Shaking off the dim sense of foreboding, I gave my thoughts entirely to
the task before me. I had decided to make my way down the side of the
river I was then on. From what I had learned of the position of the
enemy, I knew the risk would be no greater than if I crossed to the
opposite shore, and I hoped to save many weary miles of travel. Being
well aware of the extreme caution shown on our side, I thought the
chances were that our army would be yet in the neighborhood of the place
where I left them, and I aimed for that point.
I told Ned that I had secured a paper of the utmost importance, and that
if I were shot and he escaped, he was to take the paper from its place
of concealment and carry it on.
We turned to the left, down the first road we came to, after parting
with Captain DeLacy and his men. Just before we reached it, we were
stopped by a small party of Confederates on horseback. I offered my
passes. Striking a match, an officer read them, and after a few
questions, allowed us to go on. That was the only time the passes were
of use to us, for as soon as I parted with my disguise they were, of
course, worthless.
In order to make the best time possible, and avail ourselves of short
cuts and bridle paths, it was necessary to leave the buggy and return to
horseback. That we did at the earliest practical moment. As soon as we
came to a rough bit of road, after our first turn, Ned drove the buggy
to one side, and, knocking off a wheel, left it to its fate. When I was
again in my own clothes, we made the harness and my disguise into
several bundles, which Ned weighted and dropped into the first creek we
came to.
That done, we hurried on. The night had turned cloudy and dark while we
had been in the Confederate camp. It did not rain, but before long we
struck a place where it had very recently, and our horses for a short
distance were obliged to plough through slippery clay. Frequently we
would see the fires of some outpost, and often a picket shot, sometimes
startlingly near, would ring out on the murky night.
Well as I knew the country, I finally made a false turn in the confusing
darkness, and approached the river when I thought we were still several
miles away from it and following its course.
Leaving Ned in safe hiding, I crept forward to reconnoiter. I made for a
rock overhanging the water, at the head of a bend in the river, from the
edge of which I hoped to be able to tell if the fires opposite were
repeated down the side I was on.
As I gained a sheltered place near the top and in the rear of the rock,
I heard a boat grate on the pebbles beneath, and two men ascended to the
very spot I had started for. I lay low behind the scanty bushes, while
they sat down near me. From what they said, I gathered that they had
crossed from the Rebel camp over the river to investigate the bank up
stream for some purpose, but not liking the looks of something that had
attracted their notice, they had stopped there to decide what they
should do.
I was too near to move away without them hearing me. I was caught in a
trap. Chaffing at a delay, when every moment was precious, and fearing
that Ned, alarmed at my protracted absence, might come to look for me, I
was obliged to crouch, motionless in my hiding place, while the two men
so near me idly discussed topics relating to everything but the duty
they were on. While I waited, the clouds began to break away, and once
or twice the moonlight shone out full and strong, leaving me with little
to shield me, had they chanced to turn around.
Finally, after what seemed hours to me, one decided to go over for
re-enforcements and descended to the boat. Cautiously rising, as the
other advanced to the extreme edge of the rock, I saw that his back was
toward me and that he was intently watching the progress of the boat,
then in mid-stream.
It was possible then for me to have slipped away unnoticed, but I was
exasperated beyond endurance. An uncontrollable impulse seized me. Even
if I had been sure that the whole Confederate army would have started to
his rescue, I could not have helped pushing that man into the water.
Moving noiselessly behind him, with the end of my revolver I gave him a
sharp punch in the middle of the back. Taken completely off his guard,
without a word, but with a wild whirl of arms and legs, he went
straight down into the deep water beneath. I have wondered hundreds of
times since, what that man thought was the matter with him. If he has
lived to read this, he knows now.