, and as I was on foot and sober I nearly dragged him
from his horse before he let go. During the tussle I repeatedly shouted,
"Captain of the Guard--Help! Help!" The provost captain instantly came
riding to the spot. "What's the matter?" he asked. "That rascal has
tried to rob me of my overcoat," I answered, pointing to the villain
who was beginning to slink away. The captain appeared to recognize him,
said not a word to him, but whispered to me a moment later, "You are
entitled to keep your overcoat."

We had had little breakfast and no dinner nor supper, but we suffered
more from thirst than hunger. Can we ever forget it? Will the long
flight never end? On through Kerrstown without halting we march, with
promise of rest and water at Newtown; no rest nor water there. On from
Newtown with assurance of water at Middletown. Five minutes at
Middletown, and a little muddy water that seems to aggravate our thirst.
Farther on we cross a bridge under which the water is dashing as if in
mockery, and the cry "Water! water!" rises from a hundred lips, the
guard joining, for they are suffering like ourselves. Some comfort in
that! Past midnight we reach Strasburg and are halted around an old
wooden pump. It is broken! No water there. Still on and on at a
snail-pace, up and over the almost interminable stretch of Fisher's
Hill. At three o'clock in the morning we arrive at a place known by the
classical name of Tom's Brook about twenty-five miles from Winchester.
Never was nectar more delicious than the water of this stream, nor downy
pillow more welcome than the sod on its banks. Without blankets or
covering we sank in each other's arms for mutual warmth on the
dew-drenched grass; and blistered feet and aching limbs and hunger and
thirst and suffocating despair are all forgotten!

Morning came unnoticed, except by those whom the keen cold permitted to
sleep no longer. Towards noon we rose, washed without soap or towel,
were made to form line, had our names taken, and received as rations a
pint of flour per man, with a little salt, nothing else. How to cook or
prepare the flour? We learned of the rebel guards a process not laid
down in the cook-books. Mixing with water they made a stiff paste or
dough. This they put around the end of a stick about the size and half
the length of a walking cane. The end thus thickly coated they hold over
a little fire till the smoke and flame have sufficiently hardened it.
Then pull out your stick