The National tribune., 1885-04-23

dirty and ragged, and we had a sort OF Jail-bird
look. that IL seemed to me would betray us If we
were seen. l was brought to a realization of this
| fact as looked at Wood. when we sat together in
silence beneath the great tree where we had taken
shelter waiting for the friendly mantle of darkness
| to shield our movements. And suppose my own
appearance was no more preposscssng than his.
The miserable garments he wore did not cover his
nakedness. His face was begrimed with dirt almost
set i'm the skin. He had become thin and emacated
were sunken in his head and seemed to have the
wild, unnatural glare of mailman, which at times
| almost made me shudder The poor fellows pitt
liable appearance as he sat there despoDdenfiy and
! longingiy gazing down the beautiful valley be-
low such as to appeal to a heart of stone. Yet
knew that 1T was unsafe Tor us to go to n house,
| and we agreed not to be seen by human being If
we could avoid it. felt certain that if we should
meet any one, our appearance would at once betray
pect to find friend unless possibly, it might be
the negroes, OF whom, a class, We knew but very
| little. We were so weak. and the mental strain
and long continued anxiety, in which we had lived
from day to day, had had the effect of making US,
may say, foolishly suspicious and timid of every
thing. We Were startled at every sudden noise,
and crouched like sIieaking wolves from the sight
While In the midst Of unpleasant thoughts, Mark
broke the long silence by raising his head and say
| ing, "Alf. it is time for us TO 60"
Our journey that night took US through a corn
| field, where we pulled few cars of corn and
| chewed il went along / remember il was
hard and made my jaws very tired, but it helped TO
quiet my gnawing hunger. Ii was much better
| than nothing. After tosome nights journey.
guided by the stars, and over very rough coun-
try, i'll which we entirely avoided roads, we again
sccrcted ourselves the srealSs of gray began to
appear in the east, and. after Scraping up pile of
leaves. lay down for the day. When we awoEc,
late in The afternoon we found that our feet were
so bruised and sore and that we were otherwise so
lame, and wtha so weak from hunger, that 1T
taxed endurance TO the utmost to take single
step. We each took from our pockets an ear OF
corn, and after crunching and swallowing what we
could, we put the rest Ill our clothes and hobbieu
Off making but very slow time for the first mile
So 1t was in the month of October, and the nights
were pretty cool, which, in our poorly-clad condi-
ton, compelled us to keep moving all the time to
keep comfortably warm.
The next morning came and still we had not
reached the river. Again hid ourselves and
slept through the day. When night came and we
tried TO walk, we found feet in such depiOr-
able condition that it did not seem possible for us
TO go farther. Mark crawled some distance on his
hands and knees, and looking back Mt me- said in
appealing Tone "Alf, what's n fellows life but n
curse to him when he has to drag it out in this way
would rather be dead and done with it,"
encouraged him, telling him the worst was over
and we would soon reach the river. suppose we
had shaped our course little too far south, and
thus made the distance longer than it twoud other
wise have been. We struggled on for some time.
crawling where the ground was stony and stopping
very often to temporarily quel the pain In feet.
i was little ahead, and, as the breeze famed my
aching temples thought heard to our right the
lull of running water told Mark and cheered him
up. We forgot our tortures for the time being and
scrambled on quite lively, and soon after had the
satisfaction of standing Oh the banks of the Chat;a-
hoochee.
De Soto did not feel more 10y when he first dis
covered the Mississippi the great Father of Waters.
nor was the ecstasy of Balboa greater, when from
the c!oua-cappcd SUBMITS of Darien his eyes first
beheid the vast eXpansc of water which he named
the Pacific Ocean. Like that great dscoycrcr, we
waded out into the water, carrying neither naked
sword nor the banner of our country like he to
take possession of our discovery in the name of our
rulers, but to bathe painful feet and cool our
parched tlroatS
We made certain of the direction the river cur-
rent ran and started southwark in high hopes.
although the temptation to go northward to our
friends was very strong. Wenow wanted ii boat and,
not long after started fortune had another pleas
ant surprise in store for for upon skiff
safely moored. with lock and chain, to tree. After
carefully inspecting the surroundings TO see that
pryiBg eyes were peering OF us we loosened" the
lock with a stone, and III few minutes after were
smoothly gliding down the current of the great
river, and doubt If two more joyful mortals ever
navigated canoe than we two, with that stolen
little craft.
What happy change, Our weary limbs and
painful feet now had rest, and yet were gliding
noiselessly on our journey. What wonderful teach
ers hardship and stern necessity are! Discontinued
mortsis do not half appreciate the blessings they
have until they have been pupils the school Of ad
versity. felt if this chilly nights ride. in lit
tie stolen boat, on strange river, whose shores
were hidden by Piutonian shadows was the best
and most grateful that ever had, or ever expected
to enjoy.
We pulled off our old boots and bathed our laccr-
ated feet in the water, and quenched the torment
ing thirst caused by the indgestbe hard corn,
which was now our only nourishment. We kept
paddles pretty busy as we wished to get as far
away possible from where we took the boat be-
fore the dawn of day. When daylight began to
appear, we padded our craft into bayou, safe
from view, and secreted ourselves in a thicSet for
the day.
-Four days and nights had now passed since we
had eaten food except the morsel of corn-bread we
brought out OF the prison We lay down TO sleep the
day away, but between our great hunger and the
swarms of mosquitoes could get but little rest.
j could, while sleeping in my dreams tables
spread and groanin with loads fgood things TO eat;
bread, meat, cheese coffee biscuit, and butter
all within my reach, and were vanishing before
great pleasures of this feast, / would suddenly
waken to of the reality of the case, and
what maddening disappointment would feel.
With this disturbed sort OF rest we worried through
the day, the demands of hunger and stomachs
getting the better of natures demand for rest until
AT last grew desperate, and at early twilight in
the evening. pulled out of the little bayou deter
mined on raid of some sort on house for food.
We spied house some distance from the river
bank. which we thought from appearances we could
capture with plausible story by force.
On approaching, we saw in its immediate vicinity
quite a number of negro cabins, and in the NRrd
surrounding the house about 20 bioodhounds
chained to the fence indicating that these the
premises Of an extensive planter. The only occu-
pants of the house were an old man and woman.
We apologized for disturbing them, and told them
we were soldiers who had been f,irlough return
ing to our regiments al Atlanta. pnd wished direc
tons to the ferry 1--WE had discovered ferry
came down. also, that we were hungry and
wanted to get something to cat. provided they felt
like feeding hungry soldiers without money as we
had had no pay for some time and were both
rloncyless and in bad health. Marks appearance
proving this latter assertion. 1t was quite dark,
however and they could not see very distinctly,
but they evidently credited our story for they told
to be seated and would soon be made well
come to such food as they had.
They were a couple of quite intelligent but unso-
pfisticafed Old people in comfortable crcum
stances, living. most Southerners did array from
any highway, and we gained their confidence
far as TO feel ourselves assured from suspicion. l
had been in Dixie so long that had acquired, from
the guards and citizens their yernacular of speech
quite perfectly; besides this, we had learned the
names Of officers and the number of different reGi
Inents such the Sth Ga Cav, 5th Tenn ETC. until
we were able TO tell quite plausible story, If not too
closely questioned.
We asked the old man ii theI was any late news.
He said y" Nothing, except that the Yankee raiders
had seized the Atlanta jaiier, empowered the
guards and number OF them esq ped and had not
yet been caught" We pressed great surprise
that such piece of audacity could be made sue
cessful in Atlanta. The old man s. ID. "Thcy
a desperate, dangerous lot of scoundres, who ought
to have been hung long ago" He said many of
them stood up and fought the soldiers with Clubs
and bricks, even after the guards had shot them
through, and finally they jumped the high fence
and ran like deer.
In the meantime we had derorrcd everything
the good woman had Sc before the table.
We were ashamed, but our hunger much
stronger than our sense of shame that could not
leave off, and, If we had not been in a hurry we
would have waited for her to have prepared an
other meal for us. She said she regretted that she
had not more cooked TO set before u.s. but told
her she had been very kind, and thanilc them, at
the same time bidding them good d-night, when we
started off, as they supposed for the ferry. short
time afterwards we were in our boat pulling down
stream with more vigorous energy than we had
before We kept up steady stroke of the paddles
for some hours, feeling that each stroke placed SO
much more distance between Us and the prison.
While we were thus moving along with steady,
L. - -