completely out of breath, to
listen.

It was now about 11 o'clock, and there was not a sound to be heard. After
listening some time I again started for the road, feeling that I must make
the balance of the tramp alone. I soon found the road, and then put in
some of the tallest walking I had ever done, knowing that every stride I
made was a stride towards safety. I had walked about five miles, as near
as I could judge, and had just come to the open country again, when from
the fence beside the road just behind me, I heard my name spoken; and
knowing that no one but my comrades would know my name, I at once halted
and answered. It proved to be Captain Hock and Adjutant Winner, who had
heard me coming and waited for me.

We pushed on rapidly, knowing that our safety depended on the distance we
placed between ourselves and Columbia that night, and at daylight went
into camp in a piece of woods about fifteen miles from Columbia. I did
not take any blanket with me; but had a good overcoat, which we spread on
the ground, and covering ourselves with the blankets of Hock and Winner,
slept soundly until about ten o'clock, when we awoke and took our
breakfast of two biscuits each, and spent the balance of the day in
chatting, smoking, snoozing, etc. About half past nine that evening (the
14th) we started on again, proceeding cautiously in single file, but we
did not make more than twelve miles that night, on account of being
obliged to make a long detour two or three times, to flank some wagons
that had camped beside the road, on their way to market at Columbia.

People going to market there are frequently eight or ten days on the road,
camping like gypsies, wherever night overtakes them. They would build a
fire beside the road, and cook their supper, picket their horses, and go
to sleep in their covered wagons.

In these detours, we sometimes came across a few sweet potatoes, or some
corn in the field, which we would gather to roast for our breakfast. In
fact, after the third day, our biscuits were all gone, and we had nothing
to eat except what we could thus find along the road. On the third night
out, my legs began to pain me, and the next morning they were quite
swollen and inflamed. This was Sunday, and we camped in a pine grove, near
a clear brook; and after breakfast I took a good bath in the cold water,
and felt quite refreshed after it. That night, just after we started, we
found a guide board, and mounting Captain Hoc