mported, however, with
that which at an earlier day placed Lee's mansion on the Peninsula under
double guard, and when you give it the in that case sorry merit of
consistency, its best excuse is given.

Beyond some lives lost by a force of Regulars who ventured too near the
river without proper precautions the day after we occupied the Gap, and
the loss of a Regimental head-quarters wagon, loaded with the officers'
baggage, broken down upon a road on which the exhorting Colonel, after
deliberate survey, had set his heart as the safest of roads from the
Summit, nothing of note occurred during the stay. Our evacuation of the
Gap was almost immediately followed by Rebel occupation.

The statement that nothing of note occurred may, perhaps, be doing
injustice to our little Dutch Doctor, who had the best of reasons for
remembering the morning of our departure from Snicker's Summit. To the
Doctor the mountain, with its rocks, seemed familiar ground. A Tyrolese
by birth, he loved to talk of his mountain home and sing its lively
airs. But that sweet home had one disadvantage. Their beasts of draught
and burden were oxen, and the only horse in the village was a cart-horse
owned by the Doctor's father. Of necessity, therefore, his horsemanship
was defective, an annoying affair in the army. Many officers and men
were desirous of seeing the Doctor mount and ride his newly purchased
horse, and the Doctor was quite as anxious to evade observation. His
saddle was on and blankets strapped as he surveyed the beast, now
passing to this side and now to that, giving wide berth to heels that
never kicked, and with his servant at hand, waiting until the last files
of the Regiment had disappeared in the woods below. Not unobserved,
however, for two of the Field and Staff had selected a clump of scrub
pines close at hand for the purpose of witnessing the movement. A rock
near by served him as a stand from which to mount. The horse was brought
up, and the Doctor, after patting his head and rubbing his neck to
assure himself of the good intentions of the animal, cautiously took his
place in the saddle and adjusted his feet in the stirrups.

The animal moved off quietly enough, until the Doctor, to increase his
speed, touched him in the flank with his spur, when the novel sensation
to the beast had the effect of producing a sudden flank movement, which
resulted in the instant precipitation of the Doctor upon his back among
the rocks and rough u