I ran back to my tent, and just then Jim Carlysle came along.
"Jim, you are the very man I am looking for. I want you to be ready to
go with me in the morning." I explained what was wanted, and he
expressed a desire to go. I went up to headquarters, and the Colonel
gave me a piece of paper with the man's name on that had the horses.
"Now, look sharp," said the Colonel, "it may be a trap to catch you."
After getting instructions about the road, we started and crossed the
long bridge five miles north of camp, and kept on until noon. Finally we
came to a double log cabin. We rode up to it, dismounted, stepped to the
door and knocked. For the benefit of the readers who never traveled
south, I want to explain. All the houses if ever so small, have a porch
in front. The double log houses are built separately, about ten or
twelve feet apart, the roof covering the whole building. The chimney is
built on the outside of the house, generally one on each end. They are
built of stone or brick, about ten feet from the ground. The balance of
the way they are built of clay and sticks. A lady stepped to the door
and told us to come in. I asked her if we could get some dinner.
"O, yes; of course you can."
The lady proved to be a Union woman. She was a widow. There were any
number of Union widows all over the south. They had husbands who were in
the rebel army, but every time any of our forces were around they would
claim to be Union women and call for protection, and do not forget it,
our officers were always on hand for protection.
She gave us chairs and told us to be seated. She was a great talker, and
asked us if we were married, and if we had children. Jim told her that
he hadn't been married long. Then she wanted to know if his wife was
pretty and any amount of similar questions. All the time she was getting
dinner her tongue was running. She told us that she had a large farm,
was out of debt, and if she could get some real good man she didn't know
but that she might be induced to marry again. I asked her it she knew of
a man up north twenty or thirty miles by the name of Smith, for that was
the man who had our horses. She said she had heard of the name. We then
settled for our dinners, mounted our horses and rode on.
We had not gone over a mile before we came to a swamp. It was about two
miles through. It had a corduroy bridge, that is, logs about two feet in
diameter, and twelve feet long, laid side by side. The water was about
eighteen inches deep. Some of the logs were floating. When our horses
stepped on them they would sink. We went on until we got about half way
across, and came to a place where three of the logs had floated out. If
by accident our horses should get in the swamp, it would be almost
impossible to get them out. You could take a ten-foot rail and push it
the entire length in the mud. We got down from our horses and after
about two hours' work, got the logs back to their places. Away off in
the timber we heard the distant sound of thunder. The air was stifling.
The trees on each side of the bridge interlaced overhead. It was almost
dark, so we had to ride very slowly. The road was getting worse and
worse, and clouds had covered the whole heavens. About three o'clock it
began to get dangerous to ride, so we dismounted and led our horses.
There came a flash of lightning, and we could see that we were almost
over the swamp. Great drops of rain began to fall.
"There is a house," said Jim. Sure enough we were over the swamp and
close to a large house.
We had just got in a large log barn when the storm broke in all its
fury. You could hardly see twenty feet, the trees falling in every
direction. For two whole hours the storm raged. In all my experience I
do not think I ever saw so much water fall in so short a time. It began
to get lighter and lighter; we could see small patches of blue sky, and
finally it ceased raining. When the sun came out again it was pretty
well down in the west.
"Well, Jim, you wait here and I will go in and see if we can stay here
to-night." I walked up to the house and was just turning the corner when
two large hounds made a jump at me. To draw my saber was the work of a
second. We always carry our pistols in our saddles, and consequently I
did not have mine with me. The dogs kept just out of reach until one
made a jump at me and almost got me by the legs. I brought my saber down
across his back and almost cut him in two. Crack! went a pistol. I
looked around and there stood Jim with a smoking revolver in his hand,
and the other dog lay quivering on the ground.
"By thunder! Bill," said Jim, "those dogs would have got away with
you."
I was almost tired out; yes, and the old man was looking out of the
window all the time, and never made one effort to call them off.
"Well, let us both go in."
We never waited to rap, but opened the door and walked in. An elderly
man, probably fifty, sat in a chair, and a young lady sat on the
opposite side of the fireplace sewing.
"How do you do, strangers."
"Why did you not call off your dogs?"
"Well, sir, those dogs were mine, and they were kept on purpose to keep
such fellows as you off."
"Well, old man, they failed that time, and let me tell you that just
such fellows as we want to stay here all night, and would like to have
the young lady get us some supper. Jim, you go see to the horses and get
my carbine and revolver."
The girl looked up to her father to see what he had to say. The old man
looked at us and said:
"Do you call yourselves gentlemen and force yourselves upon us?"
"Now, that has nothing to do with the case. Do you call yourself a
gentleman and stand and see your dogs tear a man to pieces? There is
only one thing about this matter: I want to know, miss, if you will get
us some supper."
"Yes, sir," said the girl, "if pa says so."
"Well," said the old man, "you might as well get them something to eat,
for if you don't they might burn the house down."
Just then Jim came in. It was now getting dusk.
"Jim, you stay here to watch the old man and I will go out and see how
things look around here. Don't let him go out of the room, and keep an
eye on the girl, too."
I went all around the place, and back close to the timber were two negro
shanties. I stepped up to one and knocked.
"Come in, sir."
I walked in. There were eight or nine negroes sitting around, from a
little baby to an old, white-haired man. The old man raised up and said:
"How do you do, sir; will you sit down on this bench?"
"No, thank you; I have no time to sit down. I would like to know if
there are any confederate soldiers camped around here."
"No, sir; dar am no soldiers camped around dis place, and habn't been
for two weeks, and da was Union soldiers dat was here two weeks ago."
"I suppose your master is a Union man, isn't he?"
"No, sir; I is sorry to say that he is the hardest kind of a rebel. His
two boys are in de rebel army; and, sir, as soon as he found out that
you were here, he made me go let the dogs loose. Dem dogs cost my master
five hundred dollars. Dey was de best bloodhounds in dis part of the
country."
"Well, sir, I'm very much obliged for your information," and turned to
go.
"Hold on, mister. For de Lord's sake, don't tell master dat I tole you
anything!"
I went back to the house and Jim was standing by the door, watching
every move that was made. The girl had supper ready.
"Keep your carbine in your lap while you eat," said I, and we sat up to
the table and ate a good, hearty supper.
"Now, old man, we do not wish to abuse you or your family, but are going
to stay here to-night, and if we see any treachery on your part your
life won't be worth a cent. Now, Jim, you go to bed and I will wake you
up promptly at twelve o'clock."
There being a bedroom close at hand Jim went in and was soon snoring
like a bugle call. The girl could not restrain a smile at his snoring.
The old man sat smoking his pipe, casting glances over to where I sat.
Finally he broke out and said:
"Now, look here, stranger, do you think you are going to sit there and
bulldoze me all night and make me sit here?"
"No, sir, you can go to bed just as soon as you please, but I want to
see where you sleep."
"You can't see where I or my daughter sleeps, and I want you to
distinctly understand it!"
"All right, old man, you will stay just where you are, then."
He jumped to his feet and said, "I will not do it for any Yankee
living."
I cocked my gun and brought it to bear on the old man and said:
"Make a move and you are a dead man. And, miss, you sit there, too."
The old fellow turned as white as a sheet and dropped back into the
chair as if he had been shot.
"Now, sir, the best thing you both can do is to keep quiet and not a
hair of your head shall be harmed."
Hour after hour passed until the clock struck one. The old man and his
daughters were both nodding in their chairs. I waked Jim and told him to
watch so the old fellow would not be playing any games on us. I went to
bed and to sleep, and did not awake till sunrise. There was an old negro
woman bustling around getting breakfast. We told the man and his
daughter they could go anywhere in the house, but they must not go out
until we left. The old man jumped to his feet and turned on me like a
wildcat and said:
"You will pay dearly for last night's work."
"All right; you need not think that we are going to give you a chance to
inform your confederate friends. You know this is all fair in war times.
Jim, go see to the horses while I watch."
He soon returned and said that the horses were all right. We then sat
down to the breakfast table without waiting for an invitation. Jim asked
the old man if he wouldn't sit up and have some breakfast with us. The
man snorted out with an oath,
"I would die before I would eat with a Yank."
Old aunty's eyes rolled around like saucers, and she said, "May de good
Lord hab mercy on us all."
The girl sat and watched every move, but had nothing to say. We
finished our breakfast and started for the door, when Jim turned around
and made a very polite bow and said:
"We are much obliged for your kindness, and if you ever come our way, be
sure and call on us." We then mounted and went on; the road was full of
branches of trees and fence rails, so we had some trouble getting our
horses along. As we got out into the road, we looked back over the
swamp; it was a perfect sea of water. The logs had floated out and left
great gaps in the road so it was impossible to go back the same way we
came. We finally came out to a more thickly settled portion of the
country, and found the roads a great deal better and the people seemed
to be more communicative. They told us the man, Smith, lived only a
short distance ahead of us, so we got to his house about noon and found
the horses all right. The house stood off from the road about a half a
mile. We rode up in front of the house. There were eight or ten negro
buildings all around the main building. The gentleman came out to meet
us in the door yard. "Is your name Smith?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you got a couple of government horses here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, we have come after them and you are to come to Jacksonport and
our quartermaster will pay you for your trouble."
We found Mr. Smith to be a true gentleman, and a true Union man. He said
he did not want any pay, that he wanted to do something for Uncle Sam.
He called on an old darkey to come for the horses, and told him to feed
the horses and take good care of them.
"Now, you men stay here all night and by morning the water will be down
in the swamps so you will be able to get back all right." He told us of
another way to go back that would take us around the big swamp. We
concluded to stay, for it did seem to be quite a rest to get among Union
people.
Now, my dear reader, let me tell you that when we did come across Union
people in the south they were genuine. We were in a Union neighborhood;
the last rebel we passed was the man we stayed all night with. Mr. Smith
told us that if we hadn't watched the man he would have played some
underhanded trick on us. The next morning we started back to Jacksonport
and traveled until noon, each leading a horse. We stopped at a farm
house and got our dinner, then traveled on till night. We could see
that there was another storm coming up fast, but luckily a plantation
house came in view and we just reached it as the rain began to fall. The
owner of the house came out and told us to come in, which we did,
leaving our horses in the care of a darkey. Although the man was a rebel
from the top of his head to the sole of his foot, he told us that we
were perfectly welcome to his house and that we were just as safe there
as if we had been in our own camp. I must say that he used us well; we
hadn't been there over half an hour before supper was announced. The man
introduced us to his family. There were three grown up daughters and the
old lady. They had only one son, and he was in the army. As they told us
this, the tears started from the mother's eyes and the girls looked as
if they were ready to cry, too. We ate our supper in silence, then went
to the sitting room and talked until bedtime. The next morning we
offered to pay him, but he would take nothing. We then resumed our
journey and ended it just at twelve o'clock. We got to camp, rode up to
headquarters and reported to Col. Brackett.
"Well, sergeant, we were about to send a company out to look for you, as
we began to think that the rebs had got you."