There was but one thing to do.  They told him that they were Confederate scouts, and asked him for information about the Yankee outposts.  A short conference ensued, which ended in their discovering that they were talking to a man of strong Union sympathies, and as likely to befriend them as the negroes.  This was a hopeful discovery.  They now freely told him who they really were, and in return received valuable information as to roads, being told in addition where they could find a negro family who would give them food.

“If you can keep out of the way of rebel scouts for twenty-four hours more,” he continued, “you will very likely come across some of your own troops.  But you are on very dangerous ground.  Here is the scouting-place of both armies, and guerillas and bushwackers are everywhere.”

Thanking him, and with hearts filled with new hope, the wanderers started forward.  At midnight they reached the negro cabin to which they had been directed, where, to their great relief, they obtained a substantial meal of corn-bread, pork, and rye coffee, and, what was quite as acceptable, a warming from a bright fire.  The friendly black warned them, as their late informant had done, of the danger of the ground they had yet to traverse.

These warnings caused them to proceed very cautiously, after leaving the hospitable cabin of their sable entertainer.  But they had not gone far before they met an unexpected and vexatious obstacle, a river or creek, the Diascon, as the negroes named it.  They crossed it at length, but not without great trouble and serious loss of time.

It was now the sixth night since their escape.  Hitherto Captain Rowan had been a model of strength, perseverance, and judgment.  Now these qualities seemed suddenly to leave him.  The terrible strain, mental and physical, to which they had been exposed, and their sufferings from cold, fatigue, and hunger, produced their effect at last, and he became physically prostrate and mentally indifferent.  Captain Earle, who retained his energies, had great difficulty in persuading him to proceed, and before daybreak was obliged to let him stop and rest.

When dawn appeared they found themselves in an open country, affording poor opportunities for concealment.  They felt sure, however, that they must be near the Union outposts.  With these considerations they concluded to make their journey now by day, and in a road.  In truth, Rowan had lost all care as to how they went and what became of them, and his companion’s energy and decision were on the decline.

Onward they trudged, mile by mile, with keen enjoyment of the highway after their bitter experience of by-ways, and somewhat heedless of consequences, though glad to perceive that no human form was in sight.  Nine o’clock came.  Before them the road curved sharply.  They walked steadily onward.  But as they neared the curve there came to their ears a most disquieting sound, the noise of hoofs on the