the law allows down here, and Walcott contrived to let
him understand that he was a Union man; and this won Cuffy's heart, and
he told him all the news about the Confederate army posted there. It
has been known in these parts that this army has been short of
provisions and forage for several weeks, but we did not suppose their
supplies were as limited as this negro reported.

"Both the men and the horses are half starved. Bare existence in the
camp was a hard struggle; and some of the regiments subsisted on
one-third of the ordinary rations, and the horses and mules were hardly
in condition for use. The fractional ration consisted of bread alone in
many portions of the army. The supplies of the north-east counties had
been exhausted; and most of the subsistence had been obtained latterly
from Kentucky, gathered in by foragers of the cavalry.

"Cuffy had a son who was the body-servant of a colonel of a Tennessee
regiment; and he told his father what he learned in the camp, the most
important item of which was that Zollicoffer would soon attack the
Federal forces wherever he could find them. He could remain no longer
in his intrenchments, with starvation staring him full in the face. Of
course I am telling this in my own language, as I translated it from
the negro's gibberish.

"But this is not the most vital news to you at this time, though it may
be of service to you. Walcott made his way on foot to the cabin where
he left his horse, and then rode to Jamestown. At this town he found a
full company of the Seventeenth Tennessee Cavalry, who had camped there
the night before, living on what was left of the fat of the land; for
the place had been raided twice before. They had two wagons with them,
and it was evident that they intended to load them with provisions and
forage.

"Walcott reached his home at midnight, and immediately called upon me
with the news he had gathered. At Jamestown he saw one of the
lieutenants flirting with a girl in front of the hotel. This officer
was summoned to supper, and his companion hastened up the street. She
was the daughter of a storekeeper in the town, which is the county seat
of Russell County; and my friend had often traded there in goods he
could not find in the towns nearer home.

"The girl was speaking to her father when Walcott went in; but the
keeper of the store welcomed him. He had not much to say to the trader;
but he saluted the daughter, and engaged her in conversation. H