The Portland daily press., 1877-08-04

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we were unused to marching, of late, and We
had nothing to eat but corn still left standing
in the fields and which we gathered in the
night. By day we burst not stir, for we were
not yet far enough from our prison to fee
any security"
CAT length, about the eighth day, WIS feel
became 90 sore that he declared he could &c
no further and besought us to leave him be.
hind to die. Of course we weren't going to
do that; besides we had pledged ourselves to
one another, and couldn't; so we cheered
him and urged him ON until he grew so lame
that he could not walk. Then l took him on
my back and travelled so, that night, but it
was slow work and we did not get on mora
than eight or ten miles,"
'How strong you must be to carry a man
ten miles," remarked Kate
"Bless youp' exclaimed the Colonel, 81
suppose carried that man a hundred miles
on my back, before our tramp was ended. I
have the endurance of an elephant"
swell, the next night w. was no better,
and we decided that we must stop over a
night for him to rest, yet we were nearly
starved, and must have food, at whatever
risk"
"When it grew dark, G.. climbed tree in
the woods where we lay concealed, and saw a
light, at no great distance. G. did the pros
pecting, because he was lighter man than 1.
Many time I have lifted him on my shout
ders 10 read guide post. in the night, when
we did not know which road to take"
$50 when we saw this light, I determined
to reach it at all hazards. AS yet, we had
trusted ourselves to nobody, but if this proved
to be negro cabin, as it appeared, for we
could see the lightshining through the chinks
of the wall, decided to try the experiment
OF telling them who I was, for we had been
told that the negroes were invariably true to
escaped prisoners"
81 approached the house with the greatest
caution, and you may kno W how noiselessly
we had trained ourselves to march, for the
dog, lying on the doorstep, did not stir until
I touched him."
"The door was fastened by wooden bolt,
but stopped and looked through the wide
chink underneath and saw fire blazing on
on the hearth, and an old negress sitting be-
side it,"
"By this time the dog was making great
uproar, but I knocked loudly and insisted
upon being let in. The woman was afraid at
first, but at length she reused her husband
and unbolted the door and let me in.''
"The cabin was SO low that my head al
most hit the ceiling''-( "That's not so very
low" remarked Frank in parenthesis) "and
this one room was kitchen, parlor and bed
the room, but blaze on the hearth looked
cheerful enough"
"Then told the old people that I was
very hungry, and had been travelling long
way. and that wanted something to eat.
They seemed very Indifferent and said they
were sorry, but they had nothing to eat in
the house.
'''No hams? 1 asked, mo potatoes, no
meal?'"
mo, nufin,' they declared, ives very
poor; wes got muffin for ourselves
II found it impossible to get anything out
of them by threats or entreaties. so resolved
to make bold push. Can you keep Sc
cret" I asked. well, they didn't know
whether they could or not; they didn't care.
WELL" I said. 'Tll tell you one; Pm a
Yankee-an escaped prisoner
"The effect of this disclosure, which I
made with some dread, was astounding The
old man leaped from his bed and seized me
by both hands; the old woman threw her
arms about me and almost crying, blessed
me with great fervor. Then she raked open
the Goals and finding that she was not quite
SO poor, after all, brought out potatoes and
corn meal and went to cooking at once.
Suddenly she stopped, came up to me and
putting her hands on my head, felt all over
my hair and forehead. She seemed to want
to touch me, to assure herself that was
really there"
"'You'm Yankeep she exclaimed at
length, "You'm got no hornsp Horns no,
I should hope not said I. But massa says
all Yankees Las horns,' said the old c-ea-
ture."
otis not possible, B p Aunt Rachel as
serted. ''There can be no negroes SO igno-
rant as to believe that human beings have
horns. She didn't really say that!"
s'Indeed Aunt" replied Kate, "there were
great many niggers believed it, if they be-
lieved what their masters told them. We
had an old Aunty for our cook, last year,
who came from Mississippi, and she said her
master and many others during the war told
their niggers that the Yankees had horns and
tails. and were going South to eat up the
niggers. When 1 asked her if she believed it
she laughed, with a cunning look, and eaid
they knew better than to believe such stories,
but their masters thought they did,
''But this one, it seems, really did believe
it," said Aunt Rachel.
"Yes;" the Colonel answered, "for she was
far off on plantation, away from any town,
and had probably seen only half dozen
white people in her life.
swell, when she had examined me enough
went back to the woods after my compan-
ions and brought them with me to the cabin,
where we had the most splendid supper I
ever ate. A Parker House entertainment
with music and flowers and wine, would be
nothing, now, to the corn bread and pota-
toes that POOR old Negress gave US starved,
tired fellows.
"We stayed in their hut all night, talking
with them and answering all their questions,
and they learned more in those few hours, I
guess, than they ever knew before.
"Toward morning the old man led us to a
patch of woods, not far of, where there was
ruined STILL 1t had been built here to con.
ceal it from the officers; the shade was very
thick, and here, he said, we might lie through
the day, and at night he would come to us
with food. The following night we planned
to start again, and he promised us provisions
and guide.
"All that day we lay hidden in the woods.
The food and rest did w. so much good that
we felt sure in twenty-four hours we should
be able to start.
Gin the course of the day we saw the old
colored people leave their hut, for we always
had one man watching, even when we
thought ourselves in safe place and we
were really so ungrateful as to think that