear, and to report to General Davidson. I have never
learned the name of that lieutenant; he had some good qualities.

Meanwhile a sharp skirmish was going on in front, and our line did not
seem to advance. A section of artillery dashed by. I began to understand
that, if I had gone on a few hundred yards, I should have run upon the
enemy in force.

I was brought before General Davidson. He was on horse, at the head of
his brigade. He asked me my name.

"Jones Berwick, General," said I.

"What is your business?"

"I am a private, sir, in the Eleventh Massachusetts."

He smiled at this; then he asked, still smiling, "Where is your
regiment?"

"It is in camp below Washington, General, I suppose; at least, it had
not reached Newport News on the evening of the day before yesterday."

"How is it that you are here while your regiment is still near
Washington?"

"I had surgeon's leave to precede my regiment on account of my health,
General."

"And this is the way you take care of your health, is it, by lying out
in the woods in the rain?"

"It was a month ago, General, that the surgeon dismissed me, and I am
now fully recovered."

General Davidson looked serious. "You were at Newport News on day before
yesterday?"

"I was near Newport News, sir, at the Sanitary camp. General McClellan
had just arrived at Fortress Monroe; so I heard before I left."

"And what are you doing here? I think you have the Southern accent."

"I have been told so before, General; but I am not a Southerner; I came
out to observe the rebel lines."

"By whose authority?"

Now, I could have told General Davidson that I had had a pass, signed by
such an officer; but I feared to do so, lest some complication should
arise which would give trouble to such an officer, for Dr. Khayme had
not fully informed me about my privileges.

"It was only a private enterprise, General."

"Tell me all about it," he said.

I said briefly that, on the day before, I had passed up the Warwick
River; and that the main line of the enemy lay behind it; that the fords
had been destroyed by dams, and that there were no rebels on this side
of the river now