o pursue Curtis, because his orders
compelled him to at once proceed with all his available force to join
the Army of the Center on the Mississippi.

Then came that dreary march to Van Buren of which we have spoken, and
which was a little ahead of anything Rodney had ever dreamed of. The
weary and hungry soldiers had long since ceased to expect anything from
the commissary department, which had disappeared as completely as though
it had never existed, and provisions of every sort were so scarce that
the different regiments and companies were obliged to break into little
squads and forage on their own account, the only instructions they
received being to the effect that they were to get to Van Buren as soon
as they could. As Dick and Rodney had the reputation of being excellent
foragers, and were known to be well supplied with gold, they had no
difficulty in keeping the members of their mess together. The gold
brought them corn bread, chickens and milk when Confederate scrip would
have failed, and when they came to compare notes with the rest of the
regiment at Van Buren, they found that they had fared very well. The
bulk of Price's army had passed on ahead of them, going down into
cellars and up into garrets, and poking about in hay-mows and stacks in
search of provender that had been hastily concealed by the anxious
citizens, and Rodney often wondered how McCulloch's men, who brought up
the rear, managed to keep body and soul together.

It was a dreary time taken all around, but their troubles did not end
when they arrived at Van Buren, as they hoped they would. It is true
they again came within sight of a commissary department with an
abundance of provisions, a quartermaster's department with a lot of
mixed-up baggage and camp equipage, blankets and overcoats that had been
thrown off and left at different places along the route, and here they
were allowed to rest until the stragglers came up and reported; but
their march was not ended. Their destination was Pocahontas, which was
nearly two hundred miles farther on.

It was while they were enjoying a much needed rest in camp at Van Buren
that they heard one piece of news that raised them to the highest pitch
of excitement, and two others that brought their spirits down to zero.
The first was brought to camp by a member of Dick's mess who had somehow
managed to get hold of a paper containing a greatly exaggerated account
of the first day's fight at Pittsburg Landing.