nce,
and canvassed the country with that object. By paying a quartermaster
the Government price ($130), I could select a steed from the pound, but
inspection satisfied me that a good saddle nag could not be obtained in
this way. After much parleying with Hebrews and chaffing with country
people, I heard that Mayor Bragg kept some fair animals, and when I
stated my purpose at his house, he commenced the business after a
fashion immemorial at the South, by producing some whiskey.

When Mayor Bragg had asked me pertinently, if I knew much about the
"pints of a hoss," and what "figger in the way of price" would suit me,
he told an erudite negro named "Jeems" to trot out the black colt. The
black colt made his appearance by vaulting over a gate, and playfully
shivering a panel of fence with his "off" hoof. Then he executed a
flourish with his tail, leaped thrice in the air, and bit savagely at
the man "Jeems."

When I asked Mayor Bragg if the black colt was sufficiently gentle to
stand fire, he replied that he was gentle as a lamb and offered to put
me astride him. I had no sooner taken my seat, however, than the black
colt backed, neighed, flourished, and stood erect, and finally ran away.

A second animal was produced, less mettlesome, but also black, finely
strung, daintily hoofed, and as Mayor Bragg said, "just turned four
year." The price of this charger was one hundred and ninety dollars; but
in consideration of my youth and pursuit, Mayor Bragg proposed to take
one hundred and seventy-five; we compromised upon a hundred and fifty
dollars, Major Bragg throwing in a halter, and by good luck I procured a
saddle the same evening, so that I rode triumphantly through the streets
of Warrenton, and fancied that all the citizens were admiring my new
purchase.

I was struck with the fact, that Mayor Bragg, though an ardent patriot,
would accept of neither Confederate nor Virginia money; he required
payment for his animal, in Father Chase's "greenbacks."

Mounted anew, I fell into my former active habits, and made two
journeys, to Sperryville and Little Washington, in one direction, to
Madison in another; each place was probably twenty miles distant; the
latter was merely a cavalry outpost, where Generals Hatch and Bayard
were stationed, and the former villages were the head-quarters,
respectively, of General Banks and General Siegel.

Madison was, at this time, a precarious place for a long tarrying. I
went to sleep in t