“No,” said I; “if they had known I was coming, they wouldn’t have run off and left me so; I might have ridden behind one of them.  I don’t suppose I can overtake them now, unless they atop again.”

“That you can’t,” said she; “they won’t have no call to stop tell they git to the camp, an’ hit’s jest this side of the mill.”

“How far is it to Lee’s Mill?” I asked,

She looked at me suspiciously, and I feared that I had made a mistake.

“Hit’s not fur,” she replied; “hain’t you never been thar?”

“Nut by this road,” I answered.  “How much shall I pay you?”

“Well, Mister, I don’t know; set your own price.”

I handed her a silver half-dollar.  Her eyes fastened on me.  I had made another mistake.

“If that is not enough,” said I, “you shall have more,” showing her a one-dollar Confederate note.

“Oh, this is a plenty,” she replied; “but I was a-wonderin’ to see silver agin.”

“I have kept a little for hard times,” I said.

“You have?  Well, the sight of it is cert’n’y good for sore eyes.”

“Can I reach Lee’s Mill before dark?” I asked.

“Well, I reckin you kin, ef you walk fast enough,” she said; “anyhow, you kin git to the camp on this side.”

“Well, good day, madam; I wish you well,” said I.

“Good-by, Mister,” she said.

I had already opened the gate, when I heard her come to the door; she raised her voice a little, and said,—­

“When you git to the big road, you’ll be in a mile o’ the mill.”

So long as I was in sight of the house I kept in the road, but as soon as I got through the clearing, I struck off to the right through the woods.  I was seeking some hiding place where I could eat and sleep.

When, early in the morning, I had seen the pickets retire from the post near Warwick, I had thought that the rebels were all withdrawing to their main lines; this thought had received some corroboration from the firing heard in my rear later in the day; I had believed the Union troops advancing behind me; but afterward I had seen other rebels at the woman’s house, and I now doubted what I had before believed.  Besides, it was clear from the woman’s words that there was a rebel post this side of Lee’s Mill, and I was yet in danger.

The woods wore dense.  Soon I saw before me a large road running west, the big road of which the woman had spoken, no doubt.  I crept up to it, and, seeing no one in either direction, ran across it, and into the woods beyond.  I went for half a mile or more, in a southwest course, and found a spot where I thought I could spend the night in safety.  For fear of being detected I dug a hole, with my knife, in the earth, and piled the loose earth around the hole; then I lighted a fire of dry sticks at the bottom.  Night had not yet come, but it was very gloomy in this dense thicket surrounded by woods; I had little fear that any reflection or smoke would betray me, for the thicket was impenetrable to the view of any one who should not come within two rods.  I broiled my bacon and toasted my bread, and though I fared very well, yet after eating I wanted water and chose to remain thirsty rather than in the darkness to search for a spring or a stream in the woods.