The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-30

Ude. 1t ran near 5ss sRere, aoPUss RumsrOUs
inlets that rose at high. tiaessad overlooked
the path.
1 learned that fas eespssstthe Sixth. had
been ordered to enabarEk that night, and was
anxious to joiR mE regiment bsEore 1t sailed,
or l might be separated from 1t for weeks
Beside needed faaa, aer. beSRg absent from
ny proper gnass, Ieos2a suet4get ratiens, and
was already limiting E4tn hunger,
I set cut from Fort Monroe with about
three hours of daylight and eight, miles of
unknown road airesa4 The wagonTozd froa
the fort is used Tor soae distance By travel
eTs On the foot route, and then the path turns
left into the fieIds and soon enters region OF
marsh, with occasional elevste4 lands under
cultivation The lowaHds are thicklT wood
ed. After walking briskiy for sons time
began to see the loneliness OF the trip and the
risk involved; but cansoled mySelfit would
be an adventure worth talking about should
anything unusual happen Just now, on
looking back, noticed soldier coming along
the road sitter me alta rapid pace, and think
ing it might be-a messenger sent for me
slackened my steps, althoughkeeping steady
tramp towards my destination. When he
came near enough he called cut:
"Hello, going to Newport NewsT
81 am going &c my regiment" said, sone-
what grufiiy.
"Well, if it is in the Sixth corps, it is at the
News, for they are all there, going aboard. 1
left there today looking for nay regiment at
the fort, but it Is not at the fort, SO am GO
ing to the News again"
The stranger had been walking faster than
I, but ROW he, too, slackened pace and seemed
to want my company. Somehow, I don't
know why, didn't want his. Perhaps had
been charmed with the idea Of an adventurous
trip alone, or else / thought he had the advan-
tage ia having been over the route and would
assume q superiority over me. OF course
was but boy then, and had boys notions
about dignity and all that. So said sneer-
ingly, answering his remark;
''What corps is yours7"
Fifth"
Eyes" said I, ''you fellows didn't stand at
Gaines Mil"
OF course they stood at Gaines Mil, and
fought all day like heroes, but that is the way
we always talked down other commands
then. He gave me a questioning look, but
did not dispute what said, and continued:
"What regimentw
''The til Michigan" he said, naming
very low number of one figure.
1.-THE -thm l echoed. why, your state
doesn't turn out at all for the war. My state
has sent out over a hundred and fifty regi-
ments and is recruiting all the time"
This was all nonsense, you see. His state
filed its quota, and mine didn't do more than
that. But that is the way we used to run
down the men from other states then.
We walked on in silence, both increasing
~.
the path leads away from the road toward
the swamp he pointed it out and said:
"This will save an hours walk and maybe
save our neczs, for am told the guerrillas
sometimes ride on the main road at night"
He turned aside, climbed the fence and sat
on the top rail looking wonderingly at me,
for kept right on and made no answer, not
even by nod of the head. 1t was q sudden
notion of mine that wouldn't travel in COM
pany with this fellow. To Justify my con-
duct I said to myself: "How do 1 know but
he is guerrilla in disguise, or a spy? He
knows all about my corps at Newport News,
and maybe he has been to the fort on an err
rand of spying out other movements OF our
troopsn
So l kept on in the road and as soon as he
was gone from view l took a faster pace for
a quarter of a mile, then turned into the
marsh and set out for the coast, knowing that
l must strike the path and get ahead of my
unwecOme fellow traveller