, but left word for General Toombs to let him know where
to meet him with his horses. That night about two o'clock Lieutenant
Irvin got word from General Toombs to bring his horse to Nick Chenault's
by seven o'clock in the morning. This was a farm about eighteen miles
from Washington, near the Broad River. Here General Toombs mounted his
trusted horse and felt at home. It was the famous mare Gray Alice, which
had carried him through all his campaigns. He had ridden her during the
charges at Antietam, and she had borne him from the fire of the scouts
the night he had received his wound. Once more he pressed her into
service, and Robert Toombs, for the first time in his life, was a
fugitive. This man, who commanded men and had gained his own way by
sheer brain and combativeness, fled by stealth from a dreaded enemy. It
was a new role for Toombs. His plucky young guide was resolved to
accompany him in his flight--it might be to his death; it was all the
same to Lieutenant Irvin. Riding swiftly into Elbert County, the two men
crossed over to Harrison Landing, a picturesque spot on the Savannah
River. Here dwelt an old man, Alexander LeSeur, who led something of a
hermit's life. Before the war he had been a "Know-nothing," and had been
exposed to Toombs' withering fire upon that class of politicians.
LeSeur met the fugitive with a laugh and a friendly oath. "You have been
fighting me for forty years," he said, "and now that you are in trouble,
I am the first man you seek for protection."

[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF GENERAL B. W. HEARD, WASHINGTON, GA., WHERE
JEFFERSON DAVIS HELD LAST MEETING OF CABINET, APRIL, 1865.]

General Toombs had not traveled too fast. The country was swarming with
raiders. News of the capture of Davis and Stephens had fired these men
with desire to overhaul the great champion of secession. A Federal
major, commanding a force of men, put up at Tate's residence, just
opposite the hermit's island. While there, a negro from the LeSeur place
informed the officer that some prominent man was at the house. "If it
ain't Jeff Davis, it is just as big a man," said he. The hint was taken.
The island was surrounded and carefully watched, but when the party went
over to capture Toombs, the game was gone.

General Toombs now started out carefully up the Savannah River. In
Elbert, he was in the hands of his friends. This county, which had first
encouraged the struggles of the young lawyer, which had followed him