as
best we could, while the mosquitoes and gnats settled down on us in
swarms, uttering a triumphant buzzing as though they recognized the
fact that they had fresher blood to feed on than that offered by
the fever-stricken victims of the South and were determined to make
the most of their opportunity. But the open country once reached we
lengthened out our steps and struck into a six-mile gait. Soon my
companion began to falter and fall behind. But I could not afford
to wait, telling him I presumed he was all right, but I could not
run any risks, I stood him up by a tree and taking his gun, marched
off a couple hundred yards, then laying it down I shouted to him to
come on, and, setting off at the top of my speed, saw him no more.
Whether he ever reached his destination or whether wandering
helplessly along--he was swooped down upon by some gorilla, and led
away to starve and die in a Southern prison, I did not learn for
many years. At the last reunion I attended, I was called upon to
respond to the toast 'The Postal Service of the Regiment, and What
You Know About It,' and at the conclusion of my remarks, a stout
grizzled veteran grasped my hand and said: 'Look, I'm glad to see
you. I thought it pretty cruel to leave me alone in Dixie, but you
had warned me beforehand and I guess you were right.'

"Avoiding the houses and striking across the fields, I made the
last part of my way at full run, and drew up panting and exhausted
at Berwick Bay shortly after six. Not a moment was to be lost. I
could hear the engine puffing across the waters. Shouting to a
darkey, who seemed to rise up preternaturally out of the ground, I
ordered him to row me over; and a more astonished man I think I
never saw than he was. When on reaching the opposite shore, with
but ten minutes to spare, I bolted from the boat without a word,
and started on the run for headquarters. The general was asleep,
but an aid carried in my pass, signed by General Banks, brought it
back countersigned, and in five minutes more I was aboard the train
moving on to New Orleans.

"Of this part of my journey I have a very indistinct remembrance.
My impression is that I dozed whenever I sat down, and I was so
tired I could hardly stand. I had had nothing to eat since the
night before and was faint and exhausted with hunger, and