d, we got into the carriages before sunrise,
and left this romantic abode of dogs and contentment. Again our road
lay through piney woods, so much like that from Hammond to Ponchatoula
that involuntarily I found myself looking through the window to see if
Mr. Halsey was there. It lacked only his presence to make the scene all
in all the same. But alas! this time the driver picked me wild flowers,
and brought us haws. Mr. Halsey, in blissful ignorance of our
departure, was many and many a mile away. The drive was not half as
amusing. The horse would not suffer any one except Miriam to drive, and
at last refused to move until the driver got down and ran along by the
carriage. Every time the poor boy attempted to occupy his seat, the
obstinate animal would come to a dead stop and refuse to go until he
dismounted again. I am sure that he walked nineteen miles out of the
twenty-three, out of complaisance to the ungrateful brute.

All equally fatigued and warm, we reached this place about twelve
o'clock. Mrs. Bull had arrived before us; and as the carriage stopped,
her girl Delia came to the gate the personification of despair, crying,
"You can't get out, ladies. They say we can't stop here; we must go
right back." The panic which ensued is indescribable. Go back when we
were almost at our journey's end, after all the money we had spent, the
fatigue we had undergone, to be turned back all the way to Clinton,
perhaps! "With my sick babies!" cried Mrs. Ivy. "With my sick child!"
cried mother. "Never! You may turn me out of your house, but we will
die in the woods first! To go back is to kill my daughter and these
babies!" This was to the overseer who came to the carriage. "Madam, I
have orders to allow no one to pass who has not written permission.
Lieutenant Worthington sent the order two days ago; and I am liable to
imprisonment if I harbor those who have no passport," the man
explained. "But we have General Gardiner's order," I expostulated.
"Then you shall certainly pass; but these ladies cannot. I can't turn
you away, though; you shall all come in and stay until something can be
determined on."

This much granted was an unlooked-for blessing. He showed us the way to
a large unfurnished house, one room of which contained a bed with one
naked mattress, which was to be our apartment. Mrs. Bull sat down in a
calm, dignified state of despair; little Mrs. Ivy dissolved in tears;
we all felt equally disconsolate; the prospect of