“I want you to carry a note for me to the Union soldiers.”

“Yassa.”

I wrote one word on a scrap of paper that I had picked up in the rebel camp.  I gave the paper to Nick.

“Throw this paper away if you meet any rebels; understand?”

“Yassa.”

“When you meet Union soldiers, you must give this paper to the captain.”

“Yassa.”

“The captain will ask you what this paper means, and you must tell him that the Southern soldiers are leaving Warwick Court-House, and that the paper is to let him know it.”

“Yassa; I sho’ do it; I won’t do noth’n’ but look sharp, en’ I won’t do noth’n’ but give dis paper to de cap’n.”

“Then here is your other dollar, Nick.  Good-by and good luck to you.”

Nick started off at once, and I was alone again.

My next objective was Lee’s Mill, which I know was on the Warwick River some three miles above.  Without Nick to help my wits, my cautiousness increased, although I expected to find no enemy until I was near the mill.  I went first as nearly westward as I could know; my purposes were to reach the river and roughly ascertain its width and depth; if it should be, as Nick had declared, unfordable in these parts, its depth would be sufficient protection to the rebels behind it, and I would waste no time in examining its course here.  Through the undergrowth I crept, sometimes on my hands and knees, and whenever I saw an opening in the woods before me, I paused long and looked well before either crossing or flanking it.  After a while I reached heavy timber in the low ground, which I supposed lay along the river.  At my left was a cleared field, unplanted as yet, and in the middle of the field a dwelling with outhouses.  I approached the house, screening myself behind a rail fence.  The house was deserted.  I passed through the yard.  There was no sign of any living thing, except a pig which scampered away with a loud snort of disapproval.  The house was open, but I did not enter it; the windows were broken, and a mere glance showed me that the place had been stripped.

Again I plunged into the woods, and went rapidly toward the river, for I began to fear that I had been rash in coming through the open.  Soon I struck the river, which here bent in a long curve across the line of my march.  The river was wide and deep.

At once I felt confidence in Nick’s declarations.  There could be little need for Confederate fortifications upon the other side of this unfordable stream.

It must have been about noon; I thought I heard firing far to my rear, and wondered what could be going on back there.