numerous congratulations upon his proficiency in the art of stopping
and killing a pig were showered upon him. He bore his honors meekly,
merely remarking that it did him more good to kill that pig than it did
to eat him; but while his veracity was never before doubted, the manner
in which he devoured his share of that animal, and the quantity which he
ate, caused the rest of us to conclude that he found more joy in
possession than in pursuit.

Captain Gedney's feet had been troubling him considerably, and the next
day we stopped for a rest and to doctor his feet. We used the grease of
the pig as a salve, and made him a pair of moccasins out of an old shirt
and the tail of his blouse. Late in the day we made a start, and slipped
along slowly. Finding no running water, we were forced to drink from
pools at the roadside, but we made good progress on our way.

On the seventh day out, as we were marching along through a
highly-timbered country that was thickly covered with underbrush, with
an extremely hot sun overhead and scarcely a breath of air stirring to
relieve the stifling oppression in the atmosphere, Captain Fee had a
sunstroke, and we were alarmed, but he quickly recovered and we
proceeded.

So far we had seen no one to whom we wanted to speak, and no one not
easily avoided.

On the eighth day our few matches had all been used, and our food supply
again exhausted. We found some field beans, which we ate raw until we
had satisfied our appetites, and then filled our bucket.

We were wearing Confederate shoes made of poorly-tanned leather, and
they had become as hard as iron, wearing off our toenails to the quick
and causing us much pain. We had to stop frequently to wrap our toes
with rags, and our lack of proper food was beginning to tell upon us, so
that our condition was not one to occasion much joyfulness.

On this afternoon we heard the sound of wood-chopping off in the woods,
and we went over to investigate, Gedney and myself being appointed as a
diplomatic committee to wait upon the unknown parties and see what we
could do in the way of negotiating for some provender.

Leaving our companions, we crept slowly and carefully toward the
workers, and at last found them to be negroes, a man and a boy, stark
naked, whom we surrounded before introducing ourselves.

The result of our mission was that the man directed us where to hide in
the bottom, agreeing to come to us after dark and lead us out of the
bott