allowed no after-thought in the premises, but
decided to dodge from tree to tree, like the hunting Indian, as long as
my present humor impelled me.

I know not how far I advanced thus, through the most desperate (but to
the reader, whom I commiserate, least interesting) stage of my
adventure,--nor anything of my thoughts or emotions, after the hot
resolve had taken hold of me. I was in a fever, a mad fever, the
evidence of cold, and the handiwork of the past night's rolling-mill,
and, I doubt not, was entirely unfitted to evade the enemy with presence
of mind or skill. I did not pause till I heard the sound of axes, and
the confused noises of a body of men.

I then again took the serpent's position upon the earth, after he, like
myself, had lost his Eden, and summoned my oft-trusted counsellors, my
ears, to their familiar duty of serving for all my senses in one. The
sounds were very distinct indeed; I could even hear the men's voices,
chopped up by their active tools; and I knew, by the noise of their
labors, that they were driving stakes into the ground. It could scarce
be the Rebels, I thought, in camp this distance in the rear: it might be
our men, I hoped, pushing our advance up the Valley. I drew carefully
forward on hands and knees.

In a little while I saw a bending figure, with its back to me, holding
something that I could not see over a smoking bundle of fagots. There
was a poncho about the neck, that covered it down to the ground, and in
the morning gray, the figure, the colonnade of tree-trunks, the lazy
smoke, a cabinet picture, wore an India-rubber look.

Presently another came up to my first discovery, as if emerging from the
bustle elsewhere, and stood erect before him, seeming almost as wet as
myself. There was a tasselled bugle in his hand, covered with a corner
of his poncho, under which he had a cavalry sabre. He wore, also, a
dripping cavalry cord round his hat. After a few words, the two sat upon
their heels before the fire, which they bent over, paternally, to
protect, watching the thing that was cooking.

Having drawn myself cautiously nearer, I waited a long while for one of
the men to display his colors.

The bugler was burnishing his instrument upon his blouse beneath his
rubber, hazarding some chance notes under shelter, as he laughed and
chatted with his friend. He would, apparently, consult with him of his
performance; and he finally lifted himself upon his feet, with the
instrument