Year: 1868

carry him. 1t was an heroic exertion Of
what little strength, cold and hunger and
rebel cruelty had left them, but it cost
the poor disabled fellow too much to
profit by such kindness, and he plead
with them, as men plead for their lives,
to abandon him and secure their own
safety. Leave you p they said, Leave
you to starve, and fall into the hands of
the rebss Never Let us die together.
But you need not die, why will you lose
your lives for mine look at me, it isn't
worth the cost, boys. Good by, Tm will
ling to die, God bless you, and good by T
God bless us with you lying here like
that! No, come on, such help as we can
give you shall have. And we got him
into the American lines, too, said Lucien,
exultantly. Poor fellow, his feet had to
come of, but he got well.'


He never will forget how much he
owes to you,' said


'Oh no., answered Lucien, modestly
waving all claim to. obligation, we
never shall forget one another, we have
all corresponded since we got home. l
think we never could have got on, our
shoes were SO worn and our feet so bad,
if our negro friends had not told us of
Union man who would gladly help us.
By their careful directions and assur-
ances that he would not betray us, we
were led too seek him. He told us we
would not be safe with him, but that he
knew of a cave where we could be con-
cealed. His son had been hidden there
eighteen months to escape being con-
scripted by the rebels. He preferred that
to fighting against the flag he loved My
little girl carried his food, said his father,
she learned to be right sly, and will
send her to you to-day with something to
eat, and the leather from my saddle and
some shoemaker's tools with which you
can patch up your shoes, and that is the
best | can do for you, for the rebs have
taken all. Ny boy had laid in that cave
so long, that he pined so to eat with us
once more, that he said at Christmas,


Father, must eat my Christmas dinner
with you if die for it, Wesat at watch,
and he had just began to eat when the
rebs surrounded the house and took him.
Yes, he had to fight and was killed in a
cause that his soul hated


With what sympathy our poor, foot
footsore, hunted patriots must have lis
tened to this tragedy narrated in few
words, but eloquent with the sad pathos
of fathers crushed heart. To him it
was a privilege he would not forego to
do his best for all true Union men. All
day long they worked at their shoes, and
at nightfall they were in such serviceable
condition that they resumed their journey
in comparative comfort. This patriots
saddle saved their lives, for if they had
been obliged to go on as they were, their
feet would soon have become useless, like
those of their disabled comrade. The
little girl came to them with her basket
of provisions over the same path she had
travelled daily so many months to feed
her poor, lost brother.


Dangers thickened as our friends neared
the goal Of their hopes it seemed impos-
sible to make any advance safely, for
they were compelled to pass, or rather
creep, through Breckenridge's entire
army. More than one movement eau
tious as motion had now become, drew
the fire of the ememy's pickets still they
never received wound. Once when al
most within the Union lines, they saw at
a distance party of soldiers cooking
savory meal by their evening camp fire.
Boys ran the joyful Whisper "we're
all right now. See they are negro SOL
diers.' Keeping a sharp lookout, they
crept noiselessly nearer and nearer, so
near that one rose up to spring with
shout for the boys in blue right into their
midst, when a movement on the part Of
an officer revealed to them the rebel uni
form. With hearts that, saddened as they
were, would beat too loud for their own
er's fears, they crawled away, hungry
and cold to make one more brave push
toward the North star.


When at last, with their great and
terrible journey behind them, they
caught sight of the old flag, and the
Union army as it lay within stones
throw of them, they were SO near the
rebel pickets that they could see their
faces and hear their jesting threats at the
Yanks. At the rustic of the leaf they
would hear the click of their ever ready
guns, and so they lay with that fair land
of promise in view for forty-eight hours,
fat upon their faces and longing for food.
1 was beyond all the agonies that the past