Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1902-07-31

dat you can't see neither end Of 'em.
The old woman seemed so earnest
that l was half inclined to believe her
so l asked, "Where are they, aunty
How far?"
"Jes' beyan' de woods, boss. Deys
jes' millions of en-"
l knew the road for miles beyond the
station. 1t was so straight that man
could see a long way ahead. | had a
horse fast enough to get me out of
trouble should | suddenly find myself
within rifle range and he needed eX-
ercise. SO mounted and galloped out
to recOnnoitor. | passed the woods
without seeing any one, and from Il
little hill | could see that there was no
one in the fields beyond, so l returned
to the station and rebuked the old
woman for lying.
Its true as do Bible, boss, whut l
tole you" she replied earnestly. "Dey
dun tuck my two shotes long wild 'em.
You t'ink desc ole eyes cayn't see?
Ias'r, dey kin dat"
AS 1t was about time for us to be re-
lieved told her to go back home and
take another look and return.
A few hours after we reached camp
we were startled by the bugle blowing
"boots and saddles" the most per-
emptory alarm known In the cavalry
service As we hurried to the stables
we heard the "lOng rolf sounded in
the infantry camp near us. By the
| time the assembly" sounded, the word
had gone through camp that the out
| posts on every road, on circuit Of ten
or more miles, had been driven in or
captured.
As we rode out at a trot we could see
| infantry moving into tho works on ev-
cry side, light batteries taking posi-
| tiOns behind breastworkS and men at
the heavy guns in the forts, while to-
ward n series of roads different from
that which we were approaching anoth-
er cavalry regiment was moving. In the
town we divided so as to reconnOiter
three roads to find out who and where
the enemy was. 1t did not take long
to get the desired information. A Con-
federate gun or two on each road sent
IL
they were, and dash Of skirmishers
at the gallop yielded two or three pris-
Oners who told US that the troops who
had caused the alarm were two corps
of Lees army.
Well, we had gained the information
for which we had gone in search, but
1t didn't please us at all. 1t foreshad-
owed a change of habit for us. Up to
that time we had been able with n sim
gle battalion to send flying back to
their camps any force that had ap-
preached the town. We could scarcely
expect to do so with the newcomers.
A single Confederate corps numbered
at our post numbered less than 5000
There was nothing to joke about Men
spoke to one another about the situa-
tion and reasoned about it, but in SEN
tences no longer or more sensible than
those above. Every one seemed labor
ing under q sense Of personal affront-
affront which he was unable to resent.
We went to camp, and the enemy
went to fortifying, as we soon after
ward learned when on one recOnnois-
sance oranother we stumbled upon forts
md breastworks where once had been
clear roadway and fields. Weeks aft
erward we learned from Richmond pa
pers that LOngstreet had been In our
neighborhood for forage and food for
Lees army. Had General Longstrect
explained his purpose to- US when no
came, a great lot of Improbable worry
might have been spared. We might
even have cOmplimented him on the
wisdom displayed in the selection Of
the territory, for the country round
about us was fertile and well titled and
had not been laid under contribution
by soldiers, except perhaps to the eX-
tent of a few sweet potatoes, chickens
and turkeys. BY driving in our pick
cts Longstreet got possession Of two
railroad lines which gave him free com.
munication, barring the few miles with
in our lines, between Richmond and
North Carolina.
But none of these things did General
LOngStreet explain to us. Whatever
may have been his own intentions as
he meandered from farm to farm for
corn and bacon, his men acted as IL
they would like to draw forage from
the commissary department of our own
post and get anything else the town
might hold, ourselves included. If a.
man doesn't want peaceable intentions
misconstrued, he shouldn't intrust
them to thousands Of fellows with guns
in their hands. Such men always get
things mixed.
OF one thing we felt assured-the en-
emy could not cut our line OF retreat,
which also was the route of our sup
plies, for this was over causeways
through the Dismal Swamp, a dark,
deep but friendly ally, which could
have swallowed an army like Long
streets without more than whetting
its own appetite. The swamp was not
exactly mud but almost any part of
IL could be turned to mud in few min
utes by the tramp Of a few men. And
such mud A rich, black ooze Of de-
cayed vegetation, into which, except In
midsummer or midwinter, the foot
would sink as into moss, while right
under the surface was tangle of
roots which never tired of playing boot
jack for the pedestrian. To have ones
boot pulled off without warning is
amazing. To afterward drag the same
boot from net full of ooze into which
the other boot Is slowly sinking Is still
worse. One Of Longstreet's men got
through the swamp to the railroad
track and captured one Of our pickets,
but he admitted that he was sorry he
did 1t. He had trouble enough In re-
turning to wish he had only himself TO
think of. To get enough men through
to destroy our railroad track would
have been impossible.
so we could run away if the post be-
came too hot to hold us, and we
couldn't be starved. After thinking