the
semilunar ganglion (which I must remind my reader is a kind of stupid,
unreasoning brain, beneath the pit of the stomach, common to man and
beast, which aches in the supreme moments of life, as when the dam loses
her young ones, or the wild horse is lassoed) stopped short. There was
a feeling as if I had slipped off a tight boot, or cut a strangling
garter,--only it was all over my system. What more could I ask to
assure me of the Captain's safety? As soon as the telegraph office opens
tomorrow morning we will send a message to our friends in Philadelphia,
and get a reply, doubtless, which will settle the whole matter.

The hopeful morrow dawned at last, and the message was sent accordingly.
In due time, the following reply was received: "Phil Sept 24 I think
the report you have heard that W [the Captain] has gone East must be an
error we have not seen or heard of him here M L H."

DE PROFUNDIS CLAMAVI! He could not have passed through Philadelphia
without visiting the house called Beautiful, where he had been so
tenderly cared for after his wound at Ball's Bluff, and where those
whom he loved were lying in grave peril of life or limb. Yet he did pass
through Harrisburg, going East, going to Philadelphia, on his way
home. Ah, this is it! He must have taken the late night-train from
Philadelphia for New York, in his impatience to reach home. There is
such a train, not down in the guide-book, but we were assured of the
fact at the Harrisburg depot. By and by came the reply from Dr.
Wilson's telegraphic message: nothing had been heard of the Captain at
Chambersburg. Still later, another message came from our Philadelphia
friend, saying that he was seen on Friday last at the house of Mrs.
K_______, a well-known Union lady in Hagerstown. Now this could not be
true, for he did not leave Keedysville until Saturday; but the name
of the lady furnished a clew by which we could probably track him. A
telegram was at once sent to Mrs. K_______, asking information. It
was transmitted immediately, but when the answer would be received was
uncertain, as the Government almost monopolized the line. I was, on the
whole, so well satisfied that the Captain had gone East, that, unless
something were heard to the contrary, I proposed following him in the
late train leaving a little after midnight for Philadelphia.

This same morning we visited several of the temporary hospitals,
churches and school-houses, where the wounded were lying.