w direction. Sunset
faded into twilight, and twilight deepened into the darkness, and
silence of a Southern night, and then the entire loneliness and
responsibility of my position suddenly overwhelmed me. I had no
place to lie down, and hardly dared sit for fear of falling asleep.
It seemed as though I could hear whispers behind me, and every now
and then I would catch myself nodding, and wake with a cold chill
running up and down the small of my back, as I felt sure that some
unlawful hand was tampering with my burden. With the coming of the
dawn, I breathed more freely, and the day seemed interminable, and
it became a very burden to live. Twice we broke down and tying up
to a friendly tree repaired the damage. Night came again and found
us still miles away from our destination. It was horrible. I walked
the deck, drank coffee, pinched myself. 'Oh, if I can only keep
awake!' I kept repeating to myself. But at 2 o'clock in the morning
we broke down again, with the prospect of being detained some
hours. I knew that if I did not reach Brashear City by 7 o'clock I
should be another dreary day on the way, and lose my connections
with the single train for New Orleans. Time was an element of
importance, for I should lose the mail steamer for New York and be
delayed in my return to the regiment which I had left in the heart
of Louisiana marching onward--I knew not where, but with faces set
toward the North.

"Finding that we were distant from eight to twelve miles across
country according to the different estimates, I determined to make
the attempt to reach it on foot. Any danger, anything seemed
preferable to staying on the boat. With the first breaking of the
dawn, when I could get my bearings, I slung myself ashore. A
private in my regiment discharged for disability, begged to
accompany me. With weapons ready for instant use, we pushed along,
afraid of our own shadows, looking for a lurking foe behind every
bush, and when some startled bird suddenly broke from its cover,
the heart of one at least stood still for a moment and then
throbbed away like a steam engine. If a man was seen, however
distant, we dropped to cover and watched him out of sight before we
dared move. For the first mile our progress was very slow--now
wading through water, now sinking in the mud, floundering about