Brier Creek, which we crossed at Godbey's Bridge, and thence proceeded wearily to Alexander. Lemon knocked at the door of a hut, where he found a poor white woman, of whom he inquired the road to Millin, but she knew nothing about it. Near Alexander we found a huge shanty, about one hundred feet in length, used as the quarters for negroes employed in the Rebel iron-works, which were near. After reconnoitring the building for about half an hour, we entered it. Fortune favored us-the inmates were all negroes, and when we had received all needed information as to our best routes, we thanked them, bade them good night, and pushed on CHAPTER XIV. THE ESCAPE-FOLLOWING THE REBEL ARMY IN GEORGIA. Sixteenth Day. BETWEEN STATION NO. 1 AND MILLIN, GA., FROM Alexander we made good progress until about midnight, when our advance was intercepted by a large creek. We were in quite a dilemma. A faithful search could discover no bridge, nor fallen trees spanning the stream, as would be the case in many instances, nor any other means of crossing. The night was bitterly cold, so that ice formed plentifully on still water. And yet there seemed to be no other way but to wade. Sitting on a log and ruminating over our chances, a very selfish piece of strategy suggested itself. Accordingly I said to Lemon, "There is no use of both getting wet; we can carry each other over these streams. If you will carry me over this, I will carry you over the next." I said "these streams," although only one was before us, and the most prominent thought in my mind was, that in all probability there would be no other. Lemon somehow failed to see the point, and con sented. Accordingly, taking off our shoes, I mounted on the lieutenant's shoulders, as school-boys sometimes carry each other, and he staggered through the stream with me, doing no worse than wetting my feet. This worked well. I congratulated myself, and gave a generous sympathy to Lemon in his shiverings. The chances were ten to one, I thought, that the carrying business was at an end, when suddenly another stream, wider than the first, rose up in the darkness before us. There was no use in wincing, and I stripped for the task. The lieutenant "ascended to the position he had fairly earned." I plunged into the water. The middle of the stream was reached in safety, when, through no fault of mine, either the water became too deep, or my back became too weak for the burden, and the consequence was, the worthy gentleman was nearly as well soaked as myself when we reached the opposite shore. Selfishness, as well as virtue, sometimes brings its own reward. We crossed three other streams that night, and as a result of our past experience chose unanimously to do our own wading. Thus another grand scheme for human elevation fell to the ground. Wet and weary we continued our tramp until nearly daylight, when quarters for the day were chosen in a cypress swamp close by a road over which General Kilpatrick's cavalry and the Fourteenth Army Corps had marched, but a week before. There were evident traces of their passage. The fences were gone, or lay half-consumed by the roadside. Buildings were still smoking in the distance, or standing charred and blackened. The ground was covered with ears of corn, torn haversacks and blank. ets, "hard-tack" boxes, broken muskets, dead horses and mules, and any quantity of debris, which may always be found in the desolating track of a large army. Being much exhausted with fatigue, and the weather being a little more favorable than usual, we slept the whole day without disturbance, as we did also the next night, not awaking until nearly morning. Seventeenth Day. IN A SWAMP ON THE SAVANNAH RIVER ROAD, Having wasted the greater part of the night, we determined, at all hazards, to make our time good by traveling during the day. And yet the streams were so swollen that little progress could be made. We were evidently on General Sherman's trail, though he was six days in advance of us. In our physical and mental weakness, we wondered whether the good man would halt if he knew we were in pursuit of him. We thought he would at least send a detachment to bring us to his lines. Suffering soldiers can scarcely be induced to think anything of more importance than their own preservation. We determined to turn from the road to Millin, and follow the trail of the army. Hounds were on our track at one time during the day. Had the wretches known how little there was left of us, they would have given up the pursuit as fruitless, or meatless, at least. It may be that they suspected this, for we were not pursued far. It was much safer traveling just here than it had been previously; for, as a general thing, Sherman's boys had killed all the hounds in their march, as they had heard of their being used to overtake escaped prisoners. Most of the Rebels, also, had been either carried or frightened out of the country. One old sinner had unfortunately escaped, and we heard of his hunting Yankees on his own responsibility, and gave him a wide berth. It may have been his hounds that followed us. Nothing could be more desirable, in escaping under such circumstances, than to have a small quantity of strychnine along. There would generally be means of making it an acceptable offering to the dogs. We turned from the road into a piece of woods, about four o'clock, and as the country was smoking in all directions, did not hesitate to make a fire and lie down on the grass beside it. During our sleep the fire had crept along the grass and laid hold of my pantaloons; and when I awoke the outside seam of the leg next the fire was burned completely out. The fire had found appropriate food in the dry moss and reeds accumulated there, and so ran along them as it would run along a fence. Some strings from our large tow haversack served to sew the burnt edges together, and by nine in the evening we were again ready to take up our line of march. Eighteenth Day. SIXTY MILES NORTH OF SAVANNAH, We continued to travel in the trail of the armies. We were without food, and suffered much from hun |