d he seemed to feel all the better for it; and we
all felt better when our horses were between our knees. Even the horses
felt better, for they whinnied as we mounted, and were for going at a
more rapid gait than was necessary.

We entered the scrub timber and went through it for half a mile or
more, and then suddenly came out on the public highway. The guide
suggested that we smarten up our gait, and we put the horses to a
canter. I thought surely that the man would give out, but he merely
caught hold of my stirrup to help him along, and when we came to a
cross-road, and halted at his suggestion, he showed as little fatigue
as the horses--this man who seemed too frail to walk a mile.

Here he gave us such instructions as seemed necessary, and was just
about to so-long us, as he said, when he paused with his hand to his
ear. "I'll be whopped," he exclaimed, "ef I don't hear buggy-wheels,
an' they're comin' right this way." With that he slipped into the
bushes, and, though I knew where he was concealed, it was impossible to
catch a glimpse of him.

There was a bend in the road about a quarter of a mile ahead of us, and
we waited expectantly, while Whistling Jim, with a cunning for which I
did not give him credit, pretended to be fixing his saddle-girth. As we
waited a top-buggy rounded the bend in the road and came bowling toward
us. It was surprising to see a buggy, but I was more surprised when its
occupant turned out to be a woman--a woman in a top-buggy, riding
between two hostile armies!

IV

The lady made no pause whatever, and apparently was not at all
surprised to find soldiers in the road ahead of her. She was not large,
and yet she had a certain dignity of deportment. She was not youthful,
neither was she old, but she was very grave-looking, as if she had seen
trouble or was expecting to see it. Under any other circumstances I
should have paid small attention to her, but the situation was such
that I was compelled to regard her with both interest and curiosity.
Almost in a moment my curiosity took the shape of sympathy, for there
was something in the pale face that commanded it.

She was accompanied by a very clean-looking officer on horseback, and
he, in turn, was followed by a small escort of cavalry--I did not take
the trouble to count them, for my eyes were all for the lady; and it
was left to Harry Herndon to realize the fact that we were in something
of a pickle should the officer take adva